Happy Thanksgiving

Wow what a week!

I had a really good week of work.  We had some exchanges with the zone leaders and I went with Elder Basulgan.  He is really awesome, we got the short end of the stick and had to go to our area without the bikes so we walked for like an hour and a half to teach one lesson then walk back but it was fun and he taught me a lot on the way.  While we were teaching our less active named Edward, his older brother who is usually drunk came and said he really wanted to hear what we were teaching and wanted to listen next time we came which was really awesome.

Me and Elder Roth have been teaching this big group of kids that are all super energetic and really want to hear our message.  They are super fun and always participate in lesson so that is fun.  I really hope we can get 5 or 6 of them baptized in the next 3 or 4 weeks.  

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission yesterday and I went through it looking for examples of seeing people use faith to overcome hard experiences and my testimony has been strengthened so much on the power of trusting in the Lord when we are having trials.  One of my favorite examples in the Stripling Warriors because they had some seriously hard trials but they never wavered in faith and always trusted in God.  It is a true book and I love reading it.  I challenge everyone to read it daily and to watch how much better it makes the rest of your day.

Today is my last day with Elder Roth and we have transfer announcements tomorrow so I will let you know what happens next week.  The anticipation is killing me haha.

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful because everyone in our apartment was sick except for me.  We basically just chilled and played like ten thousand rounds of UNO and then we bought a chicken and had a feast, Philippines Style.

Sad to hear about Grandpa Christensen.  I will miss him tons, but I know that he will is with Grandma now and is so happy.  The plan of salvation is real and I know he is with me now.

Sounds like the family reunion was lots of fun kinda sad I missed it.  I loved getting all the notes from the cousins, that brightened my day.  

Anyways the work is going well and I am feeling the joy of the gospel.  It is true and it changes lives.

Hinay kamo,

Elder Holmstead

District Picture

Exchanges with the Zone Leaders

Thanksgiving Feast

Pics with all the kids we teach

Video of a little rain storm that came through

1st Baptism!!

Maupay hin duro nga semana!

Malipayon ako para ha mga bendisyon tikang ha Ginoo ini nga semana. Nagkita ako damo nga mga miracles ha aton area.  Syahan, mayada kami han pagpabunyag ni Neljane. Maupay hiya!  

So for all the non-waray-waray speakers that said  that I was super happy this week for all the blessings from the Lord.  We have seen many miracles in our area.  1st we had baptism for Neljane . It was Great!

The day was super stormy because we had a low pressure system coming through the area so it rained and rained and rained.  Our branch also decided to change the time of the baptism to right when the Burauen Branch was having an activity in the room with the font.  It seemed like everything was just going wrong but once everyone showed up we were able to have the opening exercises in another room and then quickly use the font for the baptism.  The spirit was super strong and she was soo happy to be baptized a member of the Church.  Her uncle, Brother Michael, our second counselor in the Branch Presidency baptized her and then she was confirmed in Sacrament Meeting yesterday.  It was amazing to see everything come together after it seemed like nothing was going to work out.

I also had exchanges this week in Abuyog which was pretty crazy because it is only like 30-45 minutes away from Anibong but they speak Waray-Waray S mixed with Cebuano.  I didn't think I would be able to speak or understand anything but I was actually able to understand almost everything that people said and I shared a pretty good amount in the lessons.  One of the members we talked to said that my Waray-Waray was very good, he was probably just being nice but it definitely helped my confidence that I am progressing in the language.

As for other investigators we got referred a part member family that is super awesome.  The wife is a member but her husband is not yet.  We have taught them the first 2 lessons and we extended an IBD and Tatay accepted and the grandpa that lives there so were very excited.  Also their is this group of kids likes to sit and play games in front of our branch president's house and after seeing Neljane be baptized 5 of them wanted to hear the lessons.  We were able to teach them a good lesson and I am hoping that they will be baptized in December.

It's crazy that this is week 12 of my training and next Tuesday we have transfers.  It will be weird to have a new companion and lead the area so that should be a good challenge. 

I wanted to share this scripture verse from my reading this week.

21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting 

nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it 

shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

I know that this verse is true and that we just need to believe in Christ and not doubt then we will have the power to do all things the Lord needs us too.  I have already seen this work many times in my mission when I know that through Christ I can overcome any challenges that come up.  I love that quote, Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith because if we have faith in Christ we can do all things.  I know this is true.

Love you tons,

Elder Holmstead

Abuyog apartment 

Neljane's baptism

Our little friend that has been hiding from us for a week that we finally trapped and killed

Pesto Pasta Philippines Style Marasa hin duro!!

I didn't have a talk or anything for those blessings of sabbath day and tithing I just wanted to see if anyone had experiences that I could share with investigators.  Thanks for sending me those they are awesome.  

Exchanges, Interviews and Bike's Part 3

Kumusta an kag-anak ko,

This was a really good week.  It felt like it went by super fast which usually means it was a really good week.  I only have two weeks left in my training which is crazy to think that I am going to be leading in 2 weeks.  Hopefully I am ready haha.  The Lord qualifies those who he calls I guess.

Anyways some of the highlights of the week was that we got Neljane interviewed for baptism so she is officially set for Saturday for baptism. I am super excited because she seems so happy and ready to get baptized and now she is telling us that she wants her friends to get baptized too.  So now we got some more teaching to do haha.  

We had exchanges this week with our zone leaders.  I went with Elder Johnson who is from Tennessee and he goes home in 2 weeks.  He is a super good missionary and gave me a bunch of good advice about how to be more effective in finding and working as a missionary.  I definitely have had some awesome zone leaders throughout my training which is a major blessing.  We explored Mayorga which was cool and rode their bikes through a rain storm.  

Also we had zone interviews in Tolosa which was pretty fun.  We had a big training by the AP's about exact obedience.  I have been working really hard to stay exactly obedient at all times and I have already seen miracles.  One of them was that on Sunday our branch finally got to business and set apart a ton of people to callings which is a miracle because they haven't set anyone apart since I have been here.  After the training I got to talk with the Elder De Mesa and Elder Kuehne, the AP's, for awhile while we waited for interviews.  They told some good stories from the mission so that was a good time.  I got my health checkup and I have gained 6 pounds in 6 weeks, the filipino food is getting to me haha.  But I am feeling healthy and good so that's a plus.

Oh and we are getting new bikes again.  President Argana said he wanted us to have some good bikes and now we are getting actual mountain bikes that will not break, because I already broke my new bike 

We had a really good week teaching.  We got a referral of this family that lives with a member and we have already taught them about the restoration and the plan of salvation and they seem really interested.  They really want to get baptized all they need to do is get married, big problem here with lots of investigators, but they seem really dedicated to it so I will let you know how that goes.

I got my package too.  It was a great day.  Those brownie things that you cook in the microwave is amazing.  And the pants work great.

One request for everyone who gets this email.  If anyone has any experiences of receiving the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy or paying tithing I would love to hear about it.  Thanks

Missionary work is going great.  I'm loving it here in the Philippines.  It is an amazing place even if I still can't understand people most of the time.

Love you,

Elder Holmstead

Mayorga Beach

Family Photo: Me, Elder Roth and his trainer Elder Kuehne, the AP 

The Biggest Banana I have ever seen

New bikes (and I mean actually new bikes!) I just got this after I sent the group email, it is like Christmas.

Tolosa Zone follow-up training with assistants to the President, health and blood pressure check with Sis. Argana and interview with Pres. Argana (11-9-17)

Zone Conference and Fast Sunday

Kumusta an akon kag-anak?

Maupan ini nga semana.  Elder Roth was sick at the start of the week so we didn't get to do much work but I got to give him a blessing before the start of zone conference and he has been fine since then.  The Priesthood is truly the power of God to help others be happy and experience the blessings of salvation. 

I think that God knew that we weren't able to do much finding this week so he blessed us by having investigators just show up at church and we were like sweet.  We got to teach them in Gospel Principles, which we teach every week now which is a pretty good experience.  We have taught about Eternal Marriage and Temple Work and Family History Work.  I have been thinking a lot this week about the temple and the amazing blessings that come from it.  I definitely miss not having a temple just down the street to go and feel the Spirit super strong.  I hope that one day we can get a temple here in Tacloban because it would bless so many members that have to go all the way to Cebu for the temple.

Anyways, we had zone conference this week which was super awesome.  It was in Tacloban so we got up early and traveled there.  We got some training from the AP's about setting good goals and focusing on key indicators which was good stuff.  President Argana showed us the areas that are achieving the Standard of Excellence and they were all sisters areas so us Elder's need to step it up haha. We also got a bunch of training about using our time wisely and making sure we are being productive but also not doing to much to overwhelm us.  And then we ended with training about disaster plan and stuff.  We are betting that a natural disaster is happening soon because they literally talk about being ready for a typhoon at every single zone thing.  

