The Week Went By Way To Fast!

If there is something that is happening this week with the family, birthday, anniversary, etc. I’m so sorry I don’t remember anything that will happen but PARABEMS if I forgot!! 

THIS WEEK WENT BY WAY TO FAST!!!! They always say the last 9 months just fly by but I never thought that it would be this fast...YIKES!!! 

So on Tuesday we have district meeting and as usually always super good! This day was just a miracle in and of itself! After lunch Sister Miller turned to me and asked who ran this town and I said WE DO! But then I turned and said, `Actually, God runs this town. ` She turns to me with the weirdest look, so now, Goblins run this town...and we saw that that day! We left from lunch and at 3 in the afternoon our phone died. There was no way we could take an hour out of the day to charge it so we had to do without. The Goblins run this town! Luckily we had a member with us and we used his phone to call people but still! After he left we were left helpless. We had a dinner appointment and we couldn’t find their apartment (goblins) but then the first door we knocked on was there’s!! God runs this town! Such a miracle. 

So here on the Madeira we meet people from all over the world but this week was focused on Dutch people and Canadians. HOW COOL IS THAT??? We got into some good discussions and not only were they from Canada but they were from Edmonton!! So cool. I love talking to everyone. Not going to lie it is really hard to teach the gospel in English!! We meet people from all over the world; it’s incredible and they know who we are! The Gospel is rolling forth like the scriptures say and it will fill the whole earth till everyone knows! Incredible!

This week the Elders gave us an investigator named Laura. She lives in our area and they didn’t know but she is incredible. I think she’s 16 and she is trying to find her way in life. Her family is against the church but she asked in a prayer of hers to know if Jesus Christ is her Savior and if the church was true. We then started to teach her after that lesson she had with the Elders. One Elder started crying because he’s never seen an investigator like her. She truly is elect. She started reading the Book of Mormon by herself. The Zone Leaders had a baptism this weekend and her name is Vitoria and her and Laura are friends. We explained about baptism a little and the Holy Ghost and she almost cried. I almost started crying because she’s so ready to know. We read about faith and after our lesson she said she needed more faith and that she wanted to believe. She’s amazing. We had a branch activity and she stayed there for 6 hours!!!! She loves it! The next day she came to sacrament meeting and stayed another 4 hours to see the baptism and talk with the members! She’ll be baptized here soon!

I celebrated 9 months this week and just so you call know, in 9 months from today, I will be home...I’m crying right now because it’s gone by WAY too fast. I look back on the past 9 months and what I’ve done and I can’t believe it. I couldn’t have even imagined doing everything that I’m doing. I love every minute of it. To celebrate 9 months, my comp, the other sisters and the zone leaders threw me a party with brownies and chocolate! It was so fun and I’m really glad that I could spend it with them :) My family of Missionaries on the Island!! 

That family that I always talked about well...we marked them this week!!! They still are waiting for one paper to get married but we had the strongest impression to mark them this week. During weekly planning we were talking about out baptismal goal and they kept coming to mind. Well we decided on a date and felt that we need to take the baptismal clothes there and dress them in them. It was incredible. He came out and told us that seeing them in white was a dream. He wanted to make that dream a reality. I was SO happy!!! He said that we just knew it was time!! We talked about faith with them and the story about Peter on the water. The reason why he fell was because he took his eyes off Christ. IF he would have focused on Christ the whole time he could have walked the whole way. EYES OF FAITH! Literally they saw with their eyes the white clothing and they just have to keep focused on it! We can’t do anything for there paper but put out faith on the Lord. It was incredible. 

I love this island. I can’t even believe how much it’s already changed me! I LOVE THESE MEMBERS!!!!!!!!! They love us so much and I can’t even begin to describe how much they mean to me. Just thinking about one day leaving makes me cry. They’ve already gotten so close to my heart. Every person here is incredible. The members will do anything for us. They tell us everyday to call for ANYTHING, and more! They are already giving us things! Food, trinkets, etc! I’m really grateful for all of your examples. You’ve already seen the miracles of a mission and I wish we could do this all together someday. I wish I could stay here forever! I don’t think I’ve laughed or smiled so much in my life!! This is the best thing in the WORLD!!! I love you all so much! I read Alma 5 recently. ` Have you been spiritually been born of God? ` `Can you feel the song of His redeeming love? ` I can’t remember exactly the verses but family, the question is, Have we been? Can we feel His influence and see His hand in our lives everyday? I love that chapter. It really makes us look at our lives and evaluate what we can do to be better. LOVE THE MISSION!!!! I love you all so much. Thank you for the prayers and the letters. They really do help me more than you know. Love you!

Sister Hillam