Week 16: Life is Good, the Gospel is True and Jesus Christ Lives!

Another week has gone by so fast... I am struggling with the fact that the weeks go by so fast. I am dead tired by the end of each day and I sleep like a ROCK - really I don't think I move an inch. I value my sleep a lot because I need all the energy I can get during the day.

We are still doing a lot of finding every day. We found a new investigator, Jim , remember the one that I said "I can't get too excited about because it is honestly too good to be true"??. YES.!!  So ee had our first lesson with him on Tuesday and we taught him the Restoration. He accepted everything and said it was very enlightening. He was super excited to come to church on Sunday and even to have another lesson that week! We were pumped. Then four hours later we get a text from him saying that he has decided to no more study in his home and he will not attend our church. End of story!!  SO SAD!!! I have a really hard time dealing with rejection and it was very apparent this week. Wah. 

Koa is getting baptized February 6 now! We are very excited for him and his brother Joseph! It is going to be a wonderful evening. 

The Carrillo kids are doing awesome but have been sick for two weeks so they haven't been to church. We visited them a couple times this week to make sure Diana wasn't drowing in children. She fed us a delcious mexican soup... I dont know what it was but it was divine.

BIG HAPPY NEWS! D.R. our investigator, had us over for a lesson on Wednesday and wanted to talk to us about what happened to him. He was reading in the Moroni 10 (as his homework) and He said that he got a feeling that he should go back and read the Introduction again and so he did and he said after he finished he had an overwhelming feeling AND it all just clicked together and he knew it was true! Therefore.... he is getting baptized Febraury 27! He is BEAMING and I mean BEAMING! D.R. has been through so much in his life and God has most definietly saved his life so he can recieve a remission of his sins here on earth. He is incredible! 

NOW FUNNY STORY! We finished talking about baptism and such and remember how he is best friends with our less active Sharron and thats how we met him. Anyways they are with eachother EVERYDAY... and we just thought they were best friends and he takes care of her. no. they are actually dating. UGH! So  I had to be the big girl and ask them if they were keeping the Law of Chastity.... They both starting laughing and said, "OF COURSE WE ARE" and I was like Phew....good now I don't have to be your mother and tell you your boundaries.  I  hope you all understand how awkward that is for a 19 year old sister missionary to ask some 50 year old adults. BUT no matter how awkward it is... It is important to the Lord and THAT IS WHY I ASKED!   GO ME!!!! Best News --  he is getting baptized and we are so excited and happy for him.

This Wednesday we got to listen to a Worldwide missionary broadcast which is the first one they have held in over a decade. They had every mission in the world watching at the same time except Japan and Taiwan because they were sleeping. It was amazing. They had a bunch of different trainings on different things we should be focusing on as missionaries. 'Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts!' That is our focus as well as our purpose. Repentance is a change that people don't even know exsists! I am so grateful for the fact that I can change to be even better then the day before.

Those are the highlights of my week.We are still visiting Katrina, Sister Adam, and Cynthia and Cheyenne. And everyone else is doing great. One faithful day at a time. 

Life is fun, the Gospel is true, Jesus Christ lives! What more do you need?!?! 

I love you all! 

xoxo

Sister Holt

1. Sister Helms and myself

2. We created this minion door for a boy birthday party! Isn't is awesome??

Week 15: Whirlwind Work and Car Full time

Where do I even start!? Last week was a whirlwind with transfers! I am staying another transfer in the Redhill ward with Sister Helms. I am very happy to stay in this area.  Sister Helms has been out only a month longer then me so we are both baby missionaries who have no idea what they are doing. But we are taking it day by day! It is mostly all on my shoulders because she doesn't know anyone or the area at all! It has been fun... she is very patient :) I am really feeling the weight of being a missionary and relying on the Lord.

Did I tell you that we got a car?!?!?! A permanent one! YES! We got a car. I am sooooo grateful! Life is so nice when you have a car... Especially at night.

