Transfers!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

 

How's everyone going! this week has been pretty good! well different to say the least. First off, Ummm the big news. I'm Leaving Inglewood! yeah sad, but good, I've been here for almost 8 months and its just been crazy fun. but I'm ready for the change. Actually both me and elder Tramel are leaving this area. They combined 2 of the areas in this ward. I guess they finally realized that there was not much work in this area and that it wasn't very smart to split it. so yeah, we are both leaving. I'm going to Palos Verdes. Basically one of the richest parts of the mission. its all the way down south. basically I cover half of the Palos verdes stake in Spanish. there's a small branch, Cabrillo branch, (I don't know if I spelled that right) but supposedly its an awesome area with lots of work and awesome Views of the beach! yeah I'm excited. My companion is going to be Elder Pollard, he was the assistant when I got to the mission so he should be awesome. I love this area, but after 2 transfers of hardly any work it was getting really slow and hard to keep going. especially when your companion got hit and we could hardly do anything for a  while. Anyways. I'm going  to miss the ward and all the people I've met and known here.
But this week was pretty good other than that. We met with a lot of less actives and it was super nice. We ended up having a decent week, other than Friday. we had nothing to do all day and we ended up just sitting in the car for a little bit, because his foot was hurting and we had absolutely nothing else to do. Anyways. and I got a super late b-day party kind of. The Martinez family wanted to get me a cake, and celebrate my birthday, but I got transferred and never got the chance to go back up there to celebrate. well this last week, it was elder Murrays birthday so we did a dual b-day cake celebration. it was super fun. they got us both cakes and they gave us some good pan con pollo. super good. anyways. if you didn't know the Mexican/ Hispanic tradition for birthdays is to smash the persons face in their own cake. lets just say my comp got me good. like real good. both me and elder Murray got frosted faces. so that was Friday!

 

As for investigators, we could only meet with Marlon and Isabel once. it was hard. they kind of progressed and then they don't so it will be a frustrating time trying to keep them up. but now its the other elders investigators and we don't really have to worry about them. Anyways they still have their baptismal dates but who knows if they will keep it up. We went and visited Blanca a couple of times. she is super awesome and loves having us over. this wee we just helped her out a bunch. her dad had a bypass surgery and was in the hospital, so while he was there , Blanca with the help of us and a couple of others cleaned out her dads room and repainted and got it ready for him to move back in. she was really grateful for our help and it was nice to just get down and do some normal house work again. Friday it rained again and got pretty chilly around here. the wind was ripping through here pretty hard on Saturday after the storm, weather wise, this area is pretty nice, but was always windy which is bad and good.

 

well I love you all! Again and again im so thankful for all your prayers in my behalf. its been a big strength to me to be able to know that I have lots of family and friends behind my back supporting me always. I Love you! with all the emotions right now about transfers, it just comforts me a lot to know that wherever I go, the lord is there always and that this is his work and glory, to help All Mankind to be saved. and as missionaries we are literally his hands in this work. I Know this is where I need to be. I always have each of you in my prayers and hope it all goes well for you this week

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

 

ps. mom is there anyway I could undo the pants? lets just say ive gained a little weight and my pants are a little tight around the waist now. could I do it or would I just need to either send them to you or have a member do it if possible? just let me know.  no rush, but better sooner than later.

 

pps. And Thanks for the sunshine package. It was Great and looks very delicious!  also thanks for the pictures that you sent, it was good to see the fam.

ppps. Skype? mothers day is in 2 weeks. I hope to be able to Skype, but honestly I don't know. if you wouldn't mind, can you re email my login and pass and then next week we will see when we will Skype. if not just expect a call.

 

Recovery...

Hola

 

Well this week has been decent. It was long and then quick and then long again. We are basically fully out, for the most part, he still has to take like an hour break during the day to elevate his foot and ice it. He's getting a lot better very quickly. needless to say, we haven't been inside much. just the normal routine. He still walks with a little limp, but for the most part walks just fine, he just says that it still hurts if he walks long distances for long times, but we have a car! it s weird, that's all I'm going to say, serving in a car, is not the same as a bike. O and I'm tired of being in it for long times. This last week, we went to the temple 3 times! that's a lot. oh and tomorrow we get to go again....joy... Monday we did email up there because another elder in the district had a interview with president. so we got back around 6 and then just went to *** FHE. our one set apt canceled and Elder Tramel was not supposed to be outside unless we have a set appt. So we just chilled there for like an hour. Anyways. Tuesday we went to the temple to do a session. YAY, I love doing sessions. But for some odd reason they put the old movie on........ Elder Tramel still has not seen the new one, and all the new missionaries have never seen the old so it was fun but I wish we had the new movie. Anyways, that after noon, we met with *** and set a baptismal date with him!!!! super exciting, but he still is crazy. he cant make up his mind. He will call us one day and talk a little and then say "elder, I think im ready to be baptized." then then next day he calls and says "elder, I don't think im ready, I cant give up ** (his girlfriend)" so yeah he's a little weird and sometimes I get tired of how many times he calls a day, but its good at least he's listening to us and has a desire to be baptized and try to change. but anyways. Then we also set a baptismal date with ***. I don't know if I have told you all this before, but we are teaching a transsexual... weird but he/she is actually very interested and has a great desire to be baptized. President gave us permission to teach her, so don't worry about that.  She accepted a date easily and all we need to do is finish reviewing all the lessons and then have her get interviewed with President. Hopefully she gets the go. She is actually very spiritual and reads everything we give her and MORE! and she remembers it all too, unlike most Hispanic women. But other than that nothing much new has happened. We visited *** the excommunicated member. She is super awesome and so nice and is willing to help us anytime. actually we went to her house and right before our dinner canceled. She asked us if we had eaten, and we said no, and she asked us if we wanted to eat? we said yes and she took us to a pupusaria and had some BOMB pupusas! and some really different but Great tasting horchata. She's so nice.

