Well Hello Everyone,
Sorry I´m a little late today. Every thing was closed today until after the game. It´s insane how much they love soccer down here. Well to start off this email I´ve decided that I´m going to do this on a day by day basis. Well nothing too exciting before Wednesday happened so we´re starting there. Wednesday, We had Mission Conference. Our Zone leaders told us the night before that they wanted to meet at 8:00 in the morning to go together. It just so happens that where they wanted to meet was harder to get to than the conference itself so we convinced them to allow us to go by ourselves. Once we got there we discovered that the meeting didn´t start till 10:00 so getting there at 8:30 was more than perfect. The conference was amazing. President Jones is so amazing and I´m going to miss him so much. It was such a powerful conference. His parents were there and they gave their testimonies but it was nothing to the power of the closing prayer given by President Jones. He blessed us by invoking the power of his priesthood keys. Then after We all gave him a hug and we also got to hug Sister Jones. It felt really good to get a Mother´s hug. She is so cool. Well Thursday we had division where I go split and go with the companion of the district leader and the district leader goes with my companion. It was a little different considering his companion is from Peru. But it was good. I´m to the point where I can understand most of what´s being said to me. It was fun though. Most of the appointments he had planned for us fell through. Although I got to meet the Relief Society President of his ward and she just randomly told me that I talk with really good clarity. That was nice to hear considering I´ve been totally worrying if I have this crazy accent going. So apparently I don´t. Then the next morning we switched back early because Elder Young and I had to go to the doctor early. It was way cool though. The Doctor´s office is the Church Office building for all of Chile and is right next to the temple. The doctor basically said that the bumps on my hands are from the sweat glands clogging up because it is dry but that doesn´t make sense at all considering my hands aren´t dry and I lotion them everyday before anyway. So I don´t know but he gave me some hand cream to try so we´ll give it a shot. Elder Young Had to go because his ankle has been bothering him and it´s not getting better. The Doc just gave him a brace. We also got to check out the Distribution Center which was way cool. Well Saturday we got to go check out the feria (fleemarket) which they have 4 times a week. It is absolutely crazy. They have everything there no joke. From Cereal and milk to fruit to door hands to movies to really nice clothes. It is just wow. Plus all the people there too. It´s just so chaotic. Then Saturday night we had Ward Council and Sorry Mom and Dad but they brought Once to us so we pretty much had a big meal at ward council. Sunday was way cool. They ran out of gas at church so they heated up two big pots of Ecco (it´s like coffee but made out of Wheat) and gave it out to everyone. That night we had the Baptism interview for Krishna which she passed. She originally wanted me to confirm her and Elder Young to baptize but he convinced her to switch it. So the baptism is next Saturday. It´s very exciting. And today has been crazy because of the soccer game. Well it´s time for me to go. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Holton
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Week Fourteen: June 21st, 2010
Well Hello Everybody,
Things are going good here. Big things that happened this past week. 1. We got 2 knew baptism dates set and we lost one So right now we´re at 3. 2. It rained like crazy last Thurdsay night to the point where we woke up to a puddle in the kitchen. It was leaking in the ceiling and the windows. Plus it was leaking in the family room area. Some parts it was just a continous stream of water. Well it kept leaking until about Thursday night and then started just a little be Friday. We got some cups out and turned the fans on to try and get it to dry. Right now there are water stains but it´s not too bad. We called the mission office and they told us to call the owner. So we called the owner who apparently lives in Argentina and he said he would send someone out in the next week. So that was pretty eventful. So we finally set a baptism date with Charlie but the only problem is we´re worried he is doing it for his mom and not for himself. So we´re going to work very thoroughly with him to ensure that he is converted. His Mom went crazy when we said he would do it. As good and encouraging as that is it´s kinda working against us right now. The other date we set was with an Investigator named Ani. She is very smart and very intelligent but sometimes she can ask the most random