Week 17

HELLO FAMILY! <3

Such a great week this week!!!! Glad to hear that the Cougs won!!! Sounds like we played very good!  Wasn't General Conference just the greatest thing ever!?  Man, I don’t think I have ever been more focused so intently to General Conference before this session!  The life of a missionary I guess!  We watched it at the church but there were only like 5 people there so it was perfectly, quiet, empty and dark!  It was nice to be able to just listen so carefully, take good notes, and enjoy myself!  The talks were all amazing but I loved Elder Uchtdorf’s!  I mean, I have so many different favorite quotes and lines I could fill my whole email with those!  It was also funny to be able to listen to Gifford Neilson.  Holla!  He was a character man and he gave a good rep for missionaries so I enjoyed his talk as well (:  They were really all so good!!!  I'll send some of my favorite quotes as the time goes on! 

This week was full of some crazy adventures!! One day Sister Sam and I went up to Southport, a city farther away in our area, and its total country/hickville!  Let’s just say it was an experience!!  Sister Sam stepped in an ant hill and I ran over a squirrel!! We were dying!!  But we potentially found some people to teach so we'll be going back up there this week!

I tried octopus this week.  It was a little squishy for my liking but not too bad!!  We went out to some great lunch places thanks to awesome members who treat us!  "Newks" and "Panera Bread" were probably my favorite!! It was like the freshest food I've had in a while!! It felt like my long lost addiction, ZUPAS!!!  Great soup, salads, and Panini’s!! 

HURRICANE KAREN!!!! Man it was kind of intense for a while!!  We had to pack our bags and be ready to be evacuated at any time but luckily it turned into just a small Tropical Storm and Panama City did not get hit like bad at all!!  But it was pretty adventurous and fun when we had to hurry and pack, do all these procedures, go to Walmart, and be on call!! 

There are so many daily awesome stories that happen but one in particular stands out to me.  Our Bishop called us and told us about one of his employees who had lost her 16 year old daughter in a car crash one year ago from this week.  She was having a really hard day so Sister Sam and I drove to her work, introduced ourselves, gave her a Forever Families DVD, a BOM with our testimonies in it, and bore testimony of eternal families.  She was crying and the spirit was definitely touching her heart.  I just love being a missionary and being able to do things like that ALL THE TIME!!

Sad news for the week is that we will probably be dropping the lady investigator we have had for a while…we prayed about it and just knew it was the right thing to do.  It was starting to not be a safe environment and she is not psychologically all the way there anymore so we dropped her because there was no progression.  I love her with all my heart and she is of course always in my prayers but we will no longer be teaching her lessons! 

Hey E, there is a girl in my ward named Jen Hall and she served in the FTM when you did!  She recognized my name and asked about you. She said you would have no idea who she was but it was fun she knew you!! 

Mom, to answer your question about the temples in our area:  Most the members go to Orlando which is about 4-6 hours away depending on who you ask. But we really are right in the middle of Orlando, Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans!  They range anywhere from 5-7 hours but most go to Orlando!  They all really want a temple closer because it is hard to get to the temple for most of them.  Sad to see, but they need more temple recommend holders and tithe payers!!!  I cannot wait for the ONE day when they announce a temple in the FTM!  Tears of joy!!! 

I talked to Brother Chatman this week and he is the brother of Jeff!! He told me all about how Jeff got to BYU and found the church and then introduced the church to them!  Way cool story.  Brother Chatman also said his son may try out for the BYU baseball team next year or so.  He is playing in Pensacola right now but it’s a future goal I think!  Athletic family! 

We taught a part member family the first lesson last night!  We are teaching their 8 year old son mainly. HOWEVER the husband who is not a member listens in so you never know what could happen there!!  We will now go over every Sunday and teach and eat!  Nice family!  Huge Auburn fans!

A member of our ward made us a huge "Greenie" breakfast on Saturday morning before Conference!  It was to welcome the two greenies in our area (Sister Sam and Elder Truman)!  It was interesting eating all green breakfast foods but they had those flaky rolls which I love and haven't had since Utah and I WAS IN 7TH HEAVEN!!!  I could not however eat one bite of a 5th one and leave it on the cookie sheet like I used to remember?? (:

Mom, thank you sooooo much for the package!!!! I LOVE THE SHIRT! I've already worn it (: Also, the skirts are perfect and so comfy!  I think I've worn the gray one 3 times already!  They are definitely more SNUG than they used to be but luckily they still fit!!  The bike card was the cutest thing EVER! It’s hanging on my wall now (:  I have charcoal gray tights and black striped somewhat tights...not sure what other ones I would need?  It’s still hot here so it’s hard to tell!! Maybe cream??? I really have no idea!!

Dad, I LOVVVE when I get a letter from BYU! I always know it is going to be something good!!!  Tell Dan Plater I say hello (: I loved that little message he wrote me! Also, the T.SWIFT joke was hilarious!!!  I heard she has a new song out????????  That’s cool that the missionaries get to ride the tracks!! Pretty pic!! 

Seeing Utah on General Conference yesterday made me miss it!!! I love the SL temple and the mountains and fall trees and crisp weather!! I miss my home state!!!  Florida is sweeeet but there is nothing like Utah in my opinion (:

Thank y’all so so much for all the emails, love, letters, and everything!!  It makes me so happy to hear from you! (: <3 Enjoy this week and know I love you!!! Felt so close to you knowing we were all watching conference together!!!!  HURRAH FOR ISRAEL! LOVE, SISTER HOLMOE!!!

Exchanges with Sister Stanfield

 Greenie Breakfast

 Panera Bread

 Ice Cream between Conference Sessions

 YSA's

 Tropical Storm Karen Hitting Panama City

Week 16

HEY Y’ALL!!  I am actually starting to naturally say y’all now.  It’s awesome!  So a miracle happened and this weekend has been BEAUTIFUL WEATHER!!! Like, it’s still hot but it has felt sooooooo good!!!! Hopefully it stays this way for a while! When we run in the mornings, it’s like cold! I love it!!!  So glad the Cougs could pull out the win even without lots of the players!!! And congrats to Janie for getting engaged!! SO happy for her!! (: Let her know I say congrats!! 

So many things to say this week and so many pictures to send!!!

I'll start off by talking about the half mission conference!!! It was so great! I SAW ELDER PERRY DAVIS (: Wow he is doing so great! He is a Zone leader in Tally and just lovin it!  He is the same old Perry! The nicest guy you'll ever meet! We got to talk for a while about all our friends and back home and it was sooooo fun! We took a picture but the angle is terrible and it looks like my arm was amputated haha! Just ignore that part!!  Then I saw Elder Murdoch!!!  I love that elder!!  He is so legit and he goes home at the end of this transfer so I said goodbye and good luck and he said he'll write me a letter when he gets home!!  Probably a wedding invite too because I know he'll get snatched quick!!  He is in Crawfordville and told me he has seen lots of Erik’s teaching records!!  I love when missionaries tell me about Erik’s teaching records they find! (:  There were 4 of us from our MTC District there!! Those missionaries are like MY FAMILY out here!!! Love sister Redd, Elder Stokes, and Elder Davidson!! Of course I wish I could have seen them all but it was nice to at least have them there!!! Such great people! I also met Sister Fuja (her grandpa is in the 6th ward) Sister Fuja is THE CUTEST!!! We would get along soooooooo well!!!!! Her and Sister Redd are a great companionship!!  Elder and Sister Pino spoke and it was awesome and President and Sister Smith did as well!!! So powerful as usual.  We have a goal of 450 baptisms this year for the FTM and we are very very behind but we all KNOW that we can accomplish it!! We need 15 baptisms per week, which is crazy, but doable with Heavenly Fathers help!! 

We stopped by the investigator’s house that had a hard time last week with us, to clear the air, and lots of good things are happening again.  She is working so hard on quitting smoking; we have to call her every day.  We've started teaching the lessons over very slowly and simply and she’s really getting it! We will continue to work with her until directed otherwise!!! I’m sending some pictures we took with her so you finally have a face to the name! (:

I'm also sending a picture of another lady! She is probably my favorite old lady in our ward! She never comes, but she is SUCH A HOOT!!! Love her so much!!

We had a potential investigator we tracted into and we tried teaching him.  Let’s just say I wish I had paid more attention in my Spanish classes!!! Sister Samuelian and I were trying so hard but it was very difficult!  I don't think he or the other people living at his house are very interested so we probably won’t need a translator but it was a fun experience!!

We also went out to a deep southern restaurant for lunch with a bunch of ladies in our ward!! We had fried green tomatoes (SOOOO GROSS) and lots of fried okra and I ordered chicken n’ dumplings because that was the only normal thing on the menu!! "PoFolks" was the name! So southern, so southern.

We had a good lesson with a family who are returning members.  It was cool because I NEVER carry my Preach My Gospel Book EVER but for some reason something told me to put it in my bag that day.  We were in the lesson and Sister Samuelian thought of a good story we could share with them on family history and temple work that’s only in PMG.  Luckily I had mine and while we were reading it, the wife was crying.  She got so emotional about it!!! AWESOME.  They want to go to the temple; they just need some help along the way!

Speaking of temples…The Morse’s and Kevin went this past weekend and did a bunch of family names! SO COOL huh!?  They had such a good time and had us over for a delicious dinner to tell us all about it!! We also had the Ward Pot luck yesterday!  SOOOO much food. I am gaining a lot of weight; it’s terrible people!! 

The Relief Society Broadcast was awesome!!! Loved it and my favorite part was seeing 4 people I knew in the choir!!!!! I saw Maddie Hall, Alli Schofield, and two girls from my hall in Stover at BYU!!! I was freaking out I was so happy!!!  It was also cool to know that Mom and Shan were watching it at the same time.  I laughed out loud when I saw #reliefsociety on the screen!!! Next year they are going to have Twitter comments popping up on the screen during the talks or something! So trendy.  I also liked when they talked about the Provo Tabernacle fire turning into a Temple and were saying, "He doesn't leave us in the ashes." Love it!

We went to a birthday party for a 3 year old this week and it was Mickey Mouse themed! SUCH A CUTE THEME! She made caramel pumpkin french toast and it was to die for!  I thought of when Miles was Mickey for Halloween and him running down the hallway in his little yellow crocks! So funny!

A recent convert in our ward had a newborn baby this week (: His name is Grant and he is the cutest thing!!! She felt so bad we couldn't hold him!

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR THE HALLOWEEN PACKAGE!!!! It is so stinkin’ cute!!! Sister Samuelian and I are going to go trick or treating before the transfer ends so we can use all the stuff (: We love it and are so pumped!! The Journal is PERFECT!!! Thank you thank you!!! Also, the scripture marker refills saved the day!!! You’re the best Mom!!!!  Some things I could use in the near future are foot cream (: and body lotion just from like Bath and Body Works; any kind will do!!  It’s not an emergency but whenever you send something next, that would be great! Sorry (:

To answer some of your questions, Sister Wells has just been out 1 transfer more than me! I hope she is doing okay!!!! Sweet girl!  We have a lunch appointment by the beach with those special people on October 10th I believe! So far away!!!! I'm excited!!

Oh also, I loved the new scripture mastery verses....very interesting the ones they got rid of though!!!

That picture of y’all and Ben made my day (: (: I wish I could have heard him speak!!! I can totally picture it!! He is awesome and will be great!!! Thanks for going and supporting him!!!

I'm going on exchanges with Sister Stanfield tomorrow! Woot woot! She’s coming to Lynn Haven so it will be just like old times! I'm excited!!

We have done quite some tracting this past week and definitely got a lot of doors closed on us!! It’s just too funny that the second people see our name tags they say "I'm Baptist, have a good day, bye" and we don’t even get a word in! It’s just crazy down here and that is why tracting is not always effective!! But when all else fails, knock a few houses because you NEVER know! (:  There is such a great quote by President Kimball from back in the days that says,

"Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man's souls.  This is the vision I have for the South.  I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together.  There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him.  As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth.  And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands.  In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South.  There will be temples plural in the Southern States.  What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people."

SO TRUE! I feel so honored to be able to serve in the SOUTH!!! It is such a great place to be and although it is very hard the blessings will pour out and ONE DAY, the South will see sooooo many members! ONE DAY!  (: 

One last story, Sister Samuelian and I went to Ihop for dinner the other night and we passed out a pamphlet to our waitress.  When we were driving away we looked in the window and saw THREE other employees reading the pamphlet! BAM! Seed planted!!

Hope y’all have a great week this week!!! BEAT THE AGGIES!!!!! Love you and t3hank you for ALL YOU DO FOR ME!!! <3/ Sister Holmoe!!!

 Mission Conference

 Ihop

 At "PoFolks"

 

HUGE Flying Creature

Week 15

HELLO FAMILY! <3

As usual, loved your emails!!!!  You have no idea how much they just pump me up!  If it wasn’t for P-day emailing I don’t think the mission would be possible!!  I am a little later today than usual because we had a little birthday party we had to attend this morning!  It was at Chow Time, this Chinese buffet, I've gone there 100 times the past 3 months. But it was still fun!!  Sad to hear about the game!!! :(  I was thinking about the Cougs all day!  At the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference President Smith came up to me and was like, "Hey wanna come over and watch the game after?"  He is such a character!  I seriously love President and Sister Smith SOOOO much!  They remind me so much of you guys, it’s unreal!  As you saw we went out with them yesterday to visit a family and it was awesome! Not many people get to do that so we were pretty lucky (:  They also gave us this mission assignment to contact someone who has been waiting to hear about the church for soooo many years now but she was nervous about what missionaries would teach her.  President Smith thinks that me and Sister Samuelian are the ones.  PRESSURE IS ON.  We are pumped though!!!!  Sister Samuelian is legit!! It’s hard though because I always want to say Samuelson instead of Samuelian!  Definitely will take time!!  She’s from Lone Peak class of 2012! It’s fun because we know like a ton of the same people!!  I think we will have a good 6 weeks!!  Always sad to say bye to companions!  I really did love Sister Wells but at least I got another good one!!! 

Last Monday we did go to the BEACH!!! It was so fun and I took LOTS of pictures!! I'll send some of them!!  It was perfect overcast weather and the clouds were SOOO pretty! Pictures don’t do it justice but it was a blast!!!  It also was super empty and the waves were pretty big!! Just felt good to put my feet in the sand (:

Wednesday was a crazy day! We were up in Chipley from 7 am til 6 and then at 7 we had to teach the youth!! (WITH 0 PREPARATION)!  I really had to take the lead on this one. It was so fun though and it went wayyyy good!! Sister Samuelian did great for just being in Lynn Haven for 30 minutes!! I was like "Welcome to the Mission Field"!!  I have truly worn her out! Man, the past few days have been crazy! But it’s been fun!!  The new Elder is pretty sweet too!! He was quiet in the beginning but today he has just been hilarious and super nice!!! He is an Oakland Raiders fan though!?!?!?!  haha!

Hey ERIK! At transfer spots one of the Elders kept looking at my name tag and then he came up to me and said, did your brother serve in Theodore!?  He knew all about you!!! And we talked about the Phillips and other people and it was so cool!!!  He served in Theodore for like 7 months or so!  Apparently the Spanish missionaries are in Theodore now so who knows if I'll ever get there!! I have told people to find Amanda though and say hi from me (:  Transfer spots were so fun because I saw ONE of my MTC friends! Elder Stokes! He was like my bestie so it was soooo good to see him!!!  GUESS WHAT!? Tomorrow we have a half mission conference!!! All missionaries in the Dothan, Tally, and PC Zones will be in Lynn Haven tomorrow for a conference with Elder Pino!!! It will be so fun to see people like my Springville friend and Elder Murdoch and sister Redd!! Unfortunately a lot of my MTC sisters are on the other half but there are still plenty I'll see!! I’M STOKED!!! <3

Elder Pino is AWESOME! He and his wife DO NOT speak English though so they have translators!! It’s pretty sweet though!  They both had awesome talks, as well as President and Sis Smith!!!  It got me REAL excited for General Conference too!!!  Coming up!

This week we got a BCD with the sweet lady we have been teaching and it was the best lesson EVERRRRR and THEN TWO DAYS LATER.....(48 hours) when we were going for another lesson she was a completely different person....like it was unreal! I've never seen her act this way before.  She was being disrespectful and saying crazy things she’s never said before and it got so out of hand, I had to tell her that we had to leave.  The spirit was just NOT there and I have no clue what will come out of that but it might be time to let her go because it’s just crazy.  I think her Pastor really got to her and put crazy things into her mind.  It’s sketchy and all we can do is pray for her.  It was a crazy lesson though.  You definitely have to be strong to be a missionary down here.  We have gotten soooo much rejection this past week.  Sister Samuelian was kind of freaking out about it but we had a good heart to heart and I told her some good advice! Honestly, I'm so grateful I had two bros who served in hard missions because they prepared me so well!!!  We did talk with lots of people on the streets though and it’s a good thing I'm a football fan cause a lot of the time that is how we get the in!! Some man was wearing a Wisconsin shirt getting his mail and I ride over and start talking to him about how BYU has them in upcoming schedules and we chatted for a while about it.  He knew a lot about the Cougs and said he was hoping they'd beat the Utes that night!  We then bounced into the Book of Mormon.  Gave him one, not sure what will come out of it but planting seeds is just the thing to do here (:

SHANNN!!! CONGRATS!!!! I'm so excited you are having another boy!!!! Which means, another future missionary!!! yay!!!  I felt like I was opening my mission call when I opened your letter!!!  I ALMOST had Sister Morse email you and find out earlier but I patiently waited (: She says congrats though!!!  I’m sure Miles is excited!!!

Mom, you know my scripture marker? Do they sell just refills?? I really only like the pink, yellow, green, orange, and blue ones??? I’m not a fan of like brown or anything so it may be cheaper just to buy refills?  If not, I could use another pen (:  THANKS!! Oh also, have you seen any cute journals lately!? I don’t need one now but I will soon get to where I need one!!  You’re the best!!!

It rained a ton this weekend! We would bike, go to shelter, bike, go to shelter, bike, go to shelter repeat!  Apparently it is going to rain a lot this week too! 

Dad, I can just picture you greeting the women’s volley ball team (: haha so funny! I’m so happy you saw Kirsten!!!!  That pic made my day!!!  Also I about died with Danny saying Si to President Uchtdorf!!!!! Oh Danny....he just freezes under pressure! THAT PICTURE OF YOUR STRAIGHT HAIR HAHAHA WHAT THAT IS AWESOME!!!!  Love it!!! Well kinda gross kinda cool!!! haha!!

Thank you for all the pictures you sent me!!!!! I love looking at them (: Thank you guys so much for going to Jeff’s farewell!! I’m sure it meant soooo much to him that you guys were there!!!  I really appreciate it!!! 

Well spiritual thought for the day...This weekend was the anniversary of Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith in his bedroom to discuss the plates. I just wanted to bear a brief but STRONG testimony that I know the book of Mormon is true.  I know that whoever will read it, ponder in their hearts and pray to know the truth WILL get their answer!  Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and through him our Church was restored on the earth today! WE ARE SO GRATEFUL to be here at this time where we can receive all the blessings!!! I love this Gospel and I love sharing it! (no matter how many people don’t accept it) 

Thank you for all your love, support, great emails, thoughts, prayers, ETC!  Love you guys to the moon and back!!!  Have an awesome week and let’s hope the Cougs can get back on Friday!!!  Kevin is coming up this weekend because he is going to THE TEMPLE TO DO BAPTISMS!!! We are stoked for him!!! Also Megan will be cooking the delish red beans and rice (my recommendation) for us Thursday night before they head to Orlando!!  Good stuff this week!  Love y’all! 

<3 Love, SISTER LAUREN!!

Week 14

FAM!!

WELL....the big news is.....I am staying in Lynn Haven and TRAINING!!! Woot woot!! I am so beyond excited to get a brand new fresh out of the MTC Sister!!!!  Not sure how I feel about staying in Lynn Haven, just because I was CONVINCED I was leaving (as was everyone else) but OBVIOUSLY I am staying for a purpose and I can't wait to find out why!!!!  It will be awesome to meet my new comp on Wednesday and I can’t wait to train!!!  Never thought I'd train this early but President thinks I can do it, so HERE I GO (:

This week was actually a GREAT WEEK!  One day I felt like I was in South America because we had 2 member present lessons haha. Yes, the people in South America would probably laugh because they have like 10 or more a day but 2 in this area is A MIRACLE!! We taught the sweet black lady and brought Kevin with us.  Kevin was a Baptist before he was baptized as is this lady so they were able to talk about a bunch of stuff and it was SUCH a great lesson.  I could talk about this lesson for an hour because it was so great but I don’t have time for that!!  She committed to coming to church (which she NEVER has before) EVERRRR.  It was AWESOME. I cried.  We stopped by later in the week and she had her outfit picked out and everything!! Unfortunately, crazy crazy business happened and she could not come BUT, we were able to bring people to give her a Priesthood Blessing (WHICH SHE HAS NEVER ACCEPTED IN TWO YEARS OF BEING TAUGHT BY THE MISSIONARIES).  That moment during the blessing was priceless and I'll never forget it. 

Then we taught a NEW family ((: ((:  It was a husband, wife, 22 year old son) and they have a returning member living in their house!  A member of our ward referred us to them and we will begin teaching them which will be AWESOME!! They fed us Gumbo when we went over and it was so good (:

We stopped by our other family we’ve been trying to teach because they cancelled on Tuesday, and we were able to have a short spiritual message with them and reschedule for this Friday!  It was good to just get into their home again!! 

We had SOOOO much food this week it was unreal.  We went OUT 7 TIMES....haha.  Everyone wanted to take us out to all these places and it was very filling.  One day, we went out to breakfast, dinner, and to dessert.  It was nuts!!! The breakfast place was SOOO good.  It was a little southern diner and I took a pic in front of it to remember!  We also went to Outback with that family I told you about and it was delish as usual!  We of course all got our own appetizers, main course, and dessert.  The waitress was like, "Wow I've never seen a table order so many "Thunder Down Unders" (the dessert picture I'll email) ONLY IN THE SOUTH. 

A compliment I got this week was hilarious.  I told this man I was from Utah and he was like...."No way could you be from Utah, you don't sound like a Utah girl".  I told him I was originally from Cali and he was like "now that’s more like it!"  SO SEE...I’m not such a Utah girl after all (:

Thank you SOOO much for the BYU shirt!! I LOVE it and am going to wear it to the beach today when we go!!  I was actually going to give it away to Kevin but I forgot to bring it to church and now Kevin is gone :( He moved back to Pensacola until he leaves for Marine Boot Camp.  It was pretty hard saying bye to him because he is like a brother to me!  He wrote me the NICEST note I've ever gotten though and I'll treasure it forever!! 

This weekend is Stake Conference and the General Authority, Elder Pino, is coming to OUR stake for it!!  It will be AWESOME!! 

On Saturday we went to a baptism for the Panama City Beach ward and it was sooooooo good.  The people were so friendly and it made me want to open up the PCB ward to sisters.  They don’t have sisters there yet and they realllllly want them!  They also are like big time BYU fans and lots of families so I was like AWWW send me there!!!!  Maybe one day!  The baptism was awesome though.  It was a mother and her 17 year old daughter.  The mother’s boyfriend is actually being taught by our elders right now!  Exciting!  The Zone leaders baptized each one.  I LOVVVVVE our Zone leaders (who actually just got split up) One of our old Zone leaders just became the NEW AP!!! woot woot.  He will be awesome and I'm glad I'm good friends with one of the AP's now!! 

So this week I became brilliant when I hooked my backpack on my handlebars and now I never have to wear my backpack and get all sweaty!!!  It was the best idea I've ever had and it’s pretty great!! 

AUNT RHONDA, thank you soooo much for your letter!!! It was so fun getting a surprise letter (: Also, Dad I lovvvved that diagram you gave me!  I will definitely use that for sure!!  I always look forward to getting letters from your work office cause I know it is something good (:

HAHA also this week, someone told me, "You are awesome because you are not a robot missionary, you are an alien missionary."  I'm like......haha THANKS!  It is a compliment I'm guessing!

Last night we had dinner at the Cornelius Ranch.  They have over 30 horses and baby horses and we got to feed them and pet them!  I hate farms but it will still fun! 

On our way back to our apartment last night we stopped and talked with a lady for like an hour.  She’s obsessed with the Mormon religion but in a bizarre way. Luckily we were able to teach her TRUE doctrine.  It was an interesting conversation that’s for sure!!  I love convos like that though, where they just drill you with questions (:

DAD, GULF COAST!?!? I’M THERE RIGHT NOW!! It’s where we email every Monday!!!  I can't believe they were in the sweet 16!!  So rad!!!!  Man all y’alls emails today were so great I wish I could respond to everything you said!!  I'm glad you saw some of my friends! Thanks for all the bulldog pics!! MADE MY DAY!! The stadium looks waayyy nice!!!  Hey dad, a member from my ward gave me the article of you from education week in the church news!  It was fun to read about what you talked about! 

GOOD LUCK COUGS THIS WEEK!!!!! THE BIG GAME!!!!  So stoked and I'm so excited about my shirt (: (: 

Also, SHANNON!!! You find out this week!!!! You can now write me a letter and tell me the big news since I'm staying (:

Elder Hadden is going to be a Zone Leader in Mobile!  They actually divided the Mobile Zone into TWO now!  I'm so jealous I want to go there!!  So now I am the last one standing in Lynn Haven from our "Fearsome Foursome!"  A lot of responsibility just landed in my lap let’s just say that!! It will be awesome though and I hope I can be the best trainer I can be!!! 

Scripture of the day...Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that Love God."

Oh and Mom, HAVE FUN ON YOUR LADIES TRIP!! Don't worry about emailing me back or anything!  Totally understand!! That sounds so fun!!!

Thanks for all the love and support and I'll keep you guys updated with everything!!  Your emails were awesome today!!!!  LOVE Y’ALL!!!!  Love, Sister Holmoe!!

Week 13

WHAT AWESOME EMAILS I GOT FROM Y’ALL TODAY!!! I was smiling from ear to ear at every line!!!  Yay for the Cougs!!!!  It was awesome because 3 people from my ward texted me the half time score! They were so excited to tell me the news, they couldn't wait till church! I love my ward members!!  Then in the morning when I found out I was STOKED!  What a good Home Opener!!!!  The Walk you were describing Dad sounds SICK!!  That is such a good idea, and I always loved when fireworks went off! Sounds like Lavell Edwards Stadium was HOPPIN!! I got a good laugh when you thought I might want to sit in the student section when I get back........good one dad!! ;) I’m trying to convince the Morse’s to make a trip to Utah and come to a football game with us!  How fun would that be!?  They are turning into BYU fans I know it!! They are huge Gator fans and were so mad when they lost to Miami on Saturday but then they cheered for the Cougs!  I’m not only converting people to the church, but converting people to become BYU fans (: mwa ha ha!!  Awesome to hear that Taysom and J-Swag daddy had great games!!  Now the anxious wait for the 21st!!! Unfortunately that date is after transfers and I have a STRONG feeling I'm being transferred so I won't have anyone to tell me about the game!!!  Since transfers are the 18th, there won’t be a Sunday in between to find the BYU fans! I'll have to wait till your emails!  That is, if I get transferred!  I just feel like I am!  Which is somewhat sad because I love the people here!! 

Dad, the Abe Lincoln post card was CLASSIC!  I was like, "He would!”  Loved it!  On Monday night we made bracelets with Sister Mccan (a Returning Member).  It was so fun and I'll send pictures of her and the bracelet!  So cute!  Oh I'm glad you got the pictures from Sister Morse! I just let her have fun with it! Mom you can choose what picture to use for the Christmas card, I’m not too worried about which one! 

We taught our little 8 year old again!  The kids’ names are Hannah, Hasteen, and Heidi!  Every time we come over they run outside and give us the biggest hugs!  I love them dearly and hopefully Hannah will get baptized soon after we finish the lessons!  Love her (: 

Our part member family cancelled AGAIN!  The wife sounded really sick when she told us so I think it was sincere but this Tuesday will be the DEAL OR NO DEAL type action! 

We taught a Puerto Rican returning member this week and I was dying of laughter because I felt like I was talking to Karina.  All Puerto Ricans must be similar!  Classic!! 

ZONE CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!!!! Loved every second of it!!  President and Sister Smith are just the greatest!  They really motivated us and gave us great new insight and AMAZING things are happening for our mission!!  We are really going to emphasize FAMILY HISTORY (Dad, you'd be so pumped)!  Everyone we talk to, we are going to start by bringing up Family History and it will be great.  They are going to have this huge booth set up outside of the FSU football games with all the Tally missionaries wearing FSU and the opposing team’s shirts.  They'll have ipads and laptops with a bunch of good things planned to grasp the attention!  Also there are some companionships who already have Facebook Pages; those working on Campus and such!  Sweet things are happening!  In Lynn Haven we are working with Gulf Coast College on setting up a booth once a week in the Courtyard area and I'm excited about that!  Zone Conference in general was just amazing.  At the end all the missionaries who will be leaving before the next transfer bore their testimonies and it was such a cool experience!  I was like awww that will be me one day!!  One of the office elders, Elder Jolley, is really good friends with Tyson Wilding!  He was pumped to meet me because he said Tyson had emailed him telling him to look for me!  I LOVE making connections back to home! (: 

We are also working with members trying to get them to the temple!! Sooooo many of the members of our ward have never been through the temple, so we are working with them to get them temple ready!  Cool story.  The very first person I met on my mission (who I've seen CRAZY changes in) went to Orlando last week to be endowed and sealed by proxy to her deceased husband!  I was so happy for her!!!  We went and visited her last night and she was just glowing with how awesome her experience was! 

The 72 hour kit is perfect!!! Thank you so much Mom for getting that together!!!  Hopefully I won’t have to use it!! Sounds like you guys might need it right now more than me!!!  That’s crazy the storms you guys got!  It’s been sunny here; in fact this has been the hottest month in my opinion!!  I got so lucky to have a rainy July and August because it cooled the temperatures down a little!! 

Of course I had great food this week including fried shrimp, cheese grits, better tasting hushpuppies (although still not a big fan), fried okra, and WESTERN FOOD!!!!  Families actually fed us potatoes and meat.  I was starting to think potatoes didn’t exist in this part of the world but THEY DO!  My comp and I were so happy to get some western dishes (:  Have you guys heard of Blue Bell Ice Cream!?  Amazing stuff I'm telling ya!! 

Sad story, we were talking to President on the phone about an idea we wanted to implement in our area and in the middle of the conversation he found out about a death in the family of one of the missionaries.  Can I just say that is like my biggest fear being out here!!!! WAHHH:( It scares me so bad!  I couldn't even imagine.

I did get a cold this week but Sister Morse (bless her soul) took us to get cold medicine and airborne at Wal-Mart!  I've been loading up and am feeling a LOT better today!! 

Sister Slocum (a returning member) is SO CUTE!  She bought me an air freshener to put in my room because I am always raving about how good her house smells!  We went to visit her this week and she had it all wrapped for me!  I was so happy and now our apartment smells amazing!!

We ate at Julie’s house on Saturday!  She is the black girl in some of my pictures who is planning on serving a mission!  Her mom NEVER comes to church but SHE CAME ON SUNDAY!!!! It was soooooo sweet.  Julie was just beaming with her mom there!  I think our lesson on Saturday night really motivated her!  Julie was a flag twirler in high school so she brought the flags out and we played with them outside! I will email the pictures.  CARLEE, you know how we always make fun of the flag twirlers......... turns out it is actually HARD!!!  I was struggling big time!! 

Mom, if you could send me thank you notes that would be AWESOME!!! Great thinking! There are soooo many people to thank!! 

We had a birthday party for Kevin yesterday!  It was super fun! 

Oh another cool story.  We met with a family who has a daughter who never comes to church anymore. She is the one who says ratchet. Anyway, turns out that we are the first missionaries she actually likes!!! Her 17 year old brother came up to us at church almost crying saying how ever since we came she has been joining in family prayers!  We are going to dinner with them all on Saturday night and she is coming!!! It’s awesome!! 

As you can see, good things are happening!! Our investigator pool is VERY LOW and our finding is struggling....but our success in the other areas is amazing!! I love it!! Thanks for the great emails!  Hope you enjoyed being all together for a few weeks!!! I loved the family walk picture!! <3  I love y’all so so much!!  Thanks for all the updates and the love!  Have a great week!!  Love, SIS LOLO!!

ps Can I just say, on Saturdays every single house we go into has a football game on!  It’s great/bad/awesome/tempting/funny!  Love me some southern football (:

BYE LOVE YOU!!

At Zone Conference