September 5th

Everything here in the DR is going well. We had a good week we didnt have a lot of people at church but we feel good about the way we worked. We had a special fast for our investigators and we are working hard for them. We are teaching a lot of families and are hoping that they can work hard also. We are teaching one family that the wife is a member and the husband was into drugs and a lot of bad stuff but he changed his life around and now he only has a problem with drinking. He really has astrong desire to stop drinking, the temptation is strong for him and in this country it is worse. He is a great guy and has a great spirit. We are still teaching Espinal and he was interviewed and is ready for baptism but we are not sure if we are going to do it this week or next. but we think this week.

We have been working hard and having a lot of faith and things seem to be changing a lot. We are working on really giving everyone a chance and giving all that we have for every single investigator and contact and it is working. We are finding a lot of people. My spanish is getting a lot more clear now that I have beeen with Elder Moreno and hearing real spanish has helped a lot.

The weather has been Really hot lately, very humid and the sun has been strong. But that is about it from the Republic. I hope all is well with you guys and that your working hard in all that you do. When we put our mind to something and work towards it you will achieve it. Especially spiritual things when you have the help of The Lord. And the Goal is Exaltation for all and Gozo Sin Fin.

Con Amor,

Elder Holmes

August 29th

Well another what was it 5 days passes by. It does seem like it was a
week though. E. Moreno and I have been working really hard lately, but
things dont seem to be going the way we want. We will continue to work
hard and we will see some success. We are teaching a lot of families
which is awesome cause you can see them changing there lives and the
atmosphere of the house changing. We have been struggling with finding
new people so we have been talking to a lot of new people looking for
the chosen people that have been prepared by the lord. There are a lot
of great people in this area. It is just getting them to church and
getting them to realize the importance of this message.

We also have an older guy that we are teaching named Federico but his
nick name is Espinal which means spike. It is a perfect name for him.
He is a very funny guy and very upfront with people. He has a great
desire to follow Christ and we are helping him learn about the true
church. He already says that he is a member and loves going to the
church. The other day we were teaching him and somebody walked by with
a megaphone preaching, which is normal in this country yes, but he
told us that we as mormons need to repent. So espinal said. Callase su
boca! Callase su boca! Which means shut your mouth. Then he was about
to go chase him down but the guy left. He is such a funny guy. He
always says funny stuff to us.

Today we went to eat at a Mexican place so that E. Moreno could eat
something good, and it was really good, just was a little expensive so
we have to be carefull with our money for a little bit.

I had to give a talk yesterday in the branch. I did alright I think
people can actually understand me good now over a microphone so that
is nice.

Well I hope that everything is going well for all of you. I pray for
your well being spiritually and physically daily and hope that we all
will be diligent in following Our Lord Jesucristo. love you all so
much.

Con Amor,

Elder Holmes

August 24th

Well, new comp and new area and everything is going great. We got to go to the temple today so that was a blessing to be in the house of the Lord for a while. The temple grounds in this temple are beautifull. I am still getting used to the area, it is a lot different then my others. It is more poor and there are a lot of alleyways so it is hard to learn the area. It is right on the river. My comp, Elder Moreno from Mexico is awesome. He is a great missionary and works hard. I am learning a lot from him. We only speak English cause he has a test coming up for his english certification so I am helping him a lot with his english. It is nice to hear actual spanish being spoken it has helped my accent a lot having more clear spanish reguarly. We are teaching a lot of families right now which is great. All of them need to get married before baptism so we are working on that right now.

It is my first branch and the branch is kind of a mess. The leaders dont really want to do anything. E. Moreno and I do a lot and it will be hard to handle all of it after E. Moreno leaves. After the Temple we went to El Conde where all the tourists go to buy things. there is a lot of cool things and a lot of old colonial things too and old catholic churches that were way cool. I have some good pictures but I will have to upload them next week.

I am learning how to teach very simply right now as we have some investigators that are slower. It is amazing how simple the gospel can be and the little knowledge we need to be able to follow the path. Well I hope everything is going well for everyone and that everyone is happy. Count your many blessings and you will truly see how many blessings that we receive for nothing. Love you all so much.

con amor,

Elder Holmes

August 15th

Well another week goes by fast. this week is transfer week and me voy or i am going. I will be going to a different area in the capital more in the central. My comp E. Almonte who i have now is going to be training this transfer. I will have E. Moreno as a comp, he is from mexico which is cool. i will get to hear real spanish. He Is a great Elder I hear, he was a zone leader and he will be leaving after this next transfer. so i will have 6 comps in 6 transfers and then 7 in 7 after this next one. 

The week went well we had 7 people in church this week which is way good. one family came that we are excited to teach. their daughter is a member and is excited to share the gospel with her family. we are still working with Juan and Estephani, Juan´s father died a few days ago so that was sad but they were expecting it cause he had cancer and it was his time to go.  We taught him the plan of Salvation and how that there is still a chance for him to except the gospel and receive exaltation. It is peacefull to know that Heavenly Father is so mercifull to us and that everyone will have a chance. I am sad to leave the area but i am getting used to coming and leaving. 

That is all from this week i hope that all is well with all of you and that you are receiving the blessings of the lord. Work hard to follow the Savior´s example live a Christian life. love you all so much. 

Con Amor

Elder Holmes

August 8th

Another week passes by and everything is good. ya the tropical storm came through but i was dissapointed. it didnt really hit the DR very hard. The day it came through there was just cloud cover and it didnt rain. but the day before and the day after it rained pretty hard, but it i have seen it rain harder so i was kind of dissapointed. But President had has buy some extra food and water just in case so we had to be prepared. other than that we had a good week still struggling to get people to church but there are a few coming. We don't have any baptismal dates right now, but we are still working with Estephani and Juan and they still have the desire but are not sure. When people are going through the process of baptism satan puts more things in their way and makes it harder for them. 

We have found some new people and are working with them and hoping that they will accept the gospel. transfers are in a week we dont expect to get moved or have any changes but with a new president you never know. So we will have to see. we are going to the temple at the end of this month the 31 so if i forget to tell you my pday will be a wednesday on that day 

Right now our ward doesnt have a bishop so we are hoping to get one soon. are ward starts at 8 because we share a chapel with another ward. so they start at 10 and we at 8. they have 2 sister missionaries. one of which is aunt Jens niece. I keep forgetting to mention that. We found that out a couple of weeks ago. It was funny. such a small world.

Well that is about it from the DR this week I hope all is well with everyone and I am so thankfull for all of your support. Love you all so much.

con amor,

Elder Holmes

July 25th

Well another week passes by rapido. I cant believe that it will be august in another week. Time goes by extremely fast. We are working hard here which helps the time go by faster. We had a good week taught a lot of people and got the ward members more involved. That is what we are working on right now is to get the ward members involved. It is so much easier to help people come into the Gospel when the ward members are helping. to have a friend in the church makes people stay stronger in the church. This week we had the interviews for Juan and estephani and they both did good but both are a little timid to take the step of baptism so we think that we are going to push it back another week. other than that we have been finding a lot of people and have been struggling to get people to visit the church. When it is at 8 the people have less of a desire to go to an unfamiliar place. it is also an easy way to find the people who are truly ready to receive the gospel.

 

Other then that we have been trying to find new people and working hard with the people progressing right now. It has been a little bit cooler this last week because it was raining a lot so it was a little better. Hurricanes usually dont hit this country with much strength they are still building up strength so they dont do a lot of damage here. they just flood the streets and people enjoy bathing in the rain. more or less bathing. some people go by little packs of shampoo and wash their hair when it is raining really hard. it was interesting the first time that i saw that.

 

Well that is about it from the DR. I hope that everything is going well for all of you. you are all in my prayers daily. thank you for all the support. Trust in God and be worthy for the voice of the spirit.

 

Con Amor,

 

Elder Holmes

July 18th, 2011

Holas de la Republica,

 

Everything here is going well, we have a lot of investigators and are working with them hard. We dont have alot of time in between appointments which is great cause the day goes by faster and your always on that spiritual high. yesterday was a hard day we only had 1 person in church and it wasnt any of our investigators just some random guy that came. Juan and Estephani are still progressing but we moved their dates back to the 30, they are quite ready to make the commitment. we have found a lot of people again and are trying to figure out if they are ready or not. we dont have a lot of time to waste just talking to people. but we have to give everyone a good chance to see if they are ready. There are a ton of inactives om this ward. we contacted at least 6 since E. Almonte has came. and that is just randomly doing contacts.

 

interviews went well for us. Pres. Hernendez is a great guy. He is very relaxed and natural. He doesnt speak english which would be hard for the new people coming in. but his wife does speak it so that is good. they are both really great people and have a strong spirit with them. It will be interesting to see what changes are made over the next few transfers. over half teh mission is going hime within 4 months so we are going to see a lot of changes. also Pres. Antivilo was only using 30 percent of the budget when he left so maybe we will get a few more things like a back up power system. that would be nice the other missions on the island have them but we dont. most people here have them too. It has been hotter these last few days cause it hasnt been raining. the sun is powerfull when it is shining here.

 

I cant upload pictures today cause the computer i am using doesnt have a usb port and it is way slow. but that is all from the Dominican republic for this week. i hope everyone is doing well and that you all hove the spirit with you. always take the time to evaluate your life and think if this is what God wants you to be doing. love lyou all.

 

Con Amor

 

Elder Holmes

July 11th

Saludos de la Republica,

This week went by fast, we had a good week found a lot of new people to teach. We are completely full for the next three days with appointments. We have two people with baptismal dates right now. Juan and Estephani for the 23 of this month. Juan is 29 and a good guy he is already living all the commandments before we taught him anything and that is weird in this country. He is a little nervous for his baptismal date but we are working with him and letting the spirit work within him. Estephani is a little nervous too but she is way cool and she also is already living the commandments she is 19. We are teaching her family too a family of 7. but as of right now she is the only one that is ready we are going to keep working with her family so they can receive the blessings that come from this gospel.

Last Monday when we left the internet place we left to a tropical storm. It was crazy how much rain was coming down. By the time we got home it was as if we had jumped in the river with all of our clothes on.we had to walk through water past our ankles to make it to our house. We also couldnt leave the house after cause it was raining the rest of the night. I have some pictures but this computer wont recognize my camera so i cant download them this week.

I havent met Pres. Hernandez yet but  we have interviews with him this Thursday so we will meet him there. My comp went to a meeting with him and said he was a great guy and very relaxed and easy going which is different from our last pres. I dont think he speaks very much english which will be hard for the new americans coming in who dont speak spanish. I am glad that i got  here when we had a pres. That spoke english.

Well that is all from the republica. I hope all is going well with all of you. Stay strong in the faith and give thanks for our many blessings which we have. Thank you all for your support. Love you all so much.

Con Amor,

Elder Holmes

July 4th, 2011

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

It is weird not being home for the 4th but be thankful for our country, we have a good life there. I remember coming home from Africa this time last year and saying the same thing it is weird how fast the time is going. It seems like yesterday I was in Africa and now I am in a different country speaking some foriegn language. Life is a wonderfull experience, always take advantage of the time we have on this earth now is the time to prepare to meet God.

Everything here is going well. I was glad to have changed comps and get someone who is not trunky. Elder Almonte is my comp he is from here from La Vega if you want to look that up it is in the Santiago mission. We get along great and worked hard this week. We also had E. Braithwaight with us as he is going to be training and his comp doesnt leave the ccm untill tommorrow, so we had a fun time and worked hard. It is weird teaching in a trio but fun in the house. E. Braithwaight went to the islands and learned popimento. It is interesting to hear about how the islands are. 

We have a good pool of investigators and got a lot more this week. We have 2 familys that seem like they will progress good and we are excited about that. We also have a few more and that have that desire to know about the true Gospel. It is amazing to see how people are prepared to receive the gospel and how ready they are to accept it when we share the message. This week we had two amazing lessons where the spirit was strong and where the investigators recognize it. We had one lesson with a women and his wife the other day and we had taught the women Joselin once and she has a strong desire to be baptized after she went and saw the one we had 2 weeks ago, but the husband was drunk the first 2 times we went over there. They need to get married and when one of the people dont want to get married it is way hard to get them married then baptized so I was kind of down about that, but 2 days ago he sat down and listened to us and you could see the change and excitement in his eyes as we taught the lesson. You can literally see the light of Christ shining brighter in their eyes when the spirit is there. Now they both want to be baptized. They are so excited to hear the new things we teach them. They are a great couple and we hope that they can keep their desire and work towards baptism. 

I hope all is well with everything and everyone. you are all in my prayers daily. thank you so much for everything. love you all!

con amor

Elder Holmes

                            

 

Elder Holmes his outgoing Mission President

June 27

Buenas de la Republica.

