July 25th, 2011

Tu viens plus à l'Èglise, Joseph.

I`ve decided to start heading all my letters home with quotes from church DVDs. Well folks, another week down in Mascouche town. Elder Brown is a great guy, we get along. I haven`t been with him long enough to find his personality yet, he is a super quiet guy. He is really struggling with understanding french, but he speaks pretty well. Comprehension comes after immersion, just like in the gospel. HA. Baptism joke. Man...
We have a lot of steady investigators who are progressing rather well. Things are just going swimmingly here in Mascouche, which is good, because it gives me time to figure out what in the world I`m doing as a District Leader.

This is the Big week for Elder Holm (2), as he heads off to the MTC. Man, I look back upon the MTC with almost fondness, but the field is so much better. There is a certain comfort and a super strong spirit within the MTC however, so Hayden should be excited for that. And also the fact that the teachers now speak to the missionaries entirely in their mission language the entire time. Good luck, HAY-DO.

Well, the wards are going well, I`ve been promoted in Soccer in the Elders` Quorum game each Saturday, to "Most usually well capable of handling the ball and passing." I`m still waiting for the prized "Can be trusted to make goals, or at least try" title. I know it`s a comin`.

I hit my one year mark this week, YUCKY. Not a fan. I tell ya, my paradigm shifts so fast as time flies, I be getting dizzy.

I have some pictures attached, enjoy.

The tall red-head is elder brown

the buff guy is elder Jensen, I`m a big fan of him.

 and then there is elder McRoberts and I doing the classic Wilford Woodruff pose.

Peace be the Journey,

Elder Quebec

July 19th, 2011

FAMBLY-LA.

Yes, it has come, the sad day that the Dream Team splits. Elder McRoberts is heading out to THE ISLAND. Off to Montreal, to McGill, english YSA. He`s very excited but very nervous as well, seeing as, whilst on the island, you must Metro contact...which sounds downright terrifying to me, but Elder McRoberts will do good. I`ll be staying in Mascouche, as the Mascouche District Leader. Our entire zone got whitewashed, save myself and one other elder in Laval. My new companion will be Elder Brown, this will be his first area in french, and the other elders of my district will be Elders Mendoza, and Pistorius. This is their first area in french as well. Elder Mendoza returned a couple months ago, from a broken leg incident, and has been in Spanish his whole mission. Elder Pistorius has been over in Ottawa zone, in English. This will be very interesting, that`s for sure. STRESS.

Birthday has been pretty good, spent the morning cleaning for Elder Brown`s coming and helping Elder McRoberts pack. Not sure what we`re going to do for the rest of the day.

This past week has been hot. Got over 100 degrees with humidity a couple times. We`ve been walking so we can properly ration our mileage limit. It`s ridiculous just how drenched with sweat you can actually get. I hope Elder Brown likes to walk!

Lots of service and plenty of lessons, we should be having more baptisms in two or three weeks, but life is full of surprises, so don`t take my word on that, that`s just me being hopeful.

Gotta go,

Peace,


Elder Holm


P.S.

photos--
Temple, me winning at chess in a ridiculous manner, cool puddles (not cool photo) baptism, photo of a tandem bike of a couple who are biking across canada for the summer. (CRAZY) And Space Door.

July 12, 2011

Dear Family,

Well! This week has been a good one, to say in the least. Good, as in, very busy. We helped the new bishop of the Terrebonne ward move, and let me tell you, he has some extremely heavy items! I think my back and shoulders are well enough destroyed from this whole moving everyone in the last two months deal. But everytime we`ve helped someone move, immense blessings have come forth.

On Saturday, one of our investigators was baptized by her father. She is 9 years old, and a very sharp, sensible girl. She`ll make a great addition to the ward of Mascouche. The baptism went perfectly, there was hot water in the font and we even had some investigators come to see what a baptism really is. Supremely successful. She`s truly a gem. Our two Haitian 10 year old twins came to church too, they are such a hoot. It was their birthday on Sunday and we brought them some ties for their birthday, because they never have ties to wear. They told us--we don`t want our ties yet, wait until we get baptized. SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. They have been prepared, now it`s just a matter of talking to their mother about her concerns. Hopefully all goes well. It`s always fun listening to Elder McRoberts trying to talk like them in order to connect to them "Hey Man, don`t forget to read your scriptures, man. You gonna do that, man?" It makes me laugh, there is very little slang left between us as missionaries.

