Sister Holmes: Called to Serve: "They are painfully delish"

Happy Birthday to Sister Holmes!! Yep her birthday was on Saturday, July 20th. She's now 21! She seemed to have a great day and I love how special the other missionaries and members in New Zealand made that day for her. I also love how she puts "the church is true" throughout her emails. Because it is. The fact that she left her home to visit a far away country to teach people about it pretty much shows that it is true. She is such a great example to me and to all those around her. I know that she was meant to serve the people in New Zealand and I can already see how huge of an impact she has been there. She has an awesome personality that people are drawn to and I admire that. I am so proud to call her my little sister and hope to one day be as spectacular as her! She's only been gone for 2 months and I already see this miraculous change in her. She is still the same person (I can tell through the dorky/quirky/silly things she says/does) but she has grown into this amazing young woman! I love it! Well here's her letter! :) and lots of pictures! :D

Man oh man!! This week?? SUPA awesome!!!

I feel like so much happens in a week. Its insane! SOOO Sean's Baptism was amazing! The spirit was so strong! It was funny to see just how excited he was. Like normally Sean is a pretty quiet and shy guy..not on thursday! He was a chatter box! Almost hyper! After the baptism he was like "I feel like I could climb mount Everest!" It was awesome! Then we asked him what he was going to do and he said....go to wendys haha funny guy. Now he has been able to see the Lords hand in his life. He has been asking to get the day shift at work for months right? Thursday (his baptism day) he goes into work and his boss gives him his new schedule...guess who is on the day shift?? Yep! So awesome. He is really excited to get the priesthood! Man. This is awesome!

OH i got to make a phone call to France, I am going to make one to India later. Super cool. We are the first people to try out this new phone system so that awesome! Who would have thought I would like talking on the phone!?? Thanks to EMSI I am not afraid to talk on the phone haha

As you may know it was my birthday on Saturday. It was wonderful. Sister qaqa sang happy birthday as soon as we woke up. We went for a run and came back to the other sisters decorateing our flat with balloons and streamers. went to the VC and there was a wedding. We all get pretty excited when there are weddings because we get to see all the flowers and dresses its awesome. Any was we had cupcakes. THEN someone brought in donuts. YES Mommas donuts. They are painfully delish. They stacked them together and sang Happy Birthday. President and sister Rudd came in and wished me a happy birthday! Then we took a picture. Sister Rudd said "lets do a fun one!' then we all made faces. President and Sister Rudd are seriously the best! Sister swindler made cookies and spelled out the word "CAT" on them and made an insanely ridiculous cat collage card. Because they know how much I love cats....hahah Then if that wasn't enough we had dinner at the Golders. They are awesome. They made a cake and sang Happy Birthday. THEN we had comp study and the other sisters flat that night. We finish out study then Sister Simkins comes out with a plate of "Tim Tams" (super delish new Zealand cookies) A thing of Nutella and Ice cream. Once again they sang happy birthday. Also I went home and was able to open cards that Dad and the kids snuck into my suitcase before I left for the MTC. Such a wonderful day!!

Here is my funny quote of the week. When we were at the Golders their son Cody was talking about how he is never going to get married because girls are drama. He is 13. Then he says " you know, I am just going to serve and try my best and hope heavenly Father understands" hahaha

Our members are doing awesome!! They are all "going to the Rescue" Its amazing to see how excited they are to share the gospel with the people they work with and their friends. Last night we went to a home for dinner they invited a non member family it was awesome the spirit was really strong. Also We went to another house last Sunday and they invited a non member man and his daughter. We talked about the power of prayer. He is now reading the Book of Mormon. The church is true.

So for the most part the male members dont try to kiss the sister missionaries on the cheek right? Well some of them still do! It takes some getting used to! I had to men kiss me on the cheek this week and you all know how awkward I am hahaha luckily I was able to keep calm and keep my cool haha

I will tell you about one down side to this week...............ready.....? There is a mouse in our flat! I saw it and almost cried. Then I ran and got into bed haha we had a deep cleaning today but didnt see it. I hope it will just get tired of our flat and go live somewhere else!

Well the church is true. Love and miss you all!! Keep up the good work!!

Love,

Sister Holmes :) AKA Melissa.

haha oh man. she still has this sweatshirt?! We both got one on the Church History trip we took in 2006. That is awesome.

She looks super cute in this picture and that 'cake' looks super delicious. Those are "Mamma's Donuts"

This lady is Anit Rangi or Sister Parker if you will. She is the Family history queen! She knows everthing about the History of NZ and she out together all the info we have in the VC