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| Sister Madison Hillam, Sister Marlie Hillam and President and Sister Amorim Sister Madison Hillam will spend her last transfer training her cousin! |
Monday, June 27, 2016
Can we get a Sister Hillam!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVA!!!!!! Love that little girl so much!!! :)
Well as you all know I am privileged to announce that we had
transfers this week and there was a Sister at the training meeting named Sister
Hillam so President had the great idea to put us together! Just kidding, as you
all know Sister Marlie Hillam is my companion!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS IT´S THE
BEST!!!!!! (Just imagine this message in caps because that’s how excited I feel
right now!!!!!!!!) I often ask myself why I am so blessed to have her in the
mission with me!!! It’s great explaining who we are to people! Sister Hillam
already explained our contacts but it goes a little bit like this:
`Hello, we’re missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints! My name is Sister Hillam`
The other looks at Sister Hillam, slightly confused and then says, `you
have the same names. `
`Yeah we’re cousins! `
It’s the best and then we can talk about who we are as missionaries
and people get really interested! So fun!!! A lot of members were really
excited to meet us :)
We often sit and talk about the family as we are constantly reminded
how a like we are... for example: we ate ice cream today and then we came to
realize that we had chosen ice cream with chocolate and nuts!! Then we started
laughing and saying how we are so Hillams. We often have these moments. I feel
like I’m serving with myself. It’s the best!!!
Anyway, we got the transfer call on Tuesday and Sister Costa was
really sad but also super excited! She’s in Braga right now! She took her
skittles with her :) ha-ha we got those last week and it was a good way to say
goodbye and celebrate a little :) So she left on Tuesday night and I stayed
with the Sisters for the night. Then I got up and took a bus to Porto with the
Elders who were also to be training at 6. I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t stop
smiling!! I was like a little kid on Christmas!! We got to Porto and we trainers
were called to be in the meeting at 9:00 and they didn’t end up showing up until
almost 11. You can imagine how I felt! I couldn’t sit down! I was so anxious! I
have been talking and waiting for this transfer for 4 months! And then Sister
Hillam walked in and I ran to her! It was a great moment!! Turns out we had
everything secret until Sister Hillam got in the car with President and he
spilt the beans!! And the Sister Amorim got a little upset and told her to
pretend to be surprised! But she had no idea until she got here! So then we got
to talking and everyone knew what was going on! Oh how great it was!
Then we left the meeting and got going to our area. It was a super
strange week. The first day together (Qunita-feira) was a super great day! We
got invited to eat lunch with Elder Judd (who recently ended his mission), his
parents, and all the missionaries here in Viseu. It was really good and strange
to see that I will soon not be a missionary...very strange. But then we got to
working and we basically contacted all day because many of our investigators
were out of town. We got to a time where nothing was really going our way so we
said a prayer, asked for help and guidance, and after that, we ended up
teaching 3 lessons, and finding 4 new people to teach! The power of prayer!
On sexta we did weekly planning which can I say, Sister Hillam came
pre-trained! Literally she is so amazing! Speaks really well and is a super
hard worker. tem que ser! ela é um Hillam!! During weekly planning we had to go
see our new house, which we are so excited to move into!!! We met some
spiritists. They were also talking about spiritismo with us that was so weird! We
have plans to teach the first lesson with them.
We have TONS of potential; people just need to be home! Luckily this
week everyone should be home so we can actually start teaching our families and
progressing investigators. I love the work. You don’t understand how great this
transfer is and how great it will be. I love Sister Hillam!!! I’m really
excited to see her progress here in the mission and I’m so grateful for
training her. I’m so blessed. My mission has been a HUGE blessing and the Lord
has given me things that I don’t even deserve. Last transfer was amazing and
now this one. I feel like the Lord has just put the cherry on top of my
mission. I love Him so much and it’s a privilege to be His missionary. I can’t
believe it most of the time. It went by so fast but never was I alone and now He’s
just showing me how close He really is. I love you all so much!!!
Sister Madison Hillam (since these is now a Sister Marlie Hillam)
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Só alcança quem não cansa - Translated is "Only Achieve for those who don't tire"
Don’t know if there are birthdays or anything sorry! I forgot to
look today! But another week went by!
I feel like I need to apologize, I feel like my emails have gotten
smaller and smaller just because so many miracles happen and I don’t know how
to explain all the people we meet and how they all happen.
This week we went on divisions and I was with an English sister that
is cape verdian, born in Lisbon, moved to London, and goes to church in a Spanish
ward...crazy sister but I love her! It was a really good division. She was
sister training leader in the area before me and Sister Waddell and apparently
a division she had went really bad and the sister she did it with is here. And
that sister said something that really made her upset and Sister Fernandes told
me of this story. I don’t even remember what I said to her, but the words
seemed to just flow from my mouth. I know it was the spirit telling her that
everything is okay. She started crying and it just felt so good to be an
instrument to help her at that moment. I love her so much. She was a great
leader!
