................Sister Lauren Holmoe..... .......Tallahassee, Florida Mission....: Week 61

Hello Family! It has been a wild week this week. It started out spectacular!! MLC was definitely a highlight! My favorite meetings for sure!!! Aw they are so powerful and spiritual and fun! We truly learn how to be the most effective missionaries we can be so we can implement certain things in our areas that will eventually spread to the other areas in the mission. There is soooooo much that goes into missionary work like effective planning, studying, teaching, organizing and as the leaders of the mission we must be doing these things if we expect our missionaries to do them! I've learned so many things about what it takes to be a leader and I'm striving constantly to strengthen my leadership qualities! It really has been such a blessing to serve as an STL cause I have learned so much. Elder Zwick is coming to our mission the last week in August!! woot woot! He and his wife want to hold a special MLC so that will be exciting. Also there will be two half mission conferences and also a devotional one night for the ward councils in all the stakes in our mission. Pretty sure I get to go to that one which will be amazing. He will also be interviewing certain missionaries, asking certain missionaries to teach in front of him, and doing random apartment inspections! Its pretty intense ha! We are all preparing for his arrival so that he has a great experience in the FTM!!!

Some more highlights of the week.......we were able to give two church tours to two of our new investigators. Church tours always bring the spirit so strongly. Also we had an amazing lesson in the chapel with one of our less actives on the Sacrament. She's slowly coming around and something was definitely stirring inside of her that day. Shirley, our FH investigator, has totally invested herself in the BOM! She is already done with 2 Nephi!!?!? Can you believe it!!! She is on fire. She says that her whole life she has felt like something is missing and she is starting to realize it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! BUT for some reason she isn't coming to church, she is very hesitant about that! So we are working on overcoming that right now! But she’s amazing and loving the BOM. She marks verses that stand out to her and then reads them to us at each lesson and she crys EVERY time!! It’s amazing.

We finally got to start teaching Kalia again, Steven Jones’ niece! We are preparing her for baptism within the next few weeks! Also our investigator Phil, who sisters we have been teaching for a while now, is praying for a baptism date in September. The word of wisdom is what is holding him up but he’s willing to put forth more effort. With that baptism vision I know he'll have the ability to! We went to a park one day and were contacting and I met a family from Lynn Haven, FL! I love meeting fellow Lynn Haveners :) Miss that place!!

And then the BOMB hit and I got demolished by the flu! WOWZER. This has probably been one of the hardest times on my mission. I haven't been this sick for a while. I feel like Enos cause I've been praying all day and all night haha. As terrible as its been I know I've grown closer with Father in Heaven. I was also able to get a Priesthood Blessing which was amazing. I really needed that. The words that were said went so beyond just healing but were the exact words I needed personally. Grateful for the Priesthood in my life. You'd also be really proud for the HUGE pills I had to swallow ha. Miracles happen people! I hope I will continue to gain my strength so I can get back to being a normal missionary. It has been extremely challenging but I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!!

On a positive note, thank you sooooo much for the Newks cards!!!! They made my day!!! Ah you are the best! Also, I absolutely loved all the pictures at Dani's wedding reception! She looked BEAUTIFUL and the backyard looked so pretty!! Also all my friends looked like babes! Love them so much!! I also loved all the wedding invites y’all sent me! Those were so fun to look at!!

Hey this Saturday we are driving up to Troy! Sister S has to be the ASL interpreter at a baptism for an investigator she helped teach! It will be fun to be in Troy for the day! Although I think Sister Mac got transferred randomly a few days ago so I wont get to see her :(

Well I love y’all soooooooooo much. Have fun with Shan, Miles and Briggs!!!! Thanks for all your prayers! I do feel them each and every hour, especially in times like these!!! We may be separated by miles but I feel so connected and united! Love y’all to the moon and back!!! <3/ Sister Holmoe

MLC