Unto Us A Child Is Born

Well... I am a dad.

haha. We this last Tuesday I received my new companion. I am his first companion. so in missionary words I am his dad. And he is my son. His name is Elder Benitez which is pretty crazy because my trainers name is Elder Benitez! So I got trained by Elder Benitez and now I am training an Elder Benitez. He is from Buenos Aires Argentina, which is like a different world compared to chile so I am learning lots of new argentine words.

He is a convert of just 2 years which is super cool him and his family got baptized together and he wanted to serve a mission. He is super prepared though and is super excited to work! The coast is treating us well as you can imagine and is starting to warm up so we are enjoying every second of our time. 

We had a lot of meetings this week and I was in Santiago for most the week so we didnt have a ton of time to be in our sector but we did have some great lessons and found some awesome people. We had a lesson with Sandra and Braulio, we found out they are not married so we had to talk to them about that. But they received it really well and it was honestly one of the best lessons I have had in my whole mission. They have kids and have been together for over 10 years they just have never done what they need to to get married. But they dont have anything against it they said so here in a few weeks we should be having a wedding! 

This week Dylan and his family came to church in preparation for his baptism this week. He is super awesome. He is 10 years old and just gets it. We will explain things and I am almost certain that he has no clue what we taught him but then I ask what he understood and just explains it perfectly so that is way cool. He is kind of a little bit more shy but every once in a while he will crack us a smile that lets us now that he is having a good time. 

Something that I have learned this week is just how important is to surround yourself with good people I have met so many people who are members of the church who have testimonies of the restauracion but that have fallen away and it is because other people in their lives dont have a good influence on them, the gospel is hard to live alone, even though salvation is a personal affair and we are accountable for our own actions it is a lot more enjoyable to have the support of friends. That is why god put us here in families afterall.

I have been grateful for the influences I have had in my life and the people that have helped me remember the small things and help me correct myself when I needed to be. So be a good friend and be a good influence that is one of the best ways to be a missionary. 

Elder Holdstock

Some pretty cool things also happened this week.

Like always. hehe

Sam has been asking me all this time if I have had to eat fish yet out here. And I havent ever answered him I dont think... whoops.. but the answer is yes. And the first time it was alright.. the second time it was really gross.. but I ate it for the third time last night and it was actually super good. Last night we ate Swordfish... so that is pretty intense. These members told us that they wanted to make us some swordfish because it is the best fish there is.. and they were right it was pretty great.. so if you guys can get your hands on some swordfish out there in the great salt lake.. go for it.

Another funny little story on pride; a few days ago we met a guy at his door and we told him that we had a super awesome video that we wanted to share with him so he let us in.. We show videos off of our little pen drives because most the TVs now in day have the ability to show videos off of pen drives. So we threw it in the back of his TV and opened up the pen drive but the video would not play. So instead of just giving up and saying it didnt work this guy tried for like 30 minutes doing the exact same thing over and over again to try and get the pen drive to work in his TV. ´no I know how to make it work´ he kept saying... after all that time I had told him like 7 times it was ok and we would love to just share a scripture with him.. and finally he just settled for that.. but it was way funny. Maybe this is more a lesson on diligence than it is on pride... or maybe not.

We had a super cool lesson this week with Sandra and Braulio (they are the worlds biggest pool people) it was on the plan of salvation and we decided to make it interactive so we turned their house into the plan of salvation... and we acted it out. So we turned out all the lights and passed through different rooms reading about the different kingdoms of glory. and in each room the light would get brighter and brighter. I remembered when we did an activity like this in Woods Cross where they told us we were going on a trip to hawaii but we ended up crashing in the ´airplane´when we were traveling and we had to pass through the same and it was super cool. They loved it and it helped them understand the importance of doing what we need to to reach the celestial kingdom.

This week was the finish of the change. It was fun to be with Elder Clements but he had changes away and I will find out who my new companion will be tomorrow when they get here so I am excited for that. We will find out soon!! 

Dylan is also another kid we have been teaching who is part of an inactive family that we are helping come back to church. He went to church for the first time in his life this last week and his mom for the first time in 16 years. He is 10 but really wants to know more about how he can pass the sacrament so we will be working for that ;) 

It even snowed here in Santiago! But not out on the coast so we were good. It is actually starting to warm up a little bit so that is good. 

Also I heard Jeremiah just left for San Antonio Texas right? And I realized that I am also in San Antonio.. At least that is the name of my stake.. so that is pretty neat too. 

Anyway I hope everybody keeps up the good work. Summer is already ending I think which is really crazy how quick it went! 

Be good Do Good.

Elder Holdstock

Buena Vista



Sounds like things are really heating up back home... yikes. haha Here it is the complete opposite. We have had some record lows and snow even fell in Santiago which is pretty crazy that doesnt happen all too often so everyone was pretty excited about that. Out here in the coast we didnt get any snow just some good cold is all.

