Happy New Year! 2015

Hey Fam!

This week was so much fun! Our Ward passed around these sign up sheets to spend an hour with the
missionaries on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so we got to go around and do all kinds of fun stuff with the members in our ward. We played apples to apples, phase 10, Scum President (wearing hats), ping pong, we sang sooo much, and my favorite, we launched mini  pumpkins loaded with fireworks out of a sling shot :)

The weather here has been super funky.. In the passed 48 hours we have received at least a foot of snow and the temps keep going from like 30 to -5 and back. I'm not sure if it has to do with the weather but my body pretty much shut down for 2 days and I slept like 35 hours out of the last 48.. Good news is I feel great today :)

I finished the Book of Mormon! It was one of my goals to read it 3 times this year. While I was about halfway through my second reading President Mecham asked me to start over and do a specific scripture marking so I technically only read it 2.5 times this year but I'm okay with that :)  I have really become a fan of making goals as a missionary. I have some pretty lofty goals set already for 2015.  I invite you all to take the time necessary to prayerfully set goals for this upcoming year and then hold yourself responsible and do your best to achieve them. One of my favorite quotes from President Thomas S Monson is found on page 150 of Preach My Gospel where he says,"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement increases." I have def found this to be true! I have learned that when I give an

accounting of my day to God in prayer at night He shows me many things I did not realize throughout that day. I usually am led to realize, with His help, I accomplished a lot more than I thought that day, I see His hand in my life and the lives of others, and I feel I am much more capable of having the righteous desires of my heart. Planning is so important and I feel when we counsel with God and do our best to align our plan with His plan then we set ourselves up for a future full of Joy and Happiness.

It was so awesome to Skype with you all on Christmas! I really enjoyed hearing your voices and seeing you all together as a family :) I am so excited for what this next year will bring! Thank you all for all you do for me. I am so blessed and feel so honored to have each of you in my life. I love you all and hope you have a happy and safe new year!

-Elder Holland

Merry Christmas! 2014

Hey Fam!

Well things are still going great here in Great Falls!  The weather has been super warm and I am loving getting to know my new companion, Elder Fox.  I still laugh at our age differences but we have a ton in common.  He is 18 and has been out on his mission for about 5 months.  He grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California.  He really prepared well to come serve a mission and I am very impressed with him.  I am looking forward to all I will learn from him this transfer. 

Our ward here is amazing!  They sent out a Christmas sign up sheet to have the Elders and Sisters over at different hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas.  We have a packed schedule of families to go visit, play games, and share a message on Christ with.  I'm sure I will eat a ridiculous amount of food.. again.. but it will be worth it :) 

I am sure by now all of you have watched the Christmas video the Church put out called, "He Is The Gift."  We have been sharing this with literally everyone for the past few weeks and it has had a profound influence on me.  Learning and teaching others how to Discover, Embrace, and Share the Gift has been life changing.  I am so grateful to KNOW that He is the Gift.  To know that God loved us so much that he sent His Son to make it possible to for us all to return Home to Heaven once again.  The Gift of our Savior is amazing to me because it is meant for ALL of God's children but it effects us all personally.  Salvation is for everyone but we receive it on a personal level.  Yes we are all brothers and sisters here and we help one another along the journey but ultimately it depends on what we each do as individuals that determines if we will be able to return to Heaven. 

I know so many people in life, especially those I have met on my mission, who are hesitant to move forward in the Gospel because they feel they will be leaving a loved one behind.  Many of them simply will not make or keep sacred covenants with God because they are waiting for the day that a sibling, or spouse, or friend will do it with them.  I feel this is one of the greatest tools Satan uses to keep people from progressing in this life.  In Matthew 19:29 the Savior said,"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life."  I don't believe the Savior is saying we need to leave everyone we love in the dust.  He is simply saying TRUST ME and it will be worth it.  There has never been an instance in the history of man where God has promised man something and did not deliver.  He says when we follow Him we will inherit an hundredfold and Eternal Life.  In my opinion, to TRUST him is not to leave others behind but to show them the way.  As we get closer to Christ personally we inevitably bring others with us.  

We all have things in life that are keeping us from being closer to our Savior.  As we enjoy the peace that comes this Christmas season I invite all of you to ponder your favorite sins you are holding on to and to make a resolve to let them go.  I promise you it will be worth it.  I have so far to go but am doing what I can to honor the Covenants I have made with God and I can say I have never been happier.  I have real and lasting JOY in my life.  I know that God is truly our Father in Heaven.  He loves us with a love we can not even begin to comprehend.  Everything He does is for our eternal benefit.  I know He sent His Son to pay our price so we could return to live with Him again.  I am so grateful for this knowledge and for the opportunity I have to share it with others.

Thank you all for all the love, letters, packages, and prayers you have sent my way.  I am so grateful for all of you.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you on Skype! 

Love,

Elder Holland

Staying in Great Falls!

Hey Fam!

This week was super exciting!  Lots of changes are being made with the missionaries here and things are going really well!  My new companion is Elder Fox.  I met him once during transfers and he seems like a really awesome guy.  I am looking forward to this transfer and all the awesome stuff that is happening here! 

