tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89769319592662031042024-03-13T21:10:31.658-07:00Hermana Holloway Called to ServeSo people will be able to find out about my shenanigans over my 18 month mission to Oklahoma CIty, Oklahoma.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-67334966922034103492015-03-30T11:37:00.003-07:002015-03-30T11:37:31.568-07:00Hasta ver Oklahoma! and 27 things I've learned from my mission<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOOOOHA FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!</span><br />
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Wow. Life is just crazy, I'll tell you what! 18 months ago this Wednesday I stepped off a plane in Oklahoma City, having absolutely no knowledge about what it meant to be a missionary or about this state called Oklahoma, which I didn't think was very well-populated at all. Now my heart is full of gratitude for the experience that I've had here. It has been rich and diverse and more fulfilling than I ever imagined. </div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY MISSION. It has changed my life, but more than that it has taught me HOW to BECOME. And I think that's lesson 1. We are always becoming SOMETHING, but my mission taught me that I have COMPLETE control over WHO I become. I've learned to act, not to be acted upon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned to rely on the Spirit and I've learned what it feels like to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that time is a precious thing and how we uses it reflects how precious we consider this life to be.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to study and gain revelation from the scriptures.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to endure, but I bet that will probably be tested later :).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to love others, even if you don't like them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to strengthen my testimony through adversity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned who God and Jesus Christ are to ME. Not that they're just my Father and my Savior, but I know who they are to ME and the individual relationship I have with them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned to rely on prayer.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned to rely on the Priesthood. Priesthood keys are real.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that there is such thing as having too many animals.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how do drive on a dirt road in a car that was not designed for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that becoming complacent in your testimony is a dangerous place to be. We must ALWAYS keep progressing. Satan gets all the fence sitters.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to apply the Atonement of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that I don't need to be perfect, but that Heavenly Father is pleased with my SLOW but STEADY progress.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned the people are not what they seem. You really don't know a person until you invest time into getting to know them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that sometimes the best service you can give to someone is to listen to them Okie-talk and eat their food. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that the gospel and the church truly are the same no matter where you go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><br />I've learned the power of a simple, sincere testimony.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned how to talk to strangers. Still not my favorite activity but I can do it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned to love myself. It doesn't matter what other people think, I'm happy with myself the way I am because who I am is who God wants me to be.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that fried food is indeed delicious, but it does make you gain excessive pounds. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that everyone has hopes and dreams that are just as important to them as mine are to me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that I will never stop being a missionary.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that everyone desires to serve God, and that all churches have wonderful truths. We can all learn something from one another.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I've learned that my mission is both a culmination of my first 19 years of life as well as a step in my eternity. I've learned far more than I've accomplished.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">And finally, I've learned that there are no coincidences. God always places us WHERE He needs us WHEN He needs us there. Sometimes our influence is not always easily recognizable to ourselves, but it means a lot to the lives we were meant to touch.</span></div>
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Those aren't all the lessons I've learned, of course, but there a good few. I can't wait to go home and apply what I've learned, and I can't wait to reconnect with the people and places I've left behind. My mission life is almost over, and it feels a lot like this scripture describes:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;">And it came to pass that I, Jacob, began to be old; and the record of this people being kept on the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;">other plates</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;"> of Nephi, wherefore, I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;">lives</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;"> passed away like as it were unto us a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 21.3333339691162px;">dream.</span></blockquote>
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It really has passed like a dream, but it's been the best 18 months of my life.</div>
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See you on Thursday.</div>
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Love you all.</div>
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God lives</div>
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The church is true. </div>
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<br />If you don't know it yet, read the Book of Mormon. There's is so much in there that you are missing out on.</div>
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Para siempre Dios este con Vos!!</div>
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LOVE,</div>
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Hermana Holloway </div>
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Hiding from the 'nader this week.</div>
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Did you know that chicken fried steak is the official food of Oklahoma or something like that?</div>
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My very own funeral. The guns are a long story... Basically it's what I get for being in an all-elder district.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-77455708752136396962015-03-23T10:04:00.001-07:002015-03-23T10:17:46.815-07:00The Penultimate Epistle and BECAUSE HE LIVES!!<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOOOHA FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND AMIGOS Y ENEMIGOS!!!!</span><br />
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So time flies right? Can you believe that after today I only have 1 more p-day? Some days it feels like I've been in Oklahoma since the dawn of time and other times it feels like I just got here yesterday. It's even weirder to think that this is the longest I've ever gone without crossing any state lines. But I digress.</div>
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This week was another one of those roller coaster weeks. I think one of the hardest things is it's been really cloudy and drizzly all week and it's been making me SO TIRED. It's hard to be a missionary when you're tired. Well, I suppose it's really hard to be human when you're tired, but missionary work becomes a lot less fun when the pervading emotion is exhaustion. Luckily the weather started clearing this weekend and the week ended up being amazing! Here are some of the miracles:</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">MIRACLE #1:</span> We had a really amazing spiritual experience with Paula on Saturday. We'd been trying to help her to have a good experience with the Book of Mormon but we've been at a loss. So we had a good prayer before we went into her house and as we were talking the Spirit prompted us to invite her to read the Book of Mormon along with the Bible when she's seeking answers from God. We testified that she would receive the same answer from both books and that this would help her to know that the Book of Mormon is true. The Spirit was strong in the room and we were all edified together. She is just so amazing and I know that she can really use the truth that the Book of Mormon has!</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">MIRACLE #2: </span>We went out yesterday evening and checked up on one of our potentials named Ed. While we were there we met this older lady named Shelby who knows some good Mormon people and wants us to come back with a large print so she can read the Book of Mormon too! On our way out of the trailer park, we ran into Gabe, the guy that we talked to in the snow a couple weeks ago. He was hanging out with a couple buddies and they were all really willing to listen and read and we're going to go back next week to teach them more!</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">MIRACLE #3: </span>We had 2 great exchanges this week that finished off this transfer's round of exchanges and because of that we got to go on some road trips to Seminole! It was a party.</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">MIRACLE #4:</span> The elders had a baptism this week that was kind of last-minute but still very well attended. The ward is really catching the fire of missionary work and the confirmation brought such a special spirit to the Sacrament meeting. I was so happy for the elders and the young man that got baptized.</div>
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In other news, the church is coming out with an Easter initiative, similar to He is the Gift, that will come out on March 28th, so this Saturday. Unlike He is the Gift, though, it will run all the way until the next Christmas initiative. They haven't released the video online yet, but we have it and it's AMAZING!! Everyone should go to <a href="http://helives.mormon.org/">helives.mormon.org</a> and type in their email to get updates, because it's going to be amazing! I love how it focuses mostly on the resurrection of Christ and what He continues to do for us as well as what He did for us. Yes His death on the cross is one of the most important events in history, but He continues to offer divine aid on the daily.<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/10.32,33?lang=eng#31"> As Moroni says:</a></div>
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<i>Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.</i></blockquote>
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That is a promise that applies yesterday, today, and forever.</div>
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I LOVE YOU ALL!! Have fantastic weeks, ok?</div>
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~Hermana Holloway </div>
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PICTURES:</div>
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1. One of the sisters I went on exchanges with wants to open her own salon when she goes home, so exchanges with her was like going to the salon. She did my nails, waxed my eyebrows, and did my makeup. It was fun!</div>
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2. Last p-day we played volleyball in Newcastle with the district</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-52823827928536058862015-03-23T08:11:00.002-07:002015-03-23T08:11:45.889-07:00I held my first baby duck!!!<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">ALOOOOOOHA!!!</span><br />
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So that title was mostly because I couldn't think of anything better, but there also is something glorious about living in the boonies of Oklahoma and knowing people that have cute things like baby ducks that you can play with. I LOVE OKLAHOMA!!!</div>
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Well here's a blow-by-blow of my week:</div>
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MONDAY: we went to Pauls Valley!!! If you don't know where that is, that's ok because it's pretty small. They just have a branch out there and their chapel doesn't even have pews. We went for the Pauls Valley zone p-day and STM. For p-day we played flickerball in the rain (a cross between football, basketball, and ultimate frisbee) and the STM was really great as well!</div>
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TUESDAY: I was on exchanges in Ada with Sister Drinkall, who is an amazing sister and I learned a lot from her. Ada is also a tiny town and they just became a ward, but the missionary work is doing well there. We got to do service in a boot and saddle shop for this guy named Hugh (who really wasn't a whole lot like Hugh Taylor), we knocked into a sweet old lady whose brother and sister-in-law were LDS (I'm sure they were leading us there on the other side of the veil), and we taught Book of Mormon class and then the bishop took us out for ice cream! We didn't get home until about 10:45, but it was worth it.</div>
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WEDNESDAY: We had a lesson with Stephanie where we kind of went over the Plan of Salvation again and answered some questions. She is getting so close! Then we went over to the elder's place because elder Bishop had been really sick so we brought him some ginger ale and crackers and stuff. Then we weekly planned, had some dinner, and had a lesson with Paula!</div>
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THURSDAY: We had another meeting today!! It was an LTM (leadership training meeting), and it included all of the district and zone leaders and STLs. It was really good, and pretty focused on ministering to the one when it comes to leadership. We spent the night in some pretty classy apartments in Norman that are still in our area. We had dinner there and spent the rest of the time hunting for less-actives. The weather was really nice so it was good and relaxing. </div>
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FRIDAY: Tiffany Stokes was in town and came to early morning sports!! It was so good to see her. After a very inspiring district meeting about OYMing, Sis. Stewart and I went on exchanges. We had a lesson with Joseph and set a baptismal date for March 28! He wants to get baptized before I go home, but we'll see because he didn't go to church this weekend... He's pretty pumped about it, though. We had dinner and a lesson with the Borchers. None of the kids were there, but it was good to see Lynne and Kim. They're just fabulous :).</div>
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SATURDAY: We had a lesson with a new couple, Josh and Jacklyn. Josh had referred himself to <a href="http://mormon.org/">mormon.org</a> because he wanted a Book of Mormon and he didn't realize that people came with it. So we taught them a bit about the Restoration and invited them to read and pray. They didn't want to set a return appointment, so we'll see how far it goes. They felt the Spirit for sure. </div>
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SUNDAY: The best part of today was the AMAZING FINDING MIRACLE we had! So we have this less-active family, the DeHavens, that just moved from the boonies to a trailer park right next to our apartment. We went to try and visit them, but they weren't home. While we were walking out, we started talking to these guys that were standing outside. Turns out that one of them, Kevin, used to be the DeHaven's neighbor when they all lived in Bakersfield and he'd already been taught a lot by the missionaries back then. Well now he and the DeHavens are neighbors again and Sis. DeHaven has already been working on him. Now we know where he lives, so he's pretty much baptized :).</div>
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Anyways, this week was great! I love being a missionary!! I hope you all had a great week and that you're seeing miracles and loving life. Life is supposed to be fun and joyful, so take advantage of that :).</div>
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LOVE YOU!</div>
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Sister Holloway</div>
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PS Scripture of the week:</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Pahoran, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Pahoran, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">power</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Pahoran, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Pahoran, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;">come</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00784314); color: #333333; font-family: Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', Pahoran, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 25.2000007629395px;"> unto thee that they shall perish!</span></blockquote>
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PICTURES:</div>
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1. The baby duck!!</div>
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2. One of our member's houses way out in the country (yes, we are standing on the roof. Sort of)</div>
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3. After p-day in the rain. It was fun!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-21127812182277218602015-03-11T07:46:00.001-07:002015-03-11T07:46:35.054-07:00Museums and parties and road trips<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Aloha!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79;">I promise we also did missionary work this week... in between the museums and parties and road trips. So here's what happened:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;">MUSEUM:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;">Well this was really just a p-day thing. We went to the natural history museum that's on the OU campus and kind of were educated but mostly took funny pictures, like the one attached to this email. The district out here is one of my favorites. Everyone is hilarious! We call ourselves the black sheep, and even though there's about 15-30 miles between each companionship, we're still super close and have a blast when we're together.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">PARTY:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Sister Boulter's birthday was this week! So while on exchanges last week I called the elders and told them that I wanted to make her birthday really special but also a surprise. They have much more creative minds than I, and they came up with a zone surprise party during district lunch. It was so much fun! We ate food, had cake and ice cream, and busted a pinata. And Sis. B had NO idea. My job was to stall so they could get everything set up so she'd be surprised, and luckily she was!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">We also had MLC this week, which was another kind of party. More like a spiritual party. And because it's my last one, they made me bear my testimony at the end. (well, I guess I got to bear it) I'm just so grateful for all of the missionary skills that I've gained and the ability to follow the Savior that I've obtained. I don't think I'd have that without my mission.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #45818e;">ROAD TRIPS:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #45818e;">We went to the temple this week! Anel, a girl from the Spanish branch, invited me to her endowment and I got permission to go! We went on the special Spanish Saturday, which means that everything was in Spanish. That made it kind of difficult, but the Spirit is universal. And it was just so happy to be with the branch members. Even though I haven't been there in over a year, they're still my family.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #45818e;">We also went to Lawton, OK for a baptism for Sister Boulter! It was about 90 miles each way, but it was a way fun road trip.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">MISSIONARY WORK:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Between all of that and and exchange in Spanishland, it seems like I hardly got to work in my own area, but we had some lessons with the Borchers and Joseph and Paula. Hayden and Joseph are on the brink of setting baptismal dates, but they've just got a couple of concerns that they need to take care of. And Paula ran into some anti material but luckily she came straight to us and we were able to help her to see that it's not true. If you want to research something about the church, don't go to Google! Go to an official church website.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">And because church was cancelled last week we had fast Sunday this week. One sister got up and said something to the effect of "we know what we need to do. We just need to do it NOW." And that's how I've been feeling lately. I know what I need to do, I just need to do it!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">Love you all! Thanks for your love and support!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">~Hermana Holloway</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;">PICTURES:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;">1. with the district at the museum</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;">2. The surprise party</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-65773837289933320612015-03-11T07:44:00.003-07:002015-03-11T07:44:28.832-07:00Snowed in<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px;">ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHAAAAAA!!!!!</span><br />
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I was really racking my brains to think of a witty way to start this email, but I have absolutely NOTHING. So just pretend my greeting was a lot more witty than it usually is :).</div>
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This week has been pretty crazy! The weather has especially been crazy, and people's reactions to the weather has been the craziest! If it ever snows in Oklahoma, cars get grounded, people refuse to set foot outside, and church gets cancelled until it all melts. And with no plows and no salt that usually takes a little while. So let's just say that this Chicago girl was less than pleased with people's reactions and Heavenly Father has been teaching me a lot of patience lately. It's funny how He always does that right when I think I've got it down. :)</div>
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But other than that this week really was great. I went to the dentist again, we searched for some more service opportunities in the community, we had some lessons with our investigators, and we had some good exchanges with our sisters and even found a pretty cool man in the snow that wanted a Book of Mormon! We gave him one of course.</div>
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And speaking of the Book of Mormon, and zone conference this week my mission president based one of his trainings off of <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1988/10/flooding-the-earth-with-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng">this talk by President Benson</a> and committed us all to carry a Book of Mormon in our hands wherever we go and track how many we give away. I haven't got into the habit yet, but hopefully it will help some of the finding problems we are having! I'm really excited to see how it goes!</div>
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Anyways, I think that those are the most exciting things going on right now. Love you all and have a great week!</div>
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LOVE,</div>
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Sister Holloway</div>
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PS: Sorry for all of you that have sent me personal emails or letters that I have not yet responded to. It's not that I don't love you, it's just that our car broke so my email time was reduced by a substantial amount. I'll make an extra special effort next week!!</div>
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PPS: <a href="https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/03/encircled-in-his-gentle-arms?cid=HPSU030115727&lang=eng">If you haven't read the 1st Presidency message for this month, you should. </a>It's very bueno!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-67431339026382729112015-03-01T14:33:00.003-08:002015-03-01T14:33:24.573-08:00Many are cold, but few are frozen<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOOHA OHANA Y AMIGOS!!!!</span><div>
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Well, just another week in the life of this Okie missionary! We had transfers, of course, and I bid farewell to Sis. Stokes and greeted Sis. Boulter! It was actually kind of a sad moment, because a lot of the missionaries that went home were good friends of mine and as they were all driving away in the big white van we sang "God be With You til We Meet Again". It was kind of hard to not cry!</div>
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But the work must move forward, right? Sis. Boulter and I are really focusing a lot on finding, as well as taking care of the people we have. Here are some of the main ones:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">THE BORCHERS:</span> Trey just got baptized, but his twin brother, Hayden did not. We're trying to help Hayden understand the doctrine and feel the Spirit so that he can make the same decision as well. There's a lot of patience in the Lord's timing involved there, but the whole family is ultimately progressing towards the temple!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">PAULA:</span> She's our investigator that is extremely well-versed in the Bible and has a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. However, she has enough faith to read and pray about it and I know that God will give her the answer she needs, in His own way and in His own timing.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">STEPHANIE:</span> Stephanie's brother got baptized about 2 years ago and is now on a mission. She has been reading the Book of Mormon with us and she really loves what it teaches. I can tell that her faith in Christ grows as she reads it!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">JOSEPH:</span> He's our miracle find from a couple weeks ago. He came to church this past Sunday and really loved it and loved the Spirit. He has a great relationship with God and is trying to make some changes right now so he can continue to grow closer to his Father and do His will. He's just amazing and SO prepared!</div>
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Those are some of the main people we're working with. Heavenly Father has blessed us with a lot of people that are prepared for the Gospel, and I'm so grateful for that. And even though winter has finally come and the Oklahoma wind seems to chill to the bone, we're excited for the upcoming transfer! <span style="font-size: medium;">LIFE IS GOOD</span>!!</div>
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This Sunday every single lesson was about prayer. In Relief Society we read from <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/parents-the-prime-gospel-teachers-of-their-children?lang=eng">this talk by Tad R. Callister</a>, and I particularly loved this quote:</div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As parents, we can teach our children to pray for things of eternal consequence—to pray for the strength to be morally clean in a very challenging world, to be obedient, and to have the courage to stand for the right.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>No doubt most of our youth have their evening prayers, but perhaps many of them struggle with the habit of personal morning prayer. As parents, as their prime gospel teachers, we can correct this. Which parent in <a class="" href="http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; color: black !important; text-decoration: none !important;">Book of Mormon</a> times would have let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer? The Lord said, “Pray always, … that you may conquer Satan” (<a class="" href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/10.5?lang=eng#4" style="background-color: transparent !important; background-image: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; color: black !important; text-decoration: none !important;">D&C 10:5</a>). As parents, we can help instill within our children the habit and power of morning prayer.</i></span></blockquote>
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This reminded me of my seminary years, and every morning before we left the house at 5:50 my parents would make me and Trevor (when he started seminary) pause and say a prayer with them. At the time I honestly sometimes tried to see if we could make it out the door before they came down the stairs so we wouldn't have to say a prayer, but looking back I'm grateful that they loved us enough to give us the protection of family prayer before we went out into the world. It's such a <i>simple</i> thing that has a profound impact.</div>
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I love you all! Take care and have a week full of milagros!</div>
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~Hermana Bethani Holloway</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-81680280200054525392015-02-16T11:17:00.002-08:002015-02-16T11:17:26.227-08:00Dentists and boonies and my dying companion<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">ALOOOOOOOHA everybody!!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I hope you all had a great week! Ours was pretty crazy, but I know my last email didn't really give you any news so I'll try to be a little better about giving you more info.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This week I went in for a root canal and came out of it quite loopy. Sister Stokes is a mad genius so she had me record a video of myself describing my experiences to show to the elders while we were driving back. It's pretty hilarious, but too big to email. So I guess that's something you'll have to enjoy after I get back. Apparently we went to the zone leader's apartment to drop something off and I said some pretty funny things, including calling an Elder Wheelwright Elder WheelWRONG. Then I came home and crashed for about 5 hours and woke up when it was time to go to bed! On the upside, Sis. Stokes got the chance to pack while I slept and the next day I felt like I had more energy than I've ever had before!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Speaking of Sister Stokes, she goes home this week! I'm going to miss her a ton!! My new companion is named Sis. Boulter, and I was actually her STL when I was in the Village, back when she was a brand new missionary. I'm really excited to work with her. She's super hardworking and enthusiastic. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Also Trey got baptized!! Hayden is going to need a little more care teaching before he knows it's true but I'm sure that he'll get baptized soon. He was baptized with 2 of the elder's investigators so we had 3 baptisms for our ward! It was pretty amazing and extremely well attended. We probably could have moved to the chapel if we'd wanted. President Walkenhorst even came and said a few words. It was a great baptism.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Then we got to go on exchanges in Ada and we had a triple funeral with the three missionaries that were there that are going home. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">And we also got to go to the temple with the Pauls Valley zone, and that was just heavenly!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Overall, life is good. We're teaching a lot of amazing and prepared people. I'm excited for this next transfer of miracles!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I love you all! P. W. shared this scripture at the baptism on Saturday: </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, </i><b><i>there is one thing which is of more importance than they all</i></b><i>—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The most important thing is Christ. He lives and He loves us. He wants us to place Him at the forefront of our lives, and if we do so He will bless and protect us. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Have a great week!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">~Hna. Holloway</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-39939824306131550762015-02-09T12:54:00.001-08:002015-02-09T12:54:15.912-08:00No words minced<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!!!!!!!!!!!!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Usually ideas for emails/blog posts/whatever come to me really easily. For some reason this week has been really difficult to put into words. Let's try a haiku:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Boys almost baptized</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Took family to the temple</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Taught a new guy too</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Well there you have it folks! That was my week! Hope you have a good one! Read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church, and have a happy </span><span class="s2">Valentine's day</span><span class="s1">! Love you bye!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">~Sister Holloway</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Borchers family temple trip! The boys are so excited to get dunked on Saturday!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">PS: I've also been pondering these verses a lot lately. I've been striving to develop charity, but I think that it can always increase!</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>42 </b>Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>43 </b>And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>44 </b>If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>45 </b>And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>46 </b>Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>47 </b>But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.</span></div>
