Laranjareis Cidade Nova 4

This week not too much happened again; nothing too exciting. We mostly knocked on doors. however, we did have divisions and I got to stay with Elder Schafler who reminded me exactly of the typical XC boy. Tall, skinny, and just weird. It was fun. And he did run 10ks in house. We had fun in divisions.
Then the rest of the week was normal teaching people and finding new people to teach. João Vitor, who stopped smoking and drinking last Friday (he told us he partied hard as a final going away from drinking party haha) is all ready for his baptism on the 29th because we had to move it because this week is stake conference. He also brought his sister and his mom to church. His mom wanted to go to church because she saw how much of a change it had in João Vitor. They were cool and we will start teaching them, and he wants us to start teaching his friend too.  So that's awesome we are getting lots of references that we can teach which is always better than clapping at doors.
Happily nothing got robbed this week!!!!
I love you guys and hope everyone is doing great!
Love Elder Holcomb

Laranjareis Cidade Nova 3

Hello people,
This week again we worked and time went by fast. However, in the beginning of the week my companion got sick so he spent lots of time getting better and I got to study a "how families can be happy" pamphlet thing, that I think was from the 70's, [I found] at the bottom of this box in our house. It was good.
This week I also played a whole lot of soccer (or ran back and forth trying to play soccer, but everyone out did me; however I did score one goal so that was cool). [From the letter to Brian in reply to Brian's question if Isaac had replaced his stolen shoes for p(prep) days and to be able to play soccer: I ended up playing soccer barefoot and getting lots of blisters because it's just the parking lot at the church, but my feet acustomized so they are okay now.]
We are still teaching the same people and they are progressing very well and enjoying the church. Also this week there is a 9yr old girl that goes to church every Sunday and her dad came to church and said she wants to get baptized and he wants her to. So now we get to teach her and him and her brother that shows up on the weekdays to play soccer. We also had a lady move into our area that was already taught a lot by other missionaries so we are going to start teaching her.
One funny thing this week was that the church also got robbed and they stole like the ceiling fans and stuff from the Bishop's office and the bathroom mirror and wifi and the audio box for the microphone in the chapel and they couldn't get it replaced in time for the other ward so during sacrament meeting the other ward had to yell over the pulpit but it got fixed for ours.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Laranjareis Cidade Nova 2

(old pictures from Elder Campos)

Hello People,
Again pretty much this week we just worked and walked in the sun.
We found two guys that loved the message of The Restoration and are like hardcore studying it and things. One of them we have a date to be baptized on the 22nd because he smokes so we have to help him stop that first.  The other wants to learn more about when the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Luckily my companion likes to Bible bash so he has a ton of scriptures for that (we don't Bible bash* because I don't like it, but it's great to know all the scriptures to explain things). (However I started to like Bible bashing when you actually know how to do it so we Bible bash sometimes for companion study).
We also have two kids that go to church every Sunday that live close and want to be baptized, their dad just wants to talk to the Bishop first so we will go there this week to talk to them and teach their family. Also there was a girl we found this week in the street that went to church and knows lots of people there and liked it.
We also have like 5 people that want to get baptized but can't because they are living with their boyfriend and breaking the law of chastity and need to get married first. That's actually a big problem here because everyone is poor and just doesn't get married on paper. You will find like people that have been together 40 years but still aren't married, but we have to get them married on paper first so they aren't breaking the law of chastity and then we can baptize them. However the government here is super slow with that kind of thing. 
The ward here is great and funny and the leadership here is good too. We made a ward mission plan and everyone seemed to love it so hopefully lots of people start to work with the missionaries.
For a funny thing this week we taught a guy that believes in Greek gods, Norse gods, Egyptian gods, and Christ. It was a bit strange because he tried to explain all his thinking and using proof from history so that was fun; but honestly it didn't make sense to me so maybe I need to open up my mind more.
One guy who lives in our house is a new guy from Bolivia so he is teaching me Spanish and I am teaching him English.  Spanish is way easier now that I know Portuguese so that's fun. I basically can always understand everything, but talking is the hard part. However, I also now have friends from Peru who will take me to Machu Picchu and someone whose house I can visit if I ever visit Mozambique. So watch out because I will be a world tourist when I get back.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[*for anyone not familiar with the term "Bible bash" it usually means one person says something can't be right and the other person finds a scripture to prove it right. Or it can be each finding scriptures to prove their own point.  It is discouraged because it usually leads to an argument or disagreement and contention trying to prove self instead of leading to thoughtful discussion and understanding and respect, and thus excludes the Spirit from the conversation. The Spirit does the teaching so it is vital the Spirit can be present in a discussion, lesson, or conversation. That's why
Isaac says he doesn't like Bible bashing. Like he said, it is good to be aware of potential questions or rhetoric that could be brought up in a lesson and to then have an answer from the scriptures.

Also, for the literal readers, Isaac is not literally thinking he needs to open his mind to believing in Greek, Norse, and Egyptian Mythology- he is speaking in a more abstract sense of just trying to understand how this person is connecting those things.

Here's a few links about "The Restoration":
1 minute explanation:  https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/restoration
5 minute:  https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/joseph-smith-and-the-restoration
20 minute:  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-06-01-the-restoration?lang=eng
For those who want a bit extra:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/the-restoration-of-all-things?lang=eng
For those who think they've heard all this before ;-) :  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/are-you-sleeping-through-the-restoration?lang=eng
With a Brazilian twist:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/the-sacred-place-of-restoration?lang=eng]

Laranjareis Cidade Nova 1

This week was long and interesting to open a  new area without knowing anything; but the members are helping a lot and always willing to receive a call to explain where the house for lunch is or to help out. However we didn't get much left behind so we ended up just wandering around a lot clapping at doors to talk to people. We didn't find too many people but we found one guy who was super interested and went to church Sunday and said he loved it and definitely is going back next week. However the funny thing that happened this week is that we were robbed two times during the week.  Like they some how climbed the wall because we are on the second floor and entered into our house and into the bedroom of the other missionaries sleeping and took their cell phone and one missionary's camera and also robbed my tennis shoes and towel (I don't know why they wanted my towel) and we woke up and were like, "what the heck how did they get into our house and rob us in the night?" but luckily they didn't steal anything too crazy. Then the second day the other missionaries got home and decided to make popcorn but the gas wasn't catching fire and he was like, "what the heck" and went outside to check to see if the gas had run out and both of the giant gas gallon things had been robbed. Like they had cut the pipe thing and taken the gas. We laughed a whole lot like, "what will they take next?" and left a little card that said, "we are missionaries please don't rob us" and left a scripture reference to Exodus 20 to the ten commandments and we haven't been robbed since. However President still wants us to move houses so we will probably move next week.
The ward here is super cool and excited to help and the Bishop is super helpful too. We did end up getting to baptize some kids that the other missionaries had taught but then were transferred and so we ended up getting to baptize them so that was fun! I will send pics.

Love,

Elder Holcomb

Marituba 23

Not much happened this week work wise. We mostly just taught people.  However this week we did have the baptism of Blenda. That was awesome, I will send pictures. She and her family were super happy.
Nothing that cool to share happened, however President of the area of Brazil said that now the missionaries in Brazil can play soccer so that's awesome. Also I ended up transferred from Marituba to Laranjaras in Cidade Nova. I am sad to leave Marituba, everyone there was super awesome and I will miss them all.
Sunday no one showed up to give a talk so we had to as missionaries and we had to give an improvised talk for 20 minutes and I was pretty nervous I didn't have anything to talk about for that long. However when I got up there I didn't look at the clock so I didn't know how long I had been speaking. Apparently I ended up speaking for 35 minutes and my companion didn't stop me and the bishop didn't either because Elder Campos didn't know what to talk about really too. However it made me feel good about my Portuguese skills. Everyone wanted to get photos after so I will try to get all of those sent too.
My new companion is called Elder Arujo I don't really know anything about him because I have just talked to him a couple of times, but he is funny. We are both going to be opening the area which means both of us do not know anything about the area so we will have to rely on the things left behind by the old Elders and the ward. That should be a fun adventure. I will miss Elder Campos too. We ended up cleaning the house last night because we both will leave too and there is a new rule that if you arrive in a dirty house you can take the money out of the account of the missionaries that were there before so we literally cleaned everything. Also in my new house there will be 4 missionaries that live there and we will be moving in a few weeks so that should be fun too. Next week my email will probably be a bit more interesting. I will try to get photos.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Marituba 22

Hello,
This week again not too much happened. Because everyone we were teaching we had to cut we spent most of the week clapping at doors and finding new people that led to some funny stories. There was one house that had a giant big white flag that my companion said was a peace flag so "let's clap there." However when we looked past the gate my companion got scared and was like "yikes let's not clap here," but it was too late I already did. They had like a weird phrase written about their door and weird statues and then the lady there we talked to was like some weird religion where she like sacrificed animals and had weird tattoos and burns certain things to bring spirits into her body and she explained that to us which I thought was kind of cool but my companion got really scared. However she said she would make a visit to church one Sunday so we will see how that goes because she said when she visits Christian churches she doesn't feel good and wants to vomit.
Also we clapped at a door and there was like this 15 year old girl that came out and we asked if her family was there and she said no and we talked to her a bit and asked of we could come back one day and share a message with her whole family and she was like, "can I get a picture with you guys to remember you guys?" and we were like, "ummmmmmm sure I guess" so we got a photo with her. It's cool to be famous I guess, but also hard because you don't know who actually wants to hear your message. Now me and my companion have a fight over who it was she wanted to take a picture with he says it's cause I am an American with blond hair and blue eyes, but I think it's because he looks like Maui from Moana.
Then we also had a guy that we taught and were teaching and at one point he got super sad and asked if he could give us some words of wisdom and we said sure and he told us to never cheat on someone almost crying and we were like, "oh ok sounds good we weren't planning on it." And he kept repeating "never cheat never cheat" and apparently he cheated on someone like 20 years ago and still regrets it. However we were grateful for the advice.
We did end up having the baptism of the two kids and also found another kid that is ten years old, and family is all members but less active, but is returning to church and wants her to be baptized too. Then we are also teaching the sister of Arlison, if you remember him, and she wants to get baptized too. So now we  have a baptism planned for this week, next week, and the following week so that's pretty awesome. I just think maybe I will be transferred next week and I won't be able to see them all get baptized.
Also, I learned this week Muse released some songs and no one told me :( so now I have something to look forward to in 14 months.
LOVE YOU ALL,
Elder Holcomb

in response to my question about people last week and a couple of questions from this week:
Basically we figured it out because they just wanted to spend time talking about the U.S. and only could go to activities in the church but always had something come up on Sunday.
We talked to the guy a bit and tried to comfort him...
Yes I have 4 transfers in Marituba but its getting pretty lit here with a good companion...that wants to work and improve and the leadership here is ultimate the bishop is one of the greatest and I think maybe we will get another pair of missionaries here and open a new area because I think he will close the mosqiuero beach area so I would be really sad to leave when things are getting exciting so I kind of hope I stay here even longer. However the Lord always has a plan for us.

Here's some photos of Isaac and his companion taking a break while clearing jungle out of someone's backyard:

 Here are pictures from a baptism (same as the one above the letter):

Marituba 21

Hello people,
This will be a short email, not too much happened this week. I was super sick on Wednesday, and then my companion on Thursday, so we didn't do much. However, another sad thing was that everyone we were teaching that was progressing we found out didn't actually want anything with the church, they just wanted to be our friends or flirt with an American so they were only going to church and things for that. So that was a bit sad. However, on Saturday we got a call from the Bishop who was visiting some less active people far away and said they want their two kids to get baptized. And if you are 9 years or older it counts as a baptism for the mission so now we have to teach them all the lessons in one week and then they want to be baptized Saturday. However they live an hour away so we will have to teach all of the lessons in one afternoon. They already have been to the church lots and know everything about the messages and the commandments we just have to get through the bureaucratic part and teach everything. It makes me happy they want to be baptized, but I am a bit sad because all the time we spent teaching all these other 7 people and they don't want to progress anymore. However, I am good! I hope you like the beach photos from last week!
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[last pictures- if you know Isaac, you know he cannot pass up an opportunity for those shots, always and forever, even if he were the prophet he would still do those poses]