Week 16

Hey!

Man its been a weird week. It has not stopped snowing since last Tuesday. Seriously, it has been ridiculous. We have gotten at least 3 feet of snow and driving in it totally stinks. Anyway, Tuesday was a normal day, we checked in on Chuck and visited a few other people, and then we had exchanges starting that night so I was with Elder Stapley. Then on Wednesday afternoon my companion Elder Lewis was told that he was supposed to go to a mission leadership training meeting up near Rochester, so he was picked up by the zone leaders and I went with Elder Stapley and Elder Allred to Arcade.

Elder Lewis was supposed to get back on Thursday but because of the snow he couldn’t come until Friday, so I was down in Arcade from Wednesday afternoon to Friday afternoon just going around with the other elders. Elder Lewis and I got back to Springville at around noon on Friday and it was just dumping snow outside, so we walked around with shovels looking for people who needed help shoveling their driveways, which actually worked out really well and we found a couple people that said we could come back. It's nice because people can't tell us to go away when we are shoveling their driveway for them, so they pretty much have to listen to us.

Saturday was like that too, then on Sunday we went up to the stake Christmas concert. We rode up with a lady in our branch, and we went 30 mph the whole time because it was snowing pretty bad, and there was also lightning, which was super cool because it would reflect off the snow. Weird stuff. The stake Christmas concert consisted of a musical number from every ward choir in the stake. Lets just say the concert was….inspirational. It left me craving some yl 4^th ward choir. The last musical number in the concert was supposed to be by the Cattaraugus branch, but no one showed up except the pianist and the chorister, so the four elders serving down there had to get up and sing a song in front of the stake that they have never even heard of, after 30 seconds of preparation. It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen. We know the Cattaraugus elders really well and they were sitting right in front of us when they were told that they had to get up and sing. I think the song was “Still a Bach Christmas” or something like that. Anyway, I think that’s it for this week. CYA!

Love, Elder Holt 

Winter Storm

                          

Icicles

                                                   

Week 15

Yo,

So this week was pretty slow. We had all of our appointments either cancel or just not answer the door, except for our one lesson with Chuck. That went well, at least we think. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he absorbed it all, but he needs a few days to organize it in his brain. He had never even considered that there was something before this life so he was thinking about that a lot. He didn’t disagree with any of it, he just needs time to think about it and re-read the pamphlet we gave him. Yah, so that was good.

Oh and the sweetest thing we did this week was on Wednesday night. A couple months back we met a guy at the park when we had our basketball night, and he invited us to play on Wednesday nights at his Methodist church, so we went and it was awesome. There were a lot of people there and they were all cool, and wondering why we had nametags on and stuff. We had a good game so now they like us, so we’re probably gonna keep going back and try to talk to more guys. It was nice because me and Elder Lewis were both craving to play, because its been snowing and we haven’t been able to do anything outside lately.

We were also hoping that Chuck and Marie would be able to make it to the Christmas devotional last night but both of them canceled. Its all good though. This week should be good. We plan on doing some tracting in the snow so that people feel sympathy for us. Last time we went tracting it was me, Elder Lewis, and Elder Klumker, and we were switching off every door, and Elder Lewis and Klumker kept on getting the nicest old ladies that would come out and talk, and every time I knocked on the door I got some weird old bearded guy that would just tell me to go away. Seriously, every door I knocked on. It was annoying but also pretty funny. Anyway, I can’t think of anything else worth mentioning. Oh! I was able to weigh myself at a members house this week, which I haven’t been able to do in like 2 months, and I have gained 3 whole pounds since I came out on my mission. I'm pretty sure its all gone to my thighs. Anyway, have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Holt   

Week 14

Hey everybody!

So I spent so much time attaching the pictures, now I don't have too much time for this letter.  Transfer calls were yesterday and I'll be staying in Springville along with Elder Lewis, but my other companion Elder Klumker got transferred to Buffalo. It's lame because we thought we were going to stay a trio because one of the AP's mentioned we wouldn't be moved, but I guess not.
So now it's just me and Elder Lewis in Springville. This week was good, but slow because it snowed for 3 days straight, so it was tough getting places.

Thanksgiving was awesome though! We went to the Owen's, a really great family. It was just different because it wasn't a Thanksgiving I'm used too, but it was still really good. I ate a lot.

Alright, gotta go. C YA

Love, Elder Holt

Elder Knudson and I dressed up as each other for the Branch Halloween Trunk or Treat.

The is the barn across the street from the 2nd Joseph Smith Home that they used to separate the wheat and other stuff.

Entrance into the Sacred Grove