Año Nuevo (Casi)

Again, Merry Christmas and almost Happy New year! Well, it´s been pretty good this last week.  I feel that Elder Danneman and I have done some pretty good work here.  We´ve been working hard, and finding some new people.  Honestly, this month hasn´t felt a whole lot like Christmas, being away from home, not really celebrating much, and walking around under the hot sun every day.  Some of these days have been pretty satisfying, but not like Christmas exactly. It wasn't until Thursday that I really completely felt the spirit of Christmas. The whole mission met together in a school that was big enough to hold all of us. The activity started off with the choir singing a bunch of incredible Christmas hymns, and we had some spiritual talks and videos about Christmas. I was thinking earlier that we´re always spreading the Gospel of Christ, so we always have that spirit with us, so it really takes something powerful to boost us to the point where we can feel it completely. (I hope that makes sense... It does to me, so... Eso) 

After that In the morning, we had lunch (about 2 or 3 hamburgers for every person) and then returned to the theater area for the more "fun" part. We started it off with some great mission songs, and President Ayre talking to us a little bit.  We also had a little gift exchange and watched the videos that every zone in the mission made for Christmas.  So ya, it was great to be together with the whole mission.  Later, we returned to our areas and continued working.  We also had dinner with the Armas Rocha family in our ward that night.

On Christmas day, we had our P-day (we worked monday also this week) and the Elders in my apartment had a little Present opening. We received a few things from the family, and also from some of the ward members.  Later on in the day, we went to the house of a member to skype our familys (For those of you who don´t know, we can only call two days of the year- Christmas and mothers day) It was great to see and talk with my family.  Love ´em so much!!! (Obviously) So ya, that was a highlight. 😁

Sunday, we had a few people attend church with us.  An investigator who´s come three times now named Ivanna, and a family of less actives who´s children haven´t been baptized.  Ivanna has told us that she feels good when she attends church, and feels good about the message of the Gospel also.  Well, this should be a pretty good week (knock on wood) :) 

Les amo! Discúlpenme que no he enviado cartas a nadie todavía! ;) Es casi imposible... pero bueno.  Sé que esta época de navidad ha sido un gran tiempo para recordar Jesucristo, y que debemos seguir recordando a Él.  Estoy agradecido por su Iglesia, la cual Él estableció por medio de José Smith de nuevo en la tierra.  Esta es su verdad.  (google translation says: I love them! Excuse me I did not send letters to anyone yet! ;) It's almost impossible ... but good. I know this Christmas season has been a great time to remember Jesus Christ and that we should keep reminding him. I am grateful for his Church which He established through Joseph Smith again on earth. This is true.)

-Elder Holtry

These are some of the slang things people say in Argentina via Josh's Skype call

This is him speaking part of the first vision in Spanish. (His companion was right next to him speaking to his family so it's sort of hard to hear)

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

¡¡¡¡Feliz Navidad a todos!!!! That´s right, Christmas this week, and this Friday i´ll get to call my family via skype, so i´m pretty stoked for that!  Along with that, i´ve completed 6 months in the mission, so I (along with Elder Hardcastle) Burned a tie traditionally to celebrate it. Well, the truth is that this week hasn´t been as insanely hot, so that was a nice Christmas present from Argentina!

Well, we´ve had some interesting stuuf happen this week.  One day, we were walking down the street, and we greeted a man cleaning his car on the side of the road.  We said "Hola", and then, within his house, we heard an "HOLA".  We looked, only to see a bird sitting there. Well, turns out it was the type of bird that can talk (Is it called a parakeet?) and we ended up talking with his owner for a little bit (Hector).  So that was pretty fun, along with the other Spanish phrases that the bird could say! :D

Also, this last week, my toe was hurting a bit, and it was a bit inflamed and infected-looking, so I decided to take it to a lady in our ward who specializes in fixing toes. Turns out that I had two in-grown toenails in the big toe of my right foot. Surprise! They were pretty big as well. Elder Danneman has had them before, so he told me that they usually just do and injection and then take it out. Nice and simple right? Nope. She didn´t have such a thing, so she just ended up cutting open that part of my toe and cutting it out.  She said something like "Just read your scriptures" because I was trying not to look at it, and I said "No, probably just a prayer will do for now" But ya, that was fun. 

