Sounds like you had a fun week! Glad to get a good update from Dad finally! I'm sure they did win just for Michelle. Too bad about LOHS, though.
Do you remember me mentioning Sister Beckstrand being my temporary companion between Sister Townsend and Sister Blackburn? Well...we're official companions now! We were both ecstatic to get the news!
Sister Beckstrand and I get along great! She is from Heber, UT. Oldest of 4 kids. Her dad works on carpentry (pulpits, sacrament tables, etc.) for the Church's buildings. Recently he worked on refurbishing a room in the Palmyra temple. Sounds pretty neat! She is a beautiful photographer. Our Church is in front of a very big, open space (rare in Washington!) and so last night we went so she could take pictures of the sunset. It was very stunning! Very fun. We're really excited for the way the work is going in Everson; we're really looking forward to helping it progress and helping the ward meet it's potential when it comes to missionary work. I love our companionship studies; we both really study hard during our personal studies, so when we're sharing what we've learned it usually takes the full hour haha...but we learn a lot from each other! =)
Who is senior companion doesn't matter at all. If you were to ask the Elders in Chaffey ward now they might tell you differently, but that's just the difference between sisters and elders. Sister Beckstrand is senior; she's been out for as long as Sister Taua (13 months, they were MTC companions) but that doesn't mean that you're senior always based on seniority, or on being in the area longer......it's just whoever President decides should be senior and who should be junior. We're missionary companions. That's our philosophy anyways.
That's silly that your Relief Society is keeping the books until Christmas! It's such a great book! I guess they're trying to save on the budget??? Sister Beck's talk Saturday was basically a summary of the main points of Daughters in My Kingdom. I really enjoyed her talk. I really liked how she talked about how the discipleship of women was lost during the Apostasy, and how we need to increase our faith to become the rightful disciples we are as Relief Society sisters. It made me think of D&C 25. I also liked how she emphasized the eternal perspective of Relief Society--focusing on helping families be sealed in the temple.
I also really enjoyed the quote from Sister Allred: "Don't be limited in your views of your neighbor's virtues"
President Utchdorf's talk was my favorite though; it seems like it was everyone's favorite! His testimony of God's love for His children was very touching.
It really made me more excited for Conference this weekend! We'll be watching it in our building; I'm really looking forward to it. While it might be like the Super Bowl for Mormons everywhere....it's REALLY the Super Bowl for missionaries.
Yesterday at church we taught the gospel principles class on the chapter about eternal families. One of our members brought a coworker to church and he really participated and asked some very good questions. We asked him if he'd like to meet with us, and he said not yet, but he did say he enjoyed church and would like to come again, so that's still sounding pretty promising! We had another investigator come...but we're wanting to transition her to the YSA ward (she graduated from high school in June and one of the other girls in the ward she knows has moved closer to town and will be going there as well, so it seems like a good time to hand her over). No Chris or Erik* though! We just saw Erik on Saturday. We have a lesson tonight...we'll have to discuss this with him!
We were also asked to come into senior primary for a little bit and talk about preparing for our missions and the blessings of serving a mission. Our primary is very small...only about five or six boys in senior primary, but they were very well behaved and participated very well.
I'll try and remember to make a copy of my talk from last week when I can. It was very stressful to have to hand write the whole thing...I wasted so much paper with all my drafting for it...
Last night we had dinner with our previous ward mission leader and his family. We had soup and garlic bread and whoopie pies (kind of like cookie sandwiches....they were quite delicious). It was very fun.
This past week we had two investigator lessons and six less active lessons.
I'm doing pretty good of keeping up with my journal. There's a few days from last transfer I need to finish, but so far I've been doing well with this transfer. (I was getting towards the end of my last journal and wasn't going to have room for my conference notes, so I just decided to make the transition at the beginning of this transfer.)
I haven't gotten the package yet. I'm sure it will be soon. Thank you for sending it! (Also, Sister Taua didn't wear makeup, so I didn't give her one of the makeup wipes, but Sister Beckstrand is enjoying them and she says thank you! Sister Taua says that she really appreciates that you always thought of her, too, when you sent me a package!)
Anyways, I think that's all the exciting news from this week...Have a good one!
I love you!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
September 19, 2011
Hello! Sounds like you've had a fun week. Glad to hear at least one of the teams we cheer for is winning this season....
I did get the invitation to Hilary and Austin's wedding. Sister Taua and I were going to ask for permission to go....but we figured that the drive probably wouldn't work into our 1000 mile/month limit on our car...so we didn't ask. ;) I thought it was a beautiful announcement though! I liked the cream and purple they picked out. Can't wait to get the pictures! Looking forward to another package! =)
Well...drum roll....I'm staying in Everson....but Sister Taua is leaving!!! =( We're both pretty bummed. We've really enjoyed working together--in a lot of ways she's the only thing keeping me sane in such a rural area! We've gotten along so well, we're both really hoping for the best for our next companions. But, transfers happen, I guess. Last transfer, our whole district stayed together. Two of the four elders are leaving, including our district leader. Now I have to worry: is the new district leader going to keep having our backs when it comes to our ridiculous zone leaders and their ridiculous desires for a "blitz" (coughsplitcough)!?!?! What will we do if we don't get a caring district leader!?
It's very troubling.
But it happens...so...anyways....
I think in my last email I mentioned that Elder Edwards of the Seventy visited...But then after I clicked "send" I realized that it was that same week that he visited...so I didn't talk about much other than it happened! haha. Well...yes: two weeks ago Elder Edwards and his wife came to tour our mission. The conference we held with them mostly centered around recognizing and following the Spirit. The week before, we were given three topics (don't remember them now) to study in preparation for the tour and then three missionaries would be asked to speak on one of the three. I wasn't asked to speak on the topics, but Elder Edwards did request me to be one of three missionaries to bear their testimonies at the end of the conference. That was very enjoyable.
And, luckily I took some pretty good notes at the conference, because this past week we were having dinner at the Brainard's. Brother Brainard is the first counselor in the bishopric, and this is his month to ask people to speak in sacrament meeting. He was working late, so we were just enjoying dinner with his wife and kids. He called when he was on his way home, and then called back about three minutes later and asked Sister Brainard to ask us to speak this Sunday---I guess everyone had been turning him down, poor guy! So I spoke on, what else? Following the promptings of the Spirit. Sister Taua didn't want to speak, so we cut a deal with his wife that if she sang a musical number (she has a beautiful voice!) and I talked for the rest of the time we'd call it good.
I got a lot of compliments on my talk. It was pretty good. It was really frustrating preparing a talk and not having a computer, though! I wasted so much paper with all my drafts, but it worked out okay!
And it's a good thing Sister Taua got to sing on her last Sunday in the ward. She's been here a full six months. It's going to be pretty hard for her to leave.
So...what else has happened this week...not much else. Every lesson we have with Erik (apparently I've been spelling it wrong...oops), baptism comes up...he knows it's the next step, and he knows he's going to be baptized, but he just keep on telling himself he's "not ready yet." He'll get there though!
Yesterday we also had the mormon.org training for the ward. A few people are being negative about it, but for the most part a lot of people seem to be on-board. Should be really exciting!
I haven't finished my own profile yet. We only get an hour (at most...the library here is weird, so sometimes we don't get all the time we're supposed to..it's a weird system I don't really get...anyways...) to work on it a week...it takes a long time to decide what you're going to say...and then by the time you come back the next week you decide you want to change everything you already HAVE written....it's just a problem.
What can I say, I live a hard life. blah.
Anyways...so...yep. That's the big news: I'm getting a new companion. Pray that we'll have as much unity as Sister Taua and I did! Everson is hard enough as it is; it needs united missionaries!
Hope you enjoy your week! Happy birthday to Kelly, hope dinner yesterday was enjoyable. Is the family still playing Five Crowns or Ticket to Ride or have you found something new??
Keep me posted on everything! Love you all!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
I did get the invitation to Hilary and Austin's wedding. Sister Taua and I were going to ask for permission to go....but we figured that the drive probably wouldn't work into our 1000 mile/month limit on our car...so we didn't ask. ;) I thought it was a beautiful announcement though! I liked the cream and purple they picked out. Can't wait to get the pictures! Looking forward to another package! =)
Well...drum roll....I'm staying in Everson....but Sister Taua is leaving!!! =( We're both pretty bummed. We've really enjoyed working together--in a lot of ways she's the only thing keeping me sane in such a rural area! We've gotten along so well, we're both really hoping for the best for our next companions. But, transfers happen, I guess. Last transfer, our whole district stayed together. Two of the four elders are leaving, including our district leader. Now I have to worry: is the new district leader going to keep having our backs when it comes to our ridiculous zone leaders and their ridiculous desires for a "blitz" (coughsplitcough)!?!?! What will we do if we don't get a caring district leader!?
It's very troubling.
But it happens...so...anyways....
I think in my last email I mentioned that Elder Edwards of the Seventy visited...But then after I clicked "send" I realized that it was that same week that he visited...so I didn't talk about much other than it happened! haha. Well...yes: two weeks ago Elder Edwards and his wife came to tour our mission. The conference we held with them mostly centered around recognizing and following the Spirit. The week before, we were given three topics (don't remember them now) to study in preparation for the tour and then three missionaries would be asked to speak on one of the three. I wasn't asked to speak on the topics, but Elder Edwards did request me to be one of three missionaries to bear their testimonies at the end of the conference. That was very enjoyable.
And, luckily I took some pretty good notes at the conference, because this past week we were having dinner at the Brainard's. Brother Brainard is the first counselor in the bishopric, and this is his month to ask people to speak in sacrament meeting. He was working late, so we were just enjoying dinner with his wife and kids. He called when he was on his way home, and then called back about three minutes later and asked Sister Brainard to ask us to speak this Sunday---I guess everyone had been turning him down, poor guy! So I spoke on, what else? Following the promptings of the Spirit. Sister Taua didn't want to speak, so we cut a deal with his wife that if she sang a musical number (she has a beautiful voice!) and I talked for the rest of the time we'd call it good.
I got a lot of compliments on my talk. It was pretty good. It was really frustrating preparing a talk and not having a computer, though! I wasted so much paper with all my drafts, but it worked out okay!
And it's a good thing Sister Taua got to sing on her last Sunday in the ward. She's been here a full six months. It's going to be pretty hard for her to leave.
So...what else has happened this week...not much else. Every lesson we have with Erik (apparently I've been spelling it wrong...oops), baptism comes up...he knows it's the next step, and he knows he's going to be baptized, but he just keep on telling himself he's "not ready yet." He'll get there though!
Yesterday we also had the mormon.org training for the ward. A few people are being negative about it, but for the most part a lot of people seem to be on-board. Should be really exciting!
I haven't finished my own profile yet. We only get an hour (at most...the library here is weird, so sometimes we don't get all the time we're supposed to..it's a weird system I don't really get...anyways...) to work on it a week...it takes a long time to decide what you're going to say...and then by the time you come back the next week you decide you want to change everything you already HAVE written....it's just a problem.
What can I say, I live a hard life. blah.
Anyways...so...yep. That's the big news: I'm getting a new companion. Pray that we'll have as much unity as Sister Taua and I did! Everson is hard enough as it is; it needs united missionaries!
Hope you enjoy your week! Happy birthday to Kelly, hope dinner yesterday was enjoyable. Is the family still playing Five Crowns or Ticket to Ride or have you found something new??
Keep me posted on everything! Love you all!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
September 12, 2011
Well....it sounds like you had an exciting week! I'm sorry your shoe broke on your trip to Catalina, but I'm glad it didn't stop you from having fun.
Sounds like Jon did a really great job on his talk! Good for him! I'm glad he was able to go on the two week mission; I'm glad he's looking forward to serving a full time mission in a few years.
Congratulations on finishing your personal progress! One of our Elders' recent converts is working on hers; she's doing really great. It really is an inspired program. We don't have a very big young women's--just three girls--and the girls' attitude definitely matters when it comes to their personal success in the program. We have two really amazing leaders, and the girls pick up on their attitudes towards the program as well. I'm sure that there's at least some of the girls that look to your example and want to learn all they can when it's their proper time to learn it. That's very frustrating about the YW not coming to your activity. But you are right: we get who we get, even in the Church. It's too bad that some of the girls don't seem to understand the purpose of Young Women's better, but I'm sure that those that did come appreciated your help with their personal progress.
We had a pretty good week. Chris told us she's been thinking about baptism and that she's decided she wants to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church! It's so great to have an investigator commit THEMSELVES to be baptized; it shows that they've done all their work and studying the gospel, and that they really understand it for themselves. We need to still nail down a date for her to work towards (she and her member boyfriend she's living with need to get married...) but she's sure she wants it. She knows it's true! =) Hoorah!
Eric is doing really well also. We met with his girlfriend's parents yesterday (also members) and as we were talking about how baptism is his next step her dad said "Oh....you know, winter's coming on, and they do all their baptisms in the river, so you really should be making a decision soon....It'll be pretty cold" haha, Eric knew he was joking, but it was still pretty funny. Eric knows he's going to be baptized, he just needs to admit it and get baptized already!
Yesterday we had a great regional conference broadcast. Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke about the importance of the Holy Ghost (a great prelude to our lesson on the Holy Ghost with Eric in the afternoon). Then Sister Dalton spoke about the need for faith and virtue in our lives (great for our unmarried couple). Elder Holland spoke about how our homes, meetinghouses and temples can be places of spiritual strength and havens from the evils of the world. Then Elder Packer closed talking about the power and truth of the Gospel. (Both being extremely perfect for our two solid investigators that were at Church, and our flaky investigator that was also there!)
I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk. He talked about how if he was sent on assignment anywhere in the Church, and could only ask the Saints one question to gauge their spiritual, physical and emotional well-being, he would ask if the Saints worthily held and used a temple recommend. I thought that was pretty profound. He also said, "An LDS home is the laboratory of the Lord where children learn faith, hope and charity." That really resonated with me from Elder Edwards' words last week in our zone conference, when he talked about how the focus of all our learning on our missions is preparing us to raise the next generation. I just love how it all connects.
Well, that's pretty much all the updates from me! Next Monday I'll be letting you know if I'm getting transferred or staying here another six weeks. Should be fun.
Hope you have a good time at Hilary's wedding! Tell her and Austin congratulations for me!
Love you all!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Sounds like Jon did a really great job on his talk! Good for him! I'm glad he was able to go on the two week mission; I'm glad he's looking forward to serving a full time mission in a few years.
Congratulations on finishing your personal progress! One of our Elders' recent converts is working on hers; she's doing really great. It really is an inspired program. We don't have a very big young women's--just three girls--and the girls' attitude definitely matters when it comes to their personal success in the program. We have two really amazing leaders, and the girls pick up on their attitudes towards the program as well. I'm sure that there's at least some of the girls that look to your example and want to learn all they can when it's their proper time to learn it. That's very frustrating about the YW not coming to your activity. But you are right: we get who we get, even in the Church. It's too bad that some of the girls don't seem to understand the purpose of Young Women's better, but I'm sure that those that did come appreciated your help with their personal progress.
We had a pretty good week. Chris told us she's been thinking about baptism and that she's decided she wants to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church! It's so great to have an investigator commit THEMSELVES to be baptized; it shows that they've done all their work and studying the gospel, and that they really understand it for themselves. We need to still nail down a date for her to work towards (she and her member boyfriend she's living with need to get married...) but she's sure she wants it. She knows it's true! =) Hoorah!
Eric is doing really well also. We met with his girlfriend's parents yesterday (also members) and as we were talking about how baptism is his next step her dad said "Oh....you know, winter's coming on, and they do all their baptisms in the river, so you really should be making a decision soon....It'll be pretty cold" haha, Eric knew he was joking, but it was still pretty funny. Eric knows he's going to be baptized, he just needs to admit it and get baptized already!
Yesterday we had a great regional conference broadcast. Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke about the importance of the Holy Ghost (a great prelude to our lesson on the Holy Ghost with Eric in the afternoon). Then Sister Dalton spoke about the need for faith and virtue in our lives (great for our unmarried couple). Elder Holland spoke about how our homes, meetinghouses and temples can be places of spiritual strength and havens from the evils of the world. Then Elder Packer closed talking about the power and truth of the Gospel. (Both being extremely perfect for our two solid investigators that were at Church, and our flaky investigator that was also there!)
I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk. He talked about how if he was sent on assignment anywhere in the Church, and could only ask the Saints one question to gauge their spiritual, physical and emotional well-being, he would ask if the Saints worthily held and used a temple recommend. I thought that was pretty profound. He also said, "An LDS home is the laboratory of the Lord where children learn faith, hope and charity." That really resonated with me from Elder Edwards' words last week in our zone conference, when he talked about how the focus of all our learning on our missions is preparing us to raise the next generation. I just love how it all connects.
Well, that's pretty much all the updates from me! Next Monday I'll be letting you know if I'm getting transferred or staying here another six weeks. Should be fun.
Hope you have a good time at Hilary's wedding! Tell her and Austin congratulations for me!
Love you all!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
September 6, 2011
Hello everyone!
Glad to hear about the game; glad we won! I'm sure Jake will get it together before Saturday. He just needed some time to warm up. Maybe they're just trying to psych Texas out by making it LOOK like they're "afraid of crossing the goal line"???
We got to hear a little bit about it Sunday from a member of the branch we share our building with. He was talking to our ward mission leader about the game--what a perfect excuse to stop for a few minutes on our way to gospel principles....Our first counselor in our bishopric noticed we were all standing around and he came over to give us a hard time, but we just told him BYU football *is* an essential principle of the gospel....haha
Well...last week our highlight was going to the media training for the new mormon.org initiative in our area. Over the past year, they've been running internet ads and TV spots for mormon.org in 9 areas, and now they're opening 9 new marketplaces for the ads to run. We're going to be one of those! They talked all about the results from the ads in these first areas. They said 54% of all active, adult members were asked about the ads and 100% of the active youth were asked about them...but they hadn't done any training in those areas, so almost none of the members even knew what they were being asked about! Now they're really making a big push to get members aware of what's going to happen, get them familiar with mormon.org, and help show them what they can do to help. A big push is for members to create their own profiles on mormon.org. The missionaries all received training, as well as stake presidencies, bishoprics and ward mission leaders last week...in a few weeks we'll be doing the training for all the adults and youth in our ward during 2nd and 3rd hour. It's going to be really exciting! They talked a lot about how people that are introduced to the gospel through mormon.org and refer themselves to the missionaries to learn more from what they learn there are significantly more likely to be baptized...All I have to say for that is that Dustin referred himself, and he was definitely prepared for baptism! =)
Sister Taua and I are especially excited for this in our area. Hopefully people will see how this really is a good, easy way for them to help their friends learn more about the gospel and to eliminate misconceptions about the Church and they'll get excited for it.
So...that being said...We, the missionaries need to have our own profiles up as well! So could you email me a few of the close ups Sis. Larsen took that I can use for my profile? Thank you!
Another exciting thing...we got our copies of "Daughters in My Kingdom" on Sunday! Have you gotten yours yet? I've started reading it, and it's really interesting!
Yesterday was district p-day. We went out to Birch Bay in Blaine and went on a short hike to visit the "beach" (all rocks, no sand). The Elders were pretty amusing, as always...
What are you planning for the bathroom? Make sure to send me pictures of it when it's all done! =)
And...transfers are coming up on the 20th. We're feeling pretty sure that Sister Taua is going. =( We'll have three MORE sisters coming in...18 sisters! So exciting!
Elder Edwards of the Seventy is also visiting this week for another conference. We'll be divided up between the north and the south, so it won't be the WHOLE mission, but it should still be a really neat experience. Then stake conference is this next weekend for us. Woohoo!
Sister Taua and I both really appreciated your packages. The Elders were also all very jealous haha. Sister Taua really appreciates that you always think of her when you are sending me things =) I really appreciate the towels--I was thinking about buying a second towel, and now: no need!
Well....I think that's about everything. I'll try to get the phone number for Dr. Call this week...Thanks!
