MAN! I LOVE SÃO JOÃO!! Literally the best area in the mission, if I don't say so myself. I'm so grateful to be staying here this transfer and to train a new little missionary!
After Sister Streadbeck left last Monday, I stuck around with the other sisters in São João and then Tuesday morning, I ended up catching a bus to Porto to wait for Sister Cook, who was coming down from Viana do Castelo to also train. So we decided to work in Porto for the day and help the missionaries heading to the island get to and from the metro with their bags. We asked the Elders in that area if they had anyone who they'd like us to visit and they gave us the name of a family of less actives. Their names are Lúcia and Patrícia--Mother and daughter. They're from Cabo Verde and AMAZING!! We had never met them before but they just welcomed us into their house. We asked them if they could invite the whole family to say a prayer with us so the mom, Lúcia, yelled, "Children! I have chocolate!" and they all came. They're all older and in their 20's or 30's. We said a kneeling prayer as a family and then after, the kids all started to leave. We asked them to stay for 5 minutes and that we had a really important question for them; they agreed to stay. And then Sister Cook came out with the most inspired question I have ever heard in my life and directed it to Nelson, the son (30ish) who didn't really want to be there. "Nelson, who do you love the most in the world?" And BAM like that, the Spirit just flooded the room. It was so amazing. He answered that he loved his mom, Lúcia, and his son the most. We talked about that with all of them. Nelson eventually had to leave but it was amazing! We were definitely being guided by the Spirit in that lesson. We made goals with Lúcia and Patrícia to go to the temple and they're super excited!!
The next day, we got to meet our new comps! We had 6 hours of meetings and then at the very end, President said who our comps are. I'm training SISTER MAVY! WOOT WOOT! She's from California and she's studying nursing at BYUI. She's actually a month older than me so it's kinda funny. She's so adorable. She loves contacting and saying hi to everyone and has such a strong testimony. And the even greater part is that she's willing to learn and be corrected. I asked her how often she would like me to correct her Portuguese and she's said to just correct everything. She learns super fast but is right now speaking more Spanish than Portuguese. It's cute. But she's so awesome!! We're going to do great things in São João! Oh and she writes me cute little notes and hides them around in the house for me to find :)
Saturday was a day of miracles!! We hadn't found any new investigators to teach yet that week, given we hadn't been in our area for half of the week, but still... And I really wanted Sister Mavy to have a super good first week. So I was praying soo hard and I'm sure she was too so that we could find some people to teach. So first, we found Carolina, a super old lady but really sweet. Then we knocked on Carlos's door. We had knocked his door a transfer ago and he was never there. Then we knocked it, he opened it, let us in, we taught his wife and his son, and now we're going back in a week! AHH FAMILIES!! Then we only had about 30 minutes left of the night and we knocked on Domingo's door, again, someone we met a transfer ago. He let us in, we taught him and his wife, and we're going back in a week! ANOTHER FAMILY!! I LOVE FAMILIES!! Miracles do happen, especially when we have faith and we do all we can.
We also taught Anunciada this past week. She's this cute 70 year old lady that doesn't read and lives all alone. When we first started teaching her, she was very closed off but now, she LOVES us! We always ask her if we can help her with something but she says no. So this time, I asked her if I could clean off one rock in her patio. She just laughed and said yes. So, I got the broom and started cleaning the rock. She was just dying with laughter. I told her that every time that we come, I'll clean a rock. I really love Anunciada. She's so sweet. I've learned with her that sometimes, we can't teach every person the same way. With her, we have to go really slow, but she's starting to feel the Spirit and recognizing that she needs the Gospel in her life.
We had a meeting with our branch president, Presidente Emerciano, about our plan for the year 2017. Our ultimate goal is to become a ward. We actually only need 20 more people at church on Sundays to become a ward. WE ARE SO CLOSE!! I hope I can be here to see that day!
Oh, and we got chased by a yelling drunk guy last night. That was fun...
Well, it's been an amazing week! And next week will be even better!!
Com muito amor,
Sister Hillam
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| Old and New Companions--Sister Kunz, Sister Pennock, Me, and Sister Mavy |
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| Sister Amorim, Sister Mavy, me, and Presidente Amorim! |
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| Sister Streadbeck and her cake of her life after the mission |
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| The beautiful sunset! |
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| Ana Namentenha from Angola!! I'm actually like 20 feet taller than her but she didn't like being short. She's a sassy one. |
