Feliz Carnaval

Well, we finally found a computer place (Today and tomorrow are "Carnaval" here in Argentina, so everything was basically closed). But anyways a TON happened this week, so I´m going to start from the beginning and work from there. Tuesday- Rain. Lot´s of Rain. When we left the apartment in the morning,  there were like 3 clouds in the sky, but as the day progressed, the skies darkened, and when we were in the middle of the day, gigantic drops of rain started falling. We were near a recent convert´s house, so we went there to weather the storm. Basically their street turned into a river, and after a while got to the point where the water was just about ankle deep. (Seriously) when we left, we waded our way out of the neighborhood (We were already soaked, so whatevs). 

Anywho, later in the week, i had the privilege to visit Munro once more. We were able to see several of the members there as well as work hard and pick up new investigators. In our own area we were also able to find a few more investigators. we´re doing our best to be constant in talking with the people in the street, since that has yielded some very nice results. Also, we had a mission conference this last week, and one of the men there said something very interesting "When you wake up in the morning, perhaps you ask yourselves "How many will I save today". That is a very good question,but a better one would be "How many will I let die today""this has to do with a topic that I have thought a great deal about in my mission- The sins of omission. A sin of omission doesn´t have to do with something that we do, but rather it has to do with what we do NOT do. For example, if I rob someone, I´m committing a sin, (And it´s in an action) But also, if i don´t have charity, and if I don´t think of the poor and help those in need, that too is a sin. We are to dedicate our time and strength to the Lord,especially when he gives us the opportunity to share his Gospel with others, don´t let fear get in the way of that. The  Lord expects us to open our mouths, and to save our brothers and sisters. It is my prayer that we may do so when the Lord gives us these special opportunities. 

I love you guys!

Be valiant!

--

-Elder Holtry

El Señor Dirija Su Obra

What a blessing it is to be here in the work of the Lord! Every day, I feel gratitude for the blessings that I´ve seen in the lives of others and in my own in this time. I can feel more and more the influence that the Lord has in this work.  Anywho, it´s been another week filled with appointments, we´ve been pushing ourselves, trying to expand the circle of investigators that we have. It´s interesting actually, maybe we speak with someone in the street, know on their door, or talk with them in a bus, and we think that that´s the way that the Lord´s going to give us those prepared people. For example, in the last week, we´ve seen a street salesman named Alejandro many times in the street, and we´ve never been able to have a sit-down lesson with him in his home. We lost contact and what do you know? We found Alejandro once more, and were able to pass by his house to teach the first lesson. It was incredible, because he understood and accepted everything super well. He even committed himself to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and go to church. 

Anywho, before I forget, I´d just like to wish a very happy birthday to my father, a man who has truly inspired me and taught me to do good, work, and to love God. Have a good one! 

Well, I´d just like to encourage you all to engage yourselves in the work of the Lord, be it preaching the gospel, helping out in the primary or young men/women, secretary, etc. Whatever your calling may be, or whatever the Lord desires you to do, do it. We are to edify the Lord´s kingdom here in the earth. 

Hurrah For Israel!
--

-Elder Holtry

The Oblisk of Argentina

"In this site, the tower of saint Nicolas, the nastional banner was lifted up in the city"

 San Martin, one of the great liberators of South America

 Retiro, one of the grandest train stations in Buenos Aires

Olvidate Che

Hello folks, this week was one filled with work and miracles (Accompanied with difficulties of course!)  It´s fascinating because I´ve always heard people use the quote from President Hinckley´s Father of "Forget yourself and Go to work" in order to be happy and whatnot, and I honestly always thought that it was pretty cliche hahaha! but i´ve definitely seen that it works, and that it takes part in us as we dedicate our thoughts and actions to the work of the lord. 

Anywho, We found some great new investigators, and there are many that accepted baptismal dates, so we´re working with several people, and we´ll continue working this coming week in order to find more people. Fun fact: This last week I visited my first area in the mission again (Munro) to bring our investigator to a baptismal interview (Now, instead of the district leader coming to us for the interview, we have to go to the district leader...)

Also, in respect to the baptism that we had, Reinalda returned from her trip to paraguay, and still continued with her decision to be baptized. She had great support from her family and the ward, and she´s going to be a strong pillar in the ward.

But ya, i can´t think of many interesting things that happened this week... Just that there was a TON of rain, which was a bummer because only a few of our investigators made it to the church building... oh ya! This week, I guess a few talk-givers didn´t show up, so our bishop called me and my companion to give talks, and I was first. I got up to the pulpit with no idea of what I was going to say. it was one of those moments where you´ve just got to rely on the spirit. Well, I did that, and a few scriptures came to my head, and I gave a short talk of 10 minutes about principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But ya, good stuff. Anywho, the work goes on! 

Love

Elder Holtry

Reinalda's Baptism

Reinalda's Family

Why does my food always make faces at me?

 Bowling on P-day

 An empty bus is a good bus! We have a seat!

Hay Que Orar!

What´s up folks? Well, yet another week has flown by, and it appears that I´ll be staying in Boulogne! So, we´ll continue with the investigators we have here, preparing them for baptism and whatnot. 

Well, this past week was a good one. It was actually VERY full of appointments with various people, and we were able to pick up a few new investigators. I like something that Elder Uchtdorf said once: "That´s the thing about work, if we simply keep at it, steady and constant, things surely will improve." That really relates to just about everything, right? Just gotta keep working! 

I´m going to quickly tell you about an interesting moment this week. We were on splits, and I was with an Elder named Elder Arguello in my area, teaching a lesson to a lady named Sofia. It was a super spiritual lesson, and we were just starting into the first vision, when a large truck pulled up, noisy and throwing stuff around on the ground. An old man came out and began to spit out a bunch of random stuff that he thought was wrong with the church, and about the United States as well, and he was there for like 10 minutes before going to his house. Sofia apologized for him, and we sat down to continue the lesson, I was about to start, but it didn´t feel right... So, we decided to say a prayer, which definitely helped to invite the spirit newly into the lesson. Wow, but seriously, if you need the Lord´s help/blessing in something, Prayer is the answer. All who pray with a sincere heart will have a testimony of it! 

Well, there´s really not alot to say about this week, but as always, I just want to say that I love and appreciate you all! Take care, and seek Christ in every aspect of your life. Onward ever Onward! 

 --

-Elder Holtry

Doing service for the Ramos Family

The Unicenter- A mall we go to almost every P-day

Gotta Stay Healthy!

 La Villa Hidalgo

 Part of my new planner

 Playing pool with Elder Juzga and Lugo

 Splits with the Zone Leaders

A giant ice cream that was served to us in our lunch yesterday