Last P-Day with Sister Hillam (my cousin)

Dear Family,

So we went to go teach our 10 member family on Tuesday. We felt really strongly to invite them to church and to be baptized. So we planned this super cool lesson for them and practiced it about 4-5 times and we had it down pretty well. We got to their house and everyone was there except for the dad and one of the sons which would be home soon. They were taking a while to get back so we decided to start since it was late. The lesson was going great but about 5-10 minutes in, the father came home and he would literally contradict everything we said! The second he walked in the room, the Spirit was gone. It was really sad. We ended up trying to invite them to church and some of the family accepted but they didn't actually end up coming. We were soo sad.. They're an amazing family.

Our little Ana Sofia wants to get baptized soo bad! Her and her dad even devised this plan so that they could convince the mom to let her. We're going to the mom's friends and teaching them about our church. We hope it helps! Ana's dad just left to go back to the Caribbean so it'll be hard to see her now. We keep texting her though! She's so cute and such a special girl! 

We've been having to stay a home a little more than usual because of my ankle but we've also worked a lot with members which is awesome! Members make such a difference. It's super good for investigators to have a friend at church and someone they can rely on instead of the missionaries. We have amazing members here!!

This is my last week with Sister Hillam, my cousin. It's been an amazing 5 weeks so far and whoa is she an amazing missionary! It's been such a cool experience to serve with her and to be able to talk about our family and share our love of families with others. We're about to teach others about eternal families and share how much we are blessed because of them. It will be rough seeing her leave next Monday. Mas, tudo bem :) 

Eu sei que esta igreja é verdadeira. Eu sei que nós temos um Pai Celestial quem ama-nos. Ele deu-nos seu filho para que nós pudéssemos ter um exemplo perfeito e saber o que nós precisamos de fazer para obter vida eterna com nosso Pai e Salvador. Eu amo esta mensagem que tenho a oportunidade para compartilhar. Fiquei tão animada quando nossa moça, Bea, foi baptizada! Ela começou um novo caminho para a vida dela e ela vai ser tão abençoada pela decisão dela. Sou muita grata para esta oportunidade para servir uma missão. É a melhor decisão em minha vida! Eu amo meu Salvador e meu Pai Celestial! 

Com amor,

Sister Hillam

 Irmã Nela -  She's actually in the other ward but she invites all the missionaries (8 of us) to come to her home Sunday nights for Pancake Night and bring our investigators. She's a holler!

 We mopped the floors and they were still wet so Sister Hillam tried to climb the stair/wall to get to her chair.

Our last time all together with Bea. She's going to Switzerland for 2 weeks and then Sister Hillam is going home next week. I'll miss both of them so much!

Our Viseu Zone!! We have the smallest zone in the mission. Even the island Madeira has a bigger zone.

The Two Sister Hillams and a Baptism!

So my foot is a lot better but I have to keep a beautiful wrapping on it all the time and ice it a lot.. I also had walking sticks! It was sweet and I looked like I was super old and frail haha!!! I didn't get to go outside much last week which was super lame but I got to watch tons of Bible Videos and I read a lot from the Book of Mormon! It was kinda nice to have that time to read. It's an amazing book that testifies so much of Christ! 

President Amorim has been having so much fun with having two Sister Hillams in the mission. He called once last week and Madi answered the phone and he said 'I knew that if I called, a Sister Hillam would answer!' and then he called later to ask about my foot and Madi answered again. He said 'Is this Sister Hillam the younger or older?' She said older and then he said 'I want to talk to the younger.' He's so funny and cute! He always emails me saying 'Dear Sister Hillam, the younger...' He's such an amazing man and his wife is just as amazing too! They're great and our mission is so blessed to have them!

It is soo hot here! Whoever said that Portugal was overcast and raining lied. It's about 90-100º each day. We come home sweating. We went to get groceries this morning around 11am and we have to walk from the bottom of the city to the top where we live and we came back completely soaked! But we are blessed with wonderful air conditioning (super rare here in Portugal) so it was great!

Bea was baptized! She's such a sweetheart and so strong! Her parents ended up not coming to the baptism which was sad. Her stepdad has kidney stones and had to go to the hospital. But at least Bea was there! I was able to play violin with an elder who plays guitar for her baptism. It was super pretty and so nice to keep playing the violin! 

Funny story about Bea. We like to take her with us when we teach Ana Sofia (our 11 year old). We usually have Bea meet us at Fontelo (a park). But Bea is super pretty so she usually gets followed by rapazes (young men). Yesterday, one of these rapazes got our of their car and tried to grab her. She somehow got his hand off of her wrist, kneed him in the crotch, and then while he was bending over in pain, she walked behind him and kicked him from behind. The other rapaz that was there just looked at his friend and laughed. The Bea walked away. NEVER get in her way! Ahh I love that girl!