We`ll be having a spanish baptism on the 30th. A part member family with an eternal investigator who is finally ready to have the lessons and wants to be baptized, we are really excited to work with them. I went on splits with Elder Meza the other day, and we had nothing but spanish appointments the whole time. Very humbling and frustrating, it was, I felt like I was at the beginning of my mission again. Luckily with french one can understand about 40-60% without any previous spanish, but speaking is nonexistent. Time for some good ol` prayer and El Libro de Mormon!

The Mission president raised the monthly goal of new investigators to 500 this month. That`s a lot, for 80 missionaries. We have been pushing really hard and I have discovered a really huge No-Brainer. When I tract for the purpose of finding someone to teach, with a real desire to find someone new, we Find people. I don`t know how Carlie and Carter felt about tracting, but I always found it was kind of like a default plan, something to do in between lessons, because you have to do something. But lately we`ve been planning our lessons around our tracting and major differences have taken place. God gives to you according to your desires. You have to want it.

I went to the temple today, it was strange going through the temple all in french. makes you pay a little more attention, that`s for sure. Anyhow, as I was searching for peace, I found a particular scripture I had found in my first transfer in the mission, but had forgotten about, that brought me great peace. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 8-9, then 6. This has comforted me in many a way, and I advise Hayden to really take this scripture to heart, it will save him from unnecessary worry and grief in the field.

I also advise Hayden to start reading chapter 10 in PMG, I believe, the section called "how to begin teaching" This one I found would have helped me the most had I studied it before my mission, very good to know. And also, to be 100% obedient-no matter what anyone says. If you want success in any fashion of missionary work, or life, 100% obedience is key. There will be a lot of people who tell you as you prepare for your mission "Be obedient, but don`t be a zealot." Or something like this. This is just mediocrity. Ignore this blasphemy. Full obedience is only for the strong, for the best. Power in obedience. Something I`m really trying to strive for. Remember, by accepting your call, you promise to be 100% obedient. Keep the promise.

Well okay fambly, this letter has been super long. Hope everyone has a good summer, and I`ll talk to you all next tuesday, on my birthday!

Peace,

Elder Holm

July 4th, 2011

Holm Family.

This week has been good. One of our golden investigators came back to church after going AWAL for a couple weeks, then we found out she actually belongs in the Laval ward, so we`ll be passing her off to the other elders. Canada is super hot, and humid, it`s like living in a crockpot. For serious. Elder McRoberts and I have been working hard and have had some good success, there will be for sure a baptism this saturday--no more postponements or anything like that. This last week contained CANADA day, which Quebec doesn`t really celebrate, and QUEBEC day, which we weren`t allowed to prosylete during. The days in between these two holidays are the national, moving days. We`ve been doing hours and hours of service moving everybody and their dog this last week. Oh, how I dislike lifting heavy things. But our service has been rewarded with lots of new investigators and member cooperation. This last sunday was the first Sunday with the two wards, we`ve been working hard to keep track of everyone and make sure that no one goes less active during this difficult change. All day at church was...interesting. Elder mcRoberts and I played an amazing game of tic-tac-toe, I`ll have to send you a picture sometime. At church on sunday we manned the doors to greet the members, and it just hit me as strange as I was sitting there--a long string of members walked by, we greeted them all, speaking 3 different languages with them. Some of them greet us in french, others want to practice their english, others are tired and find it easier to talk to us in spanish. It was a really cool gift of tongues moment as we fluently alternated from language to language without skipping a beat. Really cool. The Lord blesses you when it`s necessary for his work.

Mom and Hayden`s birthdays are coming up soon, let me know what you guys want from Canada, I`ll be sending home some stuff two weeks from now! Transfers calls are on the 16th, a saturday, and actual transfers will come on the 20th. So if you want to send stuff, as quick as you can! Because the Mail strike is over, HALLELUJAH. It`s about time. We saw a squadron of 4 large mail buses rolling out to deliver and we nearly jumped for joy, the other day.

Have a good week!

Elder Holm