California is Humid!

So hello!

 

 Yeah this weekend it rained a bit, not too much but enough to say we're not out of water. I think the mountains got more rain than la.

But in all the time I've been here I don't think it's been as humid as it has been this last weekend. It's been pretty miserable. Yesterday it started to rain and so we went back home to grab a sweater so we don' t get to wet, but I was so hot and my shirt was soaked with sweat and then it stopped raining.

This week was going alright, but this weekend was a little frustrating. Saturday it rained a lot during the afternoon, so we got shelter and then Sunday the baptism did not go through, it was a very stressful 3 hours. Let's just say there were some things we didn't know about ** and so I guess even though he seems excited on the outside he told us on Sunday he felt too pushed. We were confused, sad and very stressed. Right now it's still in limbo we don't know what's going to happen with ***, we told him we give it a couple of days and then we will go over and see what his concern and questions are.

Mostly it was his family that was opposing and I think it just got to him. Other than that we really don't have much investigators. We stopped teaching bunch of them this week because they weren't progressing. We did set a date with Linda! Well my comp and his temp comp. I was on exchanges. This week our focus purely on finding and getting new investigators with baptismal dates!

I have got the chance this week to call my previous recent converts and also members who I have gotten close to. The Sunday before departing missionaries leave we have what we call in Spanish the "Despedida" or in English the departing missionary fireside. All the leaving missionaries get to share their finally testimony to those we taught and worked with. So it will be cool and as president says probably the biggest audience I will share me testimony with for a long time! Last year in July August here were almost 800 people. This year I think there will be more. Seeing there are 35 of us leaving.

I love you all and hanks for your support!

Have a great week

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

Exchanges!

July 13, 2015

Well hello everyone! This week has been alright. Most of it was between exchanges and then teaching ***, but he's progressing so much, and he's going to get baptized this Sunday!!! So we still need to help him out so like I'm inviting all the members to do this week is to keep him in your prayers! It will really help him out an be able to achieve this goal in his life! So yeah we went to the visitor center on Thursday. It was amazing! *** just kept asking when we could come again. There is this room here in LA VC that is about 8 missionaries... The missionaries on the district which is e videos we watch for trainings and learning. It talks about the missionaries and their lives before and after the mission and how it has changed them.

So we watched one of the stories... When if came to after the mission my stomach went upside down... It's not that I'm afraid to go home, but I'm afraid In a sense.... But the story is really powerful. Then another thing is that of all the times I've been to the visitor center, I've always done it in Spanish, but because *** usually prefers to speak in English, we did the tour in English. It was a little different. The family video seemed a little more powerful for me and it really made me think of my family and all the love I feel from you all! It's been a marvelous 2 years (almost) and I have grow so much and if it wasn't for you and your support and love I don't think I could have done it!

Anyways. I went on 2 exchanges this week. It was fun! Lots of cool missionaries.! I love just getting to know lots of people. I will definitely not be alone at BYU Idaho! So yeah!

I hope you all have a great week! Stay strong and enjoy the Arizona heat for me.

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

the 4th War!

Well hello world everyone!

 

Well this week has been really, really long.  I'm super tired! I think the best thing was zone conference. That as great, but the rest of the week was slow and exhausting. So first to explain why it was so long.

Almost all of the appointments we had set up and people we called, did not want to meet with us. So lots of canceled appointments and it was just frustrating then on top of that Thursday at about 4:30 our bikes got stolen...... Yep!23 months and my bike actually got stolen. So we were left to walk on foot. For 4 days. Today hopefully we will get some extra bike working. Seeing I only have 4 weeks I'm not buying a new bike. Oh and we live outside of our area about a 40 min walk just to get into our work area..... Needless to say we spent a lot of time walking and walking. We got lots of conversations when we weren't in

so much of a hurry to get to places.   Also the 4th of July. LA

sounded like a war zone. From 8 to about 1am there were just constant fireworks. It was almost as good as Heber's show. Except being so far away....  I got a video so I'll show it too you soon. 4 weeks. It's actually really scary.... But we had a big call with president on Saturday and it just pumped us all up and gave us a lot more desires to stay and finish strong.  During zone conference while we were singing the efy medley it was a painful, but good experience. It really hit me how much the gospel and missionary work has been a part of me and how much it has changed me.

 
We have been talking a lot about faith and fear in the mission. I've made some very interesting connections. We all know that faith and fear are opposites. They can never occupy the same space. And I realized that many of my thoughts  about people and the work are somewhat fearful! Satan's perfect disguise is to make us be fearful.

This could take many forms. But if we have the faith strong enough in our lord and savior Jesus Christ we can cast out all fear. Like John 4 says perfect love casteth out fear. As we have worked and learned about prayers and how prayers precede, faith and love, success and miracles will happen because that "mighty prayer" is the trigger to our actions. If we just casually pray ( repetitious, broad, without real intent, not truly led by spirit) we can't expect to see any miracles. But if we have mighty prayers and ask for specific blessings, it requires us to do a little more and then we can see the lords blessings if it is his will!  So have mighty prayers. It might take All the energy of your heart but it's worth it!

I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

Missionary Life is Good!

June 29

Well hello everyone.

 

So this week has been very busy, well at least this weekend. The beginning of the week was a little slow, and it was hot. We got lots of contacts, better contacts than usual :) but year so we had a great weekend. Saturday was super busy and finally a little cooler. I don't.

Know how you are surviving Arizona right now. I think it barely got up To 90 one day, and we were dying. Anyways. So Saturday w got 5 new investigators. The first 2 were a miracle. ** was a contact from a long time ago and we stopped passing by because she was never home.

She called us on Wednesday and told us we could pass by on Saturday so we did and we had a good lesson. The next 2 were young kids. She is like 17 and her brother is 11. We just did a little how to begin teaching, and told them that we want to talk to their parents.  Then we started teaching the sister of a recent convert. She is super nice and we have talked to her here and there, but she showed a lot more interest when we started talking about the family. So we taught her and she committed to read and pray and come to church.  It was a busy day and we also went to a small birthday celebration for a little kid in our area. He's a member and they invite us for dinner.  Sunday was good. Our investigator Chris came to church! And he really liked it and right after church, we went and re taught the restoration and committed him to baptism in the 19 of July.

We also had a good lesson with **. It's just a complicated situation and it sounds like it's almost over. They committed to come to church this Sunday, hopefully her husband can come.

I'm happy. It's crazy to think last 6 weeks, but here it comes and it's time to make the best out of it and give it literally everything.

 

I love you all. Have a great week.

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

District Leader Again

25 June 2015

 

Alan and Marie Hollingshead

 

 

Dear Brother and Sister Hollingshead,

 

Elder Zerin Douglas Hollingshead has once again been appointed as a District Leader in the California Los Angeles Mission.  This assignment comes to him again because he continues to exhibit high qualities of leadership, to demonstrate his excellent teaching skills, and earns and retains the trust of his fellow missionaries. 

 

Sister Weidman joins me in once again extending to you our sincere appreciation for your fine son.  We realize that your example, training, and love have contributed greatly to his success as a missionary.  Thank you for your continued support and for sustaining him through his earlier leadership role.

