Pérola 9

Hello People!
This week was pretty normal.  New Year's was a blast of fun.  We were able to spend the night at a member's house and we got eat a lot of tasty food before going back home.  We thought working was going to be really hard this week because of the holidays, however, we ended up working very hard and finding lots of new people to teach.  On Sunday we had two visitors that are both friends of members and they are super cool.  We taught both of them about the restoration and agreed to pray and ask if was true and will talk to them again tonight.  We have another girl that we are going to baptize. However, her step mom ended up losing her baby in the hospital (that would be great if she could get some prayers), so we had to move her baptism to a later date.  We also have one guy we are teaching that is super fun.  He is 23 years old and is a waiter at a restaurant and an Uber driver with a baptismal date for the 19th.  So the work here is going really well.  Two hour church was pretty great. Now that they got rid of the Gospel Principles class we got to participate in the young single adult class and that was super fun.  Also there were three Americans visiting from Colorado in our ward because one of them got proposed to from a Brazilian in the neighbor ward so I got to talk in English with them.  It was pretty cool to talk to Americans, however, they talked about the snow and then I got missing snow a lot.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[These are pictures from a hike this morning]

Pérola 7 and 8

Hello people,
Sorry I didn't email home last week because of the skype [video chat with family on Christmas day].  However there isn't much to share; the work has been a bit hard because of the holidays, everyone is traveling and visiting family.  However we have still been having fun. The Relief Society gave us a present of a bunch of cookies so that was tasty and a bunch of balhina de chuva (which is basically doughnut holes). 
However I do actually have some pictures to send now so I hope all of you can finally enjoy pictures after a long long time. 
Remember to always smile and be happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And get pumped for the new year and set good goals!  The new Come Follow Me manual looks pretty sweet and we got one for our missionary house and we are planning on doing it as a missionary family :-) I'm excited to study better about the New Testament and get more knowledge on the mission of the apostles because I always understand and know the mission and life of Christ, but what happens with all of the apostles and their missions after I always seem to forget the context of those letters and parts.
I will try to share the photos on google drive.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[Isaac shared a lot of pictures so I'm just going to add a few here in case he doesn't send more next time so I can share some then.  Second to last photo Elder Holcomb and another Elder went on a run wearing each other's high school team jerseys; and the last photo is the view of Santarem after their run up the hill.]

Pérola 6

Dear people,
This week was a blast. It was the last week of the transfer so we were working really hard. Also Pres. came to have another conference with us to do our interviews and for Christmas. It was pretty good. They talked a lot about being a consecrated missionary. Pres. gave us three things that are a recipe for success in the mission and life. Obedience, work, and focus. Then his wife gave us a nice talk too, and then talked about being clean and staying healthy, like any good mother would.
The missionaries from far away were staying with us for the weekend because of the conference so it was fun to talk with them. We would have them work in our areas and find people to teach for us while we were teaching people we already found so it was like we had 4 missionaries in our area so that was fun.
The week ended well. We had 5 people come visit church with us and one of them felt the Spirit so much he said he didn't need to pray and ask God if it was true because he already knows it is.  So that's pretty awesome, we will have to work with him and his brother to be baptized.  The others were all youth that liked it too and found friends quickly, but we have to go back during the week and see what they felt spiritually too.
I know I said I would take more pictures, but I am sorry, I actually didn't take any this week so I don't have any to send.  I think I got used to not having a camera, sometimes I just forget.
Oh, and this transfer I am staying here in the same area with the same companion.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

From Isaac's letter to Brian:
Sounds like a good week. We ended up cancelling the big stake baptism because just our area was going to baptize with the area that goes to our same chapel. However, the two siblings we were going to baptize ended up going to their dad's house because their uncle got into an accident and their mom had to go help him so they would be [t]here for the weekend, and we had to move the baptism [to] the 29th.
I am pumped to talk to you guys next week too. I am not sure exactly what time I will call, but I will go to a members house with wifi and talk on one of their cell phones.
I am not really sure how people feel about [the curriculum changes] because as the missionaries it doesn't change too much and we haven't gotten a Come Follow Me manual yet. However I think people are excited for the 2 hour church.
I am glad everyone is enjoying the ski season.
Yeah, we ended up running an 8k to the bank because we ran out of money for the bus which actually ended up ok. I was surprisingly feeling pretty good. But yes, the other runner will be here this transfer too, and it is our goal to run more.

Pérola 5

Hello people!
This week was fun. Our trip to the mall was fun however the missionary that I was going to run with got sick and didn't want to run anymore so we ended up using the bus anyway. However, the mall was fun and we had a secret Santa thing that was fun. The mall is always fun to visit because you can always see things that you don't see in the work; like there is a movie theater you can pass in front of and see all the movies that are coming out and then you get sad and miss home.
Conference with President Aidukaitis and Mission President was fun; we learned a lot. However, it was funny because Aidukaitis responded to every question by just like burning the missionary that asked it. So one time I asked if he had any tips to bringing people to sacrament meeting because we are trying really hard but not that many people are showing up. He responded and asked what my goal was for this week, and I was like "6." He asked how many people I am teaching and I was like, "20." He was like, "so who are the people you don't want to bring?"  I was like, "ummm, I want to bring all of them, but I made a realistic goal." Then he flamed me and said, "you will never bring people to church with that attitude. When God told Nephi to build a boat and sail across the sea did he tell God it was unrealistic? No, that's what Laman and Lemuel said. Stop being a Laman and Lemuel." And everyone was like "dang..." so now I get to say I got burned by a general authority and that can go in my journal.
New president is cool, I like him a lot. We didn't get to talk with him because he had another flight to catch but he is coming back this week to have a Christmas lunch with us so that will be when we can talk with him.
This week I got a bit sick too, so working was a bit hard, but through it all we have 3 people to baptize this week so that should be fun and hopefully they all work out.
Everyone here is excited for Christmas but it doesn't really feel right because there still isn't any snow haha.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

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]