questions. Like for example What is a spirit made out of? Well it´s all good. She loves the Book of Mormon and seems to understand it pretty well. At first we had her read different sections but now we just had her start from the beginning and she is already at Nephí 17. This week we´ve been really focusing on getting new investigators. It feels like we´ve knocked so many doors and have only received half the amount of news. It´s very strange. We did meet this old lady named Rosa. When we first met her all she could talk about was that she wanted to see her husband again. She talked about how she has 9 kids and none of them visit her. She´s like 85 I think. Well Sounds like the perfect investigator right? Casi. She pretty much blind and has a hard time focussing. So how we´re going to teach her I do not yet know but We´ll find a way. Last week we did some remodeling and I have to say that it is just awesome. For the first 2 weeks we were sleeping on mattresses on the floor in the kinda entreway/familyroom. Why you ask I don´t know. My companion says it´s how it was since he has been here and that he doesn´t want to move back into the bedroom because he is scared of spiders. Well we decided that if we cleaned it up it would be livable. So we vaccumed it and sprayed RAID all over. So far, It´s been so much better. Sleeping in a bed rather than the hardwood floor in a bedroom with carpet. Wow so much better. I haven´t been cold at all since. Another odd thing that has been happening is I´ve been getting these like spots on my fingers. I have no idea what they are but I need to call in about them. I have like 5 on one hand and 3 on the other. When you touch it, it stings a little but it doesn´t hurt at all. It´s just annoying. Another cool story. We went to visit this family that my Companion wrote in his planner. Only thing was he had no idea who they were and why he wrote them there. Well we went to visit them and it just so happened that it was a Mom with her 2 boys and her husband (we didn´t see him) and apparently the past week everyone has been telling her (even her inactive family and inactive friends) that she needs to go back to the Mormon church. Well we pretty much told her the same thing and challenged her and on Sunday guess who showed up with one of her boys. Yup it was pretty cool. We also met another family that we´ve even passed by a couple times and said hola and apparently all the adults (like 10 to 20 people) are inactive members but would love for us to stop by. It was like what wow. That was pretty cool too. Well things are going great. We have another investigator we´re going to try and get a date set up with. And one of ours has their baptism interview next Sunday for her baptism on the 3rd of July. Well I hope all is well and I hope to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Elder Holton
Things are going good here. Big things that happened this past week. 1. We got 2 knew baptism dates set and we lost one So right now we´re at 3. 2. It rained like crazy last Thurdsay night to the point where we woke up to a puddle in the kitchen. It was leaking in the ceiling and the windows. Plus it was leaking in the family room area. Some parts it was just a continous stream of water. Well it kept leaking until about Thursday night and then started just a little be Friday. We got some cups out and turned the fans on to try and get it to dry. Right now there are water stains but it´s not too bad. We called the mission office and they told us to call the owner. So we called the owner who apparently lives in Argentina and he said he would send someone out in the next week. So that was pretty eventful. So we finally set a baptism date with Charlie but the only problem is we´re worried he is doing it for his mom and not for himself. So we´re going to work very thoroughly with him to ensure that he is converted. His Mom went crazy when we said he would do it. As good and encouraging as that is it´s kinda working against us right now. The other date we set was with an Investigator named Ani. She is very smart and very intelligent but sometimes she can ask the most random questions. Like for example What is a spirit made out of? Well it´s all good. She loves the Book of Mormon and seems to understand it pretty well. At first we had her read different sections but now we just had her start from the beginning and she is already at Nephí 17. This week we´ve been really focusing on getting new investigators. It feels like we´ve knocked so many doors and have only received half the amount of news. It´s very strange. We did meet this old lady named Rosa. When we first met her all she could talk about was that she wanted to see her husband again. She talked about how she has 9 kids and none of them visit her. She´s like 85 I think. Well Sounds like the perfect investigator right? Casi. She pretty