Anyways, we´ve been finding a bunch of people this week, we´re going to need to work with them a bit to help them along, but we ended up teaching some great lessons this week.  In one, the spirit was so strong the whole time.  There were moments when I was about to explain a gospel principle, and then before I began they asked about that same principle. Seriously a testimony builder about the spirit.

Still, despite all of these new investigators, none of them are progressing towards baptism.  I´ve thought alot this week about what it means to be a successful missionary, and along with that, to be a successful person in life.  This is probably obvious for some of you, but I´ve come to understand in on a new level: The only thing important at the end of the day, is that we´ve done what god desires of us.  Truly, no thing is more important.  We can live a life of pleasure, completely satisfying all of our senses. But at the end of it, what do you think would be more important? That we´ve been happy and satisfied all the time, or that we´ve done hard things, learned, grown, and ultimately followed the path and teachings of the Lord?

The mission isn´t easy, and it´s not the most fun either, but as I´ve said before, it´s where I KNOW that I should be.  I know that I´ve found individuals that will one day be able to make covenants with God through baptism.  Maybe not now, but some day.

Lo que es lo mas importante es que hagamos la voluntad del Señor, nada más.  Prenguntenles cada día, "¿Estoy haciendo lo que el Señor quiere que yo haga?" Sé que esta iglesia da el verdadero sendero que Dios quiere que caminemos. A pesar de las dificultades, vale la pena. de estas cosas testifico, en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.

(translation: What is most important is to do the will of God, nothing else. Prenguntenles every day, "Am I doing what the Lord wants me to do?" I know this church gives the true path that God wants us to walk. Despite the difficulties, it is worth. these things testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.)

-Elder Holtry

Ha Nacido Un Salvador

I´ve got two words for you: Hace Calor. What I mean by that is that it´s freaking hot here! This is definitely the hottest Christmas I´ve ever experienced, since we´re already sweating from 9 in the morning (in the apartment) onward.  The other day, it was cloudy, and rained a little bit, and yet, it was still hot outside... Pero Mal... A few people have lights outside and whatnot, and a few have little Christmas trees (like, the tallest that i´ve seen is about 3/4 of my height). Well,  we only have to endure a few months more of it i suppose.

Well, our apartment has a problem with cockroaches (The problem was there before I arrived, ok?) But luckily, Elder Danneman has a talent for killing the little things.  He´s always ready to stomp them and spray a little bit of bug spray.  In one area of the kitchen, it was really bad when he found it, so he took the bug spray and a lighter and pretty much torched the area.  It was beautiful. So ya, that´s been bugging me a bit...

Outside of the apartment, we´ve been working a ton. we´ve walked to all of the borders of our area this week, doing visits, and contacting in the street.  We´ve been focusing a bit more in Christmas invitations recently.  We have our "Ha Nacido un Salvador" Cards, which are awesome.  There´s a video that we invite the people to watch.  In English, it´d be under the web page Christmas.mormon.org.  If you still haven´t seen it, well, I invite you to watch it!

We had a pretty cool experience earlier this week.  We were out walking and doing visits, when Elder Danneman said he had the thought to go and visit some members in the area.  We went, and found them all together in the house.  When we arrived, we talked with them for a little bit, and then they said that they had recently been talking about how they wanted to give their child a blessing, because it was a bit sick, but the father was still waiting to receive the priesthood.  So, we had the opportunity to give a blessing to the child, and share our message of Christmas with the family also. 

Well, i´m just grateful that I had the opportunity to have that experience.  Also, to be apart of this grand work. Pues, como siempe. seguimos adelante. Por medio del calor, dificultades, y oposiciones que enfrentemos cada día. Estoy agradecido por esta obra, por esta iglesia, y por mi Salvador, Jesucristo, quien me ha ayudado diariamente. Esta es su obra. (Well, as always. We move on. By heat, difficulties and opposition we face every day. I am grateful for this work, for this church, and my Savior, Jesus Christ, who has helped me daily. This is his work.)