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<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1"><b>48 </b>Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-55592826848643804822015-02-03T15:33:00.000-08:002015-02-03T15:33:04.195-08:00It's always darkest right before the dawn<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Pardon the cheesy title, but that's really how I feel. This week has been infinitely better than last week, and on Friday we were driving to the hermanas' apartment to shower after early morning sports and right in front of us there was the most GORGEOUS sunrise. The colors were just so vivid and bright that there's no way to describe or replicate it. It was a nice little message from Heavenly Father that everything is going to be alright, that everything I was going through was designed to help me trust Him more.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We also got to go to the temple this week, and that was an amazing experience. I think the last time I'd been to the temple was in August or September, so it had been a couple of months. As soon as I walked into the ordinance room I just felt the most overwhelming sense of peace and comfort. I felt like I just gone home, but it wasn't really a physical home. I had gone to my spiritual home, which as a child of my Heavenly Father means the temple. I felt like I was in the presence of God and it gave me a great deal of strength. I also got the distinct impression while I was there that God is trying to stretch me and that he's making it kind of difficult on purpose, but that ultimately it would all work out. I also learned that I really have no idea how to do ANYTHING, but any knowledge and ability that I have was given to me by my Father and that as I trust Him more, He takes care of me.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So anyways, this week was a little slower missionary work wise, but it was a spiritual feast overall.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">But we did have some pretty cool miracles:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On Friday we went over to Sis. Komers' house because she broke her foot really badly and can't really do a ton of housework. So we went over to cook and clean and stuff. When we pulled in we saw this guy that was doing some remodeling or something and as we got our of the car sister Stokes gave him a cheery wave and asked "is Sister Komers home?". He kind of gave us a strange look, said he wasn't sure, and then we went inside. About an hour later Bro. Komers came inside and said that as he was talking to the guy remodeling his house (Jeremy) he had asked "so what ward are you in?". Bro. Komers was of course very surprised and asked him if he was a member. Jeremy said that he was but hadn't been active for a long time and actually felt a lot of animosity towards the church. Well Bro. Komers took this lost sheep under his wing, talked with him, and managed to get him to come to church on Sunday and meet the very people that had offended him. All because of a simple question: "is Sis. Komers home?" If we hadn't been there and come when we had (which was late BTW) he never would've seen the sister missionaries and known that the Komers were members. God does know us individually and He looks out for us! The lost sheep cannot stray forever.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">There's also this investigator that we have, Skye, who's the daughter of one of our recent converts. She's 12 and definitely needs the gospel, she just feels kind of shy about being around the other young women. We've been trying and trying to help her but we haven't been able to figure it out. Well last week the Young Women went and visited her without us asking them to. Then on Sunday she came to church, went to YW 3rd hour with us, and agreed to go to mutual. I really feel like this could be a turning point for her!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Anyways.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Life is good.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The church is true.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Book is </span><span class="s2">blue</span><span class="s1">.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I love you.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I hope all y'all have a great week and see miracles!!!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">~Sister Holloway</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Disc golfing last week. I was terrible but it was fun :)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Our district at the temple! Yes elders Santana and Mulitalo were eating ramen. Silly elders.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-81833082599408125492015-01-27T18:39:00.001-08:002015-01-27T18:39:23.652-08:00Exchanges and endodontists and exhaustion<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">So I'm pretty sure endodontist is a word but Google doesn't think so. This might be the first time I've ever been smarter than the Internet (or I could be completely wrong). But as the title alludes to, we had a really busy week that left me completely exhausted by yesterday! Hopefully P-day recharges those batteries! We'll actually have to go pretty quickly because we're going disc golfing with one of the families the elders are working with.</span><br />
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Sis. Lemmo and I got to go on exchanges though! It was a party! We just had a blast being back together as companions and reminiscing about the good old days in Choctaw. We had 2 doctor's appointments during exchanges, one for her and one for me. It makes no sense. My whole mission I've had perfect health and now all of the sudden my body wants to fall apart! I think there's a good reason we're not expected do to this forever. The stress would kill you. But it was just great to be with her again. </div>
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We also took a road trip to Ada to exchange with the sisters there. If you haven't heard of it that's ok. There aren't even any freeways that go to Ada. You have to take dark and sketchy backroads to get there and you pass at least 1 prison on the way. It was a fun trip, though, and I love road trips like that :).</div>
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Our last exchange was a mini-mission with Emmerling, one of our recent converts that's 20 and wants to serve a mission. We had a pretty good day with her and it was kind of a welcome break to the daily routine. We had to have the zone leaders drop off an extra mattress for her to sleep on, and when we got there our apartment looked like this:</div>
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Very funny elders.</div>
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In case you can't tell from the tone of the email, it's just been a struggle kind of week. In the past I've tried to be upbeat and pretend like nothing's wrong, but I've had enough experience with weeks like this that I know that it will end and often a lot sooner that I expect. There are very real and difficult challenges that come with living life here on earth and I think that we can acknowledge these trials with faith and hope, understanding that it won't last forever and that ultimately we will be better because of it. Yesterday I was studying about patience, and I came across this scripture in Romans 5:3-5:</div>
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<i>We glory in tribulations also: knowing that <b>tribulation</b> worketh <b>patience</b>; And patience, <b>experience</b>; and experience, <b>hope</b>: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.</i></div>
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There are a lot of things that you can get from that scripture, but one thing that I noticed is that tribulation leads to patience, patience leads to experience, and experience leads to hope. However, this is not unconditional. We have to rely on the Spirit in order to complete this positive cycle. Otherwise, our tribulations lead to anger, our anger causes us to harden our hearts, and the hardening of our hearts leads to despair. We can choose the positive spiral or the negative one. One leads to hope, and the other despair. So throughout the trials that I'm passing through right now I'm praying my guts out and relying on the Spirit to experience the positive cycle. </div>
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Don't worry about me though. I'll be my chipper self next week, or maybe just after we play disc golf :).</div>
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I love all y'all! And I hope you have a wonderful and happy week.</div>
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Love,</div>
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Hermana Holloway</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-79482559640539191792015-01-20T09:51:00.002-08:002015-01-20T09:51:48.220-08:00The best part about Noble is...<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">...the fact that we can email at </span><span style="color: red; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">OU</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> again! Which means we get the really really nice Macs that are easy to type on :DD.</span><br />
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Just kidding. That's just the thing that I'm currently most excited about.</div>
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But Noble really is a wonderful place!! I went to church for the 2nd time yesterday and just loved it. And then we went to dinner out in the boonies and I felt right at home. The kids asked me what I liked to do when I was at home and I said that I like to go to the beach and go to amusement parks and stuff like that and they were just like "we've never seen a beach. The only amusement park we've been to is Frontier City. We like to rope and go 4 wheeling and ride horses!"</div>
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The difference between city people and country people.</div>
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We had some exciting stuff come up this week, though.</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;">#1: ANDY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">It was so happy!! He was just beaming and after he came over to all of the missionaries<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (there were quite a few there)</span> and he thanked us all and said that if it wasn't for us he wouldn't be where he is. I beg to differ, because we are just vessels of the Spirit, but it was really nice to hear regardless. I feel like even though it took Andy a little while to make the commitment, now that he's there he won't waver because he has truly become converted. </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Also while I was at the baptism stake youth conference was going on at the church building so I saw a few of the youth from Weatherford. It was such a tender mercy and proof that God is in the details of our lives. I just miss all the people from my past areas so much! Every single person I've met out here on my mission has left a mark on me, whether they know it or not.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff9900; font-size: x-large;">#2: KIM GOT BAPTIZED!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff9900;">By this point I've actually gotten to know her a little bit. She was just so ready to get baptized. It was a very spiritual experience and all of her kids were there including her daughter's boyfriend. Now we really want to focus on the kids, because we think they can all get baptized on Feb 14th, which is Sis. Stokes' last weekend on the mission. It would just be perfect because she's worked with this family her whole time in Noble and I really think that the kids can make it to then. We taught her twin sons, Trey and Hayden, and they both said that they want to find out if it's true and we took Makenzee to Young Women's and she loved it! Just pray that it all works out. They are working to be sealed!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #9900ff;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">#3: WE HAVE THE BEST SISTERS IN THE MISSION!</span> We've started this transfer's round of exchanges, and these sisters are just incredible. They work hard and love the Lord and us and the zone leaders are just trying to keep faith high. Everytime we have a cool miracle we text it to the zone leaders and they forward it to the whole zone. It's incredible to see amazing miracles that don't just happen in another zone or mission, but right here in Norman. When's the last time you shared a missionary or spiritual experience? It could really help someone with faith that you might not know is wavering. Imma leave y'all with a commitment:<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">share a missionary or spiritual experience with someone this week! </span></b><span style="color: #9900ff;">Will y'all do that? WONDERFUL :). I promise you that your faith and testimony will increase as you do so.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">#4: I DON'T REALLY KNOWN WHAT TO CALL THIS ONE! </span>It was just kind of a funny story. We were filling up the car on the way to Andy's baptism Friday when this guy came up to me <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Sis. Stokes stayed in the car while I pumped the gas)</span> and said </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: medium;">"Hey my friend wants your number!" </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">My first thought was <span style="font-size: medium;">"what a great way to share the gospel!"</span>, so I pull out a pass along card with such zeal that probably made the poor guy believe that I was actually going to give him my number and said <span style="font-size: medium;">"I'm actually a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!" </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Now the guy looked positively dumbfounded but he tried to play it off all smooth and said, <span style="font-size: medium;">"well people say church girls are crazy. Does that mean you're crazy?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Missionary tip #269874357, if you want to make sharing the gospel more natural, always try to make the person you're sharing it with laugh. May not be applicable to all situations. See following example.)</span> <span style="font-size: medium;">"Oh yeah! For sure!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">His response: <span style="font-size: medium;">"Well I love crazy! ....so can I have your number?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Then I had to explain to the poor guy that as a missionary I'm not allowed to date anyone but if he'd like I could send missionaries over to teach him! <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(he looked like a young single, so we wouldn't teach him)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">He explained<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (looking a little deflated)</span> that he already goes to church and stuff and isn't really interested. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">I gave him the card, told him to visit <a href="http://mormon.org/">mormon.org</a> and cheerily bid him a good day. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Hopefully he gets baptized someday!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">It was pretty funny though. I think that's the first time that some random stranger has asked for my phone number like that :). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">So moral of the story is... <b>always keep pass along cards with you so you can share the gospel with random guys that hit on you.</b></span></div>
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Well that was my week! Hope you liked it! </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I LOVE ALL Y'ALL OUT THERE!!!!</span></div>
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~Hermana Bethani Holloway</div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Scripture of the week-John 21:15-17</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Rockwell; padding: 0in;">So when they had dined, the sister missionary saith to her friends, family, and acquaintances, people, lovest thou me more than these? They saith unto her, Yea, sister missionary; thou knowest that we love thee. She saith unto them, fill my mailbox.</span><span style="font-family: Rockwell;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Rockwell; padding: 0in;">She saith to them again the second time, people, lovest thou me? They saith unto her, Yea, sister; thou knowest that we love thee. She saith unto them, fill my mailbox.</span><span style="font-family: Rockwell;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Rockwell; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">She saith unto them the third time, people, lovest thou me? They were grieved because she said unto them the third time, Lovest thou me? And they said unto her, sister, thou knowest that we love thee. The sister missionary saith unto them, fill my mailbox.</span></span><span style="color: #2f393a; font-family: Rockwell;"></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #2f393a; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;">BUT really ;)</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-28843243570294787142015-01-12T09:34:00.001-08:002015-01-12T09:34:05.728-08:00One of those year-long weeks again!<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #9900ff;">HEY</span><span style="color: magenta;">HOWDY</span><span style="color: red;">ALOHA</span><span style="color: lime;">HOLA</span>!!!!</b></span><br />
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As you can tell from the title, this week was a LONG one! I don't understand it. They all have <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(wait a second while I do math on the calculator)</span> 168 hours, how come sometimes they feel like they have 168,000??</div>
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BUT it has been a very good week. I was able to get 6 months of stuff from the Village to Noble and say good-bye to most of the people that I love most there. I was so excited to leave, but right now it's pretty bittersweet. Plus now I'm getting to know a whole new set of people and I only have 6 weeks to do it, because that's when Sis. Stokes goes home! It'll be good, though. I'm looking forward to the challenge and the ward has given me a really warm welcome. It's funny, because of the 9 sisters that have served here in living memory, 6 of them have ended their missions here. Everyone knows that Sis. Stokes is about ready to go home, and they already expect me to be here for 3 months and then leave. I was trying to keep that fact on the DL, but the Noble ward was too smart for that. </div>
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All is well, though. I'm back in the same zone as my daughter Sis. Lemmo and I also get to serve around a lot of missionaries that I served around before, including some of my favorite leaders. We're also trying to change things around here and tap into the enormous potential that this place has. We've been working with the zone leaders to set goals and make plans to help every individual missionary and area. It's really exciting stuff! <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(I know it doesn't really sound like it from my description, but I promise you it is. I'm so pumped and stoked to be a missionary right here and right now!!!)</span></div>
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We also have a couple baptisms coming up. The sisters here have been working with a lady named Kim who's getting baptized on Saturday. Her husband was baptized in November, and we're hoping to start teaching her teenage kids so the whole family can be brought into the gospel!</div>
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We'll also be taking a road trip back to the city this Friday for Andy's baptism!!!!!!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yay for a library system that lets me do pictures the fun way! Also, </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">this guy's getting baptized!!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I'M SO EXCITED FOR THAT IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!</span></div>
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It'll be nice to see everyone again and to see Andy receive this saving ordinance. He is just so ready. </div>
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What else should I say.... Sis. Stokes is a baller. </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Don't judge how I look too hard. It was really windy.)</span></div>
