Week Sixty-Six: January 22nd, 2012

Dear Family,
Well these past two weeks have been really good. I'm really enjoying my new sector. In our ward we have been having a lot of changes. A lot of changes in Leadership. So this past week has been just a lot of adjusting to the changes and working hard. We have several investigators progressing. I'm going to change the names FYI. Well we have one named Juan who is 73 years old and is doing alright progressing. We have visited him several times but it's just getting him to focus on the Most Important Thing which is Eternal Life. He is a really good investigator and has a lot of questions. Also we have Felipe who is a little kid of 13 years and likes listening but is just a little quiet. But we have been working on getting him to open up. We also have another one named Claudia and She is also another investigator from a long time but she was just waiting on getting married. Well now they are married and so it's just a matter of getting her baptized. But she doesn't want to feel forced into it. So we are working with her also. Two Sundays ago I had the wonderful blessing being able to interview two investigators from another ward for baptism. It was just amazing. The spirit was just so strong and powerful and it is just incredible to receive that spiritual confirmation saying that they are ready. It really opens your eyes and helps you realize how much God loves his children. We got to go to their baptism this Saturday. It was a wonderful experience. This past Friday I was able to go to a leadership training in Maipu. I was able to sit next to Elder Smith the whole day. I really miss that Elder. Well everything is going good. I really hope you guys are doing well.
I got the calendar this past week. Thank you very much!
Love,
Elder Holton

I told Nick that they asked me to share an update on my missionary and a spiritual experience that he had on his mission in Relief Society. So I asked him to send me one ASAP and this is the story he sent me! I thought it was so great that I wanted to share it with all of you!

This happened in my second sector. Me and Elder Lowry we running around working in the sector and I got this impression that we should pass by Iris our investigator at around 8 PM. Well then we had to go visit a few people so I pushed the thought out of my head and then it came again at around 9:30 PM. So we went. We got there and she had been crying. We asked what was going on and she told us that she was breaking up with her boyfriend (now husband) and that she did know what she was going to do. She kept saying "You came, You came". And we were like what do you mean we came? and She told us that she had been praying that God would send her someone so that she wouldn't have to be alone. I asked her how long she had been praying. She said she started around 8 PM. I told myself never again would I ignore the promptings of the spirit.

Week Sixty-Five: January 16th, 2012

Nick didn't send us a family email this week and so I decided to post the email he sent to me! I guess the main thing is that he is busy and is still breathing!! Right??! Really Nick could you have just given us a little more?

Dear Mom,
I am doing great. The district is doing good.That's really cool. I went on divisions with Elder Ellis last week and it went really well.Well Mom I gotta go. I hope you guys have an awesome week.
Love,Elder Holton

Week Sixty-Four: January 9th, 2012

Me and my companion Elder Sanchez

Hey Family,
How is everyone doing? I'm doing great.

Well to tell things in order. Last Monday we finished saying goodbyes. There were a lot of tears but thats the mission. So we got everything packed which was very painful and we're off. So we had changes and I'm now going to a stake called "5 de Abril" in a ward called "Rivas Vicuña". It has the biggest chapel in all of Chile. I've actually visited this chapel before but now I get to visit it every week haha.

My new companion is named Elder Sanchez from Culiacan Mexico. He is a great elder and we are going to do a lot of work together. Even just this last week we recieved a new bishopric and they are very excited to work hard. I have a really good feeling about this new ward and I'm very excited to work in it. There are 8 missionaries in my district. 4 companionships. Me and elder Sanchez, The zone leaders Elder Van Dyke (from utah) and Elder Barco, and Elder Mejia and Elder Ellis (from utah), and Hermana Rivero and Hermana Tripainou.

We have a really big 5 bedroom house but it is just full of fungus and fruit flies.
So we are looking at renting another house. I hope you guys are having a great week.

Love,
Elder Holton


This is my new sector: http://maps.google.cl/maps?saddr=Las+Rejas+Sur&daddr=Las+Rejas+Sur+to:El+Estero+to:El+Estero+to:Gladys+Mar%C3%ADn+Millie+to:Liber+Bernardo+O%60Higgins&hl=es&ie=UTF8&sll=-33.469755,-70.702686&sspn=0.03852,0.084028&geocode=Ffh7Af4dNh7J-w%3BFa4yAf4duyfJ-w%3BFTgoAf4dXPjI-w%3BFQg_Af4dLOLI-w%3BFVJeAf4doNPI-w%3BFRx7Af4dmh7J-w&vpsrc=0&mra=mi&mrsp=5&sz=14&t=h&z=14

The New Place! Packing up the Suitcases! Check out these couches! Me and Elder Sauceda More pictures from Christmas!

Week Sixty-Three: January 2nd, 2012

Dear Family,
Wow what a crazy past few weeks. Well Christmas went really well.

We spent it with a family in our ward. We had a dinner and that was it. It was good food. They had just about every kind of meat. But it was very simple and low stress which is all I could've asked for. This past week we had New Years. It really is kinda sad because the Chileans for the most part think that New Years is more important than Christmas which to me just doesn't make any sense. But for Christmas Eve we had a FHE with the recent converts in our wardwhich was also very calm. Well this past week has been very hard to find people but even then we have been able to see some of our investigators.
Well Family I have some news this week. I'm changing sectors. I've already got one of my bags packed. I've also been called to serve as a District Leader. So now we begin a whole new adventure. Well I'll get you guys more details on everything this next week.

Love,
Elder Holton

Our District!

I think this is the family where he went to Skype us on Christmas day!

Feliz Navidad!

Week Sixty-Two: December 26th, 2011

Because we got to talk to Nick yesterday he didn't send much of a letter today but we were happy to get a few pictures though.

Dear Mom,
Because it is so hot here, (It's in the 90's and with all the humidity it's not too fun) we got together as a district and we had a water balloon fight and then we went to a member's house in Elder Smith's sector and had lunch. It was awesome!
Well it sounds like Melissa had a good birthday and everyone had a good christmas.
I really love you guys and it was good to see you.
Thanks for everything.
Love, Elder Holton
P- Day Waterfight!

WATCH OUT!!

Christmas Skype:12-25-11

It was the highlight of our Christmas to be able to Skype Nick on Christmas day. It is so great to not only talk to him but to see him too. He just seemed so happy and he truly had a glow about him. They celebrate Christmas in Chile on Christmas Eve so after their appointments they went back to their apartment and opened presants. We sent a package to Nick and one to his companion before Thanksgiving and his companion Elder Sauceda got his package the week before Nick. I was really worried but then Nick did get his package in time after all. He said that he had a fun time reading all the letters that everyone had sent that I included in the package. On Christmas day it was just like any other day. Then they went to one of the members houses and were able to use a tablet to Skype us. We were also able to see his companion on Skype. He told us that they are getting 20 new missionaries to his mission next week and so they will be splitting areas and most likely he will be transfered to a new area.

Week Sixty-One: December 19th, 2011

Dear Family,
This week was a good week. Not a whole lot has happen. But as a stake we had a stake activity going on all week. They sent us many different nativity scenes from different countries and invited every body to come and see them and take pictures. We have been sharing many Books of Mormon with the Members and inviting them to write their testimony on the inside and pray about someone they could give it to for the Christmas season. It's been going good.Well I look forward to talking to and seeing you guys on Christmas. We were thinking between 12 and 2. We are given permission to use the computers of the members but only one can do it at a time. So I'll probably let him go first at 12 and he would finish around 12:45 (we only have 45 minutes) and then I could get on.

Well I hope you guys have a great week.
Love,
Elder Holton