It has been an adjustment being a Zone leader.

Hey Fam!

This week was fantastic!  It really is changing around here.  It dumped rain and snowed up in the mountains but the temperature is def dropping.  I feel that winter is around the corner.  It is getting darker earlier which is I have to admit is not my favorite.  I heard in the middle of winter it gets dark at 4:30 p.m.  Absolutely Ridiculous.  It will be an adjustment.

Things are going really well in 2nd ward!  Heather will be baptized this saturday!  I am so excited for her.  I have been so blessed to see her grow from having such little light in her life to having the fulness of the Gospel in her life.  It has strenghtened my testimony so much.  She drank 6 cups of coffee every day for 23 years and quit cold turkey!  Seriously a miracle and a testament of the enabling power of the Atonement. 

My new companions are awesome!  My companion, Elder Rizicka, is from Vegas and we also have a missionary who is waiting for his visa for Brazil, Elder McLaughlin, with us.  They are both great and are very Bible savvy.  I really appreciate that because last night we met with the Presbyterian preacher and they really helped in the lesson.  I am so grateful for the knowledge I have and I love teaching it!  The lesson with him and his wife went really well and we are meeting again next Sunday so I look forward to it!

It has been an adjustment being a Zone leader.  I love how I now have the opportunity to better help everyone, including missionaries.  I feel sometimes missionaries feel they are overlooked because they are constantly serving others but this is an opportunity for me to be able to serve them as well.  I get to go to Billings tomorrow until wednesday for some leadership meetings which I am really excited for!  It will be awesome cuz when a general authority comes we will get to have an intimate meeting.   I hope Elder Holland or Eyring come at one point on my mission. 

But things are going really well here and I am so blessed to be able to spend another 6 weeks here in Bozeman. 

Thanks for all the love and support from all of you,

Love,
Elder Holland

Staying in Bozeman!...... Only in Montana

Hey Fam!

This week was amazing. We had so many incredible experiences and my testimony of missionary work has greatly increased.

First off, I get to stay in Bozeman!! I was actually kinda worried because Saturday I got a call and had an interview to be a Zone leader and so I thought I was going to be transferred... I received a call yesterday during church informing me that the current zone leaders, who cover the university ward, were being transferred and now the zone leaders will get to serve in 2nd ward! Wow. What a blessing. It is going to be a new but exciting experience to be able to help this Zone as we all continue in our efforts to bring people unto Christ.

My new companion is Elder Ruzicka and I know absolutely nothing about him currently but I will get to meet him in a few days. I hope he speaks spanish...

We found a new investigator this week that is progressing very well! I was on exchanges with Elder Brown and we were riding our bikes down a busy road and we came up to this guy across the street on a motorcycle. I had this strange feeling to stop and talk with him and then he waved to me to stop. I stopped on the side of the road and he rode over and had a great discussion with him about the Gospel. The next morning we taught him the Restoration lesson and 2 days later we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He came to church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours. I have such a strong testimony of what Alma says in Alma 13:24, "..Angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land..." Soooo true. Mike is proof of that because he is beyond prepared and ready to hear the Gospel.

Things are amazing here and I am pretty much on cloud 9 every single day. There are lots of things that are sad and sorta discouraging but the lesson I have learned so far is that if I keep myself qualified for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost at all time then the bad things don't even phase me because my life is full of joy. I love this Gospel and know with all my heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior and the Redeemer of the world.

Thanks for all your love and support,

Love, Elder Holland

P.s. I met someone who had a pet deer and got to feed it an apple.... Only in Montana.

The Seasons are changing

Wow it is sooo beautiful here in Montana!  It is starting to get kinda cold at night and I feel in just a few weeks it is gonna be snowing.  It is crazy how fast the seasons change... I feel like the winter is gonna be pretty long though...  But I do enjoy seeing seasons.

This week went by extremely fast!  We just went from appointment to appointment and at some point they all seem to kinda blend together.  I really was not that great at time management before my mission.  I am amazed at how much we can fit into one day in the mission.   I never thought what we do could be possible but I am grateful for this skill and hope to be able to take it with me when I finish the mission.  

Time is a funny thing to me.  Since coming home from Zambia I have tried very hard to do as Kathy always says and, "Be present".  This is not an easy thing to do but I have learned that as I do I enjoy life much, much more.  I notice the little things.  I find joy in these things and most importantly, for me as a missionary, I see the signs and people the Lord has put in my path.  

I often reflect on what President Monson said regarding time, We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present.”  I love this.  And it is so very true.

I am so blessed to be able to serve these wonderful people here in Montana.  I feel they have taught me way more than I will ever be able to teach them and I truly do feel that every day I have is a gift.  

Thanks for all your love and support!

Love,

Elder Holland

Service

Hey Fam!

Holy smokes this week was a very tiring one.  I definitely got my fair share of exercise in this week!  We

moved 5 people and moved a guy out of this huge office AND I got to run around in a hay field and load up a big trailer full of hay bails.  Let me tell ya that is not as easy as I imagined it would be but thankfully Pa gave me some awesome gloves that helped a lot :)  There have been tons of fires here and it is super smokey all around.  On monday Elder Salazar and I hiked up this mountain and apparently we went up to about 10,000 ft but it was a place called Sypes Canyon.  It was an incredible view up there and I am glad we did it because we brought our scriptures and did our studies at the top :).  I forgot my camera but I will send pictures next week.

John's family is progressing very well but the date for their baptism's needed to be pushed back but they will all be baptized.  We are going to set the date tomorrow.  It truly is a blessing to see an entire family progress like they are and I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with them.

We have met with lots of people and some of the experiences are very difficult.  To see the adversary work first hand on people who are trying to find truth is very hard to watch.  I was inspired by a missionary in my district this week.  Something big happened and he knew it was going to be hard to deal with this particular problem.  As the problem was presented to him he looked down, took a deep breath, then looked up and with eyes filled with hope said," It's ok, I can do hard things."  As I study and learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ I am constantly reminded that because of him I too can do very hard things.  It is a perspective I hope to never lose because I really am learning of the power of the enabling side of the Atonement.  I love this quote from Thomas S. Monson, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.  Then the doing of your work will be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle."

I learn more and more every single day I am here and am so grateful for all of the trials and blessings that help me to grow.  Thanks for all your love and support.

I love you all,

Elder Holland