Love you!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Glad to hear about the game; glad we won! I'm sure Jake will get it together before Saturday. He just needed some time to warm up. Maybe they're just trying to psych Texas out by making it LOOK like they're "afraid of crossing the goal line"???
We got to hear a little bit about it Sunday from a member of the branch we share our building with. He was talking to our ward mission leader about the game--what a perfect excuse to stop for a few minutes on our way to gospel principles....Our first counselor in our bishopric noticed we were all standing around and he came over to give us a hard time, but we just told him BYU football *is* an essential principle of the gospel....haha
Well...last week our highlight was going to the media training for the new mormon.org initiative in our area. Over the past year, they've been running internet ads and TV spots for mormon.org in 9 areas, and now they're opening 9 new marketplaces for the ads to run. We're going to be one of those! They talked all about the results from the ads in these first areas. They said 54% of all active, adult members were asked about the ads and 100% of the active youth were asked about them...but they hadn't done any training in those areas, so almost none of the members even knew what they were being asked about! Now they're really making a big push to get members aware of what's going to happen, get them familiar with mormon.org, and help show them what they can do to help. A big push is for members to create their own profiles on mormon.org. The missionaries all received training, as well as stake presidencies, bishoprics and ward mission leaders last week...in a few weeks we'll be doing the training for all the adults and youth in our ward during 2nd and 3rd hour. It's going to be really exciting! They talked a lot about how people that are introduced to the gospel through mormon.org and refer themselves to the missionaries to learn more from what they learn there are significantly more likely to be baptized...All I have to say for that is that Dustin referred himself, and he was definitely prepared for baptism! =)
Sister Taua and I are especially excited for this in our area. Hopefully people will see how this really is a good, easy way for them to help their friends learn more about the gospel and to eliminate misconceptions about the Church and they'll get excited for it.
So...that being said...We, the missionaries need to have our own profiles up as well! So could you email me a few of the close ups Sis. Larsen took that I can use for my profile? Thank you!
Another exciting thing...we got our copies of "Daughters in My Kingdom" on Sunday! Have you gotten yours yet? I've started reading it, and it's really interesting!
Yesterday was district p-day. We went out to Birch Bay in Blaine and went on a short hike to visit the "beach" (all rocks, no sand). The Elders were pretty amusing, as always...
What are you planning for the bathroom? Make sure to send me pictures of it when it's all done! =)
And...transfers are coming up on the 20th. We're feeling pretty sure that Sister Taua is going. =( We'll have three MORE sisters coming in...18 sisters! So exciting!
Elder Edwards of the Seventy is also visiting this week for another conference. We'll be divided up between the north and the south, so it won't be the WHOLE mission, but it should still be a really neat experience. Then stake conference is this next weekend for us. Woohoo!
Sister Taua and I both really appreciated your packages. The Elders were also all very jealous haha. Sister Taua really appreciates that you always think of her when you are sending me things =) I really appreciate the towels--I was thinking about buying a second towel, and now: no need!
Well....I think that's about everything. I'll try to get the phone number for Dr. Call this week...Thanks!
Love you!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Monday, August 29, 2011
August 29, 2011
Hello from Everett!
Wow Jonathan is driving now? Mom said he just got his wisdom teeth pulled...is that the best combination?? haha Glad to hear you're surviving though. I'll have to write him and ask him what he thinks about that.
I'm excited for football and I'm not even going to be watching it!!
I'm excited for football and I'm not even going to be watching it!!
This past week Sister Taua was pretty sick, so we thought we'd be doing almost nothing...but it turned out to be a great week anyways! We had a Relief Society dinner and activity last Saturday and one of our members brought a friend with her. She introduced us to her friend, Amy, and we sat with them and got to know her over dinner. We talked a lot about the gospel, and she said she'd love to learn more about the Church! She said her step-father was LDS and that she has always been impressed with how kind LDS people are. We invited her to come to church the next day...and she actually came! Amy had been really nervous about not having a skirt to come in, but we told her it would be okay, that people would still welcome her. She seemed okay, but then her friend was able to find a skirt of her own that would fit Amy, so she felt right at home! I love it! The members that we are able to work with are always sooooo helpful. All of our solid investigators right now were member referrals...it's so awesome!
We had an amazing lesson with Eric. We read Alma 32 with him...and he said that he's finally starting to understand what we're! The analogy of the seed really helped him. It helped him to see how the feelings he feels when he meets with us IS the Spirit that we keep describing to him. He made the connection all on his own to...so awesome! This weekend he's going on the regional single adults camp out with his girlfriend and her son (in separate tents...obviously. We keep having to specify that...like people think we'd tell them to do otherwise...sheesh...). That should be awesome for him! We're really excited to hear what he thinks of it.
Chris is just amazing. She just studies everything on her own and then teaches US the lessons. She's so great...!!!
If it appears that I'm using a lot of exclamation marks...I am! It's because we were so sure we were going to have a crummy week because we were doing so little work, but the Lord still blessed us so that the time we were able to spend out and about was GOOD time spent working! It was a miracle week!
This week we're having a special training meeting for using mormon.org in our finding efforts. We already are...so I'm not really sure what they're going to be teaching us, but I'm looking forward to it. We will also be getting a new ward mission leader...We kind of suspected it was coming after our last dinner with our Bishop (he talked a lot with us about what our area is like for missionary work and what it's like working with the members, etc...)...and we TOTALLY called it on who it's going to be! We're really excited to be working with him; we think he's really going to be a great help putting the finishing touches on getting this area back on track and alive again!
I am quite lucky to be receiving so many packages! Thank you for sending those! I definitely look forward to getting them!
Anyways...Mom's questions...
We don't teach any classes. We attend the gospel principles class with our investigators and returning members. Our teacher is really good at leading discussions from the manual, and a lot of times our investigators have said that's their favorite part of Church.
Have you gotten to see the new Relief Society book yet? Our Relief Society president said she only got 10 copies...I'm really excited to see what all is in it. It sounds like a really good book.
Our meals this week were really good. Some of our favorite members fed us this week, so that was really enjoyable.
For P-day today we don't really have anything planned. We're going to go into Bellingham to go to Wal-mart. Then we'll probably come home and take a long nap...then we'll go out to work at 6 as usual. Not too exciting.
The weather has been pretty good these past few weeks. It poured all day last Monday, and it's overcast again today, but other than that it's been sunny in the 80s. Sister Taua and I have certainly been enjoying the sun!
Well...I'm running out of time, the library is pretty busy today and they've got a really convoluted system for allowing people to reserve/use computers....anyways, I've got to go...but it was good to hear from you! Tell Kelly and Grandma I've been getting their letters and I'll try to write them back later today...I really appreciate all the mail I've been getting lately! =)
Love you all,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
We had an amazing lesson with Eric. We read Alma 32 with him...and he said that he's finally starting to understand what we're! The analogy of the seed really helped him. It helped him to see how the feelings he feels when he meets with us IS the Spirit that we keep describing to him. He made the connection all on his own to...so awesome! This weekend he's going on the regional single adults camp out with his girlfriend and her son (in separate tents...obviously. We keep having to specify that...like people think we'd tell them to do otherwise...sheesh...). That should be awesome for him! We're really excited to hear what he thinks of it.
Chris is just amazing. She just studies everything on her own and then teaches US the lessons. She's so great...!!!
If it appears that I'm using a lot of exclamation marks...I am! It's because we were so sure we were going to have a crummy week because we were doing so little work, but the Lord still blessed us so that the time we were able to spend out and about was GOOD time spent working! It was a miracle week!
This week we're having a special training meeting for using mormon.org in our finding efforts. We already are...so I'm not really sure what they're going to be teaching us, but I'm looking forward to it. We will also be getting a new ward mission leader...We kind of suspected it was coming after our last dinner with our Bishop (he talked a lot with us about what our area is like for missionary work and what it's like working with the members, etc...)...and we TOTALLY called it on who it's going to be! We're really excited to be working with him; we think he's really going to be a great help putting the finishing touches on getting this area back on track and alive again!
I am quite lucky to be receiving so many packages! Thank you for sending those! I definitely look forward to getting them!
Anyways...Mom's questions...
We don't teach any classes. We attend the gospel principles class with our investigators and returning members. Our teacher is really good at leading discussions from the manual, and a lot of times our investigators have said that's their favorite part of Church.
Have you gotten to see the new Relief Society book yet? Our Relief Society president said she only got 10 copies...I'm really excited to see what all is in it. It sounds like a really good book.
Our meals this week were really good. Some of our favorite members fed us this week, so that was really enjoyable.
For P-day today we don't really have anything planned. We're going to go into Bellingham to go to Wal-mart. Then we'll probably come home and take a long nap...then we'll go out to work at 6 as usual. Not too exciting.
The weather has been pretty good these past few weeks. It poured all day last Monday, and it's overcast again today, but other than that it's been sunny in the 80s. Sister Taua and I have certainly been enjoying the sun!
Well...I'm running out of time, the library is pretty busy today and they've got a really convoluted system for allowing people to reserve/use computers....anyways, I've got to go...but it was good to hear from you! Tell Kelly and Grandma I've been getting their letters and I'll try to write them back later today...I really appreciate all the mail I've been getting lately! =)
Love you all,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Monday, August 22, 2011
August 22, 2011
I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday, Mom!
This week was pretty busy. The fair was fun, though we only got a few pictures. The picture we did get together is very cute though--I can get that in the mail soon. We enjoyed ourselves though. We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators, Chris. She came to church last Sunday and absolutely loved it! She said she felt right at home. She fell in love with the Gospel Principles book; she's been studying like crazy! She's reading the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, True to the Faith, Our Heritage...she just can't get enough. Now we just need to teach her about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity...then we'll all be set! haha We're not too worried though, she's really sure that the Church is the church she wants to be a part of. :)
We spent a lot of time tracting...lots of rude people home yesterday. Eh. On Saturday morning we spent an hour/hour and a half walking around Everson "down town" and found a GRAND total of seven new contacts....eh.
We also got a media referral from Headquarters. This lady had been learning from Elders in Fresno before she moved up here last week. I guess she's been investigating for about a year, and she says she still has questions she'd like for us to answer. We also picked up one of her sisters and a neice that she's living with currently, so hopefully they'll move forward well!
Our ward members have us fully stocked on homemade jam. We have a jar of raspberry, blackberry and two jars of strawberry...we just finished a jar of raspberry-loganberry, and another jar of strawberry...It seems like every day last week we were coming home with a new jar of jam! It's great though. Our members really take care of us and make sure we're well fed.
Our mission conference was really awesome. Got to meet the three new sisters; one is from San Deigo, and she's being trained in Arlington now. A few of the sisters asked Sister Wilson if we'll be having a sisters' luncheon soon, and she said probably within the next transfer or so. We also found out from the APs that we're getting three more sisters next transfer! That'll take us up to 18 sisters! How exciting!
We got to hear from Elder Clayton of the Seventy, Sister Perry and Elder Perry. Elder Clayton talked on ways we can live up to our potential as missionaries. He emphasized the importance of effective planning and effective companionship study; how those two things help invite the spirit into our companionship and help the work in our areas, etc. He also talked about the importance of inviting investigators to pray for themselves when we're with them for lessons.
Sister Perry then talked about how we can recognize the Spirit. It was nice. Not much that I can really remember other than that though....oh well.
Elder Perry talked about how our purpose as missionaries is to 1) find people to teach, 2) teach people the true principles of the Gospel, 3) baptize worthy converts and 4) strengthen members of the Church. So refreshing to have an apostle reiterate that our purpose is MORE than just baptizing; the elders in our zone tend to forget that it seems. We'll see if they caught on though. Anyways. Elder Perry also talked about how important studying the Gospel is; how important our own testimonies are, etc. We got to shake each of their hands at the beginning, and Elder Perry shook a few of our hands on the way out. I was on the edge of our row, so he shook my hand and wished me, "Have a good mission1" It was quite nice of him.
We don't have very many big plans for today. We're going into Bellingham to go to Walmart (woo! such a big trip...!) and then we'll probably just hang around the apartment until dinner. Sister Taua has an ear infection, so we'll try to take it easy.
Hope you and Dad are ready to keep me updated on BYU football; we don't have many fans out this way...
Glad you were able to attend Paul's wedding and that all went well. Too bad about your flight there, though! That doesn't sound like too much fun. Are you planning on going up next weekend? haha It seems like the past couple of emails it's been all about your trips to Utah! Are you going up for Hilary's wedding in September?
Anyways, I think that's all the news from me. Hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget I won't be emailing you on Labor Day!
Love you,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
This week was pretty busy. The fair was fun, though we only got a few pictures. The picture we did get together is very cute though--I can get that in the mail soon. We enjoyed ourselves though. We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators, Chris. She came to church last Sunday and absolutely loved it! She said she felt right at home. She fell in love with the Gospel Principles book; she's been studying like crazy! She's reading the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, True to the Faith, Our Heritage...she just can't get enough. Now we just need to teach her about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity...then we'll all be set! haha We're not too worried though, she's really sure that the Church is the church she wants to be a part of. :)
We spent a lot of time tracting...lots of rude people home yesterday. Eh. On Saturday morning we spent an hour/hour and a half walking around Everson "down town" and found a GRAND total of seven new contacts....eh.
We also got a media referral from Headquarters. This lady had been learning from Elders in Fresno before she moved up here last week. I guess she's been investigating for about a year, and she says she still has questions she'd like for us to answer. We also picked up one of her sisters and a neice that she's living with currently, so hopefully they'll move forward well!
Our ward members have us fully stocked on homemade jam. We have a jar of raspberry, blackberry and two jars of strawberry...we just finished a jar of raspberry-loganberry, and another jar of strawberry...It seems like every day last week we were coming home with a new jar of jam! It's great though. Our members really take care of us and make sure we're well fed.
Our mission conference was really awesome. Got to meet the three new sisters; one is from San Deigo, and she's being trained in Arlington now. A few of the sisters asked Sister Wilson if we'll be having a sisters' luncheon soon, and she said probably within the next transfer or so. We also found out from the APs that we're getting three more sisters next transfer! That'll take us up to 18 sisters! How exciting!
We got to hear from Elder Clayton of the Seventy, Sister Perry and Elder Perry. Elder Clayton talked on ways we can live up to our potential as missionaries. He emphasized the importance of effective planning and effective companionship study; how those two things help invite the spirit into our companionship and help the work in our areas, etc. He also talked about the importance of inviting investigators to pray for themselves when we're with them for lessons.
Sister Perry then talked about how we can recognize the Spirit. It was nice. Not much that I can really remember other than that though....oh well.
Elder Perry talked about how our purpose as missionaries is to 1) find people to teach, 2) teach people the true principles of the Gospel, 3) baptize worthy converts and 4) strengthen members of the Church. So refreshing to have an apostle reiterate that our purpose is MORE than just baptizing; the elders in our zone tend to forget that it seems. We'll see if they caught on though. Anyways. Elder Perry also talked about how important studying the Gospel is; how important our own testimonies are, etc. We got to shake each of their hands at the beginning, and Elder Perry shook a few of our hands on the way out. I was on the edge of our row, so he shook my hand and wished me, "Have a good mission1" It was quite nice of him.
