Blonde in Brazil: March 2014

March 26, 2014 - Indiana (Via Facebook)

Brazil, here I come!

Hello! I just wanted to write a status update about how much I have loved being in the Illinois Chicago Mission, getting to know all of you has been great! I've really found my voice and my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ has been strengthened. Next Tuesday, April 1st, I will be in a plane to Brazil! I will finish my mission there, but a part of my heart will always be in Chicagoland.

(PS we all asked if it was an april fools joke and Janelle said its for real! yay!)

March 24, 2014 - Indiana

Bom dia!

Olá! Como vai?

Este semana fui BOM! ;) I got to talk to someone in Brazil! In PORTUGUESE. :D
There is this family, I love em so much. And they knew how much help I
needed with my Portuguese, so they called up their friend in Brazil
(who happens to be interested in the gospel by the way) and we got to
skype with him! Found out that he's even been reading they Book of
Mormon! All the way to Mosiah! Wow! It was really nice to be able to
get feedback on my now horrible Português :( hahaha
Stake conference was also this week, are you a fan of Christ?
Better not be! Fans are: enthusiastic admirers
Be a FOLLOWER of Christ. When your teams losing, do you switch teams?
Not if you're a true follower ;) soo many good talks were shared. A
TON about missionary work.. I wonder why..
Something else that was talked about was the priesthood and how it
shouldn't be used as a last resort. I thought that was awesome. The
priesthood is for everyone and for everything.

We also got to teach the Law of Chastity this week! Wahoo! Hahaha why
do they have us 19 year olds teach this... It went really well! The
investigator we were teaching accepted it, had lots of interesting
questions, but understands it and is committed to living it :) yay.
We also got to go on exchanges this week! Guess what broke the day of.
That's right. The GPS. I've been here for about 2 1/2 weeks... And the
gps breaks. Man. So we were pretty much lost the whole day :) we did
stop by a less active though. Sister Hernandez. She is 9 months
pregnant, and her husband is over seas in the Air Force reserves.
He won't be home for 5 months.

And so just talking with her about her life and everything, we could
just tell how overwhelmed she was. Well on Sunday we had an
appointment to go back, and a member offered to drive us/ go with us.
Sister Phair is super awesome and nice but I never thought about her
being the friend that could get Sister Hernandez to the Michigan City
Branch. Good thing I'm not in charge, because they had so much in
common!! I am just so grateful that we had Sister Phair with us. It
was super cool:)

The rest of exchanges was trying to find our way around haahha. Fun!
The branch asked me to give a talk on covenants... Guess who is going
to be called to repentance on Sunday! ;) just kidding. I'm excited to
talk about this. Still nervous to talking in sacrament meeting, even
if it is only 50 people.. But this is such an awesome topic. Covenants
are just so great :) the talk I'm talking about it, "The Power, Joy,
and Love of Covenant Keeping" by Linda K. Burton. READ IT! :)
Also read this talk: What Are People Asking about Us? By President
Gordon B Hinkley in the November 1998 Ensign. He answers questions
that the world is asking about us. It's scary how true the answers are
even 15 years later :) I LOVE PROPHETS
Pretty much, I love being a missionary, love this area, Português is
awesome, and I'm almost at 8 months, what?!
Love y'all
I mean, eu ama vocês!
Sister Holden
PS why don't dinosaurs talk?
PPS because they're all dead.
PPPS who knows what that's from?! Hahahaha

Pictures:

My hairs are shorter

Mrs Green isn't creepy at all. We want to play a joke on the elders
with her... Bwahaha

Also, this picture is our new friend, sister green ;) she likes to
hold tissue boxes


My companions mom sends the best stuff

March 17, 2014 - Indiana

Whistle like a bird!

Well hi!

This week literally flew by. Literally.

We got to teach family home evening at the church.. Guess who loves
visuals! We do! Too bad it didn't work ha. We tried doing the pepper
and soap thing but used cinnamon instead... It smells better.... But
doesn't really work ahaha.

