The World is thawing out!

Hey Fam!

This week was fantastic! We got to drive to Helena for Missiona Leadership Council and the drive there was incredible!  I am so blessed to get to serve in such a beautiful area of the world.  We get to have our Zone Conference here in Missoula tomorrow so all the missionaries from Kalispell and Stevensville will be here along with President and Sister Mecham.  I love these meetings and they have all been really musical lately which I have grown to love.  We are going to sing at this one which is new for me I know but we practiced and I think it actually sounded pretty good! 

We got to visit a ton of people this week and had some really good lessons.  There are people all over that are so prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel!  We taught  a new investigator on Monday and he has been meeting with missionaries for quite some time but has never committed to anything.  He had not been to church in a very long time either. His wife is a member of the Church and it seemed he really only would listen to the missionaries because she would ask him.  We had our first lesson with him Monday night and really just established his needs and discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We ended up going through the promise that Moroni gives to all who are seeking confirmation of Truth from the Holy Ghost (Moroni Chapter 10:3-5). We had a very inspired discussion about how this formula works.  We talked about how the difference of reading something and receiving something is the state of mind we are in and how to be qualified to receive an answer from God we must have a grateful mind.  We discussed how when we ask God, in the name of Christ, if something is not true we are asking in a way that God can confirm the truth.  He did not understand this at first but we showed him in the Scriptures how the purpose of the Holy Ghost is to testify of Truth (John 15:26) and in order for Him to do so we must have made up our mind about the subject we are asking.  It is the difference in asking,"Father, is the Book of Mormon true?" and,"Father, I believe the Book of Mormon was written and translated by Prophets and contains thy Words, please confirm this to me."  That is the difference.  Moroni also says we must have a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He said he had prayed this way before and had not received an answer and I felt prompted to ask him if he had real intent or if he was willing to do something if God gave him the answer he was seeking.  We showed him in the scriptures how if anyone receives a confirmation form God that something is true and then turns their back on that answer that God says, "...it would have been better for you that ye had not known me." (2 Nephi 31:14)  We testified that God will not give him an answer unless he is willing to act on it because if he received the answer and just said, "Well that was good to know but I don't wana change" then God would be condemning him and God loves each of us way too much to ever do that. 

Before arriving at his home Elder Bishop and I had prayed to know what date this investigator would be prepared to be baptized on and we both felt he would be ready by April 12th.  At this point in the lesson we invited him to show God his real intent along with his sincere heart and Faith in Christ by preparing himself to be baptized on the 12th of April.  We explained that Christ never healed anyone without them first showing forth some sort of faith and by committing to a date he would be showing God he had real intent and would be ready by that date.  We promised him as set apart representatives of Jesus Christ that he would receive an answer and know the Church was true and everything we had taught him thus far was true.  He agreed to the date contingent upon himself receiving an answer before the day arrived.  We left his home.  We came back on friday and had another lesson.  He was kinda smirking as we started the discussion so we asked him what happened.  He said that one night as he was praying he told Heavenly Father that he believed the things we had taught him and asked for confirmation if the Book of Mormon was the word of God.  He said he waited and waited and then felt some sort of warm burning feeling that he has only felt before when he is with his family and up in his cabin in the woods.  He then asked if Joseph Smith was a Prophet and said the feeling intensified and then he asked if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was His Church and he said he was completely overcome by the feeling.  I thought it was funny because he sounded a little annoyed because from that point in the night the feeling stayed with him and kept him awake all night!  He looked us dead in the eye and said he now knows without a doubt that God has restored His Church today through a Prophet and that he will be baptized on the 12th of April.  I was ecstatic!   I am so grateful to be a witness of such great miracles and to see my brothers and sisters find truth in their lives.  I know that God answers prayers.  I know that Moroni was inspired by God to give us that formula to find truth and we can know the truth of all things, according to the will of God, by applying it in our lives.  I know that God restored His Church on earth today and that we can find everlasting happiness and peace by reading the scriptures and applying the words of the prophets in our own lives.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

I am grateful for all of you and the love and support I receive from you.  Thanks for all you do for me.  I love you all! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Elder Holland

P.S. -  everything on understanding Moroni's Promise can be found in the talk, "Moroni's Promise" By Elder Gene R. Cook on LDS.org!  Jaromy showed me the talk when he was here and it has changed my life and I invite you all to read it!!