This week we have done probably 50,000 hours of service... no joke. We had our recent convert pass away, Deb'o'rah Flakes and so we have been helping her non-member family members. It has been such a wonderful time being able to give them the help that they need and the comfort they desire. They were always commenting about how wonderful we are and how our church is so amazing. Francheska (deb'o'rahs daughter who is like 30's) is having us over for dinner twice next month. SCORE! They are the sweetest people ever.... I just adore them - planning on teaching them the plan of salvation!

Sister Helms and I have been focusing on finding new investigators this week because we have had to drop some and our two are getting baptized soon. So we need to find more! We have had some amazing experiences tracting. We have found a lot of people and have a ton of return appointments this week. 

We met this man named Jim while we were searching for a woman named Cindy (who we never found) but JIM is almost too good to be true. He opened the door and we introduced ourselves and he was like, "Well its about time, I have been looking for the true church.!!" We gave him a Book of Mormon to start reading and invited him to come to church. We have an appointment with him tomorrow for a lesson. He totally tried to come to church on Sunday, but he couldn't find the address and our phone was on silent and we were in the middle of sacrament. So that was a bummer! But at least he TRIED!!!!! So pray for him... this could be a miracle in the works! :) (can't get too excited YET)

Koa our investigator is getting baptized in two weeks with his little brother Joseph! WE are very excited for him. He is pumped to get the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

On Saturday we did service with the Rancho Cucamonga fire department and filled sand bags for four hours. My hands are raw - so sad. I have been working so hard to keep them so smooth for all the hand shakes I am doing. hahaha. JOKES!

Well we are hoping and praying for lots of new investigators this week. I have a lot of faith that this will be an amazing week! We are going to work so hard! I love being a busy missionary! I can't imagine doing anything else. It is really weird to think about life not doing missionary work. I just feel like I could do this forever! I love my Savior so much and would not be able to do any of this every day without him helping me. The Atonement should be used every single day in all of our lives. I am also learned that bearing a simple testimony has more power then any facts I can give.

I love you all! Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts. 

Keep safe and healthy. 

xoxox

Sister Holt

1.  Early lunch at Wendys when all your appointments cancel! 

2.. Found baby kitty on the road while tracting. HE WAS SO SOFT!

3. Photoshoot with Sister Helms and Katrina at family home evening :)

Week 14: Transfers and New Companion

 I don't have a lot of time today because transfers took forever! But my new companion is....... SISTER HELMS! another H. She is from Alabama and has cute little dimples. She is so sweet, calm, and happy! I love her already. She came out in August so only a transfer before me....So we are both baby  missionaries, who don't know what they are doing! 

President gave us a car! Praise him! HAHA! Last week we came very close to dying (sorry mom) a couple times on our bikes (like a lot more then usual).... So on Saturday we got a call telling us that they got us a car! Super awesome. We will be biking during the day and driving a car at night! YAY for us!

We are making good progress with most of our investigators with lessons but only a couple of them are actually coming to church. Church is the most important thing for them and no one realizes that.

This last Thursday we were visiting Cynthia and Cheyenne, our recent converts, and ended up having a testimony meeting with their whole family ,who are mostly less active ,about how they know the church to be true. Everyone answered! The room was filled with the Spirit and we had such a nice time testifying of the things we each knew to be true. I had never done that before but it was a cool experience to hear everyone's testimonies where they felt comfortable saying them. It is just different when they are at home rather then at a pulpit. Beautiful evening.

The Carrillo's are doing so good! D, their mom, is really getting their lives together and understands the importance of the convenant her children chose to make last weekend. We helped them clean out their bedroom the other day and retaught them the plan of salvation. We had the kids reteach us what they knew... and it was cool to see and hear everything they remembered! I was actually shocked!!! These kids are incredible and so smart. They were prepared to be baptized from the first day we met them. I am so blessed to have been able to be their missionary. I can't wait for the day when they get to serve missions and share this wonderful blessing with others.

We are going to focus a lot of our time on tracting and finding  new investigators throughout these next couple weeks. I hope to find some new investigators and have some fun stories! Stay tuned.... ;)  I haven't don't much tracting yet.

