Happy New Year...

family!

holy moly it was so good to see you guys on Christmas! ive missed your cute faces! dont worry i didnt make me homesick at all. im glad your christmas was great! I LOVE the pictures you sent! gosh my family is good looking! my christmas was great! we had breakfast with our zone and did a gift exchange and then we watched UP (not a christmas movie but oh well) and then I got to skype you after 2 hours of running around looking for internet hah next time I will be more prepared! after we skyped we went to down town Arequipa (i forget what its called everytime) with all the missionaries in Arequipa and sang and contacted. it was so much fun. i loved it! This week has been great! we had Milagros baptism on Saturday! She´s awesome. i love teaching her! im very excited for her because this is something shes wanted for a long time! in two weeks we have another baptism for Macarena but after that we dont have anymore so we are focusing on finding new investigators this week! Im excited because i will be able to be with these investigators from the start! 

I feel like i dont have a ton to say because i just talked to you on christmas but i am doing so good! i have my days when its just so hard (well everyday) haha but i love it! i should have spoke spanish to you guys on christmas because i think i know more than you guys think but when i skype you in May i will be fluent! it comes fast when you have a latin companion! I love hermana Andia, we had a lot of good laughs this week! in our room we have this really really ghetto bunk bed and i sleep on top and so yesturday we were both laying on our bunks reading our scriptures and i legit fell off the top bunk, it was probably the funniest thing ever. the package you sent me is what broke my fall haha im grateful that was there! we both laughed for like an hour about it! also the people that live below us decided to start a rock band this week. So that has been a nice addition to our house. free music all the time. especially late at night! 

I forgot to tell you when i was flying to Arequipa from Peru I accidentally had a pocket knife in my bag (no idea why or how it got there) so when i was going through security they took me aside and hand cuffed me. just picture this...10 latin elders standing here watching this all happen. some lady talking to me in really fast spanish with me fresh out of the CCM haha i was freaking out. they made fun of me for the rest of the day. good times. 

anyways im glad my pensionista is sending lots of pictures! shes crazy. but i love her. she showed me the pictures you sent her! I LOVE YOU GUYS! im pretty sure their baby hates me. he gives me the dirtiest looks all the time. but they´re like my family here! 

thats about all thats going on in my life. the mission is so great! i love it here in arequipa! its real hot but im grateful for it!  anyways, i love you all so much! thank you so much for your prayers! you all mean the world to me! Happy New Years! 

xoxoxox 

-Hermana Holt 

El Misty 

View from our window-sunset for you dad.

My desk 

Got my Christmas package. I LOVED IT!

New Christmas Eve PJ's

Feliz Navidad..

hola family! que pasa?? haha

oh mannn what a week! so yeah Arequipa is great! its just so different here i dont even know how to explain it! i am trying to upload photos right now but its insanely slow so idk. I woke up this morning and washed my clothes on the roof of our house thingy we live in and then tried to clean our bathroom because its just so gross haha so yeah thats exciting. but this week went so fast and so slow at the same time. i dont know how to explain it! ill just kind of tell you how my days go yeah? soo we wake up and go running....well i do haha and then we walk to our pensionistas house for breakfast which is always so interesting. we eat so many carbs here it makes me worried haha my stomach still hates the food. its jacked up but whatever. i thought i had the flew this morning but i think it maybe passed? idk haha anyways after that we go back to our pension and do personal and companionship study for two hours then get ready and leave! we teach like 5 or 6 lessons a day and i talk like for one minute in each haha i cant even begin to tell you the frustration. but after that we eat lunch at like 3 and then do language study and 12 weeks study and then leave again for more teaching or contacting or whatever we have that day! its super hot here but i love it! its sooo dry which is perfect for me haha. we eat dinner at like 10 at night on our pension floor so i usually dont eat it becuase gross....then we go to bed! sooo yeah haha each day is a Little different though. we spend a lot of time with our zone! me and hermana andia are the only hermanas in our zone and i am the only one who doesnt speak spanish so thats super fun. our zone leader is from Utah and is leaving next transfer...oh and Elder malloy is in my zone mom haha i told him his blog made me laugh so hard. hes cool. i love my zone! they make fun of me like 100 percent of the time but its fine. ive been playin the violin a ton here! one of the elders form chili brought his violin so i played for a church thing and then for ronaldos baptism! ill tell you more about that in a second.

I really want to dye my hair hahaha i have yet to see another blonde person here and everyone just stares at me....i am ALWAYS the tallest person on the bus haha its pretty funny. i smack my head probably five times a day. hermana andia thinks its hilarious! i love her. she is so so so patient with me! we have a lot of fun together though. my spanish is coming along. i can basically communicate how i feel in broken spanish haha and i can understand a lot more then i could on tuesday so i have faith it will get better haha!

on saturday was ranaldos baptism! it was the chillest baptism ever haha i was so confused about it. we went to get him from his house thing and he just writes a note and puts it on the door that says "went to my baptism..chau" haha then we went to the chapel and he got baptized at like 9:30 at night haha idk it was weird but im so excited for him! he is the only one in his family that is a member so hes going to have to be strong! hes 13 i believe...after the baptism we were so late to getting back to our house and the taxis or buses would not stop for us haha it was hilarious! each of us were standing on different sides of the Street trying to flag down someone. it was fun haha the buses here are soooo crazy. its like a small van type thing and they just pack like 50 people inside. sometimes i sit up front with the bus driver which is probably so hilairous because im a gringo haha i love it.

so for christmas i think im skyping at 5 here so like 3 your time. i think thats what she said... haha i have an hour to skype. yayyy! im excited but nervous it will make me home sick haha. i love you guys soooo much! im so happy to be here. this is the hardest thing i have ever ever ever done from throwing up everyday because my stomach hates the food to not being able to understand anything hahaha (it sounds worse than it is) but its so worth it. seeing ranaldo get baptized was so cool. we have another baptism on saturday for Milagros. shes 17 years old and a nanny here. were besties even though we dont know what we are saying most of the time haha i love her to death! im so excited for her!

anyways, i love you all to death! i feel so blessed. i know i say that all the time haha but i just do! i hope you guys have a great week and i will talk to you on christmas!

feliz navidad!!

xoxoxox

Out of the CCM.....a whole different world!

FAMILY! coming to you live from idk where....but i get to just write you and tell you that i am here in Arequipa and i am safe! i dont even know how to put my life in words right now! i am in Central Arequipa so i am right in the middle of the city and its ridiculous how pretty it is here! i mean it is its own kind of pretty haha i am in the middle of the desert but i love it! i feel like i have the best mission in the world! my mission president and wife are the kindest most chill people i have ever met! so i will give you a really fast update on my life right now because its mad crazy! haah so we got here on tuesday morning at like nine. we left the CCM at 4. the flight here was good. i slept the whole way haha and my mission president was at the airport to greet us with the APs and his wife! i have to say that was maybe the happiest day of my life. i was just so happy to be here! we first went on a little tour of the city which is just insane idk even how to explain Arequipa (so much better than Lima) and then we went to the site of the new temple which wont be built while i am here but maybe the ground breaking will be. who knows. then we went to the center of the town (dont know how to spell it) but its so pretty. its a big fountain and a cathedrial (excuse my spelling) and we took pictures and met our trainers! then we went to the mission home since we are such a small group (only three hermanas came) and we ate lunch and talked about rules and all that good stuff! and found out where we would be serving! so yeah im in central arequipa and anderson and menlove are 6 hours away somewhere near the ocean! i shed many tears when we parted. haha i love those sisters and i knew that was the end of english. so yea. my companion is from Bolivia (hermana Andia) speaks no english really and so mostly we just stare at eachother and i just follow her around. i have no idea whats going on ever haha. we had a big zone thing yesterday with five other zones for christmas! it was crazy fun! we ate dinner and each zone did a skit! idk what ours was about because its all in spanish but i had to be apart of it. it was embarassing. so yeah that was fun yesterday because i was around other north americans! i have taught five lessons in these two days and ive talked in every sinlge one of them, pretty sure they dont understand me. actually i know they dont beacuse in last nights lesson with ranaldo (hes getting baptized on saturday) his grandma came in and basically told me to shut up. whatever confidence i did have is now gone haha but hasta bien! but in the lesson before that with milagro (the cutest 17 year old ever) it went okay! she is going to teach me ketchajua (however you spell it) alot of people here speak it haha!  i am going to learn spanish crazy fast with my trainer! its so rough right now but it will all be okay! shes so kind to me! my brain is absolutely fried but i just want you to know I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! its a whole different world here. we are so so so blessed. my pension is basically just four cement walls haha i dont want to talk about my bathroom and all that...but i feel blessed because i have a flushing toilet and most dont haha! most people here live in garages or idk even how to explain it. nothing like we have ever seen. we are just so blessed! my pensionista is so dang nice! they are my new family here! she lives a couple of blocks from me and we go to her house for all of our meals! each one has made me sick but thats so normal! there is an elder in my zone who has been here for 6 months and is sick all the time haha! its fine. my pensionista said he added you on facebook because tey took some pictures of me the other night. they decorated their whole house for me! it was so nice! i am their first gringo here so theyre excited haha even thoguh i have no idea what they are saying! anyways... i love it here! its going to take some getting used to but im excited to work hard! i think i get to email you again monday! not sure yet because no communication con me companion but yeah! ill maybe have details about christmas! also, i know you packages are here in peru i just havent recieved them yet! ive tried to ask my companion multiple times but i dont thnk she understands! haha oh well. I LOVE YOU! i will talk to you soon! 

xoxoxoxoxo hermana holt 

work carefully always with a smile...thats our mission moto haha i think president says carefully because its crazy here haha i pray for our safety every single day and my companion thinks its hilarious! the traffic here is just insane...BYEE

Peru MTC Christmas Devotional......

 Kinzie sang in the choir. Yay!!

More Sisters oh and Elders in the back. 

 Sister Hailstone (in the red) is Kinzie's companion.

 MTC Presidency

MTC grounds.