This week was a great one. President gave us the idea to organize soccer games at night time in the church with the lights on so we started that this week and had a great turn out of members and kids and even some investigators. After the game Elder Clements and I got picked up by a member family from a ward in my last zone who recognized me and invited us over to their condo to have once with them. So that was pretty cool we got to have some good completos with them and then headed back home that night.

We helped Sandra and Braulio (the worlds bigget pool people) move their condos they moved from a really nice place to a super nice place... haha we had to drag their fridge across a bunch of sand. That

was another one of those who would have ever thought moments. Dragging a fridge across some man made beach in chile. Just another day in the life I guess.

We also had divisions this week and I got to go with Elder Tiev. How crazy right? So that was fun to be his first division in the mission. He is already speaking spanish well and it was good to work a day with him. This last week we found a family that is super cool.

they are name Guillermo and Sylvia and Florencia and Javier. It is not often that you find an entire family that is interested that have never heard about the church before but they are super cool and are already in love with the idea of going to the celestial kingdom together. I am also in love with the idea of them being able to do that.

We are also working with a bunch of part member families who have kids that are ready to get baptized and helping them come back to church and remember about all the things that they have learned. 

I hope that everyone is doing well and that nobody is going to have any more forest fires this week. Lets try to just chill out a little ok?? 

Keep on keepin on.

Elder Holdstock

PS.

This was from a letter sent home by Elder Tiev this week:

This week was a really, really long week but at the same time it felt like it flew by. First off lets start on tuesday! I had a great time spending the whole day and night with the One and Only ELDER HOLDSTOCK! Ah It was such a great experience and anybody who knew him I bet you could understand what I mean when I say he´s an amazing missionary. Nothing less than you'd expect and I look up to the example he's set. I learned a lot from him. 

Low Key

This week was a pretty low key one. We had a good Sunday yesterday and had quite a few people in church. The vacation season is starting up again for winter break out here so El Quisco is filling up quite a bit but not with people that live here but with people who are visiting from out of town. I cant remember if I ever told you but the worlds biggest pool (or so they say) is in our Sector. It is called San Alfonso Del Mar. and it really is huge. It is like a giant 6 building hotel and along the entire length of it is this huge swimming pool. Anyway the general manager of that entire place is a member. And his wife is not. So we teach her.

This place is pretty crazy because the diversity is incredible. We can go from teaching someone who lives in the garage of someones summer home to teaching someone who lives in a pent house over looking the worlds biggest pool in the same day. What that means is that the gospel doesnt have a demographic. It is for literally everyone. Doesnt matter where you live or how you live the light of Christ can and will reach you if you allow it to.

A lot of time though it takes a little bit of a sacrifice to live the gospel and qualify for its blessings. One of my favorite scriptures this week Is Ether 12:6 That talks about how god will bless us but never before we exercise our faith.

But the Lord will always bless us if we exercise our faith. He will always make us better buoy us up and help us progress. And if endure well God promises to visit us.

Mosiah 14:14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that evenyou cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do thatye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, theLord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

It sounds like you all had a great fourth of July!! We celebrated here with our ward mission leader who gave us some barbeque so that was pretty great! I hope that you celebrated with lots of Fireworks and that Abby can run faster and jump higher now that she is 11!

Elder Holdstock

I saw a pillar of light this week.

hehe. This is just a little bit a way from our house out here in Algarrobo.

This week we had a good week! We had a normal sunday without rain and in our chapel so people actually came to church! We have found some pretty cool people too. 

Last night we taught a bunch of haitians that asked us all the right questions like how do we know which of all the churches are true? and How can I follow Jesus Christ?? And How can I go on a mission like you guys? When lessons like that happen you always look around to make sure that there arent any hidden cameras and that we are not getting punked. 

We helped reconstruct some houses this last week as well because the investigators of another sector had a house burn down a little bit. So that was fun to help them build a little bit. 

July 4th Manana!!! WE are pretty excited. Our ward mission leader has invited us over to a barbeque so that we can celebrate Independence day correctly. Chile lost yesterday so there were no fireworks that I could just call 4th of july fireworks. So that was too bad. But it was also funny because everyone asked me if I was German.... everyone always thinks I am german. 

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Sounds like you are enjoying summer.

This week we also ate with some members. The wife is canadian and the husband is chilean but he speaks english perfectly. They live Like an hour up a canyon on top of this little mountain. But every once in a while you have moments in your life where you realize where you are and what youre doing and it is just like wow... who would have imagined. And that was one of them. How many people can say that they are a missionary eating lunch with a canadian chilean family on top of a mountain on the coast of Chile with 4 rotweilers outside??

The mission is pretty cool. Hope everyone enjoys the fireworks.

Keep it up.

Elder Holdstock