Such a Great Weekend!

Whats up family!! 

It was so much fun to talk to all of you yesterday!! And let me just tell you, some things never do change! haha So yesterday was a pretty big adventure just to get the skype all good. Like I told youS the member we had planned for on sunday called us on Saturday and told us her computer fell of the bed and broke. Fetch. So then we went and got Rafaela’s computer and took it there, and everything was great except for the fact that the internet wasn't working on her computer so we grabbed her neighbor’s computer, got the internet working, but then the battery died! So we asked the lady for her charger and she said it broke a couple days ago! Great! At that point, we grabbed a bus for a little over an hour, to some other elders' area and when we got there, we finally got a working skype! I was able to have my awesome conversation with all of you, but a few minutes after we ended,  the power in the city went out! haha! Seriously!  So the other 2 elders weren’t able to talk to their families! That was a huge bummer for them! Literally, everything that could have gone wrong on that day went wrong, but I’m glad we were able to talk yesterday and that everything went smoothly! Even the Holmes family internet was almost top notch! What a miracle we witnessed there!!!

So like I explained yesterday, this week was awesome! It really was an awesome Saturday with the wedding, bbq and baptism! They are such an awesome family! We will for sure be visiting them when we come back! (and when I say we, I mean mom, dad and c bear, because the rest of you didn’t make the cut!) 

My new comp is pretty sick! It has been over a year with straight brazilian comps, so the Aussie is a good change! It’s funny seeing him and remembering how I was when I first got to Brazil. His family has wild kangaroos and koalas in their backyard! How crazy is that? Things are way fun with him for sure! We have 10 missionaries in our district and 3 of them are being trained, which is fun! He’s not alone! 

Well that’s about all I’ve got for you all. I told you pretty much everything yesterday! I loved talking to you yesterday! Way weird that it’s the last time before i get home! Time really does fly by! It was good to get updated on about everything that nobody every tells me! I would not be surprised if i got back and found out that we´ve moved! I hope you're still in the same house!

We have the best family in the world!! I hope you had a great Mother’s Day mom! You are the best!! 

Have a great week. I love you all 

Elder Holmes

Training Again!

Date: May 4, 2015 at 8:49:06 AM MDT

From: Nicholas Holmes <nicholas.holmes@myldsmail.net>

Whats up family!! 

So this week was a great week but super busy! We didn’t have a ton of time to work because of all the meetings we had but they were all super worth it! It was a great week! 

So like I know that you are all wondering as to whether I stayed or if i was transferred! I stayed!! Woo Hoo!! I am super excited for sure! Elder Sá, my companion, was transferred but the other two stayed as well! It was an answer to prayer that they stayed, really, because they usually make us lunch! haha! The other good news is that I’m going to train! AGAIN!  President really likes me as a trainer so I told him I’m up for the job! I had a great interview with President on Tuesday! iI love President DaltoN! He really is so awesome! He told me he feels he could put me anywhere in the mission with any calling, but that he wants me to keep training, so he can have a bunch of little elder holmes in the mission when i leave! haha. I told him I would be up for whatever he wants so he made me a trainer again! I’m way excited about it.  I really love training. It definitely helps keep me on my toes and makes me have to be the best example I can be! Anyway, my “son" will get here tomorrow! From what I’ve heard, we are getting a new elder from Australia so I’m sure hoping  that he comes to Sao Lourenço. That would be so sick!! I will let you know on Sunday when we talk via skype! WOOO! 

Our meeting with bishop causse was super good! These men are so inspired its incredible! Every time i Hear one of them speak, the thought crosses my mind “Yup - the church is true" because they bring the spirit so strong! He talked a lot about focusing on the temple with our investigators, because if they don’t focus on the temple, they will think that baptism is the last step. He also talked about how we can be bold missionaries and how if we learn to love everyone we teach, find, talk to in the street, we will never be afraid to open our mouths and share the truth! It is way true as well! It takes the fear right out of you! His wife as well gave a talk before him which was really good! She told us how they have been serving for 7 years and would have to serve for another 20! When they first recieved the call, she was scared to leave her family and friends, her kids and grandkids. But she then said  "but when we are in the service of our lord, and we are far from our family, is the time when we grow closer to them then ever before”. I loved that a lot because it is so true! I think of the last 2 years being here without my family, but I truly feel like I have grown closer to my family than ever before! It’s amazing how the Lord works! She also told us to be happy because our family needs us to be happy. They need to know that we are happy. So family, I’m here to tell you that I am happy! Happier than ever! It was a great meeting for sure! We didn’t get back till like 9, so we weren’t able to work a ton, but it was for sure worth it! 