 A few of the dead cockroaches after Elder Danneman blow torched the place.

Invitar y Ayudar

Well, it´s been a descent week here in San Miguel. There´s going to be some pretty scattered thoughts in here, so get ready! I don´t remember if i mentioned this last week, but i went to a reunion in San Fernando the other week.  I sat down, and turned, and who did I see? Elder Cedeño! He greeted me with a hearty "Hello my boy!" (In the mission, our trainers from our first areas are our "papás") So it was awesome to see and talk with him for a bit, he´s awesome! Also, another funny moment from the last week was when I was talking with Elder Cordova on our way to an appointment.  A guy riding on a cart pulled by a horse passed us by (As they do every so often) and I asked him if they had many horses like that in Chile.  He responded yes, and proceeded to explain (a bit exageratedly and sarcasticly) about how there are horses everywhere in Chile hahahaha.  After a bit of this, I asked him "There aren´t many horses in Chile, are there?" To the which he replied "No Elder, Chile is normal" I don´t know, it was pretty funny for me :) 

Well, one thing that I´m going to miss from Munro is Buddy´s Pizza. It´s like 40 pesos, and close to the apartment.  It´s garbage, but still, it´s alright :) Well, here´s a little fact for all of you folks back home.  Elder Danneman and I were walking down the street the other day, and I remembered that I know a Josh Danneman from BYU (he was in my Ward).  I asked him if he had a relative with that name.  As it turns out, it´s his brother! (Who is now serving in Brasil) That´s crazy, because we know someone in common there, and also, with Elder Cedeño, we had a mutual friend named Maryn! Crazy stuff, huh? 

Now, to talk about some of the things that happened this week.  We´ve been visiting ward members this week, 1- so that i can get to know them, and 2- so that we can share a Christmas message and ask for references.  Also, I saw two ex-missionaries this week, who returned to visit Argentina with their families.  It was super cool getting words of advice from those guys.  Also, with one of them, his Dad knew Spanish, but his mom, no.  It reminded me of my first week here! :)

Well, also this week, we´ve visited alot of less-active members, to help them out in whatever way that we can.  Yesterday, we came accross a member named Enzo.  He hasn´t attended for a couple of years now.  We talked to him, and he has alot of doubts about the church, and Especially the members, because he quarelled with some at one point.  Well, after we answered his questions, and talked with him for a bit, he recounted to us how that morning, he had found his white shirt and tie, and was thinking about the missionaries. He muttered several times how weird it was that we´d come that same day, within the two hours that he was in his house, and right before he was about to move to a new house.  Well, this experience has strengthened my testimony in a few things. Such as that the Lord guides us in this work. Also, it reminded me of our purpose. To INVITE people to come unto Christ and to HELP them do it.  That was what we did with Enzo, we offered an opportunity, and helped to resolve his doubts.  He can choose to soften his heart, or continue on in blindness.

Well, what can I say more? I´ve declared the truth of these things, and i´ll do it again.  This is Christ´s church.  Newly established in the earth.  It has his name. It has his priesthood. It has his organization and revelation.  This is my testimony, and I share it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

-Élder Holtry

New view from my apartment.

 Elder Cordova and I

 Elder Danneman and I

 me trying to look epic

 Me and Elder Flemming (and Hermana Morales) 

 The Zone

 With Bro and Sis Snow. They are the mission presidents wife's parents and are in Fair Oaks 4th ward

Christmas Cards we give out

 My new agenda

One last look at the old apartment in Munro

¡¡ME FUI!!