 

Well today and the next few weeks is going to be weird. I will be in a trio for today with our zoneleader and a mini missionary from Utah but his family is living here for a year or two. He is 15 I cant imagine serving at teh age of 15 but for these last two hours he seems like a good guy. Then tomorrow my comp comes Elder Almonte he is Dominican but speaks quite a bit of english I know him from La Romana and he is a great missionary so I am excited to work with him. Then we are also going to have a trio with another elder for a week while he waits for his trainee to come, so it should be interesting but it will be fun.  Our new President comes tomorrow to take over and  am not sure how all that will work if we are going to have a meeting or not but I would think so some time soon but not positive. I am excited to work these next week and try to find some new people and work hard. I think that we will have a lot of success.

 

Hmno Wayne was baptized this saturday and everything went really well. He has a strong testimony and already fits in in the ward which is great. We also have a few more people that are progressing and I hope that they will except the gospel and be baptized. One lady asked us after the baptism of Wayne if she could be baptized tomorrow, which was sunday. We told her she has to learn a little more and get married cause she has a boyfriend for I think 15 years now so we will work on that. It is great to see people that have that strong desire to follow christ and have truly been prepared to recieve this gospel.

 

I think that I am going to put pictures up but not positive so we will see. thank you all for everything that you do and I hope that all is well. I pray for you all daily and hope that you continue to follow Jesus and receive the blessings that come with being a true disciple of Christ.

con amor

Elder Holmes

 

                    Wayne's baptism

              Elder Holmes with Wayne and Elder Pena

June 20

Another week goes by and they seem to be going faster and faster each week. It is crazy to think that i already have 7 months in the mission. Things have been going good for my comp and I. We have some promising investigators. One, wayne but they say it weird but that is how it is spelled no one can say his name it is kind of funny. Wayne has a baptiamal date for this saturday and I am pretty sure it will go through. He has a lot of faith and loves the church. He was a reference from one of the families that the Hermanas baptized that their family is seeing the change in their lives and wants to know why and how. It is pretty cool. but we have a few others that are progressing. One old guy that has been coming to church for a while but he has been going to a different ward but now we have everything straightened out and he should progress to baptism if he has the desire. Other then that we are still looking for new people and  hoping to find some families. My comp has one more week left in his mission and so he is counting down the days till he leaves.

The weather is still extremely hot and humid but the last few nights it hasnt been as bad which is good. It is nice to have a break form the heat for a little bit. I guess that is has been hotter than normal this past week or two and should cool down a little in the next few weeks but we also dont get a lot of news as missionaries so we dont really know if what we hear is correct. 

Next pday we have an activity with president Antivilo and then he leaves the next tuesday so I wouldnt be surprised if Pres. Hernandez will be there, but you never know.  I also dont know what will happen to me during the week between when the old people leave and the new ones come. It is going to be different so we will see how everything works out. well I dont have much to say today but I hope all is well with everyone. You are all in my prayers and I hope the best for you all. Always remember our savior and what he did for us and make decisions on the thought of our eternal salvation. 

Con amor

Elder Holmes

June 13th

Well I dont have a lot of time to write this week, we got to an internet center later then we wanted and have to leave soon. But things are going good in the capital. I am starting to get used to the different atmosphere and all is going well. It has been extremely hot and humid this last week. We ask for water in every house we stop in even if it is just for a minute. Trying to stay hydrated and have energy. It is really hot and humid at night too which makes it hard to sleep. It isnt bad if the fan is going but since we don't have power half the time we don't have a fan either. But the work goes on and we have been finding some more people and have some promising people that are very interested in the gospel.

 

We have Nolis who is the husband of a member and has been investigating the church for a while now he says he thinks he is ready to make the commitment for baptism. Him and his wife are great people and he will be a strong support for the ward. He is a musician and has a mini recording studio in his house. It is really cool, he was showing us how he can change the music by just changing a few things it is crazy how much technology is in music now a days.

 

We had two other people come to church this week that we are going to start teaching and hopefully they will accept the gospel. My comp only has two more weeks left then he goes home with pres. He leaves a week earlier than the transfer and so all the elders finishing with him leave early too. So there will be two transfer days, so not sure how that is going to work out.

 

My comp is a little trunky but I have been trying to get him to keep working and I think it helps a little to get him to work hard. He is a great person and elder  and I am glad that I can be his comp. I think pres is getting a litlle trunky too. It is ging to be a big change after three years of his life.

 

Well, all is gong well and I hope all is well with you guys. You are all in my prayers daily. Remember to always pray and to give thanks for all the blessings that we have in our lives and for all that we have received. Sometimes we find ourselves lost in the world and not giving thanks for everything and remembering where all it comes from. love ya all God Bless

 

Con amor

 

Elder Holmes

June 6th

How is everything going for everyone.I hope all is well. Things here are good. Today we went to a wedding of some investigators of the sisters that we share a chapel with. The investigators have been going to church for almost a year and they finally decided to get married and I think there baptism date is for this or next saturday. E. peña and I helped get all the papers for their marriage and get everything sorted out so it was a good experience. It is always good to see people changing their lives for the better. We are teaching one family and a few other people but still dont have a lot of people. still trying to get more people. we have one investigator that is a great guy. His wife is a new member and we are working with him right now. They were married from the begining before they came to know the church which is weird in this country for 2 young people to get married by the law. They usually just move in together and say they are "married" so this family is very special and I believe he already has a testimony we are only waiting for and helping him make a decision.

Church here starts at 8 ín the morning and that is horrible for lnvestigators to get to church. People like to sleep and not get up early but there are always chosen people that are willing to make the sacrifice we just need to find them.

We got a new washing machine from the office so I didnt have to do my laundry by hand thankfullly. The new one we got is huge too. We cant really find a place to put it. But we have to be home at the right times in order to do laundry because there usually isnt power so the washing machine is useless.

Today at about 9 it started raining hard and it rained hard untill about 2 so the streets are all flooded and it is bad. We walked home and you have to plan the route you take around the water to find the best place where your feet wont get too wet. It rains like crazy here and never stops and the streets cant handle it.

Well that is about all from the DR. I hope all is well with everyone. You are all in my prayers daily and hope that God is with you always. Study the talks of conference and apply them to your lives. They really are meant for our day and for each of us individually. Thanks for everything.

 love ya all.

 Con amor

Elder Holmes

This is a picture Gladys, Gabriel and Gladys' grand-daughters who Jake taught in La Romana

May 30th 1st week in Santo Domingo

Well buenas de La Capital. The capital is a little different for sure. It is a lot dirtier and more stores in my area then there was in my other. The people don't come pick up trash everyday so people just throw it in the streets and the dogs get into it and it gets everywhere. Also on the way over to this internet place we saw a buch of cows eating trash. It makes me not want to eat beef from here.  It is a good area though.  The ward isnt very strong (in numbers). It doesn't have a lot of people but it is a good ward with strong members. Sacrament starts at 8:00 in the morning so it is really hard to get people to come to church. We talk to people and invite them to church but when we say that it is at 8 they look at us weird and say ya i will be there but they don't have any intention of going. Right now we don't have hardly any investigators. we are working on gettting some new ones.

Elder Peña my comp is a amazing at talking to people, when he talks people listen and understand him very well. he is a great teacher and has only been in this ward for a transfer but knows everyone and everyone knows him. He is a great teacher too. My spanish is getting a lot better for talking about things other than the gospel. He helps me a lot with that and I help him with English. We get along well. He used to be in the military here in the DR and he went to Iraq for a year and a half.  I am learning a lot from him. He has 94 baptisms in his mission so far. That is a ton of people! We are going to try and find some families to teach.

Well last sat. Gabriel and Gladys were baptized and all went well. E. Correa said everything went well and that it was a success. I wish i could have been there but he said that he would send the pictures to me. I dont know when he will but when he does I will send them to you guys. Well i am trying to get used to the new area and a new comp. The first week with a new comp always goes by slow. But I hope that this next week goes by faster and that we can find some new people. 

Today was fun. I got to go to parke del este which is where all the missionaries in the capital come to play sports and stuff. I didnt play anything because we got there late but I got to see a lot of my friends and got to catch up with them which was great. We also went to megacentral which is a huge mall that has a ton of stores and places to eat. I got to eat taco bell which was really good.

That is about it from la Republica. I hope everyone is doing well you are all in my prayers. Always keep to have faith in Christ and to trust in him in all that you do. Thank you all for your support.

Love you all.

 con amor

Elder Holmes

May 23rd His first Transfer

Buenas Dias,

Well yesterday we got the call for transfers. I am leaving to go to the capital. I forgot the name of the place but it is the north east part of the capital. I really wanted to stay but dont really get to pick. My new comp is Elder Peña he is Dominican but doesnt know any english, so I will be thrown more into the culture then I have been. He is going home next transfer so by the end of next transfer I will have 5 comps in 5 transfers. It is kind of hard to get used to teaching styles and everything so it makes it difficult to change so often, but it will be good for me to get my spanish better. Elder Correa taught me a lot this transfer and I will get to apply the things to my mission. We really got along.

Well the weather here has been rainy. I think it was last tuesday when it started raining just a little bit at first but then eventually we had to run into an apartment building to get out of the rain. It rains unbelievably hard. We were stuck in the apartment building for over an hour waiting for the rain to stop. Some lady let us in her house so we were talking to her and her family for a while. The wind was blowing really hard too, and it even started hailing. It was quite a storm. It blew over 4 or 5 power poles so there wasnt power for a while. But the streets and everything were flooded for a few days. It was crazy. Then it rained really hard sunday right after church started so the people that usually show up later didnt come and we didnt have a great turn out for church. But Gladys and Gabriel and the 2 granddaughters came so that was good.

The area is going good. Gladys and Gabriel and the two granddaughters of gGladys are getting baptized next weekend which is geat. I wish i was here to see it but Elder Correa said he would send me the pictures. They were interviewed and everything and will be great members. Gabriel really is already part of the ward. I think he even has had an itnterview with the bishop. hHe will be a great addition to the young mens program.

We have some other great investigators that I hope will progress towards baptism and receive all the blessings that come with the gospel but you never know. Not a lot of people came to church this week cause of the rain. We were still trying to find new people and trying to help them recive the gospel but we are having trouble finding a lot of people who are willing to go to church. But there are always people looking for the truth even if they dont know it so we are really working hard on helping the people get to church so they can feel the spirit.

Well that is all from La Relpublica  I hope all is going well for everyone you are all in my prayers. Love you all and thanks for everything.

con amor

Elder Holmes

May 16th

Buenas de la Republica.

 

Everything here is going well. Not too much happened this week. We had zone conference which was good. there is only one more week untill the end of transfers, so Grandpa you were right, this time next week I will know if i am going anywhere. I hope not but you never know. Elder Correa and I get along really well. He is a great missionary and a great teacher.  I hope i can stay with him for another transfer and learn more from him.

 

We are still working hard and hoping and praying to find success. We are teaching good people but not a lot of people, so we are really looking hard to find new people who are ready to hear the gospel. We do have a few new people that went to church and we will start teaching them week and hope everything goes well with that. We are still trying to work with Jon Carlos on being confident for baptism. He passed his interview and everything. He knows it is true but just doesnt know if he is ready or if he wants to make the decision to get baptized. It is hard to work with him when we only can see him once a  week and that is just sometimes. We didnt see him this week to really teach him, but we will continue to work with him and let the spirit work within him.

 

We are still teaching Gabriel and Gladys they are progressing. Gabriel is ready for baptism and is just waiting for the 4th of June or to see if his mom is ready before that. She is sick a lot of the time so it is hard for her to  concentrate on the lessons. so we pass by a lot to try to find her in good health to teach her. She still wants to know more about the gospel and is waiting for an answer to see if the church is true. She was talking with the JW´s so she thinks that she has to study the bible with us for years before she can get baptized, so we are working on that. We have a few others progressing but not very fastly so we are just teaching them and hoping that they will gain the desire to follow the desires of their souls.

 

Well that is about it for this week. I hope all is going well for everyone you are all in my prayers daily. Thank you all so much for everything. Have a great week Vayan con Dios.

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

May 9, 2011 Short letter but we talked to him the day before!!

Liz Karen at her baptism

Well it was great to be able to talk to my family and friends. I really enjoyed all of it and to be able to hear their voices and talk directly and not through email. I hope all is going well for everyone. I dont have a lot to say cause I just talked to you yesterday. But everything here is going well.

We have some good investigators and we are hoping to have a baptism this weekend with Jon Carlos. He says he feels ready but he isn't 100 percent sure. So we are working on trying to get him prepared. He is a good guy and will be a great member. He has a lot of support in the church so he will be a strong member and help the ward out a lot.

We also have Gabriel and Gladys. Gladys had to go to the hospital last week she had heart problems, but now she is even more interested in the gospel and has a strong desire to be baptized. She knows the church is true and loves attending the meetings. Gabriel is still excited about gettng baptized and already he is part of the ward. 2 grand kids live with  Gladys too, and they go to church with her and love it so they might get baptized with them too. We have a goal for the 21st, so we will work hard to get them ready.

That is about it from the DR today. I hope all is well with all of you. God Bless.

con amor

Elder Holmes

May 2nd

Buenas de La Republica

How is everything going in the states? I hope well. Everything here is going well. We had a baptism this last weekend and it went really well. Lizkaren will be a strong member. You really can already tell the difference in her. The holy ghost really does illuminate people. She is so happy too, her grandma also. The whole service went well and you could definetly feel the spirit. It is going to be nice to have someone in the new members and investigators class that can share real strong testimony for the investigators there. We lost 2 new members last week to new callings that kind of dwindled our class but with her it will be strong again. I dont have pictures right now but i will try to upload them next week.

My mission president is a great man. I dont know him very well but you can tell from when you meet him. Because I am in La Romana I really dont know what goes on around the mission very much besides when I talk to friends but I dont have a lot of time for that. I was interviewed once right when I came in and one other time then that is it for him cause he is leaving in june. We have at least one meeting a transfer with him sometimes two. But I dont know him very well.

We are teaching some great people still. Gabriel and Gladys the son and mom are still progressing. Gabriel is ready to be baptized and asked us if he could get baptized earlier but we have to wait till he turns 18 or untill his mom wants to get baptized. He turns 18 the first of june so he will either be baptized this month or next month. I think we can get the mom to be baptized she has all the right questions and she is open so I think we can get the spirit working in her and get that desire to follow Jesus Christ.

We havent been finding a lot of new people wanting to go to church and progress so we have really been working hard on trying to get people to attend church then start teaching them it is a lot easier for them to understand our message after they have seen how the church runs and the spirit that is there. We had one new guy go to church this week so we are going to go over there and start to teach him today. He said he loved church and I think that he will be open to the gospel.

For pday today we went to the marvalas caves or cueves la maravillas, it was a way cool cave that had a lot of awesome stuff and rocks and paintings. But we werent alowed to take pictures so that kind of stunk but we did get a brochure.

Well i cant really think of anything else to say for this week. Oh but I do get to call home this week which will be great to talk to the family. I am excited for that. well I hope this email finds you all in great spirits and in the path of the lord. I love you all and pray for you all daily. Keep working hard on gaining a stronger testimony of the savior and always be learning more. When you arent learning you are declining.
 love ya all.

con amor

Elder Holmes

April 25th: Bucket Showers!?

Saludos,

Well another week passes by very fast. We had a good week had some good days and are having some progressing investigators. The one baptism that we were going to have didn't go through because he works too much and we couldn't get him interviewed but maybe in a few weeks. We have one baptism planned for this weekend with a younger girl Liz Karen. She is 18 and is the granddaughter of a member. she has been taking missionary lessons for over a year and a half. I guess something just clicked and she was ready. I went by their house to introduce E. Correa to her grandma. So we shared a scripture with them and invited her to church. She came and so we sent up an appointment to talk to her. So we talked to her and taught a few things then she asked when we were going to be holding the next baptism we told her and she said she was ready. Not sure what made her change her mind or what made her ready but whatever it was it was for the best. Her grandma is way excited about the whole thing and has been trying to help her get to church for many years. I guess the example her grandma was to her eventually made her decide she was ready.

We are still working with wendi and Yon carlos and trying to get them to have testimonies of the BoM. once they have that testimony things should start to move smooth. The BoM really is the thing that makes the deal. When you they receive a testimony of the BoM they can see how important all this stuff is and it helps them have more faith in God and that he really does answer prayers. It also helps them stay active after baptism.

We need to try to always strengthen our testimony of the BoM and the true church of Jesus Christ, and always be giving thanks for all that we have.

This week was holy week.  They celebrate the whole week as easter. There is a very strong christian background here which is really good, but the way they celabrate it isnt the best. People bring out pools smaller pools into the streets and fill them with water then play in them and drink alcohol all day. And i guess everyone goes to the beaches and hangs out there. Sometimes it is hard to remember why we really have holidays. It is important to remember the true meaning of the holidays we have.

Well we finally have water again for the last 4 days we havent had any running water so we have been showering from buckets and doing dishes from the buckets too. We have to go fill up the buckets in a well and carry them up to our apartment. I was so happy to see that we had water. We take things for granted in the U.S.

Well that is all from the DR. Hope all is well in the states with everyone.
Love you all.

con amor

Elder Holmes

April 18th and some new pictures!

Saludos de La Republica

Well things are going well with my new comp Elder Correa. He is a great elder and really knows how to teach. He worked in the office and was a zone leader right before he came here. He has 3 transfers left so I think that he will finish his mission here. We are still getting used to teaching styles but I have already learned a lot from him.  He knows perfect english which is nice and he is helping me a lot with my spanish.  My spanish is getting better. I surprise myself sometimes on how much I know but really that is just the Lord helping me out. I still study hard and still have a ways to go before I am fluent but things are definetely getting better.

We have a few good investigators and we are hoping that they will progress. Yon Carlos is ready to be baptized but he doesnt know it. He knows the church is true and that it is the right thing to do but he doesnt think he is prepared yet. We are helping him get prepared and hopefully he can be baptized this weekend.

Then gabriel the 17 year old is doing good he wants to be baptized and so we will wait until he is 18 on the first of june then he will be baptized. Or if we can get his mom to go to church and get her wanting to be baptized we can do it earlier. He is already fitting in with the ward and likes to go to the activities and really enjoys church. His mom is still sick with the flu and we are trying to help her get feeling better so she can go to church but you never know how she is going to be doing.

We are also teaching Yoni and Kelvin. they are a father and son and are great people. Kelvin wants to change his life and has really been enjoying church and our visits. he has a sincere desire to change his life and you can see a change in him already. Yoni has a different view on religion and believes that he can be saved only on faith. But faith without works is dead. So we are working with them a lot.

Wendi is still progressing and he is pretty much stopped smoking which is great. Now we are just working on tring to strengthen his testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gospel. His wife isnt completely supportive which makes it hard. We are still working with a lot of new people and are really trying to get people to come to church. once they come to church they can understand what we teach a lot more and are more receptive to the gospel.

Things here have been good though. It rained a couple times last week and when it rains here it really rains, we had to go inside a colmado for about 20 min untill it stopped. The streets were flooded for about an hour after too. It is still really hot during the day and cool at night. I dont have much time today so that is about it. I posted a few pictures of our apartment and stuff hope you enjoy.

