Week 3 Trio!

Well Hello Everyone!

 

This week has been pretty good.  Busy! Let me tell you that is one thing I’ve learned about on the mission, especially in this area!  We have been so busy! It’s a great thing, but it gets tiring some days. So yeah. Where to begin.... well Elder Boyd.. I mean Jordan is now at home, sad day but we had a blast together! There are so many fun things we did. But Elder Mansell and I are working good, I feel bad, but Spanish is super hard for him, se cuesta mucho...(there’s a little Spanish for ya) so that's one struggle, but I’ve realized in the last 2 months my Spanish has improved A tons. I don't know what the change was, but it was dramatic,  In may I still really struggled and I could hardly teach a good lesson in Spanish, now in august 3 months later, I feel like I lead out in the Spanish and teach alright. Now I agree with Ryan here, Learning another language will take a life time, And There is no way I could learn it all in 2 years, but At this point, I can say what I want to say, and I can learn at a lot faster at a rate. So that's been good. I Love Spanish! It’s so fun to speak and learn another language. So yeah. Investigator wise, everything's going good. *** got confirmed yesterday and it was good. Then *** finally came to church again, it had been 3 weeks. Technically he’s not progressing, but I think we're close to get him close to progressing, and hopefully baptized before the end of the year. He’s super ready! and loves the church and missionaries. So yeah lots of good things happening. We taught ** again! And we set a baptismal date with him, silly me, we accidently set it on conference weekend so we will have to change it, but other than that everything was good.  He super awesome and loves the message of the restoration! He really wants to know if it’s true. Then josh came to church again, He super awesome but we can hardly ever meet with him because he has a weird schedule that he doesn't know usually until the day of or day before so we can hardly schedule a time to meet with him. We also are teaching another guy named **, He is awesome! He knows a ton and loves everything we teach, the only problem, is that he needs to get divorced to his wife and re marry is other "wife". He says he’s working on it, but that his real wife doesn't want to divorce so she won’t sign the paper/agree to the divorce. So we just have to wait. Then yeah I think that's the only updates that are needed on our investigators.

 

Transfers are next week! Wow way to fast. So next Monday we will see what will happen.... And then this Tuesday I have my Year Training! YIKES! Wow I can’t believe it’s been a year. It goes by way too fast. and everyone says the second year goes by even faster.!!!! I’m scared but over the last few months I've noticed some changes that I like,

First is that my testimony has grown so much, in what we believe and what we KNOW, I love it, I love the Gospel. I love Jesus Christ and I’ve learned to trust him so much.

Second, Missionary work isn't so awkward for me anymore, before I felt super weird talking to people on the street, and being bold with people, but it’s become part of me, I no where near perfect, and there are lots of things I can improve  but overall I have improved over the year.

Third, Leadership, over this transfer, I’ve learned to take the lead a little bit! Between covering 2 areas, having my companion leave and then me having to lead in my area, I've learned a lot!, It’s hard sometimes, but It good to learn these skills.

There are tons of things I’ve learned over the last year, but these are my top three recent ones! I heard one missionary at the end of his mission say, "I may not have become everything I wanted to be on my mission, but I’ve learned how to become" That is super true, We may not learn everything we want to, but we learn how to become what we want to be! I love that thought, so yeah,

I love you all! You are in my thoughts and prayers often!  I enjoy reading and hearing from each and everyone of you! Funny story this week, so Friday is mail day, that is when mail is distributed between everyone. So they handed me 2 letters, one was from Amber, the other was from someone I didn't know.... The only name on the front was Lea Hollingshead.??? I opened it up and realized it was not for me, it was to an Elder Edwards in the mission, but when ever we see each other we say cousin.... because his mom was a Hollingshead! So I don't know where the connection is but yeah there are Hollingshead’s in Utah. So yeah I got to forward that to elder Edwards. anyways. Yeah I love you all and Hope you all have a great week! I hope you don't freeze or drown over there in Arizona, I heard it’s been cooler and with lots of rain!

 

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Baptism!

Baptism!

Sara after her baptism!

Well This week has been absolutely nuts! but Great, no worries at all. Yeah me and elder Mansell just said good bye to Elder Boyd who went to the office today and then will be in AZ tomorrow! Anyways! So we have just been super busy! and on top of that we just keep getting bike flats! it happened 2 times this week, and my back tire still keeps going flat on a daily basis. It’s annoying! but anyways. so Yeah as my subject line says Baptism! yeah so we had an unexpected baptism. So this lady named ***, has been investigating for a while, but she keeps backing out on her baptismal dates, and the 17th was her latest one. We called her on Tuesday to see if she could meet with us, and then she said that she was prepared to get baptized for this Sunday, so we scheduled a date for the interview the next night then yeah so she got baptized on Sunday! Unexpected but great! We also got 11 people to church on Sunday! That is a ton! Granted that it was from 2 areas but there were 11 people at church. Then all of our other investigators are doing just fine,  ***, were still confused on what we need to do with him. I’m thinking about dropping him and letting him come back to us when he wants too, he's not progressing anymore and hasn't come to church in 3 weeks so.... but *** and her family came to church! yeah and it was last minute. She told us she would come on Friday, but Saturday night she told us that she had an unexpected emergency! So we prayed and then like 5 min after church started she called and said she would be there soon! and she made it just in time! It was great, and she brought all 4 kids and her husband. So that was a miracle. Then here is an awesome story!

