Summary Pictures

Elder Zwick

Montana President and Sister Mecham

Jaromy in July

Great Week

Hey Family,

This week was a good week, it was the best week that we have had as far as the week goes so that was great, we were happy about that! 

Cutler, it looks like you are having fun with all the cousins there, I wish I could be there with you all, I feel kind of bad about not being there cause it looks fun with everyone there but I guess that I will just see everyone when I get up to utah. But everyone looks GREAT from the fotos! that makes me happy.

Lindo, no te preocupes, tienes que puro divertirte mientras estas en las vacaciones, por eso se llaman vacaciones. Pero no dejes que las cosas te molesten ve las cosas buenas de cada situación.  Gracias por escribirme de elder perez, yo estaba pensando en el esta semana entonces quise escribirle igual. 

Mom and Dad, that backyard looks FANTASTIC! great job, its gorgeous! way to go and mom, way to go with the party, it looks like you are all having a great time there. Take lots of pictures. 

Anyway, we had a pretty good week this week finding new people to teach which was awesome! Its good to finally have people to fill up our schedule with instead of trying to figure out what to do to find people.  Spencer is doing great! He is so willing to learn and work hard, but unfortunately many of the other missionaries dont know how to work and dont really want to so not many of them know what to do.. I feel lucky to have gone to Santiago North! But Spencer is learning great ways to find and new teaching skills so it is fun to see him learn and grow in that aspect. He really does love the scriptures and has a very strong testimony of the gospel so it is fun to be able to work with and teach with somebody like that. We are having a fun time together. Only two weeks left! 

We were lucky because yesterday at church some members brought a couple of mexican investigators which was fun because I was able to talk with them a bit. We scheduled an appointment with them for this week so it should be good! 

Anyway, im sorry this is so short but I dont have much time today! Talk more next week! love

Jar

heyo!

Hows it going fam?

I hope everything is going well for you all! It sounds like things are going pretty well so I'm happy about that, its always good to hear that you are doing well.  

Lindy sounds like she is having a good time there in Europe galavanting around =) Way to take the Essig's advice, I hope it is helping haha.  Just a few more weeks, can you handle it? 

Cutler, it sounds like it is getting pretty hot there, that or you just sweat a lot=) who knows. Its not too bad up here, some days its pretty warm but its alright. It really is beautiful around here though. But you sure sound excited about the family reunion! You are really lucky that you get to bet there, I am actually jealous! I think it would be awesome to see everyone. And you are going to have some fun activities to do and so it should be a good time. You just have to change your attitude a little bit and you might just enjoy it. Be careful ;) you wouldn't want to have a good time around the family, would you? 

Hey Mom! Great job with Steve, I'm proud of you! keep up the good work! And get crakin on those missionaries, make them go out and see him so that they actually do it, some missionaries are EXTREMELY LAZY and it kills me so just follow up with them to see if they have actually done anything. 

Dad, I'm excited for you! It sounds like you are busy! And it sounds like Z is gettin there, gettin better every week! Thats great. Just look at all the progress and all the blessings that you have had in the last few years, I think its quite amazing (granted it has taken LOTS of hard work but the blessings are undeniable). Anyway, keep up the hard work, it'll come=)

This week was a good one. We started off better than we had any of the other weeks which was good but then it kind of got slow which kills me. I like it when we are really busy. But we have a couple of good people to teach which we are excited about. 

One of those people is Fanny. She is a spanish speaker and last week we taught her with a member that we ate with and it was a really good lesson. She left for girls camp last week and we heard from a couple of the leaders that she had a really great time there so we were really excited about that. They told us that she bore her testimony at the end of the camp so that is really great news. She has a baptismal date for the 3rd of August which we are still shooting for but it was strange because she didin't come to church on Sunday and we dont know why...we'll see this week though.

Yesterday we had a really great lesson with the guy we are teaching out in the mountains and we are so excited for them! He is the guy that raised the bear up there.. But we taught him with Spencer's member friend from Three Forks and we taught the Restoration. So it was a great lesson and we got to the end and he said that he believed everything that we had told him.  He proceeded to tell us an experience that he had during the week when he was talking to a young man who came into his work that was an evangelical christian and he said that he was very very close minded. The point was brought up about having other scripture out there that is from God and the kid was 100% against it but then Mike (our investigator) started saying that he believed that the Lord could bring forth other scripture and truth. He spoke about the Book of Mormon and actually defended it which was amazing! He defended the LDS church and he isn't even Mormon! It was incredible, and I definitely see him and his son being baptized sometime here in the near future though I don't think it will be while I am here. It will probably be a couple of weeks after I leave but we are excited for them. 

Another strange thing happened. We were in the back of the chapel greeting people as they came into church for Sacrament Meeting and all of a sudden in walks a kid that was in my ward at BYU my freshman year! It was crazy! He is from Pennsylvania and he is out here for a family reunion visiting our bishop who is his cousin. Crazy right? So we sat together and got talking for a little bit and he told me that he didn't have any place to room yet so I told him that I if there was room with us in our place that he could room with us! I think it would be sweet! We didn't hang out too much before the mission but he is a great guy and lots of fun so hopefully it will work out. 

So I have been thinking about getting a bunch of rock climbing gear up here because I really wanted to get into it in the fall because it isso fun!  But the sweet thing is that there is a member that works at REI and she will get the workers discount for me up here and then on top of that there is no sales tax up here! So its going to be like 30% off or something like that so I figure that is well worth it.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful time with the family down there in SD! It should be a great time! Tell everyone that I said hi and I'm sorry that I couldn't be there but that i'll see most of them here pretty soon! 