This week we met a lady named Carla and she has 2 kids under the age
of 4. Well we got there to teach a lesson and the boyfriend came in and they
started fighting. It was so awkward! We just sat there and tried to help but we
couldn’t do much. They’re a cute family and really need the gospel!! We also
met this lady on the street that actually wanted us to pass by her house the
next day, which was a super awesome contact! We went and she is super elect! Her
name is Luisa and she has a son that’s named Carlos. I feel like Viseu has so
many families ready for the gospel!!!
I don’t do a great job at explaining all the miracles but one of the
best experiences that I’ve had in a lesson happened on Sunday. We were missing
2 new investigators for the week so we decided Sunday to go and find those
people. We ended the day with 3 new investigators but let me explain a little
more of what went down. We left the house and felt we needed to go to a
specific road and thus we did. We ended up spending 3 hours on this one road
and found 3 new investigators. The first lady was Fernanda who is reading the
BofM without the first lesson. We explained a little more about the book and
she told us that everything she is reading can be found in the bible. She
believes that the BofM is true! So cool!! She won’t be here this week to be
taught but she wants us to come back when she gets back. Then we go a few more
doors down and knock at an outside door. It didn’t have a doorbell or a bell so
we just went by faith that they would hear our knocking. Well a lady shows up
and she’s Brazilian!! Like the story with Sister Fernandes, we taught the first
lesson and during the part of the first vision, it was the spirit taking the
lesson away. The words were just flowing and after she said, ` wow what a
beautiful message. It really touched me. I want you guys to come back and meet
my husband! Oh and where is the church? ` You can imagine the joy that we
felt!! Oh and by the way, it was fast Sunday for us so fasting does work!!!
Just look at the miracles that happened! Then we went 2 more doors down and
found a girl, she didn’t want anything to do with us. The first thing she said
was `I don’t believe in God.` We asked her what she believed and she said
science. I told her that I did too but that Science answers only a few
questions and religion explains the Why. She then opened up a little and we
asked to go back and she said yes. Then we went a few more doors down and found
Jorge. Jorge is really cool. He’s super catholic but when he listened to the
first lesson he agreed with everything that we taught! So we have some really
elect people that we want to continue working with. So many miracles. I wish
that all of you could have been in the lessons with us. It was
incredible.
Manuel (Paula, recent converts, husband) got up in church and said
how grateful he was for Paula and the gospel. It was very touching because we
had fought non-stop to help them. We helped them get married and baptized and
even after we’ve had to do a little bit of marriage counseling. It’s been a roller
coaster, but everything we do as missionaries is worth it.
The mission is the best. I love it so much. This week we will have
divisions so again; the week will go by really fast! And then next terça we
find out about transfers. Hopefully by the end of this week or the beginning of
next we can get into the new house. Everything is going great! The title for
this week is only achieve for those who don’t tire. We must continue working
tirelessly for the cause of truth. I love you all so much!
Sister Hillam
Monday, June 6, 2016
A wedding, weddings remind me of meetings, meetings remind me of baptisms!!
That pretty much sums up the week! It was such a rush! Like I said
last week, this week would pass by and it did. We had one maybe two solid days
to work in our area. On Tuesday we got up and went to Porto for Mission Counsel,
which was super great!! President was all alone because his oldest son got
married so Sister Amorim was in the states and lots of stuff was going on with
sicknesses and deaths and stuff that he was super busy. But every time I talk
to him, I can feel his love more and more. I just love him! Then Sister Costa
stayed in Porto to get her residency card and I came back with Sister
Christensen who has been here for 2 months and did a division. This week we met
2 families with HUGE potencial and we’re working with another family. 2 of the
3 are family to Mónica and Firmino. Man they are just incredible! We went and
saw our new house that we should be in here soon! Hopefully by the end of this
week we will be in our new house!! So all of Wednesday we were out with Mónica
and seeing the house. Paula also was interviewed for her baptism and passed! So
that was a relief! We worked so hard to teach her all she needed to know and
have her understand. The spirit helped LOADS!!!
Here gets the good day! We get up on Thursday and we were asked to
do a musical number at Paula´s baptism. Well, up until Tuesday we had no idea
if the baptism would actually happen because they still needed to get married.
As soon as we knew we told everyone! So Bispo asked us to sing so we got the
Elders from our ward on Thursday morning and practiced. Then we had to run off
to the wedding at 10! When we got there they had forgotten their identification
cards so I almost had to be a witness at their wedding! Luckily bispo walked
around the corner about 10 minutes late! Such a blessings because come to find
out, my residency card expired! So they got married and then we had to sprint
out of the building to go to our zone conference at 11. I ended up giving the
demonstration practice because I gave the practice at Mission council. It went
pretty good! Everyone liked it. Not going to lie, it felt good to be in front,
teaching again. I like teaching people but in a big group, it was fun to guide
the practice and what not. The cedar Badger in me! It was great! Then we went
home for lunch at 3ish and then had to go back to the chapel to finish
everything up for the baptism! We ending meeting up with a family that our
bishop baptized on the Madeira! I will send you a picture but this family is so
incredible! The daughters sang and played the piano at the baptism. Such a
blessing and I really needed to hear it. The baptism went great! Her husband
Manuel could baptize her so that was super special :) And we needed Elder Judd
to help her because she’s scared of water but everything went great and then we
had a huge party afterwards. But I would just like to brag about our members
here. This was the first baptism that this ward has had for a little over a
year now. I can’t tell you how much these members helped. Paula and Manuel had
nothing. No clothing, no rings, and we didn’t have clothes big enough for the
baptism. But come to find out, Maria Jesus and Emilia bought Paula an outfit for
her wedding, and made her baptismal clothing, and bought Manuel a suit, and
then they also had a huge party after their special day. They were answers to
our prayers. There was no way we could have provided for everything and the
members just wanted to do everything to help. It was incredible. I saw the Lord’s
hand so clearly. It was incredible! Mostly this was the best day! It was one of
those days you will never forget because of how much you see the Lord’s hand in
the work. Love the mission for these exact moments!
