Littleton 6

This Ward I like it...Another

I am being transferred to the Cornerstone Park ward this week.  That does mean I have to say goodbye to my trainer and we will definitely miss each other.  The good news is that we are still in the same zone and stake.  The bad news on the other hand is that they are sending the bright blue ford fusion out west.  The APs called to tell us and we were pretty bummed. 

When we got the call it was right after Women's Conference and the President called the Cornerstone Park sisters and we went with them to hear their news.  He said, "Sister Paongo, you will be follow up training Sister Holcomb in Cornerstone Park." We all just got really wide eyes and stared at each other.  We had to stay completely silent it was crazy.  Then after they got their news Sister Paongo was like, "actually the Bowles Grove sisters are here" so he then told us our news.  That means that I am moving over a ward and will now be with Sister Paongo my Tongan friend.  She keeps following me and shouting "fourth floor last door! you ready sister Holcomb?"  This is going to be a crazy transfer. :)

It has been hard to say goodbye to my Bowles Grove people but I am excited to meet the people next door in the other ward. 

The other great thing about being right next door is that I will still be able to come to the three baptisms.  One is set for the 8th.  The bishop announced it in church and Jose just looked in shock.  We did not know that the bishop was going to do that and Jose had kind of been like, "we will see, that is soon."  After Sacrament we asked him what he thought and his response was "well I guess I better ask for the day off then."  So way to go bishop being bold.  Bianca and Alberto's we will probably move to the 22 because it would have been the 15 but the 16 is the temple dedication so we did not want their first Sunday after to be that.  They might be like "what have we done? they act normal until you join then suddenly it changes." Bianca is super ready and prepared she talks about how she reads the book of Mormon right before she goes to bed and as soon as she gets up because it is always good to start and end your day on a good note.  Bianca and her son came to church yesterday and her son cried when it was time to leave so I guess that is a good sign.

Sister Davies and I decided to make zucchini bread it was super fun.  We each made a separate batch  and mine turned out and hers got weird.  So watch out boys I can cook.  She is better at cleaning though so I guess it evens out.  We of course had to pose with the zucchini because it was so big. 

Also on Monday I was forced to play basketball again and guess what I "broke" someone's finger. There is a reason I do not play basketball people.  I do not even know how I keep injuring these people because I am the most unaggressive noncompetitive person I have ever met.

 I totally forgot to talk about something ahhhhh.  Thursday I was on an exchange in highlands ranch and I was at dinner with the Ward family.  They were asking the common question of where are you from?  I said Maple Grove Minnesota their jaws dropped and they were like Maple Grove, we are from Maple Grove! It was the best.  She is a chef so she was super good friends with Sister Dubois.  They also had a saxophone lamp that made me very happy.  They were nice enough to let me take a picture.  We just talked about Maple Grove Minnesota and my companion was just super confused.

Littleton 5

 Why I Do Not Play Basketball

Sunday night on 9/11 we went to this fireside that someone gave.   She was serving her mission there when it happened.  It was cool to hear about it from a missionaries perspective instead of just like the videos you watch in school. She had some pictures that she had taken and that some elders had taken.  She showed this picture of everything black and you could kind of see this small speck of light that was the sun.  She said she had never really understood what a mist of darkness was until that moment when she was surrounded by one.  She also had never realized the joy that the smallest bit of light can bring when you are surrounded by darkness.  I also learned that for a time the mission was changed to a humanitarian aid mission instead of proselyting. 

On Monday we played basketball(my worst enemy) while we were playing I threw the ball and someone tried to intercept the pass.  The person trying to intercept ended up face planting into the floor and probably got a concussion.  This is why I do not play I just end up hurting people. 

On Wednesday I was on an exchange with Sister Harshaw.  We made cookies and we also went to this smoothie shop.  It is my new favorite place.  It is probably good it is not in my area otherwise that would be bad.  

 

Also I got the AP to video President Gibbs technology training*.  Bonus to having them in your district.  :) Our last district meeting this transfer was Thursday since the APs and my companion have a meeting next Thursday.

  *President Gibb is I guess you could say like the missions version of president Holland so it was just really good. ...It was about how we are all addicted to technology and how we can avoid it.  He also talked about how everyone struggles with pornography and the real question is when did we last do it.  Also how to avoid it when thoughts come to your mind. 

 

On Saturday I was on another exchange and I got to help with this stake Activity Days activity which was super fun.  At the end they gave everyone a ring that was shaped like an arrow to remind us to always follow the prophet.  It was super cute.  After that we went to Crave for lunch apparently it is a pretty popular burger place.

On Sunday this man named Bradley called us and wanted to know when our church meetings were.  He had been talking to his friend and wanted to learn more about the church.  He asked if he could be baptized.  We realized that he was not in our area so we had to give him to some other Elders.  I am sure it made their day though.  

 

Sister Holcomb

 

{Note from mom}

I shared this on Facebook:

 Just got a phone call from someone in CO- apparently a Sister missionary knows exactly what to do in this person's situation....

Call mom

made my day <3
(Just to be clear, Ana didn't call me, but she gave someone my number)

 

That person sent me a picture today:

 

Littleton 4

The Adventures of My Life

It all began on Tuesday night.  I got back from an exchange and my companion was not feeling well, like sharp pains in the stomach area.  We were on our way home when we realized that we needed gas in our car and we would be too busy to get it in the morning because we were going to the temple.  Good thing we decided to do it then.   Our card was not working so we had to call Bank of America and figure that out.  It took us about an hour.  We went back to our apartment and she still was not feeling well.  At about 11:15 she ended up getting a blessing from the ward mission leader(brother Lathen).  We ended up staying up 'til about 1:30 am.  We had to be at the temple by 5:45.  She was worried she would be too sick to go and she was right.  The next morning she went to the Ward mission leader's house so I could still go. The other Sisters came and picked me up. 

After the temple I went to the Lathen's to see what we were going to do about my companion. I ended up going with the other Sisters all day and my companion went with the mission president's wife to urgent care.   The other Sisters and I taught a lesson, went to lunch with Bro. Lathen, and did some service for super man.  Side note, so there are two men in my ward that look like Superman.  One of them looks just like Clark Kent and the other is a mix between Superman and Benedict Cumberbatch.  Okay, so after we did service for superman we went to pick up my companion from the mission home; this was about 5.  I got to drive our nice blue car, YAY.  When we got to the mission home since it was our dinner time we ended up eating dinner with the mission president's family.  I mean I ate dinner and my companion choked down some saltines.  We had tacos and the Gifford's have three boys. We also ate outside.  Two of them are home and one is backpacking across Europe.  Dinner adventure. At the end one of them went inside to get ice cream and came back out with a fly swatter.  Sister Gifford was like, "Jacob, why did you bring the fly swatter?"  He was like, "there is a bee and I am going to kill it".  Then she made him go back in for the ice cream.  While he was inside his brother took the fly swatter and started trying to get the bee.  This involved a lot of hitting the table and flipping plates and such.  Then the little brother came back and was like, "wow you still have not gotten it."  They then both attempted to kill the bee.  Both of them failed in the end.  The entire time sister Gifford was like whatever I give up on trying to stop you two this is just what happens.  Then the boys started to tell a funny story about how President Gifford got stung by a bee.  I felt right at home in a way, so mom it is not just the boys that go crazy during dinner sometimes.  It also happens to the mission president.  My companion is basically now best friends with all of them because she was there all day. 

The next day my companion was still sick.  She is stubborn though so she went and practiced her musical number for zone conference.  After that though she just came back and slept. 

Friday we had zone conference.  President Gibb gave a very inspirational talk on the safeguards using technology and avoiding pornography--it was awesome.  My companion had to give a training which she had no idea about, but she rocked it.  The best part of the whole day was the flu shot.  I bled through the band aid.  It was like this fancy band aid were they give you the shot through it.  The guy commented and was like, "wow you bleed a lot."  I was like, "thanks":/ I then said something like, "well if I bleed through you owe me a new shirt."  He said he was fine with that because no one had ever bled through them before they are great band aids.  I was like "okay."  A few minutes later I noticed a spot of blood on my shirt and I was like, "wow look at that I bled through."  I went and found him mainly so I could get a new band aid.  He was like, "I have never seen this before these band aids were new and improved."  Then another lady that was there was like, "Wow we have done over 1000 of these and I have never seen that before; even more, and no one has ever said anything about it, even all across the country.  We have people using these all over and I have never heard about this happening.  You are unique."  What I learned from this is that I bleed more than normal people :/

On Saturday Sister Davies was still sick so we mainly stayed at the apartment and did things from there.  She made the comment like, "being a missionary is great."  I was like "okay what made you suddenly say this?"  She is like, "when is it socially acceptable to go find people and map out where they live and figure out when you can meet them if they are complete strangers?  Never, unless you are a missionary. You are basically a full time stalker" ...okay Sister Davies :)

On Sunday two of our investigators came to church so that was fun.  Also this less active family that the husband is not a member, he said he wants to start attending our church.  He said nothing more but he would start attending.  :) Sister Davies is also feeling much better and can eat more than saltines and Gatorade without feeling incredible pain.

Love  

Sister Holcomb

Littleton 3

Well this week was exciting.

First things first we went to Target.

 

We got 5 people to commit to baptism so hopefully that works out.

I got to drive on Wednesday and Saturday. I was on an exchange with a Tongan and a Samoan.  They could not drive so I did.  I am slightly concerned that I will loose that privilege.  The thing that tracks our driving screamed at me that I was aggressive driving.  I have not gotten called about it so I think I am in the clear.    

We went on exchanges and the family we ate dinner with had a three year old daughter.  We became best friends.  She ended up crying when I left.  I miss kids.

I also learned this week that I cannot speak Spanish at all.  I just cannot form the words for the life of me.  My mouth just does not let me do it especially names.

Oh our toilet is crazy weird. It had this problem when we first moved in of that we would have to flush it one time so it would start thinking about it then about the amount of time we took to wash our hands we could flush it again and it would work.  Then the person who we are living with dad came over to "fix it."  He made it worse.  Now we have to manually flush it you could say or at least manually fill up the talk on the back with water after we flush it so the next time it works.  It is a good thing we always had that messed up toilet so I knew how to somewhat fix one and how they worked.  My companion was very impressed and is writing her family about how I know how a toilet works so I could save us.  

My ward mission leader gave Sister Davies and I some cake and chocolate milk because he knows how much we love those things.  :)

On preparation day we were supposed to go play dart wars which is like lazer tag but with nerf guns.  The zone leaders cancelled it though.  Instead we played basketball and volleyball.  Actually that is a lie I watched everyone play basketball.  Then we went to target which was the best.

Well we left the mission.  #oops...actually the companion I am on an exchange with had a doctors appointment out of the mission, so it was approved by the president.

I will send pictures next week because the computer I am on does not have a place to put the card.

I think that is it.

I love you guys