Wade in Tacloban: Long Live the Mormon Mamba

Kamusta Kamo!?

Another week down! It's crazy that it is already week 3. This week we said goodbye to all the older missionaries in our zone, it was kinda sad because I have gotten pretty close with a lot of them. Especially Elder Newman who was our old zone leader. But them leaving has made me super excited to get out in the field and teach the gospel.

Now that we are the older missionaries in our zone its kinda weird. I got released as district leader which was kinda nice because I didn't have any responsibilities but then President Orme asked me and my kauban to be the new Zone Leaders. It's crazy because now we are basically the leaders of 51 missionaries. It's fun though. We got to welcome all the new missionaries and take them on a tour around the MTC. They are all super nervous and a little stressed. It's funny to think that I was in their seats just 3 weeks ago and now I'm showing them around and giving them advice. I love it!

So the reason for the title of the email is that the old missionaries that just left were all super good at basketball and I loved playing with them. One of them(Elder Newman) would always where a mormon mamba shirt which was pretty funny. He would always hit game winning 3's right over me too. It is the worst haha. But now they are gone so we will have to see if the newbies got any skills.

Language is still coming along super good. Me and Elder Laitinen have been teaching about a lesson a day. I am starting to feel more confident teaching with the spirit. It is super cool to prepare for a lesson and then in the middle of the lesson you get a prompting to go a different direction and then the investigator says that is exactly what they needed. I know it's not real investigators but it is amazing to see how the spirit knows the people and what they need so we just have to be ready and willing to follow it.

We had Jenny Oaks Baker come speak to us and play violin with her family. They are amazing. Also we got Elder Sitati from the Seventy to come speak which is pretty awesome. All I could think about was how Elder Niumatalolo would say that he was his favorite member of the seventy because he is the only one who is not white. Also I got to watch the Character of Christ again but at the end they surprised us and Elder Bednar actually came and did a question and answer thing with us. He is super amazing and just brings an amazing spirit.

Anyways, thanks for all the packages and letters. I have so much food in my room that we are literally begging other districts to come eat our food. It's the best. I love hearing from everyone!

Love you all!

Amping,

Elder Holmstead