We don't have very many big plans for today. We're going into Bellingham to go to Walmart (woo! such a big trip...!) and then we'll probably just hang around the apartment until dinner. Sister Taua has an ear infection, so we'll try to take it easy.
Hope you and Dad are ready to keep me updated on BYU football; we don't have many fans out this way...
Glad you were able to attend Paul's wedding and that all went well. Too bad about your flight there, though! That doesn't sound like too much fun. Are you planning on going up next weekend? haha It seems like the past couple of emails it's been all about your trips to Utah! Are you going up for Hilary's wedding in September?
Anyways, I think that's all the news from me. Hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget I won't be emailing you on Labor Day!
Love you,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Monday, August 15, 2011
August 15, 2011
Hello everyone!
Well...it figures you'd ask what we had for dinner last night...usually our members are really good at feeding us but last night the sister that had signed up forgot about it and made other plans...so we ended up eating leftover pigs in a blanket from lunch and leftover pancakes from breakfast...not the most healthy meal we've had. The night before we had roast pork, mixed vegetables, french bread and a barley casserole with homemade pineapple cheesecake for dessert. That's quite a bit more typical. I'm sure Elder Miller enjoyed his last meal with the Holdsworths. I'm sure you will all miss him.
This week was great. We had not one...not two...but THREE INVESTIGATORS at CHURCH!!! They weren't even investigators we were expecting would really come! One we hadn't seen in weeks, one was of our eternal-investigators that always says he'll come but never does, and the third was an investigator that has been saying she'll come for weeks...and she even had to cancel our appointment with her last week...but then she came! woohoo!!! We think this HAS to be a record of some kind for this area. Investigators to church THREE WEEKS IN A ROW. and THREE ALL IN ONE DAY! Miracles!!!!!!
(And Eric would have been there but his twin sister was getting married in Olympia. That's a pretty solid excuse. He'll be there next week.)
We also had another surprise yesterday: we visited one inactive single-mom last week and she said she had really been thinking about trying to get involved in the social activities of the ward again. Pretty convenient: we're having a ward BBQ this weekend! She seemed pretty sure she wouldn't come to church just yet though...but then Saturday night she texted us and asked us what time church started...and then she ACTUALLY CAME! With her two daughters and her niece! The ward members really embraced her and welcomed her. We could definitely tell that she appreciated it and she seemed really happy to be there. =)
Anyways, this week is going to be pretty exciting too...Today we're spending district p-day at the fair in Lynden. Sister Taua has never been to a fair. We're going to be matching in these lovely blue shirts someone sent to us...We were very excited to receive them!! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures =)
This week also marks Sister Taua's one-year mark on the 18th...and we're going to be celebrating that day in Everett by listening to Elder L. Tom Perry!! He's doing a tour through the pacific northwest missions, so we're having a full-mission conference this week! It's very exciting. I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you about that next week!
Well, that's about all the news I have for you.
Have a wonderful week! Love you,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
Well...it figures you'd ask what we had for dinner last night...usually our members are really good at feeding us but last night the sister that had signed up forgot about it and made other plans...so we ended up eating leftover pigs in a blanket from lunch and leftover pancakes from breakfast...not the most healthy meal we've had. The night before we had roast pork, mixed vegetables, french bread and a barley casserole with homemade pineapple cheesecake for dessert. That's quite a bit more typical. I'm sure Elder Miller enjoyed his last meal with the Holdsworths. I'm sure you will all miss him.
This week was great. We had not one...not two...but THREE INVESTIGATORS at CHURCH!!! They weren't even investigators we were expecting would really come! One we hadn't seen in weeks, one was of our eternal-investigators that always says he'll come but never does, and the third was an investigator that has been saying she'll come for weeks...and she even had to cancel our appointment with her last week...but then she came! woohoo!!! We think this HAS to be a record of some kind for this area. Investigators to church THREE WEEKS IN A ROW. and THREE ALL IN ONE DAY! Miracles!!!!!!
(And Eric would have been there but his twin sister was getting married in Olympia. That's a pretty solid excuse. He'll be there next week.)
We also had another surprise yesterday: we visited one inactive single-mom last week and she said she had really been thinking about trying to get involved in the social activities of the ward again. Pretty convenient: we're having a ward BBQ this weekend! She seemed pretty sure she wouldn't come to church just yet though...but then Saturday night she texted us and asked us what time church started...and then she ACTUALLY CAME! With her two daughters and her niece! The ward members really embraced her and welcomed her. We could definitely tell that she appreciated it and she seemed really happy to be there. =)
Anyways, this week is going to be pretty exciting too...Today we're spending district p-day at the fair in Lynden. Sister Taua has never been to a fair. We're going to be matching in these lovely blue shirts someone sent to us...We were very excited to receive them!! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures =)
This week also marks Sister Taua's one-year mark on the 18th...and we're going to be celebrating that day in Everett by listening to Elder L. Tom Perry!! He's doing a tour through the pacific northwest missions, so we're having a full-mission conference this week! It's very exciting. I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you about that next week!
Well, that's about all the news I have for you.
Have a wonderful week! Love you,
Sister Heather Holdsworth
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