Well, we had transfers today, and I´ve now left Munro.  It´s a bit strange being in a new area again, but It feels good to have a change of scenery. Now, i´m in San Martin, with my companion Elder Danemann.  The apartment that I have now is way different than the one before.  It´s what we´d call "Cheto" here in Argentina (Rich/expensive). It has air conditioning, sinks functioning correctly, and it seems pretty comfy.  Also, there´s 4 elders in this apartment, so Elder Hardcastle (From the MTC) and his comp are there as well!  Just a little more background info, my Companion is from Georgia, and has about 1 year and a half in the mission.  But anyways, this week has been pretty good.  Back in Munro, our investigator Dayana has plans for baptism, and we were also working with Graciela again... but oh well.  Elder Córdova can finish those off I suppose.

> Well, I left my camera in the apartment, so I won´t be able to send pictures until next week... :/ but anyways, one thing that was pretty great from this week was that we had a Christmas Devotional.  We went to San Fernando, where there was a choir of missionaries, who sang about 18 songs.  Also, we had the farewells of the missionaries completeling their missions here in the Gran misión Buenos Aires Norte. It was all super powerful and spiritual!

> Anyways, I´m super ready to get working in this new area, find the people that are waiting, and baptize them.  This is our purpose, to teach, find the people that are ready to make covenants with God, and to help them with it through commitments and baptism.  Well, the work continues on.  I love you folks, and wish you all the best! Chow

Élder Holtry

Instrumentos en las manos del Señor

Howdy ya’ll! (I never know how to begin these...) Just a little thing that I want to throw in here, to make people back home more grateful for what they have: We visited our convert Daryl the other day to talk with him and teach him a little bit.  Right  now, he´s pretty stressed because he´s working 12-14 hours a day. with that, he doesn´t have time for much else.  Right now, he´s making about 14-16 pesos an hour (that´s about a little more than 1 dollar and a half).  So ya, just a little thing that I was reflecting on earlier.

 Well, anyways, it´s really in those moments when I´m talking with a drunk guy in the ghetto, trying to help him see the importance of keeping commitments like church attendance when I think "Wow... I´m on my mission right now..." It´s incredible to think that my whole life has led up to this time, and really, that thought has brought me to realize that I need to do more. Every week, every hour, and every moment that I´m in the service of the Lord, I need to think "How can I be more productive? How can I be more Obedient? (and ultimately,) How can I become the missionary that the Lord wants me to be? If we want to utilize the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we need to be willing to seek it out.  Maybe I´m not the best example of this in my life, but it´s something that I know.

Right now, I need to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Completely. Because there are people out there ready to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Our purpose as missionaries is to follow the spirit, invite these people, and baptize them with the authority that we have. Nada más.  

Ultimately,the thought I want to give you folks is this. "Am I doing what I need to to become what the Lord hopes of me? Maybe it´s vague. Maybe it´s difficult.  But, really, if you have the desire to obtain this, pray, ponder, search, and pray some more. Thank you all for you´re love and support, I can´t tell you how good it is to know that I have such great friends and family back at home. Les quiero

-Elder Holtry

Pancakes!

La Esperanza

First things first, the weather here can´t make up it´s mind.  It´s either super hot, or pouring rain... The other day, it was raining a bit... a LOT. and Elder Córdova and I were walking down the flooded streets.  Then, like in the movies, a car passed by and splashed water on us.  Sometimes, all you can do is grin and bear it. :) Still, the week has it´s gems.  My companion can play the guitar, so in a visit with one of our investigators, he borrowed their guitar and played while I sang a few songs. It´s nice being the only one that knows English, because I can mess up on the lyrics, but nobody knows it! :D 

This Sunday was pretty good, our investigator Graciela attended church, and a less active family that we´ve been helping out.  We had to move the baptisimal date of Graciela, because she didn´t attend last week :( But still, moving forward.  Also Sunday, I taught Sunday School.  The second hour of church, in Gospel Principles, I asked one of the members who was the teacher for that day, and she said that we (the missionaries) Were going to teach. It ended up being just me (I don´t know why...) But still, it actually went pretty smoothly. Ch. 41 from gospel principles i believe it was.

