Email - March 4, 2013
Well, this week was a fairly exciting one! It was the week of transfers and I got my new companion Elder Morton from American Fork, Utah. He has been out for about 3 1/2 months and has a strong, humble desire to bring others to Christ. I guess I must do well with newer missionaries because I haven't had a companion who has been out longer than a year since My 3rd companion and Elder Morton will make #11 (#12 if you count Elder Bott in the MTC). Not that I'm complaining though!
We had a pretty productive week this week despite transfers and Stake Conference taking up more time than would normally be taken. We started teaching a man who had formerly been investigating but moved away and stopped taking the lessons until he could get settled into his new place. We also were able to teach Sister Archuleta's 12-year-old daughter who had previously shown no interest in taking the lessons.
This Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference and it was really good! The Saturday evening session was really spiritual and we were able to hear from President Shumway, his wife, and a couple members of the Stake Presidency. The Sunday session was awesome too becuase it was a multi-stake broadcast. Elder Oaks and a couple Seventies spoke in SLC and it was shown in buildings throughout this area of the country. We had Bro. Crozier (who hadn't been to church in years) and his girlfriend and investigator Sis. Wolfe at church for the first time! They couldn't have picked a better Sunday in my opinion. You can never go wrong with an Apostle!
I'll keep you up to date on how things continue to go in Parsons, Kansas! Elder Holmes
We had a pretty productive week this week despite transfers and Stake Conference taking up more time than would normally be taken. We started teaching a man who had formerly been investigating but moved away and stopped taking the lessons until he could get settled into his new place. We also were able to teach Sister Archuleta's 12-year-old daughter who had previously shown no interest in taking the lessons.
This Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference and it was really good! The Saturday evening session was really spiritual and we were able to hear from President Shumway, his wife, and a couple members of the Stake Presidency. The Sunday session was awesome too becuase it was a multi-stake broadcast. Elder Oaks and a couple Seventies spoke in SLC and it was shown in buildings throughout this area of the country. We had Bro. Crozier (who hadn't been to church in years) and his girlfriend and investigator Sis. Wolfe at church for the first time! They couldn't have picked a better Sunday in my opinion. You can never go wrong with an Apostle!
I'll keep you up to date on how things continue to go in Parsons, Kansas! Elder Holmes
Email - March 11, 2013
This week was really great! We were able to teach quite a few people and we had a really great zone conference!
I learned a lot this week about persevering! Our mission has a goal of each companionship teaching at least 20 lessons each week and this week, we made that goal! We had set 20 lessons as a goal for this week and I had it in my mind the whole week. Especially when, after the first couple of days I saw that we were on track to meet that goal. There were a lot of instances where appointments cancelled on us, but instead of wandering around like a chicken with his head cut off, we always knew whom else we would be able to go and see. That was especially true on Sunday when we had 8 lessons lined up after church to get us to our goal and one cancelled and one wasn't there when we went over for the appointment. If it weren't for backup appointments, we would have fallen one short of our goal. Great things are happening here in Parsons, KS and what's awesome is we still have more potential to be followed up on as far as new investigators.
Even though zone conference was an all-day affair for us because it was 2 1/2 hours away in Springdale, AR, it was a great experience! We had a lot of good instruction about helping people make commitments and about how important it is to use the Book of Mormon as an instrument in our work! Also, it was really great to see some missionaries I hadn't seen for quite some time.
Love you all! Hope you have a great St. Patrick's day! Elder Holmes
I learned a lot this week about persevering! Our mission has a goal of each companionship teaching at least 20 lessons each week and this week, we made that goal! We had set 20 lessons as a goal for this week and I had it in my mind the whole week. Especially when, after the first couple of days I saw that we were on track to meet that goal. There were a lot of instances where appointments cancelled on us, but instead of wandering around like a chicken with his head cut off, we always knew whom else we would be able to go and see. That was especially true on Sunday when we had 8 lessons lined up after church to get us to our goal and one cancelled and one wasn't there when we went over for the appointment. If it weren't for backup appointments, we would have fallen one short of our goal. Great things are happening here in Parsons, KS and what's awesome is we still have more potential to be followed up on as far as new investigators.
Even though zone conference was an all-day affair for us because it was 2 1/2 hours away in Springdale, AR, it was a great experience! We had a lot of good instruction about helping people make commitments and about how important it is to use the Book of Mormon as an instrument in our work! Also, it was really great to see some missionaries I hadn't seen for quite some time.
