May 30th, 2011

Family,

Well, This week has been absolutely insane. It was pretty boring and usual until the weekend--as usual. We had mission conference in Ottawa, with Elder Malm, from the 2nd quorum of the seventy, on friday. We had to wake up at 3:30 to get there on time and then we were spiritually uplifted, and then spiritually spanked by him after he discussed our numbers vs. our potential for this mission. He shared a great scripture, which has quickly become one of my favorites, D and C 124:99. Vision is key in the work of God. I was lucky enough to give a talk during mission conference on the Book of Mormon. Wooo... That was fun, good public speaking practice.

Elder McRoberts and I were spiritually inspired after conference and have returned to the work with renewed determination. On Saturday, we had a very strange experience. A pass off potential investigator invited us to a little BBQ with some of the family, not many people. What we learned when we showed up is that this family is Haitian, and not many people= about 50. We walked into this house, with Caribbean Jazz BLASTING so loud that we couldn`t hear anyone saying anything, until we walked out into the backyard. Panicking, I looked around to confirm my fears. Yup. We were the only white people around. Just Elder Aubin, (on splits with us) McRoberts and I. We sat next to this really physically fit Haitian who was drinking and pretending to play a little recorder. Then jokingly Elder Aubin played a song he learned in elementary school on it...then Elder McRoberts played The theme of Pirates of the Caribbean, title Jack Sparrow, on this cheap little recorder. WHITE. It was a strange sensation, as all these black people just kept walking past us and talking to us... In a last ditch effort to avoid all awkwardness, we manned the grill and started taking orders. The mormons catered this party. And the funny part is, this family was throwing this party for their son, because he just finished his first Communion.

Comparison. Three Black Jehovah`s Witness who speak little english attend a baptism celebration/baptism luncheon in Star Valley, Wyoming with the Bateman family. About the same scenario here.

We were there for 3 hours, and after the first little bit, we discovered that only one missionary could man the grill at a time. So I took some advice from Mission Conference, and I "let my guard down." Hardest thing I`ve ever done in my life. But I managed to just let my guard down and talk it up with a bunch of Haitians. Hayden would have just had a ball. There was a man there that looked just like Bill Cosby.
It was a blast.

I`m very grateful to have come to this mission, because in this mission I get a little test of every mission. A little glimpse of Haiti, a little glimpse of South America, and more than a couple glimpses of Europe, just for example. People around the world live here, and it is my wonderful opportunity to meet with all of them. Canada Montreal Mission is the mission of all missions.

On Sunday we had 5 investigators show up to church, all of them brought by members of the ward. Our member encouragement is finally paying off, we`ve been working very, very hard with these members and now they are just bringing people! The work is truly rolling forth. We had an investigator who is very excited to join the church, I caught her in the library after church trying to buy just about everything the church had to offer, and while teaching her afterwards about baptism, she said "Well I would love to just get baptized tomorrow!" Haahahaha...WHAT. This women has obviously been more than prepared. And we are so grateful to be able to help her. We are doing big, BIG things in Mascouche, and we hope that with transfers coming up this Saturday, that president will leave us together long enough to do it all.

Well that`s all family, I`ll keep you posted about our investigators as they progress.
here are some pictures.

Peace be the Journey,

Elder Holm