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