Week of Miracles...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!!! I can’t believe he’s going to be 7!!! That’s incredible!!! Happy birthday kiddo!! :) Love you lots! We’ll play lots of basketball when I get back okay Daniel? :)

Family, What. A. Week. 

I can’t begin to tell you how blessed this week was. We saw the finger of the Lord this week in the work. I can’t even begin to describe what an incredible week it was. We were and are so blessed. I’ll try and take you through a day-by-day but even then you probably won’t realize how much the Lord blessed the week. We literally had no time for ourselves at all, always running.

1. Segunda- we went to Graciete´s house (our newest member here in Gaia! :D More on this later) and had a lesson with her and gave her, her very own invite to her baptism, we had a good laugh. And then we headed off to invite her sister and brother in law to go to the baptism. Graciete was so excited about the baptism!!!

2. Terça- we had district meeting and we did a practice that me and sister Phipps hadn’t practiced yet which went pretty well! That night we actually used the practice that was awesome! But after district meeting we went on a hunt for Fatima who went missing again. But a miracle happened and we found her house, which was at the end of a really long road and then through a gate and then at the very end. It was a miracle that we found her house, and on top of that, she opened her door to us that she never does!! She even accepted to go teach a less active with us! She loved being with us. The less active actually got after her for being from Reino de Deus and bore a really strong testimony. It was awesome! Then that night we went and taught Odilia (Graciete´s mom) and used the lesson we practice in District Meeting. It was awesome and she basically said she’ll get baptized but she still working on a few things before she accepts. She told herself she would never change religions but she loves the church a lot. 

3. Quarta- we taught Graciete and Odilia in the morning, of course she accepted everything because she’s so elect! Then we had to sprint to catch the metro to go to Porto for choir practice. (We sang 3 different times this past week, all on the weekend. In total we sang, 10 songs...) we practiced for an activity that we had on Sunday for 2 stakes here in Porto, we had to practice 8 songs. Then we had to leave early because we started our division with the other sisters. Also, we had a couple of problems so we were on the phone with president all day, so division day, problems and we still ended the night amazing. We had a lesson with a less active, his friend, and an Irmã from the ward. It was incredible. We marked him for baptism and it was an amazing lesson. The less active loved it and his friend is now marked for baptism. We’re super excited! 

4. - Quinta- HAPPY SAINT PATRICK`S DAY AND 5 MONTHS!! We taught Graciete and Odilia again and she was so excited to be baptized!!! She really missed Sister Phipps and Odilia made a promise that she would be baptized before I left the mission! I just love these 2 women so much!! We then ran to the church for a meeting with bishop and ended our division. Because of a few problems, we had to pack a bag and stay in a hotel for a few days so right after the division, we packed and left. Then we went on a hunt to find Fatima again. We didn’t find her which was sad but we met a few amazing ladies. We taught them the first lesson and they both accepted to pray and they will get the book of Mormon this week. It was a really powerful lesson. We had an activity at the church and Odilia came and absolutely loved it! We watched the Easter film of Christ, played Jeopardy, and ate food. I didn’t know she was so competitive!! She was killing the game! It was awesome! 

5. Sexta- we had Graciete´s baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors! It was awesome! Elder Platts even talked to Odilia about baptism and I think it changed her way of thinking. It was awesome! Then we went back to the hotel and then had the assignment to clean the chapel so we went and did that in the afternoon, finished up some last minute baptismal program stuff and practice a song for Graciete´s baptism. It was crazy hectic! Let’s just say, at this point we hadn’t had much time in our area...

6. - Sabado- we taught Graciete again which went great! Accepted everything again and then ran to the church to practice our song `You Raise Me Up` by Josh Groban that we sang at her baptism! It was awesome! So we practiced, and then the Assistants came and got us to teach with them at their investigators house that went great! That whole story is just a huge long complicated story. So we’re tag teaming to help this 20-year-old girl be baptized. It’s great! She’s an amazing girl and I can already see the difference the church has made in her life. Incredible! Then we had to run back to the church for a Relief Society party that we had. We also sand a song called `Vem Brilhar` for a short message and Odilia came and absolutely loved it! She learned more about relief Society and I’m pretty sure she cried but she didn’t want anyone to see. It was super cute! Then we went on a Fatima search again, didn’t find her, and then did other last minute baptismal things, like practice our song.

7. - Domingo. INCREDIBLE!!!! After having little to no time in our area, we saw so many miracles today. We started up the baptismal font and the water was ice cold. I was about ready to die. The heating system didn’t work. We had everything perfect. Other than the water, it was the perfect baptism. But she entered the water and came out smiling. If that doesn’t explain the kind of person she is. She said it was so cold but the sensation afterward was without words to describe. She felt so free, light as a feather, she was dancing! It was incredible! On top of that, she sister and her brother in law came to support her! Our song went great and me and her both teared up. It was super spiritual. Oh and on top of that, after sacrament meeting started a lady that we taught a week or so came up and started crying in my arms. We pulled her aside and the first thing she said was, `I did what you told me to do. I prayed about Joseph Smith. I got an answer, and that’s why I’m here today. ` It took me by complete surprise. And then she just opened right up to us, and all we had to say was that we were here to help and the gospel will help. After she told us she knows it will. We had lost her as well. She didn’t answer when we came for our appointment and she apologized and immediately wanted us to come and visit. It was such a miracle!! Everything just ran so perfectly. We then had lunch with Graciete and Odilia, done by us, and then sprinted off to catch the metro to Porto for the activity. We sang 8 songs and the message was really great! And then ended our day! 

This week we had the most lessons with members that I’ve seen here in Gaia. If you combined all the lessons with members we’d had, it would equal what we had this week. On top of that we had the most other lessons we’d had up until this week, we had a baptism, and we had barely any time in our area. We saw the Hand of God in the work this week. It was such a blessing to have the help and support of Christ. I know He was making it all possible. No way would we have had the energy to do everything required, outside of our house, and still have the best week. He did everything. He helped out investigators more than we could have ever. I love Him so much. I’m so blessed to be here and to see these miracles. I’m blessed with an amazing companion who is doing her very best. I love the work. I couldn’t be more grateful for the mission and these people. I love every single one of them. 

I love you all so much!

Sister Hillam

p.s. Transfers should be this Sunday so stay in tune for that :)