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