much blind and has a hard time focussing. So how we´re going to teach her I do not yet know but We´ll find a way. Last week we did some remodeling and I have to say that it is just awesome. For the first 2 weeks we were sleeping on mattresses on the floor in the kinda entreway/familyroom. Why you ask I don´t know. My companion says it´s how it was since he has been here and that he doesn´t want to move back into the bedroom because he is scared of spiders. Well we decided that if we cleaned it up it would be livable. So we vaccumed it and sprayed RAID all over. So far, It´s been so much better. Sleeping in a bed rather than the hardwood floor in a bedroom with carpet. Wow so much better. I haven´t been cold at all since. Another odd thing that has been happening is I´ve been getting these like spots on my fingers. I have no idea what they are but I need to call in about them. I have like 5 on one hand and 3 on the other. When you touch it, it stings a little but it doesn´t hurt at all. It´s just annoying. Another cool story. We went to visit this family that my Companion wrote in his planner. Only thing was he had no idea who they were and why he wrote them there. Well we went to visit them and it just so happened that it was a Mom with her 2 boys and her husband (we didn´t see him) and apparently the past week everyone has been telling her (even her inactive family and inactive friends) that she needs to go back to the Mormon church. Well we pretty much told her the same thing and challenged her and on Sunday guess who showed up with one of her boys. Yup it was pretty cool. We also met another family that we´ve even passed by a couple times and said hola and apparently all the adults (like 10 to 20 people) are inactive members but would love for us to stop by. It was like what wow. That was pretty cool too. Well things are going great. We have another investigator we´re going to try and get a date set up with. And one of ours has their baptism interview next Sunday for her baptism on the 3rd of July. Well I hope all is well and I hope to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Elder Holton
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Week Thirteen: June 14th, 2010
Hey Everyone,
Well this week has been quite eventful to say the least. First to start this off. The Air museum was very cool (Not as cool as Hill Air Force Base Ryan :) good times) But we did go as a zone which was also fun. Later Tuesday a miracle of sorts happened. Let me just lay down the foundation for ya. A few weeks back Elder Young gave this lady named Mercedes a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with his old companion. We´ve been trying and trying to see her but our plans just kept falling through. Well finally last Tuesday we were able to and guess what. She read the whole thing inside and out and not only understood it all but believed it. It was spectacular. Especially for me who didn´t actually do anything. Well we commited her to baptizm and we´ll see how that turns out. At that point we have 4 people commit to baptizm. 3 for July 3rd and 1 for July 10th. Well on Thursday I had divisions with the DL Elder Samyn and I went and stay at his pension for a day. It was fun and it went good. We gave a blessing to this lady and all sorts of stuff. Although I really missed my companion. Haha So Friday we switched back and that was that haha. Well we´ve been working on a few different people. First is Charlie whom I told you about last week. Second is a family named Teixeira consisting of the mother named Suzanne who is inactive, 18 year old daughter named Chirly who is strongly active, 15 year old son Christopher who is active, 11 year old daughter Karina who is not a member, and 9 year old Krishna who is not a member but has a baptizm date. Thirdly, Daniela and Lissette. Daniela is the mother of Lissette and both had a baptizm date. There are many more but those are the main ones I´m going to talk about today. Well first off last saturday night we played soccer with the ward youth. Charlie came which was awesome and a boy named Elais who is cousin to the Teixeiras came(he is inactive), and his cousin Chirly came along with many others. Well we played soccer and it was awesome. The field was smaller than normal which for me was way good because that meant lessing running distance. I tried very hard and I have to say that I held my own against those Chilean teenagers. I can´t handle the ball worth crap but when it came to defense I was a force to be reckoned with. Elder Young was good but he has a bad ankle from a early game. Sunday we saw Elais at church and Charlie at church which was awesome. Plus (and this only gets better), Lissette came to church with us for her first time and absolutely loved it. She said that she also prayed about being baptized and felt that it was the right thing to do and that she wanted to. She couldn´t ever come to church before because her mom is pregnant and she always needed Lissette. That was good. Next Krishna´s sister Karina came. This is epic because Karina is very nervous about the church. 