We are way excited for Ricardo’s and Rafaela’s wedding this week! I think she is a bit nervous, but everything will work out great! And seeing how I’m super experienced and took a photo class in high school, I have been designated as the photog for the wedding! It’s a bummer scott and claire didn’t wait for me. They really missed out on a high class photographer! Keep them in your prayers, though, that everything goes as planned!

I talked to the Stake president on Saturday and from what it sounds like, we should be able to become a branch here super fast! He is way excited with what is going on here with our group and with the branch in Juquitiba! The branch there got a new building to have their meetings in and it is super sick! We went to the open house on Saturday and brought Rafaela and Ricardo and their family. It was so awesome. 

I’m super excited to talk with you on Sunday! I still don’t know where I will be doing it from, seeing that none of the members have internet here!!  but I’ll find a place! Make sure the crappy Holmes internet is up and working! Maybe it would be good to do it at the Wonacotts house instead! haha! 

Love you all. Have a great week! 

Elder Holmes

Baptism, Chicken and the NBA! (w/pics)

Juan's Baptism!

Friday's Lunch!

It was another great week for us hear in São Lourenço! Birthday shoutouts this week to Tammy Cassity Yesterday! Hope you had a great day! As well, Happy Birthday to Bishop Willardsen today! To Rachel this Friday! Hope you have a great day with little Nick jr! And also to cousin Craig on Sunday! Hope you all have awesome days!! 

We had a good week that ended with the baptism of Juan! He’s our neighbor. He lives in the same apartments as us and he is super awesome! Way funny AND the first brazilian I have met that follows the NBA! He knows everything about the NBA. It’s crazy!  The first time we went to his house he was watching the Houston Rockets. Talk about temptation! haha He told me this week about all the trades that have gone down in the last two years. WOW - how the nba has changed! Everyone is playing for different teams it sounds like! So it has been fun to have something in common with him! He told me yesterday that he heard the nugs might trade Kenneth for Joaquim Noah! Is that true?! I almost cried on the spot! My favorite nug for my least favorite player! Oh boy! What’s going on there in Denver without their biggest fan? And he also tells me that JR is now playing with lebron? He wasn’t totally sure on that one but if that’s true that would be sick! Well anyways, back to the point, Juan  was baptized this weekend which was super aweome! The Branch president baptized him and got him super excited to serve in the church. The president is already planning on calling him to work with the young men because in the last church he went to, he taught karate and guitar to the youth and got a ton of people there every week for the activities! But he left the church because the pastor wanted to charge the people there and Juan didn’t think that was right so he left the church and now will help the true one grow! We are needing a lot of help in getting a lot of young men as well! I know that we found him to help this group grow even faster!! 

On Friday we had lunch with a new investigator which was super funny! He’s about 65. He invited us to have lunch with him and his wife on Friday and then showed us what we would be eating. He took us out back to his chicken coop and told us to pick which one we thought best for lunch!!  Friday morning we killed it and we ate fresh chicken for lunch! It was pretty delicious, I must say! 

We have interviews with president tomorrow so he will probably tell me what he is going to do with me there! I’m thinking I’ll stay and my comp will be transfered. He goes home in December. President did write me though today and told me that the stake president is going to apply to become a branch already! So we are super excited about that! We are hoping that all goes well and that we can get this group a branch as fast as possible! Keep us in your prayers please! We also have a meeting with Bishop Caussé, the first counselor of the general bishopric! So we are pretty excited for that! It will be on Friday and the Sao Paulo South mission will be there with us as well! Should be pretty sweet! I have a friend that’s in that mission so it should be good! 

That’s about all I’ve got on the week! It has been a good one! I can’t believe that it’s almost May! Where does the time go? Well anyways, I hope you all have a great week! I love this gospel I love this church! I see the way it can bless the lives of people when the lessons learned are applied and practiced!

Love you all! 

Elder Holmes

Grateful!

Hello one and all!! 

This week was a good one like always! Big shout out to momma dawg for 1. finding a name that I could take to the temple and 2. beasting it up in the surgery room! President sent me a text on Wednesday night telling me that everything went well with the surgery! So that made it easier not to have to worry! I’m glad that everything went well and that you will be ready to shred the gnar with me when i get back! The temple was super awesome and i was so glad that I was able to do the work for someone in my own family! it was for sure an experience that I will never forget! It has been a while since I’ve been baptized so it was way awesome! I felt a spirit that I have never felt before! The temple is so awesome and temple work is so true! So we did that on Thursday and it took up most of the day. We didn’t get back until about 8ish. We ate at the steak house next to the temple, of course, which is always delicious! 

This week as well we were able to mark Ricardo’s and Rafaela’s wedding! Woo Hoo!! We went on Wednesday and they will be married on the 9th of May! So just under 3 weeks! So we are way excited for that. They are way excited and are already excited to get sealed in the temple on May 9, 2016! The whole family was there at church yesterday again which was great! We are teaching her grandparents as well who live next door. They are super awesome but have a few challenges they need to overcome.  We are going to work hard on getting them married as well and teaching them the gospel! 

Yesterday was a good day of attendance as well. I think the members are finally realizing their responsibility they have now. It was way cool to see new members helping other new members and everyone becoming a family! I love this area for sure! I gave a talk yesterday which was fun. I talked on the importance of members and used that The Power of Every Day Missionary book to share some ideas with them. I think it got them excited. I got some comments back on it! So we are going to work hard on making this a big family! I know President Dalton is working hard on getting us turned into a branch so we can rent a bigger place with rooms to have the classes. 

I love you all! I’m so grateful for the family I have and going to the temple and doing the work for my family made me even more grateful for the blessings we have! The church is true! 

Love,

Elder Holmes

#groupopeners

Baptisms of Rafaela's two younger brothers.......And our "group" as we opened in Sao Lourenço. 

What is up everyone!! 

Wow what a great week for us here in Sao Lourenço. We sure did see the miracles! Yesterday we had the first sacrament meeting in the history of Sao Lourenço! WOO WHOO! It was so awesome! We rented out a little garage looking thing that’s not super nice but the other place didn’t work out but it was still super awesome!! President Dalton came as well to participate in the first meeting which was super awesome! The best part of it all was that we had more than 50 people there! 55 to be exact! Nobody was expecting there to be that many people on the first meeting but there was! 10 minutes before the first meeting, the branch president was super worried because there were only like 5 people there. He started giving us the "oh it’s because its the first time” speech, trying to help us not get our hopes up, but then everyone showed up! We were super excited for sure! We had a lot of less actives there and a few investigators and everyone was way excited! President Dalton is already working on getting permission to make us a branch! So we will see how long it takes! But that was the best part of the week for sure! One of the inactives who was there said the opening prayer in sacrament meeting which was awesome! She and her 3 kids were all there which was super awesome! They made lunch for us last week as well! Things are looking up!

Rafaela and Ricardo were both there as well! We had to do more work with them to get their birth certificates updated but thankfully, we were able to get it done and NOW we can mark the wedding! They are both so great! This weekend we also baptized her two younger brothers who are 10! They are super funny! Pyerri and Pietro. They live with her and the grandma and were both baptized yesterday! 

This week we get to go to the temple! I’m for sure excited for that! I love going to the temple! It is for sure the best place in the world! That’s about all I’ve got for you this week! Sorry it’s a short one but hopefully it was a good one! 

Love you all hope you all have a great week! The church is true!

Elder Holmes

I Know He Lives!

Date: April 6, 2015 at 12:49:52 PM MDT

Subject: what a weekend!

From: Nicholas Holmes <nicholas.holmes@myldsmail.net>

Hello family!

Birthday shoutouts this week to Uncle Mark!! Hope you have a great day mark! 

What a great conference weekend, huh?! Wow I loved every second of it! We watched it in the Embu chapel which was way fun! It was really great to see a lot of members from that ward again! I loved the ward a lot! And of course, we watched it in english. It just isn’t the same voiced over! The first session we watched on the computer in the secretary’s office. There were two computers, It would be a lie to say that I didn’t think of throwing March Madness on the other monitor! haha After the first session we were able to set up a tv so we could be a little more comfortable! I loved every second of conference! I have not a  doubt in my mind that we can receive revelation through our inspired leaders! All the questions I had going into conference were answered and I hope all of yours were to. If not, read the talks again and you will! 

I loved Elder Ballard’s talk in the priesthood session as well! I thought it was super awesome and applied to all of our family! Andrew, Scott and dad RM’s, me on the mission and Lee and Christian preparing to leave! It was one of my favorite talks for sure! I also loved Elder Bednar’s talk and Elder Anderson’s talk! I thought they were both spot on. And what’s better than Ulisses Soares beasting it up speaking in portuguese in the priesthood session! I'm sure you all felt the spirit even stonger when he was speaking the celestial language! haha I hope that got Lee super excited! I was talking to an elder in my zone who is going to Lee’s mission and he told me the mission president will change this June and the new president will be a ‘brazy' as Andrew would say! That got me pretty excited for sure! Lee will get at least a little taste of brazil! 

I find myself today feeling super grateful for the testimony I have of the living prophet. I have not a doubt in my mind that he is a prophet of god leading and guiding this church! I felt the spirit so strong singing “I know that my redeemer lives". I know he lives and I know he guides his church through the his chosen prophe!! The church is true! 

This week was a good one as well! On friday we made visits the whole day with the branch president, which was super awesome! (partly because we traveled by car the whole day!) We visited a bunch of people we are working with and members, to get everyone excited for the meetings here in Sao Lourenco! Our results were incredible! We taught two less actives about serving missions, and the spirt was so strong! One of them is Natan’s brother who turns 18 next month! We are working with him to get out into the field! we also found a less active member who served a mission and everything but then left the church. His parents and brother are still active members so when we visited them, he was there and is now is making the steps to return! It was amazing to see how the work moves forward when the members have the same focus as the missionaries! It was one of the most spiritual days of my mission! 

Ricardo, future spouse of Rafaela, is progressing way well! Rafaela got sick this weekend and wasn’t able to go to conference, but he went and brought the kids and liked it a lot! We are hoping that we can get their wedding marked tomorrow. Keep them in your prayers please! 

That’s about all I’ve got for you this week! The church is true! I couldn’t be more sure of it than I am now! The opposition to the church is only a testimony builder to me that we are in the last days! I’m glad I’m on the right side of the fight! 

Love you all! 

Elder Holmes

We are excited here! (with Pics!)

From: Nicholas Holmes <nicholas.holmes@myldsmail.net>

What’s up family!!

Happy late birthday shoutout to Auntie Claire last week! Sorry about that one Claire! I hope you had a great day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This was another great week for us here in Sao Lourenco! Yesterday we had our last meeting in Juquitiba! The president of the branch called a group leader who will be resposible for the meetings and everything here, but we are still under the branch’s responsibility. From what I know we will have all the meetings like usual here, starting on the 12th! woooo! sSnce we have general conference this week the first meeting, the 12th will be our first official meetings!! We found a great place to have our meetings, as well! It’s a house that has never been rented so we will be the first users and it is super awesome! It's in the dead center of the town so it will be good because everyone will know where it is! So as usual, we are excited here! 

We also had Rafaela’s baptism this weekend which was incredible! Talk about someone who has passed through some opposition! I was so happy that she was able to take this step in her life! She bore a super strong testimony along with another lady who was baptized the same day! They were both in tears and the spirit was stong as ever! Man the mission is the best!!! She separated from her husband when we first started teaching her because he wanted to live in the world and she didn’t. But this weekend she told us that he talked to her for the first time the night before her baptism! I was a bit scared that he would ruin everything but she said it went really well and that he wants to get back together! They weren’t legally married so she told him that they will have to get married and he told her he wants us to start teaching him as well so he can be baptized and change his life! So we are going to start teaching him as well and get them married and work on getting them to the temple!  

Im really hoping the president will leave me here for the rest of my mission! We have  transfers tomorrow but I know that we both will be here for at least one more transfer! I told president that I’m NOT leaving this area!  I told him that he can try, but he cant make me leave!! He laughed and said "why would I transfer you when you're doing everything I want there" so I’m pretty sure I will die here, happy as ever! We have also been teaching some other really awesome families recently so things are really looking up here for our future branch! 

Thanks for my package! The only down side is that they put another one of those ridiculous taxes on it so I had to pay about 75 bucks to get the package! 

i am suuuuuuuper excited for general conference this week! What’s better to do on a weekend than to hear and learn from the living prophet of our Heavenly Father! You can be sure that I will be watching every minute of it! I challenge each of you to do the same. You never know in which session you will receive an answer to you prayers! I have not a doubt in my mind that President Monson is a prophet of god! I love this church! Have a great week!! Love you all! 

Elder Holmes