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It has been 4 years....since we were all together.





It's a beautiful day in sunny California! I love the Temple :)

Best last week a missionary could ask for :)

Hey Fam!  (Holy smokes that's the last the last time I will get to write that...)

This week was so crazy! I always thought things would slow down at some point but they definitely got even crazier this week! I don't think this letter could ever do this week justice but I will do my best to share what I learned.. And then I'll tell you all what else happened when I see you this weekend ;)

First off, we drove over 1000 miles this week! We had a mission wide conference in Bozeman and the entire mission was there. This is the first time the entire mission has ever gathered together and it was so awesome!  Elder Craig Zwick and Brother Mike Hemingway came and as a start to the meeting they wanted to personally greet all the missionaries so we all got up in rows and were able to have a few seconds with both of them. Haha it was funny cuz I walked up and said, "Hey I'm Elder Holland" and shook his hand and he goes, "Yes you look like an Elder Holland" and I asked him if he remembered an Elder Holland who gave him a tour of the Santiago Mission and went to dinner with him in 2013. Elder Zwick was like, "I sure do! Are you related to him?" I got to tell him he is my younger brother and immediately after serving there he came to Montana to be my companion for a transfer. We ended the conversation with him asking me to tell my brother hi from him. So, Jaromy, Elder Zwick says hello :)

Elder Zwick is such an inspired man. He spoke for the majority of the 4 hour meeting. The primary focus for this meeting was our iPads and how we can use them correctly as a tool to help others come unto Christ. As part of this the entire mission, except for those going home this week, were told they would receive a new iPad and be trained on how to use it. Elder Brock and I spend a good amount of time driving out to all the missionaries in our zone to configure the new iPads and train on how to use them properly. That's a big part of why we drove over 1000 miles this week.. But interestingly enough Elder Zwick focused, initially, on the need to be one with our companions and then transitioned to discuss all types of companions and made an emphasis on our eternal companions. He made some pretty cool promises to us if we keep our covenants. On this same topic he said, "What really matters is that we are willing to follow each other on a covenant path. That's protection. And everything else simply doesn't matter."

President Mecham followed up these thoughts and he and Sister Mecham stood together and testified of the importance and need of marriage in our eternal progression. President Mecham said, "If you love your companion you will share your thoughts and reflections."  It made me wonder how often we learn things that are pertinent to our spiritual growth and salvation that we simply do not share. I feel I grow and truly learn what I need to only after I have shared and discussed certain topics with those who are closest to me. I invite you all to make a conscious effort to share and discuss the things you are learning with those "companions" who are closest to you. I know great blessings are in store for those that teach and discuss true principles of the Gospel.

Then there was the McIntosh family! They all got baptized on Saturday and were confirmed on Sunday during sacrament meeting :)  it was so fantastic. There were so many people there to support them on Saturday that we had to move the service into the chapel and then everyone crowded into the nursery room to watch them as they were baptized. Brother McIntosh, who received the Melchizedek Priesthood last week, performed all of the baptisms. I have never seen him smile like he did as he helped each of his daughters in and out of the water. It truly was an amazing thing to be a part of and something I will never forget.

There are lots of things I am looking forward to this week! Karl will be baptized on Wednesday so I will tell you all about that on Saturday :) The Sisters in our ward have been teaching this guy named Keern who will be baptized on Thursday and today in church he asked me to baptize him! So I will get to do that before I leave too. On Wednesday Elder Brock (who eats more than anyone I have ever seen...) and brother McIntosh will be having a wing eating contest! Brother McIntosh is such a beast of a human being too! He is 6'7" and can also eat tons of food. They are getting the super spicy wings from Pizza Hut and I think they will have around 100 so this will be super interesting. I will definitely take lots of pictures :)

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to serve the Lord for these last 2 years. I thank Him on my knees every single day for this opportunity. I have learned and grown more in this experience than anything else I have ever done. I have seen the hand of God in the lives of so many. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know He loves us. I know we are children of our Heavenly Father. I know we have the potential to be like Him. I know that there are no coincidences in this life and that God is in every detail of our lives. I know the Church is true. I am so excited to begin my studies of the early years of the Church. I am so grateful to have seen and felt so many incredible things while here in Montana. This place will always have a special place in my heart.