 

So, in Elder Mansells area they recently found a guy name josh! his wife (?) is a member and he really likes everything so far. So Saturday we go over and tells us he's going to give us hamburgers! so were like sure, then we are now pushed back 40 mins because he had to go to the store. Then he cooks the meat we are having hamburgers and just chilling and then we shared a thought on baptism. And after we talked a little he stops looks at us 3 and then says "so I’ve been thinking about baptism a lot lately, for me and my daughter, and I really want to get baptized, is there any way you can help me with that ?" we all just had mouths open and we all smiled and said absolutely! So we set a baptismal date for the 7th of Sept! He is AWESOME! and then he came to church with his wife and 2 daughters! That is my favorite miracle this week. Also we kind of set a date with an older lady named inda! she is awesome she lives in Elder Mansell’s area and really understands and comes to church every week! so that is cool! and other than that it’s been a normal week.!

 

So we had zone conference this week! and it was all the way back at the Inglewood stake center! yeah far... and we had to take bus. So Wednesday morning, we woke up at 4:45 to catch a bus at 6 and then had to take an hour and 15min bus ride, then walk a mile. So yeah we were super tired that day! but it was fun there were a lot of things I learned and lots of things I’m going to try to change. Overall it was a great zone conference. President was definatly having fun with all the departing missionaries. He kept calling on all of them to answer questions and he always had this smirk on his face, it was funny. But then he asked me to give a talk in front of everyone.... oh well, not that that is any different from any other day. Well that's it! It’s been a crazy fun week and now there is no more trio, just me and Elder Mansell.

 

Love you all!!!!!!

Elder Hollingshead

Elder Mansell, me, Elder Boyd

Our 2 areas are the whole top half!

LA Grafitti

"My Heart of Gold"

Yes, Elder Kimball is really that tall!

Elder Mansell fell asleep during a lesson.

Elder Mansell, me, Elder Boyd




 

Trio?

Hello Everyone!

 

Well this week has been CRAZY!!!!! like nuts, there hasn't been a simple relax day or just a normal day of work. Why? well we are in a TRIO! yeah, so ill get to the story later.  but yeah, Elder Boyd is on his final countdown, and its crazy he had a couple of meetings with president this week and so he's been gone with some other elders and then I get put into another companionship in the ward. One was super cool, it was on Tuesday. I was with Elder Cox he super chill, very quiet but has a great testimony and is a great teacher. we taught a couple of really cool lessons, then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, who are in a trio also. So I went to their area with 2 of them. It was fun, but the life of a zone leader is a life of fixing problems. and its not super fun. but we had an Awesome lesson with a lady who had already been coming to church, in English, but she switched to Spanish and we taught her lesson 1 and then committed her to get married and baptized! she is awesome and Really loves the church. Then Thursday was crazy.... So I was still with the zone leaders, they had to go to pick up mail at another building then I had a appointment at the office so we went up there and waited for a while, then I wen t back to my area after, About an hour later we get a call from the assistants. And they told us there was an emergency in the mission and another companionship in the ward was going to be moved. and one was going to be put with us! so yeah now we are in a trio, on bike, covering 2 areas. its been crazy. planning is nuts, it takes forever and I feel like  it just never works out evenly. the only thing they said to us is to keep both areas alive, I hope we can do that. then of course as soon as we get put into a trio we start having bike problems. on Friday I popped a tire, not super bad so I make it home on a half flat tire.... but all is well I switched it out in like 5 min because I had a brand new tube for cases like this... Saturday we are riding and then elder Boyd looked back and one of his spokes is broken. so we stopped by and picked up a new spoke and then went to the apartment and replaced it. it has just been crazy.

 

But good thing is. We got a shower curtain. yay! now we can shower, but we are short one bed because we are in a trio so elder Boyd is sleeping on the floor on my blanket. believe it or not, it still gets a  little bit chilly at night if we don't turn the fans off, so I had to pull out my jacket one night.  (I'm such an Arizona boy) Then yeah we have just been busy, trying to set appointments then changed them and try to be most efficient with out time. This is elder Boyd's last week with us, then it will just be me and elder Mansell in both of our areas! The most frustrating part is when we have set appointments and then no one is home. or they cancel at the doorstep. It gets so frustrating. Then  the question after that is what do we do now. we could try this person, but we will be late to our next appointment. so its really hard sometimes. but Fun story so Friday we had a dinner with some family in Elder Mansell's area. so we shared a scriptural thought on how we need to pray for missionary experiences. That is what Elder Ballard wants us to teach to members. so we share the message and then right after they handed us a list of 9family members that were interested in hearing the gospel! none of them were in the mission but we sent the info in and yeah that is the most referrals I've ever seen given at once. So yeah now we love that family! Oh and another thing about being in 2 areas is that we get fed a lot, everyone wants to feed us! its nice but not at the same time. we get stuffed before dinner and then we have to eat dinner. On Friday we had a late lunch, we went and got panda express. Then an hour and a half later a member gave us 2 pupusas, then 1 hour later we had a full dinner.... we were stuffed and I carried a big part of dinner home.... yeah it was bad. so maybe ill gain a little weight :) But overall everything has been going good.