One AWESOME thing from this week was that we went to the temple!!!! We got the message the day before, and were super stoked.  We first went to San Fernando in the morning to do paperwork for my visa, and after took a pretty long trip to the temple.We ate a bit at the MTC there (It was alright i suppose :) ) and proceeded to go and work in the temple.  My first time in Spanish there, but it went pretty well! Gosh, the temple is seriously the best place on earth! (Being the house of God and such) I wish we could go more often, but it´s not in the mission boundaries, so only special occasions... But ya, simply incredible.

One thing that I was studying this week was about Hope.  one thing that I thought was interesting (like it says in Moroni 7:40) is that we can´t have Faith without hope.  It´s vital that we can build our hope to overcome discouragment, maintain the desire to work, so that we can have faith and work hard.  We need always to have hope and faith that the Lord will and is helping us. And go forth with this knowlege to do good works every day.

Sé que la esperanza es un atributo de Cristo que va a animarnos a hace lo bueno. Debemos trabajar a aumentar esta, y aumentar nuestras buenas obras siempre.  Sé que este es el evangelio restaurado de Jesucristo. Esta es su obra. Amén.

(Translation:I know that hope is an attribute of Christ that will encourage us to do good. We must work to increase this, and increase our good works forever. I know this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This is his work. Amen.)

-Elder Holtry 

Buenos Aires Temple

 One of the days when it was raining a bit... I put some plastic bags in my shoes to help with the rain 

 The last pday, we had a waterballon fight with the zone! 

 I taught my comp a joke in English. They dont understand dry humor very well here. It doesn´t make much sense in Spanish, but still...

Adelante

Hey there! Well, it´s been a pretty good week. As always, it´s had it´s ups and downs, but yea... pretty good!  So, one cool thing that we did last Monday was a Blitz on one of the areas in our zone called Boulogne.  We sacrificed a Prep-day, and did a bit of proselyting over yonder after we´d done email and all that jazz.  Twas a pretty good time! I got to go on Splitz with one of the zone leaders, and we contacted a TON of people! Also, one funny thing that happened this week was that I heard a few people use the word "Macanudo", which is pretty much the Argentinian equivalent to "Groovy"! hahaha I heard it from a few of the older folks, so ya. 

So, in the mission right now, they want us to do 10 contacts in the street (every missionary).  I was struggling with it a bit earlier the week, and in the zone conference over the phone that we have every night, (one night) one of the zone leaders pretty much said that I needed my 10 contacts the next day, sí o sí.  Also, after the conference we got a message from another group of missionaries encouraging me and telling me that I could do it.  My first thought was "Oh great... now I’m THAT missionary..." With everyone giving advice and everything.  I was also reminded of Jim Gaffigin, talking about bowling, and people giving advice for that! hahaha! But ya, I did my 10 contacts the next day. :) 

Alright, well, we were a bit bummed out yesterday, because 1) Graciela didn´t attend church, and 2) our other investigator (Milagros), who was excited for baptism, didn´t receive permission from her father (She´s under 18 years of age).  As we were walking away from the appointment in which her father pretty much said no, I thought of the song "Nearer my God to thee".  Especially the part with the "Een though it be a cross the raiseth me".  It was seriously sad and depressing that the father of Milagros can´t see the importance of baptism, but, really, the experience taught me a bit more that it´s through our trials, and sadness, and afflictions that we learn more.  Milagros will now understand that baptism is something that we need to work and fight for, and through that, she´ll gain more knowledge and wisdom.  We endure many things in our lives, and really, if we have our sights and goals set on a higher purpose, we´re going to change for the better.  

Gracias por todo amigos, y espero que todo este bien con ustedes! Como he dicho, y como yo diré continuamente, esta es la iglesia del Señor.  Esta es su obra.  ¿Que más puedo decir?  Estoy agradecido por estas experiencias y la oportunidad a servir in la viña del Señor.  Hurrah por Israel! 

(Thanks for all friends, and I hope all is well with you! As I said, and as I shall continuously, this is the Lord's church. This is his work. What else can I say? I am grateful for these experiences and the opportunity to serve in the Lord's vineyard. Hurrah for Israel!)

