Last letter......

I was thinking this morning about what I was going to share with you all for my last letter....It's really hard to put into words my feelings....because I dont even know how I feel right now. A little bit of EVERYTHING. My head has been spinning a little this last week....

The biggest thing that I have gained in my mission that I hold closest to my heart is my testimony...My testimony isn't the deepest and most complex thing, but its something personal to me. I have gained a rock solid testimony here because of the experiences I have had and I'm beyond grateful for that. I know that when times get hard and life has it's trials I will be able to lean on my testimony and strengthen others. My mission has helped prepare me for what is to come. I know I have a purpose here and I know my Heavenly Father LOVES me. I KNOW its all true... 

I have been starring at my computer for over an hour just to get that much out. Its hard to put my gratitude in words, haha...but I LOVED my mission. It's the best and hardest decision I have ever made in my life. I may not have had the most baptisms in the mission or the most rescues but i have LOVED the people, the language, the culture. I love it all. I feel content finishing my mission because I know that I gave it my all.I worked my very hardest. I will be forever grateful for this special time in my life. I can't believe this is all really happening...but I want to thank you all for your love and support and your prayers. I love you all so much. I love my family more than they will ever know. You guys mean everything to me. 

Well..I guess I will see you all soon?!? 

LOVE, HERMANA HOLT 

Miracles.....

Well...i will just give you a recap of the week because a lot happened...

Last Monday we went to a part of Camana called Pucchun...we hiked a GIANT sand hill to an old Incan Indian grave yard and searched for bones with all of the elders...it was super fun because we got super dirty and there was an amazing view of the fields and the ocean. We found an old skull and tons and tons of bones. 

We have been seeing MIRACLES in our area...God is seriously preparing people for us here and the spirit is guiding us to them...

On Tuesday we woke up at 5:30 and ran to the hospital to wait in line for two hours to get an appointment for Yomayra so she can FINALLY get married:) and worked in our area all day...it was great. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we went to Mollendo for conference and to do divisions with the sisters there...I got to be with hermana Kirk from California and Calderon from Canada. It was fun...the drive there was crazy beautiful because we just rode the coast line the whole way! i loved it. 

On Friday we finally made our way out to Carddo again and were able to find Ricardo again. We have to literally risk our lives to get to his house because of all of the big dogs haha...I feel so good about him every time we teach him! hes super prepared. After the lessons we decided to do a little contacting and not joking every single person we contacted that day accepted us. It was a MIRACLE. We couldnt believe it because that is sooo not how they are here. 

On Saturday we got caught up in our studies and ended up studying for 2 extra hours in the morning. I can't get enough study time. I have never had a thirst like this for studying in my life...I stay up late with my flash light reading haha. its great! We decided to go out to the pampa on saturday to contact a little and decided to take this long dirt road that led us to a house. We knocked on the door of the house and this middle age lady opened the door big and said COME IN! we just looked at eachother like ummm okay? and went in and sat down she started shedding tears and told us she had been praying and waiting for us. It was super cool. She just couldnt stop smiling while we were talking. She had such a special spirit about her and we left feeling so good. It was amazing! 

On Sunday I had my first sunday in the branch FINALLY because of general conference and voting last week (there was no church) I got to speak in sacrament meeting and decided to speak on Charity...it went great! 

It was a super great week! I cant believe how blessed we are...I love it! i love being a missionary! I love learning! its all great:) 

Hermana Holt 

Giant pig... 

Bonessss

A view of the fields and the ocean.

More bones...

Got attacked by a dirty dog....great way to start the day.

A Representative of Jesus Christ......

WELL.....This week was great. Im still loving it here in Camana. There is so so much work to be done here...with the branch and the area! But hermana Rivero and I are working great together:) we get along super great. I love being with latins! I am really learning how to search out my talents and gifts and apply them...we all have so many! 

Last monday we had absolutely nothing to do...just like today haha there is not a lot to do here in this small pueblo...but Tuesday and Wednesday we traveled to Arequipa for leadership council. It was great to be back! i always learn so much of how to be a better misisonary and how to work better in my area. It was great! We also had interviews with president this week, which is always fun! He's awesome. 

I learned alot this week (first, sorry for my spelling) ...I feel like I am learning so so much everyday in my studies and from other people. But I wanted to share something I thought about this week about the life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I was thinking about my mission...how I got to this point...why Im here..all that I had to go through (just like every other missionary) to get to this point in the mission. The good the bad and the ugly haha. I thought about when Jesus Christ suffered for each of us..for ME. In those moments on the cross and before that in gethsemane. IN those moments when He was sufferening...if I was there...what would I say to Him? I thought about that for awhile....I would tell Him to keep going...suffer a little more...suffer for my pains, my afflictions, my sadnesses, my sins. Because I KNOW that He is the only way I can get back to my Heavenly Father which is what I want more than anything. 

Now me in the mission here...There are people up above...praying for me and my companion that we will find THEIR loved ones...that we will talk with just one more person..that we will keep going...so that not only THEM but THEIR loved ones can have the chance to accept the Gospel..to be baptized so that they can be baptized and so that they too can return to live with their Heavenly Father. 

I really liked this and wanted to share it with you guys...because firstly...we should be using and applying the atonement in our lives everysingle day because not anyone is perfect..and also that we can all be misisonaries...we should be proud to be members of the church something that brings us so much joy and want to share it with everyone so that they too can enjoy the blessings of living the Restored Gospel. 

I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I love this work. 

I love you all!! have a great week!

HH 

Leadership Council

 

View from the roof...

Cutest little boys ever! 

Seeing Miracles.......

Well, this week was really great. All I do is sweat....haha we wake up and run and sweat...then shower and still sweat...then study and sweat...then walk around all day and sweat and sweat and go to bed and never cool off haha. Its the best! I really dont mind it at all. Hermana Rivero and I work so great together. We are working our bums off and seeing miracles just with this one week together! Our area is HUGE...we have a bunch of little "pueblitos" in our area that we have to travel to (i dont know what that is in english). We set our goals high for this month, and we are going to reach them! 

We are teaching this young mom we contacted in the market named Yomayra...she has a baptism date for the 20th so we need your help in praying for her. Everyone here is not married or they are married and living with someone else and need to get divorced. So its a long process to be able to get baptized. We are waiting for her papers so she can get married. Another person we are teaching is Ricardo...we found him in one of the pueblos...he's 22 and has been wondering his whole life why he is here...what is his purpose here? We were able to teach him the plan of salvation and put a baptism date with him for the 16th. He came to conference yesterday and called us last night to tell us he loved conference. We are so excited for him but need lots of prayers for him....we are going to see miracles this change! 

Conference was amazing...I was so excited that I got one last conference here in the mission. Its such an amazing experience...we prayed and fasted this week that we would be able to recieve revelation and answers to our prayers. Before conference I meditated about 5 questions that I have  had and every single one of them was answered in conference. It was amazing. There were so many talks that I LOVED. Como our dear prophet..talking about decisions in life. That, like Alice in Wonderland, she had two paths before her..not knowing which one to take the cat told here "depends on where you want to go?" The difference in us and her like he explained is that we KNOW where we want to go...but we can choose which path we want to take the harder right or the easier wrong. I loved that.!!

I LOVE my Heavenly Father. I love this work, so much. I love the scriptures and this time that I get to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I feel blessed that I get to wear His name on my chest every single day. 

I love you all, have a great week! 

Hermana Holt 

Our pet...

My comp (THAT I LOVEEEE)

Riding in a moto-taxi.

Our area.

Last change :((((

My life feels like a dream right now! I knew I was going to have changes, I have felt it for a long time, but i didn't want to believe it....saying goodbye to my ward was awful haha I was a MESS! I never thought I would grow to love these people so much. I felt like I was saying goodbye to my family all over again. 

