How can you speak Spanish and yet you have red hair and blue eyes?

Hi family! Hows it going?

Not too bad here! Sorry about last week’s email! I was extremely distracted and it probably showed quite a bit. But I will try to be a bit more organized with my thoughts today :)

I'm sorry I didn't give you my address last week. My new address is:
3415 Steamboat Way #9
Muscatine IA 52761

So you can reach me there but if you wanna keep going through the office those reach me too. :) How have you all been this week? My week has been so much better.

I am very happy with my new companion. His name is Elder Y and he is from California. He is done with his mission the end of July, and yet he is still a hard worker and doing his best to be obedient. I have a lot of fun with him, in fact so far, he reminds me of Elder P. I think I will get along with him really well, judging that we have gotten along great so far! He's awesome.

I've been kind of depressed the past couple of weeks before he came, just because I felt like I was in the midst of disobedience. I've learned my lesson since and I will always fight against disobedience. When we are not obedient our heavenly father stops blessing us and he stops guiding us, therefore our progression is limited and we truly can't live up to our potential. I have gained a strong testimony of obedience. It is the only way in which we receive blessings. It is such a crucial part of our life and I'm glad I'm starting to understand its precious importance in my life. And so… disobedience... I'm done with it. I am doing my best to be a consecrated missionary, and I will try my best for the rest of my mission because I know that that is what my Heavenly Father wants for me.

This past week has been difficult, but at the same time such a blessing. Even though it was hard to get the work to take off in the area... it’s getting a lot better. We have basically turned all of the investigators that before were "hang out" investigators into progressing investigators. One of them told me that he wants to start taking the lessons and start making changes in his life in order to prepare for baptism! His name is J M- married to a Less Active. Keep the M’s in your prayers. He has a smoking problem and is trying to stop, but I truly believe he is in the primitive stages of a change of heart. I can't wait to see the progress made with him this week. We hopefully will set a date. :) Also, the K family has been one of those "hang out" families too, but this week, we've been able to get the mother to change from that. Her name is E, and she has started to take a deep interest in the Book of Mormon and has expressed a desire to read it, but has a difficult time understanding it, and so she’s taking notes and asking us all her questions every time we come over. I think she knows that the gospel is true, I just think she is worried about others judging her if she starts going to church and gets baptized, but I think that doubt is going away, and we are going to continue to try and help her get to that point. She is definitely one of our strongest investigators right now and a ton of fun too.

We found a couple new families to teach this week so hopefully we have some potential there too. In fact yesterday, I knocked on a door, and a very serious looking Mexican came around the corner and just stared at us. I said Hola hermano como estas? And he looked at me extremely confused and then smile and waved to us to follow him, as we were following I tried to further explain that we were missionaries but he motioned for me to be quiet and keep following him. Elder Yoragason was scared he was leading us around the corner to beat us up with his gang or something, I have to admit, I was scared too.. cuz it was weird. We came around the corner and he motioned for us to sit down on his patio furniture... we all sat down and he began to smile and started laughing. He said " there is something wrong with this picture, How can you speak Spanish and yet you have red hair and blue eyes... that blows my mind… When I heard you speak and saw you two I knew I had to further investigate what you are doing here." We had the coolest conversation with this guy. His name is A. He has struggled with a belief in God in the past, but something deep inside him tells him that he is really there.. it’s just tough for him to believe when the world is filled with so much pain and sorrow. We had an awesome discussion and set up another time to go and see him. I think we may end up baptizing him and his family, because I think when he hears the message of the restoration, he will know it is true, I can just feel it :) It’s really exciting, so we'll be seeing him soon again this week. He told us he wanted us to watch a movie that changed his life. He said it was called: 5 people you meet in heaven. You guys should look it up and watch it cuz he said it was such a great movie, his favorite in the world in fact. He told us he'd buy it for us haha... that’s how bad he wants us to watch it. You should rent it and tell me about it! But yeah, this guy seems golden, I hope we baptize him, cuz he's way cool!

Also this week, we've helped a lot of members by helping with service, there is a guy in our ward who reminds me of dad, the nicest guy ever, he's building a house with his own two hands and calls us to come help him. He's always complaining about too much to do and not enough time or strength haha... makes me miss you dad and I can't wait to come home and help you with anything you're in need of ;) We also had a lot of fun coaching the soccer team this week, and we won our game! YAYA 5 to 4. Maybe I'm not such a bad soccer coach after all... in fact I'm getting a lot better at the sport and I'm enjoying it a lot.

So ya, that’s most of what has gone on this week. It’s been eventful and busy, but so much fun and I've enjoyed every second. I hope you all had a great week to!

Well hey, It's been nice talking to you, I miss you all, and love you all very much! I hope you know I am doing my best to lose myself in this work. It is celestial work, and the most important work in the world. I am so grateful to be a part of it, and hope that I change many lives through the Holy Ghost While I'm here! Stay strong at home, I love you all and pray for you always!
Much love and Godspeed,

~Elder Holman

P.S.
I'm getting too fat... I barely fit in any of my slacks… I need to lose some weight... dad, it sounds like you are a lot skinnier than me, I can't wait to body slam you when I get home haha.