Sister Hillam in Portugal: #11 Brie Cheese and Pears YUM!!

Oh my goodness, I LOVE CHEESE!!! I thought I loved cheese before the mission but oooohhhh no! It’s been taken to a whole new level!!! The cheese is soooo good!!! Oh and fresh bread everyday...yum!!!!!! I love it so much!!! The only downside is that Olhao smells funny...But the food is so good!! This week I had my first Jeijoada!! SUPER GOOD!!!!! Love Portugal!!!!

So last P-day we went to Tavira to have a district p-day and we went and ate at a Mexican restaurant. That was interesting to be eating in a Mexican restaurant in Portugal...but it was good! That night we had a family night with Nato´s family and Alexandre. Alexandre is José Carlos’s brothers. He fell away there for a while but now he wants to get baptized!!! Such miracles every week!!!

Tuesday we had our reunion with Nato and I love this quote he said. `Now is not preparation time, it’s about doing. He challenged us to have baptisms every week. Later that day we ran into this Brazilian and he is hilarious!!!!! He’s a Zumba teacher here and he was just so fun to listen to! They talk really slow and I loved it because I could understand! Gosh the Portuguese people speak so fast! It was great to talk to him and leave our card with him. We met with Alexandre again and he wants to get baptized on the 15th. We don’t want him to but that’s when he wants to. I’ve decided that there is so much to do and not enough time to do it in! We have so many people that I want to teach and we need more hours in the day.

Wednesday we had zone meeting! SOO FUN!!! This was Sister Brundage´s last zone meeting and like 7 others and one of the Elder’s made a cake with cross bones on it to represent their deaths. Haha It was pretty funny. That meeting our district sang Israel God is calling and we made a few people cry. We had all the parts, and guess who had to sing soprano...me! I think my voice has gotten higher...yikes! Anyway, We got nutter butters for baptizing and peanuts because we’re nuts! I was pretty proud of our hard work! That meeting was SO fun!! Our District leaders in Tavira got suckers and Elder Bowden said, `Is it because we suck? `Haha the whole room was laughing! They have a rough area. Elder Bowden is the branch president and Elder Boyd is the DL. Rough stuff! They’re awesome though!! Also, Elder Halliman from our zone is from Pocatello and He might stop by the house. I gave him our address and stuff so yeah! He’s a cool guy! Also that day, I met this guy named Phil from Canada. He doesn’t believe in God or anything but just this life. I felt a little bit of the pain that the Savior feels when people reject Him. I felt so hurt that he wouldn’t listen to me. It put things into perspective for me.

Thursday I had my first feijoada!!! SO GOOD!!! Love it!!! We also met this guy named Abdule that wants to find the true church. All I could think was, `welcome to the >church of Jesus Christ of later day saints, would you like to get baptized?? ` Sadly I think we’ll need permission to teach him so nothing serious happens to him or the church. Also we taught Alexandre again and confirmed the 15th as his baptism date. We still aren’t too happy about it but todo bem. I love this quote that I found which really helped me this day. `This is the time, it is the right place, and I’m the right person.`

Friday we taught this lady named Adelia and she is so elect!!! She believes everything we tell her. Later that day we went to Familia Santos house and we saw and talked to the mom and then she didn’t answer the door!! It was so rude!!! We made an appointment with her the day before. It was nuts...and then we tried to call this family that we want to baptize and we couldn’t go there becaue they´re in a fight. That was so frustrating!! It made us really sad because we have a calendar of all the lessons we want to teach and we have a day for their baptisms. Helder is a member and Vera isn’t neither are their daughters. We’re working and trying to get them to come to Christ.

Saturday was full of miracles! We ran into the Sister of Helder who is also a member, and we taught her daughter Mara. She wants to be baptized too! And then we went to visit Adelia´s husband Vitor who basically told us that he wants to change religions but it’s going to be hard to tell his family about it. SUCH A MIRACLE! And then we got a call from José Carlos telling us the Alexandre wants to get baptized this weekend!!!! AWESOME!!!! And then we ran into Adelia who said she’s going to church and she read the Book of Mormon to her family!! Literally this all happened within 30 minutes of each other. I have a testimony of Fasting!! Miracles happen when we fast!

Sunday we ended the fast and right after we ended, Vera called and said that they are okay and they made up! This whole weekend was full of miracles. Adelia ended up going to church and she had a great experience and José Carlos called and told us that his mom wants to get baptized too!!! The work it moving forward so fast! We love it here and I love the people. So much to do and such little time to do it. I wish I could write all the things I see and do everyday and every week. I wish I could record the things that happen. I love Portugal so much!!! I can’t wait to see what else is in store for this week.

I love you all so much. Keep being awesome!!! LOVE YOU!!