5 Years ago she went and was falsely accused of writing on a table. Not a good situation. So that was awesome that she came. Later that day we had an appt. set with Daniela and Lissette. When we got there Daniela told us that her husband (Whom I´ve never met) didn´t want us to teach them anymore and that they couldn´t get baptized. This was kind of a shock and in all honesty I think it hit my companion very hard. I´ve tried to continue to be positive and keep and happy and stay focussed but there comes a point when there isn´t anything else you can do to help. Another weird thing that happened this week was we got to eat octupus and squid. To be perfectly honest the taste wasn´t bad at all just the texture. But I can proudly say that up until this day I have eatten anything and everything put in front of me. Including a lot of things I used to hate and now I just love food all around and I´m going to stop talking about this because it is making me very hungry. (I´m always hungry). Things are going good. We´re working hard and we´ll keep our heads up. I love you all and will talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Holton
Well this week has been quite eventful to say the least. First to start this off. The Air museum was very cool (Not as cool as Hill Air Force Base Ryan :) good times) But we did go as a zone which was also fun. Later Tuesday a miracle of sorts happened. Let me just lay down the foundation for ya. A few weeks back Elder Young gave this lady named Mercedes a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with his old companion. We´ve been trying and trying to see her but our plans just kept falling through. Well finally last Tuesday we were able to and guess what. She read the whole thing inside and out and not only understood it all but believed it. It was spectacular. Especially for me who didn´t actually do anything. Well we commited her to baptizm and we´ll see how that turns out. At that point we have 4 people commit to baptizm. 3 for July 3rd and 1 for July 10th. Well on Thursday I had divisions with the DL Elder Samyn and I went and stay at his pension for a day. It was fun and it went good. We gave a blessing to this lady and all sorts of stuff. Although I really missed my companion. Haha So Friday we switched back and that was that haha. Well we´ve been working on a few different people. First is Charlie whom I told you about last week. Second is a family named Teixeira consisting of the mother named Suzanne who is inactive, 18 year old daughter named Chirly who is strongly active, 15 year old son Christopher who is active, 11 year old daughter Karina who is not a member, and 9 year old Krishna who is not a member but has a baptizm date. Thirdly, Daniela and Lissette. Daniela is the mother of Lissette and both had a baptizm date. There are many more but those are the main ones I´m going to talk about today. Well first off last saturday night we played soccer with the ward youth. Charlie came which was awesome and a boy named Elais who is cousin to the Teixeiras came(he is inactive), and his cousin Chirly came along with many others. Well we played soccer and it was awesome. The field was smaller than normal which for me was way good because that meant lessing running distance. I tried very hard and I have to say that I held my own against those Chilean teenagers. I can´t handle the ball worth crap but when it came to defense I was a force to be reckoned with. Elder Young was good but he has a bad ankle from a early game. Sunday we saw Elais at church and Charlie at church which was awesome. Plus (and this only gets better), Lissette came to church with us for her first time and absolutely loved it. She said that she also prayed about being baptized and felt that it was the right thing to do and that she wanted to. She couldn´t ever come to church before because her mom is pregnant and she always needed Lissette. That was good. Next Krishna´s sister Karina came. This is epic because Karina is very nervous about the church. 5 Years ago she went and was falsely accused of writing on a table. Not a good situation. So that was awesome that she came. Later that day we had an appt. set with Daniela and Lissette. When we got there Daniela told us that her husband (Whom I´ve never met) didn´t want us to teach them anymore and that they couldn´t get baptized. This was kind of a shock and in all honesty I think it hit my companion very hard. I´ve tried to continue to be positive and keep and happy and stay focussed but there comes a point when there isn´t anything else you can do to help. Another weird thing that happened this week was we got to eat octupus and squid. To be perfectly honest the taste wasn´t bad at all just the texture. But I can proudly say that up until this day I have eatten anything and everything put in front of me. Including a lot of things I used to hate and now I just love food all around and I´m going to stop talking about this because it is making me very hungry. (I´m always hungry). Things are going good. We´re working hard and we´ll keep our heads up. I love you all and will talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Holton
