ONE YEAR

Sister Sydney LaRee Holcomb
Utah Salt Lake City Mission

4/11/16
>
> Today is April 11. I'm going home in exactly one year! But yes, I hit
> my 6 months mark 3 weeks ago. MTC doesn't count for English speaking
> sisters in this mission....idk why. And then we all got a week
> extension. I feel like the next year is going to fly by which is
> scary. I'll be excited to see my family again but I'm going to run out
> of time to baptize be whole state of Utah! :P Haha well this week has
> been pretty cool! Sister Evarts and I are still getting used to our
> new area but I really like it so far! We have 4 new investigators! Sam
> and his mom and Amid and his cousin (but soon his whole family). Sam
> is SUPER chill. He's like 30. Like not sure if he is on drugs or not
> lol. But he is super interested in learning more and came to church
> with us on Sunday. His mom is also a new investigator. But she just
> kind of likes to argue so we are not sure how ready she is to meet
> with us. Amid met with us Tuesday morning and in the very first
> sentence he said, "Yes we want to join. My whole family." He is an
> older man from Pakistan. His cousin was the only one there but we will
> be teaching his whole family soon. We also met with a former
> investigator, Brandon. And he really likes the church and its
> teachings but he is only 16 and his dad won't let him get baptized.
> It's really sad that a lot of parents wouldn't support their child in
> doing something that would just help them be a better person. We will
> continue to encourage and support him. Pete, a less active member from
> my YSA area, went back to the temple to do endowments for the first
> time in 5 years!! Sister Jensen, Thetford, and I all got to come back
> and go through with him! It was awesome. I love how often we can
> attend the temple in this mission. We only go as a zone every 3 months
> but we can go with any of our recent converts or returning members if
> it's their first time going through since being reactivated. We also
> had zone conference and it was AMAZING. The main focus was charity and
> how we can be more consecrated and obedient missionaries when we have
> charity. Towards the work, the people, and our Savior. Well that's
> basically the best things that happened this week. I can't wait to
> continue working in this new area.

Sorry for all the pics and the short email

4/4/16

 Sorry for all the pics and the short email

Wow what an amazing weekend!! It was my first time at conference since
I was like 12 years old?There were a quite a few protestors outside.
My companion and I watched them for about a half hour. Nothing they
said really made any sense, but whatever haha. It was mostly just
hilarious. Gave us some good entertainment. They said Mormon women
weren't allowed to have chocolate on Sunday's?? Dang. I guess I need
to repent lol. I just don't understand why people would waste their
time trying to tear down other people's beliefs. Despite their
presence, the actual conference was super spiritual and just what I
needed. Especially since my companion and I are both new to this area
that we've been transferred to in Rose Park. But there's a lot of work
here and I'm ready to go! There is soooo much potential. We can't wait
to dig in and see what this next transfer will bring.
Sorry this email is so short, this Pday has been crazy! I promise to
write more this next week. I love you all!!

Watch the conference on LDS.org!!

Sister Sydney LaRee Holcomb
Utah Salt Lake City Mission

And my missionary friends!

4/4/16

And my missionary friends!

It's a rare moment when you basically see your whole mission in one
place. But I got to see so many of my missionary friends this weekend!

Elder Esparza!! My favorite Mexican from my very first district!

And sister Keoppel! My companion from the MTC!! Can you believe that
was 6 months ago??
She is awesome and I hope I have the opportunity to serve with her again <3

Sister Silverheart, Pula, Coca and random elders I don't know!! Haha I
think they're not even in our missions. Weird thing about serving
here. There was like 6 different missions there.

Even more fun from conference weekend!

4/4/16

Subject: Even more fun from conference weekend!

Some famous Mormon peeps we met this week.

The black guy in the background is from meet the Mormons! He's the one
who served in South Africa! We actually talked to him but we didn't
want to be creepy and ASK for a pic, so we just took a creepy one with
out him knowing lol.

John Bytheway!! Love that guy. He looks older lol.

And Alex Boye!! We were walking past Deseret book store and he was
having a concert in there! So we got to go in and enjoy some good
music! He is so awesome.