We taught Neljane again this week and we have to push the baptism until two weeks because we have to finish teaching her and get an interview with the zone leaders so it is a process but she is super excited and ready so it's all good.  

I forgot to mention I got my package from LBC last week so they actually come pretty fast.  Hopefully my USPS one gets here soon.  We have zone interviews on friday so maybe I will get it then.  I am loving all the American candy because they don't use enough sugar here so everything kinda tastes bland so it's been great feasting haha.

Sounds like Halloween was crazy as always. Sadly they don't celebrate that here, but they do have this thing called All Saints Day where everyone goes to the cemetery for the whole day so that was pretty crazy. I am excited to see where all my friends end up on missions.  We are already all over the world so it is awesome that even more are going out.  

Work is going great.  I am loving the mission life.  Sometimes it is really hard and days are discouraging but those are the days that I feel the love from God and I am strengthened.  Philippines is the best.

Hinay kamo ngan Ginhigugma ko kamo

Elder Holmstead

Sunset in the Philippines

Sunset in the Philippines 

Our second counselor serenading us 

My new bike

Zone Conference Activity October 30, 2017

Zone Conference lunch October 30, 2017

Tolosa Zone Conference October 30, 2017

Maupay nga Semana!

Well another week down!

We have been putting in the work in Anibong this week and it has been great.  We have been teaching Neljane some more and I think she will be baptized next week, it was supposed to be this week but we can only teach if a 30 year old guy is with us so that is a challenge but she is progressing super well which is great.

We haven't been able to find any houses and i'm not sure we actually will, they just don't have a housing market in the Philippines but it's all good.  The bike ride is keeping me nice and healthy.  Oh, and about the bike situation, I got a new bike.  Our new supply manager brought me a nice bike from another area of the mission, but sadly I have no pictures but I will next week.  It already had to get the pedals and seat replaced but now it is a beast.  

I have been understanding a lot more this week in Waray-Waray and I have actually been able to hold some conversations with people which is pretty awesome.  We have been teaching our Gospel Principles class at church so I get some good opportunities to share to some people.  

The biggest news of the week, I got my first baptism.  Not technically a convert baptism but I baptized this little 8 year old girl named Jennalyn.  She is super awesome and I got the opportunity to baptize her.  Luckily the baptism was in english so I didn't mess up the words to bad but I could feel the spirit super strong as I saw the happiness that came to her as she was baptized.  I have found that as I have been focusing on others I am a lot happier and I feel the spirit a lot stronger. sadly I got no pictures:(

Elder Roth got sick on Sunday so we have been staying in the apartment the past few days.  It has been giving a great opportunity to read the Book of Mormon.  I started at Alma chapter 1 after church and now I am at Alma 46.  It is truly an amazing book and it changes lives.

We have zone conference tomorrow so that should be a pretty good time.  Can't wait for Snowbird 2019 with the bros.  

Ginhigugma ko kamo!

Elder Holmstead

Baby Shark has taken over the world....and lots and lots of rain

Another week down!

Transfer announcements came in and I will be staying in Anibong and Elder Roth is still my trainer. But a little news is that our district changed boundaries so now we are in a different district than the house that we live in.  We think it is President's little way of telling us we really need to find a new house.

Speaking of finding a new house.  We have found 3 new apartments that are possibly.  One is to small, one is too big and really scary, and the other is really expensive.  So the hunt continues....

As for the big bad bike problem. We asked our supply manager if we had permission to buy a new bike and they said no so we took the bike to a welding shop and it is temporarily fixed for the time being.  Probably like a week of so.  The new supply manager is bringing a new bike for me so hopefully that works out.  Before we heard if we could buy a bike we tried to take the public transportation to our area, which is trikes which is basically a motorcycle with this big sidecar, but they don't go out to our area so we ended up walking 13 miles to get to our area and back.  After that we sent some good texts to the supply manager and now we are getting a new bike which is great.

