Wk #21: There Are Surely Blue Skies

As always, I hope this email finds smiling faces, hearts full of love, and maybe even someone eating an American bacon cheese burger. I've missed those this week. (;

    What a great lesson I've learned this week. Just yesterday, David A Bednar was in Buenos Aires and the conference was broadcasted to all of the missions that are in the South America, South area. It was a question and answer session and it really touched my heart. I honestly think that they should send that broadcast everywhere because the information and the words he spoke were priceless. Absolutely inspired of God. The topic of Faith came up and of course, I became very excited. I love that point of Doctrine and I study it frequently. He started out by saying, "Let's get one thing straight. Faith is NOT Faith when there is no action behind it. When there is no action, Faith becomes belief and nothing more." I just about threw my name tag in the air, giving Elder Bednar a standing ovation. I love that principle. I was deeply inspired by this. He also talked about the Children of Israel and  how they walked into the water BEFORE the sea was parted. What Faith. They acted on their Faith. He also talked about Joseph Smith and how when he prayed in that Sacred Grove, he wasn't just asking which church was true. He was asking which church was true with the intention to join whichever one was correct. He prayed in faith with the INTENTION to act. With all of that being said, let me share with you what I feel needs to be shared today. 

        This week while walking down the street, I looked up to the sky and saw some pretty dark and heavy storm clouds. It was going to rain soon so they were pretty scary looking. For a split second, a part of the clouds opened up to show the beautiful blue sky behind. It seemed so vibrant. Maybe it was the contrast between the black clouds, or maybe it was just unusually blue. Then the cloud closed back up, hiding the clear blue sky. I thought about that for a moment and felt deeply inspired. Often times, we look at the dark and heavy storm cloud of our trials, thinking that the cloud is all there is. We think about it as something that we are going to suffer through without looking at the end result. I can't count how many times I've done this. But what I learned from my little object lesson from God was that even behind the looming storm clouds of our afflictions, there is ALWAYS blue skies. And then, once we've reached those blue skies, we can look back at the storm clouds we braved and see the blessings we have received because of those trials. What does this have to do with what I said about Faith in the first part of the email? We must have Faith that there are blue skies. Most of the time, we can not see the blue skies behind the clouds. And that's where the action comes in. We must act on our faith, enduring the afflictions well, working towards LEARNING and PROGRESSING from our trials instead of simply enduring them, acting on the hope we have that there are blue skies ahead.

      It's my humble testimony that there surely are blue skies ahead. And in those moments of thunder and lightning when things seem to go worse, that's exactly when we ask in Faith for help from the Lord. Whose hands are ALWAYS outstretched to help us. And He will help us. I know this to be true. Think about it. Why would the Lord let us experience such hard things without a purpose, a lesson to be learned, or without the hope of making it through? There's always a purpose, always a lesson, always hope. We experience these things so the Lord can mold us into who we are supposed to be, fulfilling our Divine Potential. My invitation to you is to have Faith that the blue skies are there. And ACT on that faith. 

    I love you all and I'm SO thankful for all of you. Thank you for your support, your love, and your prayers. I couldn't do it without. I send my prayers every minute of the day. Press forward in Faith, my friends. For surely blue skies await.  

Elder Holmes

 

Elder De Leon (his new companion) and Cade

Beautiful Catholic church

It's amazing what a shoe shine will do!

Beautiful Mar Del Plata

Just like Sister Holmes' picture!

LUNCH!

Wk #20: My Answered Prayer

Hello my dear friends and family! I hope all is well and that you are all happy and healthy, as always. 

    This week was a hard one for me. I was struggling to see my purpose, I missed home worse than ever, and I was feeling very lost. At times I even felt tempted to pack my bags and call the President. But I decided to pray instead. After a lot of praying and fasting I came across 2 Timothy 4:5. And upon reading all of the footnotes, I found my prayer to be answered. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof 

of thy ministry. "  

    In the footnotes, the last part of that verse, "Make full proof of thy ministry" Is translated to Fulfill your ministry. Due to the lack of time I have on the computers here, I have to be short in writing, but I just want to tell you that our prayers WILL be answered if we seek diligently to find the answers. In almost all cases, my prayers have been answered through scripture study. Pray, Seek in Faith, Find. 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for the support I have felt. I pray for you always.

Elder Holmes

Celeste's birthday party. Cade's last week in Millamapu!

Familia Heiland "Eterni-gators"

The stairs leading to Cade's new home away from home in his new area

Wk #19: STRESS WEEK

 Wow, what a week. This has been a week of stress, tests of faith, and answered blessings. The zone leaders called us on Saturday to give us our transfers and when my companion handed me the phone he had a VERY sick look in his eye. The first thing that the Zone Leader said to me was, "Elder Holmes, we're scared for you but we're equally proud of you. But mostly scared. You're going to Jorge Newbery." My heart sank. Jorge Newbery is the most dangerous area in the mission. And I was the first white missionary to go there for 2 years. They took "Yankee" missionaries out of that area because of how dangerous it was and because of how the "chorros" or gangsters acted towards them. And on top of that, I was going to be training a new Elder when I, myself, had just BARELY finished my training. After that very panicked and confused phone call, I recieved A TON of other calls saying, "Elder Holmes.. I'm sorry but, man you're going to die." Obviosly not helping me. At first I was absolutely shocked and scared, but then I thought to myself, "Well.. If this is where the Lord wants me, I'll go." And I ignored what my comp and the other Elders were saying and continued on. Upon arrival to the new area and getting my trainee, I realized just how hard this transfer was going to be. Gangsters lined the streets, the house we were living in was absolutely disgusting, and I literally feared for my life at every second. No doubt, the worst living conditions I had ever been in. I prayed harder than I ever have for help. I was supposed to train someone in an area like that? I needed help. So I asked the Lord to be my support and to help me press on through that trial. Well, the second day I had in that area, the assistants to the President called and said, "You're having an emergency transfer. You and your comp are going to Batàn today!" You have no idea the amount of relief that I experienced. hahah. Batàn is the most beautiful, safest, and nicest place to be in this mission. And it's just right outside of Mar Del Plata and 25 minutes away from the beach. I believe that the Lord was testing my faith. I think He put me in that situation to see how I would react and to see if I would keep going. And now that I'm here in Batàn, I absolutely feel 1 million times better. This area is beautiful and SO safe. I almost feel like I'm in Plain City again (; 

       My prayer is that we might me faithful to the Lord's commandments. Hard or easy, they are put in place for a good reason. We might not know the reason now, but If it's a commandment from a loving Heavenly Father, we can know that it's for the better. My prayer was answered in the form of an emergency transfer. Just confirming what it says in Ether 12:6 that it's only AFTER the trial of our faith that we recieve the testimony we're looking for. And now I'm training a new Elder (Which is super rare for how young I am in the mission), living in one of the most beautiful areas in the mission, and learning SO much about myself. But most importantly I'm coming closer to Christ. I invite all of you to join me and bring yourselves closer to Him. We recieve so many blessing by striving to do so. 

        Thank you SO much for all of your support and prayers. Please continue keeping me in your prayers. I'm still worried about the training and would love all the help I could get. Wow, I'm already in my 5th month in the mission. That's crazy to me. I still have a long ways to go, but I'm ready for it and very very excited. I love you all and hope that you are all happy, healthy, and staying faithful. Until next week!

¡Espero que Dios les bendiga!

Elder Holmes

This is a throwback to the Christmas conference since he didn't send any pictures this week!

 

Wk #18: The 'hike'

No letter from Elder Holmes today. He did send pictures from their so called hike. He said it turned out to be more of a really long walk. He had a great time though.

"My favorite picture I've taken so far hahah"

The hike had stuff like this the whole way up!

The cross was HUGE!

It was massive!