Time is flying....

Hey Fam!

This week really was awesome! We have lots of people to teach and time seems to be flying by.  I can't believe that I have been on my mission for almost 4 months.  That blows me away but I think about how much I have learned and really can't believe it has only been 4 months!  I love being here with Jar.  He teaches me soo much every single day and we teach really well together.  

We got to go up to Helena this week for our Zone Conference with President Mecham.  It was fantastic.  Jar got to meet Elder Rodriguez and lots of other Elders I have become friends with.  I really enjoy those meetings.  The Energy in a room filled with 80 or so Elders and Sisters who are set apart with Priesthood Authority to preach the Gospel of Christ is truly incredible.  It is the next best thing to being in the Temple.  AND President Mecham announced that at the beginning of the next transfer we are all gonna get to go to the Temple!! When he said that I wanted to scream and cry at the same time.  I am so excited for that trip and he said we are all going to have a discussion in the Chapel after the session and I know the things I learn will help me to understand how to fully keep all the commandments and become what my Father in Heaven already knows I am. 

I also learned what a Gospel Principle really is.  A Principle is a moral belief that allows us to govern ourselves as we work towards a moral goal.  A Gospel Principle is the same thing except the goal we are working towards is Eternal.  I learned that obedience is a contribution to a covenant.  It is all about perspective. 

In our Gospel Principles class yesterday I had an "Aha" moment about something I have thought about a lot.  My goal in life is to always have an eternal perspective.  As I do I am more able to be present in my every day activities and to pick apart the most important things of my day to focus on.  The lesson we had was on the Holy Ghost.  I thought about Him and how he is already an established member of the Godhead.  I thought about him and where he is currently in his progression and how he is a God and has not even received a body yet.  I couldn't help but ponder what that means about You and me.  As I did the Spirit confirmed my thoughts and once again I came to a realization of who I Am.  In that moment I also was able to see just who every individual around me Is as well.  I am confident that this perspective is one that Heavenly Father wants to instill in All of us. All we have to do is give him a chance.  

At the conference we got to take a picture with Elder Rodriguez and Zachilli (From Rancho Bernardo) Which was way cool.

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is God's Church Restored on the earth today.  I am amazed at the evidences of the Book of Mormon that I continue to find all the time.  But truthfully all I need and all anyone needs to know it is true, is the confirmation from the Holy Ghost.  There is a God who out of love has dedicated this time to us to confirm truth to us.  I am so grateful for Him and for all the knowledge I have from the Gospel.  Because of it I can say I truly know the meaning of the word Joy. 

I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support!

Elder Spencer Holland

Hello Family,

This week was a good one. We started off better than we had any of the other weeks which was good but then it kind of got slow. I like it when we are really busy. But we have a couple of good people to teach which we are excited about. 

One of those people is a young sister. She is a spanish speaker and last week we taught her with a member that we ate with and it was a really good lesson. She left for girls camp last week and we heard from a couple of the leaders that she had a really great time there so we were really excited about that. They told us that she bore her testimony at the end of the camp so that is really great news. She has a baptismal date for the 3rd of August which we are still shooting for but it was strange because she didin't come to church on Sunday and we dont know why...we'll see this week though.

Yesterday we had a really great lesson with the guy we are teaching out in the mountains and we are so excited for them! He is the guy that raised the bear up there.. But we taught him with Spencer's member friend from Three Forks and we taught the Restoration. So it was a great lesson and we got to the end and he said that he believed everything that we had told him.  He proceeded to tell us an experience that he had during the week when he was talking to a young man who came into his work that was an evangelical christian and he said that he was very very close minded. The point was brought up about having other scripture out there that is from God and the kid was 100% against it but then Mike (our investigator) started saying that he believed that the Lord could bring forth other scripture and truth. He spoke about the Book of Mormon and actually defended it which was amazing! He defended the LDS church! It was incredible, and I definitely see him and his son being baptized sometime here in the near future though I don't think it will be while I am here. It will probably be a couple of weeks after I leave but we are excited for them. 

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful time with the family reunion down there in SD! It should be a great time! Tell everyone that I said hi and I'm sorry that I couldn't be there but that i'll see most of them here pretty soon! 

Love you! 

Elder Jaromy Holland