MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! (Almost!)
Okay, First off, I will be skyping on Christmas!!!! I will call
between 8:00-8:30p.m. (1-1:30 you’re time) until about 9:00-9:30 P.M
(2-2:30)!!! I’m super excited to talk to you!! We will have a Christmas dinner
with Grace and Arlindo Andrade so they offered their ipad and computer to let
us call after dinner and after we clean up :) I’m really excited to see you all
again!! Oh also, If you could, I would love to give the Andrade´s 17 Miracles
as a gift from me! Could you somehow send that too me ASAP? I don’t know what
will happen this next transfer, if I stay or if I go.
This week was AWESOME!!!! It went by waaaay too fast!!! You know the
week is going to be good when you end P-Day with the Andrade´s eating steak,
beans, and bread! They invited us over to plan the dinner for Christmas and
then they ended up feeding us, and it tasted SO good to eat a steak again!
First time since I’ve left! And then after that day, the week just kept getting
better and better!
So Didi (the family- Sofia and Didi) CAME BACK FROM PORTO THIS PAST
WEEK!!!!!!! We called Sofia to set up an appointment with her and she said she couldn’t
because Didi was coming back in 2 hours!!! We had no idea!!! So now that family
is back together and 4 of them will be baptized as soon as they get the final
paper for marriage!!! It made us so happy to see them as a family again! We
made them a HUGE cake to celebrate Bernardo´s birthday and also Didi´s return.
I love that family so much! What a better time to be together than Natal. They
were so happy and I felt like I was part of their family!
We’ve been teaching this really cute lady! She’s 82 years old and her
and me are the same height when I’m on my knees! She’s adorable!! We made her a
cake for her birthday and she just started crying because none of her kids
remembered her birthday. So we spent a little time with her and had a little
party to celebrate! She’s a sweet heart. I have recently discovered that I love
Old ladies here on the mission!! All you have to do is get in with the old
ladies, and you’re friends with EVERYONE! We have friends on the buses now that
we use and it’s so fun!!! I’m going to miss my little friends when I leave
Madeira! They’re so close to my heart!
Also, Oneida has a baptism date!! She’ll be baptized on the 2nd of
January!!! She started crying when she told us how much the contact on the
street meant to her. I love her so much! She’s almost to Helaman right now and she’s
only been reading for about 10-15 days!! She’s incredible! And she always has
her Book of Mormon out and marked when we get to her house!! So elect!! She has
tons of friends at church and loves to talk to everyone. She makes our job
really easy!
The end of the week was a roller coaster!!!! On Friday we had Zone
Conference with President and wow was it good!!! So let me just explain what
happened in the beginning...We got to talking about what President has seen in
the past 5 months that he’s been here and the progress that he’s seen. It’s
incredible the difference in such a short time! And then we went on to
practices and guess who was chosen...WE WERE! I already knew going in that we
would be giving the practice. So we did a baptismal invite practice and so did
2 Elders. It went all right but then president showed us how he really wants us
to do it and it was awesome! He is truly inspired!!! We watched 2 videos about
the mission and then we listened to how members of the church were contacted by
missionaries. The spirit was so strong and when you see the genuine smiles of the
members, old and newly baptized ones, it just brought the spirit. Then after
they sang me happy birthday from last month, ate our `Christmas meal` and
opened a present! Oh and best part of all, the last thing we did was watch a
movie! And it was `It’s a Wonderful Life!!! ` MADE MY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! Loved
every minute of it! haha he told us all to close our eyes every time they
kissed haha the Elders couldn’t take it! It was a really good conference and I
was pumped to work afterwards!!!
On Saturday we had our HUGE Madeira District Christmas party and oh
my goodness was it a blast!!!!!! Canico, Machico, Funchal, and Camara dos Lobos
were there!!! We filled the sacrament room and went into the overflow! We
started out with the Christmas film, and a message about the importance of
Christ birth and the church he established. We listened to a Piano Guys song
and had lots of music! It was so fun to talk to all the members and see the joy
of Christmas as we talked about Christ. We had a short talent show where the
kids could get up and sing and do some sort of talent. It was adorable! We met Grace’s
niece and nephew and we’re actually going to start teaching them the gospel! So
they came and by the next day they were asking to see us again! They are the
cutest kids ever! And then another member came up to us and brought his friend
Brielen and she wants to know more about the church!! If members could just see
the influence they have on others, the church would bust with members!! It was
just a great night to spread the true meaning of Christmas!
On Sunday, I gave the gospel principles class on Exaltation. It went
really well!! I was nervous about the whole Portuguese/ language barrier but
they seemed to understand so that’s a good thing!! I got told the night before
so I really threw a lesson together an hour before. It was bad planning but
still was pretty good! And then we had a special Christmas sacrament meeting
and they didn’t tell me we would be singing 7 songs so I ended up playing 7
Christmas songs in Sacrament...I was nervous out of my mind but it didn’t go
too bad! I’m happy to say that my talent on the piano has grown and I’m site
seeing better. Thank you for the piano lessons!!!!!!!
I just wanted to tell you all how much I love my Savior. I love Him
with my whole heart. I’m so grateful for this time that I have to share His
gospel during this time. I’m so thankful for the example He is for me and the
chance that I have to be like Him. He suffered for me so that I don’t have to.
He knows me. He knows our weakness and He will NEVER leave us. Actually it’s
the opposite. The times we most need Him, He is right there, we just need to
open our eyes to His blessings and His help. His birth was the start of a
perfect life and of our salvation. We can never forget what He has done for us.
Because of Him we can return to live with out loving Heavenly Father. The path
is simple if we want it to be. Take the saying from Nike. JUST DO IT! It’s as
simple as that. Do your part. Do what He asks. He has promised us so many blessings
if we will but open our hearts to Him. He is our Savior and Redeemer. I love
Him. I love you all so much!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
Sister Hillam
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