Love you! 

jar

Elder Holland

No way! That would be awesome! I was thinking about him the other day and wondering what he has been up to, it would be awesome to see him! Its been a long time.

talk more next week. Love you and have a great week! I[m sorry that you have to be there alone, I'm sure that's not too much fun but I'm sure you can find great ways to spend your time.

love,  jar

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 11:40 AM, Teresa Holland  wrote:

Yes, I will spread the word and change to your gmail email.  Did I mention Aubrey Holland just got engaged?  She just met the guy in June and is getting married in October!  Oh, remember Elder Purdue from Spain?  He is going to try and be at your missionary homecoming talk - very cool!

On Jul 8, 2013, at 10:32 AM, Jaromy Holland wrote:

I didn't think that that last email was going to work haha, the ability to send emails on this account is supposed to be disabled... but can you all start to email at my regular email now please? its jaromyholland@gmail.net just in case you didn't know it. thanks!

love ya, jar

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 11:30 AM, Teresa Holland  wrote:

Not scary - two handsome missionaries!

On Jul 8, 2013, at 10:16 AM, Jaromy Holland wrote:

Woah, that's crazy! I have never seen a picture of dad as a missionary!~ That's cool! We look quite a bit  alike. that's scary.... haha =)

On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 12:05 AM, Teresa Holland  wrote:

Recognize this elder?

Sent from my iPhone

Bozeman II

Hey Family,

It sounds like you are all doing pretty well. It was awesome to be able to see all the pictures from Cutler and his trip. Spencer and I have been waiting for those all week, we've been talking about how excited we are to hear about how everything went so GET THAT LETTER OFF SOON!! haha, we want to hear. I hope it was a wonderful experience.

Mom, Congratulations on having your houses up for sale, thats awesome! I'm so excited for you and you really are great at your job, you always seem to get the great offers and they often pay more than you are asking for haha! How crazy is that, when does that happen?

Dad, have lots of fun in all of your meetings while you are there in Utah and then in SJ, =) but really, there is always a bright side to things... somebody taught me that....

Mom, I can tell that you have a little bit of time on your hands because you went through all the old pictures and sent them to us haha! I had never seen one of Dad on his mission, that was awesome! I am excited to talk to him about it when I get back.

Lindy, I haven't heard from you which is probably a good thing haha, I hope it means that you are so busy and are enjoying yourself so much that you just forgot=) I want to know how your cruise was and what you have been up to for the last couple of weeks! You kind of are experiencing a mission in a way because you have a companion, Rachel, who you are with 24/7! It can be fun and it can be tough sometimes too, just don't get caught up on the little things that bug you, dont focus on the negative and this is what sister Essig always said, (it is her home motto) No Eat, No Sleep, No Talk. So if you havent eaten, and/or slept for a while (if you are tired) Dont talk! haha, its great advice. I hope you are having a blasst!

Time has gone by fast and slow. The pace of things here is definitely very different from things down in Chile. Surprisingly, it seems that there was more to do down there! We are trying out a bunch of different ideas that I picked up in my mission though and are just trying to rely on the Lord to give us people to teach.  It honestly, has been a bit harder to get back into this swing of missionary work than I thought it would for lots of different reasons but we are getting there. We met a couple of really cool people this week who should be good to work with.

We have been really trying to get members to do more work and to work with referrals from them. We identified an area that we wanted to work in and a couple of members that we wanted to work with that are younger couples that we clicked with pretty well so we are excited about them.

One of the great people that we met this week though who lives like a half hour away from us up this gorgeous canyon is named Mike. He lives out there with his family and it is a beautiful piece of property.  Fun fact about him, is that he raised a 700 pound black bear for 9 years =) crazy right? But he is a nondenominational christian but he studies the bible more than most people that I know. He has a lot of his facts straight and has a bunch of the right ideas. It is really cool to see. He has a friend from church (Steve, who Spencer met in 3 forks) who has talked to mike a bunch about the church and mike has been surprised by how much there is in common with what he believes. He is really smart and it is going to be interesting to see how he progresses!

Also we went to contact a referral the other day and as we were driving up to the house and parked, there was a man just a few trailers down that kept looking at us and then he would go inside and come back out and look at us and then go back in. We saw him do it a couple of times and decided to go contact him, his name is Alex and he just got out of prison. He is Mormon and he told us that he is ready to make the changes he needs to in his life so that he can come back to church and straighten out. We went over to his house yesterday and had a really great lesson with him and his girlfriend, sammy, and we are excited about them. We think that they are going to do great and are going to progress really well. We set up another appointment with them and we are going to go back with one of the young couples that we selected to work with.

It has been challenging but good to be up here in Montana. I am still learning like crazy, it is amazing how much there is to learn everyday and its amazing how much the Lord is willing to teach and show us everyday.  Im grateful to be out here and it has been really cool to see Spencer and all the changes that he has made in his life. He really does want to do what is right and to serve the Lord with all his heart might mind and strength and it is really cool to see that in him. His life is a miracle and the changes that he has made, I am so blessed to be here with him and am grateful for the opportunity to serve here with him.

Have a wonderful week and we'll talk next week,

Love,

Jar

Bozeman

Hey Family!

How is everyone doing, all spread out across the world, it is pretty cool that with all the technology we can be in the four corners of the world and still be connected (unless you are on a MWB trip and they cut you off from everything=) But when cutler writes, you have to send me his letter because I want to know how everything went for him.

Lindy, it sounds like you are really living the highlife there! How fun! Only a little less than two months left and you are going to be done with vacations for a while, will you be able to handle that? Can you handle two months of vacations? I think that I would get bored haha, I couldn't handle it. But I hope you are sending a bunch of pictures home so that I can see them, or at least I hope that you are taking a bunch of fotos so that I can see them all when I get home.

CJ, I hope you had a wonderful experience there in Zambia, I am going next year. Tell me all about it!

Mom, GREAT job on the work with that client and GREAT job with Steve, keep up the good work. I am excited to see what is going to happen next week.

Dad, keep up the awesome work there at Z, its always exciting to hear how things are going. I want to help out when I get back.

Anyway, as for us and the week it was a great week. I got into Billings on Tuesday morning (I tried

to get on the same flight as the other missionaries but it was all full so I couldn't, I ended up on my regular flight which was ok because I was able to talk to the girl next to me the whole way and basically share the message of the restoration with her which was cool. But we got here and went to the temple and the temple here is gorgeous! It really is beautiful. It was cool to see, there is a beautiful foyer with an open glass ceiling as you walk in. Also in the entrance there are a couple of fountains which are beautiful, it is a really neat temple. It was cool to go there on the first day with all the new missionaries, Pres Mecham and Sis Mecham.

After that I just kind of hung out with the APs and slept at their house and stuff. I asked a lot of questions as did they. We were trying to get a feel for the different missions and get a few new ideas.  This mission is really, really different from mine.  Some of the things I don't really like haha but don't worry Dad, I try to bite my tongue haha. President Mecham is just a whole lot more relaxed than President Essig and it affects the missionaries in many different ways especially because there is the chanllenge that everything is so spread out.

But I do love President Mecham, he is a really cool guy and it was amazing that he is letting us do this. He isn't very by the books, he tries to go by the spirit which I like a lot about him. It should be fun here, there is lots to learn.

But Thursday after all the boring training meetings I was driven out to Bozeman and I met Spencer. It was really cool, he is so different! He is really, really different but in amazing ways.. It has been fun to see him and how he has changed and he really does have strong desires to do what is right. It is cool to see that. I am excited to get to know him and we are going to have some great experiences together.

As far as the work goes, there aren't too many people that we are visiting right now but we know that that will change. We are implementing some ideas from my mission and keeping some from his so we have a hybrid work style going on here which should be good. The members are great and are very helpful, way more than any ward that I ever had in Chile. Lots of the members are very Missionary oriented and are engaged in the work which is great to see, its exciting. We selected a few young couples to concentrate our work on so we are going to work with them to see what fruits come. it should be great! thanks for every thing and I got to go,

Love
Jaromy

talk next week!

On to Montana.... And it came to pass...

And it came to pass, I got to continue my Mission in Montana with my brother Spencer for six weeks....

Hello Family,

How is everyone doing? I hope well and I hope you are enjoying having Lindy back! I can't believe that you went home early! Thats crazy! and you flew back on first class! loca! haha but I want to hear all about the trip as soon as I get back. And Cutler's Africa trip with pictures and everything.

It sounds and looks like you all had a fantastic family reunion in SD, I'm happy it was such a great time, I'm sad I missed it, it would have been fun to be there and get to know everyone better. It is crazy, either people are just growing up and changing way too much or there are a bunch of people in those family fotos that I don't know! haha I guess I'll just have to get to know everyone while I'm up there in Utah.

This week was another pretty good week here with Spencer, we are having some really good progress with lots of the investigators that we have which is cool to see. We are teaching several different latino families which is pretty cool. lots of them are progressing well and are coming to church which is cool. None of our investigators are going to be baptized while I am here but the next transfer should be a great transfer for Spencer so I am excited for him about that.

I got kind of sick while I was sleeping Saturday night and woke up not feeling too good so I had Brother Bowden and his brother in law bro Gage give me a blessing at church (while Spencer was teaching the gospel principles class) and then after church we did splits and I went to the Bowdens for the afternoon to just sleep it off while Spencer went out with a member to work which ended up being really great. He went and taught Johns family and it went really well and apparently everyone wants to be baptized now which is really cool.

Everything is going well up here and I only have about another week left and then I'm going to be headed back home! Thanks for everything and have a wonderful week!

Love
Jaromy

Pictures -- The Last Days...

This might be my third to last time that I write you as a missionary in Chile! Thats kind of strange. But I hope you have all had a wonderful week this week. I have been doing great. This week was really long but short at the same time, there was so much to do which made the time fly but it was exhausting! 

We had the interviews this week and so while President Essig did the interviews Elder Millan and I revised the area books and the agendas of the Elders. It was kind of fun but like I said it was exhausting. I don´t know how President made it through the week because it was even worse for him. Monday was probably the worst day because we got to bed about 130 in the morning (on Sunday night we have to do all the numbers of the mission and then on Monday morning we generally send out a leadership letter to all the leaders but we knew that we weren´t going tobe in the office on Monday morning because we would be doing interviews so we had to write it and send it out Sunday night). Then we had to wake up at 530 to get ready and President Essig and sister Essig and us carpooled up to Los Andes (like an hour and a half away). Thats when we took the picture of President sleeping=) then we had the interviews until about 930 at night and we headed back home. We didn´t get back to our house until about 11 or 1130 or so. So we started off the week and got pretty tired. We had to get up at about 6 or 630 everyday (which isnt really that early but when you are going to bed late everyday it really gets to be kind of early =)

But this week was really different because it rained just about the whole week! It was awesome! I haven´t seen so much rain in my whole time here in Chile. It was really cool and the best part is that it washes away all the smog and so we can see all the mountains that are freshly covered with snow. It is a real treat, they are so beautiful.  Even though I have only been here in the city for the last 2 years I have realized that our mission really is beautiful and that Chile has to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world. 

This week, in the car and if I could find a few minutes here and there, I was listening the program from the Mormon Channel called ¨Conversations¨ and they are incredible. I love listening to them. I listened to the one from Elder Holland and the one from Elder Bednar. And I loved some of the things that they said but one of the things that really stuck out to me was from Elder Holland. He said that he has great faith and went on to explain that it is a gift that he has and that he just believes that all these things that the church teaches are true. He just believes it and that helps him in his day to day life to have the strength to continue on.  I got thinking about that and I thought that it was so true.  I thought about the mission and how grateful I am for the mission and  the experiences that it has brought me because I can honestly say that it has increased my faith 100 fold. I believe these things are true and that belief has grown into a conviction to the point that I can say that I know that these things are true. This testimony came line upon line, one bit a time. For me it was difficult to gain but it is every bit worth it. I know this church is true and I know that this is the work of the savior, he loves each one of us and we can all return to live with our Father in Heaven. What else matters?

I love you all, thank you for all of your love and support!

Love,

Elder Jaromy Holland

P.S. Did Mike Groesbeck get back yet? Did you go to his homecoming? And are you going to go to Kelsey Peterson´s wedding? I can´t believe that she is really getting married!

Hola, Hola!!

Thanks for the letters, it was great to hear from you and to know that you have all been doing great this week! 

I have been doing great, one thing that I love about the office is that it keeps you so busy that there literally isn´t time to think about home! Its wonderful! 

I thought that I would send this one off to a bunch of people because it was one of the coolest experiences I´ve had! 

This last week I felt incredibly blessed by an experience that greatly increased my faith and taught me many wonderful lessons. I would like to share it with you.

I was able to revise the area book of the Elders from Cerro Colorado last week and they told me something that gave me a much greater perspective on the work that we are doing.  Towards the end of my time there with Elder Barnes we were out working one night. We were walking in the street on the way to an appointment and we passed a man that was going the other way from us. I had the impression to contact him but I didn´t do it. But as we passed him, Elder Barnes turned around and contacted him.  I could tell from the contact that he was going to be great and so I was very excited and happy that Elder Barnes had listened to the spirit.  The man told us that his name was Jonathan and he gave us the direction to his house.  A few days later we went to general conference and between sessions we decided to go back to the sector and work for a little while.  It was pouring rain that day and we decided to pass by for Jonathan to see if he was home.  When we got to the house we knocked  and out came another guy, who was clearly not Jonathan.  We explained to him that we were the missionaries and that we were looking for Jonathan and he said ¨I am Jonathan¨ and he opened the gate and let us in.  We taught him and he accepted a baptismal date.  He quickly progressed and a couple of weeks later, I was changed from the sector.  He was baptized a short while later.  What I didn´t know about this experience and what he tells anyone who asks him, is that the day before we showed up to his door, he was praying to God and asking him to show him the way that he should go.  When we showed up to his door looking for Jonathan, the man that we had contacted, he took that as a sing that God sent us to him. I know, like he does, that this is the case. God really did send us there to his home and to his day I still don´t know who the Jonathan is that we contacted that day in this street, but I do know that we met him so that God could lead us to the other Jonathan. 

This is one of the greatest experiences that I have had on my mission and it greatly strengthened my faith that the Lord truly knows each of his children, even by name. He is concerned for each one of them, for each of us.  I learned, as these Elders told me about other converts and people that I visited (and some had even been baptized after I left), that the work that one does on the mission truly creates a ripple effect that extends out forever and we will never, at least in this life, be able to see all effects and fruits of our labors. It fills me with gratitude to really know this. This is certainly His work. I simply feel blessed to know that the Lord has let me serve on His team, to work in his vinard for this short time and I am undoubtedly the one that has benefited by my service more than anyone else, I am the one who has changed.

Thank you all for your love and support that you have given me, I love you all and its going to be an all out sprint to the finish! I´ll see you all soon! 

Love,

Elder Holland

oh yeah, my new companion is Elder Berrios from Honduras. He was my zone leader when I was in Huelen in my 6th change and now we are companions=) haha its going to be really fun, he is cool and we get along really well. Here goes the adventure! =) 

Patricio y Alex. Enviaré mas fotos la semana que viene.

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes

Date: May 28, 2013 Area: Santiago, Chile Companion: Elder Berrios

Hey Family and Friends,

First off, thank you all for the birthday wishes. I opened my email today and I had about 50 emails from a bunch of people so thank you all for remembering my birthday and for the birthday wishes. Just a few weeks and I´ll be able to thank you in person.

This week went by pretty fast, there really isn´t time here to think about much else and I´m really grateful for that because I don´t really want to think about anything else. I just want to keep working until my last day here and then have it hit me that I don´t have any more time here in the mission.

I have been really pretty good about it until this last week when the interviews started and we started seeing all of the missionaries in the zones and everyone started telling me how much time I have left... which isn´t very much.. WE ARE ALMOST IN JUNE!!!! Its crazy. But I´m going to back up a bit.