 

So I met with president recently just for a little meeting to see how everything going.  as we were talking he got up and then told me he wanted me to read a book! its called "how to win friends& influence people" by Dale Carnige. Lets just say its a great book, he told me that this book changed his life and helped him be the person he is now. And My mission president is Awesome! he is super successful and extremely organized, and always has good tips on life and how to do things. Well I hope all is going well! Now that school is starting up I feel like everyone is getting busy! I hope all goes well through out this month!  Wow when I come back there will  be 2 new temples that will be fun to go to and see them. Wow its still super weird to think I've been out a year now! time goes by fast, but its good there are so many things I've learned and things I can continue to learn!  I love you all and pray for you often!

Love

Elder Hollingshead

 

mom ps. So I'm good on everything! all my clothes still fit, still have plenty of shirts and everything. just as a side note. president does not want any instruments so ill be sending the uke  home sometime in the future. But here is something that I would like. The camera I have is not focusing at all. it will take 1 or 2 good pictures then after that it just wont focus. I guess I'm wondering if it is at all possible that I could get a new camera. Nothing fancy. just something small with a  decent mega pixel and zoom. other than that I think everything is good out here! Love you Thanks so much!

Hola

Well Hello Everyone!

 

Well this week has been pretty good! we still had a lot of work! always. It was elder Boyd's birthday on Wednesday so we had like 3 birthday celebrations! it was fun. Its been really hot this week, and it has gotten pretty humid too. Biking now is just hot and we come in people houses sweating and just bright red. But we keep riding. Thankfully we are busy actually visiting not riding around all day. The worst part about the heat around here is that there is no real way to escape it unless someone (very few people) has a mini A/C in their house. Other than that we suffer. oh and our apartment is upstairs and there is no curtains and there is a huge window that faces the morning sun so it just heats up and no matter how many fans we have on, it just gets slowly hotter and hotter. Oh and another funny thing that I don't know if I mentioned last week. Our bathroom does not have a shower curtain. So we are down to taking baths every morning... Yeah its pretty horrible. And there is no closet space or cabinet space so everything has too be super organized and put away. Oh and then this week we woke up and the rod in the closet, that holds all our shirts and pants and suits, broke.... well at least the mounting bracket. so now we don't even have a closet. yeah its just a great new apartment!

 

well about the investigators, Nothing much new.... oh wait never mind we found a new family. Super cool family! so they are friends with a member in the ward! Super cool! That day was kind of going bad, well mostly just everything was falling through and it was super hot, but we stopped by and they were super cool and let us in immediately, He is super knowledgeable about Mormons, but never has been taught much, so he knows about the church but not, if ya know what I'm saying. he has 2 teenage kids who were kind of in the lesson but not. Then his wife whos is super young has 2 little kids, she knows nothing and she just wants to have peace. She Is super cool and asks super good questions. The worst part about this week was Sunday at church. we confirmed with 9 investigators that they were all going to come to church! thats 9 PEOPLE at church, but the next morning not one of them showed up. we only had one investigator and she was not expected... so that was a bummer so we went to go and try to visit them and see why they didn't come, but none of them were home! but anyways. the work goes on. 

So I pads... nope not yet, but before December we will for sure have them. I'm still not for sure about having I pads. now that I've been doing it the normal way for 1 year it will be super crazy to have another completely way of teaching the gospel. I'm excited for the change but it will be different. Anyways. And yeah other than that there is no other exciting news... just the same mission work! ya know finding, teaching and baptizing.... It will be fun! This ward is good. there are so many people to teach and work with. 

Well I love you ALL! I'm so glad I'm on a mission! IT's the best! You really learn to see the hand of the lord in everything. Everyday I look back and try to see just one little miracle and one little tender mercy that helps us all move on and remember that we are NEVER ALONE! As I'm reading through the Book of Mormon, There is a point when Mormon and Moroni are alone, no one person believes, not one person wants to repent, so they have no one to rely on but the lord. So we need to take their example and do the same, just go out there and do it, rely on the lord even if no one else will. I love you all and hope you have the best week Ever! just don't melt... in that Arizona heat, that I'm not looking forward to in 1 year from now. You are all in my prayers often and i hope the best for all of you!

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead