Email - December 2012
This week we taught the most lessons since I've been in the area. Things are picking up and we also had dinner with a couple less-active families which is always great.
Monday we met this member whose membership record we recently received. Bro. Oviatt is 94 years old and he is just about the most spry old man I've ever met for his age! He is still up with technology (he has an iPad, Kindle, Laptop, etc.) and he moves around really well. The only sign of his age is that his hearing isn't very good. It's a bit funny because he understands me quite well but he has a hard time understanding Elder Cummings. Anyway, he's not currently coming to church but he really loves the company when we come and visit and so I'm hoping we can get him to come to church soon.
We were able to meet with Brother Mountain this last week and we taught about the Gospel of Christ. It went over really smoothly and I even used an analogy that involved Bob Ross from The Joy of Painting! I went something like this: studying the scriptures causes us to want to repent and live better lives. It's like if you were painting pictures and then you watch The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross and see that how he paints mountains is way better than what you were trying to do. Of course, you're going to go back and emulate the one who knows what he's doing instead of going back to the way you're doing it. I think it came across a lot better when I said it, but that's the general idea.
Also, we met with Bro. Neher again this week. He is a very learned man and does a lot of research. He finds a lot of questions and it can be hard to not get off topic. Fortunately, I know that the Gospel is true and so I know that if he is sincere in his search that all of his questions will fade away, it may just take time.
I'm hopeful that things will continue to pick up here in Carthage, Missouri!
Merry Christmas! Elder Holmes
Monday we met this member whose membership record we recently received. Bro. Oviatt is 94 years old and he is just about the most spry old man I've ever met for his age! He is still up with technology (he has an iPad, Kindle, Laptop, etc.) and he moves around really well. The only sign of his age is that his hearing isn't very good. It's a bit funny because he understands me quite well but he has a hard time understanding Elder Cummings. Anyway, he's not currently coming to church but he really loves the company when we come and visit and so I'm hoping we can get him to come to church soon.
We were able to meet with Brother Mountain this last week and we taught about the Gospel of Christ. It went over really smoothly and I even used an analogy that involved Bob Ross from The Joy of Painting! I went something like this: studying the scriptures causes us to want to repent and live better lives. It's like if you were painting pictures and then you watch The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross and see that how he paints mountains is way better than what you were trying to do. Of course, you're going to go back and emulate the one who knows what he's doing instead of going back to the way you're doing it. I think it came across a lot better when I said it, but that's the general idea.
Also, we met with Bro. Neher again this week. He is a very learned man and does a lot of research. He finds a lot of questions and it can be hard to not get off topic. Fortunately, I know that the Gospel is true and so I know that if he is sincere in his search that all of his questions will fade away, it may just take time.
I'm hopeful that things will continue to pick up here in Carthage, Missouri!
Merry Christmas! Elder Holmes
Email - December 10, 2012
To be honest, this was a really slow week so I don't have much to say. A lot of the people we teach are really busy for the holiday season because they are picking up additional employment and such.
First things first, I am not getting transferred and neither is my companion Elder Cummings. I'm happy that I'm not leaving because it would be pretty tough this close to the holiday season.
One thing that we did have this week that was pretty cool was the ward Christmas party. They had a really cool Bethlehem ambiance in the gym and they did a mini nativity presentation. We were supposed to dress up in time-period-appropriate attire, but we didn't have the time to make/obtain any so we just went dressed as missionaries. A Brother in the ward was dressed casually as well and said he was telling everyone he was from the future. haha I thought that was pretty clever.
Merry Christmas! Go check out mormon.org/christmas and tell all your friends about it! It's got free music so you can't beat that!
Love, Elder Holmes
First things first, I am not getting transferred and neither is my companion Elder Cummings. I'm happy that I'm not leaving because it would be pretty tough this close to the holiday season.
One thing that we did have this week that was pretty cool was the ward Christmas party. They had a really cool Bethlehem ambiance in the gym and they did a mini nativity presentation. We were supposed to dress up in time-period-appropriate attire, but we didn't have the time to make/obtain any so we just went dressed as missionaries. A Brother in the ward was dressed casually as well and said he was telling everyone he was from the future. haha I thought that was pretty clever.
Merry Christmas! Go check out mormon.org/christmas and tell all your friends about it! It's got free music so you can't beat that!
Love, Elder Holmes
Email - December 17, 2012
Not too much to report this week (also I don't really feel like typing a lengthy email) but a few cool things did happen.
We were finally able to meet with one of our investigators that we hadn't been able to for quite some time and he is still doing well. It's been tough to meet with a lot of people because of the Christmas season (which is sort of ironic) because they are picking up extra employment and such.
President Shumway, my mission president, came and did a fireside for the youth of the two wards that meet in our building and it was really good! It definitely drummed up some excitement in them about missionary work. At that fireside, we had a young women in the ward introduce us to her friend she had brought to the meeting. We have a teaching appointment with him next Sunday which is awesome!
Love you all! Hope you have a very Merry Christmas! Elder Holmes
We were finally able to meet with one of our investigators that we hadn't been able to for quite some time and he is still doing well. It's been tough to meet with a lot of people because of the Christmas season (which is sort of ironic) because they are picking up extra employment and such.
President Shumway, my mission president, came and did a fireside for the youth of the two wards that meet in our building and it was really good! It definitely drummed up some excitement in them about missionary work. At that fireside, we had a young women in the ward introduce us to her friend she had brought to the meeting. We have a teaching appointment with him next Sunday which is awesome!
Love you all! Hope you have a very Merry Christmas! Elder Holmes