 BUT I am coming to you live from CAMANA!! I am 3 hours out of Arequipa right on the ocean with Hermana Rivero from Argentina, as sister leaders....again! haha its going to be an AMAZING change! Got here and no one knew so I just chilled on the street for a couple of hours and waited for someone to come and get me, haha. We went to our room which is on the third level of a house (perfect ocean view) and a parrot lives right out side our room...I feel like my life is a dream!!! I am SO excited..I know I have A LOT of work to do here....I only have 6 weeks to gain the confidence of the members and to work my very hardest. Its going to be great!

I hope you all had a great Easter! I dont know if you have seen the new videos...I hope you have...if not I am going to attach the link to watch them! I hope you guys have a great week and enjoy conference!!! Its going to be a great week!

Hermana Holt 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-02-2000-follow-him-an-easter-message-about-jesus-christ?category=topics/easter&lang=spa

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-04-1010-he-lives-celebrate-easter-because-jesus-christ-lives?category=topics/easter&lang=spa

P-day with Hermana Menlove and Anderson

A family we were working on rescuing in Hunter.

Andi (Andicito), my cutest little Peruvian brother.

"Suegra"-My Peruvain Grandma

Lucy-my Peruvian Mama. Hardest goodbye EVER!!

My Family....these people are near and dear to my heart!

Forever Friends...

Cuyi...

Well....i have nothing too exciting to share with you guys this week....just another week! The weeks are going by incredibly fast its freaking me out! 

This week was kind of full of bad luck....I dropped my agenda in the street somewhere (has my whole life in it) and so we spent like 2 hours one day retracing our steps...we never found it...

We did a service on Saturday morning in Tiyabaya....we woke up at 7 and climbed to the top of a huge mountain where this guy wants to build his house...I have to give it to them. They work HARD for what they have...we spent like 6 hours breaking rocks and digging into the side of a mountain...i forgot a hat and sunscreen and got FRIED. it was super fun though! 

Niemela and I are becoming really great friends! We can talk and laugh for hours! i love it. I am making eternal friends here.....

Well....have a great week! Talk to you all soon...way soon with how fast time is going haha.

HH

pics...playing with cuyi

Keep it simple....

Another week....I think its going to rain today...this week was great though! The time is flying super fast, i really can't believe it...not a lot of exciting things to say....

We had a zone conference this week in Pedrigal with president, it was good.

I wanted to tell you guys about one of our investigators...Arnaldo..hes SUPER awesome. He comes every single week to church and all of our activties..he reads the book of mormon and prays and has all the lessons...he just won't accept a date. haha If you guys have any advice go ahead and share it!:) I really feel like he is progressing but very slowly. We have been working on his testimony of the Book of Mormon. If there is anything I have learned in the mission its that a testimony of the book of mormon is KEY! It is the foundation to everything. 

I was studying a little bit this week in the bible...sometimes I feel like i stil have SO much to learn and im just never going to learn it all. Well...like Paul ( i think its his name in english) says, we cant skip the milk and go striaght for the meat. God gives us what we can handle. Our testimonies grow a little bit at a time and we are able to gain more knowledge. If we were ale to understand the deep things first...it could shake our testimony. I learned that its okay to have a SIMPLE testimony of the Gospel. I love that they say that the Gospel is so simple a five year old can understand it, yet so complex we could spend our life studying it and never figure out everything. Its perfect. SO just keep it simple.:)

Well, I dont have much to share this week! My email keeps kicking me off so i dont have much time. But i love you all! talk to you next week.

HH 

pics: me and Rosa and Niemela...i love them both! 

I found a united states postal hat here haha...they have a lot of random stuff here like that....

Man I love it ALL......

Wooow.... time is flying....can you all believe its already March?! I can't...

Well, this week was great. Super fast. Full of ups and downs like always. Man i love the mission:) We had the baptism of Karina on Friday...it was POURING but it was a beautiful day for her...she was very emotional. When she got out of the water and bore her testimony she started to tear up and said "when I entered the water, I remembered all the bad things I have done in my life. When i came out of the water I felt the love of my Heavenly Father and knew I had been forgiven." It was really special....