Always have an eternal prospect on life and you will be more likely to make the right choices. Everything we do has an eternal consequence whether it be good or bad. we need to always remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us especially during this Easter time. Love you all and pray for you all.

con amor

Here are some more pics of his apartment and surrounding area. Needless to say, they are messy Elders!

April 11th

Well everything here is doing good. We received where everyone was going for this next transfer and I am staying but my comp elder Alldredge is leaving which is weird to only stay in an area for 1 transfer but it happens he is only moving over one area to be a zone leader. I am getting elder Correa as an companion. He is dominican and a good elder. He was a zone leader and worked in the office so he has to be pretty good. It is getting hotter and hotter but I guess this is as hot as it gets in la romana but it is just here earlier then usual.

 

Our power has been out for this whole morning which is unusual for here but my comp said that I am finally getting to know what most of the D.R. is like. It is hard to not notice how blessed we are to live in the states and how we take advantage of it.

 

I was excited about this next transfer with elder alldredge we have a lot of great investigators. I am still excited but it is hard getting used to teaching styles and stuff like that especially with the investigators. But I am still excited and ready to work. Wendi is still progressing. we dropped his baptismal date but still working hard with him. His wife is starting to show some interest also which is really good cause she kind of wears the pants in the family. They have doubts but it really all comes down to praying and asking God if these things are true. Which is always the deal breaker. If the people have a sincer desire and listen and pay attention for an answer it always comes. A lot of people have a lot of doubts but when you tell them to ask God about it they cant argue with us.

 

We are teaching some other people too that have a lot of potential and we are excited about. I hope everything continues to work out. it is sad to see when people dont except the message and to know how many blessings that they are missing out on. But people have their agency and we have to just do all we can to help them make the right decisions.

 

Well that is all I have from here. I hope everything is going well with every one else. You are all in my prayers and I thank you alll for your support. always pray to God and build a strong relationship with him remember that he is never too busy for us and always listens and gives us what we truly need even if we dont think it is.

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

April 4th

Saludos de la Republica, everything here is doing well and i hope that all is well in the states. Conference this week was great it is always a great spiritual experience to here from the leaders of the church. Try to apply what they said to our lives. They receive revalation for us and we need to listen to what they say and really try to pay attention to what they warned us of. They talked a lot about families and how important they are. The need to have families based on the gospel of Jesus Christ is important. It gives us the direction we need and help in the hard times. We need to have an eternal look on life and try to make the decisions that are going to be best for our eternal salvation and not look at just the moment. We are so blessed to have the knowledge that we have. We also need to share it with all that we know and just mention how the gospel has blessed our lives.

 

We have been teaching a lot of people and not a lot are progressing very fast but we have some great investigators. One investigator Gabriel he is american but both his parents are dominicans and he lives with his mom in the D.R. now. He went to 3 sessions of conference which is way more then the members do. He enjoyed all of them and could really feel the spirit. The problem is that he is 17 and in this mission if they are not 18 then they need to live a member or be baptized with a family member. So we have been teaching his mom too but she is sick and cant really go to church. She is interested too though. so we will keep working with them and hope that we can get her to church.

 

Wendi is still progressing and he really enjoyed conference too. His son wants to be baptized with him but since the mom is way catholic and he is already been baptized in the catholic church it might be hard.

 

We found a lot of new investigators this week and have been working hard on getting them progressing. People here have a desire to hear of the gospel but sometimes just dont know how important it is. There are churches on every block here so some people are really attached to their churchs and are blinded from the truth.

 

Well i hope all is well with everyone. you are all in my prayers. Love you all

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

 

March 28, 2011

Hey well things here are doing great. I guess I will answer your questions first.

How is your spanish? Do you even have to concentrate on it any more or is it pretty easy for you?



My spanish is getting better and better each day. I can talk alright but I still have a hard accent and am still translating directly so it isnt always right. I can understand close to everything and am working on getting better each day. I did give a talk in church last week I hope people were able to understand me but who knows.

Did you talk to the YW president and ask of they wanted to do the pen pal thing with us? We have already done ours so I hope they will respond.  Should I send it pouch, or if I email it can you print them off? They have pictures of the girls and stuff.
No I havent talked to her.Idont remember cause it is about a week away so I dont remember. I will write it down in my planner and will hopefully remember. But they dont have a mail system here so the mission is the only way to get things places so when I leave then you wouldnt be able to send it to them. So I dont know how you want to do it.

Have you been able to take a picture for your plaque or do you want me to just use something I have here?
Just do something there. Or take one of the pictures that i have uploaded.

What do you usually have for lunch and dinner? Do they have Mac and cheese type stuff there or do you still do the chicken & rice stuff?
Lunch I have a few different things depending on what happens sometimes I have hotdogs, spaghetti, rice and beans, just depends or burgerking. It is in our area so everyonce in a while we go there. Or to colmadoras they cook so we get rice and beans and chicken there which is good. Then for dinner i dont do much. we dont take time out to eat dinner so we just eat when we get back so i usually have peanut butter and jelly sanwhich. or something easy. I am always eating a lot of fruit too cause it is cheap and realy good. And there is a bakery by us that sells bread that is way good.

So it all kind of depends. They have name brand stuff but it is really expensive. There is a grocery store we go to that is just like an american place called jumbo so they have everything that you need it is kind of like a walmart supercenter but not as big.

What about candy and cereal etc? Do they have any of he same brands there? Craving anything from home?
Ya they have a lot of the same candy and stuff. but not as much of a variety and it is expensive. The cereal that is american is way expensive so I just get the dominican stuff. I crave stuff everyonce in a while but not horribly. I loved the package and everything in it. I dont think I can send stuff like that through the pouch and to send stuff through something else cost alot so probable wont be worth it.

I do need a few more things like 3 more white shirts. I forgot to bring some more and need about 3 more. And there is a cd called tribute to nashville and it is church songs in country music that is really good  that would be nice to have.

The weather is getting way hotter during the day and still chilly at night but.I have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.

What about candy and cereal etc? Do they have any of he same brands there? Craving anything from home?


La Romana is a safe city. there is only one plact that is somewhat dangerous and that is only at night and you can avoid it easily so it is not a big deal. I havent felt threatened at all.

We are teaching a lot people andhave been working hard on trying to find the chosen people ready to hear the gospel. we are teaching some good families and are hoping things turn out good for them. Wendi came to church yesterday and has a baptism date for the 9th. We are really trying to get his wife animated but she is very catholic and has doubts.