  

Sincerely,

David N. Weidman, President

California Los Angeles Mission

Families!

Well hello everyone! This week has been good and bad, mostly good. On Tuesday we had a meeting for my companion so we went to the Artesia building and during his meeting we had a training. I was super good.

As missionaries we do lots of role plays, not the most out thing to do, but it's just part of life. So this was a role play inside a role play... Like inception 😊

 It was fun! And it was helping members do their missionary work, basically role playing how to invite their friends and family to hear our message or to check something out. It was fun, and little hard and on top of that it was 10 min long. So yeah Was fun! But as for transfers, nothing changed, we are staying together and I'm going to finish my mission here in hp3. It's a good ward, but I'm actually in the mood for a little change, but that's not up to me so I'm staying.

Yesterday for Father's Day, we went by a members house and we asked him if his family is going to come, he said no... Then halfway through the visit, his family came and then we sat there for a while and talked a lot about our dads,. It was really interesting, needless to say, I felt a little alone, but in a good way, I was the only one there, other than the little kids that grew up in the gospel, but it made me appreciate the gospel and how it blesses families.  It was super cool to get a little closer to these members. Anyways it was a cool Wednesday, first off it was really hot, Andrew were outside for 6 hours just walking around, it was hard but it was all worth it, at

8:30 we went back to the area, and went on one last call for a family.

We went and they were there! It's a family of 8, the dad has some health issues and the family is really close together,  we had actually contacted a daughter first and she is super interested In the Book of Mormon.  We taught them and it was a great lesson. So yeah, it was cool, they got busy with some family things that happened during the weekend, but we will be visiting them tomorrow night! We are super excited and hope everything goes well with them.  We finally caught up with ** and ***. She is not avoiding us, and actually wants to meet with us, but there is some sort of legal thing that is going on and she literally can't meet with us, so we have and appointment with the,  for Sunday hopefully we can help her out and teach her something she needs right now.

 

This week in my studies I ran across this scripture in doctrine and covenants 36:7 "And this commandment shall be given unto the elders of my church, that every man which will embrace it with singleness of heart may be ordained and sent forth, even as I have spoken."  What I got out of it was embrace with singleness of heart.  That hit me, we always hear you cannot serve two masters and this teaches it really well. The gospel is basically the lords heart, is my heart single to his will and his gospel? Am I embracing it will all my heart might mind and strength? It t me and I've thought a lot about it during the week and it's one of my goals for the last 6 weeks is to embrace he gospel with all my heart and do my best!

The *** Family

 

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

I-Pads

Well guess what everyone! I got an iPad this week! So yeah Saturday after i took the act, we went to a training and each missionary got an iPad at the end of it. For those less than 6 months. we have church i pads, 6 weeks from now I will be returning mine to the mission. But yeah so it will be fun being able to use it for a while and get to teach with it, it's still a work in progress, but it's pretty nice.

Little cool things happened this week.

Thursday we were helping a member out and then this lady crossed the street and she was looking at us for a while and we were a little confused, but then she asked us a couple of questions and it comes to that she had lads friends and then her son is going through a hard time and so we stopped by on Sunday and we talked for a while and they as a family became new investigators!  Then we were contacting some people and this man who I guess we contacted, came up to us and was like hey an why didn't you ever call me I was waiting.... That's sometimes super embarrassing especially when you don't recognize them.... But yeah we also had a couple of really good lessons with *** and also ***. They are slowly but surly progressing I think, hopefully we will be able to go to the visitor center this week. This is the last week of the transfer, and I feel like they're is progressing pretty well. Sadly we haven't been able to meet with ** and **, they are MIA, haven't heard from me and haven't seen them in a while. But we are going to have a lesson with M***'s F** tonight! Sunday at church, we had a lesson with M**! She wants to get baptized. She kind of of invited herself to get baptized it was pretty easy, but we can't set a date because she lives outside of the ward, but she thinks next week she might be willing to have us come over and teach her at her house. If that happens she will be baptized super quick! She is just one of those people that is just been super prepared. P*** is doing good, she super smart, but mostly we just need to get an in with the parents, once that happens I think it's going to go great.

 

Thanks you all for your love and support, especially your prayers is week for my test. I really felt at ease with the test, who knows if I passed, but I hope it will go well and be able to start school. I love you all and have a great week!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Sent from my iPad

Buenos Dias!

Buenos Dias!

 

well this week has been alright. it was little hot and humid this week, its the start of summer here. Its really not that bad, but it can be sometimes and the worst is that we live 20 mins from the center of our work area so by the time we get there were hot and sweaty, but such is life! we have been on a less active search! I was noticing that we hardly visit any of the members, so I made a list (longer than I expected) of all the members that supposedly live in our area. We have found some, some have moved, a couple have died, some not interested.... its been interesting. but we hope to help a couple people come back and along with that, find some people to get baptized. ** and *** well I hope they are doing alright, we haven't been able to find them. we call and its the home number and luz is never there so we cant find her, but we have talked to *** and he's doing good he's reading and praying.  School got out here in LA this last Thursday so now its where all the trouble happens... teenagers... We found and started teaching a 13 year old. her sister got baptized a long time ago, but now doesn't live there, but p***** is super Cool! she used to go to church along time ago and loves it, but her mom works and her dad is almost deaf, so he they don't like to go to church, anyways she wants to come, hopefully we can slowly but surly help her parents come. Then m** G** didn't come to church, hopefully next week we can get in contact with her, and then *** our investigator, last week she didn't seem super interested anymore. then we came back and taught her and she was a little more willing. we did a lesson purely on coming unto Christ. we read some scriptures from the new testament, watch the #becausehelives video and then tied it all in to what we do as missionaries. she was a little more happy and then we downloaded the app on her phone so she can listen to the book of  Mormon while she's at work! Saturday we went on exchanges again. it was fun, we talked a lot about LA and how crazy it is, and how much the gospel really can bless their lives!  then Sunday there was a bug surprise, Elder(hermano) Low a missionary that left last July came back and visited the ward, he calls it his home because he spent more than a year there and everyone knows him. I think I'm almost as close. except no one can pronounce my name. Any ways. It was fun to see him and talk for a little bit between classes.

 

Well, I just want to let you all know that the mission is the BEST! im so glad to be here, I have learned so much! Each time I study in the morning it brings me so much happiness to know the gospel. I see so much sadness and wickedness that, sometimes it brings me down, but there is a CD mom and dad sent me a while ago about Christ and a bunch of testimonies from apostles and prophets. there is one in there that talks about the light of Christ, it says that even when the darkness of sin and Satan, where we think that the light cannot penetrate, the light of Christ comes and can illuminate any darkness that is there! Its so true! its one by one, that's how the gospel comes to pass, and even thought the problems still come, there is one by one, people entering into this gospel and happiness!

 

I love you all Have a great week!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Well Hello Everyone!

