E-mail Dated Today.......December 2, 2013
From: Nicholas Holmes <nicholas.holmes@myldsmail.net>
Man your guys trip looked absolutely awesome! All the photos were super sweet and made me feel like I was actually there! NOT! haha. Looks like everyone had a blast though! Super jealous! From the pictures it looks like Scott served his mission in Bellair! You got nothing on my hood down here! We're going to need to pack some heat when we visit my mission!! haha.
Even though it looks like it would have been awesome to be there, we had an awesome week here! Things are really starting to pick up for the month and especially for our area! Man things are going awesome! But we are also seeing that Satan has picked up his game as well! It's super sad the dirty tricks he plays. And I don't know if I told you about the baptism that we had a couple weeks ago! Anyway, he's super strong and likes to go on visits with us. He's sick! Before his baptism he had problems with drinking but stopped completely! Yesterday, though, he didn't come to church and I was super worried about him, so we gave him a visit and he was super sad because he had relapsed last night. I was devastated because he was so firm and strong! He was so sad, as well. We had such a spirituall lesson with him though about the atonement and how we all fall, but how we can receive remission through Jesus Christ. He was already planning on talking with the bishop so he will talk with him this week. Keep him in your prayers though because he truly is an awesome guy! That's certainly the miracle of the Atonement! Literally Christ took every sin upon himself so that we could return to live with our HeavenlyFather! Our lesson with him was such an awesome lesson!
Anyway we had some baptisms yesterday that were great! I had the opportunity to baptize this woman and her son the other day and it was another perfect example of the fact that every one can change! Several weeks ago, probably like a month or so, Elder Assis and I met her in the streets but she was drunk. She babbled a bunch of stuff but didn't even know where she lived. A couple weeks later Elder Ely found the same lady and started teaching her! She stopped drinking, smoking and drinking coffee all in a matter of a week after we started teaching her! It was incredible! We went to her house one night and asked her how many cigarettes she had smoked that day and she said none! She said she felt terrible and had drank 2 2 liters of coke to fight the sensation! She is so strong! She and her 8 year old son were baptized yesterday. It was way special! The son is super funny. He always asks his mom why he can't go to church every day! haha. And last night he was so excited for his baptism. It was super cute! The water in the font was so full though that it was practically at his mouth! And then we also baptized this kid who the mom had told us we couldn't baptize him because she didn't think he knew what he truly wants in life cause he's only 15! The kid's huge though. I sent a picture of him. He told her that he has been going to church for 15 years and has never felt anything untill he stepped into a mormon church! He's a boss! This week was definitly special! Also Guilarme, that we baptized last week, is so firm and already helped his friend stop drinking and is bringing him to church next week! Such a boss as well!
Things are going great here in Jardim Clementino! Hope everyone made it safely back to the states and that no one has montazumas revenge!
This church is so true! The power of the atonement is incredible! The one thing I've learned the most on the mission is how we can't even comprehend the love that Jesus and our Heavenly Father have for us. It's amazing to think about! Keep up the good work there. I love you all!
Elder Holmes
Second E-mail from Monday Nov. 25, '13
Title: "Things are getting crazy!"From: Nicholas Holmes <nicholas.holmes@myldsmail.net>
What is up! Man I can't believe you are traveling it up in Mexico right now! Sounds like everything has already been awesome and that you still have more fun stuff planned! Sounds like Lee and Christian as well are killing it with the spanish! Tell them though, that they don't need to practice a lot because we all know will both be using portuguese when they serve! Practice up!
Things are going way good down here as well! To start it off on saturday morning we had a service project with the sister that lives below us. She's doing some remodeling so she had us completely destroy this room! There were like 4 brick and cement walls that we had to take out. It was awesome! We had a big sludge hammer and a couple others and totally demolished the walls! It was sweet! Totally took down this house! It was a good stress reliever from all the work!
It has been raining everyday down here which is way annoying but we worked super hard this week! Getting ready for this December. Things are getting crazy! One great experience this week was we were in a hurry to our next commitment and this guy started talking to me in the street, asking when we had church and what not. We told him and he said he wanted to go. We taught him a mini lesson in the road and gave him a pamphlet for him to read and marked a visit for the next day. That night he sent us a text saying that he wanted to know how to pray. So we called him and taught him how to pray because he was saying "this pamphlet is so awesome but how can i know its true?" The next day we tried to find him at his house but he wasn't there which was a bummer. We called him that night and he was like "dude I totally prayed and recieved an answer.Your message is so true!" It was so sick! Elder Lorado (our little mexican/nicarauguan companion) and I went to visit him on Saturday and he said he prayed and felt so good inside and wanted to know more about the church. He explained that he was born Catholic and was baptized as a baby. He said that he has always learned that God is someone who just burns every one and brings damnation upon the sinners. He said he wanted to know who God really was! It was so sweet and we have him marked for baptism in December! He is such baller! He's the first brazilian that I have found that likes basketball more than soccer! He has a bunch of NBA jerseys and wears flat brims! haha. Total stud! He and his cousin came to church yesterday so pray for them too!
We had a few baptisms this week which is always a good way to end the week! Things are starting to pick up and we can see the miricles starting to happen for December!
Another thing I've been meaning to ask is to send me some sweet pics that I can make like a little picture book as well! The one that mom made is awesome but it is starting to fall apart a little bit! Everyone loves looking at the fam! So send me some sweet pics of trips that we have done and stuff like that!
You're all awesome. Keep up the good work! Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving eating that turkey! Think of me. I'll be eating pizza and pie! holla!!
Love you all
Elder Holmes
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