IDE EM PAZ

Querida Familia,

First funny story: We met this really really nice guy (sarcasm) who, when we knocked on his door, came out, with his hand pointed toward us (like Darth Vader trying to force choke someone), and said, 'IDE EM PAZ!' Which translates roughly to, ´Go ye in peace!´ We just walked away laughing...

Funny story: We have this investigator, Marta, who's friends with a member so she comes to a lot of the activities. We've tried to help her set a date for her baptism but she says that she needs to think about it more. Buuut we have this recent convert, Sergio, who is about the same age, sooo we were joking around in correlation meeting and Presidente Emerciano said, 'If only she had a boyfriend in the church...' Then literally everyone's heads turned to Sergio and he just said, 'Wait, why is everyone looking at me??' We're going to try to hook them up! :)

Another even funnying story: So we were in the Gospel Principles class on Sunday and we were talking about how each of us are children of Heavenly Father and how we fought to come here to earth so that we could follow Christ. Well to demonstrate that..the teacher showed a video of.. fertilization.. Just to show how amazing life is and that even before we were created, many things happened even in the pre-existence so we could come to earth. I understand what was she was getting at but MAN that was awkward.. One for the books..

Paulo is still set and soo ready for baptism this Saturday! He's so elect! He takes notes at church and comes to all the activities and everything! He worked in Lisboa during the week and he told us that he took a detour and drove past the temple site there! He said that it's still in the beginnings but that it's really big! Super excited to see it someday!! Anyways, he's so ready! The Lord has definitely prepared him. Pray for him this week so that everything goes well!!

While walking and knocking doors this week, we found an azuleijo (Portuguese tile) that had this quote on it:
O pouco com Deus é muito e muito sem Deus é pouco.
(A little with God is a lot and a lot without God is little.)

I really loved this quote and it made me think about my life and what I want to get out of it. When we truly focus on God, everything always works out. We always have what we need to be happy. And if we follow Him and all His commandments, we will gain the greatest reward in the world: Eternal Life, life with God. But when we focus on the things of the world, we will never be eternally happy--Maybe temporally or for a few minutes, but not for eternity. I'm so grateful for this promise. We know exactly what we need to do. Follow the example of Christ in everything. Keep the commandments. Follow the prophet. Go to church. Read the scriptures. Pray. Not too hard :) And it's totally worth it!! I love this Gospel and I know that this is the only true church on the face of the Earth with all the truths restored so that each and everyone of us can partake of the blessings that our Heavenly Father has in store for us.

Love you all!!
Sister Hillam

We celebrated Miguel's birthday. We made him a t-shirt that has a tie and a missionary tag on the front and then on the back it says, 'Featuring Michael Lopes of Saint John of Wood.' The members get a kick out of calling São João de Madeira Saint John of Wood. Miguel loved it!