Yesterday my bud answered some of my questions. I just love him.

Hey Bud!
This week flew by for me, how about for you? I have more questions.....
1. When do you get to go back to the temple?
2. What fun stuff do you get to do on your p-day?
3. How about that less active family? I hate to see people leave the church. I know it happens for many different reasons but it breaks my heart. All I know is that everything good in my life has come from living the Gospel.
4. What are the stores like? I know how much you hate shopping but do they have just tiny stores or do they have like a Walmart.
5. Is there anything you'd specifically like for Christmas?
6. Have you gotten your package?
7. What's your favorite part of your day?
8. Do you love Sundays?
9. Are you bored with your ties?
10. You left some sweaters, I was thinking of sending them. Do you want me to? I know it's getting warmer so maybe later?


1. Next transfer I might go to the temple if my area isn´t too far away. So if I get transferred to Pelotas or some place far away, then yeah I won´t be going to the temple again for who knows how long.

2. The language is going well. when I´m humble, I can speak so much better. But yeah basically, I can speak with any random person on the street and hold a conversation about myself, missionary work, or the gospel. Regular conversations are coming along though. Everyday I see improvements. The fact that I can speak, read, and write what I can in Portuguese after 3 months, is a miracle. Seriously, it´s amazing to be apart of all of this.   At first it was really hard. I didn´t know anyone, my companion (although American) didn´t speak any English to me the first month. So yeah I felt pretty alone sometimes, but now its way better. My Portuguese is good enough to where my companion and I speak a little more English. 

3. The sad thing is is that I can´t remember which inactive family i was talking to you about. But basically no families have returned. so i guess that answers that question.

4.The stores here are pretty much the same. a little smaller and way different stuff to buy, but basically the same. I´ve only seen walmart in Sao Paulo by the way. That reminds me as well, here there is 0 fast food. In porto alegre they have some, but besides that, there´s nothing. It´s way different. i always talk about this with my companion. Life is America is so much faster than life down here. Up there people rush, eat and drive, and do other things. Here people take things easy, eat at the table with their families and other things like that. That´s something I like about down here.

5. For Christmas, ties, CDs, pictures, and a baseball. I specifically want a picture from my baptism. It would help a lot with some of the kids down here.

6. I have not received my package yet. We´re going to Porto Alegre today and it might be there, but probably not.

7. My day´s are great. They´re all the same but at the same time, always different. My favorite part of the day is probably going to bed, not going to lie. I´m always exhausted. But besides this... I´m not sure. Oh, having just a super good lesson with someone who is ready to hear it. That´s something I really like.

8. I do love Sundays. We get to sing with the primary, eat a delicious almoço after church, and teach.

9. I´m kinda bored with my ties. Haha, I only have 8 or 9. as you can imagine, sometimes I do get bored with them.

10.Don´t worry about the sweaters. Maybe next June you should send them.

I´m loving my mission right now and time is flying by.
Love you Mom,


See that, he loves me.

From my boy today. I just love him.

Well this past week was great. It was really hot, 38 degrees celsius. Naturally, we ate bastante sorvete. This week was also my last week in my first transfer. Crazy how fast it went by. I got the call that Elder G and I will stay here for 6 more weeks. We´re pretty pumped. Lots of work to be done. We are so close to baptizing many people. We attribute this to our fast we had this week. Whenever we have a fast we ALWAYS see success. This principle of the fast is something that I never really used before my mission. But it really does work.

People here are upset about our spies that were spying on their president. We don´t really here much, but what we do hear is pretty biased against the United States. One guy told us that all of europe including england and russia are backing behind Brazil. Basically he alluded to the fact that he thinks there will be a war and that the US will be sorry for spying on Brazil. Pretty crazy.

Well Elder G and I are really getting closer. He´s a really cool guy. I learned that he played the computer game Age of Empires before his mission. How awesome is that? well it´s awesome for me.

Anyways, hope everyone is doing well. I´m enjoying my time down here in Rio Grande do Sul.

Elder Holloway

Just got this today. He sounds good and that makes me happy.

This week was fantastic. We had the most contacts we´ve ever had, the most lessons, and we had a baptism. It was great. We worked super hard, and I don´t even know where the time went. time on the mission really does go by fast.

This week was a little different as well. The mother of a a woman in the branch passed away. The death was expected, but it was still sad. I had the opportunity to be a pallbearer(?). That was interesting. I´ve already seen and done so many things that I couldn´t even dreamed of before the mission.

7th of setember was brazil´s independence day. There was a parade and it was pretty cool. The only thing is, is that the Gauchos down here don´t like Brazil. Hardly anyone sang the national anthem of Brazil, it was hilarious. the 20th of setember commemorates the day the Gauchos tried to break away from Brazil. Everyone is super excited for this day. All the Gauchos dress up, get on their horses and drink chimarro. It´s actually going to be really cool.

Theres this line in Nacho Libre that goes like this : And that is a crazy lady.everyday here I say that in my head. But really.. every day i see crazy ladys. I do love the people down here, even the crazy ones. They´re all Children of God and my favorite thing about living down here is conversing and teaching people down here.

if you all are curious as to what I might be doing during the day, at around 9 or 930 mountain standard time, there is a 95% chance I´m eating rice and beans with members.

Elder Holloway

Some pictures we recently recieved.

We recieved this email a couple of weeks ago. I felt like I needed some answers to specific questions so I sent him this list of questions:

1) are you warm?
2) do you live with members or have your own place?
3) do you have a maid?
4) are your shoes holding up?
5) do you need a mosquito net? for summer?
6) what would you like in your care package? peanut butter? socks? a new tie? treats that don't go stale?
7) are you doing good?
8) will you get to go to the temple sometime?
9) do you enjoy teaching?
10) what are your duties at church?
11) how big is the branch?

Here are his answers:

1) Yes, I am warm!
2) We have our own little place. And I mean little. Theres also little food in it. Classic missionary apartment
3) my maid is myself
4) my shoes are amazingly comfortable. But i did have to buy boot/work shoes for the mud and rain.
5) I´m not sure if I will need a mosquito net. I will let you know.
6)Peanut butter, face lotion, face wash (classic me, I know) stuff that won´t go stale, chocolate also. But make sure that if it were to melt during transport, it wouldn´t ruin everything else.
7) I´m doing good. Sometimes its tough. I think about home and how far away I am and how much more time I have and sometimes its depressing. But when you´re climbing a mountain, sometimes its better to look at your feet than to look at how much more you have.
8) I am going to the temple on the 28th. Which reminds me, my p day next week might not be monday. It might be wednesday the 28th, because of the temple;.
9) I love teaching people. It beats street contacting or batendo casas
10) We teach gospel principles and we are basically the servants of this branch. We aren´t supposed to be, but we´re working on this.
11) This past sunday we have 45 people show up. Woo! the problem here is number of priesthood brethren. There are 6 or 7 I think.

He also wrote this...

 

 

Well this week was pretty standard. Beans and rice. Everyday. Luckily i like beans and rice, otherwise this mission would be the most difficult thing of my life haha.

THis week I had my first baptism. Elder G and I invited, set up, planned and literally did everything for this baptism. I baptized an 8 year old boy named H. He is wild. Like insanely wild. But it was a good experience. His parents are members but I don´t know if he would´ve been baptized without us inviting him to be and doing everything else. I wasn´t even supposed to baptize him, his dad was, naturally, but his dad didn´t want to for some reason. Pretty interesting baptizing someone in a pool. Different, but awesome.

The Brasilians down here aren´t Brasilians. They are Gauchos first. They really don´t like the rest of Brasil and jokingly want to be their own country. Kind of like Texas. I think I´m serving my mission in the Texas of Brasil.

Taught more investigators and we´re helping reactivate this amazing family. I want them to come back so badly. The weather down here is getting better. I´m told i will burn like crazy during the summer when it gets about 110 degrees. I agree. I will burn like crazy haha.

This work is progressing in Arroio dos Ratos. Glad to be apart of it.

Elder Holloway

And some more pictures

 

 

We got this after a LONG wait. We were very anxious not knowing exactly where he was. He sounds good and that makes us happy. We sure do love him and we're so grateful for his example.

Well since the last time I emailed, I finished up at the CTM and went out into the field. I had a great CTM experience with a great district. I left for the field early in the morning on tuesday the 6th. I´m here in a place called Arroio dos ratos. This translates to, river of rats I believe, but in all honesty, it is a great area with a great branch. Also, super pretty here and as well in Porto Alegre. São Paulo was too big and pretty ugly, being further south is better for me. My companion is an American. Elder G..... from Utah. Really a great guy. He´s teaching me a lot and I think we´re having a good time working together. We have a family that we´re going to baptize. It´s pretty cool. The dad wants to be baptized but hes always busy. We still need to teach him. But there is a mom and a ten year old daughter. I really hope everything works out. Also, I´m getting really good at clapping outside of peoples houses. Thats how you knock down here in Brazil. Pretty different, but fun.

Arroio dos Ratos is a pretty interesting place. I have yet to see any carpet in houses we visit. It is either tile, concrete, dirt, or a combination of all the above. There are some parts of this town that are pretty poor. I mean like really poor. Look up favelas online. I think the people here aren't living in favelas but, its close. The people are really humble and the members here love missionaries. Also, there is an interesting religion down here called á banda´ I think. Pretty evil actually, deals a lot wih possesion and doing evil devilish things. But hey, I'm a missionary, so I feel pretty protected. Elder G...... knows a lot about it, so he´s watching out for me.

Also, stray dogs everywhere. They´re all hungry and cold. I feel bad, but there is really nothing I can do.

Winter down in southern Brazil is actually pretty rough in its own way. This whole week except for today and yesterday it rained. Just a cold 40 degree kind of rain. Not very fun, especially when half the roads here are dirt.

My Portuguese is progressing. I can understand almost everything Elder G..... says. But he has an American accent. Other people here, slur, mumble, cut words off early and other things making it really hard to understand. But I´m making progress.

This week I also drank a ton of Chimarro(?) not sure if the spelling is right on that one, bur it is a tea drink that we´re allowed to drink. Super big deal with the Gauchos here. There are so many cultural rules about how you can drink it as well. But I like it. The food here is fantastic. Rice and beans everyday, but everyone puts there own spin on it, and somehow it tastes delicious and new. Haha hopefully I still feel this way in 12 months. Please continue to pray for this great work. It is really amazing to be apart of it all. I know my email this week isn´t really spiritual but that´s because of all the new things I had to talk about. Next week will be better!

Tchau

Elder Holloway

This email came on August 8th. We haven't heard from him since. He should be in Porto Alegre but we haven't heard. We're going with no news is good news. I'm kinda sad he stepped in poop, I just bought home those shoes!

Well this week was crazy. My last full week here at the CTM. I committed my other pesquisador to baptism and I went proselyting in Sao Paulo this week. I am so excited to leave for the field on Tuesday. I have about a 1 hour flight to Porto Alegre. I also learned that in some parts of my mission you have to travel by boat to do transfers. Pretty cool stuff.

 

So my proselyting experience was hilarious, scary, and also very awesome. Naturally my companion and I were nervous to leave the CTM and to talk to real Brasileiros about the Book of Mormon. But we quickly shook off all nervousness and had a great time.

 

First man we talked to was drunk out of his mind. We know now that we should've just left him as soon as we realized this but he was intent on hearing our message. He then said I wasn't an American but a Brasileiro. i told him no and he called me a liar haha. He continued to mutter portuguese to himself for the next 20 minutes after we stopped talking to him. My companion and I found a husband and a wife sitting down at this park table. Lucklily they were sober. We talked to them in great detail about the Book of Mormon and the husband accepted it. He was truly interested as to how he could become closer to Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon. As I was finishing up with him, a slightly less drunk man than the original sat down with us and started talking to my companion. Remember that we can understand half of what sober Brasileiros say, with drunk Brasileiros this percentage drops to about 10%. This drunk man's name was Josué. i totally forgot the name of the interested man, but he has me a quick testimony in the cover of his Book of Mormon. When he left, the super drunk guy(who was yelling and muttering while I was teaching the good investigator) came back and sat down in his place. Josue was actually kinda interested and when he saw that the more drunk man was just trying to cause trouble, he started yelling at him. "Sai Fora!" "Get out of here!" He then proceeded to take his little cheap bottle of vodka, and smash it in the table in anger. At this point I was kicking Elder -----------'s leg, trying to tell him we needed to leave. So we did. Josue wanted to still learn more so he came with us and we sat down on another bench. Josue wanted a Book of Mormon really badly. I wonder if today he remembers anything. But hey, he gave me his address even without me asking for it. So I guess he's my first contact. Oh yeah, and I stepped in dog poop from one of the many stray dogs in Sao Paulo. Pretty funny story. Spiritual at one point, and at other points, not at all. So far my experience with missionary work is pretty hard, but fun.

 

My investigators are doing great. Igor is going to be "baptized" tomorrow, and Ellen, on tuesday. My lessons are going great and i can hold a solid conversation about gospel things in portuguese. Everyday I feel the spirit here, and the fact that myself and my district have learned as fast as we have is a testimony of the power of the spirit. I'm picking up regular conversation phrases and words just from talking with people around the CTM. Pretty pumped to get out there.

 

Oh yeah, went to the police station this week to get all my documents finalized and stuff with the government. When my fingerprints were getting taken I had a great conversation about our church with the man taking my fingerprints. I taught him from the beginning. God is our loving Heavenly Father and then I went from there.

 

Super cool week. Makes me really excited to get out into the field.

 

Elder Holloway