Sadly we may have to drop the Raynada family because they haven't been coming to church, but Neljane is still progressing really well so that is great.  We are just trying to work as hard as we can and hope that everything will work out.  I have been realizing that I can't just force someone to get baptized or listen to us, they still have agency to accept our message so I don't need to be discouraged because they are not rejecting me but they are rejecting Christ.  and sadly no new investigators but that will change next week :)

P-Days in the mission are still a pretty busy day.  Most of the time we have to go to Tacloban to email because the internet in Burauen is bad which takes up a lot of the day.  We get to eat some KFC,which is great, but of course it is served with rice.  It is crazy here because the nicest and most expensive restaurants here are McDonalds.  They charge the same prices as in America so it is pretty expensive compared to other stuff so it is like a luxury meal.  It's pretty funny.  Anyways, we withdraw money, sometimes we go to the mission office to talk to the elders that are there. Oh and of course we laba a lot.  They don't believe in washing machines so it is all by hand which takes a while. And then we work in our area in the evenings so not really any rest but at least we have half a day off. 

Love hearing about the basketball news.  That is crazy with Gordan Hayward, I guess that is karma for leaving the Jazz.  I'm kinda rooting for the Thunder this year I think unless they end up being terrible haha.  We don't play much basketball but it's all good because we gotta put in the more important work.

Oh I should probably describe what the subject line of my email is.  The song Baby Shark has literally been played on every radio all the time in the Philippines.  I hope it hasn't made it to America because it is terrible.  It even made it's way into our ward Primary Program.  And our Branch Activity.  Oh and the rainy season has been coming down hard.  We weren't able to even go to our area on Thursday because it was storming the whole day so we did some studies and played some Uno which was a pretty good time.

Sad that I missed Dad's birthday but I hope it was great!!  The mission life is great.  I love being able to focus on the gospel and bringing people closer to Christ.  I have been learning a lot about relying on the Lord and putting my trust in him.  I have been working on really reading, pondering and praying about the Book of Mormon everyday and it makes my days so much better.  I finished Jesus the Christ, that was an amazing book.  

Love you tons thanks for the recipes!  I will give them a try.

Elder Holmstead

Broken Bike and Moving Apartments with a side of Exchanges

Kumusta an akon kag-anak

This week has been pretty good.  They do transfer announcements tonight because we are finishing up the first cycle on Wednesday.  Crazy how fast it has gone.  I am 99.2% sure that I am staying in the same area and keeping the same companion.  Training takes 12 weeks so if something crazy happens I will let you know.

As for this week it kinda feels like we were barely in our area this week because the last week of transfers is always crazy in the mission I guess.  First we went on exchanges with the zone leaders again.  This time I went with Elder Basulgan, who is from the Philippines so I spent a full day trying my best to speak only Waray-Waray.  It was super fun actually and Elder Basulgan is super funny.  We started getting chased by dogs in the area and he turns to the dogs and was like "come follow me and I will make you fishers of men" it was pretty hilarious. Also we spent some more time with Elder Gunn who is going home in a few months so I was filling him in on some stuff that he needs to check out when he gets home.

The other exchange that I went on was with Elder Hassan who is in my batch and actually kabalay with me. Meaning we live in the same apartment.  We are both getting trained so we were nervous about anyone being able to understand us, pero the gift of tongues is real and we actually found 3 new investigators and got to teach like 5 lessons, it was a miracle for sure.  

Crazy part of the week was we were on exchanges with the zone leaders and in the morning we get a text from the AP's saying they are coming to their apartment so we speed cleaned the apartment and then the AP's and President Argana came, because they are moving apartments but he comes up to me and Elder Roth and just straight up is like you need to move apartments you don't have enough privacy and you are too far from your area so we have been apartment hunting in Julita which is pretty tough.  Their is not really a housing market in the Philippines because people usually just build the house they live in and never move so I will let you know how that goes.

Lastly, my bike has officially broken so now I think I will be replacing the bikes out of necessity and not just because it was a piece of crap so I may be withdrawing a little bit of money because I want a bike that will at least stay together as long as I am here. 

Aside from that I am doing good.  This week was a little stressful with all that has been going on but I am feeling great.  The Waray-Waray is coming hinay-hinay.  I guess sometimes I have culture shock at just how different the Philippines is sometimes.  It's super crazy.  Me and Elder Roth always joke how we could improve some of the funky things they have here.  It's a good time.  

Anyways, excited to get those packages.  and yeah if it is possible to email some recipes that would be great.  I want to try my hand at cooking filipino style.  I am already learning a few filipino recipes and I am a pro at cooking rice now.  

Love you tons,

Elder Holmstead

Elder Hassan made a hat out of the burned rice. He's crazy 

Elder Basulgan said that "the field was yellow already to harvest" 

Toko lizard chilling on the outside of our house. 

Chillin with the kids that live outside of our house

More pics of the kids

My "totally real" adidas sliders that i bought for $2 dollars

My sad excuse for a bike:(