So the top says 400 days..this past week I was writing in my journal
and I always do but the day said it was 400 so I celebrated 400 days...wow. It
went by way too fast. This week was crazy!! And this week is even going to be
better! It goes by way to fast. Literally it seems like yesterday that I was writing...seriously...slow
down. We’re starting our 4th week of this transfer...4th WEEK!! Ridiculous!
This week I ended up making 3 cakes! 1 for a family of 8 and then 2
for the women in the ward. I think I’ve officially gone crazy with all the
baking and cooking. If I had more time to cook and clean I would probably like
it but we just don’t have time to actually do much cooking! It was a little
crazy! But we have been working a lot in this area of town where the less wealthy
people live and we’ve actually had quite a bit of success! Lots of familias and
kids, as well as youth. We met one family with 8, and then another family of 4,
and then another with tons of kids that we haven’t had too much success at
getting into the house. But we’ve found so many elect people in that area!! We’ll
keep working on meeting more people in that area this week! Also on Sunday it
was too perfect. The lesson was about Elder Holland´s talk about `Behold Thy
Mother. ` And it was perfect to give all the ladies a little piece of cake. It
was great!!
We met this lady this week named Gina and the missionaries already
taught her. She told us that out of all the churches, she likes the Mormon Church
better. She was really excited to talk to us the first time. She has chronic
depression and one day we put her in our plans and I had the biggest impression
that we needed to go see her at that time. So we climbed her stairs and I
jumped over her little wall she has and right as she was shutting the door I
was there. She later said that she saw us on the street and thought, `okay I’ll
leave the door open and see if they come, if not I’ll close it. ` Then she said
she had a thought, `Close the door. ` She knew it was of Satan but started to
shut the door anyway and that’s when I showed up. She said it was a testimony
to her! She loved having us and even cried because she was so happy. It’s
incredible the way the Lord works through us to bless His children. Love this
gospel!
We were knocking doors at this same area and we even had one of our
investigators tell us what doors to knock and their names. It was super fun to
work with him. Alvero is super cool but he needs a lot of work but we’re
friends with him and his family. His wife passed away last year so we talked to
him about the plan of salvation and now he really likes us, he just needs to go
to church!
We had inspections on our house this week. When we first got here it
was awful. It smelt so bad and it was pretty dirty too. But now it’s not too bad.
The couple here actually said that it looks WAY better than when they were
here! We got a new microwave this week, which really helps too! Still have lots
of things to throw out but it’s a process, but we’ll get it done!
This week we had an all-missionary training meeting for all the
missionaries in the world! Wow it was awesome! Elder Bednar spoke, Elder
Anderson spoke, Young Women’s president spoke, and a couple other people from
the missionary department spoke. It was awesome! They focused on a lot of basic
principles in PMG and just focused on the purpose of inviting them and the
spirit. I had lots of thoughts on this too.
So I wanted to share one of the biggest miracles that happened this
week. I had prayed this week for trials to build my faith more and well we had
3 of the 8 family members promised to go to church but the problem was they
needed a ride. We called everyone that could possibly help to give them a ride,
but no one answered, or they couldn’t. I was really sad. But I had a firm
belief that we needed to do more. Saturday night and Sunday morning I prayed so
hard. I prayed for a miracle to happen, that someone could give this family a
ride. Sunday morning we got a call from on member saying he could give them a
ride, but we needed to leave right then and wake them up. So we left to get
them. Well they ended up not getting up to go so we had to call off the ride.
All I could think was, `was my faith enough? What can I learn from this? Why didn’t
they wake up? ` This thought came to my head `Sister Hillam, this is the trial
of your faith that you wanted. ` So I went on, trying not to lose my faith. We
left to wake up another investigator and he was already dressed and ready to
go!! I wanted to cry. So we started walking to church when this car honks at
us. I look and it’s one of our members in his car! He offered us a ride to
church, all 3 of us! It was incredible!
The Lord hears our prayers and answers them. We just need to have
the faith in His timing. It was a huge faith builder this week. We were
exhausted, and sore, and just over all done for the week by the end of the day
but a smile never left my face because I had witness a huge miracle. I had
asked for a ride for a family but instead it was a different investigator and a
different ride. He lives and hears our prayers.
We’re having a 2 day mission counsel for all the Zone Leaders,
District Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, Assistants, Casal Missionaries, all
the office staff, and president this week and I’m privileged to give a 5-10
minute spiritual thought. I was thinking a lot about the missionary training
that we had this past week and I had this thought, `We teach Christ. ` This has
a lot to apply to it. We not only teach Christ, everything we do is Christ. We
teach faith in Him, Repentance through Him, Baptized to follow Him, we receive
the Holy Ghost to feel Him, and we Endure to the end to live with Him. We
testify of Him, everything we do is Him. Our life should be filled by our
Savior. Family, I love Christ. I love the mission so much, no matter the trials
that come, I am strengthened by Him everyday. I love you all so much. Thank you
for the support!
Sister Hillam
P.S. this is my new address!
Sister Madison Hillam
Praceta Dr. José Sampaio
N. 60 Apt. 53
Mafamude, Gaia
Portugal
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