Ilumina el Mundo

Hello All! I hope everyone´s well, and that you all had a great thanksgiving! One fun thing that happened this week had to do with our investigator Alfonso. He came here from Paraguay a few months ago, so he still prefers Guaraní more than Spanish, so my Comp taught alot of the lesson in Guaraní, luckily, they still use alot of words in Spanish, because it´s more of a dialect, so I could follow along. But it felt like my first transfer in the field all over again! Hahaha! 

But ya, another awesome thing that happened this last week was that we did splits as a zone (Every area changed companions for a day), and for the day, i went to... Munro! My first area in the mission! It was Legiiiiit!!! We talked with a ton of people in the street all day, and I got to see one of my converts... Daryl! We went to his house, and knocked on his door, he popped his head out, saw me, and said with a grin on his face "What are you doing here?!?!" We gave each other a huge hug, and then I got to talk with him for a while. Turns out, he was ordained to the office of Elder, has helped out the missionaries quite a bit, and even baptized another convert. but ya, it was seriously so good to see him, and to see that he´s striving to be strong in the church.

But ya, we´re about to enter into the month of December, a special month indeed! Merry early Christmas! :) The Church has a new initiative that´s called "Light the World", there´s a great video, so look it up! It talks about service, and that´s how we´re going to light up the world this Christmas! That´s what the gospel´s about: Serving people. So, wake up and do something more! 

Love you all! Hurrah Por Israel! 

-Elder Holtry

#LIGHTtheWORLD
https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_

The old Munro Apartment

 Daryl heping with a baptism

 The old apartment

 The old map & area!

 Good Ol Daryl!!

 When we left in the morning there were only a few clouds....

At the Mall P-day

 Good Ol' Santa

Discípulos de Jesucristo

Hey, what a week!!! Well, as i mentioned last week, I´m now here in Boulogne with Elder Cortaza. First off, I love my comp, he´s awesome! This week, I´ve been getting to know the area a bit. The area´s HUGE, so we have a bit of everything, from the super ghetto part that we can´t even enter in to the rich parts of Béccar. So ya, we´ve been doing quite a bit of exploring this week... hahaha! As I´ve said, Elder Cortaza has been teaching me a bit of Guaraní, a dialect from Paraguay, because there´s a TON of people from Paraguay here, and sometimes when we´re visiting members and whatnot, they just start speaking in guaraní, and I´m like WHAT? But ya, I like the area a lot.

We could also put a baptismal date for one of our investigators this week. Her name´s Reinalda, and she´s the sister of a few recent converts in the ward. A few days ago, we were reading Alma 32 with her, and she asked "Hey, have I read this before? I don´t remember the reading assignment exactly, but it sounds familiar..." After that, we proceeded to explain to her about how the Holy Spirit can testify of truth and help us to have an answer from the Lord. it made me think a bit on when Christ visited 2 of his disciples and walked and talked with them for a while, and only after did they realize that their hearts had burned within them as they had been with the Lord. 

Well, I just want to invite you to listen for the holy spirit, because it will tell us All the things that we must do! Be prepared to make changes, and more than anything, focus on what you need to do to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ! 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Holtry

Boulogne

 Moving a door

 This is where we are moving it to

 New apartment in Boulogne

 Rooftop View

 Throwing rubble in the street...sorry environment!

Villa Hidalgo

Siempre Hay Algo/Alguien Mas

Happy transfers! Well, after my 6 months over yonder in Bella Vista, I`ll be moving to... Boulogne! It`s an area in the north Zone, where I began my mission! So ya, it will be great to get to know the area. I`ll be serving here with Elder Cortaza, he´s a great guy, and I`m psyched to be working with him. (Plus, he`s from Paraguay, so I`ll be learning a bit of Guaraní!) You`ll be hearing about the new area in these coming weeks!

I`d just like to mention 1 or two of the miracles that we saw this last week. Well, one of the biggest ones has to do with the confirmation of Anibal. We went to his house early Sunday to see if he wanted to accompany us to church, or go alone. Well, his dad came out, drunk and a bit angry, saying that he didn´t want us to pass by any more. Well, I`ll be honest, when he said that, I didn´t know if Anibal was going to make it to the church building... so we just went to help the other investigators get to church, and thought that that was it. So, we were there in the chapel, and the meeting had started. I was about to give my talk, and what do ya know? Anibal walked into the room. Well, we were able to confer upon him the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

Another point that I`d like you members to think about is this. We were proselyting earlier in the week, and we passed by a fruit stand, and saw a member inside, so we went and said hello to her. Well, she was friends with the owner of the stand, so obviously, we invited the owner to church, and to take the discussions. Turns out, she`s in a rough time right now in her life, and she`s experiencing depression, and needs something to help her fill that space and feel better... can you say "THE GOSPEL"? She`s receiving the discussions, and was one of the investigators in the church building Sunday. I asked the member afterwards why she never mentioned her friend, she said that her friend just never came to mind, and she also wan´t sure if she was going to accept. Well, My point is that we all know someone, SOMEONE, that is ready for the message of the gospel. So, I invite you to just think on it a bit more, because these people NEED this message, and are waiting. We just need to courage to invite, and to get it done. 

I`ve learned quite a bit about confidence in the mission. I`ve learned that when I need to do something, I shouldn´t think about it too much- just do it with a smile, with confidence, and it`ll turn out however it´ll turn out! So, i guess I’ll be asking out a lot more girls after the mission... hahaha! 

Well, I love you all! Hurrah for Israel!

--

-Elder Holtry

Sean Directos, Sean Sinceros, Sean Discípulos

Howdy, well, it´s been quite a week. This Program with the Book of Mormon really helps us to find new people, but it also gives us too many people to teach sometimes... But I also like it because I come home a lot more exhausted. I love the word of God! 

But hey, there´s honestly not a lot to report this week. We´re teaching a family with the last name of Zuli, and they always give us stuff (A boat in a bottle, a broken guitar, etc.) They have great desires, so they´ll be getting baptized after they get married. Also, we taught the Gomez family about the importance of marriage as well, and they took it well, and continue with their desires to come to the church. It´s honestly made me think alot about the importance of being direct. Not overbearing, but direct. We have a doctrinal point, we teach it, we show how it´ll help them, we commit them to it. Period.  If we want to help and build people, we can´t be beating around the bush! So, learn and act, without faltering. It´s an important pattern to take in and follow. 

Oh ya, also, Anibal got baptized. The service went great, and pretty much the whole branch was there! I honestly don´t think that I´ve ever fought so much for a baptism, wow, but hey, It was a great experience.  Anywho, we´re still working a ton to lift this area... "Bella Vista Bella vista, la que mata a los Profetas y apedrea a los que son enviados a ella, cuantas veces quise juntar a tus hijos...etc." Jajaja, chiste! 

Well, life is pretty good in the service of the Lord. hurrah for Israel! 

Elder Holtrycito

**He didnt say in his group letter but he told me "It was the first baptism in more than a year and a half in the area" and he said "I testify that there are such things as hard areas, dead areas no, but hard areas"

Elder Villa and I with Anibal

Anibal and his family

 Me and Anibal (he's wearing my tie)

 The food after the baptism

 No, it's not blurry

 Splits!