 

So yeah life is good here in LA. weather could not get worse. its so nice! and now were in car so it really doesn't matter what the weather is. But anyways.  Today after email we are going to chill out with some elders at our apartment. so just like the good old days. Oh yeah so since we have a car, I figured it would be a good idea to get my driving permission so in case I need to drive I can. so I set the appointment up with the mission vehicle coordinator, and we took the test. It was just like the Arizona test, except you have to back through and alley and parallel park. The alley was the hard part. It was a bigger car that I wasn't used to, ooh and on top of that, I haven't been in the drivers seat for about 8 months. The first time I tapped 2 cones at the end. he let me pull through and do it again and it was perfect. so yeah. its just weird to drive again. And I'm not excited to have to drive in LA traffic.... that's if I ever need to. Anyways so yeah I have mission driving permission. Oh so funny thing. the *** family was in mesa Last week! we went and had dinner wit them on Thursday and they showed us a picture of them at that western town out by the superstition mtn. I told them that is really close to my house, they also said they went to the temple and I was Like That is really close to my House! they completely forgot I was from mesa, so we had a good talk about Arizona, they also went to the grand canyon, and they really enjoyed it.

Well I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers in my behalf, I really feel them! I love this Gospel and for Missions, its a great time to learn and I have learned so much. I really cant believe I've been out already for 8 months, I still feel fresh and green. and yeah, but I really know that this is the lord work, and that Miracles really do happen today!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Happy Belated Easter.

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Ps. My Easter was great, but nothing happened, it was just a normal dinner. funny thing is, no Hispanic celebrates easter like americans and they all ask where did the bunny and eggs come from. Do you have an Answer???

The Long Week

Hola!!!

Well this week has been very interesting. Needless to say it has been very long and boring. soo...... after emailing and shopping we were on the way home with groceries. My companion Elder Tramel, does not have a big backpack so he puts a lot of the stuff on his handlebars. and it’s about a 2-3 mile ride home. We were going along Crenshaw rd. and next to Hawthorne airport its gets very backed up with traffic. No big deal right we ride through traffic all the time. Anyways. My companion was behind me and I did not see any of this.... here comes the scary part. In LA there is no such thing as a bike lane, the bike lane is the 3rd right lane. and when there's traffic it’s always filled with cars. but most leave us enough room to ride and pass by. But there was an 18 wheeler, and he did not leave enough room. my companion had to get right in the gutter and slow down a ton, but there was a little water and his tire washed out from under him and he flipped and almost got ran over.... somehow he got pushed out from under the truck and ended up on the curb, trying to get out of the street, 3 guys saw the whole thing and came an picked him up and grabbed his bike and stuff and pulled it to the side. Elder Tramel was limping and was in a lot of pain. We pulled his shoe off, and it was immediately swelling and he said he could not feel his foot. Not good at all. We quickly called some other elders to come and pick us up. Then we contacted the mission nurse and sis Weidman, finally we got directed to an urgent care and got it creaked out. Nothing was broken but he got a shot and the pain went away. We went back home and was in contact with President and The nurse all day. So it was just a long day. But it turned into a long week, we just stayed inside for 4 days doing nothing. We got a car on Thursday so we could leave and visit a couple of people. Other than that we are mandated to stay inside unless we have a set appt. for a lot of crazy things have happened this week. President was thinking about sending him home, but then he said he would wait out the transfer and see how he was doing and then make a decision. But other than that, I haven't been up too much. But because my district leader is nice, he let me take a break from being inside and we split again and I went up to my old area and that was a very de-stressing. Got to visit, the Amaya’s, and the Martinez clan. It was fun and just a great day. But o well I hope he gets better quick. 

