Elder Samuel Holdstock

This week went by like a blink of an eye. I have left my twin, Elder Summers, and now I'm on the other side of cochabamba with my new companion Elder Cortez from Colombia. He's a good guy and we are going to work well. We are working in an area named Villa Moderna that is in Quillacollo. There are a lot of parties and parades and the city often gets shut down, but its gonna be a good little time. We are currently working with a lot of people that have close ties to members so were just going to have to throw them to the water. There is a lot of potential.  Elder Holdstock

  Glad that week is over. Sometimes there are some weeks where you really get testify and tried more than the others. This week was one of those. We've seen several miracles this transfer and had so many crazy experiences, but then all the miracles have disappeared and we finished the transfer without too much to show our efforts. I've also been battling with some stomach thing all week and have just really tried to push through and keep going strong.  When things have been hard and all the desire is gone to do anything, I've had so many scriptures come to mind. As a mission we have memorized the 33 scriptures that President Oaks used in his last conference talk. My whole mission my president has said that oneof the apostles taught that a memorized scripture comes back to help you when you least expect it. That happened this last week. As I was suffering with stomach pains and nausea, the memorized verses of Jesús suffering for those same pains brought me so much comfort....

  What's up everyone. This week was nice. We saw several challenges and lessons fall through and people stop progressing, but then we also saw many new people with potential and hope.  We have a ward missionary that is probably the only ward missionary here that heps. She will search for us in the streets to accompany us, and presents us to every single one of the people that she has ever run into. It's incredible, and we've started to teach so many families because of it. Even if we have to yell and use sign language when the guy can't hear us.  This week we also had the privilege of being a part of the baptismal service of Alex Gabriel. His dad was a missionary, and now just because another member was bold enough to share the gospel with someone, he is returning to church with his wife and kids.  Don't be afraid of your testimony. The other day our mission president said that we can be afraid of the doctrine that we know to be true. So share fearlessly. Elder Hold...

  What's up everyone, hope that everyone had a grand old 4th of July. We definitely had our little celebration for the country of the Restoration here, just minus the fireworks. This week though was pretty baller.  Saturday last week our first counselor had told us he had met an inactive member that was a returned missionary. We went with him to meet him and it was true. It was also true that he had an 11 year old kid who hadn't been baptized yet. Which is weird because his dad has his missionary plaque on display in his house as well as every pamphlet and missionary manual that you can imagine. The kid asked to be baptized the first time we met him, and now the family is coming back to church so that he doesn't go inactive after his baptism. That's why he hadn't been baptized yet. His dad was scared to have him baptized and never go back. We also met another inactive member that no body would have been able to find. We have a ward missionary that is incredible. Her...

  What's good guys! This week we went to the temple! It was awesome to get back to that incredible place. It was the first time since changing how it's done and it was beautiful. This week was a little slower than the others. Our people have just been pushing along little by little.  This week we found an inactive member who was just pirating movies the entire time we talked to him and it was just too much. But he's a returned missionary from Peru and is very ready to come.back and wants his son to be baptized.  This week is going to be a grindy one, but we are sure we will see miracles so let's get it. Elder Holdstock