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Week Twelve: June 8th, 2010
Hola Hola,
How´s everyone doing? Things are going good here. Busy busy busy of course. So let´s see. Last week I´ve had the biggest meal of my life no chiste. We had a big bowl of soup(Clam chauder) (bigger than the big bowls at home), Then the main dish which is a full plate of food(Beef, rice, and brocoli), and a full plate of salad, and a bowl(about the same size as the small one at home) of fruit. It was delicous but alot. I´m proud to say that I ate all of and and 3 big pieces of bread. I can honestly say that I have eaten everything put in front of me. I don´t have a scale but I would bet money that I have gained weight. I´m always hungry. Everyone jokes that I´m going to get fat but I don´t buy it. We´re on the go too much. Another food that I forgot to talk about that I absolutely have fallen in love with is what is called an "AS" and yes it is said just like the cuss word which is way weird. But it´s made just like a Completo except instead of a hotdog they have little pieces of amazing beef with avocado, tomatos, and mayo on top and I usually put mustard also. So amazing. My trainer Elder Young just hit his year mark last week and we celebrated with Ases. It is so funny because we are almost the exact same. We have so much fun and yet challenge eachother at the same time. We got 2 new baptism dates set up last week and this week should be even better. I honestly love it down here. I mean it is a little weird walking down the street with guys cussing at you telling you to go back to your country and girls making kissing noises and whistling at you. It just adds to the adventure. Our ward is pretty small but we love them. They feed us every day except pday and they do our laundry. It´s getting kinda cold here but it´s not too bad. It´s a whole different thing though when the only building that has a actually furnace is the chapel of the church. No one else does. Everyone just bundles up with a lot of clothes and blankets. They love love love soda. It is insane how much soda they drink. They also love brooms. They do everything with a broom. It´s hilarous. Plus they are dogs everywhere and they are always making noise. I am sad to hear about Keith Whitmore. Make sure you give him my love and that I look forward to seeing him on the other side. This work is pretty crazy. Just last week we visited a boy named Charlie who is about 15 years old. When he was 8 he was only baptized and never confirmed which means he needs to be baptized again. So we went over there to his house to see what was going on and if he wanted to be baptized. My companion started asking questions about what was going on and everything and the kid just had his head down and kept quiet. He acted like something bad was really wrong. So my companion pushed and pushed but nothing happened. So I felt the impression to bear a little bit of my testimony to him. I straight up told him that I had no idea what I was doing and that I didn´t know this language or this country but I that I do know this:that God loves him and that God cares about him and that it is only through God that we can receive happiness. I pretty much made him look at me in the face. I told him that we want to help him and that God wants to help him but first he needs to ask God for help. It was a very powerful moment. My companion said that it was like I was staring into his soul. Well He hasn´t made a decision yet but that was a very foundation shaking experience. The reason why I´m writing you today instead of yesterday is because for this week they allowed us (my zone) to switch our Pday so we could go check out this airplane museum. It wasn´t as cool as Hill Airforce but it was still fun. Sorry but I can´t send pictures. We don´t trust these computers. Maybe later in a different sector. I finally got a map of our sector which has been very helpful for learning the streets. Well It´s time for me to sign off. If any of you want to write me my address is
Elder Holton
Chile Santiago West Misson
Correos Casilla 149
Chacabuco 166
Maipú
Chile
It takes about 2 to 3 weeks for letters to get down here and DearElder about a week. That´s the misson office address but we get all of our mail every wednesday at District Meeting.
I love you all and I hope all is well.