It's still been raining...last monday we went to the center to buy some things and go to lunch and ended up getting DRENCHED..it was wonderful...when it rains here the sewers overflow and its all just a mess:) haha loooveee it! It also makes our showers that much colder because theres no sun and its just the best....everytime i get into the shower I just think of it like a dare to jump into a freezing cold pool or something. It makes it more exciting. They told me that cold showers make you grow...i dont feel taller...just wider haha...

I've just been trying to enjoy every minute of the mission and make the best of every moment! I have enjoyed teasing my companion (shes a germ freak to the max and terrified of spiders hehe) we have become really great friends! We stay up late talking about stupid things and laughing. I'm just enjoying spending time with the people that I LOVE here....man i love it all! 

There is NOTHING like this time in the mission....

i love you all! have a great week! 

HH

I thought El Misti looked pretty... 

Doing laundry.

Karina's baptism.

Weathering the storm....

Well....my email is being the slowest thing in the world so thats a bummer. I LOVE INTERNET IN PERU...

This week was great! We finished with the baptism of Luis. It was great. I have watched him change so much in such a short amount of time and gain a testimony of this amazing Gospel. He was so excited for his baptism...:)

This week we decided to venture out to a part of our area (villa jardin) that is about 30 minutes walking through fields...its probably the most beautiful part of our area but lots of dogs...we dont ever go out there. we dont have any investigators out there so we decided to just start knocking doors. we had to start somewhere. We prayed for days to have people prepared out there. We were walking around and saw this lady gardening in her front yard and decided to talk to her. We began to talk and at first she was not interested at all and was bugged we were even trying to talk to her but once we warmed up to her (lots of questions) she opened up to us and we were able to share a message with her and invite her to church...Its amazing that God puts people in your paths and prepares hearts for us to touch! 

I had a great study that I wanted to share with you all. I was reading in Ether about the story of the brother of Jared and how he had to build boats to get to the promise land..yeah you all know this story BUT something new stuck out to me this time. I love what is says in verse 24 and 25 of chapter 2. 

 24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

 25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?

Their trip in the ocean wasnt a pleasnt one..they crossed through stroms and wind and waves..BUT they couldnt have made it without them. A boat can't cross an ocean when its calm, well it couldnt back then because they didnt have motors haha. All the storms were necessary for their trip. In life God throws stroms and wind and waves at us..not all of life is smooth sailing but they are necessary for us to grow and learn. Without them we would go no where in this life! It also all depends on how we react to our circumstances...you look at the story of Laman and Lemuel...nephi went through the exact same things that laman and lemuel went through...he encountered the same difficulties and saw the same miracles. But in the end who came out the strongest? Nephi...Nephi reacted differently to his circumstances. He learned from them and grew from them. He put his trust in his Heavenly Father. 

Deuteronomy 31:6

6 Be strong and courageous.r Do not be afraid or terrifieds because of them, for the Lordyour God goes with you;t he will never leave youu nor forsakev you.”

I started reading the new Testament a couple of weeks ago. its been awesome! I have learned so much about my savior. But I also have realized, its stupid (for lack of a better word) to suffer in this life. He already suffered it all. The trails that come are way are for us to learn from, not suffer through. 

Anyways, now that this email is an hour long....Im excited for another great week. Time is flying! This week Karina is getting baptized. im excited to share the experiences with you all. 

have a great week!

HH 

Luis's baptism

Patience......

Well, this week was good. I have some cool experiences to share! The weather has been cooling off a little here so I have been enjoying that! 

We have an investigator named Karina...we have been teaching her for awhile and next week is her baptismal date. On Tuesday we had a lesson with her and she broke down crying saying that she just didn't want to go on...she didn't want to listen to us anymore and didn't feel good in the church. We were super sad so we just shared our testimonies with her and said a pray on our knees before leaving...i was in a terrible mood for the rest of the day and was so sad. We continued praying for her every chance that we got. On Friday in the afternoon we ran into her on the street and she ran up to us saying that she had been wanting to talk to us. She said she had been really praying and one night had a very overwhelming feeling come over her that she needed to be baptized and take this next step...I couldn't believe it. I just started hugging her haha. It was a miracle!

 The night she told us she didnt want to be baptized I was so upset...I have had soo many experiences where Heavenly Father has answered my prayers but i was feeling so discouraged because this had happened to me so many times in my mission. I went into our bathroom and said a prayer asking Him why He would do this when we were working so hard..I was sort of upset with Him..everytime I have prayed for something, with true intent with all my heart He has answered me...He never fails me. Its sometimes so hard to be patient and accepting of Gods will and timing..this whole week I have been so impatient. With my companion especially. Every little thing she was doing was driving me crazy. I knew we couldn't have the spirit in our companship if I had feelings like that towards her, so I have been praying so hard to have patience and love...its not always easy but I guess thats why we are so imperfect, and have this time to become a little better every single day. I have such a powerful testimony of prayer. I know He listens.

We have another baptism this week, Luis. He is SO excited for his baptism. Its been so fun and amazing to see him progress so fast! He has progressed incredibly fast and gained such a strong testimony..im so excited for him:) 

Hope you guys have a great week! love you all! 

HH 

Cute little peruvian dog... 

A little of our pretty area.

LOVE.....

Well this week is changes...we don't have changes of course. I'm convinced I'm finishing in this area! But it was a good week...we really have some great investigators who are progressing great! Luis is getting baptized next week and the week after Karina! Should be great:) 

Yesterday in sacrament meeting it was fast and testimony...I felt the spirit so strong as people bore their testimonies about family and love and the gospel. I was meditating a little bit in sacrament meeting yesterday about the word love....since its february and everything. I was thinking a lot about our Saviors love for us...and the love that I have for the people here...something so beautiful about the mission is the fact that you have the opportunity to love the unknown..to love people who are so so different from you. To worry about their happiness and their salvation. I think the purpose of the mission is to truly love the people you are serving. I remember at the beginning of my misison my dad wrote me a letter that said "where ever you go, go with your whole heart." That has stuck with me throughout my mission. I love my Savior, my Heavenly Father, and my brothers and sisters here in Peru. I love this gospel and the happiness that it brings me.

Thanks for all of your love and support.

xoxoxoxo

HH 

Yummy fruit....can't remember what it's called.
 

Packages.....the besttt!!!

Sunshine, Sunshine is fine.....

We are still waiting for the rains to come....they are really late this year and its just been a lot of sun! I'm sure you guys would like a little of that haha. 

This week was good! (as always) I'm just not sure how else to start my letters...

We had an awesome lesson with Luis on Saturday...he has prayed and knows the book of mormon is true...he has a baptism date for the 20th. Hes awesome..he said he loves the way he feels in the church.

Last night right before we had to go back to our room, we met this girl named Paloma in a park, so we sat down and started sharing our message with her...she lives alone here..her parents left her when she was young and has struggled a little. She has stayed close to God by reading the bible every day and just shared a lot of personal experiences with us. It was amazing. We introdcued the book of mormon to her which she accepted and is excited to read. She told us at the end of the lesson that she felt like she was living in a dream because she felt something so special with us. It was awesome...God puts amazing people in our paths every single day.

I cant believe we are already in February...time flies! 

Last pday we finally had christmas with our pens family. It was so much fun to see how excited they were to open their gifts...they just thanked and thanked us...it was so fun! 

I'm ready for another week, thanks for all your love and support! 

HH 

When we first met.

Christmas with my pens family FINALLY. It was so much fun to see how excited they were. They LOVED it!!

Arequipa....pretty neat.

Just holding a chicken...

This sunset pic is dedicated to my dad. Sometimes you just have to take the time to appreciate the little things.

Spent the day with Menlove....we are the new assistants..haha JK!!

Exploring our area...LOTS of fields.

Niemela and I are Tiko drivers.