My thoughts this week are all centered on gratitude.  I will never be able to express how grateful I am

for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This past week I took some time to reflect on the people I am currently seeing here and the people I have been able to get to know so well over the course of my mission.  Every single one is suffering in some sort of way.  The difference between each one of them is that those that have embraced the Gospel and strive to keep the commandments have peace.  I realized in an overwhelming way that even though I see and try to help people dealing with things that are very difficult I have peace all the time.  Yes I get anxious, nervous, and upset at different times but I also know that is part of it.  It is okay to feel this way because this is how we grow.  Nothing great ever came out of a comfort zone.  The amount of Light we have in our lives is directly related to our desire and actions towards keeping the commandments.  I am not even really sure where I am going with this but I am just so grateful to know He is always there.  I feel like I am seeing the influence of God in the lives of others much more and I know this experience is preparing me for whatever trials lie ahead of me.  I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that because He did what He did we are enabled to do all that we do.  As I was pondering the trials of

others I thought about my own trials, especially in the last 2 years, and how I have been supported and lifted in every aspect.  My invitation to you all this week is to reflect back on some of the hardest times in your life and ponder this question, "Where was God?"  Then pray and ask Him that same question.  I promise you will feel peace and know that He is in control.  In doing this He has shown me many things I did not notice in the moment of the trial and I am so grateful to know He is always there.

I am thankful to you all for the great love and support you have shown me!  

Love,  

Elder Holland

P.s. I gave out the wrong address to my apartment and I have no idea how all of your letters and packages have been making it to me but here is my actual address! 

312 3rd Ave North #8 Great Falls, Mt 59401

Christmas Zone Conference!

Hey Fam!

This week was incredible!  I learned so much it was ridiculous!  We had our Christmas zone conference and it was so much fun.  Elder Bishop was dressed up as Santa and we had lots of fun.  I don't think Santa normally acts that way but it was hilarious :)

The whole Conference was centered on Christ and outlined the principles of Joy, Faith in Jesus Christ, and putting on the armor of God.  I thought this was really cool because I have been studying these topics like crazy over the past few months.  I would really encourage you all to study the words Joy and Happiness in the scriptures.  The word Happiness appears 28 times in the standard works.  once in the Doctrine and Covenants. Once in the Pearl of Great Price and 26 times in the Book Of Mormon.  There are really amazing formulas attached to it everywhere it is mentioned too :)

But what I have been really thinking about is the spiritual "Armor" that we all wear daily.  Last week I was reading in in Alma chapter 60 and noticed something really interesting.  This is where Moroni is writing his letter to Pahoran because Pahoran has not sent him any supplies or troops to aid him in his war efforts.  Verse 21 says, " Or do ye suppose that the Lord will still deliver us, while we sit upon our thrones and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us?" I have been thinking so much about the armor that I put on each day.  This scripture, to me at least, helps me understand that most of the time God gives us opportunities to do things rather than just give us things.  We are not here on earth to be led by the hand but we do have a Father in Heaven who is a God and has given us all we need to succeed here in this life.  Over the past 2 years I have slowly been learning that in order for me to be happy throughout an entire day there are some things I need to do.  Specifically in the morning I have learned that I need to pray, exercise, read the scriptures, and review and pray about my plans for that day.  If I don't do one of these things my day never seems to go as well as it could have.  I have also committed to listen to a General Conference talk every single time I take a shower.  I have been doing this for over a year now and have found incredible strength from this alone.  I have made a list that is ever growing of things that are part of my armor.  I feel that these things are the vehicle for me to live in a way that I honor the covenants I have made with God.  I take very seriously Paul's commission to, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  My invitation to you all this week is to counsel with God in prayer and make a list of things that are a part of your armor. I know that  He will help you know the things you can do on a daily basis that will protect you and allow you to have the most Happiness and Joy in your life.  The purpose of this life is to have Joy and there is no other way to find it except through Jesus Christ.  I know that Elder Bednar was speaking truth when he said, "Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and with the Lord Jesus Christ."  I believe many of you do certain things daily that you may not even realize are a part of your armor but I promise you that if you will take the time to write them down that God will show you even greater ways to become one with Him.  I know that Jesus is the Savior of the world.  By choosing to put on my armor daily I have been enabled to do things I know I could never do on my own.  I know we can do all things through Christ because He truly is the one that strengthens us. 

My companion, Elder Mckeachnie, will be finishing his mission this transfer and will head home this weekend!  Crazy how fast time flies but I am happy for him because he has chosen to work hard all the way to the end. 

Thank you all sooooo much for all the Christmas letters!  I had 21 pages of letters in my package at the Christmas conference!  I am so blessed to have you all.  Thanks so much for all you do for me! 

Love,

Elder Holland

Thanksgiving :)

Hey Fam!

So this week was crazy!  It was honestly so cold it hurt!  I had hand and toe warmers on pretty much most of the week.  I am so grateful I have really warm clothes to wear :)  At one point it was -20 not including the wind chill.. That is just way too cold! 

We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners!  I loved the first one, enjoyed the second one, and started to get pretty uncomfortable by the end of the 3rd.... I don't think I have ever eaten that much in my life!  I am super grateful for the people that show us Missionaries so much love and support.  I am always amazed how people just treat the missionaries like family.  Even though I just got here I really do feel loved by these people. 

This week we have our Christmas zone conference in Helena.  I feel like it is happening way early but I loved it last year and know it will be great this year.  Like half the mission will be there so it will be great to see everyone.  It is going to be all about Christ and music.  I have never really liked to sing or even enjoyed hymns before my mission but now I love them.  I will report on this next week.

We basically spent this week meeting tons of people.  I do not have time to explain them all but I have just had an amazing confirmation this entire week that this Gospel is true!  I keep meeting so many people who are completely different creatures now that they have allowed Christ to have a greater presence in their lives.  I really do feel this Christmas season is going to bring miracles in the missionary work we are engaged in.  I love the "He is the Gift" video the Church came out with and I invite you all to share it with as many people as you can.  Missionary work is as simple as inviting someone to watch a 3 minute video.  The success is in the invite and God will take it from there.  I am grateful for all of you and the great love and support you are to me.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Holland