The Crazy
When I started my mission, I was given two trainers that you all probably know by now. Elder Medina has been our for a while, but my other dad, Elder Ruiz, had just come out of his training which means he was "flip-training". I didn't even get a full transfer with Elder Ruiz when he got emergency transferred to replace a missionary that went home. As the subject line suggests, I am much like my father. Like Elder Ruiz, I was put in a trio to flip train my son Elder Mortenson, but also like Elder Ruiz, my time with him was short lived.
On Wednesday during personal study, we get a call and it was from President Grisel, my mission president. I answer and he says "Hey is this Elder Holt?" I say yes it is and he then says, "I need to visit with you for a bit. Elder Brannon down in Nogales is going to have to go home for some medical stuff and I need you to go down there to replace him. Are you willing to do that?" Completely shocked, I came up with the most eloquent and educated answer I could under the circumstances, "yeah". "Awesome well you'll be leaving tomorrow morning so you'll probably want to have all your things packed tonight. Thank you Elder Holt!" I was practically speechless for the next two hours.
When I started my mission, I was given two trainers that you all probably know by now. Elder Medina has been our for a while, but my other dad, Elder Ruiz, had just come out of his training which means he was "flip-training". I didn't even get a full transfer with Elder Ruiz when he got emergency transferred to replace a missionary that went home. As the subject line suggests, I am much like my father. Like Elder Ruiz, I was put in a trio to flip train my son Elder Mortenson, but also like Elder Ruiz, my time with him was short lived.
On Wednesday during personal study, we get a call and it was from President Grisel, my mission president. I answer and he says "Hey is this Elder Holt?" I say yes it is and he then says, "I need to visit with you for a bit. Elder Brannon down in Nogales is going to have to go home for some medical stuff and I need you to go down there to replace him. Are you willing to do that?" Completely shocked, I came up with the most eloquent and educated answer I could under the circumstances, "yeah". "Awesome well you'll be leaving tomorrow morning so you'll probably want to have all your things packed tonight. Thank you Elder Holt!" I was practically speechless for the next two hours.
The Bad
So the next morning I had to leave my son, a companion I think I was going to get along very well with, and the only area I had known as a missionary. It was pretty rough having to say goodbye to people and felt weird because Elder Medina had gone through that like a week and a half earlier. I also didn't get to say goodbye to everyone since it was such short notice, but I got to visit all the top people I would have liked to say goodbye to so I guess i can't complain. I'm mostly just said I won't be able to finish Elder Mortenson's training.
Also, since the Elder that I replaced was the one that had already been in this area and we are only a week into transfers, both my last area and my current area are basically being whitewashed so it will be a fun transfer!
The Good
Well since I was going to be leaving, the district decided to have district sports at 6:45 on Thursday which was actually really fun. We played ultimate Frisbee which I hadn't played since I was at BYU, and those of you that know me probably figured I had been itching for a good game of Frisbee. It was a whole lot of fun and a nice way to say goodbye to my district. It won't be goodbye goodbye though because I'm literally going to see all of them tomorrow at zone conference so it isn't terribly sad.
Before I left Sahuarita, we had finally been able to find this one lady that Elder Medina and I had taught like a month ago, and when she saw us she was actually really excited. She was busy right then, but she set up a time for us to come back, and I know Elder Mortenson and Holman will continue teacher her so that is good!
I made it down to Nogales safely and I am loving my new companion. His name is Elder Carlson and he is really funny and a hard worker. He wants to improve on his Spanish too so he tells me all the time to just correct his Spanish whenever I see something so the man is pretty humble. He is also a beast at basketball. I met him at zone sports my first pday on the mission and the man can ball up. We work fairly similarly as far as missionary work goes and so I think we will be able to get a lot done this transfer which I am excited about.
Since I have been here for about 3 days and he almost 2 weeks, we are kind of making it up as we go. Because of Elder Brannon's health, they weren't able to do much or leave the apartment much (oh sí, andamos en bicis aquí) so Elder Carlson and I set a goal to find 2 new people in the 3 days that we had left in the week, and we found 3 so I'm excited about what we can accomplish together.
The Funny
There were a lot of funny instances that week but I think my favorite happened at my last dinner in Sahuarita. We had steak, salad, and green beans which were all very good. Well I had been talking to the two families (mis favoritas) saying by to them and I'm almost done with my food when I realize that Elder Mortenson had not touched his steak. I didn't say anything but about 10 seconds later Hermana Valenzuela asks "No tenemos gustó la carne?" Elder Mortenson looks at me (which he often did when he tried to speak Spanish and felt unsure) and says "Puedo tener...uh... I don't know how to say knife in Spanish" and I realized that Elder Holman and I were given knifes but not Elder Mortenson and he couldn't eat his steak because he didn't know the word for "knife" (cuchillo). We had a good laugh.
The Spiritual
This past week I read a scripture that hit me in a different way than it has before. Alma 34:16 says "And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption." When I read that I realized that, yes, we have to have faith in the atonement and God's plan for ourselves, but we must also have faith that it works for others as well. Often times we see other people struggle with things that are different than our challenges, but for all we know they are doing the best to apply the atonement in their lives. We don't know how hard it is for them, but our Savior does and He decided to suffer for them too.
In Isaiah chapter 49, God compares His love for us to the love of a mother for her baby. How could a loving mother forget her baby when it is at her hip all day long? How can she forget when it wakes her up night after night? How can she forget when its life depends on her? It isn't possible. Christ says His love for us is greater than that, and yet sometimes we question if He really remembers us. Well how can He forget when He suffered unimaginable pain for us? How can He forget when His blood stains the ground at the Garden of Gethsemane? How can He forget when His very hands and feet serve as reminders? It isn't possible. His atonement is a show of His infinite love and it works for all of His children! My challenge for all of you is to have faith in God's atonement and know that it can work for you no matter how far you feel. Then, have faith that His atonement works for other others and forgive someone this week. I promise you will be blessed and will be filled with relief.
I love you all and have a great week!
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