Venid Todos Vosotros

What a week! Many things happened... so many things that I forget the majority of them, i´ll have to consult my journal. One "fun" thing that was happening this week was that the chain on my bike kept falling *sigh* Why me? I miss well-functioning things... :,( But hey, what´m I going to do? 

Well, General Conference is coming up this week! Whooooo! It´s awesome, but it´s also a bit rough in the mission, because you lose a couple days of work (We have to travel a bit to get to the broadcast) soooooo, ya. 

This has honestly been a pretty good week. we´ve worked hard, and one of our investigators, Brisa, is progressing, so that´s awesome. She always tells us when we pass by to teach her that whenever we come and teach/read the scriptures (Especially the Book of Mormon) with here, she feels peace, a peace that she hasn´t been able to find before. Also, the sacrament meetings have become remarkably reverent (compared to before) so she was able to have a good experience Sunday, and was able to feel the fellowship of the members. Seriously, when I see those people in whom the Gospel has a more profound effect, it makes all the work worth it... and makes me want to work MORE! :) 

I´d just like to encourage all of you who are members to think a moment in who you can invite to get to know the church, because honestly, it´s  the best gift that you can offer someone, and for those that aren´t members, i just want to give you a sincere invitation to come to know the church. If you ever need anything more in your life, it´s where you´ll find that something. 

Well, i love the gospel, and the work of our Heavenly Father here in this world,

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder Holtry 

Crecimiento

Hello good people, I wish you a happy Monday. This last week has been filled with a ton of different events and challenges, and I´ve learned quite a bit. Alrighty, first off, I´m enjoying the initiative that President Smith has placed in our mission. We´re gifting a ton of copies of the BOM, and setting up appointments with new people all the time. We´ve found some really great people through this practice. I also did divisions with a couple of areas this week. 

One of the things that my companion and I were pleased with this week was that we´ve seen that our little branch of Bella Vista is becoming a great atmosphere for the missionary work. Their attendance has doubled from the time when we first got here, and the sacrament meetings have been super spiritual as of late. 

One of the things that we were bummed with this week is that we have to postpone Anibal´s baptism (Mi alma está muy triste, aun hasta la muerte), he hasn´t been able to keep some important commitments that are vital for his baptism, so we´d rather not condemn him and whatnot, and so, 

we´ll wait a bit longer and continue looking for more people that are ready for baptism.

Well, the work continues on. I love this work. There´s a lot of trials that one experiences in the mission, but it´s easily worth it.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Holtry

Inundar la Tierra con el Libro de Mormón

Howdy. So, the initiative with the Book of Mormon is going well in the mission. The President in the end actually asked us to hand out 30 Books of Mormon every week, so we try to hand out 6 every day for 5 days with Sunday and Monday as rest days (Just visiting progressing investigators, Investigators, and Members.

It´s been a solid week, and the plan with the Book of Mormon has been helping alot.  Our days have been filled up more with set appointments, and we´ve been able to talk with and teach some great new people. With this new challenge, I´ve been able to have kindled a fire in me to share the gospel (A bit greater than before). So ya, I know that this is a great tool to use. The book is so true. I wish I could make it obvious to the people how obvious it is to me about the divine origin of this book.

In other news, Anibal (Finally) is going to get baptized this next Wednesday (The 21st) This Sunday, he didn´t show up to the Sacrament meeting when it started, and I was a bit bummed out, because I knew that we´d have to drop him if he wasn´t dedicated to this path he´s chosen. The family that usually takes him showed up late, and he wasn´t with them, so I was a bit like " Ya fue..." or too later I guess. Well before the Sacrament meeting ended, he showed up. Turns out, he woke up a bit late and had to walk to the chapel (Quite a walk from his house, but seriously). wow, so that stressed me out a bit. 

Anywho, I´m super pumped for another week of work. I love the Gospel, and I love this work! 

Elder Holtry 

El Libro de Mormon

Wow, it´s been a tiring week... But hey, that´s the mission! Just a little update on Anibal. we decided to postpone the baptism for another week or so, because we´re waiting until Brother Farías (From the member-family that brought Anibal to the church) is worthy to perform the ordinance.  They´ve already been going and making changes for a while now, so I don´t have many worries there.
Anywho, Our leaders have asked us to put a greater focus in the Book Of Mormon.  They first asked the leaders of the mission to experiment with a new focus, so we´lve been working on handing out 8 Books of Mormon every day. It´s difficult and requires a ton of spirit, but it´s awesome! It´s so important to incorporate the message of the Restoration of the Gospel (And with that, the Book of Mormon), because it´s what separates us from other faiths, and highlights the importance of the church and the Priesthood in these latter days.

Well, back to it. Sé que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo, la cual Él a restaurado en estos últimos días. El Libro de Mormón es la evidencia de esta restauración! Leanlo y pregunten a Dios si quieren una confirmación de su veracidad. Hurrah Por Israel!

Elder Holtry 

Elder Juzga loved his package! He wanted Trix cereal. We sent him some socks and candy too!

 Sent Josh a new stash of food, ties and socks. Hannah drew him some pictures.

We had these cool ties made for him. He loved them!

 While wearing them, he can just flip them up to see his family :)

Josh says: " we may or may not have bought a box of 40 alfojores..."

 Just chillin with the horses in our area

 Our apartment complex

Playing with the toy slingshot I sent to them.