I don´t remember what happened on Monday,

Tuesday was really cool, I was able to do exchanges with Elder Barnes!!! He is a zone leader now and President had him on the list of people that he wanted us to do exchanges with so I went out there after a Zone Training Conference we had on Tuesday. (I didn´t have to do anything, the zone leaders taught the lessons that President, Elder Millan and I had already taught to all the zone leaders last week... it was a good break=) But after that we did the exchanges and it was really fun to work with him and see how far he has come and how much he has learned and grown. He is a great guy.

Then on Wednesday after the exchanges we had to do some special changes- moving some sister missionaries that were having some problems from one sector to another so that was fun. It was also my birthday and everyone was so nice to me! Sister and Elder Chase (a new couple) made me a birthday balloon tree wishing me a happy birthday, it was really nice of them. Then Sister Waldron made me a plate of Chocolate chip cookies which was really nice of her. Then in the night we had an little party. The Waldrons and the Chases bought pizza for everyone in the office and I made a chocolate cake and the frosting from the frosting recipe that is in the Holland Cookbook! It actually turned out alright if you can believe it!

Thank you for the letter you sent to the office too and for all the gifts! It was really kind of funny because you told Elder Peters to print it off and to give it to me but when he sat down on the computer and opened outlook he saw the email and was like ¨hmm, whats this?¨ and opened it and right at that moment I came around the corner and saw his screen and saw the paper so he just read it to me haha, I´m excited, thank you!

So my birthday was wonderful, I´m not going to be able to forget it.

Then on Thursday the interviews started so we did one zone on Thursday and another on Friday. Friday was here in the office which was nice. But Elder Millan and I check the area books of the different companionships while President Essig does the Interviews. We always finish way earlier than him but I feel bad for President because he started at 8 in the morning both days and finished at about 7 at night.... straight interviews!

And now we are at Saturday again. We had a really cool lesson this morning. We taught the 2nd councilor´s wife who is not a member and he has really been preparing her to come to church and everything. She actually made it this last week. But we went and we had a wonderful lesson with her. We shared the restoration and it makes lots of sense to her, she really thinks that everything that we shared is true. She has one doubt that will be pretty easy to resolve the next visit but she was great. It was just proof to me that the Lord really does prepare his children to accept his gospel and he does it because of his tremendous love that he has for each one of us. It really is incredible and I am grateful to have been able to feel of that love and to see His love work in the lives of his children here in Chile.

Anyway, I am going back through your letters and am going to try to answer some of your questions that you had for me before I have to get off for the week. Yes, it is starting to get colder down here but its still not too bad. There have only been a couple of days that we have really needed a coat. The others are pleasent during the day and at night you just need a light coat. I feel like I´m getting preped for good ´ol SD weather (of course I just probably jynxed myself and its going to get really cold from here on out)

I listened to an amazing talk last night... it really gets to you. You might want to listen to it. Its called ¨a profile of a prophet¨ By Hugh B. Brown. It was given in a BYU devotional in 1955 and it is incredible. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! =)

Love,

Elder Jaromy Holland

This is the sunrise from our apartment in the morning! We had to wake up before the sunrise everyday this week =) it was fun=)

 

Semana Loca

Date: May 18, 2013

Area: Santiago, Chile

Companion: Elder Berrios

Hey Family,

I don´t really have too much time to write (like 15 minutes) sorry. I have found that it is kind of harder in the office haha but it really should be easier though. Crazy things just seem to happen though.

Like today for instance. We went to the zoo in the morning and that was cool, it was really kind of sad to tell you the truth because it is really small and all the animals are just depressed because they can´t go anywhere or do anything so it wasn´t that cool. But we did get to see a bunch of different animals. After that we went to an investigators house who is from Peru. She invited us over for lunch and so we headed over there and were able to share with her for a little bit which was really fun. She said that she is going to come to church tomorrow though so it should be good. While we were there it a big thunderstorm came in and it started pouring and for a little bit it was hailing! It was sweet! The hail was really big too, like the size of a pellet gun bullet. (well thats big for me haha) and so we were leaving Sonia´s house and we called Elder Peters (the secretary, the one you met when we did skype) and he and Elder Miklich (the other one you met) came and picked us up in the car so that we could go to the mall to do our shopping for the week. It was interesting driving over there becasue here in Santiago it doesn´t rain very often and when it does the streets are converted into rivers! So literally we were driving through rivers the whole way and the parking lot in the mall was basically a large lake. But we shopped and we left and on our way out of the parking lot we got a flat tire haha! So we had to change it and it took a little bit but thats why we got back here late and why we don´t have much time to write now.

But this week flew by. We had a couple of different training days this week which were fun. One was Consejo de Líderes (leadership counsel) and that was with all the zone leaders and the sister training leaders (a new leadership position that the sisters have) and it was the first time any of them had been to the meeting because all the zone leaders in the mission are new. (the area told president Essig that the zone leaders are no longer allowed to train and they have to be companions with another zone leader and so in order to be obedient President changed all of the former zone leaders to be district leaders/trainers which is why all of the zone leaders now are new.) It was a funny way to bend the rules but it worked and all the zone leaders are still great. But it was fun to be in the training with them. We set a new goal as a mission for baptisms so that it is a bit more realistic (we dropped it from about 100 to 60) and hopefully this month we should be able to get the goal.

But then on Friday we had FASE 1 which is a meeting for all the new missionaries and their trainers and that was a really fun meeting because it is a whole lot more relaxed. Its fun to be with all the new missionaries because they have so much hope and faith but they really just don´t know anything! haha so its really fun. Those are the best companionships in the mission, the new missionaries that are full of that fire and the oldest most experienced missionaries. They make a powerful team and its cool to see.

At first getting up in front of all the missionaries to have to train them was a little bit strange for me but now I really kind of like it. It is fun to get in front of all the missionaries and to be able to teach them the things that I learned and to try to excite them to do everything better and stick to the mission plan and pump them up! haha, its fun.

We had a fun experience last night! Since I got here to the office we have started to fix weekly goals as a mission. For example we have this week the goal to have every companionship have 7 with member lessons and 6 references contacted. Then every Wednesday and Friday in the night we call the zone leaders and the sister training leaders to see how they are doing with the goals. On Friday we ask for an average of the goals (what the zones and groups have up til that point) and then we send it out in a letter every Saturday morning to the zone leaders and the sister training letters so that everyone knows how things are going. Anyway we call in the night at about 11 and we called one of the sisters who is a leader and she said that when she called one of the companionship's in her group that they didn't answer. She said that she called about 15 times and every time she would call they would cut the call. She said that after calling that many times the phone got turned off and she couldn´t call anymore. It was strange. So Elder Millan and I started trying to call and nothing went through because, indeed, the phone was off. Well now its about 1130 and we call president and tell him about the situation and he is worried because it was a strange situation. I mean, if someone calls you 15 times you are probably going to call them back and not just turn off your phone, right? And so he said that he wanted us to call the Elders that are part of the same ward as these sisters and have them get a member that lives close by to go to the sisters house to just check up on them and see if they were ok. So I called this poor elder who was sleeping by this point and get him going so that he sends somebody to check up on the sisters. In the end the bishop sent a sister from the ward over (now its like 12:15) and she starts ringing the doorbell a TON and nobody comes out. So she informs the bishop who is now in contact with me. He gives me a call to let me know whats up and it was really strange. So I call President Essig and he said that he wanted us to get dressed and go with the other office elders to the office, to get the keys to their house and to get out there to know what was going on and if they were OK. I was kind of nervous for them but it was like an adventure. So we get headed out there and get to their house at about 1 in the morning. The lights were obviously off and we started ringing the doorbell a BUNCH and.... nothing. So we unlock the gate and go to the door and start pounding on the door and.... nothing. So we start trying the keys and none of the keys worked for the front door, it was not a really good situation. So we try going around back and as we were going back there a neighbor came over and was like ¨ what are you guys doing¨ because it was fairly suspicious- 5 guys dressed as we were at 1 in the morning trying to get into the house of sister missionaries haha. We explained to him the situation and he was cool and left. But we got into the porch in the back and they had left one of the doors unlocked so we were able to get into the house. So we get inside and start turning on the lights and talking saying ¨Hermanas!¨ so that if they were there we wouldn´t scare them too badly and... nothing!!! So we make it to the one door that is shut and we open it up and.... THERE THEY WERE!!! haha. And we opened up the door and were still talking and NONE of the 3 sisters woke up!!! They were asleep like ROCKS! But we decided to wake them up so that they knew what was going on and the first one to wake up jumped about three feet in the air and just about had a heart attack! I felt kind of bad but it was funny afterwards. We explained to them what was going on and everything and they said that their phone just died and that nothing had happened. So it was a great blessing that they were safe and everything but I don´t understand them. If somebody calls you 15 times that late at night and your phone dies, the logical thing to do would be to charge your phone and to call back! I still don´t understand why they didn´t do it but.. oh well haha. But we called President Essig back and he said thanks and that was about it so we headed home and went to bed haha. We hit the sack at about 2... the funny thing is that thats not too unusual for the office=)

But that was my fun experience for the week.

Time is really flying. I can´t believe that two weeks have passed since the changes and now I only have 4 weeks left here in Chile. Andrew Jensen finished his mission a couple of days ago...CRAZY! I am actually doing really well at not thinking about it though, I feel good about it. We are keeping busy here with lots to do so I don´t have too much time to think about going home which is what I like. When it comes I know that it is going to be a great mix of emotions.

This next week is going to be a bit crazy. Monday we have our office meeting with President Essig which will take most of the day and then we have to run out shopping for some stuff for certain missionaries and we have to drop off some things to different zone leaders. Tuesday we have a Zone Training Conference in the morning that we have to go to (we are just going to observe and the zone leaders (actually the one that I am going to, Elder Barnes is the zone leader) and the zone leaders are going to teach the lesson.) Its the same lesson that Elder Millan and I taught in Leadership counsel. And after the conference I am going to do exchanges with Elder Barnes until Wednesday morning. Then Wednesday afternoon we will switch back and it will be normal. But then the fun begins because on thursday and friday, then every day the next week and then the monday the week after we will have interviews. That means that we are going to be waking up pretty early everyday to get to the chapels by 8 and we will probably be in the interviews until 5-8 at night. While President (I feel bad for him) does the interviews Elder Millan and I are going to check the area books and the daily planners of each missionary so it shoud just be a whole bunch of fun! =) haha. Time is going to keep flying.

On Wednesday (the 22) Sister Waldron (a sr couple missionary who is incredible!!!) also has her cumpleaños! So we are going to have a small party here in the office that evening which will be fun.

