We All Got Problems

So hey,

 

One of the most insane weeks of my mission. Our baptism didn't go through due to the fact that our investigator changed her mind and now wants to be an exorcist...so what the heck. One of the darling sisters that was staying with us had to go home because she was too sick. Ahh...It killed me inside. She literally had one day to pack everything and get to the mission office. It was an emotional (well obviously, we're sister missionaries) farewell. The three of us haven't been the same since she left. After driving her to Richmond at 5am and then coming back to Compton, I mean Surrey...we were dead. We crashed for a couple of hours then got back to work.

 

I can't stop thinking about how this one sister has impacted my life. Who would've thought that some diva from Alabama would live in our study room and keep me going when I was down. And I know she's reading this because I told her to read my blog when she got home. I love you tons punk.

 

I say this every once in a while but it's SO true. MISSIONS ARE HARD. Especially with illness, mental or physical. Kudos to everyone that goes to serve and has to deal with more than just being rejected at the door. It's a battle to get through the day. It's a fight to go out and share the gospel. But it's a battle and a fight and a struggle worth having. This gospel is so precious and as missionaries we are so privileged to present it to our brothers and sisters. Hate to do it but gotta quote Miley again.. There's always gonna be another mountain. I'm always gonna wanna make it move. It's always gonna be an uphill battle. Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose. It's the cliiiiiimmmmmbbbb. Give me slack if I butchered that, I have missionary brain. 

Welp, not much to say other than that. Transfers are this week so #yomo.

That's all from Sister Holmgirl and Sister Moonface (i'm mocking her with her childhood).

deuces.

Sister Holm

It was Sister Andrews' birthday.  :-)

You've got to be kitten me.

Happy Tuesday!

We had the opportunity to do a session at the Langley Temple this morning so our p-day was switched to today! So no, I didn't ignore your emails so get your panties out of a bunch. I'm lacking on time due to the short p-day so I'll make it brief! Ha...

Few interesting events:

• A grenade went off on the street where the West Elders live.. SWAT showed up. Surrey is GHETTO.
• I watched some Asians cut their grass with scissors.. get a life
• A homeless man (I think i'm drawn to them) said that if anyone gave me trouble that I should come find him. He was also born in prison and shot at age 6. Definitely needs the gospel.
• Ironically someone did give me trouble but my new friend was nowhere to be found. As we were talking with this lady a felt something wet drop onto my shoulder. I thought it was bird poop until Sis C informed me that someone had just hucked a giant loogie from an upper staircase. That blessed woman had a tissue that I used to clean myself up.. but it didn't remove the scare I now have from how disgusting it all was. Can't wait to see that dude n the spirit world.
• On a brighter and cleaner note... we went to transfer training in Richmond and got to shake President Tillemans hand one last time. What a man. He will go down in my book as one of my heroes...along with my super stud of a father. His testimony brings the spirit so strong and you can truly feel his love for this work and us individually when you look into his tear-filled eyes.

Guys...I've had some pretty bizarre and nasty experiences out on a mission...but it makes for good stories to tell my great-grand children and it worth it when something does go right. If being spit on is what it takes in order feel a sliver of what the Savior felt...I want it to happen everyday until I die. The sacrifice He made for us not only physically but spiritually is something that I continue to try to wrap my heart around. Even within the walls of the temple I can hardly understand His love for me, my family, and all those I come in contact with. It's only through our Savior and older brother that we can return to live in our Father presence. As a representative of Christ I promise you that He lives.

Hope you all have a solid week! As my thuper cool friend Elder Jason Cook always says, Party like it's hot!

love always,

Sister Annie Holm

kittens!

Sister Brittany Larsen bought us friendship necklaces :)

Engagements! jk...just cute comp pics

Cartoon that one of the sisters drew of me...
how embarrassing that that actually happened.

