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. 

I love this work....

Heyy guys,

well, another week in Avelino...it was a good week:) I LOVE Sundays, not only because they are super chill but because it shows your efforts from the whole week. there is nothign better to see your investigators and less actives at church! yesterday was a good sunday. I taught relief society yesterday about a talk from the last conference. the talk "meeting the challanges of todays world". it was really cool beacause it was an answer to all of my prayers! ill attach the link in the bottom.

I wanted to tell you guys about a few people we are teaching..i never do haha.

first, Karina. shes 18 and her whole family is catholic (shocking) we contacted her a few months ago knocking doors but lost track of her. well all this time she has been hanging out with all of the young people in the ward and made alot of good friends. So we just recently started teaching her. she has a GREAT desire to change and learn more. she has a baptism date for 24th of Feb. 

another Luis (19), who i told you guys about last week...we challanged him to baptism on Saturday and he said yes. We havent put a date yet but hes awesome! his family is catholic as welll, but theyre super nice.. so you never know. maybe in the future we coudl teach them as well:) 

a less active we have been working with is johan (25), he has a really bad drinking problem...he was baptized a while back and is the only member in his family. he had SUCH a desire to change when we met him, but didnt think he could. He has to drink almost everyday. we have been really working with him and fasting for him. he is a COMPLETELY different person. he hasnt drank in over 2 weeks and came to church yesterday in a suit and tie. it was AWESOME. We have seen such a huge change in him. he laughs and talks and smiles now. i just can see such a light in him.

one more less active we are working with is Victor (17). He hasnt been to church in years. he has been to church every sunday since we started teaching him. yesterday he also came to church in a suit and tie and was even there early. i love teaching him because he always has such interesting questions. Hes awesome. 

anyways, we are working with some pretty great people. I LOVE IT! i love this work. im ready for another great week! 

thanks for your love and support.

hermana Holt

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/meeting-the-challenges-of-todays-world?lang=eng

Just another good week....

Well not much happened this week. Not too much to write about! But things are good here in Peru! We had a great week. Yesterday Niemela and I talked in church, which is always great. Niemela did great, i was proud haha! 

One miracle that we saw in our area this week...On saturday we searched our area for old investigators and had a whole list that we had been looking for all day. Well right before we were about to go home, with no luck, we decided to look for one more person. Luis. well we found his house, it looked like it was abandoned and that no one lived there but we decided to knock anyways. We were waiting and waiting and decided to just leave. Well while we were walking up the hill we saw this young kid and I had a feeling to talk to him. I asked him what his name was and it was Luis. The exact person we were looking for haha. He accepted us and even came to church with us yesterday haha. it was super cool! I love moments like that in the mission:) 

Not alot going on, just another good week:) love you all so much! 

Enjoy this picture of a really ugly dog...

HH

Really? 

Sacrifice.....

Heyyyy everyone..

Lots of things to share! This week was hard. I haven't had a week like that in a long time, but it was good:) I learned a lot of lessons this week. We saw so many miracles in our area this week, it was great. I have such a strong testimony that we don't recieve the blessing until AFTER the trial of our faith. 

I wanted to share something I was reflecting on a little bit yesterday. I have been thinking a lot about sacrafice this week. I was thinking of the times in my life when I have had to make a sacrafice. I was thinking a lot about the day I left on my mission to come to Peru. As much as I love the mission, and as much as I have learned and grown, its a sacrafice. I remember driving to the airport and having SO many different emotions. I left behind every worldly thing I loved. Music, books, music, music, music haha and my family. I remember getting on the plane and sitting in the back and looking out the window and seeing my family starring out the airport window. They couldn't see me but i could see them. There are two reasons I wanted to serve a mission. One, because I love my Heavenly Father, and two, for my family. I wanted to make that sacrafice because of how much I love both of those things! I wanted to be an example. 

The other day, it was around 2 in the afternoon and we had knocked on probably 50 doors that day and NO one wanted to accept us. It was burning hot and my companion and I were feeling so discouraged. We both sat on the curb and put our heads down and just sat there in silence for a little bit. I was feeling so frustrated. I had been praying and fasting SO hard these last couple of weeks and just feeling like no one was listening. I had seen no improvement in our area and no help from our ward. So we decided to say a prayer together, so we kneeled down in the middle of the sidewalk and then got up and started walking again. I had no idea where we were going but I knew sitting was going to do nothing so we got up and started walking with determination. That day we were able to find 3 new investigators. Our heavenly Father knows how far he can push us, so that we can grow and learn. So that we can strengthen our faith. Its just up to us how we react to it. 

The mission is full of ups and downs. You're exhausted mentally and emotionally and physically, but when you find just one more person that wants to listen and change and you know you have the answer to everything they have been looking for, it makes it all so worth it! Especially when you find a family, and you get to tell them that they can be together forever...there is SUCH a special spirit with families. I want to tell my family how much I love them and how grateful I am for them. I always said before the misison that I wanted to be with them forever, but i don't think i understood the depth of that statement. I can really say now that I have such a strong testimony of the plan of salvation. I know that its not going to be easy, but I will do everything I can to make it to the celestial kingdom with my family. 

HH 

Making cookies with Juana, they have been reading their book of Mormon everyday so we made cookies.

Christmas package finally...so FUN!!

Just the cutest little lady you have ever seen (Celia), she makes me laugh so hard...

David and Goliath....

Well...this week was good. As you all know i started training again this week...an american (gringa) Hermana Niemela from Mapleton, Utah. Shes like 80 pounds and super cute! She speaks a few words of spanish...haha. We are working hard.

I cant believe its 2016. The past year flew by in a blink of an eye! I know its going to be a beautiful year! I was so exhausted i didnt even wake up for the fireworks haha. 

Its still getting hotter here...if its even possible. I forgot how hot Arequipa gets! Shade is hard to find in our area so we just put layers on and sunscreen and head out haha.

I was studying a little bit about the story of David and Goliath this week ( i hope i spelled that right) you all know that story...but I wanted to share what I got out of it. As we all know David was a tiny guy compared to Goliath but was able to defeat him. I was pondering a little about it and this new year. We have so many Goliaths in our lives. So many things that are big and scary. But we, just like David, can defeat them. How did David defeat Goliath? He put his confidence in God. He was a leader and wasn't afraid. I want to challange you all this year to defeat your Goliaths. Put your confidence in our Heavenly Father and don't be afraid! This story meant a lot to me, as I am training again. I was scared to train an american. BUT i know that "if God put me to it, He´ll help me through it".

I just want to work and work and work and work and work. There is no time to waste! :) I want to give my whole heart to this work. Camilo came to chruch yesterday...I love miracles of fasting and prayer.... I dont have a ton to say this week! love you all so much. 

xoxoxo

HH 

Me and my first daughter (Hermana Alvarez). It was really good to see her :). She's training and opening a new area. She's amazing!

My new little gringa daughter (Hermana Niemela).

My heritage haha; my two daughters and granddaughter in the mission.