Well Hello everyone!,

 

well this week was pretty good. Lets see. Tuesday we had iPad training. It was really good, but no we did not get our ipads yet, we still have to complete some online training today, then later this month we will get one, but the chances of me actually getting one are very slim, seeing I would only use it for about a month. so who knows, we shall see, but the thing about the training was good, it talked a lot about how we need to control how we use technology, and how the safeguards are in really in our hands, we choose how to use it effectively or not effectively. so the principles behind a lot of the things that we taught were good, and really can be taken into after the mission.  so that was good, then yeah, we had a lesson with some new people throughout the week, seeing that some of our investigators are not progressing and we are not visiting them as often. we met with ** and **, they are 2 kids we have been visiting, and we finally taught the mom (grandma) and she was nice, but we not for sure if she really wants to visit with us. We had a fun little story, we were looking for this potential and then this older lady comes out and she was like what do you do, we said we teach about Christ and his restored gospel and then she just goes on about how we are liars and from the devil. she was die hard catholic and she was not very nice, and she asked my companion if he was baptized catholic, he was like "yes, when I was a baby, but I didn't choose that and then some missionaries taught me and now im here" she was very offended by that and she basically told us were going to hell. we kindly said that we respect everyone and we hope other respect us too, and she scowled and us and then here husband was like "keep doing what your doing beasue its really good," then the lady was like "No! they taking people to hell" we just walked away.... it was fun! then we had a lesson with this girl named **, she's Christian and she just wants to learn more. We taught her at her work, and out side of the place they had a taco stand, so it smelled really good the whole time. But it was one of those Spanglish lessons. she grew up here, but speaking both and so both are extremely natural for her, so she would just go in an out of English and Spanish, it was fun! she says she doesn't want to change, but wants to learn, but at the end she was interested in reading and finding out more.

*** came to church again! it was great and she likes it a lot, we taught her the plan of salvation after church, then went to a baptism! she loved both and really likes to learn from them all! The people that got baptized this last weekend I have know for a long time. They had moved into Inglewood ward when I first was there at the beginning of my mission. and I saw him here and there when ever I would switch wards. they could never get baptized because they were living together and already divorced. but they finally got to be able to move out and get baptized, they were super happy!

We had a 2 lessons  with ** and ***  and they both went really well. they are reading and we set a baptismal date with them this week for the 5th of July! it was super fun! there is some sort of family situation, and she doesn't want to talk too much about it, which i'm fine with, but her husband cant come and stay at the house anymore and hes always in the hospital. But he is interested in listening to us!

 Well I hope you all have a great week! and Good beginning of summer! Stay strong everyone and remember what Christ says " If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." (moroni 7:33) that was a scripture I found that I really liked this week! With faith all things are possible, especially in his work!

I love you all!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Hello!

May 25, 2015

Hello Everyone!

Happy memorial day! I hope that the lack of emails is because everyone is having fun vacationing! Don't worry, its all good here in LA! This week was Fun! my new companion is great! hes got a lot of energy and we have fun! we have seen a lot more miracles and success in the area this week! Tuesday was a great day! we had 3 lessons! I think that surprised me more than my companion for the first day together! Then next day was supposed to be just as great, but almost everything we had planned canceled. so we walked a lot and got a lot of conversations. it was fun! Long but fun. Then  Thursday we had a special training with President.  He had some trainings last week! But as he was there, the august transfer kept coming to his head. so he was thinking about it. in the august transfer that goes home, there are about 35 of us. the biggest group in the mission. it's pretty nuts. And he was very impressed, to invite us to do something astonishing! he went into this training with us, not having any plan, and letting us talk and make a plan. so we went in, he read a little bit from the Book of Mormon,  about the story of the sons of helaman. He was talking and then we said a group prayer (actually I said the group prayer) and then we went off for 15 min to make a plan for our area, and mission. we came back and talked a little bit more and then set a very high expectation, and goal. as a mission we usually average about 10 baptisms a week. President invited us to double that number by the time we go home. so we talked a lot about uniting in faith and working in a way to be able to do that. It was a super spiritual meeting and we all came out of there more energized and excited to go out and work like a dog, with whatever it may be. It was a super spiritual lift for me.

Cool Miracle. there was this lady that came to church. I had seen her a few weeks ago, but thought it was someones investigator, then a member commented on her, and so I told myself when she comes again I will ask her who she was, and get to know her. come to find out. she has come about 4 times. She is struggling really bad right now, her husband doesn't want her to go to a church, but she through prayer made a promise to find a church, if her daughter would get healed. So her daughter is progressing a lot right now, so she is on a search to find a church. a family friend gave a Book of Mormon to them and she kept it for 4 years. She called the visitor center number I think and they gave her the address of the church. So she has come, against her family's will and is loving it. shes been reading the Book of Mormon. She doesn't want us to go to her house because her husband doesn't want it. but she does and shes going to keep coming to church. So we shall see how it goes. she doesn't live in our area, but we taught her and hopefully we can figure out where she lives and get the missionaries to teach her.

Thanks for all the support and love i get from you all! I hope you all have a great first week of summer vacation! its crazy to think that its already here! have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

Transfers!!!!!

May 18, 2015

Well, I'm staying! I'm going to be with Elder Villanueva. he was Elder Delgado's comp in the MTC. so Hopefully it will all be good :) its only a 5 week transfer! So its going to go by quick!  So this week we had a little more success. we found 5 new investigators. and it really lifted our spirits. sometimes we as missionaries thing of tall the things that go wrong, and it really just brings us down, but as we start to work and have fun, it really helped us see the good and the fun in the work. our relationship improved and it really just mad the week less stressful. We still had our moments, but its been good. We found this couple, ** and **, they are young have a couple of kids and she's 6 months pregnant, but they are very interested in learning and getting closer and more into churches. It was a good lesson, they committed to come to church, but didn't come, but little by little I hope we can find some good things in it all. Then also we had an awesome experience at a Chinese restaurant... So Saturday night we didn't have dinner and our apartment is far so we just stop and eat in the area, there's a Chinese food place that's cheep and decent, so we stopped by and grabbed our food. as we finished eating the one girl who was basically running the place, starts cleaning the tables and floor, so we started talking to her, and she was telling us how she feels like she needs to change a lot in her life, and get closer to God, she says she goes to various churches just to see what they have, but she feels a little judged. as we talked more and shared what we do, she became really interested. so we exchanged info, and hopefully we are going to meet up some time. we thought she was like 21,but she's 17 so it was really cool to see someone who wants to change. she told us some of the things she does and she is just like I feel horrible, but I haven't found peace. so she was a cool finding miracle that day. Funny thing was that day we contacted like 4-5 teenage girls and many of them said yes they were interested. So who knows maybe that's going to be our teaching pool for a little bit.

 

So this week in my Book of Mormon reading. I found a chapter that I really liked. Its Abinidi's finial teaching to the king. and he is talking about Christ, But they way he talks is like its already happened. It struck me that that is Abinidi's testimony. he knows (150 or so years before his birth) that Christ is the redeemer of the world. These words I thought were really powerful "   But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death‍ is swallowed up in Christ.  He is the light‍ and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." (mosiah 16:8-9). He is that light! Its so true, there was also a part in the new Ensign, Elder Bednars talk "Therefore they hushed their fears" And it talks about how a firm Faith, founded on Christ, Chastens away Fear (any fear). I'M So Grateful for this mission and the opportunity its given me to establish my firm faith in Christ, sometimes I get fearful or lazy, or tired, but that light lifts me up and I feel its love!