Fwd: Transfers week!!

3/28/16

Transfers week!!

Beginning with this amazing quote by the prophet Joseph Smith,

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

I just love that.

So anyways! Transfers happened! I'm whitewashing an area in Rose Park, it's the ghetto but I'm sooooo excited to go there. There's always more people to teach there.

So this week was fantastic though! Well let's see, where to begin. So the weather here in Utah is so dumb. And half the week was like 70-80 degrees and then every other day it snowed. Buuuut I hit my six months on the 23rd! We celebrated by going to In N Out! We didn't think our AP's would let us since the only one in our mission is 20 miles away but they did! He just told us not to tell the other AP haha. It was awesome!! Love that place. We found the only photobooth in SLC and took 6 months pictures there and then got to go out and visit people with our mission presidents wife. It was a pretty awesome day! 

On Saturday we also got to go to the General Women's conference live and it was an amazing experience! Our seats weren't AMAZING but it was the closest I've ever been in conference! The talks were amazing and I can't wait for conference on Sunday to go again. We have some perks of serving here. 

So work wise, we got 4 new investigators! So 5 progressing, 4 news, and two others!! And just a couple weeks ago we only had two! Ney and Andre are from Brazil and they're on date and hopefully at least two of the others will be on date within the next week or two. I'm sad to leave when it's just finally starting to pick up but I figured it would happen. I got transferred last time when we had 13 investigators. But it will be interesting to white wash! I know nothing about the area but like I said earlier, I'm super excited. I loved YSA but I'm so happy to be going back to family wards. I miss seeing kids! 

Here's a scripture that has stood out to me this week,

D&C 6:29-32

 "29 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if they reject my words, and this part of my gospel and ministry, blessed are ye, for they can do no more unto you than unto me.

 30 And even if they do unto you even as they have done unto me, blessed are ye, for you shall dwell with me in glory.

 31 But if they reject not my words, which shall be established by the testimony which shall be given, blessed are they, and then shall ye have joy in the fruit of your labors.

 32 Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing, behold, there will I be in the midst of them—even so am I in the midst of you."

I just love this work, the ups and the downs, the hard times and the goods, I love it. Wouldn't trade this for the world.

I'm looking forward to my new adventures in Rose Park. Thank you all for your love and support. I miss and love you all!

Fwd: Whatta fun week

3/28/16

Whatta fun week

Snow in spring? What the heck Utah.

Sister James and I on our way to General Women's Conference LIVE

Super awkward selfie BUT it was a selfie with the prophet and 5
apostles in the background! Even though they're super small haha.

6 months in the field!

3/28/16
>
> Sister James and I celebrating our 6 months on the 23rd!
>

SISTER O

3/14/16

Hey everyone!

So besides seeing Sister O, one other amazing thing that happened was....that we got a new investigator! And hopefully another one tomorrow! Kenza is the first one. She requested a book of mormon on mormon.org and the family ward elders dropped it off and taught her a lesson then sent the referral to us since she's YSA. We called her to set up a follow up appointment and that automatically made her a new investigator! She's on spring break right now so we haven't got to meet her yet but she is very excited to meet with us and sounds so nice. Tomorrow we have our first lesson with a guy named Ian. He is dating a member of the church but has been waiting to meet with us until he has felt ready. And he's decided he's ready! He's nervous but also excited....so are we haha. We are so happy to have more investigators. Keep Sister James and I in your prayers and pray for Ian and Kenza as well, that they'll be prepared for our message. 

So we are soooo spoiled here in YSA. We got taken out to The Cheesecake Factory and then they guys friend that was there with us gave us nail certificates! So we got to go get our nails done last Monday which was more therapeutic than you can imagine. Sometimes it's nice to get pampered. Now I have pretty teal nails haha. I love them. Wow....I'm writing about my nails right now...what am I doing? 