I just want to bare my testimony of the power of prayer this week. I can't even begin to tell you how many times missionaries pray a day. I am pretty sure it is about 40 times but let me tell you it is powerful and the Spirit will speak to you if you invite him to and if you are willing to hear. Prayer has so many different powers. Sometimes we don't nesscessarily recognize when our prayers have been answered because it isn't answered how we expect them to be answered.  I don't know -- I just want to urge you all to be continually grateful for the blessings you  recieve because maybe down the line you will realize that those blessings were actually the answer to your problems then and you didn't realize it.

I love you all so much and I am eternally grateful for those of you who are supporting me everyday while I am serving the Lord. It is surely hard and trying but it brings me SO much happiness. I feel like I could do this forever!

Be safe!

Sister Holt

1. Tuesday we had a HUGE rain storm. Like a hurricane and we had to bike ALL DAY! We were soaked in the first 3 minutes. 

2. This is Momma Cynthia! She got baptized last March. I love her! 

3. Sister Helms and I!!!! Isn't she adorable?! 

Week 13: Blessings AFTER Blessings

BLESSING AFTER BLESSING! This week was such a good week. Less lessons than usual, lots of planning, and three baptisms! 
 
> Our less active Sister A who we fasted for at the beginning of December is doing so much better. She doesn't see or feel a difference but that's because she is stubborn. But you can see and feel of a new glow that surrounds her. She is so much more fun to be around now. We made gooey gooey rice krispies with her because she claims that hers are to "DIE" for. So we made them and yes they ARE to "DIE" for. She's super cute.

> Our recent convert C who is 16 hasn't been to church since November and we found out from her Grandma, C that she has been attending a different church with her friends so that she can dance and praise. Cute huh? Well we have been praying and praying and trying to visit with her for weeks now and we finally got in on New Years Eve. We read the title page and the introduction to the Book of Mormon with both of them. The spirit was so strong and I asked C how she was feeling about everything and she said, " I know, I need to start coming back to church again and trying my best to make it to mutual." HALLEIJUAH! I was like YES C! I told her that the other side is always going to seem more appealing and fun but it is not happiness.  She is a happy girl so she needs to stay on the happy side. She nodded her head and just gave me hugs. I love her so much! She is the sweetest.   #prayersanswered

> We are teaching Sister V's grandsons K and J,who are kids of less active parents and we set a baptism date for January 30th. So we are stoked for them! 

> On Saturday was the Carrillo's baptism!!!!! Oh my goodness --  most beautiful wonderful day ever. The spirit was so strong and the kids were glowing. The primary gave each of the kids a towel with their name embroidered on and we did little advice books for each kid. D (the mom) was just beaming the whole day and she is excited to take the next steps to be sealed in the temple with her babies. It is truly amazing to be watching her change her life around with her kids and really see how the Atonement can truly transform their lives. 

> We had one of our investigators J come to the Carrillo's baptism. J is a woman we met on the street just walking who stopped and talked to us. We have had one lesson with her and she came to the baptism. Amazing!! 
 
> Our other investigator D. R.  surprised us at church yesterday. He is bff's with one of our less actives and they do EVERYTHING together but he came to church without her! AMAZING!!! He was so happy and was asking all kinds of questions about all the different programs and testimonies. It was awesome. He is a lot more serious about all this than we thought. He told us that he makes stellar mexican food so he is going to cook us dinner one night since its my favorite! I can't wait! 

> This is my last week in training because transfer calls are this Saturday and transfers are next Monday. So Big things could be happening. 
> 
> On Christmas Eve we lost our wonderful beautiful Sister D.F.  who joined the church December 2014. She died from tongue cancer that spread throughout her body. Please pray for her family. I loved D. She was this high energy fun loving black woman who LOVED fashion. She had so much spunk. A week before she started going down hill we were with her in her apartment with masks over our faces, intensely sanding her kitchen table!!! She was a tropper I'll tell ya. And one of the most giving woman I came to know out here. I got to give her one last hug before she passed and give her our little Christmas card but I am happy to know she is out of that body that was causing her so much pain. She is learning and probaly being the best little spirit in the spirit world. She will be missed down here but oooo man she is probably doing SO good up there :) 
 
> I am grateful to be here everyday that I am out here. The days get long and hard and I get tired but it doesn't change the fact that my heart burns with the love I have for the people I meet here. They all feel like family. I love it here and I love being a missionary.  These past weeks were a little harder than I thought, but we keep busy and its all good stuff. 

