Elder Josh Holtry's Mission Blog: Another Letter

What a week! It's really funny how time just blends together here! Looking back on some of these days, I can hardly tell which events took place when! It's really hard to explain... Anyhoo, the language is gradually coming along. Elder Steele and I taught the first three lesson to our investigator Marco in TRC (Teaching resource center). Teaching lessons is the hardest but greatest thing! Prior to our most recent lesson with Marco, I had an impression to bring a hymn book with us. It was kind've weird, because usually we simply pray and then teach, but this time (after having a short conversation with Marco) i suggested that we sing a hymn, and he was all for it. We sang "How great thou art" in Spanish, and it brought a wonderful feeling to our meeting. The peace I felt during that lesson was so incredible!

Another cool experience I had was while teaching another individual named "Alberto". usually, i'm super nervous and stutter a bit over some of my words while i'm stringing longer sentences together, but during this lesson, there was a moment when I was testifying of the Gospel when I received an overwhelming sense of calm, and I was able to put together a few sentences fluidly, and without hesitation. I love the little moments like that in my work here!

So, i've kind've gotten into the rhythm of things here, so i'm used to the class and duties i have planned out from morning to night each day. I actually just memorized Josheph Smith's first vision in Spanish, so that's awesome! We had a devotional last night, and during the devotional review afterwards, we talked a bit about what we gave up to come out here. Scholarships, jobs, school, friends, etc. But everyone was also able to say that they don't regret their decision. I know that i'm personally giving up a couple years of education, but that's pretty insignificant considering the knowledge and blessings that I'm going to receive during the course of these two years of serving the Lord.

I'd just like to close with my testimony (in poor Spanish): Estoy agradecido por mi Salvador, Jesucristo, y la oportunidad a servir un miccion. Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios, y yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdadero. Estoy agradecido por Ustedes, y por la amor de Jesucristo y Dios.

En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

-Elder Holtry