Um . . . What?!

Dear Everyone That Reads These,

It's been a really good week (few days)! On Wednesday, after P-day, a lot of our plans went screwy because our main man, Elder Graves, got horribly sick. He would eat or drink, and he could barely move. So we had to tag-team taking care of Elder Graves that night and all day Thursday so that Elder Meza wouldn't go crazy taking care of Graves himself.  

On Friday, after weekly planning, we made the four hour trip to the valley to hear Elder Nelson speak! Since I know the area of St. Johns, I'm the designated driver now even though Elder Blanchard is trainer, so I was the guy that drove us all the way to Phoenix! 

On Saturday, we got to the stake center in Mesa where Elder Nelson was speaking an hour and a half early to get good seats. A lot of people had the same idea, so we were like, 8 or 9 rows back, but that was still a really good spot. Better than sitting on a folding chair back in the gym like the stragglers. When Elder Nelson got there, he requested to shake everyone's (EVVVVEEEERRRRYYYYOOOOONNNEESSSSS'S) hand. That was cool. He said "good morning" to me like 3 times in a row when he shook my hand. He brought two seventies with him, Elder Tood B. Hansen and Elder Bradley D. Foster, and we shook their hands too. Elder Hansen spoke about showing love for your companion. Elder Foster spoke about not wasting any time on our missions. Elder Nelson talked about a whole slew of stuff. He said you can tell how effective a missionary was by how many of his grandchildren go to the temple. Before we marry someone we need to make sure they love the Lord more than us. He said obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings miracles. Disobedience always brings misery. We need to make our ward mission leaders our best friends. We need to get investigators hooked on family history so the spirit of Elijah can play a role in their conversion. A lot of good stuff.

Then we came back to St. Johns that night and had a normal Sunday yesterday. We didn't get to teach any investigators the past few days, but this week will be better.

Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you last week about a choice lesson me and Elder Hernandez had with a less active guy living out in the 40's. We met him at a restaurant and set up a lesson with him at one of our church buildings. He told us he hadn't been sleeping well, so you know, we asked why. And he sighs and says, "Obama."

That's when I knew this was gonna be a great lesson.

Anyway, the guy goes off about how he can't believe the stuff they're letting Obama get away with. Apparently, Obama won't let you grow your own garden, slaughter your own livestock, and Obama is sending out drones across the country to kill whoever he wants just for fun. But I must say things got really great when the guy told us, "And Obama is going to kill 93% of the population and then live for 1,500 years!"

Um... what?!

"Technology has advanced to the point where Obama is going to put his brain into a robot and live for 1,500 more years! Then he's going to pick the people he likes, put their brains into robots, and then he's going to kill everyone else! 93% of the population will die!"

It took me everything I had not to bust up laughing at this guy. And his source is his pal he sees at the gas station every day. Anyway, I tried to just play it off and move on to a gospel-centered discussion, but then Elder Hernandez had to do the worst thing possible and encourage this guy with the whole "constitution will hang by a thread" prophecy. UGH. FALSE DOCTRINE.

Anyway, that was a pretty great lesson we had last week. Small, conservative towns are fun. Elder Graves and Elder Meza recently met with a guy who insists the whore riding atop the seven-headed beast in Revelations is a female president that will go to war with 7 countries. Love it.

So until next Monday, remember God loves you and I don't think He'll let Obama kill 93% of the population.

<3 Elder Holladay

Elder Denham and me the night before he left

New Companion

It was another interesting week in Saint Johns Arizona, and a longer one what with transfers going on. Since Elder Denham was preparing to leave, we spent the majority of the week seeing everybody he wanted to say goodbye to. As one can imagine, as a greenie, it's weird to see someone go through the process of going home. I'm not sure my brain has processed any of it very well, but it's whatevs. So yeah, we only had like 2 real lessons last week, and then the rest of our time was used visiting everyone Elder Denham wanted to see one last time.

Once Elder Denham left on Saturday morning (at 4 AM!), I spent the weekend with Elders Grave and Meza, our resident Spanish speakers. Luckily, we didn't really spend much time with people that only speak Spanish, so it's all goooood. On Sunday morning, I went on splits with one of the ward mission leaders so I could teach the Gospel Principles lesson in Louie's ward. Louie came and loved the lesson (on obedience, and why it's a good thing). Man. That guy is ready to be baptized. We're gonna see if we can set it up on a day when Elder Denham can actually come down and see it happen, so that would be cool. It definitely won't be this week though, because we'll be in the valley the weekend to hear Elder Nelson speak to the entire Scottsdale and Mesa missions! That will be awesome.

From Monday afternoon to Tuesday night, I was paired up with Elder Hernandez, a fellow greenie from Maryland of Guatemalan descent serving in Eager. His trainer was getting transferred, so President told him to stay with me for the night. That was... interesting. I mean... Elder Hernandez is... it would be hard to be real companions with him. That's what I'll say.

But at about 10:45 last night, my new companion arrived! His name is Elder Blanchard. He's from Roosevelt, Utah, but I guess he also spent a good amount of time growing up in Cheyanne, Wyoming. He's been out 9 months, and I think he's gonna be a really good companion. We spent about a good hour last night just talking before we went to sleep, and so far he's really cool.

It's nice that Mom thinks I'm not a greenie anymore, but you're a greenie until you finish the 12 week training program. So I'm halfway there! Dad wants to know what Snowflake and Eager are like. Snowflake's really nice (in fact, we went golfing there again last P-day!). The temple is beautiful, and so are the houses and golf course around it. Snowflake is bordering the city of Taylor (like, you can't even tell where one ends and the other begins if not for the signs), and they have a huge rivalry. That makes me happy, because it reminds me of the Pawnee-Eagleton rivalry in Parks and Recreation.  Eager is pretty nice too. I mean, they have a McDonald's, which means they're not too shabby. And both Eager and Snowflake have nice cool climates like Saint Johns.

I ordered the buckle last P-day, and it will be here in 5-7 weeks. I can't wait to get a picture of it to you guys, because it makes me giggle every time I think about what I put on there. 

That's about it for this week. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

And remember the church is true. My life right now would be pretty crappy if it wasn't true. Luckily, it is, so we've got nothing to worry about.

<3 Elder Holladay

Week 7 -- There's a Community Analogy for Everything

Whaddup, party people??

It was a pretty decent week. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were consumed by the Apache County Fair, where we set up a booth. We had all the good stuff: Books of Mormon, pamphlets, pass-along cards, copies of the Proclamation to the World, and we even had a TV playing all kinds of church videos running. But at least 90% of the people that actually talked to us were members. And then all of our dinners those nights were like, "We'll just buy you guys food at the fair!" which was not good on my insides. 

We taught Louie a couple more times, getting him ready for baptism, but he didn't come to church yesterday. Since he hasn't been to church two times yet, that means he won't be baptized before Elder Denham leaves, so that's too bad. I'm certain I'll get to see it through though.

Also, I love Elder Denham to death, but it won't be too bad when I get a companion that everyone doesn't talk to about going home. We had to drive to Eager this week for his exit interview, and a sister waiting for her interview asked me how long I have left. Um... 22 1/2 months...

It's okay though. Yesterday, I bore my testimony in all 3 of our wards (a President Sweeney challenge) on change and why it's good for us. Of course, I compared it to the movie business. Nobody wants to see a sequel that's just more of the same. We want sequels that push the characters in new, harder circumstances, and we want to see them come out of it all having changed. And that's what a mission is doing for me. Putting me in new, unfamiliar territory so I can come out of it a better, stronger person.

Actually, I've been thinking more about Community's lesson than that of great movie sequels. When Community's showrunner, Dan Harmon, was fired after Season 3, they brought in two new guys for Season 4 who kept trying to assure fans that "nothing about the show was going to change." While Season 4 had its moments, what ended up happening was that the show fell into a trap of predicitability with absolutely no character development. The new showrunners were afraid to change any of the characters or try anything new or groundbreaking with the show. 

That was horrible of them. The great thing about Community was that it was always pushing its characters into unfamiliar territory and it was always trying to tackle groundbreaking concepts. Community was great because it offered something different every week. Season 4 tried to latch onto some kind of Community formula, and it suffered as a result.

Of course, Dan Harmon was hired back on for Season 5 after lots of fans started bailing on the show. Harmon not only knew he had to change the show up to get it back the heights of greatness it reached in its first three seasons, but he had no choice but to change the show when two lead cast members (Chevy Chase and Donald Glover) decided to leave. Harmon embraced the change head on and used it to fuel the entire season. Characters changed careers and majors, characters left, characters died, new characters were introduced. And if there's anything Season 5 of Community taught me, it's that change is not only inevitable, but it's okay. Because Season 5 was just as good as the first 3 seasons, because it pushed itself in new directions.

And that's what a mission is doing for me. I don't want my life to become Season 4 of Community. That's what I was actually thinking as I bore my testimony on the importance of great sequels yesterday. 

I'm an odd duck.

Anyway, have a fantastic week! Mom, good luck on student teaching! Dad, good luck on taking care of things while Mom is student teaching! I love you all! The church is true!

<3 Elder Holladay

P.S. You should have seen the look on Elder Denham's face when he saw what was in the package you sent me. Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Week 6 That's One Big Burrito!

Welp, that new car sounds pretty schnazzy, and I'm glad to hear student teaching has gone so well and that Dad had a great birthday. I'm jealous that you got to see Into the Woods, and the second half is what's supposed to make it so great because it shows that happy endings are a bunch of hippy-dippy baloney. The rumor, though, is that the Disney movie is being sanitized a fair bit, but Steven Sondheim says that's not true. Who knows?

This was a pretty good week. I don't have my planner on me right now, so I don't have that to flip through and remember everything we did, but some interesting stuff definitely happened.

Tuesday was our zone temple trip in Snowflake, so that was fun. I didn't think temples came that small though.

In St. Johns, the most intense food challenge here is the triple grande burrito at El Cupido's. On Wednesday at district meeting, we were asked to write down 8 goals we wanted to accomplish before the end of our mission, so of course, I wrote, "Eat a triple grande at El Cupido's." And the other guys in the district were all like, "Well, we can cross that one off today."

So for lunch, we headed over to El Cupe's and I ordered a triple grande "Big Jake". Steak, beans, rice, cheese, and a jalapeno cream cheese sauce. The thing came out and it was as long as my arm. I put it all down and only dry heaved once in the process. I've never eaten so much of one thing in one sitting, and I was full for the entire rest of the day. It was truly a tender mercy when our dinner appointment forgot we were coming and just ordered us a pizza that we could take home, because then I didn't have to eat any!

That night, I slept over with the Concho elders because Elder Denham had to go on exchanges with the Spanish speaking elders. I guess I haven't cleared this up, but Elder Denham and I cover three wards in St. Johns. The Spanish speaking elders cover the other 2 wards (and live in the same house as us), and then there are 2 elders in Concho (St. Johns' Levan). My day with the Concho elders consisted of helping an investigator put together a hot rod he's building, visiting Concho's one and only restaurant which is super ghetto and kinda disgusting, taking a nap that accidentally went too long, helping an investigator bury her dead dog, and eating dinner with a lady that gave extremely high praises to the movie, God's Not Dead. So yeah, Concho's interesting.

On Friday night, we went to a St. Johns High School football game, because the whole town goes to those. That brought a whole flood of high school memories and weird emotions. Yikes.

We got to go the Snowflake temple again on Saturday for another recent convert of Elder Denham's. So that makes our 3rd temple trip in less than a month when most missionaries only go once every 3 months. Then we finally got to teach Louie Quirroz a lesson (Louie's that guy we did service for out in the middle of nowhere my first weekend here) . We taught him the restoration, and you could just tell this guy's been prepared like crazy for this. Even still, when I asked him to be baptized and he said yes, my mind went blank because everyone else so far has said no or has had something holding them back. My stun of silence sure was awkward, but we set a tentative date for September 13th, the day before Elder Denham goes home! So we're really hoping that pulls through. Then Louie made burgers out of elk meat and Jimmy Dean sausage with onion and garlic mixed in, and those were definitely the most delicious things I've had so far on my mission.

Yesterday, Madea fasted with us to receive an answer as to whether or not she should be baptized. We'll hear how that went for her tomorrow night.

And today, we went golfing with a member in Snowflake! Like an actual 9 hole course and everything. It being my first time golfing, I sucked like crazy. But I had fun, and  we're going again next week for Elder Denham's last P-Day.

So yeah. Love you all. As Brigham told me this week, the church is gnu. I'm not sure what that means, but whatever.