Carnaval

 Howdy. Well, carnaval ended, so there´re no more parades in the streets on the weekends (Tear). It´s so flippn cool! But anyways, it´s been a chill week. All the weeks blend together after awhile. We found a few new people named Silvana, Ana, and Cynthia, so we´re working there, and mainly looking for more investigators to teach. I´ll just go ahead and say that this ward is pretty tough to work in. There isn´t unity amongst the members, and they don´t understand the mission work very well. It´s hard, but we continue working nonetheless. I love the work and teaching, it´s just the finding part is always super hard! Hahaha. Oh, and in our area, there´s a ton of dogs on the street (Like in every area here), and they always bark at us, but there´s one dog specifically that every time that we pass to visit Nancy and Roxana, it barks specifically at us every time... I just really don´t like dogs right now! :D 

One noteworthy thing that happened this week was that we went to listen to Elder Bednar. I was security with Elder Edmonds out front, so we got to see him as he entered and left. While there inside, we received information in respect to how to teach much better through the spirit.  How to use inspired quuestions, and things like that. I love Elder Bednars form of teaching. He asks questions to the audience and he responds to questions from the congregation as well, and really lets the spirit guide the discussion. In the beginning, he told us, "Don´t write down anything that I say... But that doesn´t mean that you shouldn´t write anything down" He then explained to us that we should write the things that we LEARN from the spirit, not just everything that he says. He had a translator there to transmit the message, and there was a funny part at the beginning when he said "I have a pregunta" and the translator said "Tengo un... question" The missionaries chuckled a little bit, and Elder Bednar proceeded to smile and give a fist bump to the translator! Super funny! :) 

So ya, we´re just moving along, and trying to find the children of God that are ready to listen to this message. I´m personally grateful for this gospel message, and for the personal power that I can receive through Christ and his Atonement. I thank you all for your love and prayers, and wish you joy, and a life centered in Christ.

-Elder Holtry

Just a picture Elder Troya made (I helped out with the face)

Elder Cedeno and his four "sons" (he trained all 4 of these Elders)

Elegidos

Hey there! So this has been a pretty good week. First off, a little shout out to my good old father, who had his birthday a few days ago! Whoooo! So ya, good stuff, good stuff. Well, Luz and Roxana got baptized, so that was great. They had an awesome baptismal service, and were super happy with it.  We call the people that we find in the mission that can be baptized within 3 weeks "Elegidos", or elect, because they´ve been prepared by the Lord to receive the truth from us.

So ya, transfers came, and Elder Fleming and I are going to stay and work in Parque Avellaneda.  I can´t think of anything else from this week... I´m just tired sometimes,,, Hahaha.  It´s crazy to think that i´m through a third of my mission already. Kind´ve sad, really.  But anyways, thank you all for your love, prayers and support.  I can´t express how much you´ve helped me out here! I love you all, and I know this church is true.

 

Elder Holtry

Baptism of Luz and Roxana

Elder Fleming and I with Nadia and Andrea

Look who I found! (for you uneducated readers it's Elder Hardcastle and Cedeno)

Lunch with the Paniagua Family

Estoy Cansado... :)

Wow, what a week. I wouldn´t say that it was either good or bad, just another week. :) But ya, I say that because we´re doing the same things we always do, we talk with people, teach, help and so on and so on.  It´s great and I love it, it just gets SUPER tiring doing the same thing every day... hahaha. But ya, i´ll just shoot out a few highlights of the things that were different about this week I suppose! Well, one cool thing that happened was that President Ayre came to do the baptismal interview of Roberto and Amilia.  They passed and whatnot, and they have desires to get baptized, but they don´t want to put a date yet. We´ve tried several times to help them put one, but they´re just going to wait until they "Feel ready" I suppose.  But ya, we´ve done our part, now it´s up to them to do theirs to receive their salvation I suppose. 