Then we have a younger man Yan carlos or John carlos who is a reference who has gone to church 3 times and really likes it. He has a lot of friends in the ward. He should be a great investigator but he is only open saturdays so we cant teach him very often. But we are trying and he is reading and keeping commitments so we are excited about him.

We have really been trying to get people to come to church and feel the spirit that is here but it is hard to get peple to come. But the people that want it and are chosen will come so it is a good way to find the ones prepared.

That is about all that is happening from the DR I hope all is well with you guys and hope that you are all doing good. Have fun in st george, and enjoy the sun though I think that I am getting enough sun for the all of us here. Keep strengthening your testimonies in the atonement of Jesus Christ and try to understand what he really did for us. The more we understand the more we will want to obey the commandments and return to our father in heaven. Love you all.

con amor

Elder Holmes

March 21, 2011

 

This week went by really fast. I cant believe how time flies. It was a good week we got a bunch of new investigators that seem promising. We are teaching a couple families that are really nice and really interested.

One family wendi, kenia and there two kids fernando and not sure what the young girls name is but they are awesome family wendi has a lot of interest and has a lot of questions about the church and how it works and also about how missionaries are and what they do. He is always asking us questions and wondering about things. He came to church not yesterday but the week before. His wife is interested but has more doubts and is catholic. People like to use that they are catholic as an excuse not to talk to us. Even though they have been to church when they were baptized and that is about it, but she is still willing to listen so that is good.

We are also to teaching one family who is a young family but very nice and the kids are well behaved which is weird in this country. Junior and Ester are married which is great and they have a lot of interest. They will be difficult to get to church though cause Junior doesn't always have sundays off. But they are a great family that has a good chance of being baptized.

We also received quite a few references from members this week and all of them have a chance to progress which is good cause we need so investigators that are progressing. We have been working hard though and have had some great lessons. We keep doing a lot of contacts and talk to some interesting people. One guy earlier last week was trying to tell us what we believe and what we do as a church. It is always funny when oher preachers talk about us and tell their congregation false things so that they wont talk to us. I just shows how true our church must be for satan to go against us so hard.

We had a few exchanges this week with other elders which was fun. it is a nice change to everyonce in a while change things up and see the different teaching styles of each person and take what you like about it and apply it.

The weather has been getting hotter and hotter. We have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.  It is still pretty cool at nights though so it makes it easier to sleep. Thats about all that is happening in the DR so hope all is well with all of you. love you all

con  amor

Elder Holmes

March 14, 2011

Things here are great. The baptism we had this sat went awesome the young women put on the program and it was really good. She was scared to get in the water at first. She looks a lot older then 12 so i keep forgetting that she is young. But ya her mom was extremely happy about her decision and she was too. the spirit like always was way strong at the baptism. She was really happy in church the next day when she received the holy ghost. She even had some friends come so we are going to try and get appointments with their families.

We have been dropping and getting a lot of investigators. We have some really promising ones though. one man named martin has been investigating the church for over a year and loves it and thinks that it is the most organized church in the world. Which it is but here sometimes a question the organizition in this ward. But i guess compared to other places around here it is. but martin is a way nice guy. he loves talking to us about the states and other things. He also really enjoys the bible. He reads it all the time we have been trying to teach him about the book of mormon but he is reluctant to accept it. He did quite understand the story very well behind the BoM so I think he may actually read it now. He still needs to get married too which for him shouldnt be a big problem he is more wealthy then most people and has a beautifull house. He also has a really nice family that we are going to start to teach also. they are all very nice.

Then we have Wendi a man that we contacted the other day and have had a few lessons with. He has a lot of questions and is extremely interested. He asks a lot of questions about the church and most of them are the ways that we are different from other churches. So it is good a lot of people are noticing the things that other churches cont do right from the lack of direct communication from God and the lack of the authority. but he came to church and we are going to try and set a fecha with him today hopefully it all works out.

Ya we were talking to rafael and he was telling us about the earthquake in japan. It looked and sounded bad. it just shows how important it is for us to be ready for anything. like the scriptures say dont procrastinate the day of our repentence. We never know when our time is, so if we are always ready then it doesnt matter when it is. we are so blessed to be able to repent. Jesus is our Savior and redeemer. An apostle said in the liahona that we as mortals cant comprehend what Jesus did for us which just shows how much he really loves us and wants us to return.

That is all from the republic for today. Thank you all for the emails and all your support. I wouldn't be here with out all of you. Love you and pray for you daily. Remember to always be strengthening your testimonies of the Saviour especially during this easter holiday

con amor

Elder Holmes

March 7, 2011

Well all is good here. My new comp is elder Alldredge from around seattle. He is a great missionary and we work hard. We are still trying to get used to how each other teach but that will come quickly. We are doing a lot of contacts and trying to find more investigators but this area is harder to find people that will go to church. He said that he was in a poor area and that no one had jobs so they had a lot of members go out with them. Almost everyone in our ward has jobs and are busy. Things are going good though i have to show him around and try to find everthing. I know where most things are though just not street names cause they dont have street signs here. But the work is going good. We found a lot of people that seem promising this week and we are hoping they work out.

Laura is still going to be baptized. She passed her interview and is going to be baptized this saturday. She is way excited and the young women are excited too even though she isnt 12 yet i am sure that she will just stay going to the young womens. She is a big girl so she looks a lot older then she actually is. I think she might be taller then my comp. I have seemed tall these last transfers cause both my comps have beeh shorter.

Today we played basketball with the elders from san pedro and that was fun. A few elders started their missions in La Romana and just get moved further away from the capital so I might be staying in the comp for a while. I dont mind though from whatI hear about the capital it is a lot more tranquil out here.

Well iI cant think of much else to say. Things are going good. Oh ya, Cayo who was just baptized went back to haiti this week so won't be seeing him ever again. He went to start his mission to save the country. Hopefullly all will be well with him.

Thats about it from the dominican today. It is starting to get warmer here and also colder at nights. It is kind of weird but it gets hot around mid day.

I  hope all is well with everyone and that the lord has blessed you all and that you are all working hard to follow the commandments that we know. tThat is how we are the happiest and receive the most blessings. love you all

con amor,

Elder Holmes

Feb. 7th 2011

Well the weeks are going by faster and faster. We picked up a lot of new investigators this week and hopfully some of them turn out good. We have one baptismal date right now with an old guy who just sits aroud all day. He has already read to 2nd nephi and retold us the whole story and he just loved it. We are hoping he continues to grow & work towards baptism. We have a few others that are so close to baptism but won't commit. One wants to be baptized but she is scared to go back to her old life after. She doesn't feel worthy to do it either. We are hoping to be able to work with her and that she will get baptised. Also we have a hatian who believes joseph smith was a prophet believes the book of mormon is the word of god, but also thinks that the pastor who baptised him had the authority so we are working hard with him too. There are a lot of hatians here that used to have quite a bit of money in hatti but after the earthquake lost everything. They are a humble people though.