I am so grateful for all of you! The love and support I have felt is tremendous and I could never thank you enough for all you have done for me. I look forward to catching up with all of you soon! In person! I love you all! See you on Saturday :)

Elder Holland

Hello Family and Friends,

Spencer is returning to San Jose from Montana.  For the friends in the Bay Area Spencer will be giving a homecoming talk on Sunday, March 15 at 1:00 p.m. in the Saratoga Stake Center on Allendale.  For the San Diego friends Spencer will be speaking on Sunday, March 29 at 9:00 a.m. at the LDS church on Black Mountain Road.  For the Utah family Grandma Ruth is having everyone to her house on Saturday evening, April 18 to welcome Spencer home.  I add my thanks to Spencer's to all of you for your prayers and support while Spencer served his mission!  Love, Teresa

Only 2 weeks left..

Hey Fam!

This week was so awesome!  So much happened.. I feel like we were just running around like crazy people but we got a lot done :)  Our investigator family is all set and ready to go for their baptism on Saturday! The family as a whole has made so many incredible changes to prepare for this day. The dad in the family is already a member and was ordained an Elder yesterday (By his Dad) and received the Melchezedik Priesthood!  It was such an amazing thing to be a part of :)

We had a really cool lesson with this new investigator. We have been meeting with him for a while but 5 weeks ago he got a job at a gas station and has been working like crazy to pay the bills for his family and has not had lots of time to meet with us. Before he got the job he did make some significant changes in his life to come closer to God and to prepare for baptism. He got married, quit smoking, and really did all he could to follow the commandments of God. We had a lesson last week about the Gospel of Christ and we were talking about how we receive blessings from keeping the commandments. I asked him what kinds of blessings he has seen from keeping the commandments. He said he has a job to pay for his family, his health has improved significantly in the last 2 months, he and his wife do not fight like they used to, and he has a much better relationship with his kids and family.  Then we talked about covenants and the promises that God gives us as we make covenants with Him. We focused on the baptismal covenant. He would never set a date for baptism because he is the type of person that wants to know EVERYTHING about the Gospel and the Church before he joins. It was amazing because in that moment the Holy Ghost testified of the blessings he will receive from being baptized and he just said, "Wow.. I need to be baptized!" He asked me the date I leave to go home and then pulled out his phone and said he wanted to be baptized on Wednesday, March 11th! it's just like the scripture says, keep the commandments and God will IMMEDIATELY bless you! (Mosiah 2:24)

About a week ago President Mecham told us we are going to have a special mission wide conference in Bozeman!  It will happen on Wednesday and the primary focus of the meeting will be online proselyting. As far as I know this is the first time the entire mission will be gathered together in one place AND Elder Craig Zwick of the Seventy will be there! The meeting will last just 4 hours and then most of the mission will head back to their areas.  We will be staying Wednesday night and having another Mission Leadership Council on Thursday. I'm stoked cuz they said I can go around Bozeman and visit people I have not seen in like a year :)  this week is gonna be so awesome :)

I have less than 2 weeks left on my mission.. I'm still not really sure how to feel. I LOVE it here and am super sad this time is coming to a close but I am also so excited for what will happen this year :)

I know this Gospel is true!  I read through 3 Nephi chapter 8 yesterday and it just hit me, again, how the Light of Christ is literally everything. When He died and left the world for 3 days they couldn't even light a candle! I have seen the Light of Christ enter and fill so many people on my mission. I know that there is no sickness, pain, or trial that is not within the reach of His Light. He is who the scriptures proclaim Him to be. I have been so blessed and feel so honored to have been able to spend these last 2 years testifying of Him.

I will keep working hard all the way to the end but I am so excited to see you all again :)

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

Elder Holland

Remember

Hey Fam!

I love all of your thoughts on what it means to remember what the Lord has done for us! Thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts, I will add all I received into my study journal :)  I am always looking for formulas in the scriptures. I have been pondering the ways we can protect ourselves from falling off the path. I'm now reading I. The book of Helaman and it hit me a couple weeks ago WHAT we can all do to always stay on the path.  Lehi, as he is preparing to die, gives counsel to his children.

 In 2 Nephi 1:12-13 he says,

 

"12 Yea, as one generation passeth to another there shall be bloodsheds, and great visitations among them; wherefore, my sons, I would that ye would remember; yea, I would that ye would hearken unto my words.

13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe."

What are these "chains" that Lehi is talking about? How do we prevent ourselves from being bound by them?

When Alma and Amulek are contending with Zeezrom Alma says how important it is to have an open mind and then explains what the "chains of hell" are. He says,

 

"11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell." Alma 12:11

The key to keeping ourselves free and on the right path is knowledge and our integrity to the knowledge we have.

