Yup, It is freezing here!

Hey Fam!

Well another week has come and gone.  I love it here.  The more I talk with missionaries the more I learn how irregular it is to be able to stay in one town for 8 months. I am so grateful to live here in Bozeman!  It really is a fantastic place to serve.  It has been crazy cold the passed few days though.. Down to single digits which is def not cool.  But on the flip side I do get to finally wear all these accessories like scarfs,gloves, and ear warmers that I have never needed my entire life :)  Life is good.

Sorry I missed last week but we did have a baptism yesterday!  His name is Randy and he actually went home to Arizona to be baptized.  He will be back after the holidays but he is another person that I am honored to be able to know.  He is Navajo and is the first of his family to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

I got to spend half my week in Three Forks which was sweet!  I love going back and seeing all the people that I got to teach and get to know.  There are people there that are really having a hard time with their current circumstances but chose to accept that God gave them those trials to make them stronger.  I admire everything about them.  I love how my perspective continues to change as a missionary.  

We have another Person who is investigating the Church that has really helped me think of how we can be more like Christ.  His name is Mike.  We have been teaching him for a couple weeks and he has agreed to prepare himself to be baptized on the 7th of December.  He is making big moves towards qualifying himself for the great blessings that our Father in Heaven has prepared for him.  In teaching him I have really thought about myself.  I have been very focused on the subject of self-mastery.  I feel that to be like the Savior I need to allow myself to evolve to exactly what he has taught.  This is a process that I know will take my entire life but I understand how important it is to have a sure foundation.  I know that everything we do initially comes from a thought.  I have really been working to master my own mind and only allow those things that are pleasing to the Savior to enter it.  I had the thought the other day, Can Satan read my thoughts?  First I am so grateful for people like my Stake President , President Heap, who have studied the scriptures all their lives and can help direct me to the answers to questions like this.  He directed me to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants section 6 verse 16, "Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart."  How grateful I was to learn this!  Wow seriously that makes it so much easier for me to know that Satan has to base what he throws at me by what I do, not what I think.  Yes I also have to take into account that in our pre-mortal existence he must have known me but from here on out he can only throw his junk at me by what I do, not what I think.  This was a powerful lesson for me and I know that it would have been near impossible for me to learn it if I did not have the desire to find an answer and the scriptures to search for that answer.  

I am so grateful for all of the many things that God has given us in these latter days to guide us.  I pray that we all may take the time to prayerfully search the scriptures for the problems to the questions we have in life.  Because of experience, I can now testify that all questions to life that we need to know can be found in the scriptures.  I have yet to have a question that I need to know that they can not answer.

I get to have Thanksgiving Dinner at President Heap's home! I'm excited and grateful.  I hope you all have a fantastic week!  I love you and am so very grateful for all you do for me.

Elder Holland

Another great week!

Hey Fam!

This week was fantastic!  I am still adjusting to the cold but at least the past 3 days it has been sunny :)  I have learned that Vitamin D pills are awesome and I will definitely be taking them the entire winter :)  

The work here is really progressing!  A couple weeks ago, when we received out iPad's, we were told that we would receive training in the form of exchanges.  We were told every companionship would have an Elder with them for at least 2 days, twice this transfer.  Turns out I am the one who gets to do the exchanges with my zone here in Bozeman!  It started last week and it is actually really fun because I am getting to meet tons of people and am able to help these awesome Missionaries that serve here.  The one downside is that I will only get to spend 13 days out of the next 6 weeks in my own area.  I did arrange the schedule so that I get to be in my area for Sunday though.  I am very excited about this opportunity though because I get to see all the great and many blessings from using iPad's in our teaching.

We have multiple people in my area that will be baptized in the next few weeks.  I am really excited about this guy named Mike.  He was raised in another faith and has found great joy in the knowledge he has gained since meeting with us and coming to church and institute class.

The teacher in church said something profound in our lesson on Sunday.  He said, "The blessings of Heaven are limitless but perishable."  WOW.  I really thought about this and it is so very true.  As we qualify ourselves for the blessings of Heaven, as the scriptures state, we will prosper in the land.  The windows of Heaven are opened and we are filled with the joy that only God can provide.  These blessings and feelings are perishable because as we disobey the Heavens can not send down all that our Heavenly Father wishes to send.  I do not wish to say that in disobedience there is no happiness but I will say from experience that although joy may be felt outside the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is always fleeting.  When Jaromy was here he shared a scripture with me from the Book of Mormon that has become one that I love and share often; Alma 12:10, "And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full."  I love the connection to knowledge and the state of our hearts. 

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have and for the Joy that comes from my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that we are all children of God and He loves and does all He can to bless us.  The blessings we receive are limitless but perishable.  I pray that we will all qualify ourselves for limitless blessings that never perish.  I love you all and am so grateful for all the letters, packages, and love you send me, you are the best!  

Elder Holland

Getting Chilly!

Hey Fam!

Well, It is snowing!  And it is freezing!  I bet my skin will be transparent by the end of this winter but it's all good I am enjoying learning a new way of living :)  Things are going really well here!  I love serving with all the college students.  It is very refreshing to spent time with and teach people my own age.  There are many incredible things happening here and I am excited about this transfer because we have prepared ourselves to truly witness miracles.

I was able to witness a miracle this week.  We were driving to an appointment and we got a call from Brother Judd saying that a girl from 2nd Ward had been in an accident.  He said she flew off the road at 60 mph and rolled her car 4 times and we needed to go to the hospital and give her a blessing.  To be completely honest I was actually fairly nervous on the drive to the hospital because I had no idea the condition she would be in when we got there.  When we walked into her room she was sitting upright on the hospital bed and was talking with her mom.  To my amazement not a single bone was broken in her body!  She had cuts all over her arms, legs, and face and had a bruise on her chest from the seat belt but that was it.  She showed us some pictures of the crash and her car is toast and she rolled about 50 yards up a hill before she stopped.  As she spoke I felt this incredible warm, deep, soothing feeling come over me and I had the most amazing confirmation that there were angels there protecting her.  Her mom said as she was rolling she said a prayer and asked over and over for God to stop the car.  It truly was a miracle to witness and I am so grateful that I was blessed to be there for it.

Last week Camille sent me a quote By President George Albert Smith, "Those who are on the other side [of the veil] are just as anxious about us.  They are praying for us and our success." I have been thinking about this a lot especially after having this experience.  I have no doubt in my mind that, just as we are assigned to help people here, angels are assigned by God to do the same.  I know that no matter what we do they are there.  Most of the time they are silent but they are there.  I know that as we keep the commandments of God and qualify ourselves for their assistance that they are then allowed to have a larger influence in our lives.  I have learned this through experience and am forever grateful for those here and on the other side of the veil that help lift, encourage, inspire, and bless me.  I testify to what Russell T Osguthorpe said in the CES devotional last night, "Saying and doing the right things becomes easy as we make promises to the Lord."  As we continue through life in righteousness our tasks do become harder but the help we receive is ALWAYS more than sufficient for our needs. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have and pray that we will all do all we can to share this Gospel with those the Lord has put in our path.

Thanks so very much for all of your great love and support.

Love,

Elder Holland