................Sister Lauren Holmoe..... .......Tallahassee, Florida Mission....: Week 49

Hahaha I think I'm still laughing at the fact that our entire neighborhood was on that rabbit chase! It sounds like the funniest thing ever!! I am also so excited to use our new fire pit one day! It sounds like the life!! Glad Danny had a great birthday!! I loved the candles!

This week was AMAZING, so amazing that I captured every moment and took 100 pictures and videos in which I was counting down the days to send to you! Unfortunately Sister Holmoe made a mistake she will never make again in her entire life. We were posting a picture from Special Olympics to our Facebook Page and when we were done I ejected the card reader out without clicking eject and apparently that can cause all the files to become corrupted. WHO KNEW? Anyways all the pictures are gone. There are members from the branch who are going to work on recovering them this week but it’s not looking hopeful. I'm not gonna lie… it was a hard trial hahaha. This weekend was one of the best on my entire mission and so many incredible, tear jerker moments were captured but now unfortunately are gone. :( :( I guess I will just have to do my best to describe all the wonderful events I was able to be a part of and the amazing people I met!

Alabama holds their Special Olympics at Troy University every year and all 6 of us missionaries got the opportunity to volunteer. There were over 1000 athletes there with their families and coaches. On Friday night we had opening ceremonies where each county gets to march in. I got the sweet privilege to represent one of them by carrying out their flag as they all walked behind me. As we walked in everyone in the audience was clapping and waving to their sons and daughters who so happily walked in. It was our goal to make those athletes feel like ROCK STARS and I think we did just that! One of the down syndrome boys turned to me after we marched around and was crying saying he’s never been happier in his entire life. AH IT WAS SO EMOTIONAL! We were able to see many other members of the church from throughout Alabama and they were so happy to see us missionaries helping out with this special event. In part of the opening ceremonies the torch was lit, national anthem sung, Troy coaches spoke, all the athletes recited the oath, and in the midst of it all they took a break and had all the athletes DO THE CHICKEN DANCE hahaha!! I thought of B of course!! I took a video of me doing it with them to send to B, but yeah that’s gone now haha. The next day Sister McFarland and I got to volunteer with the Gymnastics event. It was SOOOO MUCH FUN. Watching those girls do something I have such a love for, dance, was really special. You could tell how hard they worked and how happy dancing made them. They have been looking forward to competing in this all year long and finally the day was here! The "Dothan Divas" were the cutest! I felt a really special connection to one of the girls and she just happened to get 3 gold medals!!!! (once again, had a picture with her and all her medals but...:(:(:( As you can see I'm still sad about this camera thing haha. I'll never forget that day though. We got to watch some of the swimming, track and field, and bowling events as well and those were great! Overall it was such a neat experience to be a part of. We talked to SOOO many people and many seeds were planted! I wouldn't be surprised if when they go back to their homes they look up the missionaries! :)

Another huge highlight of the week was Zone Conference! As we were driving down to Dothan it felt like the very first drive I took to Lynn Haven. The weather was about the same with blue skies and green trees lining the entire highway. I remember that day, so full of excitement and with a few nerves. It seems like it was just yesterday and here I was driving to Dothan after being out almost a year. I love the Florida Tallahassee Mission area. The south will always be dear to my heart! One general authority said that your mission will become holy ground for you and I know that to be true!!! The Conference was AMAZING of course as we were instructed by all our leaders! So many great things were taught but I especially liked as we talked about the great pit and how billions of people are stuck in the pit and it’s our job to reach down and lift them up. Learning that has influenced my morning prayers since then as each morning I plead with Heavenly Father to allow me to help lift someone out of the pit that day. Who will you help lift out of the pit each day???? My favorite part of Zone Conference is always the final testimonies. There were 11 people in our zone who are leaving before the next Zone Conference and therefore they all bore their testimonies. SOOO powerful!!! Wow the spirit was so strong!! Many people who have influenced me so much!!! We also had Cafe Rio style for lunch again so I was in 7th heaven :) :) :)

Other miracles took place this week!! We met a Chinese student who we taught the first lesson to. He felt the spirit so strong. He wanted to learn everything but he was leaving to China the very next day!!! He said he promised he would read the Book of Mormon every day and pray every day while he was back at home. There was something special about Yixin and I know he will!!

One day we randomly got a call from a sweet girl living in Ohio. She said she randomly saw this number in her phone and wanted to know how it got in her phone. We explained we were the Sister Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and after talking with her for 10 minutes she was convinced that it was no accident our number was in her phone and that she called us. She asked us to send the missionaries as soon as we could! She is 18. HOW COOL IS THAT!?!?! God's hand in all things people!!!

Nick has come back around 180!!! Since we met with him last he has read and watched like 50 conference talks and read the BOM a ton! He knows it’s true and wants to get baptized when he returns from his little trip he’s going on all week this week. Funny fact, he is going on the trip with 3 of our other investigators who WE INTRODUCED HIM TO haha!! All our investigators are going on a trip together! They better behave themselves!! Nick has really humbled himself though and it’s amazing!!

Sometimes in missionary work you have to be sneaky.....one of our less actives works at Sonic so Sister Mac and I, one hot day, decided to go find him there! We got out of the car and ordered at the little station outside and the boy’s voice comes on the intercom saying, "Hello its David, how may I take your order?" BINGO!! haha we were like, "David! It’s the Sisters!!!!" He then had to come out and give us our order and he chatted with us for a while! We invited him back to things! It was great!!

We went in and met Janice Blakeney this week! She was the nicest and just absolutely loved you Mom!!!! We had a fun conversation with her and she said if we EVER need anything to just let her know!! I LOVE making connections!!! No coincidences all that happened!! Great things to happen from it one day I know it!!

I got the packages on Thursday! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Everything was perfect, the towel (it felt SO GOOD), the blouses, and THE BAG Aunt Rhonda made!!! Oh I love the bag!!! I wore the lacy top to ZC with my new bag! I was stylin!! Thank you SO MUCH!!!!! It was all perfect!!!

Well I love y’all so much!!!! Pray that those pictures can be recovered! I wish you knew how many I took this week. I won't even go into detail because it’s just salt in the wound. But, I just gotta stay positive!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN and I saw so many this week!!!! Have a wonderful week y’all!!!! LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!! xoxoxo, Sister Holmoe!!

Miracles happen...Sister Holmoe's pictures were recovered!!

Ram's replacement for coffee!!! He's been off for 2 weeks!