I wrote down a giant list of scriptures that I have seen in my reading and was going to include them in this email BUT the list has disappeared.. I think I lost it when we were shopping earlier.  But it's okay. 
 

Ultimately when we remember what the Lord has done for us and all those who have lived with and before us we end up living in a state of gratitude.  President Uchtdorf said, "Gratitude is a catalyst to ALL Christlike attributes." 

I know when we remember the things the Lord has done for us we always keep our eye on the "Mark".  It doesn't mean we never fall or make mistakes..  it does mean when trials come we will turn to the Lord.  The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to turn one to the Lord.  I feel this is why I was inspired to invite you all to read it a while ago.  My invitation to you all is to pay attention in your personal reading to each time the scriptures talk about remembering anything and really try to understand what they are saying.  There are examples ALL OVER in the Book of Mormon!  For example, as Mormon is writing in the book of Helaman he recounts the words of Helaman to his sons, Nephi and Lehi.  The words are recorded in Helaman Chapter 5:5-12.  In just these short 8 verses the word "remember" is said 14 times!  Just these 8 verses alone can change a persons life.  Please take time and read them :)

I have so many things going through my mind but the greatest of all is gratitude.  I am so grateful to have been able to serve a mission.  This is the most amazing thing I have ever done!  We have 7 people currently preparing to be baptized in March and it is so amazing to see each of them progress in their own conversion process.

I am thankful to all of you for your great love and support!  I love you all,

Elder Holland

Time is just flying by way too fast...

Hey Fam!

Holy smokes this week went by fast!  I find myself just wondering where the time went.. This week was a crazy week.  We drove over 700 miles this week!  On Wednesday I got to participate in my last Mission Leadership Council in Helena.  It really was a bitter sweet experience.  We stayed in Helena that night and went on splits with some Elders there and then had zone conference the next day.  I am always so impressed with the way President Mecham recognizes and acts upon spiritual impressions.  One of the things I will miss the most about my mission will def be him and Sister Mecham.  Then that night the whole  zone of missionaries drove up to Fort Benton to have a meeting with our Stake President, President Pfile.  We discussed a few things that I really want to share.
 

First we talked about how to have Faith supersede fear and he gave this formula:

1) Follow the prophet
2) Create a true spirit of the gospel in our hearts
3) Be a light to those among who we live
4) Focus on ordinances and covenants
5) Isaiah 60:4 "Lift up thine eyes round about, and see..." always look up, upward pull
6) Remember that we believe our Savior. Faith in Christ sustains us at every intersection in life.

Then President Pfile said, "The best decisions make sense at the intersection of practicality and spirituality or revelation."  As I pondered that statement I really do agree with it.  Lots of times when I am feeling angry or uncomfortable I consciously ask myself why I feel that way and then think of scriptural or spiritual accounts of people who felt that way and overcame it and I usually know exactly what I need to do to better the situation.  This is def something I encourage all of you to consciously do. 

I have a thought for you all to ponder that I will attempt to explain in my letter next week. When a Prophet or teacher is giving a sermon to a city or even ministering to the one he usually invites the person to remember the past. To remember how merciful the Lord has been from the creation of Adam all the way down to that specific person. Why do you think this is? What kind of an effect do you feel this has on a person? I am super interested to hear your thoughts!

I am so grateful for the time God has given me to serve his children here in Montana.  The Lord truly is hastening His work.  We had an amazing lesson with a guy last night and he is now preparing to be baptized on March 28th!  It is amazing how we came into his life at exactly the right time.  Def not a coincidence, 

Thank you all for the great support you are to me!  I love you all

Elder Holland

Temple

Hey fam!

This week was soo awesome!  Elder Brock and I get along really well and I can tell this is gonna be a sweet transfer.  He is in really good shape and the first thing I told him was how I want to get into good shape before I go home so the first thing he did was throw away all the junk food and candy in our apartment.  It was a full trash bag that weighed about 30 lbs...  Elder Fox left a boat load of stuff... It wasn't all mine... I promise.  Haha I was sad but it was a good thing.  We have been exercising like crazy in the mornings and I def have lots more energy each day.