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She's my 4th companion from Utah<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (Orem) </span>and she is just a people person and really good at helping people feel her love. She's also a weightlifter, which is sweet. I told her she has to teach me. </div>
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Whelp I think that's about all I have to say! Life is good. The book is blue, the church is true, Jesus loves YOU! And <span style="font-size: medium;">always remember that this Okie missionary loves you too</span> :). Have an amazing, miracle-filled week!</div>
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LOVE,</div>
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Sister Holloway</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-9747440445316522592015-01-12T09:29:00.000-08:002015-01-12T09:29:19.818-08:00All good things must come to an end<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Hey howdy hey family and friends!!!!! </strong></span></div>
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Greetings from frigid Oklahoma!! </div>
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Where the wind comes sweeping down from Canada and chills you to the bone! </div>
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But it's also the best place in the world, hands down.</div>
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We just found out that I'm leaving the Village after being here for about 6 months. It's a bittersweet moment for sure. I have absolutely LOVED this area because of all of the work that has happened. I have seen many many people come closer to Jesus Christ and many changes of heart. It has been a fulfilling and satisfying 4 transfers! I feel like in the Village I finally was able to be an effective missionary. In Norman and Weatherford I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Choctaw taught me the skills that I needed and humbled me enough to rely fully on the Lord. And here in the Village I have applied everything that I've learned and used it to help those around me. And with about 3 months left, I'm redoubling my efforts to make them the best 3 months of my mission. I'm very excited for the challenges that are ahead!</div>
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And now for where I'm going! I'm being sent to serve in Noble, OK! For those of you keeping score at home, Noble is a small town a few miles south of Norman. It is also in the same zone as Norman 3 Spanish North, where I started my mission, as well as Norman 2 East, where Sister Lemmo is serving. So my baby and I will get to go on exchanges and I'll get to do exchanges in my first area!!! I've been praying and praying to end my mission there and I know that Heavenly Father will give us our righteous desires because He loves us more than we can comprehend. He is our Father!</div>
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I'll be coming back to the Village soon, though, because Andy Wood is getting baptized on January 16th! There's NO way I'm missing that one, because I've been teaching him since September and his change of heart has been the greatest.</div>
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We also were able to set a baptismal date with Ramon for February 14th! He and Stephanie both came to church on Sunday with their kids. </div>
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Also one of our members (sis. Fahey) invited one of her friends over on New Year's Eve for dinner along with us and she had questions so we ended up teaching her about the Restoration and she invited us over to come over Wednesday for dinner and to teach her more! The on Sunday Sis. Fahey got up and bore a beautiful testimony about the experience and it made me realize how much of an impact we all can make in other people's lives as we share and invite them to live the Gospel of Christ, because that is the ULTIMATE source of happiness.</div>
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I love you all and I hope that your New Year is wonderful!</div>
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LOVE,</div>
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Sister Bethani Holloway </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(who most likely will stay in English for the rest of her mission... and is surprisingly ok with that :) )</span></div>
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PICTURES:</div>
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1. New Year's Eve with the Faheys.</div>
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2. Elder Gardner's funeral. He was my zone leader for 4 transfers (2 in Choctaw and 2 here). We'll be sad to see him go! this is also an accurate representation of strange missionary culture.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-46798503626929637552015-01-01T18:00:00.000-08:002015-01-01T18:00:39.254-08:002015 and Rescuing in Unity<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.552000045776367px; line-height: 38.01599884033203px;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: cyan; font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOHA </span>friends and family :)</span></div>
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So this week... was a lovely week... full of <span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="font-size: medium;">sunshine</span> </span>and <span style="color: #741b47; font-size: medium;">wonderfulness</span>.</div>
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And some of you got the privilege as well of speaking to my sunshiny face. Congratulations.</div>
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Really, though, with Christmas and everything else this week was just fabulous. It was pretty INSANE, though. For all you current and future missionaries out there, I do NOT recommend having 2 exchanges, a major religious holiday with its accompanying preparation day <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(AKA Christmas and Christmas Eve)</span>, and a baptism planned for the same 7 day period. At the end of said 7 day period you might only be able to barely function. </div>
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BUT we still had some substantial miracles. </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">for example... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">MIMI GOT BAPTIZED!!!! </span>It was a very very happy day. I've been working with this chica for 6 months and I have seen such a massive change in her. At the beginning she just wanted to be a spectator. Now she realizes WHY she needs the gospel as well as what it will do for her life. It was just amazing. I'm SO proud of her!</div>
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The only downside is that her baptism means that we only have 1 investigator (Andy) so we've been finding a lot and working with our members, etc. Well the other day we finally had our <span style="font-size: x-large;">FIRST NEW INVESTIGATOR IN LIKE 6 WEEKS</span>! It was amazing. So there's this lady named Stephanie who randomly showed up at church and decided to get active after being away from church for about 10 years. She is married to a man named Ramon who is NOT a member (yet!) and we wanted to get to know her and her husband better so we set up an appointment to go visit them. When we first got there he wasn't there <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(boo!) </span>and we asked Stephanie if he'd be interested she said <span style="font-size: medium;">NO WAY</span> which was a little discouraging but when he got home he sat right down on the couch and listened to our spiritual though from Mosiah 24. We had no idea what we were going to say, but the Spirit guided us to ask him if we could teach him. He said we could and that he wants to get right with God again. After he said this Stephanie couldn't stop beaming. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon in between our visit and set a return appointment. It was amazing, one of those lessons where you walk away not knowing anything that you just said. What makes it even better is right across the way from them a cute typical Mormon family that is strong in the church just moved in. Coincidence? I think not. Heavenly Father ALWAYS has a plan.</div>
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I've also been pondering lately about the idea of councils, because the church has a lot of them. I was especially thinking about the ward council, because it is perhaps one of the most important councils in the church. This morning I reread <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/rescue-in-unity?lang=eng">Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong's talk on the subject</a>, and I love the analogy he uses of the man afflicted with palsy. I also love that the full-time missionaries are part of this rescue effort. I have spent a lot of effort trying to be integrated into the Village Ward because I believe that all of the phases of the work of salvation can be hastened if the missionaries are an integral part of the ward council and are used and given assignments in all rescue efforts. This is my favorite quote from the talk:</div>
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<em><span style="color: #38761d;"><span id="chunk100000">Do </span><span id="chunk100001">we </span><span id="chunk100002">know </span><span id="chunk100003">anyone </span><span id="chunk100004">in </span><span id="chunk100005">our </span><span id="chunk100006">life </span><span id="chunk100007">who </span><span id="chunk100008">is </span><span id="chunk100009">afflicted </span><span id="chunk100010">with </span><span id="chunk100011">spiritual </span><span id="chunk100012">palsy, </span><span id="chunk100013">someone </span><span id="chunk100014">who </span><span id="chunk100015">just </span><span id="chunk100016">cannot </span><span id="chunk100017">come </span><span id="chunk100018">back </span><span id="chunk100019">to </span><span id="chunk100020">the </span><span id="chunk100021">Church </span><span id="chunk100022">by </span><span id="chunk100023">himself </span><span id="chunk100024">or </span><span id="chunk100025">herself? </span><span id="chunk100026">He </span><span id="chunk100027">or </span><span id="chunk100028">she </span><span id="chunk100029">could </span><span id="chunk100030">be </span><span id="chunk100031">one </span><span id="chunk100032">of </span><span id="chunk100033">our </span><span id="chunk100034">children, </span><span id="chunk100035">one </span><span id="chunk100036">of </span><span id="chunk100037">our </span><span id="chunk100038">parents, </span><span id="chunk100039">a </span><span id="chunk100040">spouse, </span><span id="chunk100041">or </span><span id="chunk100042">a </span><span id="chunk100043">friend.</span></span></em><div id="p16">
<em><span style="color: #38761d;"><span id="chunk110000">With </span><span id="chunk110001">so </span><span id="chunk110002">many </span><span id="chunk110003">more </span><span id="chunk110004">full-time </span><span id="chunk110005">missionaries </span><span id="chunk110006">now </span><span id="chunk110007">available </span><span id="chunk110008">in </span><span id="chunk110009">each </span><span id="chunk110010">Church </span><span id="chunk110011">unit, </span><span id="chunk110012">it </span><span id="chunk110013">will </span><span id="chunk110014">be </span><span id="chunk110015">wise </span><span id="chunk110016">for </span><span id="chunk110017">bishops </span><span id="chunk110018">and </span><span id="chunk110019">branch </span><span id="chunk110020">presidents </span><span id="chunk110021">to </span><span id="chunk110022">make </span><span id="chunk110023">better </span><span id="chunk110024">use </span><span id="chunk110025">of </span><span id="chunk110026">their </span><span id="chunk110027">ward </span><span id="chunk110028">and </span><span id="chunk110029">branch </span><span id="chunk110030">councils. </span><span id="chunk110031">The </span><span id="chunk110032">bishop </span><span id="chunk110033">can </span><span id="chunk110034">invite </span><span id="chunk110035">each </span><span id="chunk110036">member </span><span id="chunk110037">of </span><span id="chunk110038">the </span><span id="chunk110039">ward </span><span id="chunk110040">council </span><span id="chunk110041">to </span><span id="chunk110042">come </span><span id="chunk110043">with </span><span id="chunk110044">a </span><span id="chunk110045">list </span><span id="chunk110046">of </span><span id="chunk110047">names </span><span id="chunk110048">of </span><span id="chunk110049">those </span><span id="chunk110050">who </span><span id="chunk110051">may </span><span id="chunk110052">need </span><span id="chunk110053">assistance. </span><span id="chunk110054">Members </span><span id="chunk110055">of </span><span id="chunk110056">the </span><span id="chunk110057">ward </span><span id="chunk110058">council </span><span id="chunk110059">will </span><span id="chunk110060">counsel </span><span id="chunk110061">together </span><span id="chunk110062">carefully </span><span id="chunk110063">on </span><span id="chunk110064">how </span><span id="chunk110065">they </span><span id="chunk110066">might </span><span id="chunk110067">best </span><span id="chunk110068">help. </span><span id="chunk110069">Bishops </span><span id="chunk110070">will </span><span id="chunk110071">listen </span><span id="chunk110072">attentively </span><span id="chunk110073">to </span><span id="chunk110074">the </span><span id="chunk110075">ideas </span><span id="chunk110076">and </span><span id="chunk110077">make </span><span id="chunk110078">assignments.</span></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #38761d;"><span id="chunk120000">Full-time </span><span id="chunk120001">missionaries </span><span id="chunk120002">are </span><span id="chunk120003">great </span><span id="chunk120004">resources </span><span id="chunk120005">to </span><span id="chunk120006">the </span><span id="chunk120007">wards </span><span id="chunk120008">in </span><span id="chunk120009">these </span><span id="chunk120010">rescue </span><span id="chunk120011">efforts. </span><span id="chunk120012">They </span><span id="chunk120013">are </span><span id="chunk120014">young </span><span id="chunk120015">and </span><span id="chunk120016">full </span><span id="chunk120017">of </span><span id="chunk120018">energy. </span><span id="chunk120019">They </span><span id="chunk120020">love </span><span id="chunk120021">to </span><span id="chunk120022">have </span><span id="chunk120023">a </span><span id="chunk120024">list </span><span id="chunk120025">of </span><span id="chunk120026">specific </span><span id="chunk120027">names </span><span id="chunk120028">of </span><span id="chunk120029">people </span><span id="chunk120030">to </span><span id="chunk120031">work </span><span id="chunk120032">with. </span><span id="chunk120033">They </span><span id="chunk120034">enjoy </span><span id="chunk120035">working </span><span id="chunk120036">together </span><span id="chunk120037">with </span><span id="chunk120038">ward </span><span id="chunk120039">members. </span><span id="chunk120040">They </span><span id="chunk120041">know </span><span id="chunk120042">these </span><span id="chunk120043">are </span><span id="chunk120044">great </span><span id="chunk120045">finding </span><span id="chunk120046">opportunities </span><span id="chunk120047">for </span><span id="chunk120048">them. </span><span id="chunk120049">They </span><span id="chunk120050">are </span><span id="chunk120051">devoted </span><span id="chunk120052">to </span><span id="chunk120053">establishing </span><span id="chunk120054">the </span><span id="chunk120055">Lord’s </span><span id="chunk120056">kingdom. </span><span id="chunk120057">They </span><span id="chunk120058">have </span><span id="chunk120059">a </span><span id="chunk120060">strong </span><span id="chunk120061">testimony </span><span id="chunk120062">that </span><span id="chunk120063">they </span><span id="chunk120064">will </span><span id="chunk120065">become </span><span id="chunk120066">more </span><span id="chunk120067">Christlike </span><span id="chunk120068">as </span><span id="chunk120069">they </span><span id="chunk120070">participate </span><span id="chunk120071">in </span><span id="chunk120072">these </span><span id="chunk120073">rescuing </span><span id="chunk120074">efforts.</span></span></em></div>
I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's certainly made me ponder about how Heavenly Father has given us these ward councils to bless His children.<br />
Well anyways, I love all y'all and I hope you have wonderful weeks! <span style="color: #674ea7; font-size: medium;">Keep calm and preach the Gospel!!</span><br />
~Sis. Holloway<br />
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PICTURES:<br />
1. Mimi's baptism :)<br />
