Aug 25, 2014- Pelotas

''ENJOY YOUR LIFE"

Dont remember if i told you about that last week ;) Someone in my ward told me that, haha i think it was all the English he knew:) I thought it was hilarious and some very good advice haha.

This week we had an awesome District Meeting/lunch. that the elders made... It actually was pretty good:) Was rice with meat and vegetables mixed together haha.

Also this week we made a new friend.. Her name is Vera, and she owns 20 dogs. All inside pets, don´t worry. She said there isn´t even a smell of them in her house! The poor thing ahah i wanted to laugh so bad when she said that. PEOPLE: YOU DONT NEED 20 ANIMALS OF ANY KIND INSIDE YOUR HOUSE. Hahaha I want to help her clean her house. Not in a mean way, just that it isn´t healthy for her or her dogs haha or neighbors.. :P but i really do want to help her. She told us about when her husband died and i know that the gospel will help her!!

Also went on divisions this week! I learned i really would rather run for exercise than that dance work out thing, zumba? haha how awkward at 6:30 in the morning! :P

I FOUND A HAMMOCK THIS WEEK! :) It is yellow and beautiful.

I think i comment about this probably every week, but, this week a few people commented on my largeness. hahaha. a little old lady literally looked up at me and said, "Grandona né?" (like 'you think she´s huge too, right?') and then a member.. i wanted to eat more of something, i dont remember what, and this member said 'of course! Americans like to eat a lot right?' He must´ve seen the look on my face because he quickly said, 'don´t worry we like to eat a lot too.' Hahah THANKS.. Someone else told me about something called a diet.. What is that?

That was quite a large paragraph hahah sorry.

We found some suep cool investigators this week!! Looking for less actives, we found Rose and Sydney:) They have been taught by missionaries before! Man they were awesome. Welcomed us into their home and gave us juice! Haha. No but really, they were really happy to see us. I dont know what happened, why the missionaries stopped going.. We dont have any records of them.

Well computers really do hate me.. I send pictures this week :(

I bought a popcorn pan this week:) Man i love popcorn! Hahah it´s been fun to make, and Sister Carvalho helps me eat it:P

Read your scriptures, and remember that your soul needs fed too!

<3 Sister Holden

Aug 18, 2014- Pelotas

HELLO!

This week was super cool! Still getting to know my area, and companion:) and i am loving it!

Sister Carvalho helps me a ton with Portuguese:) It´s so cool to finally have a Brazilian companion!:) She said that i am fluent! Ha can you even believe it? ;)

On Saturday we had a random little meeting with our entire zone, and a counselor in the Stake for missionary work. Man. He sure pumped us up. He talked about how some people are on missions, to plant, some are to prepare the fields, yada yada yada, ENOUGH PEOPLE HAVE PLANTED, YOU ARE HERE TO BAPTIZE! Haha it was so cool, so true! ha We are here to baptize and we are going to talk and share this gospel with everyone, because EVERY soul is priceless, we cant pick and choose who to share the gospel with. :)

Also, the famous sweets of Pelotas are very yummy ;)

Found out we have a McDonalds here! So we ate there for lunch one day;) Hahaha what am i doing..

We also made a new friend who is kind of like our security guard.. We named her Rebecca! shes a stray dog that somehow managed to find us these past couple of days. And she runs in front of us and barks at people ahaha it´s super funny..

Also this week, we found a man named Marcio, taught him about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and asked him to be baptized. He accepted and even went to church yesterday!! He told us that he went by the lake to pray about what we taught, he prayed about Joseph Smith and asked if he really needed to be baptized. He heard either in his head or someone saying "Vai!" (which means you will) And he took it as his answer and is preparing for baptism! Aw it was so cool! :)

I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary!!

You all are super great:) Remember, "always share the gospel, and if necessary, use words"- i dont remember who said this.. haha sorry.

<3 Sister Holden

Happy 1 year to me!

the best family ever! In Ramo União

Me and the youth of União, the night i found out i was being transferred

Sister Carvalho!! :) the best comp ever!

 

Aug 11, 2014- Brazil

Pelotas what?

No time again.. sorry, again.... But i am being transfered! To Pelotas! The SWEETS capital of Brazil woot woot! How am i going to lose weight now?  

But i hope everything is going well with all of you! This week i learned the difference of wanting to do something and doing it haha. Also made some new goals for this next transfer, should be good:) 

Love all of you!