Okay so I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks with Sister Hillam (Madi). Time flies so fast!! I wish time could just stop and we could just chill here in Portugal together! I'll be sad when she goes. She's an amazing missionary and I can't even hope to learn everything from her in one transfer! I need a whole mission with her! Sisteres Hillam para sempre!

Love ya'll and thank ya'll for your support!!

Sister Hillam, the Younger

Bea's Baptism!

Baptism Day for Bea!!

The Sister Hillam's and Bea!!

I'm a cripple but at least Portugal won!

Another crazy week! So to start off, I'm officially a cripple. I'm not allowed to walk for the rest of the week. Apparently I twisted my ankle and then it swelled up like a balloon. It's super fun! Everything will be okay though! 

I got to see Irmã Hirshi from the MTC last week! She taught our district for a few days and she served in Viseu! It was so great to see her!

Portugal won the EuroCup!!! Take that France! We had Pancake Night during the game at a member's house so some of us wore Portugal jerseys. Sister Hillam and I wore our jerseys with black skirts. The members thought it was hilarious! We were in our apartment when Portugal scored and when they won. The city EXPLODED! It was so much fun but sadly, it was so loud that I didn't really fall asleep. 

We were supposed to baptize Ana Sofia this week but her mom won't let her.. But instead, we're baptizing Bea! She told us on Sunday that she wanted to be baptized this week! So we're going to have to quickly go over the last few lessons and prep for the baptism! I'm SO EXCITED!

We went to Porto yesterday to have a mission conference with Elder Kearon. He's such a cool man! Porto was cool but I missed Viseu! It's so beautiful and quiet and the people are so kind here. I got to see Sister Nance though so that's always an upside! 

We also moved houses this week! It took up a lot of our proselyting time but it's so great to be in our new house! It has two floors and it's so nice! We love it! We got all new kitchen supplies and tables and shelves. 

But anyways, this was a great crazy week and this next week will be so great with Bea's baptism and everything!

Love you all!

Sister Hillam

Cripple Me....

The movers

Our district after we moved houses

Thanks for all the help with the move!

Pancake Night with the Members

More Fun!

Pancake Night!!

Elder Judd served on the Madeira like his Dad under Grandpa Hillam

Sister Nance and Sister Hillam --former MTC Companions

Irma Hirschi and Sister Hillam

Week 2 in Viseu!!

This week was crazy!

Quick rundown of the week:

We went Catholic church jumping on Monday. The churches here are soo beautiful! 

On Wednesday we drove on a bus for an hour to go see a family of TEN! TEN!! Eight kids and a mom and a dad! That's unheard of in Portugal! Their family is so amazing! Here are their names: Vitor, Deolinda, Liliane, Bruno, Diogo, Mónica, Margarida, Catarina, Marco, Pedro. They're all musically talented and they are a super close knit family. The kids' ages range from 21-5 years old. They're so elect! We made each of the kids a personalized Book of Mormon! 

Personalized Book of Mormons

Also, we're teaching a 13 year old girl named Bea. She's amazing! She has such faith and she wants to be a missionary when she grows up. She always texts us and asks us when she can spend the day with us. Her parents aren't too interested but they're supportive of her decision to be baptized. Her mom actually was taking lessons from the missionaries about 12 years ago and we think that Bea's biological father is Mormon but he lives in Brasil. She's awesome. She has a date set for the 23rd of July but we might move it closer!

We're teaching a little girl named Ana Sofia. She's literally a miracle. We had a goal to get two investigators to church yesterday and only had one because one ended up not coming. Then Ana showed up with her dad. Her parents are divorced and her dad lives in Guadalupe and she lives with her mom here. Her dad was baptized in Guadalupe last week and came here to see his daughter. They came to church together and they just happen to live in our area. So we decided to go teach her after church and she wanted to be baptized!! She's 11! We taught her about the Restoration and we asked her how she felt and she said "I feel so good!" and then she said "I think it's true!" Our hearts literally stopped! She's the sweetest! She has a date to be baptized on the 16th of July. 

We're being blessed so much here! Our mission president has taught us and challenged us to be 100% obedient here. We've tried hard to do that and it's paying off. People are literally being put in our way! It's amazing! It is definitely true in D&C 82:10:

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

When we're obedient, the Lord will bless us. He wants to help and all we need to do is keep the commandments and follow the example of Jesus Christ. It's so incredibly simple!

I love Viseu and the people here! They're so sweet, especially the members! Just today, we were getting smoothies and a member walked in and asked if he could pay for us! We're so blessed! 

Happy Fourth of July! 

Sister Hillam

Catholic Cathedral in Viseu

Second Day in Portugal--Sister Amorim, Sister Hillam (Marlie), Sister Hillam (Madi), Pres. Amorim

Can you believe it?  Cousins together as Companions

Views in Viseu

More beautiful views of Viseu

Viseu