Sadly we had to stop teaching one of our investigators. She didn’t
want to go to church so we had our last lesson and told her if she wants us to
help her she needs to go to church and she said not yesterday but next week. So
we hope she comes this Sunday. We met some of the most elect people at the end
of the week (with the 2 days we had to work) I know the Lord puts the people in
our path. We worked hard with the time that we had and he blessed us with the
people we needed. I just want to baptize the whole world! I love the mission so
much. It feels like this has been my life, my whole life. I love the feeling of
being a missionary, just everything that comes with it. Even the bad times
because I know that good times come. It’s so beautiful here in Viseu with TONS
of potential! that’s what I love, everything has potential, we just need to
search and know that God is in charge. I love it so much. Love you family,
thank you for your support and prayers. Fiquem bem!!!
beijinhos, braços,
Sister Hillam
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
I can't tell if I'm Dreaming or if this is real Life!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!!!!!!! I hope everything goes well for you
this birthday week!!! :) Love you lots!!!
Oh goodness gracious another week has gone and another one of the
last precious weeks that I have has come! I can’t handle it sometimes!
This week was really good!! So we’ve been teaching Paula to prepare
her for her wedding this week and her baptism this week and we made real
progress!!! We have to teach in a very simple way so that she understands and
this week we were asking her what we had already taught and she responded and
remembered everything! Incredible! Manuel was so excited! I love when you can
see on the faces of people the change that the gospel can have in their life. I
really found peace knowing that you can literally tell. You don’t have to
guess, it shows. I see it every time I go to Paula and Manuel´s house. Love
them so much! Anyway, we still had a few problems because she doesn’t want to
get married without a dress and rings...we’ve kept these financial problems on
the down low from the members but because we brought members to teach with us,
they discovered and now they want to pay for everything. I love these members
so much! They are paying for the dress (only a cheep, Chinese one), and the
rings! They want to even do a party after her baptism to celebrate the wedding
and baptism!! I just love these people. We were praying so hard to know what to
do. They didn’t have money for food and we couldn’t do anything. The members
are now taking control and I know they were our answer. So she is progressing
really well!
We are planning an activity here in Viseu to watch Meet the Mormons
so people have a better idea of us because surprisingly, not many people know
who we are here! So we’re planning a movie night at the church. (This was all
my idea and now it’s catching fire!!) The members all want to help and the
missionary are all helping which really helps!
We’ve been working a lot with the members and this week we went to
Monica and Firmino´s house to visit their family. They all live in that area.
Sadly we couldn’t see all of the family members but the work is now rolling
there!
We also spent a day in another village in our area. Carla served
here in Portugal when it was 3 missions! So we went and worked with her in her
village and met all of her family there. One day these family members will
accept! It was super fun to meet the families of the members! It made the work
really easy when the members were giving the people to teach!
So this week we found out that we’re moving houses! Our house that
we have now is bad...really bad. Sister Waddell has been in a hotel because of
a reaction she had. So they decided to start house searching for us as well! It
was last minute too. We got a call that said, `hey, we’re looking for a house
for you and need your boundaries. ` The next day `hey we found a house, go
check it out.` we went and oh my goodness it’s the cutest thing ever! It’s
small but has 2 floors! It’s perfect for missionaries. We really liked it and it’s
right by the cathedral. Jordan those catholic churches that you woke up to
every morning are my back yard! It’s stellar!!
Tomorrow I have mission counsel and then this week we have zone
conference. So this week will fly by. (As if the other don’t too) I wish you
could all see the miracles that happen here in the mission. I only can write
the general stuff but there is so much more that I want to share. So many
miracles happen. You all know, but I wish you could all be here to witness the
beauty of it all. I love the mission. We’re working hard and doing all we can
to find those that need to hear the message. I’ve written little messages to
myself during studies and it comforts me to know that this work is not my work.
I love that I can go and do my best and the Lord makes up the rest. I see that
with the investigators that when I don’t have the words to speak, the Spirit
teaches for me. All I have to do is open my mouth and start and then the Spirit
does the rest. Man, I love mission! Love you all lots! Pray for Paula and
Manuel, also Sister Costa and her family, they really need it.:) Thank you all
so much for all you do! Love you all!
Sister Hillam
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