Hi Family,
Happy Fourth of July
this past week I hope you guys took some time to appreciate life in the Promised
Land as it has been called in first Nephi 13. We are so blessed to live in
America! It is truly one nation under God and the promise from the BoM that as
we keep the commandments we will prosper in the land is still true today even
as in times of old. Thanks so much for your letters this past week. I enjoyed
hearing all about your adventures and looking at the pictures you sent me as
well. I hope you guys enjoyed the hot dogs and fireworks. Older boys and
Coleson I'm excited to hear about your adventures in LA for the 4th. Dad thanks
for sending me Oakley fireworks this past week it was almost as good as the
real thing.
Well my last week in
this area we have seen many many miracles! Some small and others grande.
Starting on Monday we had a crazy day. Mostly we didn't do much we hung out for
only a couple hours with the other Elders and took some good time to just
chill. We've really kind of ran out of stuff to do here on p-day so I don't
really have many fantastic adventures, I had a really awesome Kebab/Shwarma
pizza though. It's really good Bulgarian meat stuff and it's super cheap and
super nice. Monday night as we were working we started to pass by a
lot of our friends and a lot of people started to call out to us and ask us who
we were and what we were doing and so we told them and they took a lot of interest
in wanting to hear what we had to say. There was also this one guy named
Miguel, that we met a few weeks earlier and he apparently had tried to call us
to tell us not to come over but when we stopped by his house we started to talk
to him a little bit more about himself and later that night he sent us a text
saying that he needed us to come over and visit him again! That he wanted to
come to church with us on Sunday and had been praying for a way to change his
life and after talking with us he wanted our Help. It was an incredible start
to the week!
On Tuesday we had a
load of fun in the morning. The Guffey's a senior couple in our mission came to
our district meeting and made us waffles! They work on a military base here in
Spain and there they have access to American supplies and so it was well
welcomed. They were super good. He served in the military for a large part of
his life and started to convince me of joining the airborne to pay for School.
It sounds like a really great deal because they pay for everything and then
they give you a job for the next 4 years right after... In the military! Haha.
That day was also pretty weird too because when we got home our apartment
didn't have any water! Again! Apparently the water company shut it off
because they never received our payment from the mission offices Haha! It was all
good though once we started getting back to work. We were able to meet with a
few friends that night and later we had another person contact us! It was the
sister of Antonio our recent convert! She said that she wanted us come over to
her house and talk to her another day so she could find out what on earth a
Mormon was and why her Brother wanted to be one. That night we stayed in
Algeciras because as a rule if we don't have water we have to go somewhere that
does.
Wednesday
morning we went and did service in a soup kitchen in Algeciras and it was
super fun. Mostly we just packaged up boxes that people could pick up and take
home to eat. The people were super nice there. During the night my comp and I
went back to see a few friends. Mainly our friend Lubo from Bulgaria. We met
with him to teach him in a park and he brought a friend with him named Cristoff
and it was awesome! He is progressing super well toward his Baptism. It's going
to be on the 11th of July on the beach so pray that he'll be
prepared! We also got to go get dinner in Gibraltar with Dani and Estrellita.
Thursday we planned
in the morning and at night we went and visited some members in Algeciras and
then we caught a bus to travel to some other elders apartment in San
Fernando. On Friday morning we had to catch a train to go to
Sevilla at 6:51am and we woke up at 6:30 and so all of us
were running around the apartment throwing clothes on and then we ran 2 miles
in less than 14 minutes to the train station! Haha we were so tired but we made
the train! Meeting the new President was awesome! I love him already! Tell
bishop and his wife that He's great and He's glad that they say great things
about him behind his back! He has a sweet family with 7 kids and 18 grandkids,
likes snowmobiling and fishing. He's going to be a great President. After the
conference had ended we still had an hour until we had to catch our bus so my
district and I went to go see the Plaza de España. It's huge and beautiful I'll
send pictures in another email.
The 4th of July here
was almost like any other day except we went to an American restaurant with a
member to go get lunch. I miss hamburgers! Most of all I missed you guys. I was
sure Chance was barbecuing something, and the boys were jet skiing in Balboa.
And on Saturday we got (Da da da da!) TRANSFER CALLS! It turns out I am
leaving! Except I'm also a very special case. Normally during transfers they
move missionaries into a different zone of the mission but I'm staying in the
same zone and Going to an area called Chicalana de la Frontera near the city of
Cadiz! I'm going to be killing a missionary there named Elder Sykes. Apparently
he gives really good back and foot massages which is great! I'm sure I'll be
abusing that while he's there! Haha. It's also supposed to be super hot and
Humid there so I'll be feeling like I'm in boy George's Pants! I'm excited to
leave but I'm going to miss it here in La Linea. It feels like home there and
I'm going to cherish the lessons that the people have thought me there and the
crazy experience forever.
Sunday was CRAZY!. We
invited some guy we met on the street to come to church with us this past week
and he decided to come! He even brought a lady friend with him. Everything was
great until they all of sudden disappeared for like twenty minutes and then
they came back... Drunk! They went and got wasted and then came back into the
church and started yelling and fighting. The guy stood up and told the Elders
Quorum he was God. I had to brake up a fight between them and almost had to
wrestle the guy to the ground to get him out of the church. We almost had to
call the police, but we convinced them to leave and last we heard they were
still wandering around Algeciras. (Cuidado) Haha it was crazy but for my last
Sunday it basically summed up my entire experience here in La Linea and
Algeciras.
Something cool I read
this past week was in 2 Nephi 2:2. In this verse Lehi is giving some final
council to his son and he says:
Nevertheless, Jacob,
my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and
he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.
I specifically like
that last part of the verse. That God Consecrates our afflictions for gain. We
came down to this earth to learn and progress and one of the greatest ways that
we learn is by confronting trials. When we trust in gods guidance to help us
through these trials he will guide so that we learn what he wants us to and so
that we become who he wants us to be.
Thanks so much for
the letters and pictures. If I can I'll save some time so that I can text you
all a little bit later today. I love you all. Keep on keeping on and trusting
in God. I know he's looking out for all of you. Good luck this next week in all
you're doing. Love you!
¡Os Quiero mucho!
-Elder Holman
No comments:
Post a Comment