I am getting married!!

One thing I really love about Sister Holmes' emails is that she can be both completely hilarious and goofy in one paragraph, but then do a complete 180 and be so spiritual. The words to the hymn she included brought a tear or two to my eye. I love that no matter WHERE you go, the gospel is true. We sing the same songs, read the same amazing Books, believe, pray, and progress. It's wonderful. I'm thankful that I have a spectacular younger sister who is bringing the people of New Zealand to Christ. I know she was meant to be a missionary. Anyway, enjoy this fabulous email. 

OH. the little dork totally opened her Christmas package! not really surprised though. That girl hasn't changed :)

Ahh jokes!! But the other day when we talking on the street and we stopped and talked to this guy and when we were leaving I asked if there was anything I could do for him and he says "If I was 20 Years younger I would ask you to marry me." I just said ahh man I am a bit too late aye?? haha jokes I didnt say that... anyway...

So we have got some mean street credit now. Everyone knows us and is supah nice to us.  Its great!!! I love my area! We see miracles EVERY DAY!!!! We found 4 new people to teach this week with is awesome!!! We have had some really good miricles that came in the form of being a PAIN IN THE BACK SIDE!!! Man so our garage is pretty...not working...man we went to ride our bikes nek minit garage wouldnt close..then the Elders were nice enough to come fix it for us...so we went about our day then went to bring our bikes back and what do ya know busted again!! Only this time we had locked our selves out..because we didn't unbolt the front door....so poor elders offered to come back and help..all of this made us late for our teaching appointment we had set for 4pm. We ended up gettin there at 4:20ish..then our investigator was not there! D: Sadness in the land!! So we thought that we had missed him but as we are walking away he pulls up!! He has gotten held up doing something and thought he missed us as well!! We went on with the lesson and it was mean!! Such an awesome lesson that would have been missed if our garage was not a pain in the butt. Heavenly Father loves all His children! Even me haha that other day I was saying how I wanted McDonalds(..which I have never said before In my life but it sounded good!) Nek Minit. A member brought us some for dinner :)

We had a lesson with Sarah one of our investigators and it was MEAN!!! We invited her to be baptised and she said yes! She is going to be baptised on 4-jan-2013 she is sooo excited! I am too!! She is awesome!

We had zone p-day today!! I was a hoot. Getting there was a pain we had to ride our bikes...then take a train..then ride out bikes to the chapel ...then ride our bikes to the field..man it was HOT AS today! But we played kick ball and it was heaps and heaps of fun!! My team Pukekohe district won! Whoop whoop! Maybe because we had the most Americans and non one else really knew how to play. haha Last week we played touch and that was fun!! We are going to play again this week as well! Touch rugby..but it turns into you accidentally run into people because you cant stop and they cant stop. Heaps of fun!

Man this was just a mega awesome supah greatly amazing week!! We sang How Great Thou Art. man I started crying...it hit me pretty hard:

"And when I think of God His son not sparing, sent him to die I scarce cant take it in. That on the Cross my burdens gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation, and take me home what joy shall fill my hear! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim by God how great thou art.

Then Sings my Soul my Saviour God to thee, how great thou art. How great thou art. Then Sings my soul my Saviour God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art!"

I thought about the words of this song for a good while and man it just really hit me how He Gladly took my sin. He bled and died for me and one day He will come again to take me home. Isnt the gospel wonderful??? Yes, the answer is yes :)

Did anyone find that Scripture I asked about last week??? Well here is the answer 

Matthew 23:24 

You are welcome haha 

Oh ya! We went and had a mean as service project with our District out in Waiuku which is like 20 minutes away from our flat. It was pretty cool we went and scrubbed paint and vandalism off a bridge! Which was hard work but fun! They put this chemical on it that breaks down the paint. Fun stuff and someone saw us doing it and went and talked to their friend about the mormon church than came to church!!! Miracles! 

Hmm what else is there...I cant remember!! Too much awesomeness in one week! And Man it went by fast as!
Oh you know Joy to the World that could have been written by a kiwi ( I know it wasn't) but it says "Far AS far AS" haha sang that the other day and noticed that haha 

Well If there was anything supah awesome that I forgot to write I will remember and Tell ya next week haha 

Love yous all!!! Have a supah awesomely amazing week!!! 

Remember Jesus Is the reason for the season! 

Love Sister Holmes :) :) 

Super cute! & she's not making a goofy face

pretty!

This one is super cute, too :)

and then there's this. 

Ye Blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a Camel!

Okay. This one is from 2 weeks ago. I'm catching up! I positively LOVE the bit about the birds. The fact that ANOTHER bird pooped on her is so funny simply because she has been pooped on more than any other human I've ever known. I feel like if she would embrace and love those fine feathered creations of our Heavenly Father the whole pooping thing would decrease drastically. It's like they can sense her detest and poop on her just for fun. Also, imagining her having to eat raw fish is hilarious. She's so picky. It's wonderful. She also has a ton of really great spiritual things going on in here so get to reading! It's great :) enjoy.

See if you can find the subject line in the scriptures! No cheating. No using electronic devices!!!! Hint I read it the other day while reading in the 4 gospels...GO FIND!!!

Soo yous all know that I dont really have a fondness in my heart for birds...Another one even pooped on my shoulder this week! But I witness the worst thing! We were just walking along the road and Sister Pearce goes "what the heck is that bird doing??" I look and there is this bird in the middle of the road..frozen! It was just standing there not moving at all. Then Nek minit a car comes...I had to look away! But it didnt get hit.Several cars when by and still nothing. Seemed to be in the perfect spot to avoid all the cars. Until one turned...I have never seen something so sad! The poor little guy didn't move and then got RAN OVER! Man he was flopping all over the place! We went to try and help him..but it was too late..he was gone.Then to add to the sad scene he got ran over again! Sorry for the sad story but just thought I would share my tragic experience... now on to the happy stuff!

There is this less active family we have been working with and they are great! The husband is working on coming back to church and they were planning on his daughter being baptized on Friday (she was but that is another story)  Anyway they are Tongan super great and awesome. They always want to feed us...so we went over there the other night and guess what they gave us! Raw fish. I was nervous. Okay lets be real. I was freakingout!! Really didnt want to eat it... But I ate as much as I could. It  makes me more keen to eat ANY fish that is cooked.

Their daughter that was baptized her name is Lona and she is 8 soo cute! We got to speak at her baptism which we didnt know about until 5 minutes before the service started..but all goods! Through something together quick..hopefully it made sense! haha 

We have been finding some really cool people to teach! Hopefully we can take someone down to the Visitor Centre! That would be the best! 

We had zone conference this week and that was really awesome! I always learn heaps from our Zone leaders! They are awesome and really fun! Elder Brann said "If we stop learning and progressing we are going against Heavenly Fathers Plan. That really reminded me that that is what we are here to do! To learn, to grow and to progress!

Also Elder Hester and Dellaca-the elders we double cover Pukekohe 2nd ward with are awesome. Elder Hester likes to repeat what we say in an America Accent...he thinks its crack up.. They are both really good missionaries. Elder Hester always says "What for ye laugh?" anytime I laugh at anything. Makes me laugh even more. He came out at the same time as  I did and we were in Temple View Zone together when we first came out.

Anyway! I think I have mentioned the 4 gospel reading challenge we have been given by President? I read something this week that I thought I would share! 

Its in Matthew 26:38-39
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is ^aexceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and ^bwatch with me.
39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and ^aprayed, saying, O my ^bFather, if it be possible, let this ^ccuppass from me: nevertheless not as I ^dwill, but as ^ethou ^fwilt.

Then I had to ask my self..I am watching and waiting for the Savior? OR am I sleeping? I have been thinking about Christ heaps since ya know its December when we celebrate His Birth. When I read that and read how his disciples had all fallen asleep while He was suffering so much. So much so that He "fell on His face" He asked if there was any other way. I wondered How the Heck could they fall asleep?? Did they not know what He was going through?? I cant remember ever falling on my face in pain and He did that for us. For you and for me that we may be freed. But some people do not know that..so they are sleeping spiritually. We need to tell them to wake up! That they have divine potential!  I hope we call all be anxiously awaiting and watching for the Savior. That He can count on us to not fall asleep in this life. That we can follow His example and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. To learn, grow, progress and BE HAPPY! That is all I want for all of yous is to be happy. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ brings true and LASTING happiness.

I pray for yous everyday and hope you are doing well! I love you all HEAPS and HEAPS!! I also LOVE my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is an honour and a privilege to be able to serve!

Oh I had Dr. Pepper this week. It was nice. They dont sell that a heap here so it was a special day!

Wow, I just feel and overwhelming sense of Love for all of yous right now! It makes me soo happy! Dont ever forget that I love you! Have a great week. No dont have a great week have a SUPAH AWESOME week!

Love Sister Holmes :)

Yay!! She got our package before Christmas :D

Sister Holmes with her new companion, Sister Pearce

Weird sign

They got SOAKED!

I feel like Luke from star wars trying to defend the people against....well from all the things. Mostly Satan...or Darth Vader if you will.

Here's Sister Holmes' email from like 3 weeks ago. Since I'm a terribly lame sister I haven't updated her letters on the blog. Oh well. It's nice to go back and read her emails again anyway. She didn't send any pictures with this email, but that's okay because apparently they're not even showing up! Lame!! 

Want to know that they call our area.... THE DARK SIDE!!! I feel like Luke from star wars trying to defend the people against....well from all the things. Mostly Satan...or Darth Vader if you will. 

People here love my accent..they try to get me to say things just because they think it sounds cool. Its great because it gives me an excuse to talk to them! Winner winner!

This week has been pretty good!!! Had heaps of good things! We had Zone Conference that was awesome! 

 We got to go up to Redoubt which is like an hour away and spend time learning with all the Zones in South Auckland so that was fun!! Got to see some of my favorite missionaries so that was good! We talked heaps about how God is our LOVING Heavenly Father. That He is a man of flesh and bone. Not some vapor or some mist He is our father who loves us soooooo much! We talked about how important it is to realize that and to understand our divine potential. We had heaps of pizza so that was a plus! ALSO I got little notes from sister ah quin and Davis from the VC! They are so sweet! Its was good to hear from them!! I really miss Sister Ah Quin..She is sooo much fun. She is like a long lost friend someone, that in the pre existence we said "Yeah!!! We are going to serve a mission together and remind all of our friends that they know the gospel is true!!That they accepted it and that is why they are here!" I imagine we were really excited about it and knew how much fun it would be. And it was! Something that was said at Zone conf was we are all members we just need to REmember! 

That same night we had companionship exchanges. That was actually fun! I had my doubts but I have learned  that not matter the situation what ever your out look is effects greatly how it will turn out. Ones attitude affects soo much! Anyway...We had the exchange and I went with Sister Lameroux. She came out with sister Pearce. She is great! We were walking back to the flat and she heard someone yelling..so we turn around and there are 3 kids yelling for us to come over..so we did. Not gonna lie we were a bit hesitant..but we went. We were joking as to what they wanted...we thought "Oh you want to be baptized! We can help you!" and "yes you can come to church!" We get up there and there are 3 of them, 13, 11 and 10 they tell us "Hey we want to learn more about God can you teach us" sooo yea that was unexpected! But they came to church and to our baptism on Sunday! Wahoo! They are really great kids! 

We had a lesson with one of our Investigators. Her name is Sarah. We had a mean lesson about the atonement! It was awesome. Speaking of the atonement..let me share a scripture I read in personal study the other day that I LOVED!!! Ready??? Here its is ..........

 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also ^asuffered for us, leaving us an ^bexample, that ye should follow his steps:

 22 Who did no ^asin, neither was ^bguile found in his mouth:

 23 Who, when he was ^areviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but ^bcommitted himself to him that judgeth righteously:

 24 Who his own self ^abare our ^bsins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose ^cstripes ye were healed.

 25 For ye were as ^asheep going astray; but are now returned unto the ^bShepherd and ^cBishop of your souls.

I love when its says "who his own self bare OUR sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should LIVE unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed"

He took upon Himself OUR sins He died for US its incredible! All so that we would not have to suffer in our sins so that we might be forgiven if we choose to repent. That we may live in righteousness in this life and the life to come! SO that through his stripes we may be healed. I would say He loves us HEAPS! 

In other news I got a sick as sunburn..you know the kind that make your skin peel..yes you are welcome for the information about my self :) I know you are all very curious! You were all probably thinking "hmm I wonder if Sister Holmes sunburn is peeling" Dont lie well all know. 

We had a baptism on Sunday! 3 Amazing little kids! 13, 11 and 8. They are supah smart loved teaching them and talking with them! They are awesome. 

We are going to play kick ball with our zone today. That should be fun! Maybe...haha the Elders we are double covering with had to ask was kick ball was..must be an American game. Then one asked oh..Have you seen the show Recess? Is it like that? hahaha we said yes. Just like that. Love our Elders they are great. Our Zone is filled with just some really good missionaries. I love missionaries...not because I am one...haha just because the ones I get to serve around are great wonderful amazing people and I am blessed to be able to serve along side with them. 

I know this church is TRUE!!! I know it contains the FULNESS of the teachings of Jesus Christ! I know that this is the gospel of happiness and that God is our LOVING Heavenly Father. That Jesus Christ Suffered for the sins of the world so that we may be forgiven and return to live with God,Jesus Christ and our Families forever! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth  and that we have a living prophet today who leads and guides us. In all things we must remember Heavenly Father and Our Redeemer. 

Love and miss ya heaps!!!You are all sweet as! Dont forget it! 

Sister Holmes :)