Thanksgiving 2008

Finally! The dishwashing duties fall the the next generation!

Thanks for the pics Carma! You should be able to click on them to make them bigger.
Out of all the wonderful things we had to eat, Spencer could not find one thing he would eat!

Zack Notes Part II

Hey mom!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE YOU SENT ME! The camera is very nice! I really enjoyed the pictures and videos that you put on it! I also enjoyed the cards that your primary class sent. They are very sweet. The brownies and cookies didn't last more than one day. Tell the Johnsons Elder Okamoto and I said "Thank you'! I wear my slippers almost every day. I had actually found some slippers that the sisters had left, but they were too small, and they didn't keep my feet very warm.

I found out some news from President Winegar today. starting in April, they're going to reduce the number of full-time missionaries in our mission from 106 to about 60. Also, starting next transfer, we can only go to the temple once during our mission. Elder Perry said to reduce the number from 2 to 1 time in the temple for missionaries. Pres. Winegar decided to let us go to the temple at our halfway mark, so I'll be able to go to the temple next summer.

RJ Still is still prodigal, but we can still work with him. He's still our friend, so we might take him out to lunch next week.

Tiffany is still solid. She has made many friends in the church, ( as you probably already know from talking to her).

We talked with wayde and we had dinner with him and with the Carey's (they gave us the refferal that led us to wayde). We had pizza at the Sal's Pizza that's right next door to the mechanics shop. We then talked about the papers that he got from his pastor, and we all came to the consensus that the papers were false. He's still golden.

It finally snowed here! During the weekend on Friday I think. It snowed about an inch. maybe an inch and an quarter. at least that's how much there was on the ground when we woke up. We actually had to scrap off the car. luckily it was wet snow, so it was good snowball material. I got in some good hits and Elder Okamoto got in some good hits.

Elder Okamoto is still teaching me Japanese. I've found that its pretty easy for me to pronouce japanese, but its nearly impossible for me to read Japanese. First I have to learn the japanese alphabet which has 142 characters. then there are more than 100,000 other characters for certain words. I'm still working on the alphabet, but hopefully one day I'll be able to carry on a conversation in japanese. One day...and if I get there, I have to learn japanese grammar. its lots of work.

So how's New York? cold?

Well my time here is up.

Ja!

Aishiteru!

Love,

Elder Holladay

Zack Notes

Hey mom!

I am so very grateful to have a washer and dryer. I can do laundry any time I need it instead of having to wait for Wednesdays. AND I save $20 a month. AND we have a dishwasher. Cleaning Dishes by hand got old after the first dish... However, on Saturday, we discovered that our kitchen sink has a leak where it connects from the drain to the pipe. I cleaned up the mess and we told management about it so hopefully it gets fixed this week. Oh, and the tile in the bathroom was repaired when we got there, so there's no hole there any more.

I go on 2-3 exchanges every transfer. Its just for the day. Its a good learning experience. So far I've gone on 2 exchanges and have one more with Elder Nash. Elder Okamoto was in Mantua; a little further north.

Flight to NY: oh nice! Hope the flight was somewhat pleasant. Though you had a lot more options for entertainment than I did. maybe you could rentacar for a day or something?

Painting my room green: Green? Why green? OH! That reminds me! Sis. Schultz is a painter. She painted her walls and they look really cool! Wish I took a picture... She made it look like there was leaves on the wall, but it was just one color and one roller. I was pretty impressed. I'll have to see if she'll send you an email or something. Any ways... As I was saying... Green? like NEON Green? Its just YOUR bedroom right? cuz that would hurt my eyes....my eyes hurt just thinking about it...

So my room is vacant then?

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: T.O.S. Doesn't sound pleasant. maybe if we pull your arms one way, and your legs the other way, you'll get taller and then your nerves will naturally get un-bunched up?

Is this the same "Jake" that I left at home? Has he stopped playing Computer too?

Actually I'm "in" the ward choir too. I figured since I'm already there, I might as well learn how to sing... I'm learning the bass line. I didn't know the difference between "alto" "soprano" "tener" and " bass" before I went to the ward choir, but now I do.

What did you talk about with Emily? How's she doing? Is she out of the hospital yet?

You learned how to make rolls? I thought you just took them out of the bag, and put them on a pan and put them in the oven and cook 'em. You learned how to make them from scratch? sounds like a tedious job to me, though I'm sure the benefits outweigh the costs.

John taught his class at school? Did his class go with him to help aunt Joyce? Dad's usually a pro at that kind of stuff. unlike the "pro's", apparently.

So we FINALLY got in contact with RJ on monday. Apparently, he had purchased a "Mormon Encyclopedia" that was not published by the church, and he was reading in there and he believed a lot of it. the book that he purchased talked about stuff like "God was a man" and "God lives on Kolob with his wives"(yes that was plural), "the garden of eden is in missouri", "the flood only covered the American Continent", "Men can become like Gods" and the list went on about really deep topics. RJ didn't like most of the stuff in there, he said it was too much and he got upset that we "didn't tell him up front" about this kind of stuff. I told him that if it doesn't have the logo of the church on it, then we don't most likely don't teach it. So I told him that we'd do some research and we'd get back to him on sunday. We told him that the book he got was the authors interpretation of the scriptures. So hopefully we can get things cleared up soon.

We are also teaching a man by the name of Wayde. We picked him up from the sisters. He's a mechanic in Elmer. When we went to go meet with him, he showed us some papers containing Anti-Mormon material that he got from his pastor and he asked us some questions about it. I was so glad that he asked us about it instead of believing everything his pastor tells him. I've gone through and corrected the papers with scriptures. we're meeting with him tonight for dinner. Hopefully all goes well.

well Gotta go!

Ja!

Aishiteru!

Elder Holladay

New Stove

This is my new stove and range hood I had to buy to bake my turkey in. I got up early in the morning to clean the walls and floor, pull the fridge out and paint the walls. I had it done in 2 hours! I could have the rest of the kitchen painted in a couple hours, then I only have to paint my room. It feels great to get things done!

New York Trip

Uncle Jayson and his dog

Dad, me, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Phil at dad's house

It was a short, cold trip, but I got some visiting in, and that is what I had planned. I extracted some history from dad and his siblings and will write it up with pictures. I got a picture from dad with all of his siblings, but I can't seem to get in loaded on this post, so maybe later.

Awesome Pic!

I love this picture! I asked Zack to get his companion, Elder Okamoto to make me a picture of Zack reading his scriptures. When I got home from New York today, this was in the mail! Fabulous!

More to come on the NY trip.

My stove went out on me the day I left for NY, so I need to get that fixed or replaced by Thanksgiving, otherwise that turkey is not going to taste too good.

Keeping it short, cause it's time for FHE!

Sunday, Sunday. So good to me!

We have been working hard all week! I talked Dave into doing a little work for his sister so he could have some $$$ for his silly hobbies. He had John over there helping him hang doors. I was so impressed how Dave included John on all the decisions and made him feel an important part of the process. Dave said he really had fun working with him. He did the same with Jake when they were putting in the water softener. I love to see that "Father-Son" bonding and it will be some great memories for them.


We had the Heaps Primary Program tonight. I wish I had a picture to share, but I will get one off their blog when her mom updates it. Emily picked the people she wanted to speak about which subject. Every person did an excellent job in adding to the spirit of the program. It was the best meeting I've been to in a long time. The talks were short and oh so sweet! Each person spoke from their heart. The Primary kids sang so well and Emily did an awesome job playing the guitar with me for the first time in public (she did the strumming). I was especially touched by Matt's (dad) talk about how his mom, who had passed away a year before his mission, was there watching over him while he was on his mission. She must have been there with the other angels sharing this special time with the family. What an amazing experience it was to be with this family while they shared their testimonies and life experiences. It was an exceptional program that I think none of us will forget. I think we were in Heaven, for just an hour!

Address Change

Elder Zack Holladay

150 West Ave., Apt. 202
Woodstown NJ 08098

OH. I should probably tell you that since I moved, my address is different (yet the same) I'm back in the hillcrest apartments, # 202. We will probably only be there for 4 weeks [so says prez.] till some sisters move back in.

Also, Since Christmas is coming up, The mission office told me to tell you that they want you to send mail and packages directly to the apartment so that the mission office doesn't get congested with mail. so yeah. Message passed.

Still no snow. we've had lots of clouds and a little bit of rain, but no snow. :/

Gas is down to $1.93 last I saw.

Well, RJ disappeared. haven't been able to establish contact with him for about a month now. Lets see... The Hermanas got "emergency transferred" to Toms river because someone up there had to go home for medical reasons. So now we have the whole ward to ourselves again. AND We get their investigators. We've got quite a few people that we're going to try to baptize this transfer. hopefully we'll be able to baptize some of the Hermana's Investigators so they can come down and see us again. We moved into their apartment today. They left us some interesting "presents"/treasures. Sis. Gleed forgot to empty a drawer in her desk. They also left a big bag of clothes and shoes. and they left other various random objects, some of which we've still yet to identify. so that's another reason we want them to come back. so they can take all the junk they left us back with them. that's pretty much it right now.

Aishiteru

Elder Holladay

Happy Birthday Dave!

Well, this is a little late, but Dave turned 51 on Friday, November 7th! Me and the boys were working for Joyce, but we stopped and Grandma Holladay treated us to a fabulous lunch at TGI Fridays! We were too full from lunch to have a spectacular dinner, so we saved it for Saturday's dinner. I did make him a yummy chocolate cake with fudge frosting (no really, the frosting tastes like grandma Sweet's fudge!) So ya, we had chocolate cake and milk for dinner! (Come on! There's eggs and flour in the cake! Milk is good for you!) lol. Dave was thrilled with the gun part he ordered for his birthday and spent most of the day putting it on his AR-15. A thrill a minute!

I have been painting and painting this week. I got all the living room done (except my yellow wall). I was hoping to get it finished this weekend, but my family was insisting I go shopping for groceries and I did a little Christmas shopping, which my boys are going to freak when they open it! (sorry Zack! You'll have to make do with what's coming in the mail soon). The bathroom is back to working order, Yeah!! I need to put some finishing touches on the trim and paint the door. Still waiting for the shower door, but the end is insight!

I found some cheap tickets to New York, so I'm taking a quick trip to see my dad, uncles and aunt. I usually don't go this often (once a year), but for some reason, I feel the need. I'm really hoping the weather cooperates. Look for updates on this trip in a couple weeks.

We are really looking forward to our Primary Program with Emily's family next week. Emily and I have really been practicing our songs! She stopped taking the Prednisone so the swelling in her face is already starting to go down. She has such a cheery disposition when I see her. You're awesome Em!

Jake and John got good enough grades to get the good student discount for insurance. It was a personal best for both of them! Spencer brought his grades up so for the first time, he had no "n's". Good job boys! Spence has a little bit of a learning disability, so we put him in piano lessons to see if that will help his brain to function better. He's doing great!

Bathroom update

I'm too tired to put a picture up here, but we got the tile in and we got the toilet put back in but the part that runs the water to the tank is the wrong size now, so we can't use it yet. I did meet my goal to have it in by tonight! I painted the floor trim, washed the tile, put the sealant on and Dave put everything together when he got home tonight. Thanks Hon! We'll be flushing in no time!

Zack's Address

I was reminded today that I haven't posted Zack's address in New Jersey. So sorry. He loves hearing from family and friends, but doesn't have time to write back much. So if you can live with that, please write him. It really puts a big smile on his face to hear from home.

Elder Zack Holladay

New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission

505 S. Lenola Road Suite #124

Moorestown, NJ 08057

His current address is: (good until 12/10/8)

Elder Zack Holladay

815 Curtis Drive

Pennsville, NJ 08070

He just got a new companion from Japan so if you send goodies, send some for both.

Congratulations to the newest member of the church in our family, Carson Sweet! You're Awesome Carson!

Also, Congratulations to Tera on her engagement! We hope to meet Ben soon!