Hey everyone!

How is everyone doing today? How was the past week for all of you? It has been a week of many events and it was good. So to start things off there were transfer calls yesterday and I found out where I’ll be heading for the next six weeks. I am not staying in Merced any longer. I have been here since march and so that will make 7 months which has been a BLAST but It seems the Lord wants me to go somewhere else. I am actually heading up to atwater which is 10 minutes north and will still be in the same branch. So It was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father because I will still be able to see everyone from merced that goes to church and when we have dinners there and then I get to see all the people in atwater I haven’t seen for a long time so I’m super excited! It is still bitter sweet though because it is like home here for me and I’m gonna miss it and everything about it and its hard because it could possibly be the last time I am here since my time is winding down. Note: I’ll be emailing on Tuesdays from now on because in atwater the library is closed on Mondays.

So Saturday and Sunday this past week were AWESOME because there was General Conference. Where the leaders of the church talk to us. It was SO good and I learned SO much. The prophet and apostles and leaders have so much insight and I know that what they say is from the Lord because there is a burning inside my heart as I listen to them and it all just makes sense in my head. I had questions answered that I needed and I’m a little more prepared for the near future. It was just SO good!

So Friday was a fun day. We finished the preparation of the grapes by taking them out of the papers we rolled them in and put them in crates so they can be shipped off and packaged. It was a TON of fun and some really good work because we had a tractor go up and down the rows and we had to grab the rolled up grapes (which were now raisins) and put them in a big crate. Some rows had 400 papers and the tractor was going so it was a race against the tractor so you were able to put them in the crates. The church does SO many raisins. I was told that they produce 100 tons of raisins! That’s a TON!!! Well more like a hundred. Haha

Yesterday was a ton of fun as well. We went over to Julia Lor’s house and ate some food then after put on traditional hmong clothes and took pictures. I have my own pair thanks to julia’s mom. She made some for me. We also were allowed to borrow some of the jewelry and look even better in the hmong clothes.

So that was my week. It was a very good week! Very bitter sweet though but that is life. I hope that all of you had a good week as well. Things are good out here in California for me and I’m excited for this week because we have a baptism for some of the kids I’ve been teaching since they first me us missionaries so that is awesome! I’ll let you know how it goes next week on Tuesday.

Anyways I love all of you and hope all is well

Love always

Elder Eddie Holloway

Hey there everyone!

How are all of you doing today? How was everyone’s week? As for mine it has been filled with all sorts of things the biggest of those is becoming district leader and getting a new missionary to team up with. So I think I will start there…..

As for being a district leader…. Right now it is alright. There are some good things and some bad things. It has really kept me busy which is good I like being busy. i have been planning a meeting that we have every week and am getting ready for that. I have all sorts of things I want to do and so I’ve been trying to organize some stuff so that it will be good. It is on Wednesday so I’ll let you know how it goes. There are a couple things that are a pain and that is dealing with the leaders above me because they are always sending me messages and telling me to send messages to the missionaries I look over and that is annoying but I jazz it up a little and have fun with it. The missionaries I look over seem to be liking what I am doing because they are enjoying things much more. So it has been fun so far. I have training this next week on Tuesday and Thursday and the meetings are for 6 hours! That is just ridiculous but I’ll survive. Haha

The new missionary I’m teamed up with is elder wilson. He is just awesome! Probably one of my favorite missionaries I’ve been teamed up with if not my favorite. He helps me a lot and is always trying to see if he can help in any way. He is SO good at hmong as well. He’s been out a year now but is just amazing at the language. I just let him do his thing and when it’s my turn I throw a little in and so it all works out. This is going to be a really good transfer and I’m really excited for it!

So a bit of information about this last week. OH before I forget I just realized that on Saturday September 4^th I have been a missionary for 18 months!!!! That is just a TRIP! I didn’t believe I would ever make it this far but I’m excited and cannot wait for these next coming months to work hard.

So on Wednesday last week I almost burnt down the house. I was making some potato wedges in the oven and then I forgot about them and we went out and worked and then 4 hours later I remembered them and we zoomed home and I opened the door and it just stunk! Nothing burned down like I had imagined in my head on the bike ride home but it was nasty smelling but we opened the windows and things got much better but my potatoes were black and burnt to a crisp. Haha

That’s about it other than bike problems on Saturday night. We went and helped some people move all of Saturday and we moved for 6 hours! After we came home and both our back tires were flat and so we patched them up and by that time it was time for bed then we went to church the next day and we came home and mine was flat so I tried patching it up again and I threw in an old tire I had and hoped for the best and it worked. So we were able to get going.

So that is my week last week. Very eventful and I can see many events in this week as well. So I’ll update you next week. J

Anyways I just want all of you to know that I love all of you and miss you tons. But I have a little more to do as a missionary and I’m going to give it my all especially since this church is true and I need to share that with everyone.

Love all of you

Your favorite missionary

Elder Eddie Holloway

Hello Family and Friends

Hey there everyone how are all of you doing? How was all of your fourth of July? I’m going to have to say mine was really BORING! Missionaries have a rule that if you’re not with a member after 7 on the fourth you have to be in your apartment and all our members were out of town so we were stuck in the apartment and had NOTHING to do so that was a pain! It was nice to relax though.

The day before though we had a party with the branch and that was fun. I played some horse shoes with nuttall and deyoung and then ate some really good food like sticky rice and egg rolls. (by far two of my favorite hmong foods they make) then there was plenty of watermelon which I LOVE! So that was nice as well.

Other than that there really isn’t much that happened this past week except today I went to the temple which was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO NICE! I love going because it helps me out so much! I feel so at peace and I just love sitting in there and enjoying the relaxation from all the troubles of life. That’s the best part. I felt it as soon as I walked in and it came right back when I left. I wish I could just live there. Haha

As for the work we have been teaching this really cool hmong girl and she really wants to learn. Her name is cindy yang and she’s 20 we biked past her house one day and I said we should go and try the house since it looked hmong and we knocked and she answered and we’ve been teaching her since and she’s our best investigator and is just awesome. She has nieces and nephews that she watches and I have had a good time with them taking pictures and stuff. They love borrowing my camera! (I’ll attach some pictures) but it is fun teaching Cindy and then goofing around with her little nieces and nephews. Haha I am such a kid at heart I’ve realized I’d rather spend my time teaching and playing around with the little kids than anyone else.

Anyways transfer calls are this Saturday and so I’ll see where I’ll be going to next Wednesday and I’ll have to update everyone next week. I’ll be email Monday next week.

Anyways that’s the update for this week. Nothing interesting eaten or anything like that so I’m going to end this. I hope all of you know I love you and miss you all tons! I hope all is going well and you are all doing good.

Love your favorite missionary
Elder Eddie Holloway

Hello family and friends! (quick note! I will be email TUESDAY next week because I will be going to the temple on that day and that’s the P-day so it’s TUESDAY!)

How has everyone’s week been this past week? I hope that all is going well. Can I just say that it is SO HOT here now! It went from the 80’s the beginning of the week to 103 yesterday! I was SO glad we have miles to spare on the car and we get to drive. So that was definitely a good thing! Once the next month comes though it’s back on the bikes because we have to be good with our miles. That is going to be rough. But oh well! Haha

Anyways this past week has been a very eventful week. I’ll start with yesterday. I did SO much talking in church. So get this! I had to give a talk yesterday during sacrament. That was first. That went really well. I talked about how there is justice and mercy and how God’s laws and commandments are the justice because they will be fulfilled and how we all need mercy because we are all imperfect then I talked about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the mercy and we need that. The main focus is how we can Accept the Atonement in our lives. That is so crucial to life! And I hoped to get my point around because we cannot do it without Jesus Christ and His mercy. After that me and deyoung had to teach Sunday school we talked about King David and his rise and fall and his mistake he did. Then we finished it off in the last hour with me teaching a lesson on patience and a talk given by president uchtdorf on how we need patience. It was a good one for me because I have been working on that.

So Saturday was a crazy day as well. Me deyoung and nuttal helped move the mission president and his family which took 6 LONG HOURS! Haha it was SO long because it was just the four of us. So that was a big pain in the butt but we were able to help him out and so that made me feel good after I had gotten rest the next night. Haha

It has been fun being able to work merced and atwater because I get to see people I haven't seen in a while which has been nice. OH I forgot to say I made a little 10 year old boy cry this past week. That was a pain! Haha I didn’t even do anything that’s the crazy thing. He was just a big baby. What he was doing was just sitting there and he bent his elbow which bent a little farther than what it normally does and then I was like “that’s just crazy!” like I usually do and then he was ok with things and the next thing I know he is bawling! I said I was sorry and everything and I was just joking and stuff but he just cried worse and worse. It was so messed up! He was a cousin of one of the girls who just got baptized and he had already been baptized and so it wasn’t like it was someone who was investigating the church which I would have felt really bad. Haha I know I’m just terrible! Haha

The work is going really well this past week which has been really good. I have really enjoyed being with deyoung and nuttal. Yes they do drive me crazy a lot of the time but they are really awesome as well. Like yesterday we were up till almost 1 talking about gospel things and they helped me realize a ton of things and it was just a really good discussion and it is good teaming up with them even if they do drive me crazy at times.

So the last thing I’ll mention is the food aspect of things. I ate sushi this last week and the craziest thing is that I liked it! I was nervous eating it but after I ate it I tried more and more and the different types and it was SO good. So I like sushi which is something I would have rather died than ate back at home. I also had salmon which was way good as well so I’m starting to like seafood. (when it is done well) haha

Anyways that’s my week. Pretty eventful huh? It has been really good and I have really enjoyed it. I hope that everyone is doing well and things are going good for them. I love all of you and miss you all TONS!

Love always and forever

Elder Eddie Holloway

April 19 2010

Hey everyone!

How are all of you doing this week? It has been quite a fun week so I’ll get into it.

Last Monday it was really rainy and it was CRAZY! Me and tuttle were on our way to go to an investigators house and there was a street that was COMPLETELY FLOODED! It was awesome! Some cars tried to go through and they got stuck and so me and tuttle got to go and rescue them! We were so wet the water was up to my knees in some parts. I’ll have some pictures of the water attatched so you can see. It was AWESOME! Then on the way back the two of us were already drenched so we decided to hit every puddle that was in our path and that was a BLAST! I had so much fun and I was dripping wet by the time we got to the apartment!

Then later this past week I went on an exchange (when you go to a different area for a day and with a different missionary) and it was a ton of fun. I even got offered some coffee that had to decline in hmong. I could smell it a mile away and wasn’t sure how to say we couldn’t drink it but it went well and the lady made us some hot chocolate instead. Haha

The work is picking up here and it is going really well. We are teaching a little more and that is always good. It is still a little difficult trying to teach in hmong because when they speak it is a little hard to understand exactly what they are saying. Like yesterday me and tuttle had to teach the hmong class in church about moses and the brass serpent and that was quite an adventure. It’s a good thing there are some hmong ladies that know what we are trying to say and they translate for us.

Nothing else has really happened except that I was able to eat watermelon for the first time! It was SO good and I had been waiting to have some since the last time I had eaten some! So I was happy!

Anyways that’s it for this week’s episode. Stay tuned for next week and see what happens!

Love all of you

Miss you Tons!

Love your favorite missionary

Elder Eddie Holloway

Pictures!

so there are some pictures taht are long overdue. they are of me and tuttle in the water adn then also us with the kids i talked aobut last week. then finally some of me and tuttle doing easter eggs.

Hey everyone!

How is everyone doing tis week? I hope things are going well and you are enjoying things where you are. It has been really rainy and cold here this past week but it is ok because April showers bring may flowers as everyone says but I wish that the flowers would come without the showers. Haha mainly because we have to bike in it all the time and it is a pain in the butt.

This week has been pretty good. I forgot to say what happened last week the night before Easter where me and tuttle did Easter eggs which was a ton of fun! I had the dye all over my hands and it took days to get it off. I will send a picture of what they looked like.

It was a really fun week though and some pretty cool things happened. Like the other day when it wasn’t raining me and tuttle were going around and tried to go to someone we teach but he wasn’t home and he lives in a complex where there are Hmong kids all over. We got talking to them and they wanted to play some soccer so we ended up playing soccer with them and then took some pictures and just talked. It was SO much fun! I had a BLAST! I just love little Hmong kids because they have no prejudicism and they just love everyone. Especially when you speak their language. Haha so that was a ton of fun. I also had my first accident on my bike while in that complex this past week as well. I was doing pop a wheelies and I did a really high one but as I was going the bike went a little crooked and I went with it and ate it HARD! But the bike is doing good and all I got was a scrape on my knee and my butt was hurting a little after but I have plenty of cushion so it was ok. It was a good laugh. Speaking of accidents I saw someone get hit well rear ended by a car this past week as well. Me and tuttle were biking home and there was a motorcycle going the opposite direction but as we were passing on the opposite side of the street we saw a car accidentally hit him in the back and the bike started skidding on the ground and it sent up sparks and stuff and then he hit the ground and went rolling. We went to see if he was ok and he was. Nothing was wrong except he was a little mad that that had happened. He was an old guy and I was surprised that he was ok but the police were called and we headed on out after we knew he was ok.

So that was pretty much the week. I do have a food story though. Well not a story but I bought my FIRST watermelon of the year!!!!! I am SO excited to eat it! I will have to get a picture of my first bite and send it to everyone! Haha but other than that nothing much.

So that’s my week for you. I hope that everything is going good with you all and that life is good. Know that things are going well for me here in California. Also know that I love you and miss you!

Love your favorite missionary

Elder Eddie Holloway

Hey there family and friends!
So this last week has been a very eventful week. Well a really eventful past few days because I found out where I am going to be for the next 6 weeks. It was really sad knowing as well because I am leaving Visalia to go back up to merced. I am kinda excited because I’ll be able to see people I left coming down here but I am more sad because I have made family down here. I have developed a bond with everyone that I will never forget and it makes me really sad to have to leave. Hopefully I will be able to come down for the ending part of my mission because I would LOVE to finish down here! We’ll just have to wait and see though. I’m going to try to bug my mission president every transfer to see if I could finish down here so we’ll just have to see. Haha
Anyways it is going to be a whole different world up there becaseu I go back to hmong work and I am not going to be fed as well. (which is a good and bad thing. Good because I can start working on losing some weight and start lookin good but bad becaseu I LOVE the food!) haha it is going to be an interesting task. I am going to be with a missionary named elder tuttle who is only a couple months behind me in missionary years. He was born on the same day as I was in real years. So it is going to be another adventure that is for sure.

Not much more to say other than I will be emailing next week on MONDAY so make sure you all write before that if you want to write me.
I love all of you SO MUCH! I’ll let you know how Merced is next week. Until that time though take care of yourselves and keep on doing what you all do best! Stay close to the Lord and do the things He wants us to and I can promise you that He will make things go SO much better!
Love you all!
Miss you!
Love
Elder Eddie Holloway