Missoula!

Hey Fam!

Wow Missoula is awesome!  I love it here!  Yes, I really miss Bozeman but I'm glad I got sent here.  It is just like Portland. Old early 1900's bungalow type homes. All unique and colorful.  AND it is raining today!  And the town is full of hippies. 

My companion, Elder Bishop, and I get along really well.  It is strange how similar we are but thankfully the Wards have accepted us and we really hit the ground running.  We have found tons of people to teach here in just the past few days!  We have like 19 investigators!  Life is awesome but I think my biggest struggle is remembering everyone's name. We cover 4th ward, the University Ward, and French Town.  Lots of people to remember but I feel the Lord has greatly strengthened me and has helped me in this adjustment.  

One of my favorite members in 4th ward here are Brother and Sister Ribera.  They are from Spain!!!  They grew up in Barcelona and moved here last september.  They were baptized 3 years ago in Spain and Brother Ribera is now the Elders Quorum President here.  Incredible people.  They fed us dinner yesterday and we got to speak lots of spanish :)  They came here to sell cooking supplies from Spain and their company is called, "My Pots and Pans"  you should all like them on Facebook, they need help with that!  

I don't have much time to write this week but there are some incredible things happening here and I really can feel the work of the Lord hastening.  Great things are in the works here and I am so grateful I have the opportunity to be a part of it.  I will write more details next week but thanks for all your love and support!  

My new address is 1101 Greenough Drive #E10 Missoula, 59802

I love you all!

Elder Holland 

Transfers!

Hey Fam!

So I am being transferred to Missoula!  I have always wanted to serve there and they have some really awesome stuff happening there right now!  My new Stake President sounds incredible.  They are on the verge of splitting the stake and have a great goal to reach by the end of the year.  There are also rumors that a Temple will be built there soon if the work keeps progressing as it currently is :)  It will be quite the adjustment because my new zone has 22 missionaries and Bozeman only has 14 so I will def be learning some great things in management soon!  I will say I am glad I was not there last week because they got like 2 feet of snow and had 70 mph winds and there was an avalanche!  Crazy.

Mike was baptized this week!  It was fantastic!  He even got up and bore his testimony at the end of the service and wow it was powerful.  There was a girl there who got to see a baptism for the first time.  We had not taught her anything at this point but we taught her about the Restoration last night and she accepted the invitation to be baptized and is preparing to enter the waters of baptism on April 5th!  It sounds like she does not have the greatest family life and the biggest thing that is drawing her to the Gospel is the calm and peaceful feeling she has at church and when we talk.  I appreciate how well she is able to recognize the Holy Ghost in her life.  I feel if we all paid closer attention to the feelings we have whenever we are discussing the life and ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ, it would be much easier for those that are struggling to keep the commandments to be obedient.  I know these feelings can be felt even after our faith is tested and it becomes a knowledge.  I feel our Savior's love daily and I feel it is because I am consciously looking for it and engaged in His work.  I would invite you all to look for the Savior in your life daily and especially in the moment because I know and testify that when President Thomas S. Monson said, "The Lord is in the details of our lives" he was telling the truth.

I am sad to be leaving Bozeman because I really do love the people here.  I have made friendships that will last into the eternities and am grateful for all I have been able to experience this far on my mission.  I am especially grateful for all of you and all the love and prayers and support I receive.  Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Holland

P.S. The handsome guys in White are Mike and President Heap

Stake Conference!

Hey Fam!

