Sister Madison Hillam, Sister Marlie Hillam and President and Sister Amorim
Sister Madison Hillam will spend her last transfer training her cousin!

Sister of Viseu! 

A Hillam and Ice Cream?

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)

Look at the house we found! Cool!

Irma Costa and Irma Hillam decided to do a cream rinse treatment for their hair.  No color change! 

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