"You too, will have a certainty"

(From Carolann)…… I have been away for a few weeks and so haven’t posted Nick’s last couple of e-mails.  Here are both of them.  I know it gets long, so you can pick and choose which to read.  But for those diehard followers — you’ve got it all.  Always a big THANK YOU for the interest and support you show to our missionary son.  We love you.

Nick’s Most Recent E-mail from October 6th……

What a weekend it was right!!! Wow! I hope that everyone had the opportunity to watch conference and if you didn’t, I hope you will make time this week and watch or read all of the talks! What an awesome privilege we have to hear from a living prophet!!! Have you ever stopped and thought about the blessing that that really is for us? I stopped and thought about it and my testimony grew so much this weekend! I loved all the talks and had a few favorites! I forget my notebook to share them with you but I remember a few of them! I got to watch them all in english which was awesome! It’s just not the same when you don’t hear the sweet tender voice of the prophet! 

Andrew and Lee said they liked Uchtdorf’s talks in the priesthood session. I as well LOVED that talk! wow it was so amazing! It really gets you thinking doesn’t it. Everything that he said was so true! And I loved the example that he used to explain it with christ and his disciples. So that one was a winner for sure! Another one that I loved was by Elder Anderson. I think that was my favortie of the weekend. He talked about Joseph Smith and wow was it powerful! What the Angel Moroni said was true. People would ridicule the name of Joseph Smith because he is a true prophet of God. And as we get closer and closer to the second coming, the ridicules will get worse. I also liked how he invited us to grow our testimony by sharing scriptures we know to be true of the Book of Mormon with friends and family and to read Joseph’s account of what really happened! I will enforce that challenge to all that are reading this as well! Read that part of Joseph’s account in the Pearl of Great Price and share your favorite scriptures with those you love! I will start by sharing my favorite part of the Book of Mormon with you! It is when Christ shows himself to the nephites and especially the things he teaches in 3 Nephi chapter 27! I know that Jesus Christ appeared to them and ministered unto them! The Book of Mormon is so true!!! I also liked the talk by Jorg-something or other and the 6 ideas he gave us to prepare for an interview with the Savior. 

Who would have thought that watching 10 hours of people talking would be so much fun! I love the prophet so much and know that he is a true prophet of God! My love for elder Monson has grown so much on the mission and I know that he represents our Savior! What a blessing we have to hear him speak!!! 

Sorry dont have a lot of time to write this week but know that I am good! The church is soooo true and I know it! if you don’t know it for sure, read Elder Anderson’s talk and do what it says. You too will have a certainty! 

Here’s the link to read Elder Anderson’s talk:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/print/2014/10/joseph-smith?lang=eng

Love you all!

Elder Holmes

Nick’s letter from last week — E-mail from September 29th…….

This week was a good one but it killed me! So much work to do! So this will be short.

We had our multi-zone conference which was way good. The President gave us a training on making goals which was way good! He is a super successful guy and sister Dalton told us it’s because he is so goal oriented. So I learned a lot that day. It’s good that I learned about goals now so that I can make a goal to lose some weight! Man I am a chubster! 

This weekend was a crazy one as well. On Friday we did a trade off with some other missionaries in our zone because I had to do some baptism interviews. Doing interviews is always fun because you get to hear the conversion stories of these people. This couple that was baptized found the church in 2003 but never were baptized, but they now have solid testimonies and were stoked to be baptized. That was cool. The part that wasn't so cool was the next morning when I had to wake up at 4! The missionary I have been with has been pretty sick lately so Saturday we had to get up bright and early to go to the hospital. That was an adventure! 

The week left me exhausted so today I will rest a little which should be good! I am super stoked for general conference this week! Yesterday we challenged some members to prepare themselves this week so that they can be ready for the talks! I know that God will answer our prayers through his servents. Watch all sessions of conference because we don’t know in which session our questions will be answered! 

Have a great week!

ELder Holmes