We have been trying to plan this for a few weeks but were not sure if it would actually happen so I did not say anything about it.  BUT, I got to go to the Temple last Saturday!  We were all super happy because whether or not we could go all depended on if we got transferred or not.  My good friend from Bozeman finally got a Temple recommend and we got to go with her!  There were a bunch of other missionaries that came too and it was such an amazing experience.  She is such an amazing example to me of someone who takes their trials to the Lord and is strengthened to overcome them.  She was born into the Church and was baptized at 8 but fell away for a number of years.  She was in and out of jail for about 20 years and then in august of 2013 President Heap visited her in prison and invited her to read the Book of Mormon.  She read it in 2 months and prayed and received a testimony that it was true!  I got to start meeting with her immediately after that.  We have been workiong with her for over a year to try and help her get a Temple recommend but it just was not happening.  About 6 weeks ago her son was killed.  He was 20 years old.  It was a tragic event for her and I am so impressed with how she handled the situation.  When trials like this happen most people do one of two things.  They turn away from and are angry with God or they turn to Him and grow from the experience.  She turned to the Lord and 3 weeks later received a Temple recommend from her Stake President :)
 

She received her Endowment in 2003 but had not been back to the Temple since then.  It was such a happy experience to be there with her in the Temple.  I just cried happy tears and loved every second of the experience. 

 

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to rub shoulders with such amazing people here in Montana.  People keep bringing up the fact that I go home so soon and yes I am excited for the amazing things that I know are in the future but I am so sad to have this chapter of my life come to a close.  If anything, it has increased my drive to work like crazy all the way to the end :)

I love you all and am so grateful for all you do for me!

Love,
Elder Holland

Transfers..

Hey Fam!

I GET TO STAY HERE IN GREAT FALLS FOR MY LAST TRANSFER!!!! I am SOOO STOKED about this!!  So many amazing things are happening here and I feel so blessed to be able to stay and be a part of it! 

Unfortunately my companion, Elder Fox, will be transferred to Glendive.. But my new companion will be Elder Brock!  He served with me in Bozeman and I know him pretty well so it will be lots of fun.  I am actually super happy cuz he is in really good shape and will be good at motivating me to exercise so I can lose some of this winter weight before I come home :)  He plans to play football for BYU when he finishes his mission.  I'll send pics next week.

So we had a couple fantastic surprises from a family this week.  We have been so sick so we had not seen them in almost 2 weeks.  We went over for our usual appointment on Saturday night and all the girls were freaking out and told us their mom gave them permission to be baptized!  AND their dad met with our Bishop 2 weeks ago and he has done everything he needs to in order to be ordained an Elder and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood before the baptism on March 7th! Holy smokes I was so happy I cried.  It was such an amazing day and I am so excited for their family!

I love the Gospel so much.  I know Jesus is our Savior.  I have seen so many people change and become new creatures as they follow His example.  I am so grateful to be a Missionary and am pumped to work hard each and every day until I go home!  God is sooo good :)

Thank you all for all your great love and support! Sorry this is so short but I promise I will write more next week!

I love you all,

Elder Holland

Heat wave! and I get sick...

Hey Fam!

So this week was a little different.. It's just my luck that right when we have a heat wave and the sun is out all the time I get the flu.  I got really sick Wednesday night and had the flu all the way until Saturday. I DESPISE throwing up more than anything.. But from this I learned and was reminded of many things.  At one point I was feeling pretty discouraged because my greatest desire is to fulfill my calling and to teach people but I was just sitting at home feeling terrible.. And doing nothing.  I really felt like I was losing my patience because I really did not want to be at home.  I had been reading and listening to lots of talks and came across the CES devotional,"Lessons from Liberty Jail" by Jeffrey R Holland. I have listened to it before but thought it would be good to listen to it again. In this talk Elder Holland says,"I ask you to be patient in things of the spirit. Perhaps your life has been different from mine, but I doubt it. I have had to struggle to know my standing before God. As a teenager I found it hard to pray and harder to fast. My mission was not easy. I struggled as a student only to find that I had to struggle afterwards, too. In this present assignment I have wept and ached for guidance. It seems no worthy accomplishment has ever come easily for me, and maybe it won’t for you—but I’m living long enough to be grateful for that.  All but a prophetic few must go about God’s work in very quiet, very unspectacular ways. And as you labor to know him, and to know that he knows you; as you invest your time—and your convenience—in quiet, unassuming service, you will indeed find that “he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up” (Matthew 4:6). It may not come quickly. It probably won’t come quickly, but there is purpose in the time it takes. Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you through them and will use you to do his work if you carry them well." The experience and counsel of our Apostles today has helped me push through so many trials, especially as a Missionary.