 

So not much updates on the area, since we haven’t met with anyone in about a week. It’s just been slow and I feel like I’m about to go nuts. You can only listen to the same music all day for so long. We did borrow settlers of catan from another elder so we could play that when we are bored. I finished the last 1/4 of the book of Mormon, am halfway through D&C and hopefully will finish that this week, then on to the Old Testament. But I’ve been writing a few letters to friend’s n such, but yeah. Lots of personal study and I've slept alot in the last week, I think too much, because I could not sleep at all last night. I think I’m going to do a 2000 push up challenge. 2000 in 6 days. and yeah, and read alot. Anyways. Thanks for all your support! I love getting letters from you. and keep sending me letters, it’s definitely great to read about home. I still get homesick sometimes, but it’s never too bad, I actually enjoy reading about home and it doesn’t get me down like it did before. I wish we had computer access so I could watch conference. and videos, but no, we only have the district dvds and the testaments.

 

Anyways I love you all and hope you have a great week! I love you all and pray for you constantly. Sometimes throughout this past week, I felt alone, frustrated and just tied up not knowing what to do. My stress was high and I couldn’t really get it to go down. But as I was reading the book of Mormon, in the last few books, I really realized how alone some of the believers were in the last days of the Nephites, And what did they do, the turned to the lord to comfort them. And that’s what I did. a couple of days in a row, I would read scriptures and then lie in bed for an hour or so just praying to be able to get through the day without going nuts, I really did fell peace after a while and it would settle down and then go back and start reading or writing letters, and it really helped me out and I know my testimony has grown alot lately. I know this is the lord’s work, I know that The Book of Mormon can really change lives and bring peace that comes from the spirit. I love my father in heaven so much, and I know that his son Jesus Christ is really our savior. I love you all, Family and friends, and am grateful for your support! Keep up the good work! And stay strong!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Conference

Well Hello Everyone,

 

I Hope everyone enjoyed conference. I felt a lot of the talks were just great. It’s weird to think that exactly 6 months ago I arrived here in LA! Anyways I really enjoyed Elder Holland’s Talk, and there were others but I don’t have my notes so I don’t remember names. I felt like a lot of them really helped me refocus on the things that matter most. Especially here on the mission. It’s been hard the last few weeks but little by little I see small blessings that help me along the way. Anyways the week was slow and towards the end I was getting really tired, but conference was just a great spiritual boost. We found a new investigator from an excommunicated member that we found last week. She is super awesome and still has an extremely strong testimony. She wants to get re baptized. And her boyfriend is really interested so we started teaching him, he is very curious and wants to learn more, the thing is that he lives far away and so we have to meet with them both at her house. Also we met with roman who was really interested in conference and said he would watch some this weekend because he was interested in prophets. I don’t think he believed us when we said we have a living prophet, so he asked us what is the test to see if he really is God's person? We told him it was the Book of Mormon and also that if he watches and prays about it he can come to know. SO we are going to try and visit him tomorrow and follow up as the apostle said. We also met with Marlon who is just weird, he has lots of chastity and Word of wisdom problems. Hopefully we can help him get over some of his problems, Elder Marin who originally started teaching him says he’s a little bit of a liar and acts like he wants to get baptized but never changes so we shall try him one more time.

But overall the work has picked up a little bit. I was hardly with my comp all week, we went on 2 splits this week so he was gone as I lead in the area, then conference weekend hi was just everywhere and I hardly was really with him. But he’s cool. He and Elder Marin get along great so that’s fun, but elder Marin moved to a different zone and has missed this ward a ton. Now he’s in Watts, probably the most ghetto area in the mission. But it sounds really fun to serve there. There is a ton of work. But here is a little miracle that I was extremely grateful for this week. There was a few but this one stuck out the most. it was Thursday and we had tried a bunch of people with no luck, we were tired, I was frustrated. and no one was home like usual. I just didn’t want to do anything, but my companion, seeing my frustration, told me to stop, so we pulled to a corner and he said a prayer, a sincere but earnest prayer asking to be able to find someone to let us in. we went and tried a couple more people. Then all the sudden the phone rings. It’s Marlon! He called saying that he had nothing to do right now and had about 2 hours and asked if we could come and visit him. Wow. It was a miracle. I counted that as a blessing that day and it strengthened my testimony of prayer. As a missionary you pray a lot! Let me tell you Alot! But I know that even one more prayer will not hurt and the lord will strengthen us, give us someone to teach, or just comfort us in time of need.

I love all of you! Thanks for all of your support. I really enjoy from hearing all of you. Continue in the faith! Overall that was something that I got out of conference. Just like the Gilbert AZ temple celebration, Live true to the faith. I saw a little part of that show and it look great, I’m sad I missed seeing it. But in 1 1/2 years I’ll go. It’s crazy that they are not going to build anymore temples until all of them are completed. I hope all will go well down there in the valley of the sun. Its slowly getting warmer, it’s just been super windy here. I guess living only 5 miles away from the beach cools things down all the time. I just hope it never gets too hot around here. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead