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!

Not in Kansas Anymore

Greetings loved ones,

Name the song. Do it. ANYWAY. Surrey is not Osoyoos. Not even close. I feel like I'm in Compton or something. Kidding. It's not as bad, just different from what I'm used to.

My new companion is Sister Christensen (hah…shout out to Hermana Shelby Christensen).  She's from Colorado/Vegas.  She's been serving here for the past 2 transfers and was on the island before that.  We actually went back to Victoria this weekend to see one of her investigators get baptized.  She and I get along well…which makes a huge difference out here in the mission field.  I couldn't be more grateful to have a comp who likes to laugh as much as I do!

Surrey is crazy. I've talked to so many different people. We went to Surrey Central to street contact (it's this giant train station/mall that is fair game for all the missionaries in the area) and I was so overwhelmed.  In Osoyoos there are like maybe 10 people on the street on a GOOD day.  Nope.  Here in Surrey there are hundreds.  I was dumb enough to walk up to people at a cross walk and shout "Does anybody want this card.... anybody? No…no takers?"  Everyone just stared at me.  As you see…I tend to cause a lot of unnecessary scenes. Whaterrr…

A few experiences that I remember are 1) we tried to talk to this Asian family and the mom said no and waved her hand at us…so then her twin 5-year-old boys caught on and waved their hands and said “no no no no no no” to us for a solid 20 minutes. People were staring.  2) As we were trying to get back to the car a creepy guy on a bike rode past us and said “I'm not lookin’ at you okay? Geesh…I'm too old for you.” So we were like…“uhh okay”. And then he talked to us and began to recite all these philosophical sayings. I think he had issues or something. Anyway, there was more creepiness but it's not appropriate for this clearly uplifting email.  3) THE WORST THING. We were headed towards a bus stop to talk to the people there and this one lady like flipped her lid. No lie.  We said “Hi we're missionaries…” and she started screaming profane things and making a cross with her fingers telling us to go away. We just walked away and started talking to someone else and she starts yelling and making comments like “at least I'm human” and “everyone stay away! Those are Mormons.”  Blah, blah, blah. I don't know what came over me but I looked at the person we were talking to and said, “Will you excuse me a moment please?” I marched over to that lady and said “Why are you doing this? We didn't do anything to you. We are just trying to share a message.  We are people too. Stop being so rude.”  She kept trying to cut me off but I just wouldn't have it.  I'm too stubborn and impulsive (I'll work on it, I swear).  So we start getting mad at each other and Sister Christensen pulls me away and we start walking somewhere else.  I don't even know why I started crying but I did.  I think I was just freaked out that someone had the audacity to yell at me in public.

I was sheltered in Osoyoos.  People throw rocks at things that shine right?  After I got a hold of myself and was able to truly understand Elder Holland's talk on the cost of discipleship.  Sadly, people are not rejecting us…they are rejecting Christ.  That hit me hard.  I can't even begin to imagine what He went through.  If I wimped out at just that stupid lady yelling at me…I don't think I could handle doing this for 33 years.  I'm so grateful for my Savior.

Highlights of the week (other than the obviously wonderful ones above)

- Saw 3 whales on the ferry to Victoria

- Attended a baptism for 6 people

- Sleeping with the window open and hearing the rain come down (name the song)

- Stayed with Sister Larsen in Maple Ridge for transfer meeting. What a blessing!

- Finding a new investigator while using the fitting from at Target today #classic

Thanks for all your love and support!  Hopefully I don't get shot this week...

xoxo,

Sister Annie Holm

Last night in Osoyoos.

Saying bye to my beloved Bro. Whitesell

Me and Sis Christensen

Bang, Bang.. she shot me!

Can you name the song? If you can.. I'll send you a gift card to Tim Hortons!

I'm getting transferred!  I love [Oliver and] Osoyoos but I gotta get outa here!  I'm headed to Surrey North, known as the ghetto of British Columbia.  My new companion is Sister Christensen and together we'll convert all the drug dealers, prostitutes, and gang bangers.  I'm beyond thrilled!  I'm going from the land of the grapes and wine to a city with high crime rates.  Ah...I cannot wait to see what happens out there!

It's been an interesting week.  We've been doing the last couple things on my Osoyoos bucket list.  One was catching Sir Galihath (seen below) and driving out on 'the rez' for no reason. It was wonderful!  We also had the opportunity to teach an older gentleman wearing a darling forest green mini skirt.  I'm very grateful he kept his legs crossed..but needless to say we had to drop him.

Our beloved Mexican investigator Eliseo is still progressing.  He loves the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more about the Word of Wisdom.  There isn't much else to say about him...except that I'm pretty sure that he did Vote for Pedro.

Thanks for all the kind emails I got this week.  Last week was rough and I'm so grateful for the love and support from each and every one of you!  I'm so grateful for my Savior and Redeemer.  He truly is my anchor and keeps me grounded.  I know that I can lean on Him and that when I fall.  His hand will always be the first to reach out and help me up.  I loved Mosiah 14.  I read it during the sacrament on Easter sunday and I think my heart grew 3x's its size!  The Atonement has always been something hard for me to fathom, but once I finally was able to wrap my heart around it, it's something I cherish more than anything now.

I can't wait to tell you about my new adventures in Surrey.  Hopefully I don't get shot before next p-day.  Holla!

Love always,

Sister Gangsta Holmgirl

I will be in North Surrey, somewhere near the green "Canada Highway 1" sign.

A good rendition of me!

Kim and me.

Captured Sir Galiath.  I was scared it was gonna attack me. #classic

The new motto.