Week 16

Dang, this week was so legit! So I’m now companions with Elder Wily. He’s way cool and super funny. We've had a good time so far. He's been out for about 18 months now, and is really excited about this area. All week, everyday something new would happen. We are trying to get a few new things started that should help this area as well, so it’s cool. In all grand scheme of things, the few things we did get done, was not a whole lot, but they were big things that will help out down the road also. We're supposed to be going back to teach a few of the people we met this week, so I'll let you know next week about them. but for the most part they seem pretty solid. Also sometime this summer the mission right above us in GA is being dissolved and we’re getting one of the areas, the Savannah, GA area. So we’re gonna have the bulldogs and the gators in the same mission - that should be fun. Not that I want to go to GA a whole lot, I want to stay here in FL but hey, if im needed to baptize a bunch of crazy bulldog loving people, then that’s where I'll be happy to go! haha. I have got some high hopes for this transfer. Love you all, hope to hear from you to know what’s going on.
Love,
Elder Holcombe

Zone Conference Pictures

We had a Zone Conference last week....

They celebrated all of the March birthdays! Hint, hint!

Back Row: Elder Graham, Sisters LaJuenesse and Shirley, Elders Kellett, Mackey, Webster, Rasmussen, Reid and Turner,
Kneeling: Elders Brimhall, Larsen, Johnson, Holcombe, Osborn and Pelo

Elder Holcombe, Elder Oteo, Elder Taylor, Elder Preator and Elder Webster

Elder Graham, Elder Holcombe and Elder Udy participating in role play....

Weeks 14 & 15

Well, weeks 14 and 15 are really just about all the same, full of tracting! It was so .... fun, yep let’s go with that. haha! But for real it was long and fun at the same time. Nothing too crazy really happened that I can think of at the moment. We had a Zone Conference this week and it was great to see Elder Oteo again. Transfers are tomorrow, Elder Udy got picked up and transferred Saturday night, and we found out that Elder Graham is being transferred as well. I am staying, I didn’t want to get transferred yet. This morning we got a call from Pres. Barry, Elder Graham is going to be a Zone Leader, so we've been giving him a hard time about that. He's kinda excited but nervous at the same time. Later on today were going to the beach, which should be fun, I got some water guns from my brothers this week, and there going to be put to good use! Love you all!
Love,
Elder Holcombe

Week 13

Well everyone, another week has gone by, it went pretty fast actually, We really don’t have a lot of people that were teaching, so most of the week was spent tracting. We haven’t really found any new solid people, everyone that we taught were kinda iffy, I guess you could say, just let us in to be nice, so hopefully things will pick up soon. We talked with Jon and he is basically ready to be baptized but still needs to get married and not sure if they want to yet, which sucks, but I can’t force them to get married....yet... ;) lol! So, Jon and Natalie are doing good, and we talked with Brother Jones, and he went to church yesterday, totally caught us off guard. He told us that he wanted to go to see what it was like, and he said that he liked it but had a lot to think about. Which could be good or bad I guess, depending on how you look at it. Oh! We have a new companion, Elder Udy. He got put with Elder Graham and I last Monday night. He's a pretty cool guy, he's been out for about 22 months and goes home at the end of the next transfer. So about 8 weeks left. It is nice having him with us, but at the same time, tracting is a bit harder just because it’s 3 guys instead of 2 at the front door - which can be intimidating! We’re still doing good, and just keep trying to find people that are ready to hear the Gospel. I hope all is going well.

Love you all,
Elder Holcombe

Week 12

Well everyone, how’s it going? This week has been a bit slow, honestly, not too much is new. Well let’s see... right now its pouring down rain so I’m happy, since it never rains in Vegas. This past week we've been working on trying to find new people to teach. We did run into one family the other day, and they seem pretty interested, they invited us to come back to their home again, and she told us that when we do, that we "HAVE" to play a round of bowling with her and her husband on the wii, which made me laugh - their a nice couple. Other than that we've been trying to find new ways to talk to people, because tracting is not providing much success. We may just do contacting people on the street in public places - which wouldn’t be too bad really. But we would need to find a way to interrupt people while they are walking and most people are in a hurry to get to where they are going, so who knows - we’ll give that a shot. I also heard that Greenbay won the Superbowl, which is ok, I guess, would rather them win than the dang steelers! Well I need to get going. Love you all, hope all is good, thanks for all the support. Please pray for investigators for us.

Love,
Elder Holcombe

New Pictures!

Finally, a picture of Elder Graham, Elder Holcombe's first mission companion in the mission field. 

Green door light.... 

On Christmas day 

A Dallas Cowboy Fan does exist in Jacksonville! 

The Sapp Family  

Elder Holcombe, Elder Graham and Danny Sapp on Danny's baptism day.

Click HERE to see some more new pictures!

Week 11

So another week has come, and this one was a good one. We started doing a Wednesday night class for investigators, and because this was the first one, only Jon and Natalie were there. Natalie said that she really liked it and wants to go again this week. Then, some Elders had a baptism on Saturday so we called Jon and Natalie, to see if they could go, Natalie said she had work so she couldn’t, but that she got a new job and will have Saturday and Sunday off now and will be able to go to church, and was excited about it, which was way cool. We were able to bring Jon to the baptism, this was his second baptism that he's been to. After the baptism we were talking to him, and asking him if he has noticed any changes in his life at all since we have started teaching him and since he has been reading and praying on his own. He said that he has. So then we asked about Natalie, he said that they started to read the Book of Mormon together, a chapter a night, and that they both are living all the commandments basically so far, and that they both feel like there has been a weight lifted off of their shoulders, which is way cool. So then we asked him if they thought about marriage at all, he said he wants to, and he’s not sure if Natalie wants. That they have talked about it a little bit. But then he tells us that she's looked at rings from Tiffany’s and was looking at some wedding website, Elder Graham and I had to laugh. Then we told him that things would keep going good if they got baptized, and we think that he wants to, so we think that they might be getting married soon so that they both can get baptized, which would be way cool!

Then we also started teaching this older couple, the Jones family. The first lesson we taught them, we didn’t really say much, and Mr. Jones told us that when we first went there he didn’t really care to listen to what we had to say, but that he liked us and wanted us to come back. So we had set up a time to come back. Then last night we were near their house so we thought we would just stop by and say hi to them. Well they invited us in, at 8pm, and they said we were starving so they fed us dinner as well. Then we started talking to them a bit and Mr. Jones was saying that he wouldn’t mind being a Mormon but doesn’t think that he would be good enough. So after a bit of talking, and giving them the Book of Mormon, he said that he would read it at least 10 min a day, which was way sweet. They are such a nice family, and they want us to come back whenever we don’t have something going on. So we'll see how things go with them hopefully they keep loving everything haha...

Well I hope everyone's doing good still. Love you all, and can’t wait to hear from you people!

Love,
Elder Holcombe