Love you all! Hope you have a great St. Patrick's day! Elder Holmes
Email - March 18, 2013
This week was another awesome week! We were able to make contact with a few less-active members that we previously hadn't been able to contact and we will now be starting to teach them! We share the car with the Pittsburg missionaries and we got it back from them on Wednesday which was really nice! We were able to cover a lot more ground and teach a lot more lessons the latter
half of the week because we had the car. Friday was kinda an interesting day. We had quite the list of people to go
and see, but we weren't able to contact most of them. Honestly, it got kinda discouraging at times but I didn't let it get me down! We kept working hard and were still able to see a few people. What was really cool was that in the next two days after that we were able to teach 12 of our 23 lessons for the week and a good chunk of those were ones that kinda "fell out of the sky". My testimony
of diligence is definitely being strengthened! As well as my testimony of setting inspired goals. We made it a goal this transfer to hit 20 lessons one of the weeks (we surpassed that) then we "upped the ante" and set a goal to make 60 % lessons with members present and we did that this last week! Of course, those were already goals set for the whole mission by our President, but I know
that the fact that we set them as our personal goals helped the Lord to bless us as we worked to achieve them.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! I love you all!
Elder Holmes
half of the week because we had the car. Friday was kinda an interesting day. We had quite the list of people to go
and see, but we weren't able to contact most of them. Honestly, it got kinda discouraging at times but I didn't let it get me down! We kept working hard and were still able to see a few people. What was really cool was that in the next two days after that we were able to teach 12 of our 23 lessons for the week and a good chunk of those were ones that kinda "fell out of the sky". My testimony
of diligence is definitely being strengthened! As well as my testimony of setting inspired goals. We made it a goal this transfer to hit 20 lessons one of the weeks (we surpassed that) then we "upped the ante" and set a goal to make 60 % lessons with members present and we did that this last week! Of course, those were already goals set for the whole mission by our President, but I know
that the fact that we set them as our personal goals helped the Lord to bless us as we worked to achieve them.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! I love you all!
Elder Holmes
Email-March 25, 2013
Had a pretty great week this week! We continue to hit our goals in helping people come closer to Christ and we are seeing blessings as we work to do so! We've seen real progress in a couple of our investigators close to baptism! Sis. Wolfe and her fiance who is a member both quit smoking this last Saturday! The day before we went over and gave them both a priesthood blessing.
They did really well on Saturday and we went over to share a message with them to boost their spirits. They said that on Sunday they had a moment of weakness, but that it tasted so nasty that they couldn't do it! I have no doubt that that
is the Lord helping them. The real test is going to be today because they are back to the regular stresses of work and their weekly routine. We've been praying for them really hard! We were also able to set a date with the 13 year old daughter of the recent
convert Sis. Archuleta. For a long time she really showed no interest in even meeting with us, but she has come a long way. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Sunday and she agreed to get baptized on the 13th of April! Something crazy that happened this Sunday was a snow storm! It was bad enough in the morning that they even cancelled church services. We didn't get a
ton of snowfall, but the snow we did get coupled with the ice made driving yesterday morning a risky affair, especially considering how far some members have to drive. Luckily, it cleared up and we were able to still go out with a member and see some people.
Love you all! Happy Easter this next Sunday!
Elder Holmes
They did really well on Saturday and we went over to share a message with them to boost their spirits. They said that on Sunday they had a moment of weakness, but that it tasted so nasty that they couldn't do it! I have no doubt that that
is the Lord helping them. The real test is going to be today because they are back to the regular stresses of work and their weekly routine. We've been praying for them really hard! We were also able to set a date with the 13 year old daughter of the recent
convert Sis. Archuleta. For a long time she really showed no interest in even meeting with us, but she has come a long way. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Sunday and she agreed to get baptized on the 13th of April! Something crazy that happened this Sunday was a snow storm! It was bad enough in the morning that they even cancelled church services. We didn't get a
ton of snowfall, but the snow we did get coupled with the ice made driving yesterday morning a risky affair, especially considering how far some members have to drive. Luckily, it cleared up and we were able to still go out with a member and see some people.
Love you all! Happy Easter this next Sunday!
Elder Holmes