I feel like I may sound a little dramatic about just having the flu but for me there are few things worse than the thought of possibly throwing up.. Again.. But if anything, being sick, helped turn me to the Lord. I started feeling better on Saturday but then my companion got it.. One of the downsides to being with someone ALL the time. So I have been doing tons of studying :) I read over 100 pages in the Book of Mormon! Yes Dad, I actually read that much ;) AND went through about a dozen talks. But the Holy Ghost led me to see lots in my reading.

I was reminded again of the great benefits to making and keeping covenants with God.  If we remember in the book of Mosiah, Alma and his brethren were walking uprightly before God and were honoring their covenants but, the scripture says, (Mosiah 23:21-22)

21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.
22 Nevertheless--whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

Then we see the result of this "chastening" in the next chapter. (Mosiah 24:13-15)

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do
visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

I feel like The purpose of the Lord here was to teach and remind the people to trust Him.  They were not delivered immediately but they did learn to submit cheerfully AND with patience to all the will of the Lord.

I have also seen it time and time again where someone who is has made and is keeping their covenants with God has to go through some incredible trial. I was reading a talk by Elder Richard G Scott called,"Trust in the Lord" (October 1995) where he says, "Just when nall seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov 3:11-12) He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

 I LOVE his perspective. He obviously speaks from experience but it's so true. I guess overall my thoughts this week are centered on enduring through the trials we and those we love face on a daily basis. They are given to us deliberately by our Father in Heaven to help us become better than we are today so that one day we will be worthy to return Home to live with Him again. I know God has a plan for us.  I know that it will push us to our limits but if we always remember Him and keep our covenants we will have the power we need to make it through anything. AND we can do it cheerfully and with JOY. I know we are all brothers and sisters and we are here as a family to help each other along the way, one little baby step at a time :)

I am so grateful for all of you and the great support you are to me!  I love you all!

Elder Holland

Sunshine :)

Hey Fam!

This week was so awesome!  Sorry for the late email but it has been crazy and this is the first opportunity we have had to send this out.  The snow completely melted in the last 3 days and the sun has been out almost all day every day.  I have been soaking in some much needed vitamin D :) I was up in Havre for a few days and got to meet and teach some really awesome native people. They have very similar beliefs to some of the people in the Book of Mormon! It is so sweet because the fullness of the Gospel fits naturally with what they already believe :)

We all went to Helena for our Mission Leadership Council on Friday. It was great to see all my good friends :). Lots of them will be finishing their missions this transfer. The entire thing was focused on planning.  Planning is def an eternal principle.  I never used to write things down but as a missionary we have to and now I am beginning to see the importance of writing down my thoughts, impressions, and plans. One of my very favorite Apostles, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, said, "The promoting that goes unresponded to May not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital... God should not, and may not, choose to repeat the prompting if we assign what was given such a low priority as to put it aside."  Planning is an eternal principle and I am so grateful to finally be figuring this out!

On Friday we had a couple appointments cancel and we're trying to figure out who the Lord would have us visit. We said a prayer and started going through our area book.  As I was looking through the many people to visit a name was literally highlighted on my iPad. Ha at first I thought there was something wrong with my iPad but I clicked it her and felt like we really needed to visit her.  There were notes that said she and her husband had not let anyone into their home for a while. Haha the timing was insane cuz right as we were walking up the steps to her porch she opened her door to let her dogs out. Ha she wasn't expecting to see someone there and she freaked out and screamed like crazy and slammed the door shut!  I love to spook people and she was def SPOOKED so naturally I started laughing really hard and my companion is just looking at me like I'm crazy. About a minute later she opened the door and said please come in! It was obvious that something big had happened in their lives because they were both quite emotional to see us there. Come to find her brother had passed away a few days before and she was confused and hurt because of her loss. She said she had praying for help and then there we were. We had one of the amazing discussions on the Plan of Salvation.  We read all about the afterlife from the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost confirmed truth to all of us. As we left (there was not much I could do about this one..) she literally jumped on me and gave me this giant bear hug and just cried. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that brings me so much peace. I'm grateful to be able to act as an Emissary for our Savior. I know this is His work I am engaged in. I am constantly put into people's lives who desperately need Christ and, to me, it seems random but I know God is up there orchestrating everything. He really is the details of our lives :)

Yesterday we had our zone training! I realized this is the last one I will have as a missionary... Kinda sad but it went really well :) Elder Bishop came up from billings for it and gave an awesome discussion. It was fun toA hang out with him for a little bit.  I have made so many friends here and I know our friendship will last into the eternities. God is soo good!

