Elder Mitchell Holdstock

Merry Christmas! I hope you guys had a great Christmas and had lots of fun.  This week was full of activities for Christmas. On monday we went to an old folks home and talked with them and sang Christmas songs and we had a recent convert who was baptized last month come and play the guitar and sing with us. Then we had a movie night and had the missionaries from the other wards come and give a spiritual thought and when they were done we showed the movie.  On Christmas Eve we went to a Plaza in the middle of our area and gave out Books of Mormon that we had wrapped in wrapping paper. And we had 2 Recent converts come and help us and who shared their testimony of the Book of Mormon and how they came to know the truth for themselves. And it was cool to listen to them talk about their experience they had during the activity. Then we sang songs in the Plaza and talked with people.  On Christmas we visited with some members and t...

Hey guys! I hope you're all doing well. This week was pretty interesting. This week we invited everyone to our activities we had last week and this week. Our ward had a Christmas dinner and reenacted the Nativity and we had 7 investigators that we invited come! It was super fun we played some games, ate and just had a good time.  This sunday we had our special meeting for Christmas and had the whole stake come to our building for the meeting. Something crazy that happened this week is that one of the Brothers who helps us out a lot with stuff (Brother Nateniel) was talking with this lady who he was going to sell a phone to and she said that her daughter was in jail and so he asked her if he could pray for her and she said that would be great so he did. Then later when he went to her house to sell her the phone the daughter was there and had gotten out of jail and she told him that while she was in jail she said she made a promise to God that she woul...

Whats up fam! Another week down and more people I can barely understand but it's been great. This week has been a bit crazy because we had a Zone conference for Christmas. SO we played games and had lunch and In the conference we talked about to have success in the mission and how to extend commitments to our Amigos (investigators).  We also talked about how we should act when they don't keep the commitments and how we should go about reteaching and re extending the commitment.  Then we had interviews with President Hymas and a talk with his wife and talked about how were adjusting to the mission and the language and if they could help us in anyway.  The rest of the week we've spent inviting everyone to come to the activities we have planned for our Light the World. We also had some members help us wrap up Book of Mormons in wrapping paper and highlighting 1 Nephi 11:13-23.(The scripture about Nephi s...

Hey guys!  One week down so far everything been great.  Me and My companion, Elder Calvachi, are in Santa Rosa right now. Both of us are new to the area and we dont know anything about it. So this week we spent most of our time trying to get to know the area and the members and who the Bishop is. All of the members we've met so far have been super nice and helpful.  We also played soccer with some of the members and it was super fun.  This week we talked with some families and My companion made me give spiritual thought. So I shared with them Mormon 9:22. And talked about how Jesus didnt only tell his disciples (or missionaries) to go and preach the gospel he told everyone that could hear him that they needed to preach to everyone. We also showed a lot of them the new light the world and talked with them about lighting the world One by One.  But that is about it for this week.  I hope you guys are havin...

Hey I made it.  Its been pretty great so far i just got my companion his name is Elder Calvachi from Ecuador and later today we head to Santa Rosa on a bus for about 5-6 hours. Anyways im Safe. I hope you guys are doing well. Elder Holdstock Good Afternoon, We are delighted to have Elder Holdstock serving in our mission. He arrived safely in Bahia Blanca on Tuesday. We had a dinner with the new arrivals that evening in the mission home. On Wednesday morning we had a training session and then he was able to meet his first companion. He left for his first assignment on Wednesday afternoon. Elder Holdstock will be a great asset to the mission. I believe he will touch many lives here as he shares the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I look forward to serving with him. Best Regards, President Hymas                    Sister Hymas       President Hymas        Elder H...

English I wanted to let you know that your sons and daughters arrived safely tonight in Bahia Blanca.  We fed them at the mission home, got to know them a little bit, and then sent them to bed.  They were tired after their travel.  They will have a chance to write you in the coming days to give you more details. I am so grateful for the preparation they have made to serve here with us and share the wonderful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sincerely, Pres. Robert W. Hymas Español Quiero avisarles que sus hijos e hijas llegaron sin problema esta noche a Bahía Blanca.  Les dimos de comer, los conocimos un poco, y después se fueron para dormir.  Tuvieron sueño.  En los días siguientes van a tener la oportunidad de escribirles y darles más detalles. Estoy agradecido por la preparación de ellos para que puedan servir acá y compartir el mensaje maravilloso del evangelio de Jesucristo.  Atentamente, Pte. Robert W.  Hymas ...

This week was like all the rest we went to our classes and heard a lot of spanish. But it's also been great. We talked with a few latinos who volunteered to come to the MTC and help the missionaries practice teaching and their spanish. Other than that we just went to all our classes and learned a lot of spanish. So nothing special happened.  I hope you guys have a great week and a happy thanksgiving. Elder Holdstock

Another week down and only just over one more to go then im on my way to Argentina. To be honest this week has been pretty boring nothing that crazy has happened just lots of spanish.  The only thing that happened this week that is interesting is that I'm not even in the mission field and i've already been "kicked out" of a house. The story is me and my companion who was and still is very sick were having a practice lesson with our teacher and he spent the whole time coughing and wiping his nose on everything. So our teacher kicked us out and told us he didn't have anymore time to listen to us. and now everyone in our district is sick and not very happy with him. So that was a fun time for sure.  Also this week we had more people from outside the walls come in and we got to talk with them for a bit and share our favorite scriptures with them. it was fun talking with them and getting to know them and i just makes me even more excited to finally get to Arg...

This week has been great but also long at the same time. This last week we got to go to the temple and it was super cool to be able to see the temple and go through it in spanish. I've honestly been surprised by how much of the spanish people speak I've been able to understand.  A few days ago we had some members from mexico city come to the CCM and we got to talk with them and share a quick lesson with them. So me and my companion got to talk to this little old lady who was super nice. So we talked with her about faith and why it is important to have faith and how through faith we will be blessed. Surprisingly I can do most of it in spanish which is cool.  Other than that, all I've done is sit in class and learn spanish and read preach my gospel and the Book of Mormon. It's been great though and only three more weeks and I get to Argentina I'm already super excited for that. -Elder Holdstock In route to the Temple

This week was honestly very boring but good. We spent all of our time this week practicing spanish and memorizing and learning more.  One interesting thing that happened this week was one night when we were all trying to fall asleep there was a knock at our house door at about 10:40PM. And it was two Elders from the house next door and they said they had a prompting to check their Carbon Monoxide detector but nothing was wrong with theirs and they felt they needed everyone to check their own. Luckily there was nothing wrong with ours. But in one of the houses at the other end of the street there detector wasn't working. So it kinda cool that they were able to listen to that prompting and possibly keep some Elders safe.  It has been a good week but also boring. sorry I can't send pictures because my camera is being lame. So you'll get extra pics next time. Hope you're all doing well. Sorry for the short email. Talk to you again so...

Hey everybody, This week has been kinda wild lots of rushing around and trying to get everything done, But it's been great. The spanish is coming a long I've already got a few things down like the first vision and the missionary objective. I can tell you for sure that the gift of tongues definitely has a lot to do with that.  This week in our classes we had short 10 min. mock lessons with "Catherine" who is our teacher, where we went in and got to know her and teach her a lesson. So in our first lesson me and my companion talked with her and just spent most of the time getting to know her and her family. After we got to know her we taught her the Plan of Salvation lesson and told her she could be with her family forever. She said she needed more faith before she would believe it. So we asked her if we could pray with her and for her to have more faith. and she said yes. Then the next day we taught her again and asked her if she had exer...

(New Missionaries entering the Mexico City MTC on October 22, 2019) Today we were driving home along I-80 when our phones started ringing simultaneously.  It was Mitchell calling!!!  We quickly pulled over and answered the phone.  Since Mitchell's group did not get a P-day this week, they were granted a few hours on Saturday to do P-day stuff.  It had only been 4 days since we last talked to him, but it was music to a mothers ears.  He reported that his companion is Elder Smithson from Mapleton Utah.  He has learned more Spanish in the 4 days he has been at the MTC than in all the years he sat in class at school.  He sleeps on the bottom bunk of a 2 bedroom home that houses 4 American missionaries in his room and 4 native speaking missionaries in the other room.  Elder Bowen of the Seventy gave a devotional there this week.  He is happy and working on speaking more to those around him.  As we spoke to him, he would temporarily halt ...

Mitchell is called to labor in the Bahia Blanca Argentina Mission.  He is to report to the Mexico City MTC on October 22, 2019.  Today we said “Adios” to a great young man.  Let’s be honest, it’s one of the best and hardest days of a mother’s life.  ...Later that day... Hey i just got to the mtc i made it safe my Pday is thursday. i dont have much time to write theyre rushing everybody through so thats all love you bye :)