 

We had an open house at the church last week and the Whitakers, the office couple, came up and did an activity with pictures of Jesus and a bunch of pictures of scripture stories then they went out and get sea shells and then the people decorated the frames. That went really well we had 30 nonmembers there and gained a lot of contacts there and we hope some of those work out.

 

We have been having more success this week and hope to continue it. We have been working hard and seeing it pay off but we still need to try and get people baptized. They dont receive all the blessings untill they are baptized. It is hard to see people turn it down and not want anything to do with it.

 

Thats about all this week and next week we are going to the temple so my pday wont be untill the next wednesday so I will write then. 

 

con amor

 

elder Jacob Holmes

Jan. 31st, 2011

Hey well my 2nd week in the field went geat. It went by fast. We had a tough week picking up investigators but we just picked up 5 in the last two days and a few of them are promising. In this country you never know if they are going to keep there commitments or be at the meeting you setup so you just have to keep trying. we are still teaching a few Hatians and they are good we just picked up a Dominican who speaks english too. His parents work in the casa de campo I guess it is the nicest resort in the carribean but his mom speaks 5 languages including arabic. Some peolple are just born with the gift of tounges like most Hatians. We have one of the new converts helping us teach an english class and he knows 4 languages learning a 5 and he is only 21.

 

My spanish is coming along great. I can undersand a lot now and contribute more and more to the lessons. Elder Allen is an awesome teacher and knows the gospel well. We have a lot of fun together. La Romana is a nice place. there are 8 elders here and 4 hermanas so quite a bit. we went to contact down at the bottom of our area called La Romana del oeste and that is a rich area. At moments it seemed like we were back at the states. There were some big houses and we ran into a family that we were going to teach but they were moving at they thought out of our area. But we ran into and now are starting to teach them. I hope it turns out cause we have to walk about 30 minutes to get out to them. the public transport doesnt go out there. But we are hoping things will pick up we are working hard and doing all we can.

 

Thats about all i have for this week. Wish you all a great week. Trust in the Lord for all and do everything you can to follow the example of Jesus Christ. love you all

 

con amor

First Letter in the Field

Hey! So, ya my p day is on mondays now so it has been a while since i have talked to you all, but i am doing great. There is so much to write that i hope i can remember it all i dont have a time limit besides that I am supposed  try to keep it about an hour so i have more time than I used to. It was nice hearing from all of you. Tell grandma and grandpa that i got their email and that i sent them a letter but I'm not sure when it will get there.

I am in my first area called La Romana it is a smaller city in the east. We have a nice area. It is a more wealthy area, but dont let that fool you in thinking that it is a rich area. We have a pretty big area, not all of Romana but a good chunk of it. We live right next to a huge baseball stadium of the Toros. They are a semi pro team that i think is owned by the mets or something. Yesterday they won the national championship and the streets were crazy. We were visiting a less active member and after they won he turned on the tv and every one was storming the field. They are a really good team. We had to kind of run through the streets to get home. The streets were filled with people banging pots and pans and yelling. It was so fun to see. Then people were driving motorcycles and scooters around everywhere. And they were dragging pots and pans and sheet metal behind them going way fast. There were cars going everywhere with people hanging off just going crazy.We didnt have much luck contacting during the game because everyone was watching it and getting into it.  We went onto our roof and took some pictures after we were home.
(Here is the picture of the celebrations!)

 I wont be able to download all my pictures but my comp has a walmart acount set up and he just uploads them to there and then his parents have acces to it too if you want to do that.

<I have a great comp elder Allen from Layton. He has been out for 16 months and is a great elder. He is such a great teacher and speaks spanish really well. He knows his scriptures well also and uses them a lot in his teaching. We get along great and have a lot of fun. He went to Utah State for a year before the mission. I think everyone went to school for a year besides a few people.

<I am glad that i am out in the field finally and get to move around. We walk all the time and a long ways. The weather hasn't beeen too bad and this is a cooler part of the country too.  The ocean isn't in our area but we can see it from our roof so it is never very far away. We hardly ever take cars unless Elder Allen needs to do interviews. He is the district leader so we do those a lot. I see our zone leaders a lot and I really like them. It is weird not seeing a whole bunch of missionaries at once. I did see some today. We went to San Pedro to play football for pday. Then after that< I have a sin to confess, we went to mc donalds and I ate a big mac and somewhat enjoyed it. Kind of makes me want to throw up now thinking about it, but it doesnt taste like or smell like one from the states.

<I eat really well, elder allen is a good cook and we always have something planned to eat so all is well. We also eat at some of the shops around and they are really good too. I have yet to get sick and I am hoping that I keep that up. We eat spaghetti and sandwhiches and rice and beans and just some normal stuff. We always stop by a comado before stopping at our house so we have enough food always.

Our apartment is kind of dirty and definetely 3rd world but not too bad. We dont have a shower head and never have hot water and the bathroom is kind of gross but nothing too horrible. It has been a missionary home for like 15 years so you cant expect much from it.

Right before I came into the area elder allen kind of wiped his investigator list clean so we are in the proccess of getting new ones. We have a few good ones that seem really interested and are really enjoying the lessons and feeling the spirit. We also see some of the recent converts and less active. Elder Allen baptized two hatians right before I came and they are both really cool, they are about 20 and friends. I really enjoy going over there because they can speak english. My spanish is coming along and going good. I can understand a lot and speak a little, but it is hard for me to contribute to the lessons cause they are too fast. So I usually just bare my testimony of things and say prayers. I pray almost every lesson we have. We had quite a few investigators go to church which is good but it sucks when they say they will come and you know that they have felt the spirit but dont come. I just dont understand them. It could be just because they are late all the time.

We dont set up appointments reallly. We just say that we will be stopping by around this time and then show up. They dont have a sense of schedule or time. As long as you are within 2 hours then you are good. It is weird so when i get home dont expect me to be on time anywhere.

So how is everything in salmon going. I love hearing about Joey and Sarah's games and how they are doing so keep me updated. I would say to just email me from now on and dont worry about mail. I have an address where you can send stuff too but i forgot it in our house so I will tell you next week.

Thats all for today

con amor

elder Jacob Holmes