2. Christmas Eve nativity at the Wilkinson's<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-71845911786670385112014-12-22T12:56:00.001-08:002014-12-22T12:56:55.816-08:00A Mighty Change of Heart<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: medium;">ALOOOOOOOOOOHA!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">and</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">MELE KALIKIMAKA!!!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">and</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: medium;">FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">and </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #38761d; color: red; font-size: x-large;">MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! <span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: xx-small;">(If this gave you a seizure, I apologize)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Oh man, life is just too good over here!! I'm 100% excited for Christmas, even more excited than last Christmas. I'm really grateful because I've been in this area for about 5 months now so I know a lot of people whereas last Christmas I didn't know very many because I'd just gotten transferred the week before. But we're going to spend it with some of my favorite families so it'll be great!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">A lot of really exciting things happened this week. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-large;">Maggie got baptized!</span> <span style="color: red;">It was a beautiful and spiritual experience. Both of the women who spoke are converts so they gave touching and personal testimonies of baptism and the Holy Ghost. I don't think I've ever attended a more spiritual baptism in my life. We asked her how she felt right after she got out of the water and she said "<span style="font-size: medium;">FABULOUS!!</span>" with a big smile on her face. Her family is softening their hearts little by little as well!</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Andy set a baptism date!! </span></span><span style="color: #38761d;">This was a total surprise to me, especially because at the beginning I NEVER thought he'd get baptized and when we tried to set a date a few weeks ago I just didn't think it would happen any time soon! But at our last lesson he bore testimony about the reality of the Apostasy and Restoration (the very things that he had originally rejected) and we pretty much asked him "<span style="font-size: medium;">WHY HAVEN'T YOU GOTTEN BAPTIZED YET??" </span>He basically said that he was waiting for a date to pop into his head. We know that God rarely gives us reveleation that way, so we decided to be the middlemen and list off all the Fridays in January. He said that he was stuck between the 16th and the 23rd. Sis. McKenzie said that her dad was a convert and his birthday is the 16th so he should choose that one and then I chimed in and said that there wasn't really anything special about the 23rd. So he chose the 16th. It was just so incredible, though, because this is something I NEVER would have expected the first time I met Andy. It makes me think of </span><a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/5.2?lang=eng#1"><span style="color: #38761d;">a scripture in the Book of Mormon </span></a><span style="color: #38761d;">that takes place after a prophet/king named Benjamin finishes teaching his people about their Savior and asks if they believe his words:</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span id="chunk10001">"And </span><span id="chunk10002">they </span><span id="chunk10003">all </span><span id="chunk10004">cried </span><span id="chunk10005">with </span><span id="chunk10006">one </span><span id="chunk10007">voice, </span><span id="chunk10008">saying: </span><span id="chunk10009">Yea, </span><span id="chunk10010">we </span><span id="chunk10011">believe </span><span id="chunk10012">all </span><span id="chunk10013">the </span><span id="chunk10014">words </span><span id="chunk10015">which </span><span id="chunk10016">thou </span><span id="chunk10017">hast </span><span id="chunk10018">spoken </span><span id="chunk10019">unto </span><span id="chunk10020">us; </span><span id="chunk10021">and </span><span id="chunk10022">also, </span><span id="chunk10023">we </span><span id="chunk10024">know </span><span id="chunk10025">of </span><span id="chunk10026">their </span><span id="chunk10027">surety </span><span id="chunk10028">and </span><span id="chunk10029">truth, </span><span id="chunk10030">because </span><span id="chunk10031">of </span><span id="chunk10032">the </span><span id="chunk10033">Spirit </span><span id="chunk10034">of </span><span id="chunk10035">the </span><span id="chunk10036">Lord </span><span id="chunk10037">Omnipotent, </span><span id="chunk10038">which </span><span id="chunk10039">has </span><span id="chunk10040">wrought </span><span id="chunk10041">a </span><span id="chunk10042">mighty </span><span id="chunk10043">change</span><span id="chunk10044"> in </span><span id="chunk10045">us, </span><span id="chunk10046">or </span><span id="chunk10047">in </span><span id="chunk10048">our </span><span id="chunk10049">hearts, </span><span id="chunk10050">that </span><span id="chunk10051">we </span><span id="chunk10052">have </span><span id="chunk10053">no </span><span id="chunk10054">more </span><span id="chunk10055">disposition </span><span id="chunk10056">to </span><span id="chunk10057">do </span><span id="chunk10058">evil</span><span id="chunk10059">, </span><span id="chunk10060">but </span><span id="chunk10061">to </span><span id="chunk10062">do </span><span id="chunk10063">good </span><span id="chunk10064">continually."</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I have witnessed this time and time again in myself and in others. People who stop desiring evil and instead desire good continually. EVERYONE has the capacity to change and become like God. If you think it's too late to change, you're wrong. A few weeks ago I witnessed the baptism of an 83 year old man who began his life anew because he experienced this mighty change of heart. Andy has already lived most of his life, but he also experienced the mighty change of heart and is changing his life to be in harmony with God's will. We all can and do change all the time. We are not built to be static. We are dynamic beings who are becoming like God. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">I love you all and I hope that during this Christmas week you all remember the One who makes it possible to change through His grace and mercy. Jesus Christ is the reason we have Christmas and the only source of peace and hope in this life and the next. I pray that we all can bring out lives more in alignment with His will.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Love,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;"></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Hermana Bethani Holloway</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">PICTURES:</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">1. Maggie's baptism</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">2. Making Pecan Balls at Grandma Goewey's. Each batch has sweetened condensed milk, butter, and powdered sugar. YUM.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-37260164682342967192014-12-17T04:11:00.000-08:002014-12-17T04:11:39.141-08:00Tornado warning? in December???<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
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But really. We were at our Ward Mission Leader's house for correlation meeting last night and all the sudden the tornado sirens start going off... We turned on the news and sure enough there was a tornado warning for Oklahoma county! Luckily the storm was out in Luther (which is just north of Choctaw so it's pretty far east) so we didn't have to worry. We were all ready to head underground though! It's my first official tornado warning as a missionary in OK, so the fact that it took 15 months and that it happened in December is super bizarre. But such is the weather in Okie-home-a!</div>
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Anyways...</div>
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ALOOOHA FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!</div>
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<br />This week was WONDERFUL! We've been doing a lot of service, and our mission president announced that they want us missionaries using the <a href="http://justserve.org/">justserve.org</a> website to serve for 10 hours each week. That might be kind of tricky because we're super busy but I love service so it should be fun! We were able to serve for the Salvation Army and help them process gifts for Christmas and then we set up for the ward Christmas party (it was 3 members and 6 missionaries... so it was good we were there). I got to wear pants a LOT though. No complaints there!</div>
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We also had our Christmas mission conference that included half of the mission. I got to see some old friends and everything they trained on was exactly what we needed. It was a spiritual and physical feast (because there was good food as well)! President Walkenhorst talked a lot about cleansing the inner vessel and working with members. He said that our goal should not be to get referrals, but to teach them how to be member missionaries. Sometimes I do that backwards, and it doesn't work as good :). But basically I'm just really really grateful that I can be a missionary and learn at the feet of inspired leaders and spiritual giants that really help me and inspire me to be the best I can. I'm also really grateful that I have been able to learn how to recognize the Spirit in general because that is something that I wasn't very good at before or even at the beginning of my mission. It's something that has come as I have diligently prayed and recorded spiritual experiences and sought to have them. Since I have done that I can see exactly when I have the Spirit and when I do not. It's something that's impossible to describe but easy to understand once you've experienced it. So if you haven't been able to feel or recognize the Spirit in your life I encourage you to start learning now, because it will become like a GPS that will give you direction in all that you do.</div>
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Also we had our ward Christmas party this week! We had our own missionary table with "He is the Gift" all set up and rolling. A lot of members brought friends that ate the food and had a great experience. Maggie also came and just LOVED it, especially the program featuring a young couple with their own baby. The next day we brought Maggie to a baptism and she had tears streaming down her face the whole time. I know that she felt the Spirit and is excited for her own baptism.</div>
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I'm grateful for all of you and your support and examples to me. I love you and I hope that as we move closer to Christmas you can feel the Spirit that accompanies this special season.</div>
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Con much carino y amor,</div>
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Hermana Holloway</div>
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FOTOS:</div>
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1. Salvation Army service! Courtney drove us and the elders down there. She went to BYUH too, so she's automatically really cool in my book.</div>
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2. Our table at the ward Christmas party. #sharethegift!</div>
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3. When the tornado sirens went off we did the natural thing, went outside and looked at the sky :). Pretty cool, huh?</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-87430190893730119472014-12-17T04:08:00.001-08:002014-12-17T04:08:31.684-08:00Inspired ear infections and the lost key fiasco<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
well <span style="font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOOOOHA </span>family and friends!!!</div>
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This week was....</div>
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well....</div>
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It was a rollercoaster. And for those of y'all that know me well you know that I LOVE roller coasters, but sometimes riding them can be exhausting<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (if you don't believe me, go to 6 Flags on a slow day and ride Raging Bull 10 times. Then you'll understand)</span> BUT it is also really fun. It's that whole principle of opposition thing that I was talking about earlier. To quote myself from 9/22:</div>
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<em>So there has been a lot of opposition, BUT as Lehi points out, if we didn't have the bad we would not appreciate or even see the good. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING has its opposite. I'm sure that all y'all smarties out there have already figured this out, and intellectually I knew it, but I have never seen so many examples of it until this week. We NEED opposition to be able to be happy, of this I am thoroughly convinced.</em></div>
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So yeah. This week has been a rollercoaster. But with every downhill comes an uphill, through every slow patch there's speed up ahead, and every line you have to wait in has a fun ride at the end. But before I wax too philosophical and bore all y'all, here are some experiences to help you ride the rollercoaster with me:</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">EXPERIENCE #1: </span>Last Monday my ear was KILLING me and I knew from past experience that I had an ear infection, probably brought on by doing a lot of service in the allergy-infested outdoors. So we called the mission nurse and she recommended that I just go to urgent care and get an antibiotic prescribed. Well shoot. Ain't nobody got time for that! We literally had NO time until Wednesday, so that's when we went. We went to an urgent care in Edmond because I've spent 4 hours at urgent care in the city before so we decided to go somewhere that was a little more... classy. Luckily we got in and out in less than 30 minutes and they were even able to fill the prescription right away at the little family pharmacy that's attached to the urgent care. So we went around and started talking to the lady that was filling the prescription. After chatting for a minute, we asked if she was excited for Christmas <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(one of the ways we transition to "He is the Gift") </span>and she said that she was, but she has a hard time teaching her children about God because they're really little so they don't really know the true meaning of Christmas. Well, just ASK THE MISSIONARIES they can help you! So we told her about He is the Gift, etc and before we could even ask if we could come by she asked if she could have our card so she could get ahold of us. Well ok! We set up an appointment for the next day. But upon examining the map we realized that she did not live in our area... so we had to give her to the Edmond 1st elders. But they had a lesson with her and set a baptismal date and then she came to church! So it wasn't a new investigator for us, but we're all on the same team, right?</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">EXPERIENCE #2: </span>Friday was definitely the most awkward day of my life. I won't go into detail, but just trust me when I say that it was AWKWARD and a little discouraging. However, Saturday was amazing!<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(remember that whole opposition thing) </span>We went to a baptism in Stillwater for Sis. McKenzie and then Tieasha <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Comesha's daughter)</span> had her baby shower and we were able to set some appointments with her family members. Then that night we were filling up the car and we get this phone call. He says that his name is Chris and that his dad just joined the church about 2 years ago and he's decided that he wants to be taught by missionaries and be baptized. <span style="font-size: x-large;">WHO DOES THAT???? </span>We were freaking out just a little bit and part of me thought that it'd be a scam, but it wasn't! The only problem was, though, that as we checked the address, we found out that he lives in the Edmond 1st elders area... So we passed him over once again. Kind of sad, but we know that we're being instruments in God's hands and that he will bless us with new people to teach as we continue to be worthy and diligent!</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">EXPERIENCE #3:</span> Church on Sunday was JUST AMAZING. We wanted to present He is the Gift at church, and our bishop ended sacrament meeting a little early, and then we introduced the video and the initiative while the congregation was still sitting there. So everyone in the ward saw it and LOVED it. It also became the topic of conversation for the rest of church and many members commented on how much they liked it and that they are thinking of people that they can share the Gift with this Christmas. IT WAS SO GREAT!! and then the rest of church was fantastic. Bro. Cease gave an inspiring lesson in Gospel Principles about testimonies and everyone was moved to tears. And then in Relief Society Sis. Burke had the sisters share the impressions that they received as they watched He is the Gift and how they're going to act on them. It was simply amazing. I have never felt so inspired and renewed after church before. THIS CHURCH IS SO TRUE!!!!! </div>
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...but later on, while we were sitting in correlation we realized that our house key was missing. Like gone. We tried to retrace our steps as best we could on our way to Stillwater for another baptism<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (by calling people)</span> but nobody could find it. By the time we got home it was 10pm and our options were either to call the mission president so he could bring us a spare key or to crash at another set of sister's house. We chose the latter, because I was not about to make Pres. W interrupt his sleep for our mistake. So we go to the Edmond 1st sister's apartment and sleep on their air mattress and recliner and then this morning we had to figure out what to do. I was a little down for the count because I had not brought any contact solution, and the only sister who wears contacts in that apartment has this weird solution that you can only use with a specific case or else it will burn your eyeballs out <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(weird, right?). </span>Well I didn't find this out until the morning and my contacts had already been sitting in the solution all night. Long story short, I was blind from the time I woke up until we finally got back into our apartment. Not fun. We never did find the key, so we got into the apartment using the spare and then had the lock changed so whoever has it can no longer get in.</div>
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Do you see the rollercoaster effect? All in all it was a great week, though. We have had some great experiences sharing the Gift and I am so excited to being teaching the friends that I know our members will give to us. <span style="font-size: x-large;">LIFE IS SO GOOD!!!!</span></div>
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Well y'all are awesome. I appreciate your prayers on my behalf. Please keep them coming, and especially pray for the members here because I know that they want to invite, they just sometimes lack the boldness to do so (as do we all).</div>
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I LOVE YOU!!!</div>
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~Hermana Holloway</div>
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PICTURES!</div>
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1. Sometimes district lunch gets a little out of hand.</div>
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2. Crazy fog on the way to Stilly</div>
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3. Our sleepover in Edmond</div>
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PS: You should look up "the Missionary Next Door" and listen to it (it's a talk) it's super funny and really amazing!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-15124310417035866042014-12-01T12:44:00.000-08:002014-12-01T12:44:02.006-08:00He is the GIFT!!<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">GOOOOOOOOOD afternoon friends and family!!!!!</span></div>
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So I hope all y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a really really great one. We only had 2 dinners, but they were back-to-back. We started out at the Bishop's house and had a big, traditional dinner and then went straight to Sis. Goewey's <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(one of our RCs)</span> house for some fried turkey! It was a LOT of food to handle, but it was way fun. And on the way back to drop off the elders we drove through Nichol's Hills<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (one of the ritziest places in OK. We have a joke that it's called Nichol's Hills because the people have a lot of nickels) </span>and got a preview of their Christmas lights. It's basically a neighborhood of really huge, unique mansions, so of course it was stunning. </div>
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The really big news, though, is called <span style="font-size: medium;">He </span>is the <span style="font-size: medium;">Gift</span>. It's going to be the main tool for members and missionaries to share the gospel this Christmas season. If you haven't seen the video, <a href="http://www.mormon.org/christmas">watch it right now</a>!</div>
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The purpose of it is to bring people closer to Christ and to help people discover, embrace, and share the true meaning of Christmas. It's really really great and such an easy and nonthreatening way to share the gospel! We even got special pass-along cards at a special training about it and since then we've been having great conversations with people about it and sharing the gift with EVERYONE. It's so great! Everyone should <span style="font-size: x-large;">DISCOVER </span>the Gift, <span style="font-size: x-large;">EMBRACE </span>the Gift, and <span style="font-size: x-large;">SHARE </span>the Gift, because Jesus is what it's all about. Without Him, none of this matters!</div>
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I AM SO EXCITED TO BE A MISSIONARY THIS CHRISTMAS!!! I love and appreciate all y'all and I hope you have stellar weeks and that the beginning of your Christmas season is fabulous. Take care! Amor y besos!</div>
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~Hermana Holloway</div>
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FOTOS:</div>
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1. When we were visiting a RC family on Thanksgiving with the elders we saw this white tower thing so we decided to take a picture in front of it! I'm pretty sure it's attached to some energy company.</div>
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2. Thanksgiving at Grandma Goewey's!</div>
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3. HE IS THE GIFT!! Share it!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-59638785972632028632014-12-01T12:41:00.003-08:002014-12-01T12:41:50.879-08:00DOUBLE BAPTISM WEEKEND!!<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">ALOOOOOOHA family and friends!!</span></div>
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As you can already tell from the title, this week was AMAZING!!! SO many people making and keeping covenants with Heavenly Father! Life is good!!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Also, this is new planner week... and I forgot my old planner. So if there some holes in the narrative I profusely apologize.</span></div>
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This week was transfers. Nothing changed in Village North, but in our district a set of sisters got swapped for elders. Sad, but true. The wave that began October of 2012 is beginning do die down and they predict that our mission, which is now at about 220 missionaries, will go down to 180 in the next 6 months a lot of areas will be closing, and more sister areas will have to be switched to elders. So if you don't want to go on a mission just because "everyone's doing it", just know that we need you out here. Every able and worthy young man, woman, or senior couple. We could use many many more in this mission and throughout the world. </div>
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Anyways, it was sad to see the sisters go. So now in my STL dominion there are 5 companionships, and when I got here we got 7. This is kind of a blessing as well, because we can devote more attention to each individual missionary. Sis. McKenzie and I have devised a plan to help each sister with her individual progress so that she can grow from wherever she is. I'm really excited to implement it on exchanges!</div>
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As for our investigators, this week we saw Elijah every day and HE GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! It was wonderful. He's been taught for a while, and he was just so ready and excited. He had a huge goofy grin on the entire time, and half the deacon's quorum came and supported him in that decision. I was reflecting back on my time teaching him, and the real pivotal moment came when we had a lesson with him in a member's home. I guarantee that he would not have gotten baptized if it weren't for that. Since that lesson he continuously progress until his baptism date. I'm so grateful for the members in this ward! They are so amazing!</div>
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We were also able to set a baptismal date with one of our other "eternal investigators", Myrianna! <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(she's the "Mimi" in "Mimi and Tati" if you remember them)</span> We did a missionary fast <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(meaning we stopped seeing her for about 3 weeks)</span>because she wasn't really progressing, and then we went to see her and just boldly invited her to be baptized on December 13th. She accepted! Milagro!</div>
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And Emmitt's baptism, which was cancelled last week due to snow, happened yesterday! There was also a lot of support from the ward, and Sis. Petermann and Sis. Goelz gave really touching talks that really showed the love they have for April and Emmitt. I love how much the ward has embraced this family with open arms, especially since they have made such sacrifices to be where they're at. </div>
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Mostly I've been spending a lot of time marveling at the members and the work here. This is my 4th transfer in the Village Ward, longer than any other area, and I've seen consistent growth the whole time. The members are catching the spirit of missionary work and are recognizing the blessings that serving Father's children brings to their lives. I'm just so grateful to be a missionary! This is really really hard, but there are things that I've learned out here that I doubt I would have learned anywhere else. At the beginning of my mission I had the attitude that the mission field needed me. Well now I recognize just how much I need the mission field. I need the refiner's fire and the experiences that encourage me to rely on the Lord. It was very necessary for my personal spiritual progression and I highly recommend it :).</div>
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Well, I love you all!!! Cuidense y que disfruten del dia de la accion de gracias!</div>
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~Hermana Holloway</div>
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PICTURES:</div>
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1. Elijah's baptism! love this kid!</div>
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2. Emmitt's baptism! He's so funny!</div>
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3. The sketchy basement that has the controls to fill the font!</div>
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PS: <a href="http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3897359657001">New Mormon message alert!!</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-82745184847726822802014-11-17T15:55:00.002-08:002014-11-17T15:55:49.740-08:0080 to 30 in 12 hours<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
The above title is in reference to the temperature. This time last week it was a balmy 80 degrees. we spent the day outside in short sleeves and enjoyed the sunshine. That night the temperatures began to drop until Tuesday morning it was a frigid 30 degrees with bitter cold wind. Why? I dunno, it's just Oklahoma. I've lived in quite a few places, but the weather out here is nothing like anything I've ever experienced.</div>
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But anyways, I don't want to bore you by just talking about the weather. We actually did have a really exciting week. I wasn't in my area for a lot of it, but it was still exciting. </div>
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...........................................I don't really know how I want to organize the events, so I'll just go with a 3rd person narrative. Read it in your best storyteller voice. :)</div>
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<em>Once upon a time there was a missionary named Hermana Holloway. She had been on her mission for a long time and was enjoying a wonderful P-Day when all the sudden she was on exchanges with one of the Spanish sisters in her area! She enjoyed a wonderful meal of delicious Mexican food, which was the first meal like that she'd had in a while. She really had missed endless corn tortillas and salsa. After the meal they went to a member's house, where they taught an investigator about the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was so overwhelming and wonderful that the investigator felt a desire to get baptized and they set a date for December 12th!</em></div>
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<em>The next day Hermana Holloway rejoined her companion, Sister McKenzie. They had a wonderful Relief Society activity at the church and were even able to pick up some people to come with them because a member drove them in their very big car. They enjoyed wonderful dinner and company and came home satisfied with the food and the work. </em></div>
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<em>The next morning they were surprised to get a phone call from one of their members, Sister Wright. She had a problem and decided to "</em><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/ask-the-missionaries-they-can-help-you?lang=eng"><em>Ask the missionaries!</em></a><em>" for help! One of her friends was having a problem at work and Sister Wright knew that the gospel could change her life for the better. So she asked the two stalwart sister missionaries to meet her at Braum's for hot chocolate with her friend. At Braum's the missionaries and Sis. Wright talked to Bridget about the gospel and the Book of Mormon. Bridget still feels happy in her church, but she was able to feel of Sis. Wright's love and was uplifted by the Spirit that she felt as the was with the missionaries and read the Book of Mormon. Hermana Holloway was impressed by how Sis. Wright had shared the Gospel and resolved to be like her when she was no longer a missionary.</em></div>
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<em>After this lovely experience they went to the church with 3 of her favorite people: April, Emmitt, and Dylan. Emmitt passed his baptismal interview and then they all went out to lunch. Hermana Holloway loves all of the people that she's met here and is glad that they're her friends.</em></div>
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<em>Later that afternoon they went to go teach a lesson to Maggie, one of their new investigators. She already loves the Book of Mormon and has agreed to be baptized on December 20th. She even came to church and announced her baptism in Relief Society. Hermana Holloway is so grateful that the Spirit is there while she teaches because it really helps people come close to Christ and experience conversion.</em></div>
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<em>Hermana Holloway and Sister McKenzie also made a cake for one of the sisters in their dominion because it was her birthday. Service and doorbell ditching are so much fun!</em></div>
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<em>Hermana Holloway and Sister McKenzie then had a lesson with Comesha and Elijah and Tieasha at one of their member's houses because Elijah is preparing to be baptized this Saturday. He is so excited to be baptized and Hermana Holloway loves the special Spirit that is there when you teach investigators in member's homes with their family. There is really nothing quite like it.</em></div>
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<em>All of this was leading up to one of the best weekends of Hermana Holloway's whole life! On Friday Hermana Holloway and Sister McKenzie got in their chariot and drove 85 miles on I-40 to the mystical land of Weatherford to do exchanges! Hermana Holloway got out of the chariot and said farewell to Sister McKenzie and prepared for a wonderful day. She got to spend the day with Hermana Haddock, who has become one of her good friends and is an amazing missionary. That night they taught an investigator who is also getting baptized on Saturday and was so excited she asked if she could get baptized that Sunday! Hermana Holloway believes that the work is truly hastening up in here!</em></div>
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<em>The next day they had a wonderful morning of studies and that afternoon not only did they get to go out to lunch with one of Hermana Holloway's favorite members from Weatherford, but Hermana Lemke, one of Hermana Holloway's favorite companions, was also there visiting! They had a lovely lunch and then they went to meet with Hugh Taylor's son. Hugh Taylor was being taught by Hermana Holloway and Hermana Lemke until he passed away in February. His son agreed to let the sisters come over and teach him more, and Hermana Holloway really hopes he will accept the restored gospel.</em></div>
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<em>Then they went to teach a lesson to Cody together, and to Hermana Holloway it felt just like old times. Then they taught one of Hermana Haddock's investigators who is also preparing for baptism. There are so many baptisms that you might as well call this place the </em><a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/18?lang=eng"><em>waters of Oklahoma</em></a><em>! Hermana Holloway is so happy to see so many people preparing to make covenants with Heavenly Father.</em></div>
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<em>Afterwards they went to a baptism that the Clinton Elders had and she got to see many members and missionaries that she loves. The best part, though, was going to a familiar place, the Arney's house, to have dinner with their family. For Hermana Holloway it really was like going home and she was so enthused to be there with Hermana Haddock and her old companion. It truly was a magical (no sarcasm intended) night.</em></div>
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<em>And then on Sunday it was back to normal life. Emmitt's baptism was scheduled for Sunday night but unfortunately a big bad snow and ice storm came and made all the roads too icy to drive on! Hermana Holloway was helpless to battle the elements, so they rescheduled the baptism for the next week. Hermana Holloway and Sister McKenzie still had a good time in the snow, though. They ran into some former investigators that fed them soup and even though they were not quite ready to accept the gospel, they were able to have a god experience with them. Then the were able to give a Book of Mormon to a nice lady who hopefully will help that planted seed grow. All in all, it was a WONDERFUL week and Hermana Holloway is so happy to be a missionary and so happy that people love her, are praying for her, and send her stuff in the mail. The church is true, the book is blue, and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!</em></div>
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LOVE,</div>
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Hermana Holloway</div>
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PICTURES!!</div>
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1. Lesson with Cody. He's still a champ!</div>
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2. At the Arney's. LOVE THEM!</div>
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3. Tracting in the snow. Holla!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-5061625008222750462014-11-17T15:53:00.004-08:002014-11-17T15:53:45.891-08:00It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
...mostly because all of the stores in all the world already have their Christmas stuff out! Geez! Didn't we just barely get over Halloween?</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Anyways</span>, <span style="font-size: x-large;">ALOHA </span>family and friends and strangers!!</div>
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This week was just downright <span style="font-size: medium;">amazing</span>! We had a lot of fun doing a lot of missionary work! </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">MONDAY </span>we had a lesson with Comesha and Elijah at our high priest group leader's house. It was one of those <span style="font-size: medium;">LIFE CHANGING LESSONS </span>that you just can't believe that you were a part of. We talked a lot about the Priesthood, because Elijah is 12 and can become a deacon after he's baptized. We really just let Bro. Lyon and his 12 year old son Grant teach the lesson, and hearing personal experiences with the Aaronic Priesthood from those two men just brought the best spirit and after that Elijah has just been so pumped to get the Priesthood! We set a baptismal date for November 22nd!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">TUESDAY </span>we had exchanges with the UCO single's ward sisters. It was a blast. We didn't have a lot of set plans in the afternoon, so Sis. Miller and I just biked, talked to a lot of people, and tried to find some inactives from a list that our Relief Society president gave us. Eventually we ended up driving to this apartment complex that wasn't really in biking distance right before dinner to try one more person. We knocked on her door, and nobody answered. We were about to get back into the car when I saw a car with Colorado plates. Maybe it was just the small part of me that's a Coloradan, but I thought <span style="font-size: medium;">"I really want to know who just moved here from Colorado". </span>So we knocked on the door that the car was in front of. Nada. We went to get in the car again, but the Spirit wouldn't let us leave. So we knocked on the door next to the car and this older lady named Maggie opened the door. She invited us inside and we talked with her for about 20 minutes <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(PS she had just moved here from Colorado)</span>, and when we asked if we could come back she nodded emphatically before we could even finish the question. <span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>It was such a cool miracle!</strong></span></div>
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Then later on that evening we had a lesson with Andy, who is one of our recent convert's <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Paula's) </span>best friend. We had had dinner with him a couple times before he started taking the lessons, and I thought he would never do it, but now we've been teaching him for about 2 months! We talked a lot about revelation in the lesson, and he said that he felt like he was heading down the right path. Then we asked where we thought that path led, and he said, <span style="font-size: medium;">"well probably to getting baptized."</span> Let me just tell you, I NEVER would've expected that result 2 months ago! <span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>THE SPIRIT SOFTENS HEARTS.</strong></span> True story.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">WEDNESDAY </span>we had another really good lesson with Comesha and Elijah. Seriously the lesson at the Lyon's changed them. God is <span style="font-size: medium;">so good!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">THURSDAY </span>we took our car into the shop for a recall <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(I hate real world stuff like that). </span>And then we had our ward's trunk or treat! We've been trying to really integrate ourselves into the ward, so we fully participated, trunk and all. Our ward mission leader got us candy and we taped it on pass along cards. We saw and met a lot of people, and Comesha and Elijah and Tieasha all came! It was a blast.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">FRIDAY </span>nothing really exciting happened. Let's just say that holidays aren't as fun as missionaries. Also we had to be in by 6.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">SATURDAY </span>we were on exchanges again, and I was with Sis. Stewart. It was another one of those days when you have a long day with no appointments, but we made it fun by going out with Lisa, who just got home from her mission in the Marshall Islands, doing a little tracting, and having a kind of lesson with an Okie talker that we probably will never see again. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">SUNDAY </span>we had an amazing day at church! Comesha, Elijah, Andy, and about 10 other less actives were there! And they all loved it! Our ward has about 20 deacons, so Elijah gets a lot of fellowship. Our dinner appointment was in approximately <span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Timbuktu</strong></span>, so we enjoyed a long road trip with the elders <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(let's just say that I had to keep the child lock on the windows the whole time)</span> to a place that looked so much like Choctaw that it made my heart very happy. Then we had a wonderful lesson with April and Emmitt. <span style="font-size: medium;">Have I ever mentioned how much I love those two??? </span>It's a <strong><span style="font-size: medium;">whole</span> </strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">lot</span>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">WELL </span>that was my week! I hope you didn't get bored halfway through. I hope you have a lovely week full of miracles and that you take time everyday to count your many blessings, but more importantly that you <span style="font-size: medium;">always </span>have an <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>attitude </strong></span>of <span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>gratitude</strong></span></a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><u>LOVE Y'ALL!!!</u></strong></span></div>
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~sister holloway</div>
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PICTURES!</div>
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1. carving our pumpkin for our car at trunk or treat. It says <a href="http://mormon.org/">mormon.org</a> on the side :)</div>
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2. Our car at trunk or treat. If you look really closely you'll notice that Sis. McKenzie and I are dressed as each other. I curled my hair and she straightened hers. We're wearing each other's clothes and bags and nametags as well :)</div>
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3. The elder's "trunk". Clever, right?</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-84317552414297554482014-10-27T21:32:00.003-07:002014-10-27T21:32:25.570-07:00Happy Halloween!!!<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
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Aloha everybody!</div>
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It's just so great to be a missionary right now. LIFE IS GOOD!</div>
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So I haven't really talked about miracles in a while, so I'm gonna do that again:</div>
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MILAGRO #1: We had a lesson with April (who's Mormon now :) ) and at that lesson Emmitt told us that he wanted to be baptized. In his own words he said, "Before my mom was baptized I had a feeling that I shouldn't be baptized. But now that feeling is gone." WOW! Check out that faith! I love working with kids, because they have that kind of trusting faith. He doesn't really know anything about the gospel or baptism, but he knows that Heavenly Father wants him to do it, and that's enough for him. So we set a baptismal date for November 9th. Emmitt's getting baptized!!! :)</div>
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MILAGRO #2: About 2 weeks ago we got a referral from a guy in one of the Moore wards. It was for his friend that he had taken to see Meet the Mormons and after she had expressed a desire to meet with the missionaries. SO we boogied on over to see her, of course, and the first two times we saw her she kind of blew us off and didn't seem super interested or anything, so we thought she was just going to drop. Well on Tuesday she called us and invited us over for supper! WHAT?! It was sweet! So we ate supper with her and then had a short lesson then went back the next day to teach her again. She wants to build her relationship with God, but she's just scared at what will happen if she does. But we're praying for her and we know Heavenly Father knows what He's doing.</div>
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Those are a couple of the main things that are going down here in north OKC. We have also been doing a lot of ward roster clean up, which means that we visit people on the ward roster that we don't know and see if they still live there and would like contact with the church. It's actually a really great finding tool because it brings you to areas that you might not normally work and in contact with people that you might not normally see. Like yesterday we tried this lady that wasn't home but we talked to some of her neighbors that would like us to come back and teach them! Milagros! Heavenly Father has given us the opportunity to meet a lot of really cool people :).</div>
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In my study of the Book of Mormon I've been reading in Alma 43, which is the beginning of the long war between the Nephites and Lamanites. At the beginning the Nephites were at a serious disadvantage. There were less of them and they were not as physically strong as the Lamanites. They still won the battle, though, and here is why:</div>
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<a href="" name="45"> </a><span id="chunk440000">45 </span><span id="chunk440001">Nevertheless, </span><span id="chunk440002">the </span><span id="chunk440003">Nephites </span><span id="chunk440004">were </span><span id="chunk440005">inspired </span><span id="chunk440006">by </span><span id="chunk440007">a </span><span id="chunk440008">better</span><span id="chunk440009"> cause, </span><span id="chunk440010">for </span><span id="chunk440011">they </span><span id="chunk440012">were </span><span id="chunk440013">not </span><span id="chunk440014">fighting</span><span id="chunk440015"> for </span><span id="chunk440016">monarchy </span><span id="chunk440017">nor </span><span id="chunk440018">power </span><span id="chunk440019">but </span><span id="chunk440020">they </span><span id="chunk440021">were </span><span id="chunk440022">fighting </span><span id="chunk440023">for </span><span id="chunk440024">their </span><span id="chunk440025">homes </span><span id="chunk440026">and </span><span id="chunk440027">their </span><span id="chunk440028">liberties</span><span id="chunk440029">, </span><span id="chunk440030">their </span><span id="chunk440031">wives </span><span id="chunk440032">and </span><span id="chunk440033">their </span><span id="chunk440034">children, </span><span id="chunk440035">and </span><span id="chunk440036">their </span><span id="chunk440037">all, </span><span id="chunk440038">yea, </span><span id="chunk440039">for </span><span id="chunk440040">their </span><span id="chunk440041">rites </span><span id="chunk440042">of </span><span id="chunk440043">worship </span><span id="chunk440044">and </span><span id="chunk440045">their </span><span id="chunk440046">church.</span></div>
That "better cause" invited the power of God, whereas the Lamanites cause invited only the power of the Adversary, who, as we know, is weaker than God.<br />
So how do we apply this? If we want to conquer Satan we have to have pure motives that will inspire pure actions that will invite the power and support of God. This is how we will prevail!<br />
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Well I love all y'all and I hope that your week is just as dandy as mine will be! Jesus loves you!<br />
~Hermana Holloway<br />
Pictures:<br />
1. Our apartment got sprayed for varmits. Didn't really do much, but it gave us a chance to do a deep clean! This is all the stuff that was in our kitchen.<br />
2. A really intelligently place sidewalk that we found during our ward roster cleanup.<br />
3. Emmitt's birthday was yesterday so we decorated his door and gave him a copy of "Book of Mormon" stories.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-78394735174156686412014-10-20T14:34:00.000-07:002014-10-20T14:34:03.520-07:00Let's get this party started!!!<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">ALO<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>O<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>O<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>O<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>O<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>O<span style="font-size: medium;">O</span>HA FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!</span></div>
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Welcome to this new transfer!! I'm so <span style="font-size: medium;">PUMPED </span>for it! I think it's going to be the best one yet. Sis. Adair has gone the way of all the earth, and I'm going to miss her a lot. My new companion is Sister McKenzie, and she is AMAZING. Like one of the most top-notch missionaries here. She's from Utah<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> (shocker)</span> and she's been out about 6 months. She's such a good missionary, though. I think that I'm going to learn more from her than she ever will from me. </div>
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We had a really good week! We were able to see Comesha and Elijah. The young women's presidency came with us because they wanted to visit with Comesha's daughter. She wasn't there, though, because she caught wind of the event and you really have to take her by surprise if you want to see her. We had a really good visit with Comesha and Elijah, though, and it made me happy to see the ward take a more active role in fellowshipping that family.</div>
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We also got out on our bikes again because we want to redouble our efforts to talk to <span style="font-size: medium;">EVERYONE</span>. In the effort we were able to meet some cool people and some not so cool people and we were also able to get in with a less active family that I've been trying to see my whole time here. AND we were able to have somewhat of a lesson! It was awesome! They're in trouble, though, because they didn't come to church. Silly people making silly choices...</div>
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We also went to go see Mimi and Tati, and as we read some of the Book of Mormon with them Tati mentioned out of the blue that she had been having some problems not drinking tea. So we took all of her tea bags and ripped them up so she wouldn't have that temptation anymore. It was cool, though, because we hadn't even mentioned the word of wisdom to her or asked if she was drinking tea, we just invited the Spirit by reading the scriptures and the Spirit led her to repent. I love the gospel! And being a missionary! It is simply the best.</div>
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Last night we had our correlation meeting with our 2 assistant Ward Mission Leaders <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(the WML was out of town)</span>and a member of the Elder's Quorum Presidency came to present their part of the ward mission plan. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Basically, our ward mission plan outlines the goals of the mission as well as </span><a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/following-up?lang=eng"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Elder Ballard's call to invite friends to meet with the missionaries once a quarter</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> and each </span><a href="https://www.lds.org/topics/church-organization/how-the-church-is-organized?lang=eng"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">auxiliary</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> is in charge of setting goals and making plans to help the ward achieve these overarching goals) </span>All of the goals that he presented were so inspired and reflected a desire and enthusiasm on behalf of the members to do missionary work. We all just got really excited and I realized that we were finally building on a foundation of member trust that missionaries in the past had created and that we would see the fruits of their labors. It was inspiring to see the members excited to do missionary work and taking ownership of the work of salvation! When Elder Bradley D. Foster was here, he explained that there were three phases of missionary work:</div>
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1. the missionaries do it all</div>
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2. the members help the missionaries</div>
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3. the missionaries help the members</div>
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I'd say that the Village ward has been in phase 2, but I can see the transition into phase 3 starting to happen. THIS is when the Lord is hastening His work. THIS is the time to invite all to come unto Christ. What an exciting time to serve the Lord! There's honestly nowhere I'd rather be than in this small part of Oklahoma City giving my heart, might, mind and strength to my God. There truly is nothing better than to lose oneself in the service of others, because as <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1992/10/settle-this-in-your-hearts?lang=eng">Elder Neal A. Maxwell </a>said:</div>
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<em><span id="chunk190000">Consecration </span><span id="chunk190001">is </span><span id="chunk190002">the </span><span id="chunk190003">only </span><span id="chunk190004">surrender </span><span id="chunk190005">which </span><span id="chunk190006">is </span><span id="chunk190007">also </span><span id="chunk190008">a </span><span id="chunk190009">victory. </span><span id="chunk190010">It </span><span id="chunk190011">brings </span><span id="chunk190012">release </span><span id="chunk190013">from </span><span id="chunk190014">the </span><span id="chunk190015">raucous, </span><span id="chunk190016">overpopulated </span><span id="chunk190017">cell </span><span id="chunk190018">block </span><span id="chunk190019">of </span><span id="chunk190020">selfishness </span><span id="chunk190021">and </span><span id="chunk190022">emancipation </span><span id="chunk190023">from </span><span id="chunk190024">the </span><span id="chunk190025">dark </span><span id="chunk190026">prison </span><span id="chunk190027">of </span><span id="chunk190028">pride.</span></em></div>
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And <a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/13?lang=eng">as the Savior said</a>:</div>
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<em><span id="chunk240027">Remember </span><span id="chunk240028">the </span><span id="chunk240029">words </span><span id="chunk240030">which </span><span id="chunk240031">I </span><span id="chunk240032">have </span><span id="chunk240033">spoken. </span><span id="chunk240034">For </span><span id="chunk240035">behold, </span><span id="chunk240036">ye </span><span id="chunk240037">are </span><span id="chunk240038">they </span><span id="chunk240039">whom </span><span id="chunk240040">I </span><span id="chunk240041">have </span><span id="chunk240042">chosen </span><span id="chunk240043">to </span><span id="chunk240044">minister</span><span id="chunk240045"> unto </span><span id="chunk240046">this </span><span id="chunk240047">people. </span><span id="chunk240048">Therefore </span><span id="chunk240049">I </span><span id="chunk240050">say </span><span id="chunk240051">unto </span><span id="chunk240052">you, </span><span id="chunk240053">take</span><span id="chunk240054"> no </span><span id="chunk240055">thought </span><span id="chunk240056">for </span><span id="chunk240057">your </span><span id="chunk240058">life, </span><span id="chunk240059">what </span><span id="chunk240060">ye </span><span id="chunk240061">shall </span><span id="chunk240062">eat, </span><span id="chunk240063">or </span><span id="chunk240064">what </span><span id="chunk240065">ye </span><span id="chunk240066">shall </span><span id="chunk240067">drink; </span><span id="chunk240068">nor </span><span id="chunk240069">yet </span><span id="chunk240070">for </span><span id="chunk240071">your </span><span id="chunk240072">body, </span><span id="chunk240073">what </span><span id="chunk240074">ye </span><span id="chunk240075">shall </span><span id="chunk240076">put </span><span id="chunk240077">on. </span><span id="chunk240078">Is </span><span id="chunk240079">not </span><span id="chunk240080">the </span><span id="chunk240081">life </span><span id="chunk240082">more </span><span id="chunk240083">than </span><span id="chunk240084">meat, </span><span id="chunk240085">and </span><span id="chunk240086">the </span><span id="chunk240087">body </span><span id="chunk240088">than </span><span id="chunk240089">raiment</span><span id="chunk240090">?</span></em><div id="para25">
<a href="" name="26"><em> </em></a><em><span id="chunk250001">Behold </span><span id="chunk250002">the </span><span id="chunk250003">fowls</span><span id="chunk250004"> of </span><span id="chunk250005">the </span><span id="chunk250006">air, </span><span id="chunk250007">for </span><span id="chunk250008">they </span><span id="chunk250009">sow </span><span id="chunk250010">not, </span><span id="chunk250011">neither </span><span id="chunk250012">do </span><span id="chunk250013">they </span><span id="chunk250014">reap </span><span id="chunk250015">nor </span><span id="chunk250016">gather </span><span id="chunk250017">into </span><span id="chunk250018">barns; </span><span id="chunk250019">yet </span><span id="chunk250020">your </span><span id="chunk250021">heavenly </span><span id="chunk250022">Father </span><span id="chunk250023">feedeth </span><span id="chunk250024">them. </span><span id="chunk250025">Are </span><span id="chunk250026">ye </span><span id="chunk250027">not </span><span id="chunk250028">much </span><span id="chunk250029">better </span><span id="chunk250030">than </span><span id="chunk250031">they?</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk260001">Which </span><span id="chunk260002">of </span><span id="chunk260003">you </span><span id="chunk260004">by </span><span id="chunk260005">taking </span><span id="chunk260006">thought </span><span id="chunk260007">can </span><span id="chunk260008">add </span><span id="chunk260009">one </span><span id="chunk260010">cubit </span><span id="chunk260011">unto </span><span id="chunk260012">his </span><span id="chunk260013">stature?</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk270001">And </span><span id="chunk270002">why </span><span id="chunk270003">take </span><span id="chunk270004">ye </span><span id="chunk270005">thought </span><span id="chunk270006">for </span><span id="chunk270007">raiment? </span><span id="chunk270008">Consider </span><span id="chunk270009">the </span><span id="chunk270010">lilies</span><span id="chunk270011"> of </span><span id="chunk270012">the </span><span id="chunk270013">field </span><span id="chunk270014">how </span><span id="chunk270015">they </span><span id="chunk270016">grow; </span><span id="chunk270017">they </span><span id="chunk270018">toil </span><span id="chunk270019">not, </span><span id="chunk270020">neither </span><span id="chunk270021">do </span><span id="chunk270022">they </span><span id="chunk270023">spin;</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk280001">And </span><span id="chunk280002">yet </span><span id="chunk280003">I </span><span id="chunk280004">say </span><span id="chunk280005">unto </span><span id="chunk280006">you, </span><span id="chunk280007">that </span><span id="chunk280008">even </span><span id="chunk280009">Solomon, </span><span id="chunk280010">in </span><span id="chunk280011">all </span><span id="chunk280012">his </span><span id="chunk280013">glory, </span><span id="chunk280014">was </span><span id="chunk280015">not </span><span id="chunk280016">arrayed </span><span id="chunk280017">like </span><span id="chunk280018">one </span><span id="chunk280019">of </span><span id="chunk280020">these.</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk290001">Wherefore, </span><span id="chunk290002">if </span><span id="chunk290003">God </span><span id="chunk290004">so </span><span id="chunk290005">clothe </span><span id="chunk290006">the </span><span id="chunk290007">grass </span><span id="chunk290008">of </span><span id="chunk290009">the </span><span id="chunk290010">field, </span><span id="chunk290011">which </span><span id="chunk290012">today </span><span id="chunk290013">is, </span><span id="chunk290014">and </span><span id="chunk290015">tomorrow </span><span id="chunk290016">is </span><span id="chunk290017">cast </span><span id="chunk290018">into </span><span id="chunk290019">the </span><span id="chunk290020">oven, </span><span id="chunk290021">even </span><span id="chunk290022">so </span><span id="chunk290023">will </span><span id="chunk290024">he </span><span id="chunk290025">clothe </span><span id="chunk290026">you, </span><span id="chunk290027">if </span><span id="chunk290028">ye </span><span id="chunk290029">are </span><span id="chunk290030">not </span><span id="chunk290031">of </span><span id="chunk290032">little </span><span id="chunk290033">faith.</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk300001">Therefore </span><span id="chunk300002">take </span><span id="chunk300003">no </span><span id="chunk300004">thought, </span><span id="chunk300005">saying, </span><span id="chunk300006">What </span><span id="chunk300007">shall </span><span id="chunk300008">we </span><span id="chunk300009">eat? </span><span id="chunk300010">or, </span><span id="chunk300011">What </span><span id="chunk300012">shall </span><span id="chunk300013">we </span><span id="chunk300014">drink? </span><span id="chunk300015">or, </span><span id="chunk300016">Wherewithal </span><span id="chunk300017">shall </span><span id="chunk300018">we </span><span id="chunk300019">be </span><span id="chunk300020">clothed?</span></em></div>
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<em><span id="chunk310001">For </span><span id="chunk310002">your </span><span id="chunk310003">heavenly </span><span id="chunk310004">Father </span><span id="chunk310005">knoweth </span><span id="chunk310006">that </span><span id="chunk310007">ye </span><span id="chunk310008">have </span><span id="chunk310009">need </span><span id="chunk310010">of </span><span id="chunk310011">all </span><span id="chunk310012">these </span><span id="chunk310013">things.</span></em></div>
<em></em><em><span id="chunk320001">But </span><span id="chunk320002">seek</span><span id="chunk320003"> ye </span><span id="chunk320004">first </span><span id="chunk320005">the </span><span id="chunk320006">kingdom</span><span id="chunk320007"> of </span><span id="chunk320008">God </span><span id="chunk320009">and </span><span id="chunk320010">his </span><span id="chunk320011">righteousness, </span><span id="chunk320012">and </span><span id="chunk320013">all </span><span id="chunk320014">these </span><span id="chunk320015">things </span><span id="chunk320016">shall </span><span id="chunk320017">be </span><span id="chunk320018">added </span><span id="chunk320019">unto </span><span id="chunk320020">you.</span></em><br />
I love you all! Thank you so much for your good examples and your prayers and your encouragement. It means more that you will ever know.<br />
~Hermana Bethani Holloway<br />
Pictures:<br />
1. Sis. McKenzie and me (please try to ignore the elder in the background)<br />
2. Reunited with my hija! (I'd forgotten how short she is...)<br />
3. Helping Tati live the word of wisdom :)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-85553173096967697542014-10-14T11:32:00.003-07:002014-10-14T11:32:36.160-07:00APRIL GOT BAPTIZED!!!<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
So... apparently Colombus Day counts as a holiday for the Metropolitan Library System here in OKC. Everything does come to Oklahoma last so it doesn't really surprise me all that much. But that's why I'm emailing on Tuesday.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Anyways</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">ALOHA EVERYBODY!!!!!!!</span></div>
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This week was <span style="font-size: medium;">SO STINKIN AWESOME IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING!</span></div>
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As you can see, April did get baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was so great! Dylan baptized and confirmed her and it was the sweetest thing ever. They are just so perfect for each other. Pictures will be attached :)</div>
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What else happened this week...</div>
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We've been doing a lot of going home prep for my dear almost dead companion. We mailed her bike home, took funeral pictures after district meeting, weighed her bags, took pictures of her with everyone here <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(if I had a dollar for every picture that I took for her this week I'd have a lot of dollars), </span>had a farewell dinner with our ward mission leader, and went to Lifechurch <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(it's one of the biggest nondenominational churches in OKC. Pretty much everyone who serves here tries to get invited at least once). </span>We're pretty much ready to send her off now! Transfers are tomorrow, and the departing missionaries will fly out on Thursday. I'm actually really really sad about it. Sis. Adair and I got along super well and she's kind of like my long lost sister. Saying goodbye will be really difficult.</div>
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Oh, but cool story of the week! Sis. Adair has a twin brother who is serving his mission in S. Dakota right now. Not only do they fly home on the same day, but they fly home on the same plane. <span style="font-size: medium;">WHAT?!?!?</span> It's pretty sweet. They fly into Denver together and then meet up and fly to Utah. I'm sure the moment that they both step off the plane will be magical.</div>
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I actually took a lot of pictures this week, so I think instead of just writing a bunch of words I'll send out a bunch of pictures.</div>
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And this morning we read this <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/what-manner-of-men-and-women-ought-ye-to-be?lang=eng&query=lynn+g+robbins">talk by Elder Lynn G. Robbins</a> that's about being something, not just doing something. I'm trying really hard to focus not only on my example, but also on my motives so that I do the right things for the right reasons. We came to this earth not to do a bunch of things, but to become something. Doing is essential to becoming, but only if accompanied by the proper motives.</div>
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Have a great week! <span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus loves you!</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Go see Meet the Mormons if you haven't already done so!!</span></div>
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LOVE, </div>
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Hermana Holloway</div>
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Pictures:</div>
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1. April's baptism</div>
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2. After the baptism</div>
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3. Zone p-day. We played kickball and broke a piñata.</div>
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4. Sis. Adair's dying day</div>
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5. Rainbow cake at the Speckmans</div>
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6. waiting to go into Lifechurch</div>
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7. at the temple with April and Dylan and Emmitt</div>
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8. Our district at P-day</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07639394826803275909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8976931959266203104.post-7113343039012382772014-10-02T08:34:00.000-07:002014-10-02T08:34:05.228-07:00Cramming<div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">
This week was CRAZY!!!!! I mean, every week was, but I have no idea how we did so much in just 7 24-hour periods.</div>
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MONDAY: Normal P-day. Then that evening we had a lesson with April and Dylan. We actually took April over to another member's house so that she could hear their conversion stories, especially because they both had some problems with their family when they joined the church. It was SO AMAZING and just what April needed to hear. Afterwards we went up to her apartment for a few minutes and she asked "so when can I get baptized?" It was such a cool moment. I knew that I was doing my job.</div>
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TUESDAY: We had zone conference! We had to set up the tables and chairs before then have a meeting, so the goal was to be there by 7. Well then we had to pick up the elders in Edmond, so we ended up leaving the house before 6 and getting up at 4:45. It was awesome... not. But the zone conference was really really good. It was a lot more about member work and teaching skills, especially asking inspired questions. Then immediately after we went on exchanges with the sisters in Weatherford. I stayed here this time and spent the day with Hna. Haddock, who is a boss. We had such a good time. We had a lesson with Paula and Andy that evening that went pretty well; we're just trying to help Andy investigate the gospel from a spiritual perspective, not necessarily just an intellectual perspective.</div>
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WEDNESDAY: I spent ALL DAY with Hna. Haddock. We had another lesson with April (Law of Chastity!), and then all of our afternoon appointments fell through so we went to go see Comesha and Elijah which was slightly awkward but also good. We committed Comesha to watch the Women's Broadcast and read some scriptures with her. Then after we went to see Mimi and Tati, which ended up being a good lesson. We watched<a href="http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2589209401001"> this Mormon Message </a>and then discussed what the anchors represent and what anchors are missing from their lives. And then the concerns started flowing! It was so good! THEN after that we went to see a new less-active sister who is from El Salvador (except she wouldn't let me speak Spanish to her...). Her husband isn't a member and he's a little critical of the church so that's holding her back quite a bit, but she definitely has a lot of potential. And after all that.... we had dinner. No joke, it was the last thing of the night. It was a really good dinner, though. We ate toast and talked about geology.</div>
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THURSDAY: Sis. Adair and I were finally reunited!!! Let me tell you, that was a long exchange! After we were done exchanging back and having studies and such we had Weekly Planning and then we went to see our RC, Sis. Goewey. Luckily she happened to be cooking at the time so we even got dinner as well! Then we had a short lesson with Josie and stopped in on the Weske family. Normally the husband doesn't really participate, but this time he watched all the Mormon Messages we shared and even seemed to like them! Huzzah!</div>
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FRIDAY: Exchanges again! We go on SO MANY! It was good, though. I got to work in Edmond... and that's about all I have to report on that!</div>
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SATURDAY: So we had planned to go to Stillwater because one of Sis. Adair's old investigators was getting baptized. Well one of the sisters in OKC 2nd taught her too, so we decided to carpool. That would mean, though, that Sis. Allen and I would be going to Stillwater needlessly and essentially wasting that time. Then Sis. Allen remembered that she had been invited to the temple that day and had received permission to go, so we went to the temple instead! It was kinda hard to keep track of it all, but it was so great to be in the temple and spend time with Sis. Allen, who is one of my favorite people (she was my STL in Choctaw for those of you keeping score at home)! Then we went to Golden Corral for dinner, which was a wonderful experience. I had never been there before but I thoroughly enjoyed it :). And then we had the <a href="https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/10?&lang=eng">WOMEN'S BROADCAST</a>!!! It was so fabulous! If you haven't seen it and are a women you must watch it!!</div>
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SUNDAY: APRIL CAME TO CHURCH!! APRIL CAME TO CHURCH!! Now she only has to come 2 more times before she's baptized on October 12th!!!! Comesha and Elijah also came to church, and we didn't even have to remind them to get a ride!! Huzzah!! I love it when people use their agency wisely!!! After all that wonderfulness we went to the Spanish branch's sacrament meeting for language study and had Josie's baptism interview, which was a little unorthodox but it was necessary for Autism. Basically we brought our district leader to a lesson and he observed and decided whether she was ready to be baptized or not. She's learned so much and she's so excited! Her parents took her to a baptism on Saturday and after it was over she said "Josie's turn!". So she understands :).</div>
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Yep. That was pretty much my week! Hope you liked it!</div>
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Also, the Book of Mormon is true and it's amazing. I've been reading a lot this week and I just keep getting new and wonderful stuff out of it. </div>
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LOVE YOU ALL! Have a great week!</div>
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~Hermana Holloway</div>
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