A month already?!

Hey Everyone!

Week 4 already?! 

Its crazy to think I've been out in Arizona for almost a month.. on Wednesday.
Only 17 more months to go...  (;   Just kidding.  I love being out here.  I'm a representative of Jesus Christ and I am honored to be one of His servants, spreading the gospel.  The weather has been getting warmer.  I'm more nervous about that more everyday.   (Its been getting up into the 90's!)

Well this week was pretty tough.  The week started out well.  Monday & Tuesday went normal.  Wednesday was AWESOME!  We went to the Mesa Arizona Temple.  It was the first time that I was able to go into that Temple.  It's so simple and pretty.  (:  It was quite windy that day so getting pictures for us sisters was kinda crazy since we wear skirts!  But we managed to get a pretty decent picture as a zone.

 

The rest of week went down hill from there...  Long story short I ended up going to the ER, because of some abdominal pain that scared me, thinking that it was my appendix but ended up being something that wasn't as big as we thought.  The pain did last a few days and I never really got a clear answer other then to take some pain and nausea pills.  Im now feeling much better but that was my trial for this week.

Hope you guys are doing all good. Miss you all, hope to hear from you guys soon!

-Sister Holcomb <3


P.S.   A member that had us over gave us a surprise!!  It was Mountain Lion pepperoni sticks and he was like... "Yeah, so I killed a Mt. Lion".  He had the skull, the fur and meat... pretty crazy right ? 

Yummy!!  Mountain Lion!!

Amazing Days!

Hey Everyone!  This week has been awesome!  We've had sooo many miracles!!  We have two new people that are interested in learning more about the church!  Its awesome.  One girl is in high school and the other girl and her family are interested as well.

Isn't it crazy I've been out for almost a month now!


We also got our car taken away this last week and started riding our bikes.  That's been a little crazy.  So this last Tuesday we had a district meeting.  This is where we meet up as a district and train and talk with all the missionaries in the area that we are serving in.  After the meeting, we as a district go out for lunch.  Since we didn't have the car, we were planning on having a member pick us up.  Well guess what?  We forgot her phone number at the apartment.  So we ended up walking about  2 miles back to the church and calling another member to pick us up.  The first person that planned on picking us up, also forgot our number and ended up calling us when she got home.  Awesome adventure, right?

This last Wednesday we had Zone Conference, its was an even bigger group.  We got together trained, learned and motivated.  We talked a lot about obedience and faith.  IT WAS AWESOME!!
Thursday is when the miracles started happening.  So we get up and go about our daily routines.  Wake up, exercise, get ready for the day, have personal and companion study and then training.  We are finally able to start the day by going out and contacting people.  We go to a house that we think is someone that is possibly interested because of the missionaries before us had given us his name.  Well no one's home.  So we go back for lunch and then go out and work again.  We had a feeling that we should go back to that house that we had gone by previously and there was a car there!  So we knock on the door.  It was girl, she looked about 11th grade.  We asked if this guy that we had thought lived there was there.  She said no.  So we told her who we were and what we believed.  She asked if we would be interested in learning more and she said yes!!!  We teach her outside just a few principles.  Her parents came home, and they spoke little English, so we had her translate and they said they would also be interested in learning more!  We talked with the Spanish Elders and they're going to help us out with teaching the parents.  We went through out the day, sweating and keeping high hopes and high faith that we would find someone else.  Next thing you know, we meet another girl while going see a family in the ward.  She has a REAALLY awesome name, but unfortunately I have to keep it confidential.  Her sisters were already involved in church so she knew a little about the church but she had never gone. We asked her if she wanted to learn more, and she said yes as well!  She was a little unsure in the beginning and had some questions but luckily we were able to answer them!

Funny story, so we were talking to people at a bus stop and we were just telling them who we were and what we believed.... and this guy was talking to Sister Collins, and said " That was beautiful and you're beautiful"  Hahaha.  So she continues to testify, and he goes "Do you like me? Cuz I like you!" Hahahaha.  Sister Collins is like "... Uhhh, I'm on a mission."