> I am grateful for the love our Heavenly Father bestows upon us each and every day! We don't recognize how much he truly does for us. Absolutely everything.  That's All I can think about lately and how blessed and grateful I am. 

> I love you all. Happy new YEAR! 
> Sister Holt



> Pictures: 
> 1. Jayanna Carrillo - She has this thing against giving me hugs so it is a miracle she stood next to me in this picture. She's spunky but isn't she GLOWING??!
> 2. All three of the Carrillo Kids - Aldo (12) Joey (11) and Jayanna (9) I love these kiddos
> 3. On Christmas Eve Momma Shutt gave us matching PJ's and our investigator dropped off a tree for us all decorated! Merry Christmas and Happy new Year!

Week 11: Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas Everybody! What a wonderful time to be serving my Savior, Jesus Christ and being able to rejoice with anyone about his birth and his life! I am beginning to re-read the Book of Mormon and am really paying attention the all the different attributes, characteristics, and blessings of Christ. It is really awesome  to be able to focus on just that one thing. I am so grateful for his life and his continueous love that he displays for all of  God's children.

This week was busy and slow and super fast all that once! How does that work? I don't know but it does! This week I've had a lot of time to refocus on my mission and recommit to the reasons why I came out here. Because as you all probably assume, missionaries get pretty homesick during the holiday seasons and it is really easy for the adversary to grab on tight. DONT WORRY I am not very homesick but I have had my moments as does every missionary. But the ward is keeping the love and makes us feel it during this time.  I am grateful for the members and all they do.

The Carrillo's are getting so close to their baptism! TWO WEEKS! We taught them the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity this week. Hehe -- try teaching that to a 12, 11, and 9 year old WHO AREN'T YOUR CHILDREN. Yeah. It was quite the experience and brought a lot of questions and fun conversations. They understood everything pretty well, we tried to keep everything as simple as we could and they were super hyper because it was their last day of school. Crazy kiddos! But they absolutely LOVE coming to church and the 12 year old LOVES  the Young Mens activities.

We had our Missionary Christmas Party/Devotional this Thursday. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet all the missionaries from the Valley. (President splits the mission in half for stuff like that so they have a desert devotional and a valley devotional) I am in the Valley and will probably stay here for a while. A Sister member up in the desert starts in January and knits EVERY SINGLE missionary a beanie for Christmas. It was so cute! So you will see those on everyones heads in the pictures attached.

This weekend Sister Huntington got really sick, so we were inside most of the time and went out for our set appointments. I really hate staying inside but we have to get her better so we aren't inside more often. Am I Right??? It was funny though... Friday when we were out contacting and walking around she starting feeling really nauseous and her  head started aching, so we were walked to a members house to rest for a a bit, but  they ended up not being home so we just sat on her porch and my companion took a nap for 15 minutes. They things you do when you don't have a car.

We are still crazy busy this season - we have about 12 investigators and maybe half are progressing right now (coming to church). It is really fun and high responsibility on our part! We will continue to pray for their progress.

I feel so blessed each and every day that I get to be a missionary. I cannot believe that it is already the first Christmas week of my mission! I am very happy and full of joy this season to be representing my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your prayers and support. All the letters are much appreciated! I love hearing from you, Especially the Christmas cards :)

Peace, Joy, & Blessings! 

Sister Holt

Week 10: Investigators, Rain, and a Little Mishap

HELLO!  I always stress out about emailing because I seriously never remember what I do all week! I have the worst memory. Thank goodness for JOURNALS! 

We are the busiest little biking missionaries you could ever imagine! We have so many appointments stacked everyday and I am pooped when I get to lay in my bed at night! BUT IT IS SO WORTH IT. 

