Our skype took place on Mondy December 26th at 4:00 PM.  It was so awesome to see Elder Hollingsworth and hear him talking.  He answered a ton of questions we had about the culture and the church in Argentina.  He is feeling really good about his language skills and is so thankful for his first companion that helped him get to this point.  He wa able to bear his testimony to us and then he emailed it in english.  I will post it here so you can read the english version. He did have a hard time finding English words especially at first.  

Just wanted to say what I said in Castellano, that even though it seems like its kinda tough here, that I am really here for a purpose, that life is really short and for me to be here its the most important thing I could be doing, and I wouldn´t rather be anywhere else, that I have such a strong testimony of the gospel and I hope that you guys can not take it for granted that you have it so easily, but that you can try to come closer to your Savior like I have, and that you can really see why I am here, that I have to find the people that I was sent to find even if there is only one. That people don´t know they can be forgiven and they don´t know of the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they dont know they can be with their families forever and I have the privilege of bringing that to them. I hope you can make the small changes that will enable us to be together after this life, I am always praying and thinking of you. 

Jake

I asked him if the call made him sad and this was his answer:

I feel like I just left! And like tomorrow it will be Mothers day thats how fast time goes here for me. I don´t have time to be sad when I am telling people with no hope they can be forgiven of their sins and live with their families forever, you can´t not say that every day and be happy. 

love you mom

¡Feliz Navidad todos! 

This week was productive, fun, and testimony building. I am continuing to see the atonement work miracles and lift burdens in my own life and in the lives of the people of Santa Cruz. Though the mission is not easy, I find the determination to keep working in the little things that remind me why I am here, praying and searching the scriptures. 

Monday got a lot of angry contacts but found a really neat guy and dropped him a pamphlet and a testimony. 💥

Tuesday we had a cool lesson with the mother of one of our really good member friends. She is visiting from the North and we had the chance to explain a lot of the doctrine of the church.

​Wednesday we had a great lesson lined up, and nobody was home. I am used to this by now but it still hurts haha.
Thursday had a really killer lunch with a family from Peru. The Hermana cooks really good.

Friday we had the Christmas activity at the church. We ate chicken it was fun.

Saturday we visited Julio and Gimene for a bit and then went to visit Odette, our investigator from Brasíl. Her husband is super funny and a way good guy so he invited us to stay and eat. They had family over and the food was dang good and we played ping pong. We shared Luke 2 with them it was cool. Yesterday was branch conference, did a lot of walking, like probably 10 or 11 miles. 

Things are going good here. We have a lot of people that want to spend Christmas with us so we have a lot of food to eat. We have a dinner with the missionaries in Comodoro on Thursday, (2 hr bus ride both ways) we are partying on Saturday, and working Sunday!

Super excited and I feel super grateful to be a missionary. The privilege of bringing this message of happiness to these people is something very special to me. I have a feeling I am going to miss holidays like this, where we don´t think about ourselves but only about others. Love for others really is the way to true happiness and its that same love that brought Christ to earth to be born. He is the way, the light, and the life. I hope you can all feel His love for you this week and throughout the year. The gospel is restored, our Savior lives and loves us. 


¨Doubt not, but be believing¨ Mormon 9:27
¨pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that you may be filled with His love¨ Moroni 7:48
¨....notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently...that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.¨ Moroni 9:6

Elder Hollingsworth
​

​que emoción

Well, a good couple days of stuff. I am writing today because we don´t know if we will be writing next week with transfers. My companion is headed to a new area way up in the top of the mission where there aren´t any members, and its super super hot! He has to finish the mission there so he´s not super stoked but hey, thats what happens, and he´s already been almost everywhere in the mission so no problem. A kid from Uraguay is coming up here with me for at least one transfer. He is super funny and crazy like me so I think we will be successful and have fun. I am going to be in Caleta for a few days this week so not super pumped about that but whatever, por lo menos I´ll be with Clark the zone leader he is from Draper and is way chill, we are good friends. 

We spent Wednesday in Caleta until about four in the afternoon. Had one cool lesson and commited a lady to baptism so how about that? We traveled to the hotel in Comodoro where we spent the night with a ton of missionaries from the Northern half of the mission. Got to see a lot of my friends from the MTC and met some new people too. Had the conference Thursday which was media baja cañe, but they gave some good messages and a lot of new ideas for the mission. Really cool to see all the languages that come together in the Lord´s work. The area President is Brazilian I think, so his wife was translating her message from Portuguese to English, then President Salerno translated into Castellano. Really crazy. By the way I already know some Portuguese from teaching our Brazilian investigator, so hey thats cool. Got back Thursday night late. Friday worked a good day with lots of contacts and spreading the word about #iluminarelmundo or #lighttheworld that the Church is doing for Christmas. Then we heard transfers last night.

Super grateful for all that I have, know, and feel while here in Argentina. I have so much support from family and friends and I am so blessed. I know without a doubt this is the true Church and that my Savior lives. I know that the Plan of Salvation is real and that if we make the right choices in this life we will live with our families for eternity. I feel so loved and I feel so privileged to be a servant of the Lord. I feel so humbled that the Lord trusts me to do and say what He would do and say if he were here. I want you all to know that He loves you.

keepin´ on in the Patagonian wasteland

Elder Hollingsworth