So yeah, that pretty much sums up the week... IT WAS GREAT!! (: 

Hope you all are doing well!  Thank you to those of you that are writing me and are praying for me.  I have been able to see the blessing that have come.  I miss you all and hope to hear from you soon!
- Sister Holcomb <3

Keeping hydrated!!  It's already in the 90's!

Getting to know the area and.... We have our first baptism scheduled!!

Hey everyone! All is well! 

I've been hard at work all this week.  White washing is hard.... For those of you who dont know what white washing is..  Well it's 2 sisters that don't know anything about the area.  They go into an area and have to get familiar with everything thats going on.  It's alot of work!  Well we are finally organized and have everything in order.  

Yup, that's where I'm going to be for the next 18 months!!

We have talked with all the Bishops and Ward Missionaries.  This work is so amazing.  This last week, we met a guy name Darien.  HE IS SO PREPARED!!  He's read the Book of Mormon before, and we taught him about the restoration.  We also invited him to be baptized and he is set for a date of April 20th.  Well we found out that he's 20 years old, so we had to hand him over to the Elders since he's in the singles ward.  Theres a few other people that we've tried contacting as well.  There's another woman named Yaquelin and we just gave her first lesson this last week.  We are hoping to baptize her this month as well.  We have a second lesson with her this next week.  We've been working so hard to find people.  It takes a lot of faith to be able to find people that need us, and we are working towards finding more.  I hope all is well with everyone.  I pray for all of you and hope all is well with all of you.

Please feel free to write me, and to email me... Although, I love letters because they come any day during the week, where as with emails I only have 30 minutes on Monday to check them.   I doesn't give me much time to read and resend responses.

Hope to hear from all of you soon!

Love, 
Sister Holcomb

MTC, and ARIZONA!!

HERE'S MY ADDRESS for the next 5 weeks.

WRITE ME!!!   (:
4776 E Guadalupe Dr.
Apartment #1036
Gilbert AZ, 85234

First off the MTC was amazing!  I met lots of great people, gained a stronger testimony of prayer, scripture reading, and of this gospel.  I've learned so much its crazy.  I can't tell you how much I love this gospel and the blessing I've been able to receive from it.  My first companion was sister Krazter! (We happen to meet before we entered the MTC at the temple.  So pretty cool that we ended up companions. A picture of us is in my last post.)  She's great and has also played a part in my learning. We learned and grew from each other.  My district was made up of people that were serving in Arizona and Oakland/San Fransisco CA. Once the 2 weeks in the MTC were done... Which by the way, I'm sad more of you didn't write me.  :( 

At the end of those 2 weeks it was time to head to ARIZONA!!  We woke up at 3:30 am to get ready and then got on the bus to Salt Lake at 5 am, got to the airport at 6:30, got to call my family, and then headed to Tempe AZ around 8:00 am.  The excitement and nervous feeling overwhelmed me as we landed! THIS IS FOR REAL!  I'm going to blessing peoples lives with the gospel!  After getting off the plane, we were greeted by the mission president and his wife.  They're ADORABLE!

This is the group of missionaries with whom she arrived at the Arizona Tempe Mission.
  

We spent the night at a members house and they were SO nice.  The next morning we met at the church and gave talks, had orientation and assigned us to our companions that we would be have for the next 6 weeks.

We have a car in my first area but are limited on miles so should be using our bike too.  It isn't to hot yet, it's been around 80.  I already have a watch and shoe tan line.  :P

Yep that says Sister Holcomb!!  This was after arriving in Arizona.

My companions name is Sister Collins, she is the sweetest girl EVER!  We are so alike and its pretty awesome.  Well... That all.   OH Wait, we also have an appointment with a guy named Darien. WE ARE SOOOO PSYCHED!



Hope all is well with you guys! Miss you and write me soon <3

-Sister Holcomb