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

Elder HollandA

Book of Mormon Miracles

Hey Fam!

Okay this week was so awesome!  There were so many incredible things that happened this week!  First off, I heard yesterday that it has already snowed 49 inches this year... that's 49 inches in 12 DAYS!! Sooo much snow... but it has been fun helping people when they get stuck :)

One of the guys we are teaching has been having troubles quitting smoking cigarettes.  He has been smoking for a long time and has tried to quit multiple times.  There are many different methods people use to quit smoking but the one I ALWAYS turn to in helping someone quit their addiction is the Book Of Mormon.  How can the Book of Mormon help someone quit smoking? It turns them to Christ!  A good friend recently sent me some really cool facts about the Book of Mormon.  Out of the 531 page of the Book there are 6,604 verses.  3,340 of those verses have at least one reference to Christ.  Within those verses, there are 3,925 references to Christ.  On average, every 1.7 verses make reference to Jesus Christ!  The book was written to help people come unto Christ!  So last week I made our investigator a promise, as an Emissary of Jesus Christ, that if he would read the Book of Mormon each time he had a craving to smoke the craving would leave him.  We met on Saturday and when I asked him if he took me up on my promise to read he said it worked!! It was funny because he said it didn't work for very long.  When he had a craving he would read and he said it was amazing because the thought and feeling to smoke would completely leave him but then it would come back 30 minutes later.  I laughed and told him that is how God works.  We told him at first he will have to read tons to get away from his addiction but we promised it will get easier as time goes on.  We related this to enduring to the end and how it is not enough to just go to church once or read the scriptures once.. they are things we do throughout our lives because they turn us to the Lord.  He was very excited and happy to have finally found the way to break free from his addiction.  He will be baptized on Jan 31st :)

I am so grateful for the scriptures.  I LOVE the Book of Mormon.  I literally CAN'T go a single day without reading it.  It is the vehicle to receive the spiritual sustenance each and every day.  I hope and pray you all take the time to read it every single day. Even if it is just a few verses :)

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

Elder Holland

So much SNOW!

Hey Fam!

Holy smokes it is snowing like crazy here!  I'm sure it snowed this much last winter but it is pretty crazy here right now!  We are supposed to get like 2 more feet of snow in the next 48 hours too.. This place is nuts.

So I realized this week that I have not been doing a very great job at keeping y'all (yup I just said y'all) updated on the people I get to visit with each week.  As of Saturday, we have 6 people we are working with that are preparing for baptism!  5 of them are all from one family.  The dad is a member but his wife and children are not.  So there are 4 teenage girls and his wife that are working towards being baptized.  I have learned so many different things as a missionary but I feel some of the most valuable things I have learned are the different tactics Satan uses to lead us away from Christ.  One that is extremely prevalent in the Church is people leaving because a person has offended them.  This is the case for the father of this family we are working with.  He was "offended" by what a person in the Church did and as a result he did not come to Church for 10+ years.  It was so beautiful on saturday night to watch him testify to his wife and kids that the Church is true.  He said he always knew the Church was true it was just pride and this individual that offended him that kept him from living up to what he knew to be true.  He told his family that the Church is true but the people are far from it.  At one point he looked at me and said, "You know, I didn't realize the Church was a perfect organization run by imperfect people until you guys started coming by a few weeks ago."  One of the first lessons we had with them was on forgiveness and how forgiving others allows God to forgive you and brings greater light into your life. God is sooo good!

It has been an absolute pleasure this past week to visit people and talk about their goals for the new year.  We have been specifically focusing on how their goals will lead them to strengthen their relationship with Christ.  If I had the wish of my heart it would be that everyone would let go of the grudges that are held on their shoulders.  Christ taught that in order to be forgiven we must forgive so my invitation for all of you is to think of those who have offended you at some point and chose to let it go.  Do whatever it takes to resolve the situation!  I promise you a weight will be lifted and you will feel Peace.  Some of the greatest blessings that come to us while here in this life are feelings and I know this will bring the feeling of peace we all desire.

I am grateful for a new year and a fresh start.  I have made some great goals and have consulted with Heavenly Father and know they are goals I can achieve.  Thank you to all of you for your great love and support!

Love,
Elder Holland