So ya, that´s one thing pending. Anyways, I did splits for a couple days this week.  First on Friday with a zone leader Elder França and then with Elder Troya Saturday.  So I led the area completely for those two days, and it was a bit tiring, but it went super well.  One fun thing that happened when Elder França and I were walking down one of our streets was that people started throwing water ballons at us.  Suddenly, they started falling all around us, but we couldn´t see who was throwing them (from on top of a nearby building) so we just kept on walking.  The balloons continued falling all around us until we were out of range.  So ya, that was a fun Samuel on the wall experience! Hahaha! 

Also, this week, we´ve been teaching Roxana and her daughter luz (means light) this week. Roxana´s pretty great, but luz, is the best!!! She´s always doing her reading assignments in the scriptures, praying, and being a light to her family (no pun intended).  Wow, she´s just so cool! She´s young, but super smart and just an awesome daughter of God. But ya, we continue onward, looking for more who are searching for the truth. I love you all, I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, and I say that in his holy name, Amen.

Hurrah For Israel!

-Elder Holtry 

After Divisions with Zone Leaders

 Cooking with Nancy and her family

 It's hot here!

 Saturday Night Taco's from Tio Leo

  Zone Conference with President Ayre

Soy Porteño...

Hey there. Well, it´s alright down here. Hot, but alright. There´s just little things that put a little spice into our day.  Like the guy that came up to us a few nights ago, trying to sell us sube cards, but insisting a TON! He followed us for a few Blocks until we crossed a bridge... Just gotta appreciate the little things.

But more importantly, Nancy got confirmed yesterday. I got to perform the ordinance there, and things went smoothly. So now, Nancy´s a member of the church of Jesus Christ, and we´re teaching some of her family members; Her sister Roxana, and Roxana´s daughter, Luz. They´re awesome, and they came to church yesterday and loved it, they´ve also liked the lessons, and they can feel the spirit when we´re teaching. They have a baptismal date for the 21st, so pray for them! Also, we have Roberto and Emilia, we´ve been teaching them for a few weeks now, and Roberto understands things really well. But REALLY well is Emilia, she gets it, but más o menos sometimes.  They´re special cases for some reason, so Presidente Ayre is going to come tomorrow to do their baptismal interview.  Shoot a few prayers their way, ok? Also, there´s Leandro.  Funny guy, a bit odd, he has a few doubts, but he´s pretty much there and ready for baptism, so we´re going to have his interview this week.  It´s fun teaching him, because he has a huge factory, so sometimes we get to walk around in it, and hang out there for a few minutes before teaching. 

So ya, we´re working, visiting people every day, members and investigators, and it´s hard sometimes but... I like it. So, I don´t have anything much else to say, but, les quiero, y que estén bien. Sé que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo. Es sencillo y es así. 

 We really like yogurt

 Splits with Elder Troya

Problem:

Solution:

I may or may not have traded my old bag for a poncho and a hat.

My New bag

Ready for P-day

That's my Comp!

We marked our favorite scriptures in a triple combination for Nancy:

Traditional Planning Meeting

 

Nancy

Alright Alright Alright. How goes it everyone? Hope you had a solid week! We had a pretty good one down here! I´ll give you a few highlights.  A small one was that I did divisions with Elder Steele a few days ago. That was pretty awesome, because now I´ve done that with him, and Elder Hardcastle- (the two Elders from my district that were in the MTC with me that are in my mission.) A funny little random thing that I heard a kid say at lunch the other day was "Manos de Jazz", or "Jazz hands!" As he was doing jazz hands! (Maybe you had to be there...)

 So ya, another awesome thing that happened was that Nancy got baptized! She was so ready for it, in church, she was participating in classes, and talking with members.  She´s just so cool. But ya, right before her baptismal service, I asked her how she felt, and with a smile on her face, she replied, "Calm". I couldn´t help but smile also as Elder Fleming raised her out of the water. The joy of following the path of the Lord is so great! 

But ya I hope everyone´s doing well, and always striving to make sacrifices to follow the Lord. I love you all, I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, and until next week, I bid you Adiós.

-Elder Holtry 

Nancy's Baptism

 Volleyball on P-day

Some of the 64 sandwiches we bought

 Planning while drinking some Terere

Divisions with Elder Steele

The New Apartment

The Bridge they cross on the way to The Villa each day

Some of the passageways in the Villa

"Being a thug and whatnot"