Transfers

Well transfers were unexpected this time. We were almost positive that Sister Mavy would stay and that I would leave but NOPE! I'm staying in São João da Madeira and I'll be training Sister Bushman who's coming from Coimbra! Sister Mavy will be going to Porto which thank goodness isn't too far away from me. Man. I'll miss that girl. 

So this past week was a little more on the rough side! Both Sister Mavy and I got super sick.. I don't know what it is about São João but we get sick so much here! But let's just say that I'm sick of being inside the house now.. Even if it's pouring outside! 

Elder Leimer from the Seventy came for a mission tour! It was so amazing! They talked about recognizing the Spirit and their stories were amazing!! I wrote it all down thankfully because I really can't remember anything right now.. BUT we were definitely all recognizing the Spirit in that meeting!

Oh it was Sister Mavy's birthday on Saturday!! We were sick which was lame but the elders told us to come to the chapel at 7pm because they wanted to give her a cake but when we got there, the members were there with cakes to wish her happy birthday! It was so cute!! We really have the best branch ever here! 

Also, update on Sónia. We learned that she actually has a lot of mental problems and was admitted into a hospital. Yeah that was sad news.. But she told us that she was going to take the Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets that we left with her to the hospital. She's so golden but now just isn't the time :(

Well, it was a great week though! Love you all!!

Sister Hillam

Sister Mavy's birthday party

Our District minus Sister Nagliati

Our trio's down to 2 :(

So Sister Nagliati left Sister Mavy and I last night. Presidente let us take her up to Porto to the mission home and say goodbye. It's super weird to just be with one companion now! But hey, I guess I'll have to get used to it!

SO since Sister Nagliati was on her last week, we were able to get LOTS of meals with members. And with that, Sister Nagliati and I had a goal to make Sister Mavy eat a tons. We tell the members that she's really shy and afraid to ask for more food. And she's so young on the mission that she can't speak too well so she can't really say anything. So we just convince the members to give her TONS of food. And then she tries to hide it without the members seeing it. It's great. We got to eat Angolan food with a member, really good lasagna, and we made arepas for some members. 

We also had to go up to Porto on quinta feira and Sister Amorim took us three to lunch at an AMAZING Italian resturante! It was amazing! And Sister Amorim is the cutest person ever! She gave us marriage and dating tips so that was fun. I'm so glad she's here. She sands out President's edges ;)

So with Sónia. She's still marked for March 11th but her family is super super against her meeting with us or getting baptized. It's really sad. They don't even want to talk to us. But we have some awesome plans to help her this week!! So we're excited!! Pray for her!! 

We have mission tour this week with Elder Leimer! I don't really know who he his but I'm so excited!! 

Love you all!! 

Sister Hillam

Sorry!! No pictures!

9 Months Down. 9 More to Go

This week. WOW.

So we have a MARCADO!! Her name is Sónia! And she's marked to be baptized on the 5th of March! So this whole past week, we had a goal to invite EVERYONE to be baptized. And everyone was saying no.. But we kept doing it! Pois! So we knock on Sónia's door and she comes out and invites us inside her house. We start to teach her the first lesson about the Restoration and she's just asking all the right questions. How do I pray? What will I feel? Things like that. After we said the first prayer, she said she had never felt anything like that before and by the end, she was telling us that she knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. At the very end, we give her the pamphlet and she looks on the back and sees a tiny little picture of the Book of Mormon and she looks at us and says, "Where do I get this book?" We had one with us, pois, and explained a little. Then we invited her to baptism and she straight out says YES! Turns out that she is a catequista, meaning she teaches little kids in the catholic church. So she invited us to go to catequese and teach the kids. It didn't end up working out but we're going to try again next week! AND we're going to talk to the priest!! Woo woo! GO SÓNIA!!

We went to an old folks home this week too! Sónia goes there a lot so we walked there with her and we got to say hi to all the cute little old portuguese people. THEY'RE THE CUTEST! We sang to them "A Child's Prayer" and prayed with them. THEY LOVE US! We're totally going back! 

We went on a division with the STLs in Gaia and I got to meet a lot of the members that my cousin, Sister Hillam, served with! They were so mind blown that there was another Hillam! I also met her recent converts! Wow! CINCO ESTRELAS! They're awesome!! 

The branch had it's Valentine's Day activity! It was so cute! We had 5 investigators there with us too! There was a little dance at the end and the members were all dancing and us missionaries were sitting there awkwardly just swaying in our chairs.. We have the best members!!! One of them even gave me these cabbage seeds so I can plant my own portuguese garden back home and make Caldo Verde!!!

Man. Time flies! I'm already half way done with my mission and I can't believe it! Even college didn't even go this fast!! And I know it's all because of the work we're doing here. When we're focused on the Lord and His work, everything works out and you can enjoy life so much more! I'm so grateful for my Savior and all the opportunities and second chances I'm given! 

I love you all!! 

Sister Hillam

Odília e Graciete, Sister Hillam's recent converts in Gaia!

Sunset!

Sunset!

Snow on the Mountains!

Our Pet Pony!

Week 4 of the Tripla

This week was super rushed! I don't really remembered what happened.. 

We rode bikes in Porto next to the river and the ocean. SO COOL. 
Sister Nagliati got sick so Sister Mavy and I just baked all day and then watched church movies. 
We had Zone Meeting in Gaia (south of Porto, north of us)
We went to a fair and bought sheep cheese.. 
We got rained on like crazy and I broke my umbrella.. 
But the coolest thing was our goals. We made a goal to invite every person we taught to baptism. It was super scary but we still did it. Although no one has accepted yet, we're showing the Lord what we're willing to do and He will bless us. We're going to continue doing it this week too!! Can't wait!!!

Sorry for the short email! Not that much time!!

Love ya'll!
Sister Hillam

Us featuring our broken umbrellas

Our district minus E. Aguilar

A Zona do Porto

At the moment of this picture, the wind picked up like crazy and S. Nagliati's umbrella flipped inside out.

A bird pooped on S. Mavy..

No one was opening the doors so we thought maybe the dead would like to hear our  message.. .