 

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Keep it up and Have a great last week of School for those kids that are in school! Don't freeze at the cabin this weekend!

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

Mother's Day

May 11, 2015

For those Mothers' that are reading! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Sorry its a day late, but that's just the way it goes.

This week was good. we had been struggling in a lot of parts of the work. That's another problem we are trying to fix, but we had a couple of good stories this week. One I shared with my parents yesterday on Skype :) We have been  trying to contact this potential named **, that we met with trying to look for a part member family. we have passed by like 4 times, and this was going to be our last stop by. So as we start talking she told us to come by when her husband was there, so we asked her how she knew the church. it was silent then she told us that she's a member, we looked puzzled and then she was like, I lied to you,  I'm the person you were originally looking for **. So we asked her about that? she told us she was baptized 5-6 years ago in palm springs. she was super active, but then there was some family situation that got brought into the church, and the bishop didn't do much and actually made a bigger mess, so she left and did not want to know much about the church. she says that recently she has been seeing missionaries everywhere! And she lied to us so we wouldn't stop by, but the patient perseverance we kept giving, her heart softened and she knows its good down inside and she wants to help her husband out who is not a member!  so that was one of our cool stories.

 
Another was just a few minuets before that, we were walking down the street, it was early in the day and we hadn't contacted much yet, but I had the feeling talk to this lady, who was working in the yard. So I stopped and introduced ourselves and then she was like yeah! your the Mormons! so we asked her how she knew about us. She was like oh like 10 years ago, my x husband was a member and he took us the church over on Vermont and also in Huntington park. She was like im not a member but I love what your church teaches! so we are going to visit her, this week, we invited her to church, she said she would come but she didn't, but that's not the first time that has happened so no big deal right now. Then we also had a lesson with this lady named **. Shes cool, and the lesson went well. And almost committed her to baptism!

Well keep me all in your prayers! Things sometimes get rough, But I know that The work of salvation will continue forward. I know that the power of Prayer works! Im reading a talk right now called "the fourth missionary" it is great and talks about the ways to serve your mission. As he states, there are 2 ways to live the gospel, the easy way and the hard way. Many times they have the same outward appearances; obedient, faithful, does what one should, follows councils... etc. The problem is inside, Many times we take the gospel as things we have to do, But that's the hard way to live it, If we take the gospel as Things we want to do out of pure love we enjoy the process much more and we had a smile on our face always. There are some things I need to work on, but I hope It will all be for the best!

I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Mother's Day ALREADY?

May 4, 2015

Wow I cant believe that this Sunday is mothers day, it seems just like a month ago when i talk to you before on Christmas. Wow but yeah so this week was alright. We both had a hard time this week. It was just well i guess. We had lots of appointments go through and lots of time that was not very efficient with anything.

WE went on exchanges this last Tuesday, but nothing extremely exciting happened. I left the area again and we walked alot but the last like 15 min we were heading back to the apartment and we ran into a man, and he started talking to us. he was really cool. not interested in what we share, but was very happy we were doing it in "this neck of the woods" hes a Vietnam vet, ex-Professional baseball player, and he asked us what are the most important 4 things in life. I didnt know where he was going with the question so i told him to answer. he Said 1, Put God First, 2 Take care of your Health, 3 Make sure your Happy, 4 Family.  He said thats the way he did it in life and he really found lots of good things come from it. But i really enjoyed it, because those 4 things are very true. And to make it Even better just put an eternal Perspective and it really makes everything else Fit into place. anyways, We also found another former investigator that was in the area book. She is pretty cool, She has received an answer, but just doesn't want to act on it. That's a big problem that i've seen here In LA, people Believe all the time, but when it comes to acting there like "but i have to work", "Its too hard", "I don't have to act, God just loves us all like we are" , God is always with us" and the list goes on. But in all reality, people just don't really understand our purpose, nor the fact that there really is life after death. Even among all the religions many people just don't believe that there is life after death,and if they do, the don't understand the purpose of the After life. We always just read Alma 34:32 "this life is a time for men to prepare to meet God" so yeah, we shall see if she'll understand the relationship between Acting and Faith.

I cant believe how fast time is going. we just started our 6th week, and this is a 7 week transfer... so wow it doesnt seem like its been that long. So yeah! Hope you all have a great week! Ill be seeing some of you all on Sunday! It will be FUN! Love you all!  Keep me in your Prayers!

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

What a Week!

Well Hello Everyone!,

SO this week has been busy, We found lots of new people! Lots of more work and lots of little miracles :) This Sunday was also my performance at the visitor center with about 20 other missionaries. It turned out great, not at ton of people came to the second showing, but it was still great, there were lots of good things that were said, some of the songs were just super great, There was one by sally deford, called Because of him, it was a duet and it turned out great, then there was another that was called "I did not see, yet i believe," the Elder who sang that one was super great! he sang so great, and then there was another, that we all sang, which is come unto Christ, it was the youth theme song last year, it was our last song we sang together and it really turned out great, that was the main theme was Coming unto Christ in our lives! So yeah :) But now i have all my P-day time back, no more 3 hours cut out plus travel time in LA Traffic, it cut more than half of our time out!

This week we found 9 new people to teach, 2 of them cant read, have no true knowledge of anything except of the traditions of their family, then 1 is a 17 year old girl who is super cool and really wants to come closer to God, We found this old guy named *** who is convinced that Catholic is 100 % truth, and then We found this family of 5, 2 teenagers a mom, and 3 little kids. she was super fun to teach, because  she connected the dots herslf of the Restoration, and she had already heard the story of the Mayan history and how they have in their hieroglyphics, a story of someone coming and visiting them in white and coming from the heavens (ie Jesus Christ in Americas) and how  He appeared unto them, why wouldn't he appear unto Joseph smith! so It was great lesson. Oh and a family in our ward got sealed so that was fun! The *** family, they've been members for about 2 years and they finally got sealed. we went to the little celebration  on Saturday night and got dinner, but i think they forgot to plan who was going to serve the food, so when we were sitting down they grabbed us 7 missionaries and told us to help them serve everyone food, so we ended up giving like an hour of service then ate, then went back to our area, but then on our way back to the area, I ran over a nail, and it was in the middle of the intersection so i quickly just rode and then jumped off the bike, but it was too late, because i rode it flat, i got 5 other holes in the bike, so we just went back to the apartment, because i took the time to patch them all, it would have been too long and had to return home anyways. So i've been bike less since Saturday, today im using another bike that was in the garage, and then im going to go and buy new tires because mine are almost all worn out, my back one has like 3 chunks out of it and any little piece of glass or small throne pierces it and then i have to fix the flat. so that's that.

Thanks for all that you do for me! Thanks for your Prayers and love! I feel that Power every day. Sometime you think wow just a little prayer cant really make a difference, but I have completely change that thought being here in the mission. With Prayer comes the spirit. This week as we were walking around, 2 appointments feel through and so as were trying to heading to a former investigators house, I had the feeling to stop by and visit *** a young adult who had basically grown up in the church, So as we were walking by we stopped at the house and found her mom and her mom just starts talking to us and she told us she is a member, so we asked her why she doesn't come to church? She says she works and so we had a long conversation about how its so important to help her kids grow up in the gospel, so we hopefully have some success this week with her and find her in her house. But just little miracles or times when the spirit guides us is when i know that this truly is gods work, if we are doing exactly what we need to be doing and being diligent, then he will guide and put people in our path or put us in their path and let them find the truth!

I love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

ps. if you check out the visitor centers Facebook page, and maybe the mission blog, you might find pictures of the music event!

Zone Conference

 

April 20, 2015

 

Well This week has been... well.... its over. And yeah that's about it. we had the potential of getting many new investigators, but people just don't know how to keep appointments... its really frustrating. But I had a good change yesterday. That's why i love Sundays. Go to church, take the sacrament, pray and then move on. if anything ive learned in the mission is that the Lord is willing to forgive, if we recognize what we need to do different. So we repent. and move on. So thats what i know as a fact and this week there are lots of little things that i want to change about my thoughts and my actions. and mostly not letting my actions and desires change because of what others to do us or with their lives. Change comes with time, but if we never start we will look back to many empty yesterdays.

We did have zone conference this week, and we had a good hour long conversation about motives. Love vs. Duty.... many times both of these missionaries have similar results in an outward aspect, but the inward change and desire is completely different and we talk alot on how our motive to share the gospel changes others around us. If we get 20 conversations just to get 20 conversations, do you think everyone of those people are going to sense your true desire to help them out. But If you get 20 conversations because you truly want to help people out, they are going to feel it and in return actually grow in the gospel in one way or another. If you commit someone to come to church and promise them so many blessings that if they come to church "x" thing will happen in their lives, but we moan and groan about all the meetings we go to how are we supposed to help others see the blessings. Just little though/ desire processes can really change what happens in myself and our area. That was the biggest impact that was taken from zone conference. I love this mission! its been a blast ;) so many good memories. something that has really made me happy is seeing the change that has happened in the Hernandez family. Being back in the same ward is fun to see how people change over time. The Whole family comes to church every week. Ivan the Dad has the Melqusidec priesthood, The sons pass the sacrament every week! they share their testimonies in the class and it just brings Joy to me to see, how it really has changed me and because its changed me i see it change others! I love it all the time.

At zone conference i had the opportunity to play the EFY  medly as the missionaries sang along. But just Before that we watch the conference talk from Elder Holland, from oct 2012 about "the first and great Commandment" And in that talk it talks about exactly that love that we need to follow the savior! I felt the spirit so Much! I love That, I Know that God Cares for each and everyone of us!

I Love you All! hope you have a great week!

Love

Elder Hollingshead

Funny Happenings

April 13, 2015

Well again this week was not super exciting. we've had our struggles. My patience has been tried.... But don't worry about me, its the work of salvation and there's nothing bad about, it :0 I"m still having a blast, but just been a long week and many times i just was frustrated about little things. But today is good. I had a great fast yesterday and it really boosted me up today. The work is just slow, were really struggling to get those new investigators and so Hopefully It will pick up this week. thats what i said last week, but at least we have appointments and lists of people we can visit now. I Think the problem now is making sure they will be in the house. So yeah, were going on exchanges tommorow. So im excited and it will be good :) i love exchanges, not becasue i want to get away from my comp, but just to get to know other missionaries.  Anyways. Here are some fun storries for this week.

Last night, We get home at like 9:10 were putting our stuff down and then i sit in my chair and elder Delgado sits in his and about that same time, I feel a big jolt and Vibration, but only lasted for like 2 seconds. Now since i've felt 2 earthquakes before i knew exactly what that was, And so i told elder Delgado that it was an earthquake. He didnt believe me so we walked out side and then our neighbor also walked out and we came to the conclusion that it was an earthquake, but a really small one. So maybe in a couple of weeks we will have another bigger one. that's what happened last year.

Story #2. so we had dinner at a returning member family. They are super cool. and we get out there and their house is kind of small and there was no man so we just sat outside and had the carne asada, under the tree and porch. And after we were done eating, we were just talking and then we hear this rustling in the tree above us and so we kind of stopped and looked up so we could avoid being hit. we thought it was a branch or something that was stuck in the tree. I was looking up and i saw this brown thing that looked like a branch, come down and it was about 8 inches away from my head. then it hit the chair that i had been sitting in, and rolled to the ground. so i went to look down to see what it was and IT RAN!!!!! Needless to say, a rat fell from the tree and almost hit my head. it was about 6 inches long with out the tail.... The sister freaked out! because it landed right in between me and her.

Story #3. So this is not so much funny, but just a little awkward on what we both did. so we contacted this lady on the street, she was probably mid 20s she told us we could stop by on Saturday, we contacted her on Thursday. So we came by on Saturday, and she was like "im busy" so we just tried to see if we could get in for like 15 min. then she is like well its that i just had my baby on Friday..... Awkward. it didnt seem like she was pregnant, but apparently she was, and on Thursday went to the hospital the next day and had her baby.... And we had no idea and when she told us that, at first i didn't think she was telling the truth, but then i put it all together and believed her, but we both just looked at each other and didn't know what to say to her..... It was super awkward.... But we will be seeing her later this week.

But yeah, That has been my week! I'm so thankful for your prayers and Support! Stay Strong, and I hope you all continue to get things out of conference and keep learning From living day Prophets. I listened to a few talks this morning, and i learned even more things! its great, i love inspired people! its like God is talking straight to me!

Love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

Ok thanks so much mom. Oh and Elder Anderson is from Mesa??? i had no idea. Ill have to read that talk again, I remembered it being a great one that really spoke to me! Thanks for your love and support, ill always be grateful for it. My companion is the only member in his family, and i really see a good desire, but he still learning a lot. He was baptized end of may 2013, and so he really doesn't have much time as a member, but he really has a great testimony. I love you all.

Nothing Much

April 6, 2015

Well hello everyone! this week has been very uneventful. My new/returned area is alright they just had a bunch of baptisms, but there is no investigators right now, my comp is alright. he's  a recent convert and hes still learning alot, hes been out here for almost 5 months so hes still pretty new and he wants to leave the area really bad, so he hasn't worked very hard lately... so its a work in progress. Its been a long crazy week. We had conference and it was great. I really got a lot of things out of it again. I just love it. one of my favorites was Elder Hollands, Elder Bednar, and President Eyring priesthood.  I really got a lot out of it and the great thing is that I really wanted to learn about the atonement and how i can better apply it in my life, and there were lots of talks that talked about that. it was great! Sorry I really don't have time  to email to day, My companion had an interview with president and then i had music rehearsal so we have about 3 hours to do everything else. thankfully president let us email up here at the mission office :) hes the greatest. Then also It was super great to see a bunch of people from HP again. the Hernandez family was super excited to see me again and he got the Melchizedek priesthood. they are progressing super great! Basically the whole weekend was just conference. 

 

I hope you all enjoyed conference! it was great! i love it so much! And thanks for all the pictures of the new Addition to the family. I hope everything goes well with them!  

I love you all so much!

 

Elder Hollingshead

"Mini" Missionary

Well this week was interesting. we had some pretty fun crazy time. we went on 2 exchanges and it went well. both of them were with trios because there are now 2 of them in the zone. So I went with 2 of the elders in Hollywood and it was fun. they had a super cool couple that got baptized super fast and they are so cool and I feel like he was teaching us, he really just was ready to have the gospel in his life. we literally taught The commandments and laws and ordinances in about 70 min. it was a little crazy but it was needed to be done. Then the rest of the night up there was just crazy, they had their LA English class and then coordination meeting. then we had someone from the mission office call us to see if we could help him that night unload a apartment  and put the furniture into the truck. so we went over for about 45 min and carried couches and mattress and drawers down for him. Then the next day we met with ** and **, ** ***'s kids. They are 17 and 21 and are somewhat interested and so we taught them and set baptismal dates with them. It sounds like they are super ready, but ** is a little shy and doesn't like to talk to us a ton. so that's a problem, but nothing we haven't dealt with before. We also met with this guy named **. he came to church last week and seemed super cool. but the lesson went horribly he's a mix between catholic and Christian. which doesn't really make sense. He doesn't like to listen to us. and so it made the lesson super rough.

 

We haven't had any contact with ** and **. they seem to have lost interest. and they just don't want to meet with us. Were pretty bummed out about that. Then on Friday we got a mini missionary! so each of the stakes select a weekend in the year for the youth of the stake to stay with full time missionaries for a weekend. So we got this Tongan youth named ****. Yes that's a Spanish name (his grandpa is from el Salvador) but he's Tongan. Its weird, but he was super cool. He wasn't so much a "mini" missionary seeing that he was bigger than both of us combined! not really but he was tall and big. Funny thing is that he's going to go to USC and it was right in our area. So he got to see the ghetto side of USC. Then yeah, he didn't speak Spanish so he was a little lost the whole time. but he did have fun. so that took some time out of the area. But yeah we had a fun weekend. Then this week we are going to have 2 special MLC's one for the new video the church is coming out with. and its about easter. so its going to be just like he is the gift. then on Friday. a 70 that overlooks lots of southern CA missions is going to be in visiting the area so we are going to have a council with him for 3 hours on Friday. its going to be Awesome! were excited. and then this sunday is transfer call! so Lets hope I stay for one more! I really hope I do. but I know that saying that is just going to curse me and then im going to go.... so were just going to have to see!

 

But yeah, we did get to go to the temple this last week. and I just love the temple! its such a spiritual place! sometimes when missionary life gets busy and we don't have too much time. I always forget to remember the little tender mercies that happen through out the day. One of the things i'm starting to do as of right now is to write in my journal (because its usually ever other or 3 days) I know that's horrible. But at the end of each entry to write down a tender mercy, or a cool story/spiritual experience because I think when we notice them then give thanks and keep them sacred we remember the lord more and how this is his work and everything is from him. So yeah That's my little note today! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love
Elder Hollingshead

 

***'s Baptism

Well this week was pretty awesome! it was really packed full, but It ended great! ** did get baptized. I baptized him, and it went great! The spirit really was there, and he really was happy, also his wife. she really loved it, she also said that her daughter **(who we taught a little bit this week) is the next baptism. she came to church and seemed to enjoy it. She's a senior in high school and she has a lot of interest in reading the book of Mormon. So yeah that was a great day. we did 2 exchanges this week! One with elder Solano! he's really fun! we had a blast that day! and then with elder Wilson, he's funny. it was really fun. Then also on Wednesday we took like 4 hours helping a companionship out because there was a mid cycle transfer so one missionary left to Torrance, then another came in! so that took a while and then I had to go pickup my bike and  sadly its in pretty bad condition. I knew I shouldn't have left it behind... but I think it just needs a good tune up and it will be in perfect condition. the breaks are shot and it could use a good lube, but overall I think it will still work. But the question is what am I going to do with it at the end? I don't want to sell it because I still want it, but shipping it home costs a lot, but whatever ill figure that out later!

 

The work is doing great! we got 5 new Investigators! and one of them was a miracle. we only had 4 during the week and early Sunday afternoon. so we kept going around and we were down to last 30min and we had just a few more people to try, and as we were going to the last couple. we saw this lady that came to LAE and she waved so we crossed the street and shared a little message and then set another date to come back and she seems really good to teach! so that was a miracle and we got the 5 NI! Prayers work and as long as were diligent we find the blessings!

 

I wish I could write some more, but I'm out of time, we went to a Korean BBQ and it was great, but It took a long time and we need to go pick some missionaries up to do something else real quick. so yeah I just want to let you all know that I know this is Gods work and It truly does bring lots of happiness and I Hope You all feel that everyday!

 

I love you all!

Elder Hollingshead

Prayers

Dear Everyone!

 

Well This week has been pretty busy.... but good. So yeah Tuesday we had MLC, so that took all morning and then it went an hour long so we didn't get back to our area till almost 4, then we had LAE that night so it just took all of our time.  Then Wednesday we were really busy just trying to do some work in our area. then, at night we had a good lesson with Juan cazares. he is super cool! and we taught a little bit more about the book of Mormon and  its importance. Then we had a good lesson with Lesly, she's doing alright, but keeps getting busy with her sick daughter and so she hasn't been able to come to church. Then later that night we had a lesson with Myrna, It was good, but she got a little confused with everything so we told her to read the book of Mormon and it would make more sense, and she did and then we called her back a couple of days later and she said it made a lot more sense! So that's why the Book of Mormon is so Key! Because when people read it, it makes sense. SO yeah, then the next day we had interviews with President. So we got there early to set up, then we didn't leave till 4 so again, it was a rough day to get work done. Then that night we came back, and we both had forgotten that we still needed to plan for ZTM the next morning..... We tried to plan it out, but our minds were so fried and dead we couldn't get anything to make sense so we prayed a ton and then finished planning in the morning.  Thankfully in the morning our minds were refreshed and we quickly planned it out and in 30 min we then gave it back to the zone. It was a little crazy last minute. but it worked out and got a lot of good comments. 

 

Then we went on exchanges, I went with elder Santos, he's a great elder, and his companion is struggling a little bit, but he's working hard, so we had another lesson with **, we watched the restoration video and talked about the word of wisdom. All is good, He's super ready and then we had a great lesson with the ***'s! this is one of the first lessons where they didn't argue in the lesson, It was really powerful and we taught about the importance of prayer. They all committed to pray morning and night everyday! That was about it though, we then were talking and realized ** is super ready and so there is no reason we shouldn't move the date up. So we talked to him last night and he is all for it, so he is going to get baptized this weekend! yeah super quick, but he is ready and really wants to do it.  So we even asked president on what he thought, and he said go for it, if its what he wants. So that's what we did. Then ** and ** both came to church! they are progressing pretty well. And then yeah we have just been busy with meetings. Then also we are closing down LA English. its not very productive anymore so president told us to shut it down. so 2 more classes and its gone. never again will it be heard of.... not really but at least for a while.

 

Well I love you all so MUCH! thanks for your support! Keep Praying, and praying and then pray more because it will be of the Greatest importance in this life!

Love, :)
Elder Hollingshead

Singing in the Rain!

