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]

Marituba 20

This week not too much happened, but it was fun. I am liking to work with Elder Campos a lot. We are always setting goals to get better and working hard. However this week was a bit sad. This week lots of people we are teaching were traveling or didn't want to learn anything more.
However, the most exciting thing was that everyday there is this drunk lady in the street that we talk to and she always asks us to pray with her so we do and then invite her to church. This week she came! However she came in nothing but underwear. It was before sacrament meeting started so not that many people were there, but the Bishop's counselor was testing the microphone when she came in and was like, "testing, testing, Elders what did you do...."  So we talked to her and all the other members already know her and apparently she already is a member, just inactive. She just wanted a Book of Mormon to carry around with her in the street because it made her feel better, so we gave her one and she went on her way. Also on Sunday we left another presentation with the quorum and Relief Society and talked about our ward mission plan and showed a cool video of the St. Thomas Branch from a talk that Thomas S. Monson gave.  Everyone seemed to get excited to help the missionaries and that was good. Other than those two things not much happened. I hope everyone has a good week, I will too.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[Elder Holcomb and Elder Paniagua]

Marituba 19

Hello people,
This week was good. My new companion is the best.  We are really trying to be better missionaries and always looking for ways to improve, and he is a blast.   (We sing High School Musical every night).
We had a baptism this week so, yay!!  She was cool.  She had a cool experience when she was with her aunt and said that she didn't drink coffee anymore because she was going to get baptized in the church, and her aunt started flaming her like, "what the? that's dumb."  And she responded, "I know it's right and you should pray and ask God if it is too."  So her aunt did and the next day was like, "I prayed and it's true and when I go back to Rio de Janeiro I am looking for the church and getting baptized there."  So that shows just how far a simple testimony sharing can go. 
Also an interesting thing happened was that we were walking in the street and then this woman just stopped and walked to the side and pulled down her pants and started to pee. So we hurried past looking straight forward and as we passed she yelled "good afternoon!!!" So that was extremely scary and funny. Not something you would see in Minnesota.
Also this week we had the opportunity to dance Just Dance at a church activity and me and my companion won so we are cool. We also have two people we are teaching who are cool and we have a goal for them to be baptized on the 11th. the only problem is they both work on weekends and they need to visit church so we have to work hard with them to make a visit.
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Holcomb

Marituba 18

This week was good. Not too much happened, but we did have the "get to know the president" conference which was fun. The new president seems really smart. We just listened to him talk for a bit, but we will have interviews with him at the end of the month. He changed a whole lot of stuff right away which not that many missionaries are liking and aren't too happy about. I think that's probably normal for when a new mission president comes just because you get to know one so personally and so it's hard to work with the new one.
This week my companion's back hurt a lot, but we ended up being blessed because we couldn't walk too far, but we ended up getting lots of references and lots of people who wanted to work with us. We have a baptism planned for the Young Men President's cousin and two other people we were teaching we visited with a member. They were super excited and said they got a response to their prayer and want to get baptized, but the problem is they work every Sunday. However they said they are going to skip work next Sunday to visit, and to get baptized you need to have visited at least 2 times before you can get baptized so we just have to wait one more, and hopefully they still have the desire.
Also Saturday we taught a family of a grandma, a single mom, and two daughters that are 19 and 20 so we realized that meant they could visit the single people activity ( I forgot the name in English) there was going to be that night. Which they ended up going to and loved it. The absolutely hilarious thing was all of the single guys love it too, and I don't think I have gotten so many offers to go out and teach with the missionaries or offers to drive people we are teaching to church. I am glad we found a way to excite young single men about missionary work. However the mom and grandma came to church on Sunday too and loved it so I am excited to visit them again this week.
One miracle I saw this week was that my companion's back is pretty much destroyed so it's hard to walk long distances and work. However this week we had lots of help from the members and lots offered to give us rides so that was awesome. Another is that this week I was ran over by a car and I was like, "well, that's it for my mission I guess I'm going home," but then I just stood back up and walked again, and my companion was like, "what the heck." However I survived with no scratches so that was miracle.
Love,
Elder Holcomb

[I asked Isaac for info about getting run over and he said: "Getting run over by a car wasn't that bad, it was just my leg and then I fell over, but I just said ran over in my email because that sounds cooler."]