Happiness...

another week at the CCM..rice, espanol, and...idk what else haha its all the same. but

holy moly i love my family haha i was laughing so hard at the pictures you sent me! I LOVE THEM! they let the group before us send pictures but said no to us..lame. anyways i cant believe i am leaving on Tuesday. it seems surreal! its going to be hard leaving because i love the people here haha but im super excited! i dont know when ill get to talk to you again but i get to skype you in two weeks! can you believe it!? man im excited haha!

sooo heres whats been going on this week....we had two christmas devotionals this week! one was the one they do every year in provo and i could just picture you guys sitting down by the christmas tree and fire place watching it! i thought it was super good. and then on monday we had a christmas devotional here and all the Lima mission presidents came and the area authority and we sang which was really good. i actually love singing in choirs now haha and then we finally got to turn on the lights outside which was magical haha and they served us hot chocolate which was kinda weird because its so hot here but that was probably the happiest night of my life haha so good! so i mean it feels a little like christmas now! there are two videos i want you all to watch on lds.org you might have already seen them but they give me chills Everytime. theyre so perfect. the first one is called Share the Gift. (amazing) and the second is old but its my favorite video they have ever put out there. its called because of him. brings instant tears to my eyes everytime haha. also sunday was our first fast sunday. nearly died haha. jk. but it was super super good. there are some amazing elders in this CCM. i was the only sister that ended up bareing my testimony but i figured i had to take the opportunity to share my testimony in english one last time! anyways, its weird to think that today was my last time at the temple for 17 months! i wish the arequipa temple was done already! I was surprised at how much more i understood in the temple today from last week! its coming along haha. i got some cool stuff today that i want to send home but dont know if i will be able to so i guess you all will just have to wait 17 months!

I am really so proud of dad for getting fire fighter of the year! thas amazing! i really am so proud! :)

im stoked to see if carli gets a dog for christmas haha i hope this pet stays alive long enough for me to see it when i get home! haha 

anyways, i dont know what else to really say but just that i am so crazy blessed! i know i say this every week but i just love you all so much! i cant wait to see all of your cute faces for christmas! THANK YOU for all of your prayers and kind words! i will talk to you....idk when but soon!

xoxoxo -Hermana Holt

Week 4

hello everyone!

holy cow only two more weeks here. I cannot believe i have been out a month! my mission is going to fly hah. I am really excited to get out of the CCM. its getting old haha i still have no idea what i´m doing it will just be nice to have a change! So this morning we went to the temple as usual and i´m pretty sure we fit a record breaking number of people on the bus. we were laughing so hard because they just kept piling more and more peruvians on haha plus we are all too tall for the bus so we have to bend our heads down. good times. i got some cool peruvian pants and a scripture case today so im pretty excited about that!

so some highlights of this week...we had thanksgiving and watched a devotional from provo which was alright. and then had a thanksgiving meal type thing. it still consisted of rice but they tried haha! a bunch of kids from pueta (i think thats how you spell it) peru came and visited the CCM the other day and we got to talk to them which was definitly the highlight of my week! it was so much fun! i talked with this 15 year old girl for over an hour! we sang rhianna together and katy perry haha it was just so fun! I LOVE the peruvian people. they are thee kindest people i have ever met! its starting to get super hot here! ive already got a really nice tan line going so thats exciting haha! umm me and Hailstone were called to be the new sister leaders over all the hermanas in the CCM this week so were pretty excited about that! it will be super fun! oh and i got to see the moon for the first time this week haha usually its behind the clouds but someone told me its upside down here? are they messing with me orrr yes? idk but it was pretty! lets see what else...they put up christmas lights this week! its pretty exciting haha we are having a lighting ceremony on monday and im singing in it hahahaha hilarious right? the things you do for your companion...it seems crazy its december because of how warm it is but im not complaining! hah it sounds like its begining to look a lot like christmas at home (cheesy i know) but i love the christmas season! i cant wait to see what it will be like here! oh one more thing...first off im soo happy i am going to arequipa! i just keep hearing how beautiful it is there but we found out this week that they mostly speak quetchajua (dont know how to spell it) there and it is this insane language haha the lady i sat by at the temple this morning was from arequipa and was literally not any taller than my hips! i was a giant and she had no teeth and spoke only quetchajua haha. so i mean hopefully we wont have to learn that! but im just really excited im going there! lima is nice and all but not somewhere i would want to stay haha! anyways i hope everyone is doing well! i love hearing from you all! i appreciate everything you all do for me! LOVE YOU ALL!

i´ll leave you with this quote a hermana shared with us before she left on tuesday (which was really sad by the way! i hate when missionaries leave haha)

p.s. i dont know where the quote marks are on this keyboard soo yeahh..

there will nver be another time in our lives when Christ will ask you to step away from your family and leave behind everything you love. but there will also never be another time when he gets you all to himself. he is so excited and waiting for you to fall into his arms completely.

i really liked that. this time that i have out here is so short. i am so so grateful to be here and KNOW this is where i am suppose to be! i love it. and  love this gospel with my whole heart! i hope you all have a great week!

xoxo -Hermana Holt