Well not actually singing in the rain, but it did rain and I did get to sing this morning.  it was weird... and awesomely fun! I miss choir so bad. but its ok. Fun story though,  one of the missionaries in the choir is from phoenix and he actually was in Allstate our last year and was in the same choir as me. It was that awkward moment when you probably met someone before, but never realized it until like 2 years later. But yeah he's super cool.  Then also it rained a lot last night and made LA super cold. So hopefully it warms back up a little bit :0 I'm going to die when I get back to AZ...

Something Super cool! so our zone was selected to try out a new Book of Mormon Contacting. So there is a Member in the Palos verdes stake that was a mission president in the Finland mission and got home the end of last summer. He is So cool and he had this super cool way to contact with the book of Mormon that completely changed their mission. That mission was have very little success and by the end there were so many changes that it make the whole mission super cool! So In Chapter 5 of PMG there is a list of Questions that the book of Mormon answers. They are called the "questions of the soul". so what we do is take that list and make a copy and put it in the front and then have people select one question and then give them a book of Mormon to read and answer their own question. But yeah. so we have been trying it out in our area. its alright. so we are the test group and we need to give a presentation tomorrow at MLC,  so that will be fun. So that is our fun new thing this week.

But yeah so we set 2 new baptismal dates, and they both seem super solid new investigators. ***. he's super great, has had lots of dates and missionaries teaching him before, but he recently got cancer and he was told before one of the surgeries, he might not live and he realized he was never baptized so he wants to get baptized now and he really seems more into it and not just a one time thing, he wants to live the gospel. He's really great and he came to church! and then we met with this lady named *** she is super cool and actually is looking for a church, she got baptized like 6 months ago, but after that the church moved locations and it is super far so she stopped going and started to not like some of the things the pastor was teaching, but then she saw us and wanted to talk and so we talked about the restoration and committed her to be baptized and she sounds like she really wants to come to church. Its so Great! so that's what's new. Hopefully we continue to find new investigators with this new contacting strategy.

This week its been hard sometimes. I feel like there are so many things that have change about me, but the more changes that happen, the more I realize that there are so many other things I need to change and it kind of gets overwhelming.  So now it just a thing to put those things on a list and make a good plan to study and work on each an every one of these goals. I hope that it will make a great finish to an awesome Mission. But those 5 or so months are going to go by fast so its now to work on and make it all better.

I love you all! I hope it all goes well this week and get some of that cold weather we got :)

Have a great week!

Elder Hollingshead

I'm 20 !!!!

HOLA!

SO yeah wow IM 20!!!! :~/ I still don't know how I feel about that, but its a fact and that number is only going to get bigger and bigger so I better get used to it. and also that means I have less than 6 months left of the mission. We just got photos of the Hnas that were in our district in the MTC and they are all home and kicking it back with the family. it was weird to see that. Basically Last week was great! Nothing much Grand or Life Changing happened, but it was a great week! Elder maughan is super cool! hes pretty quite, until were in lessons then he does a lot of teaching! hes a great teacher and it really made some good lessons. Oh and I did get my cards from everyone! it was great to see them all and hear from a bunch of you. I did get My ACT book too. Its huge, it will keep me busy, it has 5 full tests to take before the actual test so its full of things to learn and work on. Yeah.... what else... The ***'s got confirmed and it went great! They are such a cool family and they are soo sooo happy to have found the church! also, They are learning English really quickly.**** (11) she has been here for like 8 months and already can speak quite a bit and understands a lot. *** (16) she refuses to speak it in front of us, but does understand a lot. she just hates English for some reason. They also had a big problem on Friday, she got called into work, but at the same time she also had a family emergency and had to go pick up her nephew and work is very strict and doesn't let people just ask for hours off. So she asked us to pray and then she prayed to be able to tell her boss the situation and if she could come late. And HE said NO problem, so it all work out and she was super happy and she loves praying now :) Before she never wanted to pray in front of us and now it was super easy to get her to pray!

Oh and so that family we found like 2 weeks ago. We stopped by and taught them again. They are super cool and I think they are even more interested and it was a great lesson. we really just taught them  the same thing but they understood it more and want to find out if its true. Last night we also visited with the***** family. its so fun to visit with them. Even though they were less active for 8 years, I'm pretty sure there was always a testimony  in there. hna. was saying how she knew how much the gospel could bless her family, but priorities were just not right and it tore them apart. Then this last Sunday, They all came to church again. parents and 4 children, She said it was probably the most joyful feeling to see her whole family at church again. They are so COOL! its sad that they had to go through those 8 years to figure out the blessings, but Now they are in it and they can see the purpose of it all!

I love the mission, since this was 3/4 down it was a time of reflection and goal setting so it was a time I sat down and made lots of goals for the last stretch of the mission. So Now its just to make the best of it! Oh and another thing, I was kind of selected to be part of a musical group thing at the VC, and so I went and sang to day and they will tell me later this week if I was selected to be part of it. they made me sing the bass line on a hymn because they need more basses, but I told them I'm a tenor, but they told me to stay bass.... :( o well hopefully it will go alright.

Love you all! Have a great week! and thanks for all the things I got for my B-day!

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

Baptisms!

Well,

Happy Valentines day Everyone! even thought that was 2 days ago... But yeah so this week has been pretty crazy. First off.... Transfers..... Elder Ceron is leaving (1 area away) He is still going to be in the same ward with the same district leader, but in a  different area. So Im staying, My New Companion is going to be Elder Maughan, We were in the same MTC District back a year and a half ago.... wow time flys. Yeah so that is happening tommorow. basically Its going to be a great transfer. The only changes in the zone is that the 2 hollywood ward areas were merged into 1 huge area because they are not very productive areas. So yeah thats about it. President told us the mission is shrinking. 21 missionaryies are going home this transfer and 3 are coming in. so its going to be a big change. then yeah. What else Happenend. Oh yeah so we were the first generation of the 3rd Quarter training. Basically its a training about enduring to the end and finishing strong. it was a great training, Our Group of missionaries that is going home in august is HUGE I think its like around 30 or more. Lots of fun memories with them all. Then also The Bolithos GOT BAPTZIED!!!!!! it was amazing. it was a week with lots of cool things happening. and in the end they got baptized and everything went pretty smothly. The Interviews were a little last min. becasue they were on saterday night, but it ended up being just fine. There were actually 5 baptisms. **, **, *** ***** and then an 8 year old in the ward and another 20 year old in another area in the ward. So yeah. I love it all it makes me so happy.

Also this week me and my companion have been sick off and on. not super sick but just enought to make it miserable some days. Its funny because one night i came home and had a killer headache, then the next night i would be fine and my compnion would be super sick.... so its been a struggle, still have a little cough and sore throat in mornings but all is well other than that. Honestly in the 18 months out here ive never been so sick that i had to stay in. its a blessing. every once in a while food would make me sick, or i would get s fever sometimes, but it would always go away after like an hour or 2. but its all good. It got pretty warm here this week, but at night its the perfect temperature. It sure is nice around here this time of year.

