La Davila

Week one from the Davila has come to a close. Elder Lazo is super awesome and we have been having a great time together. Today I went on the metro for the first time because I had to go do a part of my visa. It was quite the experience. ya know in the movies when people are crammed in the bus and on the train?? That is real life. We were in a part of santiago that felt like new york city honestly.. They could film a movie there and nobody would know the difference.

I have started to study creole which is the language that the haitians speak because here in the sector there are quite a few haitianos. I know a few words but I still have lots to study and lots to learn!! The people here are awesome and super humble and love to listen about anything that has to do with Jesus or God. 

I am super pumped for general conference that is coming up!! We will be watching it in the stake center because when you live in chile you have to watch it at church not in your PJs at home. but I am stoked I have no doubt that it will be great. I have been telling people that on saturday and sunday that the prophet will be talking to us.. and they are just kinda like wait what?? And that really is a pretty incredible thing when you think about it. all these people know about abraham and noah and adam but they don´t know that there is an actual prophet hoy en dia. Which is a great blessing to us that we have leaders that are inspired and chosen by god to lead us. 

I hope the cruise was wonderful and that everyone came back fluent so that we can speak in spanish when I get home. Chilean homework this week will be to eat soapapillas with pebre (which is like pico de gallo but it is called pebre here and its made with aji instead of jalapeno) becuase they are super good. 

Everyone be good and do good deal?? 

Rip it Up.

Elder Holdstock

Ochagavia

Today I am writing from my new zone! I have completed my time in Olimpo and have been transfered to ochagavia. Last night was like leaving home because you make all your friends and start to just love everybody you teach and work with and then you have to leave. But that is how the mission rolls and how life rolls too. 

Without change there is not progress and I am super stoked to get working here in my new area! This last week was a good one though and these 4 and a half months have flown by. 

Soccer is already starting which is crazy! I hope that everyone wins every single game by 3 goals. CHile vs. Argentina is coming up this week I think so that should be a fun one to hear about. 

I know you guys are going on a cruise but where to exactly?? I am glad you finally are getting out a little bit! ;)

I have enjoyed the pictures and hope you all send me more! Oh and eat lots of soft serve ice cream. cuz that is what I would do if I was there. 

Next week I am sure I will have lots of awesome stories to tell you! Oh and mom you should start to read the new testament because it is super good even though I know you like the Libro de Mormon the best. but give it a shot every once in a while.

Que esten super! Siempre estan en mis oraciones.

Con amor,

Elder Holdstock

Oh Cielos

This week has been a good one! We had the chance to watch the face to face with Elder Holland and President Eyring which was so good. If you havent seen it... I am gonna have to recommend it si o si. Because it is a 7.

Oh there is a little chilean lesson for the day In chile the best grade you can get is a 7 it is like an A in the USA. so everyone says that something is 7 when it is really good. Like when it is 10 out of 10 that is 7. 

So since the Face to Face is a 7 you all have to watch it. It helped me understand the importance of prayer and the sacredness of prayer. Sometimes we think that we should just have a casual conversation with heavenly father so we can feel extra close to him but President eyring counsels us that maybe we should take our prayers a little more seriously.

If there is one thing that living the gospel of jesus christ will help you obtain its love. The savior loves us perfectly and so as we begin to live like him we will realized that we are able to have a more pure christ like love for those around us. That means we will be able to forgive a lot easier. a few weeks ago we were in a members house for lunch and she was feeling down about somethings her family had done to her and she was a little bit bitter. So I just thought that I should invite her to listen to Uncle Kevíns general conference talk about forgiveness. This week she told me that that talk changed her. She said that she has been applying it´s teachings and that she has seen a change in herself and in her life. So shout out to Elder Duncan for his inspired messages that are changing peoples lives all the way down here in chile. 

I hope every enjoys your spring break and that if youre going on a cruise without your oldest son you take lots of pictures 😉 hahaha just kidding.. but really I want pics deal?

Have a wonderful week!!

Rip it up

Elder Holdstock

March Madness

this email has nothing to do with basketball but I couldn´t think of anything else to put as the subject so that´ll just have to do! We had a good fast week this week! We felt like we were running everywhere to try and see everyone we wanted to! 

We had one day that was full of little miracles! we left in the morning to go out and try to find some people to teach. The mornings are always a little slow because if people aren´t already at work they are still in their beds. But we headed out and knocked a few doors when we arrived to a house, the lady saw we were missionaries and told us to wait a second. She came back with the keys and opened the gate and told us to come in. Don´t worry my husband is here I know you can´t come in if I am alone she said. So we went in and sat down. She told us her husband wasn´t feeling well and work wasn´t going great for him and the last time this happened, over twenty years ago the mormon missionaries knocked on her door and offered to pray with them. That was really cool to hear so we shared a quick message with them and were getting ready to leave when the husband started singing a hymn. hahaha He knew it perfectly! it was incredible. That was one little miracle from that day...

The other was we finished up a lesson at about 9 35 and we have to be in our pension at 10 00 so I told my companion, who isn´t the fastest little guy that we had to just do our best to get back in time, so we started to run I was saying a little silent prayer in my heart that a taxi or something would pass by so we could get there in time because we were pretty far from our house and in an area that not many cars pass by. When not 2 minutes into our jog a truck passed by and asked where we were going. We told him and he told us to hop in the back and he took us to our street. We got home just in time. 