--

-Elder Holtry

This was sent from one of his friends in the MTC with the caption "Just remember, I am always watching you!"

Belgrano, before a reunion with the mission! With Elder Cordova

Arroz chafa (Fried Rice)

"Look what I found!!!!!!!"

¡Feliz Halloween!

"Did they do anything for Halloween?", you may ask. Nope.  I saw a few kids with their parents walking around trick-or-treating, but Halloween’s not a big thing here... oh well... :) anyways, this week was pretty good.  Alot better than the last one! Hahaha!  It´s been much smoother, and I’m used to leading the companionship a bit more. also, I’d just like to mention how difficult it is to contact people in the street sometimes! Seriously, I greet everyone, but people just keep walking usually.  Sometimes, they´ll say "Chow", sometimes, after they´ve walked a few paces more, they´ll mutter "Hola", and there´s a few that will occasionally send a greeting back in the same timeframe.  There was one guy the other day, I said "Buenas", as in "Buenas tardes" (Good afternoon) and as he was walking away, I heard him mutter "Tal Vez" or "Maybe"! Hahaha! But still, these contacts in the street are so important, because the Lord puts people in our path that are ready to receive the gospel.  For Example, I contacted a lady in the street a few days past, and she was interested in our message, and agreed to meet with us later that day.  Later, she told us that she´d already attend church before, and that she liked these doctrines.  She (Graciela) attended church with us yesterday, and felt the spirit.   Seriously, she was telling us a ton about how happy she felt.  Right now, she has a baptismal date for the 8th.  Now we´ve just got to teach her the rest pf the lessons, and make sure that Satan doesn´t get in the way... :) Seriously though, flipping satanás...   ergh. 

But ya, I love miracles like that! Miracles are a huge part of the mission, and of life.  I try to teach members here, that if we aren´t seeing miracles in our lives, well... We´re not completely living the gospel, because really, God works miracles in our lives every day if we let him! Every night, during calls with our leaders, we talk about the miracles that we´ve seen that day. So, every day, amidst the dogs barking and trying to kill each other, the heat or rain, or the drunk guy yelling at my companion for being chileno, I can look back, and be grateful for the gifts from the Lord that day.

Como siempre, esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo, con la autoridad de Dios y con su guía divina.  Por medio de la fe, diligencia, y paciencia, podemos ver milagros.  Estoy agradecido por esta obra, a pesar de las dificultades.  Este es el reino de Dios en la tierra!! Adelante, cantando alabanzas al Señor!

(As always, this is the church of Jesus Christ, the authority of God and His divine guidance. Through faith, diligence, and patience, we can see miracles. I am grateful for this work, despite the difficulties. This is the kingdom of God on earth !! Along, singing praises to the Lord!)

Adiós, 

-Elder Holtry

Pájaro...

Well, this has certainly been one of the most difficult weeks of my life! As i siad last week, Elder Cedeño left, so it´s pretty much been me leading the work in our area for the last few days.  The stress is going to kill me, I swear! I feel a bit like a baby bird that´s been pushed out of the nest... I´m still not flying, but i hope that I´m getting there.  One other thing is that my companion doesn´t know any English... hahaha! I asked him how much he knows, and he said below basic, so... *sigh* anyways, the work has been going on, just a little more intense. The only part that was a bit different this week was that there were elections here in Argentina, so Sunday, we had to stay in the apartment all day.  It was alright, because i got a ton of extra time to study the scriptures!!! But ya, Así es... 

