Mais Uma Grande Semana (11-16-15)

So, the work is going here in Mozambique.  This week was good.  It was filled with lots of chapas, and going in and out of the city, haha.  So on monday we went to play futsal with president koch and some other missionaries and members.  I really wish I would have played before the mission, haha.  But it is all good, I am getting all of my training/embarrassment from brazilians, and they are really good, so that was chapa one, the next one was on wednesday going in and out of the city for a training for trainers, and then again on friday, for a meeting about a singing thing that we are doing as a mission.  It was kind of interesting, because it is being put together by one of our senior couple missionaries, and she put it all together and then selected who would be in it, and somehow my name got selected as someone that knew more or less how to read notes, haha.  But yeah, it will be a lot of fun, I think it will be on christmas day, and yeah, I am excited.  It just is rough because it is like a 5 hour time committment once a week, on our most busy day of the week, haha,but it is all good, us here in the Matola Zone we just keep taking ones(hundreds) for the team.  But yeah, those were our chapa adventures, I think I am finally walking normal again though.  We had an alright week working.  I think the rainy season is starting, we had two storms, but nothing super huge, but it got us soaked to the bone, and then stopped.  Then we lost power for two afternoons, and it is super funny because no one wants to visit when the power is out, haha.  So we struggled lesson wise, but then yesterday we had a great day.  We had a ton of lessons, and contacts, and 13 new investigators, all in one day.  They were some interesting lessons too.  In one we had a peacock walk through the middle of it, big huge feathers and all, and then it flew up on the roof.  Then in the next one it started raining, and they had a tin roof, so it was impossible to hear.  I improvised and cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled the First vision, kind of like: I SAW A PILLAR OF LIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD!!!!!!! I think the spirit was still there though, or at least God understands.  Other than that the work is going, somedays like yesterday it is running at a full sprint in the middle of a rainstorm, and others it is crawling.  But I am glad to see progress, I have gotten to be really good at being grateful for little successes.  Because they are the ones that count.  In most missionas I am sure the numbers we put up, are unheard of, but anyone will sit with you, but not a lot will progress.  I have faith though that we will get a family by the end of the year.  I just need your prayers.  I dont know if you all enjoyed that email or wanted to hear about it, but it felt good writing.  I will also include a picture from the machamba this week.  We worked, and then everyone wanted to take pictures, so we did.  Then they put a baby in a capulana on my back.  For those of you mothers out there, do not worry about the head.  Here they dont worry about it, and as far as I can tell the babies turn out more or less ok.  But yeah.  Have a fantastic week, adn enjoy living.  I miss you all.  If you want to pray for me, please pray for Luis, Biel, Joana, Virjulho, Adalaide, Gomes, Tania, Horacio, Maria, micha, emma, danilo, and hercilio as well.  They need it more than me I Promise!!!

Abracos da Africa,

Elder Anthony J. Holt

Notice the Capulana on Elder Holt's Back With the Baby In It!
Elder Holt and Elder Sharpe at the Machamba (Farm)

Anthony didn't tell me who these guys are-picture taken on September 2.
Elder Holt - far right.

Baptism on 10-17-15!

Well, Elder Holt & Elder Sharpe are carrying something, but he didn't tell me what it was! 

Coração de Boi, I believe is the name of this fruit, from my intense internet search.  Elder Holt didn't mention anything about it, so I will be sure to ask him about it next week!

Watering at the Machamba!

Elder Sharpe & Elder Holt- Work It!!!

He ate Cow Tongue & Intestine Lining this past week!

41 Things I love about my MOM (10-30-15)

Tribute from Elder Holt to his Mom on her 41st Birthday...

(THANK YOU to Aunt Julie & Uncle Rhett for helping

with some of the technical issues and for helping make it all happen!)

Elder Holt surprised me with this super touching video he made for my 41st birthday.  It was so personal and well thought out.  I am so grateful for this Tender Mercy.  It made my whole night, day, week, month,  and probably year-possibly the rest of all time!  Thank you Son!

I LOVE YOU!

P.S.- Of course I noticed he skipped #27, which was, "Her Other Children"

P.S.S.- NO judging allowed...because of info disclosed in this video!

Bom Dia (11-9-15)

This has been an amazingly short week, but it is still fun out here in the mission.  We have just been doing the normal thing, of preaching, and trying to save peoples salvation.  It is a truly fullfilling work.  Pretty tiring as well, but I am glad to be a part of it.  We didnt have too much out of the ordinary happen this week.  But it was a good week anyways.  I am really learning the importance of studying, haha.  I have more or less been anti studying my whole mission, but this week during a study I actually found something that change my whole perspective on teaching, haha.  So suffice it to say, I will continue studying even when it seems boring.  But yeah, we got to see some improvement in our area, and after three weeks, I think our area is running pretty efficiently which is really quick on a whitewash, I am grateful for that, because it is super stressful whitewashing.  But yeah, we could potentially have a few baptisms by the end of the transfer, but I am not sure we still need to wait a little bit and establish if they fit all of the baptismal requisite,  but next transfer this area will for sure be baptising.  Elder sharpe and I are doing well together, just working, and training.  I am honored to still be training, but part of me longs for a chance to go into a normal dupla with an older missionary and just work the streets to death, but that will come, right now I have a calling and that is an honor for me.  We had an interesting experience this week that happens a lot but I dont think I have ever written about it.  But yeah, I have grown up in the church and I feel that I have a pretty solid grasp on the scriptures.  And christianity here is fairly young (less than 150 years i think)  and so for that a lot of people dont really know a ton about the bible, especially because they all use the bible in portugues, and most people dont speak portugues very well because it is their second language.  But yeah, a lot of the younger generation clings to christianity and the bible though, and they think they know it all.  But really they know about 5-6 scriptures. Jokes on them, I got 100 scripture mastery verses, haha.   Just kidding, but it happens a lot that someone will try and bible bash you, and it is kind of like bible bashing with a 3 year old, because they recite one scripture and they assume it means what they want, like for example, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there will I[Jesus Christ] be also"  so I have told some people they cant drink, but they say christ is always with them, even when they drink, others say, well there is two of you and on of me, so this counts as church and I dont have to go this sunday.  It is almost funny how much people look for excuses to get out of things.  In portugues there is a phrase, Haver de,  and when someone uses it they are expressing sincere desire and need to do something,  to the point that most countries that speak portugues will never use it because it implies a level of obligation.  But here in mozambique it is the biggest lie imaginable.  But yeah, in spite of this we have been blessed to find the people who are ready for the message, and they are coming to church, and I am grateful for it.  I am sorry I dont have any cool stories, I will try to be a better missionary this week, so I can tell you about them.  I love you all though, and am grateful for your support, I will pray for all of you, and thank you for your prayers.  Have an amazing week.

Love,

Elder Anthony Holt

Another Week Down (11-2-15)

Bom Dia Minha Familia e Meus Amigos,

So this was a Great week but this will be a short week because the internet really sucks.  But yeah, this week was a good week of super hard work.  We spent a ton of time finding, and didn’t have a ton of success.  But we have like 3 families that are all legally married and they are all accepting visits.  Unfortuately they are a little more difficult in terms of accepting the truth.  But they are starting to feel the spirit and I know that they will do good eventually.  We also had a crazy miracle last night.  We ran into this woman named Berta Nhambire and she is a member.  She was baptized in Portugal in 1992, which makes her one of the oldest members in the entire country of Mozambique, a pioneer for sure.  But she has her husband, Gomes who is a member of the roman catholic church.  They are legally married, so that is good, but he is very hard against the church.  I have faith though that the spirit can touch him though, and ask for your prayers for the two.  Other than that we knocked a lot of doors, and we just did normal missionary work.  So I want to take a minute though and shout out my mom.  Last week was her birthday, I wont say her age because it doesn’t matter.  But I planned a surprise with my aunt, or I would have given this shoutout last week.  But I just want to, as publicly as my little group email will allow, publicy tell the world how great she is.  She has been my support and I love her so much.  The talks from Conference about moms definitely made me really mom trunky because I miss her so much.  She definitely fits the descriptions of those angel mothers to the letter and I am so grateful for her.  I know I was a punk about it before the mission, but I am and will always be a mommas boy, and she is my momma.  So if you see her, give her a million hugs for me. Anyways, I am gonna finish now so I can get to your personal emails, I hope you all have an amazing week, please send your prayers, I definitely need them.  I miss and love you all soooooooo much. 

With my Love,

Elder Anthony Holt 

Bom Dia (10-26-15)

Meus Queridos, 

This has been a fun week.  By fun I mean the type of fun that I enjoy in starting an area with absolutely nothing and just figuring out how to find and teach people.  It ended up being really productive and the lord blessed us a lot.  I am in a super wealthy area, it is amazing.  I rang a doorbell for the first or second time in my mission.  Acutally like 20.  But it is super cool.  Our area in a period of about a ten minute walk turns from normal rural mozambique to like some of the nicest houses I have seen in my entire life.  It was super cool.  I am grateful because a lot of the families we found were legally married, and they all seem very elect.  We had an amazing experience.  The whole time I have been on my mission I have been really struggling because I feel like I wasnt feeling the spirit.  I went and evaluated everything, from unworthyness, to lack of testimony, to making myself the exception to the rule that the fruits of the spirit come to everyone, and all that because I didn't feel overwhelmed in the spirit.  In this battle I went through and evaluated everything, and fixed everything that seemed broken, but for some reason the spirit still wasnt overwhelming me like I had felt before in my life.  I have never prayed harder, and in some of the times I honestly felt that my prayers went unheard, that I was the exception to the rule, that I had screwed up to bad, or that I was based on a lie.  It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.  But, when I fixed what was wrong in my testimony, in my work, when I rebuilt what I knew I expected to feel a flood of the spirit, and it wasnt there.  I started feeling better though a few months ago and finally decided that if it was real, God would tell me eventually, and I would know.  I finally in a Zone Conference 2 weeks ago was translating when I had the thought fill my mind, "Just because you are not overwhelmed by the spirit doesn't mean it isn't there."  So for these last few weeks I have made a serious resolve to always look inward when I teach to see if I could feel the spirit.  As I did so I started to realize that it is there.  It is always there.  When we are in an environment where the spirit can reside, those of us who have been baptized and confirmed by proper authority of God, which exists in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Our lives literally change.  We receive a constant comforter, and friend, that even when we stop believing in him because he isnt making himself so obvious to us that we cant ignore him, he is there, he is subtle, but he is always there.  I realized this as I was teaching a Restoration lesson, one I know like the Back of my hand, when our investigator prayed, in the middle of the lesson, when he asked God if it was true, and after the silence I looked into his eyes, and I didnt even have to ask, because I knew that he had recieved his answer.  I am so grateful for the time I have in this short mission of mine to learn and love, and live.  It is something that has changed my life, and I can not describe how grateful I am for it.  I love every single one of you and wish that those of you who dont share this happiness that comes from this gospel might open your hearts to the message, I promise it will change your life.  It is also my prayer that those of us who know this message, who have this good news, might not keep it in, there are billions of people in this world who do not know that God is our loving heavenly father, that Jesus is the Christ, the redeemer of mankind, and savior of the world.  That through him and by him, we can become eternal beings living and loving forever with those who we truly love.  I know that these thing are true, and as we open our mouths, even to someone who doesnt appear to be the "mormon type" they will be touched because what we teach is not a new doctrine, it wont be the first time they hear it. But because of the Veil a loving heavenly father has placed in our minds, we our the only way they have to remember it.  I love every one of you, and pray for you every day.  I ask for your prayers.  The work is hard, and I need them so badly.  Know that you are always in mine, and that I pray for your well-being.

Ate La no Ceu,

Elder Anthony James Holt