Pérola 4

Hello,
I don't really have a funny story to share this week really. However we worked pretty hard during the week.  We had lots of people that said they would go to sacrament meeting so we said we would walk with them, but when we showed up Sunday morning only two kids were awake to walk with us. However when we arrived at the church there were 4 people who said they wouldn't be able to make it, but went anyways, and we got super happy to see them there.
Yesterday a member had his 60th birthday party and we were invited and so that was fun. We ate lots of free food.  Then after, it completely poured, so after we got home we switched clothes and ran around in the rain jumping puddles, and that was probably the highlight of the week.
This week we will have the rest of P-day tomorrow. Today we are just using cyber and [tomorrow] me and the other American that ran cross country are going to run from our house to the shopping mall and race everybody taking the bus because you have to take two buses to get there.  We think the bus route is slower than the direct route so we are going to race them.  I am not really sure how long it is, but I think maybe 10 miles. The only problem is that it has been a year since either of us have run so that will make it a whole lot more fun.  P-day is tomorrow because the missionaries from Obidos and Oroximina need to ride a boat [iun ??] and don't get here until tonight, but we wanted to spend P-day with them.
Christmas is coming up and everyone here is preparing too. It's a bit strange to see all of the Christmas decorations in the heat and without snow, but I guess that's just the way things go here.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[check out Light the World this Christmas https://www.mormon.org/christmas for ideas of how to serve this Christmas season and to see what Isaac mentioned he was excited about few letters back]

Pérola 3

Hello people,
This week was a fun one. Work wise was pretty much normal however we brought one guy to sacrament meeting who is pretty awesome. He is 22 and accepted our message and wants to be baptized on the 15th. I don't remember if I said this or not, but on the 15th of December we are going to have a stake baptism night where like all of the baptisms in the stake will be at the stake center and it will be like a big party so everyone is planning baptisms on the 15th. So he wants to work to be baptized then, and we have 3 other people that want to prepare to be baptized then, but the others still haven't made it to church and that's kind of like a key requirement to be able to be baptized is actual go to church. However the area is doing good. The ward mission leader is super good and always helping members go out with us to teach. This week we hit our zone goal for the month so everyone went crazy and celebrated and got happy and we were the only zone to hit our goal for a long time in the mission so the Assistants to the President got happy with us too, and we will probably be able to go to the beach and have churrasco on the beach one P-day.
Also Pres. Almeida got sent home early for health problems so the Mission President changed again and now it's President Nougeira. He was already president in the Brazil João pessoa mission (which is the mission that baptizes the most in Brazil). So everyone is a bit nervous to see if he is super strict or relaxed, just like when Almeida showed up. However he also is only going to be here about 6 months before he goes home and we will get a new president. So I guess President Staveskas who I thought I would only spend a little of time with will end up being the Mission President that I spent most time with and got to know the best.
Also I bought a camera from one of the missionaries that live in our house so now I can finally send more photos again. Also people are getting prepared for Christmas here so that's fun and it brings back memories of when I first arrived here in Brazil; so that's fun I guess I am an old missionary now.
It's fun to think about how much I have learned and grown. And yet lots of it has just been from personal study of the scriptures (lots from others too) but I was surprised by how much we can learn by personal study and prayer. We have lots of good teachers, but the best teacher of all is The Holy Ghost* so sometimes we need to sit and get a nice lecture from Him too.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[*Here's some links I've added to elaborate on Elder Holcomb's thoughts:
(short, but has links to more) https://www.lds.org/topics/holy-ghost?lang=eng
(medium) https://www.lds.org/church/news/my-most-influencial-teacher-the-holy-ghost-helped-me-serve-the-one?lang=eng
(long) https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/how-does-the-holy-ghost-help-you?lang=eng]

Pérola 2

This week was awesome! We weren't planning on baptizing anyone, but there was this one girl that's been to church a lot, but always went to her aunt's house to help out. So the days that she would go to church she wouldn't know, so we could never plan a baptism, but then Wednesday she was like, "I will be here this Saturday; baptize me." So we were like, "great!" and planned her baptism. It was a lot of fun and everyone was very happy.
We found lots of cool people during the week to teach, however, on Sunday nobody came to church so we got a little sad, however we will talk to them this week.  Two cool people from this week: There was one house we knocked at right before going home at night and it was a mom and daughter. The mom lives like far away in the middle of the jungle so won't be able to make it to church, and the girl was like "I am a part of the igreja da paz." We were like, "ok, but we still have a cool message for you guys," and so we left the message.  Then when we went to follow up the next day the girl was like, "we did what you asked and prayed and asked if what you said was true and my mom said that God sent you two here to help us and now we both know it's true and we want to go to church." So that was a cool experience and showed the power of prayer. Sadly the mom went back to the middle of the jungle and only visits civilization like every four months and the girl went to her aunt's house for the weekend, but this week will be back in her house.
Then there was this other guy that stopped us in the street and said he needed help fixing up his life because it's ruining his relationship with his family and wants to be a good dad for his family and didn't know why but wanted to ask us for help. So we marked a time to meet with him tonight.
The ward and area here are awesome.  The members are all lots of fun and the area is pretty and great to take photos. I am going to buy a camera from one of the missionaries I live with so I will send more photos soon!
Love,
Elder Holcomb

From Elder Holcomb's letter to his dad:
My new companion is very good and really wants to be a good a missionary so we are teaching lots of people but no one really wants to go to sacrament meeting. The house is fun, there is me and my companion from Peru that also likes Avatar the Last Airbender and is teaching me Spanish. There is Elder Puche from Colombia, that served in the military (that this week caught two pigeons with his bare hands to take a picture) and his companion from the Dominican Republic. Then there are the zone leaders, a Brazilian from Sao Paulo, and an American from South Carolina (that ran XC and did show choir). It's pretty fun.
I am in the ward of Pérola and we live in the neighborhood Santo Andre next to the church; and three duplas are in different wards.

[HMU for the TBH was Isaac being silly because he says when he was in High School people said that all the time when they wanted attention and he'd love getting some mail because he doesn't get much]

mystery location 1

(photo throwback to Marituba-recently sent to Elder Holcomb)

Hey guys!
This week was fun getting to know a new area again. The area is super cool and the members here are fun.  All of the streets are mud and sand and the rain season is coming back so all of the roads became mud streams so that was a blast to work in.
The area has lots of work to do and the people here are pretty accepting. Our zone leaders challenged us to talk about baptism and invite everyone to baptism in everything, including contacts in the street. So me and my companion have a picture of Christ's baptism, and when we make contacts we are literally like, "hey, do you know Christ?" "Yes, he is our Savior and he showed us the perfect example in everything and taught us His gospel. One of the things he did was be baptized." Then we explain a bit about baptism and then invite them to be baptized. I was kind of like "that's a little up front and don't think anyone's going to accept that," but we tried it and it actually worked and I was like, "what the heck?" So this week we had ten people agree to prepare to be baptized and continue learning with us on the 24th of November and the 15th of December. On the 15th we are going to take all the baptisms in the stake to the stake building and have a big party at the stake building so we are trying to find people to take to that. 
Also, now there are 6 of us living in one house because our house is one of the biggest in the mission and it's crazy.  One guy was in the Colombian military before his mission and when we have a Nerf gun fight he always wins. We also made a goal as a companionship to sing a hymn before every lesson to bring the Spirit. We both sing horribly, but it brought the Spirit, and now we realize [when we are teaching] we can sing and then explain the Spirit  and how the Spirit speaks to us, and say, "the same feeling you had during the hymn is the feeling of the Spirit."  Then it helps people recognize responses to their prayers too.  My companion is great.  I asked him what he liked to do back home and he said "study" :-) :-) (but he actually is sweet, he isn't boring).
Love,
Elder Holcomb

PS
HMU for a TBH
[Not sure what Isaac means by this, but all guesses so far are that he wants people to write, so if you need Isaac's email or regular mail address leave me a comment on the blog, on Instagram, Facebook, or email me.]

Santarém 5

Hello people,
This week was a blast!  First off this week was the last week of the transfer so we were working real hard to bring people to church (which only one person ended up going :-( ) However, on Wednesday we had divisions and our lunch fell through and then one member from our ward that lives in a city about 5 hours away was close and said, "hey I will take you guys to a restaurant." Let me just say, this was no ordinary guy.  He picked us up with his wife in this fancy truck and then sped down the highway, and turns out he just got back from his mission in less than a year, but he is already married, and has this fancy truck, and then he took us to this amazing restaurant in the middle of nowhere on the beach. This restaurant was like one of the fancy tourist restaurants so there were some people from France there.  We took photos on the beach and in the little heart thing that I will send. However you can look it up on the internet for better photos. Then later in the week he stopped by our house and gave us a whole bunch of things from the grocery store, and it was amazing, which included Nutella (and Nutella is super expensive here) We almost cried. We took a photo I will try to send too.
However on a more serious note, I was transferred again, but only to an area about 30 minutes away in the same stake so that's a little funny. My new companion is from Peru so I guess that means I can continue bettering my Spanish. However, I am a little sad in these last two areas I have spent such a short time and found people to baptize and watched them progress and now I will be moved again before I can even see them be baptized so that leaves me a little sad, but I know they are making the right choice.
Love you guys!
Elder Holcomb

Santerém 4

This week was fun. Not too much happened funny or interesting to share. However we worked and walked. However, we have had a problem with helping people make it to sacrament meeting this whole transfer and this Sunday we decided we would walk to everyone's house that lives far away. So we woke up at 5 in the morning to walk on the side of the highway to make it to their houses and take them to the bus stop. We thought that the Lord would recognize our sacrifice and bless us, but it wasn't too much of a sacrifice, it was actually pretty fun.  In one of the rivers that passes under the highway we saw an old lady washing her clothes that said she would wash ours for money in the river too, but we told her that's fine we wash our own clothes. (So I guess that's a bit funny and interesting). However, we did end up being able to bring lots of people into sacrament meeting. So moral of the story, the Lord blesses you for your sacrifices by making them fun and interesting.
Also this week we went to Alter do Chão the famous beach here for the last P-day of one Sister going home. It was a blast and lots of fun, but Elder Paredes ended up getting sick and threw up on the bus in a plastic bag that he had to keep in his hands for the rest of the 45 min ride and it was funny. (He is from Chile and loves geography and we have competitions on the US states and capitals). He and my companion are also helping me with my Spanish so that when I visit Machu Picchu I can be fluent. I will try to get all the photos later. LOVE YOU GUYS,
Elder Holcomb

Santarém 3

Hello people,
This week was fun, not anything too interesting happened. One Monday we climbed up a plateau in our area with some members; it was super fun.  Then we played soccer in a sand pit and it reminded me of how unfit I am.
This week was zone conference and because we are far away we didn't meet up with the rest of the mission so it was just our zone, but the missionaries from Obidos, an area down the Amazon that's 8 hours of a boat ride away, stayed at our house.  So we got to do divisions with them for one day and had 4 of us working in our area. I stayed with Elder Bogart, an American from Missouri, so that was fun to spend a day with only an American. He is new in the mission so it was fun to remember how it was when I got in the field and didn't know Portuguese and had a really strong accent. However we taught well and it was fun. Zone conference was fun and we all got to go out to eat at a restaurant. Lots of the conference was about being more obedient and more diligent in working hard. However it was fun to be with everyone and take turns playing songs on the piano and joking around.
We had lots of people going to sacrament meeting this week but the bus that drives and picks up all the members and investigators that live far away broke and so they ended up waiting for the bus that never showed up so that was sad.
However my spiritual thought of the week would be the power of The Book of Mormon. Usually literally everyone that takes time to sit down, learn about the Book of Mormon and then read just a little bit realizes it's true and then wants to get baptized. In the start of my mission I was always a bit scared to use The Book of Mormon in the first lesson thinking that the people wouldn't accept it and always used the Bible to explain things, but The Book of Mormon actually brings the Spirit and testifies of the truth. The Book of Mormon is what makes the church the church and someone who takes the time to learn about The Book of Mormon realizes that and wants to follow. So always take the time to read it and study it and share it with others!
Love,
Elder Holcomb