Last night was The Living Nativity! The Rancho stake puts it on every year and they say they have up to 3,000 people  show up and watch. I was so pumped to see it! It was wonderful and the spirit was so beautiful there! Lots and lots of people were there and  it started RAINING! And it was POURING RAIN! It was so fun YET sooooo cold! We got home and everything in my bag was soaked from the water EXCEPT MY SCRIPTURES! Praise the Lord Almighty! :-)
 

Last Monday night , we had our first lesson with our cute little Chinese family! We brought a member from our ward with us who speaks Mandrian so she acted as our translator. The family speaks VERY VERY little english. It was interesting. But I have no idea what they were saying so I am just guessing that they understood everything! (haha) 

Sister K (our translator) said they understand the Restoration but they have been reading the Book of Mormon for two weeks now and they haven't gotten an answer if it is true yet. We told them that Understanding comes with time. We have been members for our whole lives and we are still learning and understanding everything in the gospel. But what we do know is,  if you keep putting in an effort to show God that you want to know, You will experience a different kind of joy and peace in your life that you could never imagine. We told the mom to be sensitive to the impressions and feelings she gets while reading. The father said he has been dreaming about the Book of Mormon!!! hahaah! If that isn't your answer I don't know what is!!! (jk)

We have to pass them off  to the Chinese speaking elders in the Riverside mission now because Sister K (translator)  feels that she couldn't translate the best and that they need missionaries who speak their language. I felt the exact same way from the beginning SOOO we passed them off.  We will pray that things will keep happening for them.

We asked our investigator V (who fed us on Thanksgiving) to be baptized FINALLY and she goes, "Well I have already been baptized twice.... (How many times can you be baptized!!!!???) It was really cute the way she said it. So hopefully she should be reading the Book of Mormon and get an answer this week for her baptism (or third time, not sure what is happening there).

Wednesday night we started a fast for our less active, Sister A, so she may be able to recognize the spirit and have peace of mind. (she has had a really rough past) She believes in God. But she believes that God has his chosen people and then he leaves all the others for survive on their own. AND she believes she is one of the ones that is left on her own. Anyways, so we fasted for 24 hours until Thursday night at 8:30. The bishopric came over to give her a priesthood blessing, WHICH IS HUGE because she dislikes men, but Her heart is softening. :)) It went really well but she said that she doesn't feel any different. So we will just take it week by week and  help her realize God's hand in her life.

Friday morning I got up at 6:30, said my prayers and got up to go to the bathroom, ya know. And I was walking to the bathroom and the next thing I know I wake up on the ground. I had fainted from lack of water and food. I hit my head on the bathroom door but I am fine now! I jumped right back up as I am known to do. SO ADVICE TO ALL - Don't fast and then bike and walk all day long.  I suppose I should be a little more careful (sorry mom).

We got two new investigators on Friday, M and D. They are Boyfriend and Girlfriend and live together and have two kids! AHH! They came to church this Sunday and said they will be back next week without us even inviting them! WAHOO! They are cute. 

The Carrillo's are still getting baptized first weekend of January and just progressing right along! They are the cutest little kiddos ever! :) I love them!! 

No bike crashes this week ladies and gentlemen! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! :) 

I am really grateful for my Savior everyday that I am out here on the mission. None of this would be happening without him. I am grateful for all your prayers. Thank you! 

Have a safe and happy Christmas! 

Love always, 

Sister Morgs Holt

Pictures:
1.  Me and Fall Leaves that  are still laying around in Rancho 
2.  The Sisters and the Camel ( from the Live Nativity)
3.  SOAKED SISTERS!  Yes the rain came down.

Week 9: Kicking It Into Christmas and Reaching So Many

Everything and everyone is kicking into the swing of Christmas. Amazing things are happening here in Rancho as well. Sister Huntington and I had a car Monday - Thursday and it was amazing! We got to visit soooo many less actives that the ward had no idea even existed! It was so nice. We got to meet amazing women and share the beautiful message of Jesus Christ their Savior, with them. I love serving around Christmas time, it has been wonderful.

