week 45684131456465

nah i dont know how many weeks i have been out.. I already lost count! haha But it has been a really good one. Not much has really happened because we have had lots of busy work since it is the first week of the change and everything. But on tuesday we went and picked up the new misionaries from the MTC. Then we went to President´s house. We gave a presentation and wathced a video. That was fun because I could kind of throw back to when we would always make videos and presentations. Sister woodward asked me to make a little welcome video so that ended up pretty well.  

But last week we continued to see miracles with franco and he got baptized. He is reallly happy and we are as well. unfortunately i still dont have the pictures but i will send them when i can! Rita. the mom of cony is also progressing really well so hopefully the hermanas will be able to keep helping her out. It is pretty funny because now all the ladies we take to church hear that there are hermanas that can go visit them and basically are just like hey elders we want the hermanas to just come visit us instead... but it is all the same in the end right?

I hope the summer is rockin! Sam will have to remember the world cup so he can tell me about it after. 

Have the best week!

Elder Holdstock

The last week grind

Wow. That was the fastest change ever in my misison. Yikes. I feel like just a few days ago we started it and here we are getting ready again for the changes. A lot of good things have happened though that is for sure. We have seen some really tender mercies and some miracles. I have always been impressed but at the same time not very surprised as I see the hand of the Lord in almost every aspect and everything that happens when it comes to missionary work.

Cony got baptized this weekend and franco is progressing really well. They are really excited and the members are being really great with them and helping them alot. I cant remember if I told you but we also took a little family to church named nicole and hernan they are 22 and already married which is like a miracle in chile. But hernan is a little bit more gangster if that is a good way to say it and he was not about going to church at all at first but he finally decided he was going to go. So they went all four of them the parents and the little girls as well. They ended up reallly liking it and had a really great experience.

The world cup is already in full swing but since chile is not playing no body really cares... but it is fun to make fun of the chileans because they didnt go... but then it is not too funny when I remember that we didnt go either.... rip.....

I hope that this is a great week and that everyone is doing well!

Elder Holdstock

WEEK 5

Well when it rains it pours. Turns out that Maipu.. the city that I am in is in like a geographical hole... and so it just makes it a lot colder for some reason than it should be normally. This saturday they said that it was going to snow.. but it just rained.

It caught us by surprise so we had to run into a little shop and but garbage bags to convert into ponchos. it was a good time.

The great part was that once it started raining the doors start swinging open! We taught a lot of people and everyone wanted to go to church in the morning even though it was raining outside. Sunday in the morning it was beautiful and lots of them went to church with out even having to get wet. So when it rains it pours blessings.

It is wild to think how fast this change has gone by. We are already almost in week six I feel like yesterday we were just getting started. This week I went on divisions with a brazilian missionary so I just pretended I was in Cortitiba. 

It sounds like you are all having the time of  your lives!! Thanks for all the pictures!

Elder Holdstock

here is a picture of our mission. Enjoy

Week 84

It has been a pretty eventful week. and full of lots of tender mercies. It has been really cold but people have been really receptive so far this week. We took rene and claudia and their little family to church and they loved it. they have 3 daughters that are like 2, 4, and 6. They went to nursery and primary and had a blast. Claudia kind of teared up a little bit because she peeked in to see how they were doing and saw them fold their arms and bow their heads to start their little prayer it was a good little moment. Rene shared a lot in the class and was really grateful for what he is learning and the difference it is making in his family. 

A few weeks ago we found a mom and her daughter named Constanza and Rita they are really great but they live alone so we can´t teach them, So president asked us to start a little experiment and we gave them to the hermanas in our ward so that they could teach them. They have been progressing really well. Constanza this sunday even had the application of the church downloaded on her phone (without anyone telling her about it) and was reading scriptures in the classes. She will be getting baptized next week!! 

We also found a house of all men in the hermanas sector so that means we get to teach them. His name is Franco and he is the brother of a convert from like two or three years ago. We went to visit the brother late one night but he wasnt there and Franco came out and said hey come on in I have been wanting to talk to you guys for a while about how i can participate in the church. So we said Alright if you really want.. haha.

It has been quite the week and we are hoping for lots more miracles like that!

Elder Holdstock

hiya

Wow it looks so warm back in the states! We are little ice cubes down here at the moment. Looks like you have been enjoying the summer break so far! Those were always the best weeks of the school year.. the last ones haha. We are getting ready this week for a visit of Elder Bragg from the seventy tomorrow actually. That will be really great and we are excited to see him and learn from him. We are having a meeting with the entire mission at once. It will be pretty wild. In all my time here we have never done that, we usually are split up by zones but we will all be here at once all 190 of us!

Right now we are trying to find people to teach, but we have found a little family that is showing lots of progress. Rene and Claudia. They are both fire fighters. The fire fighters her are volunteers like in Lemony Snicket, so they work apart but are pretty proud about the fire fighting abilities. When we first met them Claudia told us about the lack of faith she had in her life because of some trials and things she had seen but little by little as we have taught her we have seen a change and actually a few days ago she said a prayer out loud which was a huge progress. They have seen lots of improvements in their family and in their relationship. 

I hope that everyone enjoys their summer and soak up lots of rays! Haha you for sure have to go on a few hikes. That is definitely the one thing I miss about Utah is the mountains and the trees. 

Have the best week! 

Elder Holdstock