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