Quarenta Horas 5

Hello,
This week was pretty awesome!  We worked hard and we also had a zone conference with the new pres.  He is super awesome.  His dad was the first person to be baptized in the top half of Brazil, and he was the church historian for Brazil before, and is good friends with Ulysses Soares, so that's fun.  He is pretty smart and is pumped to work hard and inspired everyone.  He was at a meeting with the prophet and lots of the 12 and President Nelson said he wants to go to the ground breaking for the Belém temple and so did Ulysses Soares and Elder Holland so there might be a heck ton of general authorities here in August and the Mission President said that we all need suits so I guess I will have to buy one.  I am pretty pumped to see all the general authorities, just a bit scared to have them look into my eyes and into my soul.  I might try to have small chat with the prophet about the U of M.  Something cool this week is that we went through all of the Ensigns and Liahonas we have in our house (which is a lot) and I took out all of the posters and we taped them all on the wall so now our wall is full of posters (I will try to get a pic).  Also we had lots of cool people go to sacrament meeting this week that want to baptized this weekend so that should be fun.  I will take pics and tell their story next week!  Also, I sent some pics from the park where we went biking.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Quarenta Horas 4

Hello!
This week was good.  We ended up having a baptism this week of a young kid that loves the church.  He has two older brothers that have made some bad decisions and have some pretty bad addictions and he saw how much those decisions hurt their lives and knew that entering into the church would be able to give him a guide to success.  It was good to teach him and he is great friends already with the young men in the ward.  He even told us to pray and ask that his brothers can see his example of being baptized and that they will try to follow as well.  We tried to teach them, but they usually aren't too interested in listening, but I know his example already made his mom very proud.  We have some other people planned to baptize in the next couple of weeks that are very cool and are progressing well.  Nothing too crazy happened this week, but we did have a fun ward party for a holiday here and there was lots of cultural dancing and food so that was tasty; and lots of visitors came.  I'm still trying to get those pictures from the bike ride at the park and hopefully I can get them out as soon as possible.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[We were able to talk to Isaac today and he mentioned his new mission president arrived.  He says it's his 4th mission president since he's been on his mission.  The first one was almost done serving when Isaac arrived, then the second one ended up getting sick and was released, the third was just filling in until the 4th could arrive.  Isaac said a lot of people talk about their mission president being like another father to them, but he has never really built that kind of relationship with the short time mission presidents have been there.  What he has learned is that the church has given enough guidelines with Preach My Gospel and the handbook so that he can keep working and keep moving forward with direction even though the leadership changes.]  

Quarenta Horas 3

Hello,
This week was fun.  Now that we are kind of settled in the area we decided to try working really close with the members this week because we were having difficulties bringing people to church and it worked out really well!  Lots of people ended up coming to church because they felt like they had a friend there that wasn't just us hahaha.  This week everyone in the house got sick for the first part of the week and everyone that has served a mission knows that's the worst thing to happen because there is literally nothing to do when you are sick but read the scriptures or stare at the wall.  However we are all better now and were blessed with lots of visitors to the church.  The other American that lives at our house is new and learning Portuguese, but at home he was super into rock climbing, and my companion is really into African dances, so every morning we have arms and abs and then something that is basically Zumba so that's lots of fun and hopefully I get back into shape before I get home.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Quarenta Horas 2

Hello,
This week was super fun.  We once again worked hard.  This week we continued getting to know the area better and getting to know the members.  We had some visitors in sacrament meeting which was fun.  All of them are excited to be baptized.  One is a young man that loves church and wants go every Sunday and another is a single man with his two daughters that we taught just a little bit about the atonement and plan of salvation and he loved it and there is a family that is just waiting for their papers to get through so they can get married legally.
One funny thing that's happening is here lots of time as missionaries we take the bus, however Uber has now reached Belem and some missionaries found out it's cheaper to get an Uber than ride the bus if you are going there with 4 missionaries.  So it is now a thing for all the missionaries to call a member to ask them for an Uber and travel by Uber.  So that's the missionary mode of travel now.  Today we ended up going to a big nature park down town that was super sweet and we got a ton of pictures so when I get those I will try to send them quick.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Quarenta Horas 1

Hello,
This week was awesome!  My new companion and area are amazing.  My companion is from the Congo and is funny; it feels like I am walking with an inspirational speaker all day.  He said he likes people that DREAM BIG so that's awesome.  We are working a ton and what I have really learned with him is that missionaries really do have power and authority.  We really teach and call people to repentance.  We don't teach the restoration like teachers, but we show them why it's important to their eternal family.  We teach the law of chastity and the word of wisdom as the first lesson for tons of people and tell them if they want a happy eternal family they need to follow them, and they love it and want to go to church on Sunday; it's awesome.  There was this one lady that smokes that we taught and my companion was like, "you're going to stop smoking so that you can be baptized in two weeks and be washed of your sins and be born again."  We are going to give you a blessing and when you have temptation pray and drink lots of water and if you need to, call us."  And until now she hasn't smoked once.  There was one guy we stopped in the street and told him our job was to help people have an eternal family and asked if he wanted one and he was like, "yeah, I love my family" and my companion was like, "how long have you been married?" and the guy said, "actually we just live together" and we taught the law of chastity and my companion said "you need to get married and follow the commandments or you will never have an eternal family" and the guy was like, "yeah that's true I will talk to my wife tonight."  The gospel of Christ is about change every day to become better.  Maybe when we are first baptized we make lots of big changes in our life but the moment we stop changing and relax that's when it's over; we've got to get better and utilize the atonement every day of our lives.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[From Michele:  For more on changing everyday: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/36nelson?lang=eng]

Salinopólis 5

This week was lots of fun.  We worked hard again.  This week was my birthday and people ended up throwing a surprise party for me so that was fun.  They played the national anthem and some hymns and brought cake so that was fun.  My birthday was pretty cool, I was very grateful, and I got a custom t-shirt with everybody's name on the back to remember everyone.
This week was the temple dedication of the Forteleza temple in Brazil so we were going to watch that this Sunday, but the internet didn't work and it ended up being a regular sacrament meeting, but there weren't any visitors because everyone was planning on the temple dedication. 
However I ended up getting transferred to a new area which was sad.  I loved the area of Salinas, everyone there is super cool and it's a really awesome city.  However now I am in 40 Horas, closer to Belém, which is fun.  The past Elders here gave us lots of work to do and people to baptize so that is fun.  I am excited to work here and to meet new people!
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[Isaac seemed slightly reluctant to let us know he's being transferred so soon because he is becoming a zone leader.  Zone leader is basically someone who will be leading and training a larger group of missionaries.]