Anyyyyyways. Yesterday the church released some awesome new videos for the Easter Initiative. The main one they are focusing on is called #Hallelujah. It is amazing. At first, I didn't know how I felt about it because I felt like nothing could compare the the video they released 2 years ago called, Because of Him. But the more I watched this video the more I grew to love it. Because of Him focuses on what was made possible through his atoning sacrifice, and the new video focuses on all of the reasons we have to "Praise the Lord" because of what was made possible when he died and was resurrected and lives now. We have soooo many reasons to shout hallelujah and to find happiness and joy in this life and in the life to come. Through Jesus Christ, we can find new life and live again after this life. Through Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven of our sins. Through Jesus Christ we can have our burdens lifted. Through Jesus Christ we can be reunited will all of our loved ones. Through Jesus Christ we can be families through all eternity. I can see my grandma again, my great grandpas, and my friends that were lost their lives in this past year. Through Jesus Christ we can find comfort. Through Jesus Christ we can be healed from any of our pains, physical or emotional. He knows each one of us perfectly. He suffered for each one of our sins and pains individually. He loved us so much, he was willing to die for us. If it weren't for all of this, if it weren't for the reasons why we celebrate Easter, there would be no reason to celebrate his birth at Christmas. Hallelujah for new life, hallelujah for fresh starts, hallelujah for lifted burdens, hallelujah for forgiveness, for healing, for inner peace, for life after death, for Him. Hallelujah for our savior Jesus Christ and for our loving Father in Heaven. I have come to know my Savior from prayer and from reading the Book of Mormon. I have felt his hand in my life and have felt him lift the burdens that weighed me down. I have found new life through Jesus Christ, and I know all of you can as well when you love him, and when you follow him. To learn more about the Savior, or more about why we celebrate this time of year, please go to FollowHim.Mormon.Org. 

See the video, #Hallelujah, here. https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah 

I love you all and hope to hear from you.

Adventure 💙

3/7/16

So one little adventure we had this week was driving Sister Jensen
back to Bountiful. But the actual adventure we had was trying to find
our way back. We took a couple of wrong turns and missed our right
exits and accidentally started heading towards Vegas. I was tempted to
keep going (; jk jk. We soon after found our right exit and were home
in a matter of minutes. But the second picture is just a rare
beautiful sunset.

My fantastic week 🎉 part 3

Sister Sydney LaRee Holcomb
Utah Salt Lake City Mission

2/29/17

My fantastic week 🎉 part 3

This week was fantastic. If you couldn't tell, by the last two email
subject lines. The week started off with an awesome lesson Monday
night with our two new investigators! Commonly known as "The
Brazilians". Their names are Ney and Andre. They're from Brazil but
will be here for a couple months. We ended up meeting them because
they googled which young single adult Ward they should go to and ended
up in ours! They're awesome. Slightly difficult to teach because they
have no religious background at all but we are being patient and
teaching the best we can and letting the Spirit do its job. We've met
with them 3 times this week so they're excited to learn more.

Next was our zone temple trip. It was a beautiful experience to be
inside the Salt Lake City temple for the second time. The more I
attend the temple, the more I'm able to understand the significance of
everything that goes on inside. It is such an amazing blessing we have
to have temples and having the sealing powers restored to the earth. I
really do love to see the temple. It set the tone for the week very
well.

On Wednesday we had interviews with President and it went aweeeeesome.
I love President Spendlove so much! He is so inspired to know how to
help the work progress here. Talking with him really gave me the extra
motivation I needed to keep working hard and do all that I could to
find people to teach. Even if the members aren't helping. He's just
awesome.

We got to have several lessons at temple square and that's always an
awesome experience. We had a tour of the conference center and learned
some cool fun facts there. Leo was supposed to go do baptisms at the
temple on Saturday but he had to reschedule because his friend was
being baptized (good reason) so we are going this Saturday. I can't
wait to see Sister Jensen again!

A spiritual thought.

Alma 7:11-12
"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and
temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled
which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of
death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities."

It is through his sacrifice that I have hope. Hope that I can repent
and be forgiven for my sins, hope that I can live with my Heavenly
Father again, hope that I can be reunited with my loved ones even
after death. President Uchdorf has said, "Hope is like the beam of
sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances.
It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and
inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal
Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal
truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear." We have the
knowledge of a Savior and all the amazing hope he brings to a dark
world and it is our responsibility to share that hope with others.
It's should be one of our strongest desires to share this message.
Imagine your favorite food, book, or movie that you absolutely loved
and how you desperately wanted all your friends to read that same
book, watch that same movie or eat that same food. That's how it
should be for the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is far better than
any of those worldly things. You wouldn't not tell your friend about
your favorite movie in fear of them being offended by it, would you?
No! That sounds ridiculous. We need to have courage and open our
mouths to proclaim truth that brings eternal happiness and light. With
out that knowledge and hope the Savior brings, I don't know where I'd
be. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I know that God is
real. I know that I am never alone. I have witnessed the amazing power
of prayer several times in my life and know that if you ask God for
help he will help you. Even if you don't receive the answer you were
expecting, you will be blessed for trusting in him. I have felt the
amazing power of the atonement and forgiveness and have felt the
Savior take my burdens and the joy that comes when doing so. I know
that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that he saw a vision and
received the Book of Mormon for us so that we may learn and grow from
it. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it will bring you
closer to God. God knows you individually by name and loves you and
all of us. He knows our amazing potential. The Church of Jesus Christ
is true and brings everlasting happiness into my life, and into others
lives as well, if we but share it with them. Have courage and speak up
and be the disciple of Christ our God is waiting for you to be. Help
bring people their salvation and the key to happiness. I know that as
you strengthen your own testimony and share it with others, you will
be blessed and numerous other souls will be blessed as well for the
seed you planted in someone's heart.
And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


And it's not an email from Sister Holcomb with out duck lips and a
selfie 😘😂 LOVE YALL! Stay awesome and don't forget to email your
favorite missionary! (Me...). Stay safe!

My fantastic week 🎉 part 2

2/29/17 

 My fantastic week 🎉 part 2

It 'twas a windy windy day but I got a selfie with Stuart Edge! For
those of you who don't know him, he is an AWESOME viral youtuber. I
was a huge fan of his videos before my mish. We ran into him at Temple
Square and got to talkin with him and said he had a friend who he
wanted to meet with the missionaries so he asked if we knew who the
missionaries would be that would teach him. We asked where his friend
lived and....IT IS IN OUR AREA! Definitely not a coincidence we ran
into Stuart Edge. So he gave us his friends info and Stuart wants to
come to the first lesson we have with him! It was awesome. If you
don't know who Stuart is, look him up! He has awesome videos.

My fantastic week 🎉

2/29/16

 My fantastic week 🎉

Temple visit with the zone!

Sister James, me, and Sister Tailleur! We are all from the same YSA
Ward back home. There are FIVE of us from the same YSA here in SLC.
Sister Tailleur at temple square, sister James, sister Giles, and I in
SLC, and Elder Nelson in SLC East. Crazy!

Pretty pic of the temple I took

What a week!

2/22/16 

Me n Sister James! 

And the last pic is me with Stephanie Nielson, the plane crashed survivor, and a member in our Ward. 

So a little highlight about my week! Sorry it's not very long. 

1. We started teaching a girl named Bailey and she wants to be baptized! Her family isn't very supportive so she is seeing some push back from them but she know's the church is true and wants to plan on being baptized on March 5th.

2. Leo, he got baptized last month, has now received the priesthood! He passed the sacrament for the first time last week and it was so awesome to see. Sister Jensen is coming back to Salt Lake to go through the temple with us on Saturday. He will be doing baptisms for the dead (We don't actually baptize dead people, we get baptized FOR them so that if they die before having a chance to accpet the gospel, we can do their work for them and in the spirit world they can choose if they want to accept their baptism) for the first time and we are so excited. He couldn't find any of his own family names to bring so he is bringing one of mine! 

3. I got to meet Stephanie Nielson. She has a Mormon Message about her. She was in a plane crash with her husband and her whole body was burned and she was left unrecognizable. She was really depressed but relied on the gospel to bring her hope and light and now she is happy again and had another baby and became a known blogger. She has a very inspirational story! Y'all should look her up! 

4. I just realized that a member in one of my wards is stinkin on DANCING WITH THE STARS! She is one of the professional dancers. I didn't make the connection at all. She has been to lessons with us and everything. Her name is Chelsie Hightower. I was talking to her a couple weeks ago and she was like "I dance for a living" and I was thinking "Oh yeah you probably just dance for fun or something." Hahahahaha. Yeah. She's famous. 

Other than trying to contact a ton of referrals, and getting lost, and having lessons, its been fairly uneventful. being in Salt Lake is really cool though because we can go to temple square all the time. we have lessons with Less actives and non members there. It provides an awesome setting to have a chance to testify of the gospel and of Jesus Christ.

I am having so much fun here! So for those of you who didn't know, only a few missionaries get cars. It is mostly the leadership, some langues and YSA that get cars. so since I'm in YSA I get a car. But we don't have as many miles as we could so we have to use our car moderately. We end up riding public transportation, like the Trax and buses. It's really fun and a great opportunity to meet other people, and street contact. 

its finally warming up here... well it was sort of warming up. It got in the 50s for a few days, then there was a freak snow/rain/hail storm. Now it is supposed to snow today. The weather here is more bipolar than Washington! lol, its been great, and very nice to have a car so we didn't have to walk around in it. 

Well....that's it for this week! I'm #DoinTheWork #LivinTheDream . I love being an instrument in God's hand and it's an amazing blessing I have to help bring souls unto Christ. I know this church is true and that true happiness is found when you live what Jesus Christ taught. I love and miss you all! Write me! Email me! Anything! :)

Sister Sydney Holcomb

Utah Salt Lake City Mission

1535 S Edison St.

Salt Lake City, UT 84115

-- 

My not so exciting week!

Jk my week was fantastic. Here's some pics ! 

Sister J and I hitting our 4 months together! 

Sister J and I being ganstas in our car

And us jamming out (to The Savior of the world soundtrack) but it looks like I'm punching her lol 

So this week has been interesting! Transfers was today. There were rumors that I was going to train, the sister training leaders and the zone leaders were told that, but I never got the call from Pres so I guess he changed his mind! Haha I don't really care though. I figured I would stay in this area since I've only been here for a transfer. So I'm staying but my comp is being transferred to Bountiful. And Sister James is my new comp! She is from 20 minutes away from me in Port Orchard! We went to school together at OC and were in neighboring stakes. But we were MTC roommates so it should be fun! 

On Monday we went to a seminary class and they were doing this missionary week thing so they all got fake mission calls and then there's like different missionary tasks they can do during the weeks to earn points for an ice cream party. It sounded pretty cool. So we went so that any of the students could ask us questions about the work and what it's like to be a missionary. We went to two periods and did that and it was super cool! I hope I was able to inspire some girls to serve :) most of them asked if we were disappointed when we got called to Utah lol. But one kid preparing for his mission actually gave us someone to teach! So that was awesome. We still only have 2 investigators but we have lessons set up with 2 or 3 potential investigators this week so we will see how that goes. We are trying so hard to find people to teach. One of the most effective ways we've found is just to be super blunt and to walk up to someone at church and say "Hey. Who do you know that we could teach?" And it actually works! I mean, everyone we go to church with is 18-30 years old and they're all RMs and we KNOW they know people we can teach. But we've been working a lot with our wards to get their minds back into missionary work. 

We had exchanges with our STLs this past week in their SPANISH AREA! My Spanish vocabulary is limited to about 10 words so basically I was useless but I still tried my best to contribute to the lessons. I had no clue what they were talking about but I would say something about the topic we had planned for and apparently it always went perfectly with what they were talking about at that certain point in the conversation. I had duelingo, the language learning app that's approved in the mission, but apparently only the missionaries assigned to speak a foreign language were allowed to have it so I had to delete it so basically my Spanish is back down to 0%.

Hmmm. Some other random stuff we did! We went bowling last Monday at the U as a zone activity and that was super fun, we also painted sets for a school play as a service project which was also super fun!

Hmmm what else...I went to the doctors this morning! I've been super sick lately. Like for a month. I thought I may've been lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant or something because basically everything I ate made me feel terrible. But I went and they are going to do a blood test so we shall see! 

I know this church is true and that our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves each one of you individually! His way is the path that leads to eternal happiness in this life and the life to come!

Fwd: Weekly Update!

>

>

>
>>
2/1/16
>
> So at the church history museum they have these face masks of Joseph and hyrum and it's the closet thing we have of knowing what they REALLY looked like. Someone make a mask of their faces after they died.
>
> There's also a game there where you sail the missionaries to England. We weren't too good at it.
>
> Annnnnnnd What we do when we are bored after planning. Technically at this time we were supposed to be getting ready for bed lol.

Weekly Update!

2/1/16

So this week really just had a lot of planning and coming up with ways
to find investigators. We had a bunch of investigators then literally
everyone dropped us. We went from like 9 to 0 in two weeks. Soooo. We
need to get some investigators ASAP. We are setting up member messages
with a buuuunch of people and then inviting them to bring a non member
to it. We are also challenging the people who sign up to feed us to
invite a non member. And they're all YSA and super returned
missionaries so they better do it! It's such a pain not to go tracting
sometimes. Like members are the most effective but when they don't
give us people to teach we literally can't do anything. And no one is
on the streets cuz the crappy weather. So yeah. Pray for us.

Buuuut someone in my last area that I taught got baptized on Saturday
and I got to go! Her name is Monica. So that was super exciting. She
has 9 year old who will hopefully be baptized soon as well. It was a
beautiful baptismal service. Her two kids, (the other is like 6), sang
this cute song about baptism with some other primary kids and Monica
was crying and it was super sweet. Her kids were super excited to see
me and they ran up and hugged me. I miss family wards. They really
make you feel like their family. YSA is just like hanging out with
weird college students. But we did get to go to the church history
museum on Saturday too and that place is awesome!

So on Friday I got an email that said that my personal bank account
balance was -$82 and I start freaking out because I checked my jacket
and my bag and I couldn't find my wallet anywhere so I'm convinced it
got stolen. So I call president to ask what to do since my accounts
need shut off and stuff and I get permission to call my mom so she can
take care of it. So I call my mom crying and she answers and when I
say "Mom?" She's like "Yeeeeeesss???" Haha she sounded so confused and
concerned. So I'm like "Don't worry, I got permission" and then
proceed to tell her that I think my wallet is stollen and that someone
is spending money on it. She's like "Ohhhhh no no no. I know why you
card got charged." And I'm like "huh?" And she's like "It was Amazon
Prime!" So the day before my mission, I reaaalllyyyyy wanted the last
movie I watched to be The Princess Diaries but I didn't own it so I
signed up for an Amazon prime trial so that I could watch it for free!
I THOUGHT I had ended the trial literally right after the movie got
done but apparently I didn't so when the trial was over, on Friday, I
got charged $100 -_______- but my mom canceled it and it said I should
be refunded. Oh and then I found my wallet in some random small pocket
in my bag. So yeah. That was my crazy day. But two good things came
out of it, 1. My wallet wasn't stolen! 2. I got to talk to my mom on
the phone!

Also, I was walking up the stairs at church with a burrito in my hand (they had a linger longer thing) and I TRIPPED! Both my knees are super bruised AND my elbows AND my burrito slapped the stairs! But I hadn't ate anything all day so I still ate it :( Some burrito is better than no burrito. 

Oh we did get to finger paint at FHE though and that was fun. 

I don't know, nothing huge happened this week but we are working hard
and hopefully will have new investigators by next week. Oh! But Leo
got the priesthood! And a temple recommend. We are taking him to the
temple on Saturday! So that will be super awesome.

Also, I will send some crazy pictures of what my comp and I do when we're bored at night after planning. 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Sister Sydney LaRee Holcomb
Utah Salt Lake City Mission

7 apostles in 5 days!

1/25/16

So wow this week was awesome!

On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast  and my
mission, and 3 others in surrounding areas, were invited to watch it
live! I was in the very front row on the left side so the camera just
kept barely missing me. Well actually. It showed me quite a bit but it
was just the back of my head so you probably couldn't recognize me. I
thought about sitting somewhere the camera would see me but then I was
like nahhhh. I'd rather sit 10 ft away from 6 apostles!!! It was
awesome. Although it would've been cool to be seen on camera and have
all my missionary friends all over the world see me. I saw Brandon
Allen there. He's from Albany. He's serving in Orem. So I was front
row on the side of the apostles so I made eye contact with Elder
Bednar AND President Nelson. They smiled at me and I smiled back.
Basically BFFs now. I've read a lot of talks by Elder Oaks lately and
I've decided I think he's super rad. Also, President Nelson will make
a great prophet. But I don't want to see President Monson go :(

We also had zone conference on Tuesday and that was really cool as
well. We talked a lot about if we are a servant or a friend to the
Savior. Are we a recruit or volunteer? Are we missionaries because we
felt we had to be or because we want to be. It made me think about how
I can make the savior more of my best friend. Like at home if my
friend asks me to do a favor for them, I'm like yeah of course! But
certain things the Lord asks me to do, I am reluctant to follow. But I
should be serving him with more love and willingness than friends at
home. He needs to be my best friend and I need to be his. I'm grateful
that he loves me no matter what, no matter how many times I mess up.

So this past week we have had a bunch of meetings. Zone conference,
the missionary broadcast, district meetings and more. But we were
still able to meet with Leo every day and teach him ALL the lessons in
6 days! And he was baptized on Saturday! It was probably the best
baptism I've ever been to. The spirit was so strong and there was so
much love in the room of his closest friends who have been waiting for
him to take this step for the past 7 years. Sister Jensen and I are
praying so hard that he will decide to serve a mission but his mom is
not supportive of the church so that's holding him back. We will see.
We are taking him to the temple in two weeks for baptisms for the dead
so we are super excited for that.

Last night we also had a fireside at the institute and Elder Ballard
spoke. They reserved front seats for the missionaries and our
investigators so that was super awesome. It was a great fireside.
Elder Ballard is so cute! He talked about how is wife is too good for
him and how they pray together holding hands every night. This was the
7th apostles I've seen in person (super close seats too) in the past 5
days! So I've realized they're all super cute. Like while a video was
playing the missionary broadcast Elder Oaks and President Nelson were
making jokes and hugging each other. They're awesome. But anyways,
Elder Ballard's talk was so good. It talked a lot about how we need to
set expectations for the future. He said "We become what we expect to
become" and I really liked that. And then of course because it was for
YSA he talked about marriage and dating and everything and he was
talking about how he didn't like how instead of going on dates, people
would just "hang out" on campus. He said, "Do you have a problem with
just hanging out or is that just a BYU problem?" It was hilarious.
Everyone at the U hates BYU but you probs knew that. Then speaking of
his grandchildren and how he has 74 great grandchildren, he said "they
have them popping like popcorn" hahaha. Every one again just busted
out laughing. One last funny thing he said, "I wish I would've payed
more attention in my English and writing classes. I didn't know I
would have to write 5 million talks!" So yeah. Elder Ballard is
awesome!

But yeah. This week was fantastic. I've found that even if I'm not
having a lot of non member lessons, if I loose myself in the work, and
truly love the people I'm serving, less active and active members
included, then I find so much joy and happiness in each day. It's
really helped this week.

I miss you all! Don't forget to email me back! :)

Also fun fact, someone thought I was a 5'2 Latino women. She was very
surprised when I stood up and was a lot taller and told her that I had
no Latino blood in me lol

Fwd: Long time no write

1/11/16
>
> Christmas party with sister Sauers and elder gowdy.
> Me falling asleep in relief society.

Long time no write

1/11/16

> Sorry it has been FOREVER since I've sent an update. Transfers happened and it has just been crazy. But I can't skip ahead! I'll start at the beginning. So Christmas was AWESOME! I got to skype my family and that was the best thing ever. I missed them all soooo much and I even got to say high to my cousin krischan (whos on his mission in brazil) when he was talking to my aunt. All my cousins and aunts and uncles were at my grandpas house while I skyped so I got to see everyone <3 I LOVED IT. We also got to have another potluck with the YSA missionaries, we were the only non ysa missionaries there which may have been fortelling the future because I got transfered!! To a YSA area. YSA stands for Young Single Adults btw, so we only teach people aged 18-30 and who are single. It's super cool but also sort of weird because everyone is my age. I had TWO new companions and all three of us are from Washington. So we were in a trio. But only for 10 days. Sister Jensen is one, we went into the MTC together and I even got to hang out with her befor our missions in Washington. Sister Thetford was my other comp but she is gone now. She left mid transfer to open a new spanish speaking area and she is super excited for that. Being in a trio was hard. I felt sort of shut out sometimes but I think it will get better now. New Years Eve was awesome because we got to watch Disney movies!!! We watched Inside Out and Tangled (my fave!!!) It was a blast. But then we got back to work lol. Sorry this email is such a mess. Haha I'm running out of time and feel super stressed and I haven't wrote in so long I'm trying to shove everything in. I'm probably forgetting like...everything. I set a lot of new years resolutions. I was kind of hesitant at first to do it because I rarely ever keep my goals. But I'm focusing a lot of self improvement this year. I beat myself up a lot and sometimes refuse to even try to do better because I'm too afraid of failing but I need to trust God and let him shape me into a better person. The great thing about the atonement of Jesus Christ is that we don't need a new year to restart. Because he suffered for our sins, at any moment we can turn to him and truly repent and start over. Especially each Sunday as we take the sacrament. I have been trying to make that hour of church more meaningful and really pay attention to the prayer and remember the covenants I made at baptism. I also think back on the week and try to see how I can do better. I can take change one step at a time. You don't have to boom be perfect. But each week you can improve bit by bit. I wish I can write more but I'm really running out of time! Just remember why Jesus Christ suffered and take advantage of that. I love you all. and miss you all so much. I would love to hear from y'all.
>
> Sister Sydney Holcomb
> 1535 S Edison St.
> Salt Lake City, UT
> 84115

Merry Christmas

Imagine a world without a Savior. There would be no hope, no joy, no peace. I invite you all to discover why we have a Savior and remember to keep the spirit of Christ in your Christmas this year. Knowing that we have a Savior, someone who has not only suffered for all our sins so that we can be forgiven, but who has also felt all of our pains and all of our afflictions has brought me so much peace in my life. To know that no matter what I'm going through, someone else has felt and that I'm never alone in my trials. Because Jesus Christ has felt our pains, he knows exact how to help us. And when you rely on him and pray just asking for help, he WILL help and because of his atoning sacrifice, he will give you strength. At Christmas time, we celebrate so much more than just his birth. I thought it was Gordon B Hinkley (a past prophet of the LDS church) who said, "there would be no Christmas without Easter." And that is so true. We celebrate his birth because of what he did in his life. Because if his sacrifice. God gave us the gift of his Son and then his Son gave us the gift of his own life. We can be cleansed of our sins and live again with our Heavenly Father and all of our loved ones. That's why we give at Christmas and that's why we should celebrate during this joyous time of year. Rejoice greatly! For unto you, a Savior is Born. 

With great love, 

Sister Holcomb 

#ASaviorIsBorn 

View this email in your browser Imagine a World Without a Savior What if we couldn't correct our mistakes, if our wounds never healed? What if we could never find lasting hope, peace, and joy? Because of our Savior Jesus Christ, we know we can. This Christmas season, we celebrate #ASaviorIsBorn with all the world.   SHARE ANIMATION Share this video and the message of #ASaviorIsBorn with those you love.  WATCH VIDEO © 2015 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Rights and Use Information  |  (Updated 2/21/2012)  |  Privacy Policy (Updated 3/18/2014) You are receiving this email because you opted in at www.mormon.org Our mailing address is: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 50 E. North Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84150 USA unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences