MTC/Belém

 

Isaac left the MTC on Monday and arrived safely in Belém. His mission President sent us some pictures and this letter:

Dear Family Holcomb,

With great pleasure we inform you that Elder Holcomb arrived here in Brazil Belem Mission today (December 18), and currently serving in city of Belem (Augusto Montenegro Area), with his companion and trainer Elder Pereira. Sister Stasevskas and I, along with the rest of the mission, are very excited to have your son serving here with us.

He has a great missionary spirit, with faith to do whatever the Lord commands. We would hope that you would, whenever possible, write letters to strengthen him and to encourage him in his missionary service. We give our sincere gratitude, and hope to keep in touch.

Yours truly,

Sister and President Stasevskas
 

Isaac wrote a quick email today to let us know when he'll call on Christmas. Here's his super quick letter to his dad:

Well to answer yes this first bit has not been like a fire hose because I just don't understand anything but still overwhelming so that makes it kind of fun being a deaf mute man it is crazy here but I will probably tell you more during skype also always send the packages and letters to the mission office and then the zone leader will deliver them directly to me. I will look forward to it and surprisingly I can't really find a place to buy pencils here just weird meat shops that don't look sanitary.

MTC 6

This week was fun. We went proselyting again and this time we talked to someone that wanted to hear more and gave us their address so that missionaries that actually speak Portuguese can talk to them.  Also, on the way back from proselyting we saw a guy juggling fire bottles in the middle of traffic for money.

This week we had a couple devotionals that talked about working with church members. One guy showed a painting of these missionaries working in this field and it was hot and the sun was shining and missionaries were just harvesting all this stuff by hand grinding. Then he showed another picture of when missionaries work with the ward and and they had like a huge harvesting machine thing that made the work so much easier, and I liked that. I thought about Bishop Miller and how his big thing was working with the missionaries.
Also this week we watched Legacy again. There is one Elder in my district, Elder Kaiser from Colarado that looks kind of like a guy in the show. So whenever [the guy in the show] started making moves on the one girl we would pat him on the back and make whistling noises and say "O.K. Elder Kaiser!!"  Which just shows you how desperate missionaries are for any romantic story.
In one of our doctrine classes Sunday they talked about Trump announcing Jerusalem as Israel's capitol. It made me realize just how out of the loop I am with news happening around the world, which made me a little bit sad and happy at the same time.
We also watched the Christmas devo and it reminded me of Mom because that is her favorite part of Christmas.  I really liked  all of the talks, but one thing that stuck out to me was when the one lady's mom told her to give something away that was a sacrifice so she would feel a bit sad getting rid of it because that is truly giving. I remembered when Ana gave away that stuffed animal rat she really liked so I guess that means Ana truly gives things to people.
There have been lots of people talking about how their families were blessed from having a missionary on a mission so I was wondering if there was any blessings you could see with having me gone. They could be savage too like you finally have left overs at dinner or the socks don't smell. Also maybe you have double blessings because Ana is gone too.
My companion Elder Hackeman's favorite Pokemon is Kadabra or Kyogre, Elder Hall's is a Torterra and Elder Kline's is a Starmie.  That's for William.
Also Mom, at the distribution center after the temple today I saw a book I thought you would really like called "The Gospel Art Book" that had like all the art and stuff about the art like scriptures and things.
We got new American Elders that were fun to talk too and see how much us that have been here for 6 weeks have grown, but also [fun to] show them around.
Elder Kaiser and I decided to run for 20 min which was terrible because I am so unfit now, but we survived, we just are really sore.
 I leave the MTC the 18th so next time I email you I will be in Belem. I will have been in the field for about a week.
 Also went to the temple for the last time in 2 years today which was kind of sad. I like the temple here so much. We got to do baptisms, which the font here is amazingly beautiful, and the shower afterwards multiplied my testimony by ten. It was the best shower ever. After I got into it there was no doubt in my mind this is the true church; it was absolutely amazing.
Love you guys

[Since Isaac leaves Sao Paulo on Monday, here are the photos from Sao Paulo (that weren't shared in the last couple posts)]

 

MTC 5

 This week was fun as well. I have been saving up the snacks throughout the week to put in my companions shoes for the vinoxman (don't actually know how to spell it), but that was fun. They were a little confused, but I explained it. 
The church put out the Christmas videos which are awesome we watch each day's in the morning during personal study and then find a way to implement it. It's kind of hard to do in the MTC especially when one day was "honor your parents" and talked about how if you haven't talked with your parents in awhile give them a call and talk to them; and all of us were like "wow thanks for rubbing it in."  The videos are super short quick and awesome, make the day great, and doing the little service things put me in a great mood for Christmas even though it's always super sunny and hot outside. 
The World Cup groups came out this week and everybody was super stressed because none of us have access to internet so we had to beg an instructor to tell us, but now it's spread like wildfire so I wrote them down. It's amazing to see how hype the atmosphere is even though it doesn't even happen until June. Apparently Brazil has a super good team this year so the missionaries going to Japan in my room are very sad because they will be gone when their country wins the cup, or so they say.  Also the other night we were about to fall asleep when we just heard loud noises like thunder start outside so we jumped out of bed. Then all the Brazilians started screaming and I was like "what is going on?" Then we looked out the window and there were fireworks outside and our roommates started freaking out and apparently the Corinthians, the local Sao Paulo team, just won. So they celebrated and it was insane! I don't think I have ever seen people celebrate so hard even for like the super bowl. It's great! I love it so much! People just go absolutely crazy! 
My Japanese companions also started teaching me some Japanese so I say stuff to them in Japanese, and then my companions get a little bit salty because I am supposed to be studying Portuguese but instead I am just talking to people in random Japanese simple sentences.  However, I think it's fun. I still have the basics of Portuguese down even though I probably should study a bit more. 
Also Elder Fariez my room mate says to look up the band Calypso they are terrible apparently, but they are from Belem so let me know how they are. 
Keep having fun I wish I had snow to ski on!!
 

Oh I totally forgot December first we had a Christmas party, and they put up a ton of lights, and I mean a ton, and lit them all. It was awesome and they had ice cream and we got pictures.

 

 

[vinoxman is Weinachtsmann. When Isaac was a baby our family lived in Germany for a few years and so our family still follows the tradition of leaving out our shoes on the night of December 5 to get filled with treats from the Weihnachtsmann (or Christmas Man if you translate it directly).

Brazil is in Group E with Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Serbia. For the full results of the 2018 FIFA World Cup draw click this link]

MTC 4

sao paulo

We went proselyting this week on the streets and it was insane; it was kind of like New York, but things were a lot more spread out and not as smashed together.  We didn't end up talking to too many people just because all I can do is pretty much talk about Jesus and the scriptures so we couldn't really do much just talking, but everyone in Brazil is super nice and just would come up to us and want to talk to us and help us practice Portuguese so we pretty much just had to walk around till people would talk to us instead of needing to talk to someone first.  We did meet some Jehovah's Witnesses. That was fun, we pretty much just reached a general consensus that God loves everybody and then stopped talking.
The MTC is super awesome. [Isaac keeps talking about how great the food is so Brian asked more about it:] Yes, the food is buffet style, but not like Old Country Buffet because the food is actually super good, and I always get beans and rice because that is actually super tasty. 
Also everyday when our district goes to check the mail we gather around the little box and sing a song while snapping about getting a letter. We all forgot the Blue's Clues mail song so if you could send that to me that would be perfect.  However, none of us have ever gotten mail except Elder Palmer, our district leader, who got two letters, and one of them was sent on Halloween so they take about 3 weeks to get to Brazil. 
Mom, you know how you said I wouldn't have a companion that would just give me free back rubs? Well, there is an Elder in my district that took like a massage class or something so he will give me free back rubs and they are pretty good.  He is pretty sweet. I found out he is going to Utah State too, so that is cool.  He and I also have a handshake where we do the hand signs for fire ball jitsu from Naruto with each other's hands so that is sweet. However, he said the best anime is Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood which I haven't seen, but I think William has. 
Which reminds me, the Brazilians going to Japan that can talk a little English watch anime too so we had like a 2 hour long conversation using my limited Portuguese and their limited English and both of our random Japanese phrases we can scream from the show to talk about them. They said there are lots of good anime I have not seen yet too, so I guess when I get home I will have lots of shows to watch. 
Every Sunday we get to watch a movie so we watched Legacy and The Testaments. In both of them there is a really cheesy love story, and since all the missionaries are suffering withdrawal from not being able to watch movies, like every time something happens people will scream and hoot and holler or yell "friend zoned" so it's pretty great. 
We did get turkey for Thanksgiving, Dad; it was pretty nice to be reminded of home. We also had a special devotional from Elder Bednar that we watched live that was really good. He basically did a question answer thing and it was really nice. He talked a lot about how we don't teach people the gospel, the Spirit does. Our job is to help people feel the Spirit and the Spirit will verify the truth.  We also watched a good devo[tional] from Elder Holland, and one of my favorite things he said was that we don't have any scriptures of Jesus laughing and joking around, although he is sure that Jesus did laugh. However, there are lots of scriptures of him weeping, and on our missions there will probably be lots of weeping and we will weep for the people that won't accept the truth or the gospel because of how sad we will be for them. 
It is awesome here. I love you guys so much. Keep having fun lives.

 [In response to a comment I made, "I am delighted how confident you are and how excited you are to be in a completely new place where you don't know anyone or anything! That would terrify me. Also I'm so glad you see how right this is for you when leaving (family and friends) behind was a very hard thing for you, and you still chose the right path for you. You are (a) very strong and inspirational (person) to me. I love you." Isaac said the following:]
Thanks mom, you are the best. I will keep trying to stay inspirational. Things are still kind of hard not being at home or with Eryn or with friends but the Spirit definitely helps. Another thing Holland said is how much the Gift of the Holy Ghost isn't used; we literally have a member of the Godhead with equal testimony and power of Jesus Christ and of God as our constant companion and we don't use it enough. I love that so much because I definitely never thought of it that way before.

The Alpaca scripture case

MTC 3

Hey guys,

I survived.  I don't really have much to say this week because we are always very scheduled.  We wake up early and have language class pretty much all day.  It's interesting to see how well I am actually picking up the language. I definitely am not fluent, but I definitely am gaining knowledge. We have to teach people in just Portuguese and I can actually have a conversation and talk with them and kind of adjust off of what was planned if needed.  The only problem is when you know what they asked and you know how to answer them in English, but in Portuguese I just end up saying something like, "well I know it's very very very important."  

Elder Hackleman's throat did get better, but we had to go back for different antibiotic medicine with a prescription from the doctor.  

The food here is absolutely amazing, but I do really just want some McDonald's fries.  

Also from riding the buses I realized that Sawyer would fit right into driving, but Matt Hempe would never set foot near a road. I think I almost died riding the bus places.  Which reminds me when we were getting our passports verified there was one lady with a mug where she just had like random guys' passport photos taped on it if they were attractive so I asked if I could be on it, and I don't know if she understood my English or not, but I hope I make the cut.  

Also the power goes out quite a bit and if it stays out the AC doesn't work and then things get miserable.  

Everyone in my district is pretty awesome, but we do have a little trouble staying on task and actually studying, but our district leader is really good and we all come up with pretty productive goals.  I did have to be separated from Elder Santos for volleyball because we were so good. Now that we can kind of communicate and plan stuff we aren't allowed to be on the same team anymore. 

Today we went to the temple again which was as amazing as ever, but we had to do the second session and then the gates were locked so we couldn't make it to the buses and now we are just getting back at 3:30. P-day ends at 5 so we will probably have like no time to walk around to stores and stuff and I needed to stop by the post office to mail letters and buy stamps.  

I also bought a Quad in Portuguese to fit the llama case I got so I am excited to start reading that and marking that and hopefully reading both English and Portuguese scriptures side by side will help me learn the language.  We are supposed to go proselyting right outside the MTC this Saturday so I hope I can actually talk to regular Brazilian people and understand them but we will see.  Also sacrament meetings are all in Portuguese so I really never have any idea what the speakers are saying but I think I may have to give a talk myself soon so I want to prepare one in English and translate it now just so I can be prepared.  I'll send all my pictures when I get into the field.

Love,

Elder Holcomb  

MTC 2

Dear people,

I only have 45 min to write everybody emails so if I don´t respond to you today I am sorry, I'll try to get back to you next week.  

This week has been a huge adventure. Micheal Phelps, we just saw. The police station story is basically the bus driver wouldn't let me get on the bus and then made everyone wait, took my passport, and led me to the police station. I was like, "what the heck is going on?" Then we waited there for like 30 min and then they gave me my passport back and we left and I have no idea what happened because everything was in Portuguese.

The MTC [missionary training center] has been a blast.  The food is amazing and so are all the people.  I am in a three way companionship while I am here. The first is Elder Hackleman, the Nebraskan that is absolutely obsessed with basketball and did show choir in high school so I always sit next to him during choir so when he harmonizes I sound good.  He also has this really cool pen trick that is really sweet but I can't really describe; it's cool though.  The second is Elder Larsen from Arizona who loves mechanics and building things and shooting things in his backyard.  They are both really fun and great to hang around with.  Our roommates are Elder Fariez and Elder Melo who are both from Brazil learning Japanese for their missions and are here for 9 weeks.  Fariez speaks pretty good English too, so it is great to work on our Portuguese with him at night.  Speaking of which it's amazing how much Portuguese I already know. Our second day we had to teach someone a lesson about the gospel in Portuguese and it was terrible, but I at least understood him a little, and we have done that every night since and now we can hold decent conversation and I can bear my testimony and pray.   

Dad, to answer your question the hardest adjustment has to be the toilet paper and showering with bugs.  The toilet paper comes out like Kleenexes so you can't just unroll the amount you want, and the bugs are water proof so you can't wash them down the drain but at least they don't bite.  

When we got here we had a devotional and they said, "obedience brings blessings, but perfect obedience brings miracles."  I guess I have been perfect because I definitely have had miracles. For one, I actually sound OK when I sing in choir, and the second is I am actually good at basketball because one of the rules is you can't jump (not sure why that is a rule), but it throws everyone else off and then my skills are on par with theirs.  However volleyball is where my true skill lies.  Me and Elder Santos are an epic duo no one can defeat. We can't even speak to each other because we don't speak each other's language but the team chemistry is so real nothing can stop us.  

Elder Hackelman had a really sore throat so we went to the help desk and the doctor wasn't here and the lady only spoke Portuguese so we had to try and communicate but it wasn't working so eventually she wrote something down on a sheet of paper, led us outside, pointed across the street, said, "muito bem" and went back inside. We weren't sure what to do, but we just went across the street and there was this weird pharmacy place. We weren't sure what to do because the store shop owner didn't speak English so we just grabbed our throats and made moaning noises and eventually he went in the back and grabbed us some meds and took the paper which apparently meant we didn't need to pay and then we left.  So we hope the meds are what we need and he doesn't die.  

The city is amazing everything is like crammed together and the city is so packed. I have pictures but I cant send them until I get into the field in 6 weeks or else the WiFi will crash.  

The temple is absolutely amazing. It is so beautiful and huge. The only problem was lots of everything was in Portuguese but since I was a temple worker and had everything memorized I ended up being okay. 

 Oh, and also today I bought a nice scripture case from a lady from Peru outside that has a llama on it, but it might be an alpaca because "their ain't no pack in alpaca."  Also next week when we go to the temple I am going to buy a Portuguese quad to put in my new scripture case from the church distribution center they have there. [Quad is a set of scriptures including 1-the Old Testament, 2-The New Testament, 3-The Book of Mormon, 4-Doctrine and Covenants]

My district is so amazing we all have so much fun. We spend all day quoting Nacho Libre and trying to learn Portuguese.  It's so amazing to wake up everyday and have a giant scripture study with them and everyone shares what they learned during personal study and it is just awesome to hear all of their testimonies and why they are serving missions.  It's amazing to just have the entire day jam packed with the Spirit and everyone is always so happy.  Another thing they said in the devotional is that the MTC is one place where the Spirit is most powerful second to only the temple and my first thought was, "yeah right it is a bunch of 18 and 19 year old boys" but After this first week I can definitely say that is true. I don't think I have felt this much spirit in my life. I am learning and growing so much and I am so glad for deciding to serve a mission.   

 

     

MTC 1

I made it safe didn´t die yet.  I dont have much time and this keyboard is in portuguese so sorry about spelling.  It was crazy Micheal Phelps was on our flight and when we got there aperantly something was wrong with my passport so I got sent to the police department.  It was crazy ill probably tell you more when I have more time.  My P day is Wednesday but it wont be tomorrow because I just saw you yesterday so wait till next week.  Also I cant send pictures because the internet here is terrible so wait until I am in the feild.  I will still send pictures though.  Also the city was huge like it was nothing and then just skyscrapers for miles.  I have a three way companionship and we live on the top floor and have to walk up the stairs so I guess that will be good excersise.  Also MTC email time is short so I will porbably take pictures of emails read them in my room and then respond the next week.  So tell people that if they emailed me I wont respond until next week.  Love you all sorry about the spelling this keyboard is confusing.