"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