Read your scriptures!

The Church is true!!

Love, Sister Holden

Aug 4, 2014- Brazil

It´s been a year!

Can you even believe it? 1 year. 1 year away from my home teaching about Christ.

I have learned so much! Learned a ton for my future family, a lot of things i want to continue doing for forever. Like personal study everyday. Companion study/inventory when i find my companion after the mission. Spiritual thoughts during meal times ;) haha. I have really learned what faults i have haha and that i can improve.

Man. This week was kind of overwhelming in 1 way. Almost everything that i heard, i understood! Hahaha happy that i can understand, but now it´s that they can understand me:P We almost reached the Standard of Excellence this week.. so close. But, we did EVERYTHING we could have. So, we will accomplish it another week:) one of these weeks..

Just kidding this is the last week of the transfer, and i think i´ll be transfered. But i think i´m ready to be transferred. I will for sure miss Cachoeira and the investigators and my missionary roommates haha.

This week one of our recent converts, Patrick came out with us for a mutual activity. It was SO COOL THAT I WANTED TO CRY, hearing him bare his testimony to these people! :´´´) haha. man.

An investigator named William. Not sure if i´ve already written about him. He has had a pretty crazy life.. in probably every way. He wants to change SO BAD. His mom said that when he first started meeting with us, he had drugs in his house, but after our lesson, he threw it all out! A testimony of the Spirit.. He also told us that he has been receiving answers! (that means he has actually been praying! haha) He is just progressing so much. It´s really awesome to see.

Então, eu sei realmente que este é a igreja de Cristo, que nos podemos voltar a presença Dele. Sou muito grata por o conforto em minha vida por causa o conhecimento que eu tenho. Tenho um testemunho sobre o Livro de Mórmon, você precisa ler este livro. Realmente é um mapa por nossas vidas.

Desculpe por causa eu não posso enviar fotos esta semana. Computers hate me! :)

Have a great week! Get ready to start school and have fun:)

Love you!! Sister Holden

 

July 21, 2014- Brazil

In case i don´t see ya..Bom dia, boa tarde, e boa noite ;)

 

HI!:) Sorry for not emailing last week, had zero time, AGAIN. Pdays are so short sometimes haha.

But to catch up for the last 2 weeks... they would seem very opposite.

2 weeks ago we got a call from our mission president! He wanted to congradulate us on our work! We were SO close to reaching the Standard of Excellence. SO CLOSE! So he called and said Parabens, you sisters are awesome, and super pumped us up to go out and work! Was really cool:) he is such a busy, but inspiried man.

We saw so many miracles last week, we were fasting one day, and all of our plans were falling through, and a member pulled up in his car to tell us one of our potential investigators was at his house! So we raaaann back haha. And she had so many questions, we taught the Plan of Salvation and she just loved it! She said she and her daughter would get baptized when they got their answers. Man it was such a blessing:)

But this last week was the opposite. I can truly tell you that the adversary is real. Man and they do not like us! This week everything fell through, our investigators were dropping us, we were losing motivation. Last night, our Zone Leaders called and read us a scripture Doctrine and Covenants 6: 34 "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."

We will continue working, we will be obedient, we know why we are here, we know whow will win this war. I have loved seeing the Spirit work in people, and seeing when they actually understand. I have loved being able to literally be an instrument in Heavenly Father´s hands, telling His children what He wants them to know. Feeling His love for them. Even though it is hard, and we definitely don´t see progress, or success everyday, i know that this work is the most important, and it all starts with love. I am a missionary in the União branch, in Cachoeira do Sul, of the Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission. And Heavenly Father put me here to talk to these specific people, because He loves them. Man, isn´t that cool?


Going off of that, this week i have noticed a lot from my Portuguese. Still super difficult, but, i can respond without thinking sometimes! Haha without conjugating or translating! I love those moments. I know that once i decided WHY i wanted to learn and know Portuguese, it all improved. Still learning, always, but it´s getting better:)


I heard there was a world wide indexing party last night? Did any of you do it?
OH! One thing, every week, we havea District Meeting, super fun. We have awesome traininings and usually a practice... This week, we practiced, and we just had to figure out the investigators problem and solve it, you know? Well, Sister Pikula and i (both newbies to Brazil, so they put us together so we actually talk haha) we start asking her questions... if she has a religion.. She sees our tags, i´m a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! "What no way!" Keep talking to her.. She starts bashing, haha. She was of a branch off. So because we didnt know what to say, we testified and invited her to pray.. That´s all we can do.