Wow this week was awesome!  It warmed up a little and then got freezing again but I don't care anymore because I love it here.  We had a ton happen this week!  The highlight was definitely Stake Conference!  Elder Walker and Elder Dunnigan of the Seventy came and we got to spend some time talking with them before the meeting started which was really cool.  They have an incredible Spirit about them and truly do love people the way Christ does.  I'm grateful for their influence on me and all the missionaries.  President and Sister Mecham came and both spoke in the Saturday session.  President Heap was released and the new Stake President was called.  I was shocked when Elder Walker said it would be Bishop Repscher!  He was my Bishop in 2nd Ward for 6 months so I am very excited for him!  He will do great.  Overall it was an awesome meeting.  We had four of the people we are working with who are investigating the Church there which was great because we had really good discussions on the organization of the Church and how it is exactly the same as the organization Christ set up anciently.  I really enjoyed what was said by Elder Dunnigan.  He spoke about the hastening of the Work of Salvation and really went into detail about people and their needs.  He said that we do all these activities and have all these programs for people because God does not care about anything else.  I agree completely and feel as we focus on the real reason why we do all we do, to love one another, we feel the best and continue on the path to become what Heavenly Father wants us to become.  He also said, "Only by having Sisters input are we going to have the best possible outcome."  I agree.  We get to work with Sisters here a lot and things seem to work much better when we work together.  I think it is the same in all aspects of life.   He also quoted President Spencer W. Kimball who said, "The Lord will naturally put people into our circle of influence."  I feel it is just so important to always remember that those people are put there for us to INFLUENCE.  Meaning we need to actually Do something :)

I feel things are going really well right now and I just hope I don't get transferred next week!  This transfer is almost over again but Mike will be baptized this saturday at 4:30!  I am so excited for him!  He has been investigating the Church for almost a year and has finally made the decision to continue his path of Repentance and be Baptized :)

Life is good and I love serving the Lord.  Thank you all so very much for your love and support! Have a great week!  

Love,

Elder Holland

Getting Warmer!

Hey Fam!

 

This week was awesome!  It has started to warm up and has been like in the 40's!  I still think it is strange to see people walking around in shorts & a t-shirt when there is still snow on the ground but I am loving the Vitamin D I have been absorbing :) 

 

The library was closed on Monday and we had a crazy day yesterday so sorry the letter is late but this is the only day we have had enough time to write letters

 

We had some really cool experiences this week!  Our Zone training went really well and I was so grateful for President Heap because he came and spoke to us about how to be Christ like teachers.  He has such a profound understanding of the scriptures I just love it when he teaches. 

 

I got to speak at the stake humanitarian day which was great.  All the wards had their own projects they were working on and much was accomplished.  I love that no matter where you go you find Disciples of Christ doing the same thing differently to serve and love one another.

 

Before lunch I had an experience that was quite powerful.  As we were talking to different people in the gym a man grabbed myself and my companion and said someone needed help in the parking lot.  We went outside to find an older man who I know well who had fallen and was laying face up part way under his truck.  There was very slick black ice in the parking lot and we weren't sure how long he had been laying there. 911 was called and we put salt all over the ice to help.  He said he had hit his head really hard and that he could not feel the cold anymore.  I began to be worried and felt a strong feeling come over me that we needed to give him a blessing before the ambulance arrived.  As we knelt down to give him a blessing I had the most amazing, calm, peaceful feeling come over me.  As we gave him the blessing I felt inspired to tell him that Angels would arrive with the medical team and that they would guide him through this experience and help take away the pain.  When the fire truck and ambulance arrived something incredible happened.  As I looked into each of their faces they truly did shine and I felt a warm feeling that God had granted the blessing and sent Angels to minister to the needs of all present there.  I know and testify that Angels are real. They minister to us daily and are proof of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.  I am so grateful to know that even though there are billions of people on this Earth God takes the time to send aid to each and every one of us.

 

We also had an awesome teaching experience with these some college students.  We were teaching this guy named Drew and his roommate Will.  Drew's brother was in town and he sat in on the lesson.  All of these guys are very Bible savvy and so we taught the Restoration starting with multiple scriptures from the Bible that talk about the Book of Mormon.  This led to an inspired discussion about the Church that Christ has Restored here today.  At the end of the lesson we invited all three of them to follow the example of their Savior and be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God and they all said yes!

