"Holland-grams"

Soooooooooooo this week was pretty rad. I might even go as far as to
say it was SUPER rad but lets not get too crazy here yeah? I just love
all the little things that happen during a missionary week to make it
awesome and some bigger things as well.

This past Wednesday we had the sickest opportunity in the world to
hear from.... Elder Holland! Yeah, I was legit about to lose it when I
found out. I have known about this for awhile, but since I am a brat I
decided not to tell you guys until now... HA! :P His talk was so
powerful. There were a few breaks and bumps because of the
translator, but other than that it was really great. We all thought he
was just going to come in and burn us all, but luckily, that didn´t go
down. He talked about hypocrisy,(I have no idea how to spell that) and
the story from the Bible where Christ curses the fig tree. He talked
about how out of all the things the Lord hates the most, (there is a whole
list of them in "The Miracle of Forgiveness"), the thing the Lord has
the biggest problem with is hypocrisy. It is the very first thing he
said to Joseph Smith in the First Vision, "They draw near to me with
their lips but, their hearts are far from me." And like the fig tree,
that looked like a fig tree, had leaves like a fig tree, has the name
"Fig Tree", but didn´t give figs, is what made the Lord curse it. And
so we, as missionaries or members of the Church in general, can´t just
say, " I am a member/missionary" but we need to do things that
members/missionary of Christ´s true Church would really do. It was a
great talk. It always is from Elder Holland. My favorite talk ever is
by him actually "Safety For the Soul" from the Nov 2009 General
Conference. If you ever have any doubts about the Book of Mormon, read that
talk and they will disappear.

We also had some great work this week. We had another awesome
baptism this week of a kid named Moises(Moses in English) and I will
tell you what, he sure parted the water when he got baptized! Even
though we aren´t getting out as much as we could, the Lord really is
blessing my comp for the sacrifices he is making. He really has a lot
of pain in his back but is always willing to push just a little bit
harder. He is going into the hospital today to see what will happen
with him and I hope everything turns out okay.

I also had another really nifty thing happen in church this week.
We have this investigator Daniela, who is the sister of one of our
recent converts and she is so awesome. Legit just true daughter of
Heavenly Father. She is 25 years old and a single mother of this
adorable little 7 month year old baby girl (my sub for the amazing
bundle of joy Tan and Brik will soon be having) and both of them are
just always so happy. And I was holding the little girl while we were
singing the closing hymn, which of course was Families Can Be Together
Forever, and I just couldn´t stop smiling to save my life. In those
few moments with her in my arms, her mom enjoying church, singing my
favorite primary song, looking over and seeing some of my best friend
recent converts, being in the coolest, most amazing country/city in the
world (besides Logan), I can honestly say that I was filled with joy.
I was just unexplainably, is that a word? happy. This week was just
awesome. That is all there is to it.

Once again, you guys also had a solid week back in good ol´Utah. I
am excited that I will be calling home to you guys very soon and we
should probably start planning a time, right? I would love to skype
again if you guys are down. I am excited that Hailey will be coming
home soon. I love hearing about all the little missionary things that
are going on back at home. It is good to know that the work is still
booming. I have also been liking the Harry Potter pics from Ian and
Mom. Did I tell you that I speak snake with my Branch President here?
So funny. I think when I leave I will bear testimony like that. I
think this pretty much covers everything, but once again thank you all
for your e-mails they make me happy. Mom and Dad always just out do me
on the spiritual side though... I´ll try harder next time. Have a
great week.... I LOVE YOU!!

Elder BIG DEAL

Ps. Aliens are real.... read Hebrews 11:34 and you will know what I mean.