It was a crazy good day and some days more than others you can for sure see the hand of the lord in your life. But we can see his fingerprints everyday is something that I have learned. The brother of Jared saw the finger of the Lord and everyday we hope to see him helping us and see his hand in our work but if we just look a little harder and are a little more sensitive to the spirit we will realized that his fingerprints are all over our lives every single day. 

I hope that soccer starts well for everybody you´ll have to give me detailed reports of all the games so I can send my coaching tips haha just kidding but if you ever catch a sick goal on film I wouldn´t be opposed to seeing it. Keep on keepin on.

And don´t forget to 

Rip it Up.

Elder Holdstock

4 Months in a Blink

It is crazy to think that I have already been here in chile for 4 months now and it has honestly felt like a few weeks! That is what happens when you´re working hard right?? This week we were able to start teaching a girl who has received the missionaries before but for some reason they just stopped coming. So we found here again and she is way awesome! She lives about 45 minutes walking from the church and she walked with us all the way there through the rain and back. We are super excited that we are able to teach her. 

We also changed houses! My companion and I now live in our own little house across the street from the stake president. It is nice because it is way clean (because sisters used to live there) and it is closer to our area. We are all settled in now!

February is coming to a close so that means school in chile starts and vacations end!!! WHOO that is a good thing for missionaries since it is always a struggle to find people in their houses during vacations. But thankfully that won´t be a problem any more because all the kids will be in school. 

On the way here we had a cool experience. The driver of our colectivo (or taxi) asked us what elder meant. We told him it meant missionary, then he connected the dots and realized we were mormons. And said ohhh joseph smith and the gold plates right? We told him yep that is us. He was just full of questions so we ended up teaching him lesson one practically all the way through just on the way to the city. We gave him a book of mormon and he started reading it the second we got out of the car. He told us he would love to be able to find a church that he really felt was true and that he could get closer to. He was in awe that joseph smith was a prophet and that he didn´t write the book of mormon by himself but translated it. There are lots of people who are confused about the doctrine of the church and just need a little bit more clarity and they are ready to accept it. Don´t ever forget to share what you know.

Keep on keeping on.

Elder Holdstock

Buenas Tardes!

So first thing is first shout out to mom for coming in clutch this last week with a good idea! I think you sent me the picture of those missionaries giving out lemonade as a joke....

buuuuut I don´t joke around (ok well that part is a joke). Anyway... This week vacations in chile have been in full swing. That means that nobody is home, all of our investigators have peaced out and are enjoying life on the beach so every time we knock on a door there is nobody behind it! Soooo we have had to get creative here in Chile.

We decided that if we can´t go to the people we would make the people come to us. We set up a table with a sign that said ¨jugo gratis y un mensaje de jesucristo¨ which means free juice and a message of jesus christ. We put ourselves right in the middle of the Feria... which is like the chile version of a farmer´s market. And then we just started giving juice to everybody we could. I even chased ladies across the street with cups of juice for them! It was a funny awesome crazy thing all in one. We feel like it went really well! And if you know me you know how much I love lemonade stands so it was a win win.

I have been studying about the mission of Ammon and his brothers this week and the struggles they had among the lamanites. But how their joy was full because of the souls they brought unto christ. In doctrine and covenants it also talks about the joy that we recieve as we seek and work to bring souls unto christ, even so that if we bring but one soul to him our joy will be full but it wants us to imagine how incredibly happy we will be if we bring many sould unto him. Missionary work isn´t just the work of the nametags and ties but everyone! Everyone who has been baptized a member of the church and a disciple of christ can understand and earn this promise of the scriptures.

Hope that all is well in sunny SLC. or as they call it here La Fabrica, or the factory... because that is where every missionary comes from. haha

Keep it real

and as always my friends,

Rip it up.

Elder Holdstock

Buena Buena Chiquillos

It is a new change here in Santiago Oeste. Our Zone is practically completely new everyone in the zone has a new companion and we are all ready to get going! Earlier this week we had a cool experience with a lady outside on the street. We were contacting and I saw this lady sitting down on a bucket. In our mission president woodward´s catch phrase, or his vision for us as a mission is ´Hablar con Todos´ which means Talk with Everyone because we never know who will be in our path that is ready to hear the gospel. It sounds a lot easier than it is but we do our best. So with that in mind I walked up to her and asked her how she was doing. I realized after I started talking that she was bawling.

She wouldn´t talk to us so I just crouched down by her and asked if we could pray with her. She nodded and I asked what we could pray for. She told us everything About all the problems with her family the struggles she is having and how hard it´s been for her. We said the prayer and shared various scriptures with her. She calmed down and by the end of our little visit was back on her feet and determined to just face the problems head on. I don´t even know if I will ever see her again because I don´t think she lives in our sector but I loved being a part of seeing how the hope in Christ will help us in whatever situation we are in. If a few verses of scripture could pick up a chileana of the streets of Santiago and give her the perspective to go out and give it her all they can do the same for any one of us. That´t what they are their for to help us learn and to give us hope. Just open them up every once in a while. Christ is there waiting inside to receive you.

Our ward has been shrinking slowly because vacation season is still going strong but by the end of the month we will be back to ourselves.

Oh and Buena Buena chiquillo is what my new companion allllways says and its kinda catchy so try it out... I promise you won´t be disappointed.

Keep it real,

Rip it up.

Elder Holdstock