Ridin round town in the Big Ol Rangee

That song has been stuck in my head all week and I honestly couldn't come up with a better subject line. It does fit in with the fact that I witnessed a car accident and had to call 911.  After checking on everybody we continued to be exactly obedient missionaries and went on sharing the gospel with those looking at the accident.  And no, a Range Rover wasn't involved...just a Honda.  Not sure how this is possible but lots of people drive super expensive cars around here.  I don't know.  But shout-out to mom's side for making me obsessed with cars.

We had a phenomenal day at church yesterday! Five of our friends showed up! 

• Jonathan - met at Surrey Central, sang a BOM play song to us, and dressed up like a pirate for church. He knew all the answers in sunday school!
• Connie and Noah (our [14-year-old answer to] J [Joseph] Smith) - he walked in with a note pad and took notes the entire time but seemed to enjoy it overall.
• Wing - a chinese girl who shows up every Sunday but doesn't have time to actually meet and learn. So... what the heck.
• Robyn - A MIRACLE! She is the sister of a less active who we've been working with. We met her on Friday and set a baptismal date for June 28.  Saturday she came to a baptism, and Sunday showed up at church for all 3 hours.  She is so prepared and willing to live everything we teach.  What a blessing.  Side note - we had dinner with them last night and taught the POS [plan of salvation]. She adored the cut-outs #sistermissionarygimmicks.

Even with all these miracles, missions are still rough. But through all the tears, frustration, and relentless personal chastening, it is worth it.  We truly do have to apply the atonement if we are going to make it through this life.  I love the video that the church put out around Easter:

http://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

I get chills every time that I watch this. What a privilege it is to wear His name.  It reminds me of why I am here and how important it is that I show my Saviour how much I love Him.

ESPN HIGHLIGHTS

• Got a tom-tom GPS for $10 at a less-active's yard sale.
• Have a delightful stalker who just doesn't understand why I won't take a chance on him. But his relentless voicemails and texts finally drove me to yelling at him and making it clear that just because he knows who Christ is doesn't mean we can still go on a date. Woof.
• Hit 7 months and 9 days. Woot Woot.
• Sister Christensen and I are staying together another transfer here in Surrey.
• Our lullaby at night is sirens and the neighbors fighting. Here is the mediocre rap I made up about it:

The Surrey sirens wailing and screamin,

just as I am tryin to start dreamin.

The neighbors fight, the baby cries.

Lord I just want to rest my eyes!

I haven't finished it yet...but because of the crow outside of our window I am sure I'll have time to finish it one of these nights.

God bless and love always,

Sister Annie Holm

xoxo

Oh Joy.

Frequent view.

Another transfer with this fool.

Surviving The Ghetto

Well Hi,

I'm short on time due to the Elders taking up most of the time here in the employment centers, but i'll give the quick ESPN Highlights version (with some needed details) of my slightly disturbing week:

- A drunk homeless lady called me over while I was out talking to God's children. She had me open her smokes and then told me to take a seat. So...being the nice missionary that I am, I did.  She then sang me a song about how Jesus loves her... but it wasn't a quiet peaceful one.  She literally belted it in front of all of Surrey Central (which is a massive bus/skytrain station plus a mall and university).  So ya...I was mortified.  BUT to make it worse...she then touched my face and began belting out "YOU. ARE. SO. BEAUTIFUL!.. to me."   Yeah...I hated my life at that moment.  Kill-me-now sort of a thing.  Everyone was staring and I was trying not to laugh.  She sang all the verses and hacked up a lung about halfway through.  Sis Christensen just watched from afar as I tried to become invisible. 

- We were tracting on the extremely ghetto side of town (unknown to us at the time) and we approached this man with a cute dog.  He then got weird and asked us about having children and marriage.  Uhh...ew.  IT GETS WORSE.  He then asked if her were HOOKERS. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?  I was mortified.  We are wearing long skirts and tags with Jesus Christ on them...for real.  So if that wasn't bad enough he started talking about his "law of chastity" habits and how it only costs him $40...if you catch my drift.  Yeah...we were speechless.  Sis Christensen said something like "We don't agree with that" because all I could say is "okay".  One of the weirdest experiences thus far in Surrey.  I never thought I'd be mistaken for a hooker while serving the Lord. 

The silver lining on these experiences is that while on that same street with the hooker man we found a girl who was prepared to be baptized at the end of this month.  As we prayed, the spirit became so strong and at the end our new friend was crying.  What a blessing.  I know that these LOL-worthy but pretty sketchy experiences are only a sliver of what Christ went through.

Our afflictions will be but a small moment. "He died for me. I live for Him."

God bless us, everyone!

love always,

Sister Annie Holm

Picked up a stair-stepper off the side of the road.

Finally bought a yoga mat.

Oh Canada!

Another One Bites The Dust

Another month of my mission gone by and....

 

LIBBY IS GRADUATING! WOOT WOOT!

Congrats my pequeño hermana!

Welcome to the real world! 

 (Woods Cross colors of course!)

 

Back to life here in beautiful British Columbia! It's been a week of many miracles. I feel like I say that every week... but really. 

We were blessed with many more baptismal dates, investigators at church, and new friends. But the peak of this mountain of miracles was a voicemail from a young friend trying to find the truth. When we first listened to the voicemal, we couldn't quite understand what was being said and we were 94% sure it was a girl.  So we called the number back and low and behold it was someone who wanted to learn more about our church.  We started talking and found out it was a guy named Noah. We set up a time to meet and asked if we could meet at his place....he said he had to go ask his mom. Uh... what the?   We then found out that he was 14. 14!  What fourteen-year-old wants to find out more about religion?? (with the exeption of Joseph Smith).  So we talked to Noah's mom and figured everything out.  Apparently he's been curious about many religions and have been going around asking to learn more about them. So we went to the appointment and he had already checked out a Book of Mormon from his catholic school's library (ya.. weird library) and was in 2 Nephi. And on top of that he had 40 quiestions all written out that he needed answered about our beliefs.. MIND BLOWN. Needless to say, he is stellar.  He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that "it totally makes sense!"  Now just soak all of that in while I tell you more about this past week.

 

We are also teaching a variety of people. Basically a circus. A recovering crack addict/gang member/biker/, a muslim, a vietnamese mother, and a woman who holds the 2008 or 2009 Guiness Book of World Records record for the most tattoo's (they call her the painted lady). These are just a few of the many interesting kinds of people we teach. Vancouver clearly is a tatted-up melting pot.

 

Another grand week here in Surrey Currey (also many punjabis (East Indians)).  Can't wait to see what the next episode holds.

 

On a somewhat spiritual note... "He died for me. I live for Him."

 

Love always,

sister annie holm

Yes, it rains here in British Columbia

Sikh temple in Delta, BC with the sisters in our zone

With our 'mini missionary' (from our stake; she stayed with us for the weekend)

P-Day chillin' - that outta class feelin.

 

A book of TRUTH

What up what up what up?!

Sports Center highlights of the past week...leggggo

- Sandra's miracle baptism! woot woot (details to come)

- Top 10 in the mission in standards of excellence

- Zone conference in front of the Langley BC Temple

- Seeing a true holmie, Sis Larsen

- Holding baby kittens

- Recent convert Lou dancing to some interesting music

- Partially naked man tanning in the park...hmm…

So, let's expand.

Sandra was baptized this past Saturday! We planned on having her baptism in a few weeks, but after having breakfast with President, he said that she needed to get baptized in 4 days.  It was a whirlwind but somehow it turned out just right.  She was confirmed yesterday and is now a member of Christ's true church.  What a blessing!  P.S. She was concerned that she'd drown during the baptism…mm…okay no.  That's ridiculous.

Things are going well...no that's a lie.  They are exploding here in Surrey and throughout the rest of the province.  With the departure of President Tilleman, I think everyone is giving it 200% to show him how grateful we all are for his inspirational counsel and exemplary leadership!  He's a truly wonderful man and has changed this entire mission! As Elder Christofferson said, we have the best mission president and mission mom in the world and are the example mission to the rest of the world.  I know that President Burt will be able to take all of this on and keep the hastening going in BC!

I don't even begin to explain how grateful I am.  Heavenly Father has blessed us so much these past few weeks.  We are undeserving.

K I gotta be honest…I'm turning into a missionary…using scripture references in jokes, feeling weird about my knees showing, even plugging my ears when apostate music is blasting in the stores…basically my life revolves around mormon.org cards. WHO AM I? Can any other missionaries relate?  Or am I the only one that is going to go home and have the opposite gender run from me?  It's chill.

Hope all is well!  Remember…under the biggest dust cloud you'll find the truth!

Peace and blessins. Peace. And. Blessins.

xoxo

sista holmgirl

Sandra's baptism!

Hi, can we share this website with you?

Seeing a true holmie!  Sister Larsen at the Langley BC Temple.

Sisters Stewart, Christensen, Holm, and Larsen.

Speechless

Hey,

No lie, I'm speechless right now.  I don't even know where to begin about how miraculous this week has been!  I guess I'll start with how grateful I am my mother and the chance I had to talk to her yesterday.  Although only 5-foot-2, she is someone I admire greatly and look up to.  She's my little hero!  Talking with my family was weird though...Libby even said that I have missionary voice...so that's embarrassing.  I hope it leaves before I get home.  Honestly, the entire time talking it felt like a dream.  I think I've been so focused on the work that my 'past life' just doesn't feel normal anymore.  Am I making sense?

Anyway, this week has been ridiculous.  To make a long story short..our final key indicators quadrupled our actual goals.  It was a MIRACLE!  Sister Christensen and I felt as though we hadn't done anything to deserve it.  We sacrificed meal times and basically our own sanity to make sure we met our goals....and that was only Tuesday.  We met the standards of excellence for our mission in just two days.  So...we had no choice but to double, triple, and then quadruple it! 

President Tilleman always says, "Work like it all depends on you, pray as though it all depends on the Lord."  We took that advice and ran.  Literally.  My feet have never hurt more in my life.  A skirt doesn't help either.  Through God's hand, we now have 9 people preparing to enter into the waters of baptism.  WHAT A BLESSING.  Heavenly Father has blessed us so much that I'm barely able to comprehend it!  I've had the "Do you believe in miracles?" tune stuck in my head for dayzzz.  He has put such solid people in our path.  One of the insane experiences we've had this week shows how God's hand is truly in everything.  Right as we get out of the car to start knocking doors...Sis C notices that her bag is gone.  We retrace out steps for a solid hour and no luck.  By this point, like any normal person, she's flipping out. I have this feeling that we should go check the apartment so we do.  Earlier that day one of our members who lives in our building told us about this family that lives a couple doors down from them and thinks that we should share the gospel with them.  As we're waiting for the elevator...guess who shows up. THAT FAMILY! 

After chatting on the elevator and then checking the apartment and finding her bag...it hit us.  God set this whole thing up.  We had brushed off the referral because we aren't allowed to teach people in our building...but Heavenly Father had set it up so perfectly just to show us that we needed to teach them.  We prayed and thanked Him for this miracle and chastening us.  Later, we dropped off a Finding Faith in Christ DVD and some popcorn as a sort of Mothers Day gift (give us some slack...we're missionaries).

Another major highlight of this week was having breakfast with President Tilleman (a VERY rare opportunity).  We met at 7am at Whitespot and had a wonderful discussion about the work, his feelings about his mission ending, and what we as missionaries could do to hasten the work in Surrey.  It was heaven on earth to be in the presence of such a kind, genuine man and inspiring leader.

A few things I learned this week:

- Sis C played in ping pong tournaments and enjoys playing the old Chinese guys at the [nearby] Rec Center on p-day.

- Maternity dresses make great missionary dresses

- Canada is truly a melting pot.  I've talked to someone from every continent, no joke.

- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints makes the most inspiring videos

 

Go ahead...change your life! Check em out!

Motherhood --   http://motherhood.mormon.org/?cid=HPTH050814094

The Will of God -- http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-channel-daily/213?v=1839005837001

 

love you all. make good choices. remember who you are.

 

xoxo, 

Sister Holmgirl from the hood

Breakfast with President Tilleman!