 

I am so grateful for the knowledge and peace I have in my life that can only come from living the Gospel.  I heard President Heap testify to someone this week that we as disciples of Christ do not believe His doctrine to be merely theological or just a thing of the past but we believe it to be practical and we do our best to live it daily.  I know that there is no other way to peace and everlasting happiness.  Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us.

 

Thank you all for all your love and support! I am grateful for and love each of you.  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Holland

Almost out of the cold!

Hey Fam!

So I really thought it was gonna start getting warmer here but this last week proved me wrong... it was freezing!  The lowest I saw was -29. Not cool.  It warmed up to like 31 today and I was almost sweating.  I only have my white shirt and suit jacket on and was fine.  I think I'm gonna melt my first summer home from my mission.

Life is fantastic here in Bozeman.  We have a bunch of new people to teach and the ones we have been teaching are progressing very well in the Gospel.  As a missionary all we can do is invite someone to do something.  Our invitation in all things is to experiment on what we are saying and seek for Divine confirmation.  I just love seeing how personal the Gospel is for each person here on Earth.  We taught this new investigator this week.  He is extremely Bible savvy.  We discussed the origin of the Bible and how it came to be by reading the section, "Bible" in the Bible Dictionary.  It led him to see that we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints truly are Christians.  He learned that our intention is in no way to take him away from what he already believes but show him that he is right!  That he is correct in believing in our Savior, Jesus Christ.  That because God loves us he has given us Prophets since the beginning to lead and guide us. And that His church has been Restored through a Prophet today and as evidence of this the Lord gave us the Book of Mormon. I am so excited for him because we were able to show him references of the Book of Mormon in the Bible and he was really excited about what he had learned.  Most of all the Holy Ghost testified of truth and he felt that it was true.

I am really excited about this week!  On Friday we get to have our Zone Training and after praying quite a bit about what we should do for it we decided we were going to focus on the Atonement.  Our Stake President, President Heap, will be speaking for an hour as well.  He is one of the greatest inspirational speakers I have ever met. He dedication to serve the Lord has given him a great knowledge of the Gospel and as a result he has become a master scriptorian. 

I also get to speak at the Stake Relief Society Humanitarian Day on Saturday.  I am a little nervous about this one but I am sure the Lord will fill my mouth with what I need to say.

Thanks for all you all do and the great love and support I feel here as a missionary!  

Love,

Elder Holland

It's freezing here...

Hey Fam!

So I have been able to adjust to some pretty crazy weather in this part of the world but WOW this is nuts!  I now know without a doubt what a blizzard is!  I think these next few days are gonna be insane too.  We were out walking around in it on Saturday and my face legitimately froze.  First time for everything.  But I love it.  When the wind calms down it truly is beautiful :)

Elder McCandless and I had a fantastic week!  We are now teaching a guy from India.  I love how no matter what walk of life we come from if we have eyes to see we know without a doubt that there is a God.  Thankfully God gave us Prophets and Scriptures to help us understand His true nature.  I am excited to keep working with him and to witness him receive the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a fantastic lesson with another investigator yesterday!  He has been meeting with missionaries for months and has gained a testimony of the Restored Gospel but had not accepted a date to be baptized.  I prayed for him many times over the passed few weeks and really felt the day was March 1st.  He said he wanted to pick the day himself and that he would pray about it and let us know.  Yesterday we taught him at President and Sister Heap's home and at the end of the lesson he told us that he prayed and felt that March 1st was the day.  Yes!  I love how revelation works and am so grateful for it because every time I feel something and then someone else feels the same thing and we find out we both felt the same thing by acting my testimony grows. 

I do not have much time now but I am very excited for this week! I get to speak to some seminary kids on Thursday morning and am so thankful for the opportunity.  I wish I had decided to pay attention in seminary because of the amazing things they learn from the scriptures!  I get legitimately giddy in the mornings before scripture study because I know that I am going to learn something incredible and that I will be able to apply it to my life immediately.  I hope you all have great experiences with the scriptures and you cherish the time you get to read them.

Thanks so very much for all your love and support!

Love,

Elder Holland