Elder Austin Holt: Week 6: It's a Girl!!

The Good

I crashed my first party this week! So last Tuesday we went by Jose Ángel's place to hopefully teach him about the Gospel. The good news is that we found him home, the better news is that we also found his parents, all his sisters, children, wife, and friends celebrating his dad's birthday. In Hispanic culture, if you show up unannounced to a party, then you will be treated as if the host invited you in the first place, so we were promptly sat down at a table and given food to eat. We mingled and ate for a while, and then they said they were going to do the gender reveal for Jose's 4th child. We all guessed and he wanted a boy because he already has 3 girls...and as you have probably put together by now, it is a girl! He is a very blessed man and though he might have wanted a boy, he said I submit my will to God and I know that I am blessed. After more mingling and laughing, the member that we brought started talking about the joy of families and asked the 3 guys that were listening if they had lost anyone they were close to. He then went to the topic of baptisms for the dead which was really cool because that is exactly the topic Jose Ángel is struggling with, but Hermano Aquino didn't even know that. Jose's dad also shared a touching story about his mom's death. I think that after that discussion, we will be able to help them understand and believe next time we have a lesson with them.

Another super excited thing happened this week that might have been top 5 coolest things that has happened to me in my life. I don't know if you all remember that I mentioned that Sister Bytheway is in my district. Well since we have the connection, we had a guest speaker during our district council this past week: none other than John Bytheway himself. He zoomed in and we had an really great lesson about how to invite the Spirit into our lessons. It was extremely powerful, inspiring, and neat to see the example of someone who has years and years of experience teaching. Teaching like the Savior is always our goal, but since perfection is unattainable in this life, I'll strive to teach like John Bytheway.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is personal study. For those of you who don't know, missionaries spend a lot of time studying and 1 hour of that study time every day is dedicated to personal Gospel study. I am extremely grateful for this time I have every morning because I have had some of the most amazing experiences study scriptures and different topics. I encourage, nay, beg all of you to dedicate 10 , 15, 30, 60 minutes, heck 3 hours if you have it, or just 10 minutes everyday to spend prayerfully studying the word of God. You days will be brighter. You happiness will be fuller. You hearts will be lighter. You capacity to love will be deepened. Your entire life will change in ways you didn't expect. 1 year down the road you will look back at who you were compared to who you are then and will then have a deeper appreciation for God than you have ever had for everything He has done for you. Without a single doubt in my mind, I promise each and every one of you and invite you to do it and see for yourself.

The Bad

There was a man that we found almost 2 weeks ago now that said we could back and he his always home and has plenty of time (since he is an older gentleman). We were excited to teach him after that, but we have now passed by at least half a dozen times and there has been no response each time. We were force to "drop" him which essentially means we won't visit him anymore, but I know that hope is not yet lost for him. The Lord is just spending more time to prepare him and we are not the ones that were meant to teach him.

The Beautiful

Seeing a family of about 20 people all eating, laughing, and celebrating together was so fun. A whole family together celebrating a grandpa's birthday and a gender reveal, two ends of life, helped me see how God loves to bless families. It was a beautiful sight that I hope to relive several more times throughout my life.

The Funny

So this past week we wanted to make a cool video conveying a message about faith. Well in this video, there is a clip where I had to run in a straight line blindfolded. Elder Ruiz just told me to start running and I won't run into anything and they will tell me when to stop. I was like alright and then started running...and then kept running...and then kept running. After about 15 or 20 seconds of jogging (which feels like an eternity when you are blindfolded), I hear Elder Medina yell at me and both of them are laughing. I take off the blindfold and they are way far behind me just laughing because they had forgotten to tell me to stop but ended the video and were already re-watching it to see how it looked. Nice to know my companions always have my back.

The Spiritual

During district council, John Bytheway made a very cool analogy with faith and a light switch. Faith is not like a switch, but like a dimmer light with different levels of brightness. When the slider is all the way down, the light is off and it is as if we have no knowledge of the things of God. This will happen to most of us at one point or another, but we mustn't fear because we just have to slide it up a tiny bit to start seeing the light. People say sometimes we have to take a leap of faith; God says don't worry about the leap, a tiny little step for right now will do. No matter how bright your light right now, you can always slide that switch up, gain more light, grow your faith. And if you do feel like you are in complete darkness, know that the light is always near, always just a half step away.

I love all you guys back home and elsewhere around the world. I pray for you and wish you all well. Happy 4th of July! Remember to stay safe, put on sunscreen, and have fun this upcoming weekend.

The Pictures