Love,

Elder Jaromy Holland

Crazy Week

Date: May 13, 2013
Area: Santiago, Chile
Companion: Elder Berrios

Hey Fam,

So sorry that I didn´t really get to write today. I am going to be really short in the letter.

But it was great to see you all yesterday and to be able to talk to all of you. I didn´t want to skype at first because I thought... I¨m just going to see them in like a month and if I don´t see them on skype then it will be more of a surprise when I walk off the plane but then I saw lindy and she was getting upset so that plan went right out the window! haha. But it was awesome to see you all, it was wonderful talking to you.

Today has been really busy. In the morning we slept in a little bit because last night we got to bed at about 1 oclock because we were doing the numbers and things but then we came in to the office in the morning to write our ¨Leadership¨ letter and send it off to all the leaders in the mission. Then we ran out to the store to buy, ran home, I got my hair cut and then we headed out to the campo a colina to hike a mountain with the Elder that wants to help fundraise with me (Elder Metcalf) and some other elders from his same ward. It was really fun! We went all the way up and we thought that half of the mountain was private because it was all fenced off and we couldn´t get in so we didn´t make it to the top top but it was still sweet. But after going up we were on the way down and all of a sudden we hear a gun shot and this guy comes out of his house with his two dogs and a huge shotgun in his hands! He was like ´´Why are you up here, you are trespassing¨ Long story short, he didn´t blow any holes in us and we got away safe but it was just a great climax to an awesome hike.

After that we rushed home, showered skarfed down some food and then we had to run out to the airport to pick up the Waldrons (a senior couple from the mission) and their sister and brother in law. They went to Easter island for a couple of days for vacation.

Then after that we had to run out to the hospital to see Elder Deming. He had to have surgery today on his leg, he had some sort of nasty infection that they had to drain so we took some books a cell phone charger and some money for them to buy some food. He is doing a lot better now though, he should get out tomorrow.

And now it is almost 1130 and we are back here in the office. Tomorrow we have to prepare our lesson that we are going to teach on thursday to all the leaders in the mission and then in the afternoon we are going to go over it all with Presidente Essig in his house. It should be a busy day. This whole week is going to be busy and then next week too because there are zone training conferences for two days and then the interviews start so we will be booked for about 12 days straight....it should be fun. But I count it as a blessing to be busy here in the office, its better to be too busy than not busy enough in my book.

I have to go but I love you all, have a wonderful week! love,

Jar

One Change Left

Date: May 07, 2013 Area: Santiago, Chile Companion: Elder Berrios

Hey Family,

So it sounds like you are all doing really well! It was great to hear from you all and it sounds, like always, that you are doing well! I´m glad to hear that.

Speaking of companions, Elder Berrios is going home tonight! Crazy! And my new companion is awesome! His name is Elder Millan and he is AWESOME! He is from Mexico and lived for a long time in Cuernavaca (where Zack is) and then moved to the DF for a while and studied there. His parents currently live in Florida and he speaks English really well so that is cool. He is a really happy guy with a lot of energy so I think we are going to have fun together, it should be a great last change (well kind of second to last change). What is going to be cool about this change is that now that I am the señor AP I am going to be able to travel on all the exchanges that we do for the whole change so I am goign to enjoy getting to know a whole lot more of the mission! The downside is that we have LOTS of days this change where we are n´t even going to be able to work.

Anyway, I have to go right now! I have to eat lunch (its 530) and then take the elders that are going home today to the airport right after.

Let me know what time spencer wants to skype. I´ll check my email one last time in the night. Thanks Love you!

Elder Jaromy Holland

Hoooola

Date: April 29, 2013

Area: Santiago, Chile

Companion: Elder Berrios

This week was a great one. It flew by. I can´t believe that we are in the last week of the change. It is flying by and now I only have one change left here. Last week we finished up the conferences on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday we did and intercambio, Friday Elder Berrios had to go to the doctor for his foot (he hurt it a few months ago playing soccer. He was on the national reserve team before the mission so he wants to go back and play and have his foot well) (we are going back tomorrow too.) And we had a ward talent night on Friday and it was the best, really fun!

But Saturday and Sunday were the best days of the week. We did intercambios again and I was able to go to CORONA SUECA again! I worked with the Elders from that ward and it was awesome! I went to church on Sunday and was able to see EVERYONE and the ward is doing great. It was really fun for me to be there and to see everyone from my first sector, its been a while since I was there. The bishop is new (the old first councilor) and all the leaders changed positions. It was cool to see. And it was especially fun to see Christopher and Yoseline and mi mamita Hna Gomez! That was a real treat. Chris and Yoseline might come to the states for a month or so next year. He is doing great, he graduated and is now a pharmacist and is making some good money so they are going to buy a department next year and everything- awesome!

Other cool story before I end. A missionary, Elder Johnson, just finished his mission in Osorno and he was in the same group as Elder Mortensen! He was with a couple of Elders from my mission while he waited for his parents to come pick him up. We realized that we were in the same ward in BYU, he just lived in the other floor so that was cool too, small world. But he showed me his pictures of his mission and the south and it is absolutely gorgeous- I fell in love and I am going to have to make a trip back down here to go backpacking with Elder Perez someday... we are actually already planning it=)

Anyway, I love you all thanks for everything! have a wonderful week!

Elder Jaromy Holland

Blessings & Insanity

Date: April 22, 2013

Area: Santiago, Chile

Companion: Elder Berrios

Hey Family,

Things sound like they are doing pretty well and I`m always glad for that.