We got 3 new investigators this week! It is amazing how the Lord places people in our path who are soooo ready and prepared.

On Saturday, we went to go visit a less active that we have been trying to visit ever since I got to the area. She finally answered so we set up an appointment with her. We planned to share with her the new Savior is Born video. When we showed up a man named D answered the door who was one of her closest friends. We sat down and started to get to know him while we were waiting for S. He said how he has been looking for a church and needs help with his addiction to alcohol. SOOO we ended up teaching him  about the Restoration! He wants to learn more so we are teaching him again this Thursday and he said he wants to come to church! Amazing! 

Later that day we went to contact a refferral. We went up to the house and they ended  up being a chinese family who speak VERY little english. Their 11 year old daughter speaks english and was translating the whole time. They want to learn about Jesus and the Book the Mormon so we have a lesson with them TONIGHT. Luckily Sister K, in our ward is from Taiwan and speaks Mandrain so we are going to have her translate! It will be so awesome. (We did ask the  President if there were any Madrian speaking missionaries in our mission and he said there is one and they already have 114 refferrals in Chino...What!.) So yeah we are going to to teach them the best we can, because there is only ONE mandrian speaking missionary in the entire mission. 

On Thursday, We had a ton of lessons and they all went great, on our way to lunch we felt prompted to go visit our good friend K. She is a less active who converted ten years ago. I have probably talked about her before. She is one of the first people I met when I came out here. I love her to death! Anyways she is going through a really hard time and  tends to turn to not good things when she is stressed. We went over there and she had been drinking and smoking. She felt so bad and the amazing thing about K is that she wants to change!!!!!!!! But because of the terrible situation she is in right now it is so dang hard for her and she doesn't think she is strong enough. BUT after our little visit with her, she agreed to let me dump out all her alcohol and take her pack of cigs. K is one of the sweetest women I have ever met  and her testimony of the church is so strong. This is just a pure example of how ugly the world is and how EASY it is to slip.

Our Carillo Family is doing great. Our investigators. They are still on the road to Baptism on January 2! We are excited and just love them. They came to the Christmas party on Friday and just loved it and the ward is so amazing at helping everyone feel so loved and welcomed! The ward really ends up making the biggest difference!!!

Friday, was our ward Christmas Party and we helped decorate and do the food and everything along with all our business with teaching and everything. WE WERE DANG BUSY THIS WEEK! 

BUT AMAZING MIRACLES JUST KEEP HAPPENING!!

One of our investigators named J was getting the lessons in Septmeber but we haven't seen him since. He just fell of the face of the earth. We call and text him and take visits to his house every week but were never successful. ANYWAYS we were making calls to invite him to the ward Christmas party and J ANSWERED! We invited him and he totally showed up to the party. It was amazing. Straight up miracle! AND He said that he wants to start lessons this week again.

FUNNY STORY NOW:  J  showed up like half way through the party.  He didn't know where we (the missionaries) were and so our Relief Society president  got on the microphone and was like "sisters you have someone looking for you out in the hall"  So we both got up and ran out and it was J! I was so happy to see him that I GAVE HIM A BIG HUGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  When I realized "NO SISTER HOLT YOU ARE A MISSIONARY. YOU CANT HUG MALES!" But my happiness and joy just took over and I didn't even think about! So when he was leaving the party he totally hugged both of us. So that might have to be our first lesson with him.... ;) #lawofchastity. JUST KIDDDDING!!!!!!!

This week has been so busy, so hard, so fun, and so rewarding.

I am learning so much and really having to stretch myself. I talk and sit with homeless people, I used to just pass by them.  I didn't ever really see them.  They have some of the best personalities! I love being a missionary and being about  HIS business to help others and make people smile. 

Service is truly the best medicine.  

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! I love this gospel and I am so ever grateful for my Savior and my Heavenly Father and HIS perfect plan for us!

Have Courage and Be Kind,

Sister Holt

Pic of my Humble Abode and my District