I love you all!! :) Have a super fantastic week!

Sister Holden

July 7, 2014- Brazil

Whataweek

I cant even begin to explain this week:) This week has been SO good with my new companion Sister Muñoz! We have been working working working and finding so many new, prepared people!

Things i learned this week:

-My favorite chocolate store makes their chocolate with alcohol :( OOPS.

-It is possible to feel the spirit(and feel happy) running around the street trying to talk to everyone

-Seeing the progress of others is SO much more satisfying. Patrick passed the sacrament this week!:)

-Sometimes people who you think are investigators are actually less active members

-I want to go to Figi :)

I am happy this week:) I am loving this work and these people. I am understanding more in Portuguese everyday! I am so grateful for my testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That this really is His church, and it is the same no matter where you go in the world.

Church is SO important, go if you havent. Read your scriptures and apply what you read. 

Sorry i can´t send pictures this week... What am i doing to make all these computors hate me?? ahah

7 months left on my mission. Ahhhh! :)

I love you!

Sister Holden

 

June 30, 2014- Brazil

The eternal transfer is over!

 

it was a 7 week transfer instead of 6 ;)

Manuel got baptized! i really wanted to send pictures, but computers really dont like me here! hahaha.

Some news, last night i killed my companion. :)

She finished her mission and is going home tomorrow night!;)

Tomorrow i get to take a 3 hour bus ride to Porto Alegre and pick up my companion. She is from Chile! So we will really be able to see how good my Portuguese is ;) and how much better it will be by the end of this transfer.

I will also buy something that is kind of American and  sing the National Anthem with Sister Morales on the 4th of July this week ;)

This week i have been studying my Patriarchal Blessing a lot. And i have been able to see things so differently, it´s been really cool:) and also, we had agroup scripture study haha that was fun! I loved it!

So read your scriptures, be grateful for the blessings in your life. I love you! :)

<3 Sister Holden

June 23, 2014- Brazil

June is almost over, HOLLA.

 

Can you believe that? We are almost over June... and i have about 11 months on my mission. CRAZY.

 

Not too many new things happened this week.... OH wait ;) My companion broke our shower, so we had cold showers for almost a week, that was super fun :) don´t you worry, it´s fixed now. yay:)

 

I have been making lots of lists this week.. Lists of the things i want to do in my future family, lists of future names( i´m not trunky, i just dont want to forget the Brazilian ones that i love), lists of lessons i have learned on my mission so far. It´s made me think a lot. About what i actually have learned, what i actually want in my life. How i want to improve. It´s been really cool :)

 

Anyways. This email is short, and i feel like it´s a little awkward, sorry i can´t send pictures this time. i have pictures of a blown up shower, churrasco, YUM, and awesome members and investigators in my area:) but until i get to a computer that likes me, you will just have to wait ;)

 

Read your scriptures, pray to Heavenly Father, and remember that He really loves you. So much, you can´t even understand. And He will always be there. Him and Jesus Christ are the best friends you could ever need :) That´s one thing i´ve learned for sure. And They´re REAL friends haha. They´ll tell you how you need to improve and at the same time, actually HELP you. I have such a strong testimony of prayer. And of the Priesthood, the power of God. Brings so much peace into my life. I´m so grateful for the blessings i have in my life.

 

 

Com amor, Sister Holden

June 16, 2014- Brazil

Oi gente

 

Zero time today, i know, what´s new with that? haha.

but i HAD to send these pictures! Dont judge me, i know that i´ve gained 1,000 pounds. haha.

this is Patrick´s family:) (he was baptized about 2 weeks ago) We had lunch wiht them, and they are just so awesome! They are so supportive of Patrick and are following in his example, super cool:)

The other picture: Festa Junina. We had sugary peanuts, cornbread, popcorn, conjika?kind of like pudding stuff.. i ccant explain it haha it´s super good though. i should stop eating everything i can haha.

this week i got a new companion. Siste Johnson, and she is going home in 2 weeks! Crazy! Also this week i learned how to make chimahão, herby tea stuff, muito bom ;) então, i will be able to make it in a super yummy way for you when i come home! haha :)

Love you!

Sister Holden