Lindy, I`m glad you had such a great time there in Spain for the 6th time. I can`t believe that you are going back again this summer, thats nuts! And you are going to PRAGUE? no way. Thats awesome! I`m jealous.

Cutler! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO! Wow you are gettin old, soon you are going to have grey hairs like Dad and a nice bald spot=)

Mom, thanks for the email, I`m glad that you enjoyed Jordan`s homecoming talk, from what I hear from Andrew, he was a wonderful missionary and I`m happy that he was able to have the experience. I know that the mission is the best thing that anyone can do for their life, it is what is of greatest worth to the soul of a person.

Spencer, I`m in for a change, its going to be sweet and it is going to be here before we know it. Get to know your sector well because you are going to have to lead it. You are going to be compañero mayor=)

Dad, I hope you had a great week and that you are doing well in work and everything!

I am making the notes really short today because I have lots to write about! This week was insane!

So Monday was normal, we didn`t get much of a P-day because we had to prepare for the Zone Conferences that started last week so that is what we did on Monday.

Tuesday was one of the coolest days that I had on my mission. We got a call from President Essig who was at a conference for the Mission Presidents in our area in Argentina. He told us that he had a special assignment for us and that in the afternoon at 6 we (Elder Berrios and I) would have to go to the airport and pick up Elder Zwick of the 70, his wife, the Mission President from the Concepciòn South mission and his wife. We were to take them on a tour of Santiago, to the old mission home (because Elder Zwick was a mission president here in the Santiago South mission 23 years ago and President Martinez was one of his missionaries). So we found out in the afternoon and we were still putting the final touches on the things for the conferences and then we had to hurry up and clean the Van out and take it to the car wash. Well, we got everything done and hurried down to the airport, parked and ran in and were waiting for less than 2 minutes when President Martinez and his wife walked out. We gave him a hug and were talking while we waited for like 10 minutes until Elder Zwick and his wife came out.

It was amazing to be able to meet him. He met us and gave us great big hugs and was just so warm. He is just so friendly and about the nicest guy you will ever meet. He and his wife are VERY charismatic and that really me llamò la atenciòn. But basically we were able to entertain a general authority for the whole night. We went to the old mission home (which is now the MTC) and took a tour, went to a really sweet chinese restaurant and then dropped him off at his hotel. It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity but I learned so much from him in that short time.

It was incredible to see him and his wife, both of them were just incredible. I really don`t have any better words to describe them but they both radiated light. You could just see the light in their eyes, in their countenance and everyone, everywhere we went was just drawn to that like a magnet. It was incredible. Everyone always talks about how some people radiate light from them and I never truly knew what that meant until now. They radiated light. He makes you feel like his best friend.

I also was impressed with how strong his wife is. She and all the leaders` wives are just as strong as their husbands and it was great to see that.

But basically, I loved being able to take them out everywhere, it was really fun and cool to be with them. When we dropped them off he gave me his card with all his contact info and he told me that he wants me to call him after the mission and see how he is doing. haha.

But the rest of the week was CRAZY! We had our zone conferences that were fun but really long and a bit stressful because of some of the stuff that we have to do. We went way over time the first two days too but it ended up being ok. After every conference I am beat cause we are generally waking up extra early and getting to bed late most days.

We made a video about the security and it is really really funny, all the missionaries die when the see it. I will download it and show it to you when I get home. (Lindy, stop counting the days! =)

On Saturday we were going to have our Pday because today we had a conference too but we decided to do intercambios with some Elders way out in Los Andes so we had to go out and pick them up. Well what was originally a normal intercambio became the craziest and funniest intercambio of my mission haha. We didn`t get up there until like two (its like an hour and a half away from the office). After picking him up we had to run to drop off some bikes to two different sectors which took a long time and we didn`t end up leaving Los Andes until about 430 in the afternoon. Well, while we were driving, everything was fine and dandy until we got to Santiago and we had to take an offramp from one freeway and take the onramp to another. So we were getting onto the other freeway going really slowly when we heard a strange sound come from the right wheel. It sounded like we had run over something and then we hear the car start to make a strange squeaking noise and the brakes started to feel really strange. So we decided to take the next exit which was a great move because the breaks stopped working. the right break started to lock up and so if you just tapped it a hair it would lock up and jerk to a halt very fast. Anyway we got to a parking lot of a supermarket that was actually a part of my old sector, Principal and we called for help from the office and the elders from Principal. This was at 6. Basically we didn`t get out of there until 9 and we got back here to the office close to 930 so we didn`t even get to work on Saturday. Today the truck got fixed and the mechanic said that it was a problem with the breaks. We had the break pads changed a month ago and the people that did it didn`t tighten the bolts down right and so one was missing and all the other bolts were loose which caused it all to malfunction. But he said that it was VERY dangerous because if it had gotten loose and locked up while we were moving really fast it could have flipped the car so I know that God really protected us in our journey.

Last thing. Yesterday walking back from church I was talking to Elder Anderson (the Elder that I did the exchanges with) and I wasn`t really paying attention to where we were walking. You all know that I am here in Chile, the people are short and I am not. There was a tree that was hanging pretty low and I just wacked my head super hard on the branch that was at the level of my head. Remember how I split my eyebrow in waterpolo once? Well I did the same thing to the other eye... just from a tree branch. But we went home and I found some super glue and I super glued it shut so its all good. Moral of the story, don`t pick a fight with a tree because the tree will almost always win.

Love you all,

Elder Holland