This morning in my personal study, i was studying chapter 2 of PMG, so it talks about studies and how to make them more effective. There were 2 words it used to describe a good study, Desire and Action. kindof like faith right? But Its so true, sometimes we feel like as long as we read the scriptures, God is going to tell us the answer without studying, or as long as we pray and try to focus We will be Taught Great and marvilous things. but its not like that.... First We have to desire, if there is no desire then we are just reading another "good book". But if we have the desire to Search from the Best, namly the Book of Mormon the "most correct book on the whole earth" we will then be nourished spiritually not just mentally. Then if we have good desires and motives for reading the books that bring Eternal life, we have to put some effort, and actions to actually get out of them what God wants us to learn. Ive seen this in my mision alot! Me, sometimes im so tired, that i dont really study, yet i feel and kindof expect God to teach me something still. Im not saying to doesnt happen like that, but its a lot less likely. BUT!, when i put a little more effort in to studying and taking notes searching other scriptures, personal and companionship study literally become "a whole new world" (just had to put some disney in there) So i hope we can all find a few ways to improve our studies.

I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Hollingshead

ps. I would send you some photos, but i forgot my cable to send them so... maybe next week! :p

Take 2

Dear Everyone!

Well this week has been pretty good. We have a couple of cool stories and we are super excited for the *** family. They are all ready to go for this next weekend. First off Tuesday we had MLC and so we talked a lot about commitments and that is what president wants us to focus on. Then That night at LAE class we had 9 new students and we gave lots of church tours and it was super great, now I don't want to shut it down. ****** Came to church and got confirmed... She felt really bad that she didn't get it done last week, she had a big family emergency and her daughter ended up in the hospital super sick and so by the time she got back from that, there were some family problems in the house and she couldn't get out in time, she felt horrible and it really made me realize how much church feels different to new people and it starts to become a part of their lives. It's so cool. Then yeah Thursday we had a cool miracle one of the recent convert families in our area, another family member loves the church but is not married, but was in the process of getter her papers fixed, so she cant get married... so she was kind of dropped and  she came to church once in a while but couldn't do much about the situation. then she told us Thursday that her papers are done! she can do what ever she wants.  (that or she just gave up and said forget about it, ill get married and worry about papers later) so she wants to get baptized so hopefully we will se that soon. Then Friday and Saturday we visited the ***'s, they are all ready, basically we went through all the ?s and they are ready. they came to another baptism and loved it even more now that they are getting baptized this next week! Then Sunday we had a cool miracle. so we have been struggling to get new investigators, and also 140 convs. I dont know if it was lack of motivation between us both or laziness but we have just been struggling lately. So Saturday night as we were planning, we made a deal with God, we told him, that if he would let us find 4 new investigators on Sunday we would get 140 next week and the next week after.  and so we were just trying as many potentials as we could. and all the sudden Elder Ceron remembers a family that said we could come by on Sunday, but it was a little far, but anyways we got in the car and drove down there, we knocked on the door and they let us in, 2 other people came in and halfway through the lesson one of the sisters told us she got baptized in the Mormon church down in el Salvador when she was 13 and lost contact soon thereafter. It was a miracle and we got 4 new investigators and now we have a promise to keep up with God this week. It was a blessing from God and we know that this is something for us to improve on... We talked a lot last night on how we can improve as a companionship, so we made lots of goals and new changes to work on to make this area the best it can be.

This morning I was reading in D&C section 6 because I remembered of vs. 36 "look unto me in every thought, doubt not fear not" and as I was reading the section, these scriptures stuck out to me, vs33 and 35  Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.

 This struck me because I was feeling that broken heart, contrite spirit, and feeling that I had not been putting forth my full effort to working super diligently or getting our 140 conversations every week, so he never condemns us, he lets us repent and go forward, and what ever effort we put into the work, the same joy we will receive in the end.

I'm so thankful for this opportunity to serve a mission, its been the greatest most growing experience and its still rough sometimes and we struggle and we get discouraged, but when we put our fear and doubt in the back seat and let Christ lead our lives we find great joy, and bring great joy to others in their life

I love you all! thanks for your support. I hope you have a great month filled with Charity and Love, and  Great Valentines day this Saturday! I Love you all and have a great week

Elder Hollingshead

I'm glad it's over..:)



At the Visitor's Center with the *** Family!

 

 

Well this week, well, its been long. It was an absolutely great week! but been very very tiring. 3 exchanges, 2 zone conferences, car wreck, waking up at 5... the list can go on. First things first, yes I did get in an accident. And before you all Freak out, no it was no bad, just a little fender bender. Picture is posted below. it was at the end of p-day and we were on our way home, and we stopped at a light because it turned red, and it then 2 seconds later we get rear-ended. Probably a distracted driver, so we pulled of the main road, he just left the scene.  So it was a hit and run. the next day we had to drive around for a bit, to drop the accident report, go to the car shop and have pictures taken to get, the bumper fixed, so there went our Tuesday morning, and then That night we went to the visitor center with the *** family. It was an amazing trip. And we set a date for all the of them for the 15th of Feb! It was great and I just love the visitor center. It was just amazing and They all loved it!
Wednesday, well it was great, we had zone conference and the theme this time was becoming a more consecrated missionary. It hit me how much more I need to do to become fully consecrated. It really takes everything, and so there are lots of things I'm going to be doing differently. Mostly just keeping all my mind focused on the now, not the future or the past or the things going on in the world, but In the NOW, This time, and focus on the things that need to get done in our area and zone and life. After zone conference we did a quick exchange with some elders and it was fun, other than the fact that he didn't speak any Spanish so he was pretty board, but it was fun anyways.
Then so Wednesday and Thursday we got up at 5 am. because zone conferences start at 8 and it takes a good 1 hour to get to the building, and then we got assigned to help out with some things on Thursday so we got 2 conferences. A fun new tradition that we started this transfer is that we sang the EFY medley. It was awesome!

 

Friday we did another exchange and it was fun, we got to roam around downtown. and we got rained on big time. It was fun, and we got soaked. Then we got 2 dinners by accident. But tis all good. then at night, the tradition in the apartment is that you take a night shower with the lights off the bathroom and then downtown is super close and you just have the lights from all the of the buildings light the room. It was super funny but nice. It was really relaxing.

The lights of downtown from our window!

 

Saturday we did another exchange and it went alright, but it was just slow and we were both extremely tired. So nothing much happened there. we also got 2 full dinners by accident. the Bolitho's gave us dinner and it was super cool and then we taught the word of wisdom. Nothing much happened.

Downtown from our window daylight hours!

 

Sunday, we almost had no investigators come to church, but the *** came really late. but they came in dresses and they rode their bikes all the way here. Its great that they have that desire to come. And then right after church we went all the way to Hollywood to do some baptismal interviews (my first ones) it was a family, and they are super awesome and their date was for later this month, then the missionaries told them that they are ready and they the decided to get baptized this week, so we quickly had to do the interviews and they are solid as a rock. I interviewed the teenagers and they were super knowledgeable and It was great.

 

So basically I'm super tired and Want to go sleep, but that is not going to happen ever. we have MLC tomorrow and we have to plan another ZTM this week! it just never ends. I hope we get a little time this afternoon to relax a little.

 

I love you all! Hope you have a great week and Have a great month of Charity :) after all it is the month of love.

 

Love,

Elder Hollingshead

The Fender Bender:(