Well, despite the difficulties of this week, we´ve had a few miracles.  One was after one of our investigators failed to show up to their appointment.  We weren´t exactly sure what to do, because we´d already exhausted our backup plans, but then, surely enough, two members of our ward came walking around the corner.  they had some extra time on their hands, so we did splits with them, and got in some extra lessons with members! So ya, that was a pretty cool experience! Wish you could´ve been there! :) 

Honestly, right now, the only thing keeping me going forward is my faith.  This is nowhere close to easy right now.  It really is overwhelming at times, but, I try to remind myself that through these adversities, the Lord is working with us, and that this (no matter how hard) is where i´m supposed to be.  I´ve learned a ton about prayer.  We can always use prayer and fast with a sincere heart to draw nearer to the Lord, and apply the Atonement more fully in our lives daily.  Con una semana más en frente de mí, espero que yo vaya a mantener mi diligencia y visión, y que pueda recordar mi Salvador, y utilizar su expiación constantemente. Sin Él, no podemos hacer esto, pero con Él, podemos hacer esto, y cualquier cosa que desee Dios. 

-Elder Holtry

a beautiful morning...

Elder Davidson!

bowling!!!!

I´m ridiculously fast, huh?

Almost... (Scores)

El Día de la Madre

Happy mother´s day! Oh, just us? Great, i keep forgetting... Ya, we had mothers day this past weeked rather than in may, so... there you go.  Wow, so weird! We had the primary presentation this weeked, kids are crazy, but I love em! Oh, by the way, Elder Cedeño left me to die here in Munro... But ya, we had transfers today, i´m going to stay here, and Elder Cedeño´s going to Islas something or other.  Seriously, it´s a bit sad... :´( But, what´cha gonna do?  On the bright side, before he left, we had an "Asado" in the home of our members.  That´s pretty much and Argentinian BBQ.  A TON of meat... I love it! Anywho, Now, my companion is Elder Córdova.  He´s from Chile, and I haven´t yet confirmed the amount of English that he can speak, but i´ll get around to asking.  He´s a pretty good guy, relaxed and whatnot.  I´ve only known him for a few hours, so I still don´t know much about him but... I´m a bit worried for this week, because I´ll pretty much be completely responsible for planning out our days and whatnot, since i know the area.  Also, if he doesn´t speak English... this will be a bit of a challenge... Hahaha! Voy a morir!! Well, luckliy (no es suerte, todas cosas son del Señor) I´ve learned a bit about pactience recently.  I realized that I just need to be myself and roll with the mission, doing my best, and accept what the Lord will give me.  In what I´ve learned, I can excersize pacience and diligence like this- Work with diligence, (with everything I have) and then, accept the will of the Lord.  Like many good things, it´s simple, but dificult... With this, It´s easier in the mission to use better diligence as we understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ better.  Seriously, there´s such a peace that comes to my heart when I study the Atonement.  Thanks to the Lord, we can be redeemed, and receive eternal life.  As we understand this better, we want to share it more with others.  So, as an invitation for you... Study the Atonement of Jesus Christ, prayerfully and diligently! It´s Miraculous!  Pues, Estoy agradecido por la doctrina de Cristo en mi vida, y la verdad y autoridad de Esta Iglesia.  Otra vez, sé que esta es la obra del Señor. Este es el sendero que el Señor quiere que sigamos.  Yo amo este mensaje, lo cual puedo proclamar diariamente, y, por supuesto, amo nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo.  Mediante Él, podemos hacer todas cosas.

Translation: Well, I'm grateful for the doctrine of Christ in my life, and the truth and authority of this Church. Again, I know this is the Lord's work. This is the path that the Lord wants us to follow. I love this message, which I can proclaim daily, and, of course, I love our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through Him, we can do all things

-Elder Holtry

(Editors note: I can tell his Spanish is getting much better because when I use google translate now it makes a lot more sense. Sometimes before it was a little hard to understand! Go Elder Holtry!)

 Package we sent

 A few Halloween decorations....although it kind of looks like it fits! 

So Happy!

Star Wars themed Car Wash

Zone T-shirts

Mate Cups 

"In my scriptures, i´m marking references to the Lord, since the book of Mormon is "Another testament of Jesus Christ". Pretty cool!"

Gonzolo, one of our Investigators

MTC Reunion - Elders Steele and Hardcastle

 He got the card we sent!

 Out in Munro

 The family Gomez Sallan