Love,
Elder Holton
How´s everyone doing? Things are going good here. Busy busy busy of course. So let´s see. Last week I´ve had the biggest meal of my life no chiste. We had a big bowl of soup(Clam chauder) (bigger than the big bowls at home), Then the main dish which is a full plate of food(Beef, rice, and brocoli), and a full plate of salad, and a bowl(about the same size as the small one at home) of fruit. It was delicous but alot. I´m proud to say that I ate all of and and 3 big pieces of bread. I can honestly say that I have eaten everything put in front of me. I don´t have a scale but I would bet money that I have gained weight. I´m always hungry. Everyone jokes that I´m going to get fat but I don´t buy it. We´re on the go too much. Another food that I forgot to talk about that I absolutely have fallen in love with is what is called an "AS" and yes it is said just like the cuss word which is way weird. But it´s made just like a Completo except instead of a hotdog they have little pieces of amazing beef with avocado, tomatos, and mayo on top and I usually put mustard also. So amazing. My trainer Elder Young just hit his year mark last week and we celebrated with Ases. It is so funny because we are almost the exact same. We have so much fun and yet challenge eachother at the same time. We got 2 new baptism dates set up last week and this week should be even better. I honestly love it down here. I mean it is a little weird walking down the street with guys cussing at you telling you to go back to your country and girls making kissing noises and whistling at you. It just adds to the adventure. Our ward is pretty small but we love them. They feed us every day except pday and they do our laundry. It´s getting kinda cold here but it´s not too bad. It´s a whole different thing though when the only building that has a actually furnace is the chapel of the church. No one else does. Everyone just bundles up with a lot of clothes and blankets. They love love love soda. It is insane how much soda they drink. They also love brooms. They do everything with a broom. It´s hilarous. Plus they are dogs everywhere and they are always making noise. I am sad to hear about Keith Whitmore. Make sure you give him my love and that I look forward to seeing him on the other side. This work is pretty crazy. Just last week we visited a boy named Charlie who is about 15 years old. When he was 8 he was only baptized and never confirmed which means he needs to be baptized again. So we went over there to his house to see what was going on and if he wanted to be baptized. My companion started asking questions about what was going on and everything and the kid just had his head down and kept quiet. He acted like something bad was really wrong. So my companion pushed and pushed but nothing happened. So I felt the impression to bear a little bit of my testimony to him. I straight up told him that I had no idea what I was doing and that I didn´t know this language or this country but I that I do know this:that God loves him and that God cares about him and that it is only through God that we can receive happiness. I pretty much made him look at me in the face. I told him that we want to help him and that God wants to help him but first he needs to ask God for help. It was a very powerful moment. My companion said that it was like I was staring into his soul. Well He hasn´t made a decision yet but that was a very foundation shaking experience. The reason why I´m writing you today instead of yesterday is because for this week they allowed us (my zone) to switch our Pday so we could go check out this airplane museum. It wasn´t as cool as Hill Airforce but it was still fun. Sorry but I can´t send pictures. We don´t trust these computers. Maybe later in a different sector. I finally got a map of our sector which has been very helpful for learning the streets. Well It´s time for me to sign off. If any of you want to write me my address is
Elder Holton
Chile Santiago West Misson
Correos Casilla 149
Chacabuco 166
Maipú
Chile
It takes about 2 to 3 weeks for letters to get down here and DearElder about a week. That´s the misson office address but we get all of our mail every wednesday at District Meeting.
I love you all and I hope all is well.
Love,
Elder Holton
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Week Eleven: May 31st, 2010
Life isn't too different from the states. Only thing is Lunch is the big meal of the day and we always eat at a member's house and they love to feed you alot. And if you don't eat it all you're basically insulting them. Which is really bad. As far as the type of food goes it's just like home. I've had things like fish, spaghetti, just whatever.
The language is coming good. The first 3 days really stunk because I could only pick out a couple of words but it is getting better. At Sunday school yesterday I could undertand almost everything and respond accordingly. My trainer is from Arizona and he is way cool. We went door knocking yesterday and we asked if we could come inside and say a prayer with them and after the prayer the lady just went crazy with questions wanting to know all about the Book of Mormon and everything. It was just too cool.
The ward is way fun. It is really small with only about 70 members. We try to get more people to come to church. Me and my companion live in this little house with 2 bedrooms. a living room and a kitchen which is way big for 2 people. Another cool thing about Chile is they have the most amazing hot dogs here!They are called completo!
The language is coming good. The first 3 days really stunk because I could only pick out a couple of words but it is getting better. At Sunday school yesterday I could undertand almost everything and respond accordingly. My trainer is from Arizona and he is way cool. We went door knocking yesterday and we asked if we could come inside and say a prayer with them and after the prayer the lady just went crazy with questions wanting to know all about the Book of Mormon and everything. It was just too cool.
The ward is way fun. It is really small with only about 70 members. We try to get more people to come to church. Me and my companion live in this little house with 2 bedrooms. a living room and a kitchen which is way big for 2 people. Another cool thing about Chile is they have the most amazing hot dogs here!They are called completo!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