TUESDAY. Man oh man what a day! We had a zone conference! Woot! It was
an elevated zone conference... We pretty much got called to repentance
ha. In an awesome, loving way. We are going to elevate our language,
no more: darn, dang, gee, gosh, geeze, freaking, sucks, "guys",
"like", "um", "you know". It's been fun! For real. In the scriptures
Christ tells us that we shouldn't swear by the heavens or the earth,
but that we must reply, "Yea yea, nay nay" Will do! Haha. And thatgoes for habits too, like cracking knuckles, biting your lip/ cheek,
touching your face. We were challenged to record ourselves (on our
handy dandy iPads) to see what we look like during lessons.... Whew!
Haha.

It snowed. Again. So guess who did some S-E-R-V-I-C-E! That's right,
the elders! Jokes. We shoveled:) got 2 new investigators out of it!
MIRACLE MOMENT: the lesson we had set with the guy we shoveled for, we
brought a sister with us, and honestly, I had no idea why we we're
bring her. There was no way that she would be good for him, blah blah
blah... We walked in, and she said, "you look familiar... Fred?
Fred!!" They hugged and gabbed. Crazy! We said a really nice thank you
prayer :) such a blessing. Without her there, I know that the lesson
would have been COMPLETELY different.

This week the Sister Training Leaders gave us a challenge. To write
down our companions strengths every day, as well as our own. It was SO
easy to write down hers! And it helped me to really see them. I won't
lie I didn't write any of mine. Probably because I don't have any :P
but I think you should do that, if you're having a hard time getting
along with someone, or even if you're best friends, it's helped a lot
:)

I'm almost done with the Book of Mormon! I LOVE it. So good. Brings
the spirit so strong. There is a recent convert that we've been
working with and she told us this week how she has noticed that when
she's been reading the Book of Mormon daily, it has GREATLY improved
her week, and that's huge coming from her :)

I seriously love being a missionary, I think I might have to go to the
dentist, and I don't want to because what if they find something that
I will have to go home to fix?! Haha. Don't worry mom.

Thank you for the prayers, I love and pray for you.

Don't forget to be grateful :)

Amor,

Sister Holden

PS: deer are everywhere! There are 5 in this picture can you find them?

Pictures:

March 10, 2014 - Indiana

Well, I got transferred south!

Not that south ;) I am in Chesterton, Indiana!

and i ABSOLUTELY love it! I love my companion, who i get to finish training. I love the tiny little branch we get to work with. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. the end.

This area is kind of interesting. We NEED/ are so excited to find new people, but at the same time are focusing on less active work. One thing i've learned this week: DO YOUR VISITING/HOME TEACHING! I hope that made you feel guilty.

We visited a less active, brought the spirit in her home, she felt it and started crying and committed herself to come to church. she is one of the SWEETEST people i have EVER met! If we wouldn't have gone to see her, who knows if she ever would have had that desire to come to church again, you know? Lucy Mack Smith said, "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down i heaven together." LOVE.

Pretty much this week has been full of getting up to speed, so this week, now that we are on the same page, will be great! So ready to get to work:)

I am learning so much. I know that i was meant to serve a mission, I can't even picture my life without this knowledge that i've gained now! It's so wonderful. It has been so wonderful to recognize promptings and ACT on them! ha. I love how i am so aware of the Spirit now. I can tell when it's not with us and what we need to do to get it back.

Man. Something that i've been thinking about this week is the Atonement. We have this cool visual that we love to show people. Maybe i'll video it this week and send it. But it just shows that even though we are in the world, we are going to be surrounded by sin/ make mistakes, but with the Atonement, He takes ALL of that away. He has felt EVERY pain and sorrow that we have. The hard part is learning how to actually apply that knowledge. Actually throwing down our burdens at His feet.

I love you. I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. I love my family. I love my companion. I love the knowledge that i have. I love learning from my mistakes. I love learning from the SCRIPTURES! I love life.

We were talking with a member this week and she was talking about her husband dying and the temple and how she served like a 4 year temple mission (awesome!) and then she said how much she loved life. And how she wants to be here for as long as she can. What a testimony of the Plan of salvation.

Have a great week!!

Com amor,
Sister Holden

Pictures: