Week of Miracles!!!!

Querida Familia!

This was the craziest but best week ever!!

Emanuel was baptized!!

The baptism was beautiful. So amazing! The members all said that it was the most beautiful and spiritual baptism they had ever attended. I played violin while Sister Carter sang. Emanuel had to get baptized 4 times because he was so tall the font doesnt fill up enough. Éach time, part of his body stuck out of the water. He eventually just had to sit down in the font with his head sticking out of the water and then they just pushed him over. It was funny. But it taught a great lesson. If baptism isn't done correctly, you've got to redo it! We ask people to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized the way he was, with complete immersion in water. We finally got it the 4th time! He was so excited afterwards and the Spirit was there and so strong! 

Another great thing happend this week! We invited a member to come with us to teach Emanuel and his mom, Margarida. We talked about prophets and then Belmiro (the member) shared his testimony. He ended up talking for 20 minutes and we had an appointment so he stayed there and we left. We got out of our nexdt appointment and Belmiro called and said that Margarida wanted to be baptized! We were sooo shocked! Did our member just mark someone for baptism?! Ahhh it was crazy! We went over the next day with him and invited her to be baptized. Sister Pennock let me invite her and the Spirit was so strong! We all just started crying. Margarida said yes and Emanuel freaked out! He was like: Serio? Serio? Queres? Do fundo do coração? (Really? Really? From the bottom of you heart?) She just laughed and said yes! We've invited her to be baptized like a million times before but something changed. I can't wait to see her baptism! Hopefully I don't get transfered before! 

We've also been working with João Paulo. He's marked to get baptized next week but he still needs to stop smoking and drinking coffee. We've made goals with him to stop. We're also stopping by his house at the times he would usually drink coffee and having him go teach lessons with us. He really enjoys knocking doors and talking to people. 

Everyone remember Bea? She was baptized six weeks about. After her baptism, she went to Switzerland for vacation. I really missed her! I had been texting her mom and asking if Bea would be coming to church. She said that she wouldn't because she had to go somewhere. I was super sad because I wanted to see her. And then guess what.. I was waiting for an investigator to arrive at church and guess who showed up! BEA! I literally cried when I saw her! I was a little mad that she made her mom lie to us but eh oh well. She's back and life is all good :)

I can't believe we only have 2 more weeks of this transfer! I might be getting a new companion or get transfered!! Vamos ver!

Love you all so much!! 
Sister Hillam

Last Week's Mini-Concert

Sister Pennock and I doing p-day face masks. We were soo tired!

Emanual with Elder Alves

Sister Hillam, Sister Pennock, and Emanual on Baptism Day

Run Forrest Run!!!

It was a great week!! 

We have been working so hard. We have Emanuel's baptism this Saturday and we're trying to have 50 investigators there! We have the coolest invites and we've started calling everyone in the area book and in our phone about it. Now we just have to keep preparing him so he'll be ready on Saturday. He's excited. He's 25 and we really want him to serve a mission. He's already an amazing missionary and has such a strong testimony and love of Christ. We'll have to see if he can!

We've been running A LOT the past few weeks. Not for exercise though.. Last Sunday it was 9:30pm. We had to be home by 10pm. We were about a 30+ minute walk from our house. BUT we had to go to the chapel to get a letter from President and get home on time. So.. We decided to run. We straight up sprinted for 20 minutes to the chapel and then 8 minutes home in sandals and dresses. It was insane and I have no idea how we did it. And that actually happened a lot.. I'm sure everyone is wondering why we're in such a hurry but hey! We're being obedient! 

Sister Carter and I had to go on a division last week. She's in her first transfer and I'm in my second.. We're just little babies. But I'm actually surprised how well we did and were able to understand Portuguese together. All of our lessons fell through which was lame but it was fun to be with her. She's 6'1'' and I'm taller that the Portuguese people here so we were giants. It was great!

This last week, President challenged us to do something super bold and whichever zone won would get a prize! We decided to have a mini concert in 2 different places in the city. I played to violin, Sister Carter sang, and the rest of the missionaries contacted like crazy. We started outside a fair and then moved the 'main street' of Viseu. When we got there, we met up with our two investigators who are marked for baptism (João Paul and Emanuel) and a member, André. They helped contact and sing hymns with us! Then a less active member who we always see on the street playing flute showed up and sang with us! I think singing the hymns brought back a lot of good memories for him. It was so much fun and we talked to tons of people that way! Emanuel, João Paulo, and André are kind of like the three musketeers! 

Thanks for all the prayers and the love you all send! 

Com muito amor, 
Sister Hillam

The giant pizza we ate in Coimbra this week!

Sister Pennock stepped on a snail. She was literally about to cry. Probably the funniest moment of my life!

Our little band of musicians :) Here is the order, left-right: João Paulo, André, Claudio (flute player), Sister Waddell, Emanuel, Sister Pennock, Sister Carter, Elder Alves, Elder Leatham

Lanxerão

Our baby kitten!

Emanual

Querida Familia!

This week has been crazy!! Don't have much time to email today but hope this will suffice.

Viseu has been covered in smoke for the last week. There are so many fires in Portugal. It's crazy! But that doesn't stop us!

We've been teaching Emanuel. He is SO ELECT! He loves church and he loves learning. His baptism will be on August 27th! President Amorim gave us a challenge to have the biggest baptism in history. He wants us to have at least 40 investigators there and we wants to be able to write about it in his letter to all the missionaries. So we're working super hard to achieve this goal! We have super nice invites and we have a whole game plan. Wish us luck!

We were teaching Emanuel about the Priesthood, which is the authority from God to act in His name. We asked him why he would want the priesthood. He said that he wants it to bless the people around him and serve as an instrument in God's hands. He's soooo amazing!!

Love you all,

Sister Hillam

We had family home evening with this wonderful family in our ward!!

We made towers with marshmellows to talk about how we need a good foundation in the gospel. Mine's the tall one. I think my dad would be proud :)on

Viseu in smoke!

Marley e Eu!!! Em português!!

Viseu: A Melhor Cidade para Viver

BOM DIA ENERGIAA!

So I stayed in Viseu! Soo grateful! This place is so elect! Sister Pennock is my new companion! She's from Orem, Utah and she actually already served here in Viseu! This was her first area on the mission and she was here for 2 transfers. She has about 6 months left on her mission and she is an AMAZING missionary!! Check this out: My goals for last week were to smile more, speak more Portuguese, and do more contacts. Then Sister Pennock came. She´s like a giant ball of happy! Sometimes it's a little too much but it's good for me. We only speak Portuguese outside the house. No English. It's great! And then we literally contact EVERYONE! The Lord (and President Amorim) seriously knew what I needed! She's so great!

We have done so much work here! We have two investigators marked for baptism now. Emanuel (August 21st) and João Paulo (September 11th). They're amazing investigators! Emanuel has an amazing knowledge of the Bible and he's only 25 years old. He has such a strong testimony of the Restoration. It's amazing!! And then we have João Paulo. He's super great and has a ton of questions. His ex-wife and daughters live in Utah and are members already! Super small world! 

We went yesterday before church to go pick up a couple for church. They lived super far away and when we got there, they completely ignored us even though we knew they were inside their house. Super sad.. But.. We found this beautiful dog. She followed us for about an hour and a half and just walked with us! We named her Colega (companion). She was soo cute. But then she walked away and found a new friend. So sad.. 

This girl is on fire!! Or Viseu is on fire... There are about 31 fires going on around Viseu right now.. It's soo bad. You can barely see outside right now. But we're still going out because we have appointments to go to. The work must go on!!

I looooove Portugal so much! I love these people, no matter how much they say, 'I am Catholic, not practicing, but I'm Catholic' or 'I was born Catholic, I was raised Catholic, and I will die Catholic.' They're amazing people and they have so much faith!! They just need the Restored Gospel! Here's to the best mission in the world!!

Love you all!!
Sister Hillam

Sister Pennock and I with our Bishop! He's moving to Germany. Soo sad to see him leave!

Smoke in Viseu!

Nossa cadela (our dog), Colega

Our lunch today! Salmon, queijo fresco (no idea what that is), tomatoes, and pasta!

Nascido em Viseu!! We all started our missions in Viseu!!

One down, one more Sister Hillam to go....

Dear Family and Friends,

I am officially the only Sister Hillam in the mission. Que triste!! Madi left this morning to go to Porto. She's probably learning about marriage and self reliance right now! So glad I'm in Viseu.. I'll be getting my new comp sometime tomorrow! Soo excited!

Kinda cool story: We went to the aldeia (village/town) where our 10 member family lives last week. While we were waiting for the bus, this 50 year old man came up to us and started babbling about monkeys and us being descended from them. He was probably a little drunk and he was getting uncomfortably close to us. Well the bus pulled up and we got on, hoping that he wasn't coming. But he did.. And he came and sat right in front of us and started to talk to us again and staring. This lasted for about 5-10 minutes until this 18ish year old boy almost started yelling at him telling him to stop and to learn some respect. Wow. We were soo shocked! The old guy didn't talk to us anymore after that. I have soo much more hope in the world now. 

So Saturday night, we had plans to go see tons of people but they ALL fell through. So we were just going around to apartments and knocking doors. Nothing. We were finally just gave up. Then we decided to pray. We asked for help to find those who were prepared to hear our message. Right after that, we contacted the first person we saw. His mom is a member. He's friends with members. We invited him to church but he couldn't but we got his information and we'll go visit him this week! Prayer works!! 

This past week has been so weird! We have been teaching more less active members than non-members. It's been really cool to hear why these people want to come back to church. They always talk about something they feel whenever they come to church and how they miss it. I love seeing the changes that can take place in a person because of Christ!

Thanks for all the prayers and the love!!
Com amor,
Sister Hillam

Viseu is preparing for their giant São Mateus party! It starts on the 5th and ends sometime in September!

Our last Noite de Panquecas with our whole district!

The Correias! They live in the aldeia and they gave us the reference for the 10 member family! They're so amazing! They've been letting me borrow their violin for the past transfer. Ahhhh they're awesome!!