Elder AJ Halling Boston Massachusetts Mission: Elder Holland!

Hello everyone! Sak Pase?

This week was unreal. It went by SO FAST. It was also lots of fun.

We held a conference call with all of the missionaries currently in the digital mission, and all those who will be on by the end of this transfer. There was like 100 something people online. How cool is that? We did a whole training about the website that we've made to keep everyone safe online, and how it's actually a blessing not a burden. We spiced it up by calling it "The Intergalactic Journey to the Mission Portal" and we added a bunch of Star Wars references, along with one of those cheesy story intros with the yellow text vanishing into the stars. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and were super pumped up about the missionary work online.

Also! If everything goes as planned, we'll be having another baptism in the digital mission this weekend in Ecuador. So awesome. Everyone is catching the vision and going for the gold.

The highlight of this week though had to have been on Saturday, when we had a Mission Leadership Council meeting with President & Sister Packard, the rest of the mission presidency, Elder Bennett the area 70, and Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the twelve. We got to shake his hand, and have a 2.5 hour long Q&A session with the leaders of the mission. Mind blown everyone. It was fantastic!

Here are some of the super nice questions we discussed:

How can we help our investigators to learn to LOVE to read the scriptures?

What are some things we can do for the companionships we have in our zones that are struggling to get along with their companions?

I am trying hard, but sometimes I still fall short. How can I best take advantage of the spiritual heritage the Lord has given me?

How can I help a brother who has strayed from the gospel after serving an honorable and successful mission?

In November, the mission baptized an all time high of 100 people. In January and February, we were back down to what we used to be. What can we do to maintain the faith and the stamina to see miracles such as those on a regular basis?

We all know people who come to church just to go through the motions, and they know the gospel, they just don't do much about it other than the basics. How can we help those who KNOW the gospel, actually have a desire to live the gospel and follow all of it's standards?

I couldn't write down all of the answers to those questions today if I had 10 hours to email. Let alone 1, so just think about those for a minute, because even the questions themselves are very very inspiring.

One thing that really struck me and motivated me was that Elder Holland mentioned that there is not a single greater work that we could be doing, that of saving a human soul. Missionary service is the greatest thing we could be doing, because we have literally no other distractions. We just need to focus on that for 24/7. We're living like the Savior, and after this mission we won't have that opportunity again for a long time. Talk about a wake up. Wow!