Mangos and more walking (96/100 parts of my mission are just walking, okay?)

Hello! Sorry you didnt get a letter last week, the computer here deleted my email like 3 times :( UGH. So yes, I am alive!

THIS WEEK:

We started out the week with a zone conference, where we saw our numbers weren't looking so hot. (I don't think I've mentioned this before - but I learned a few weeks ago from another sister here that Parnaíba is kind of considered a hole as far as baptisms and pesquisadores go.. to have baptisms is really difficult here. and the members aren't always very helpful, and over all work can be hard.) So in Zone Conference, we were challenged to hit our goals hard, and to work more than before.

So we did. *mic drop*

And let me tell you, I have never been so tired before. SO MUCH happened this week, I'll update you on a few things:

1. Story time. Once upon a time, I was sitting in my bed reading the conference magazine from last October, and Sister Lucas came in. She looked at me and said "GET UP Sister Hill!", and I thought she was just joking around. When I got up, there was a FREAKING BARATA (HUGE COCKROACH) em minha cama (in my bed). After freaking out a little bit, Sister Fagundes saved the day, and crushed it. Serio. The end.

2. Funniest thing lately - the whole world just likes to give me mangos as presents..hahaha. I think it all started when Sister Lucas would yell, "Mangos American!" as a joke, (because all americans just love mangos in brasil. duh) Three different members and one pesquisador are always just giving me mangos, it's quite funny actually.

I'm just going to update you all on what happened yesterday, because yesterday was just a stellar day.

We started out the day walking with some investigators to church, Fabio and Perim. (Baptism of Fabio is this Saturday in between conference sessions! So exciting!) We ended up having 5 investigators in church (which is definitely a blessing as of late) Fabio, Perim, Clara, Maria Lucia and her granddaughter Anastasia. SO AWESOME. Best part of church - halfway through Relief Society, one of the Primary presidency pulled me/sis lucas out and asked if we would share a little bit about being missionaries. It was too funny when we walked in, and the little girls started saying, "Oooh eu acho que ela é linda!" and started saying my blue eyes were so pretty hahaha. But it was so fun to share with them about serving a mission! And how I still have to learn Português so that I can share my testimony with people haha. But nonetheless, I loved it. And realized how much I miss playing with kids.

After lunch and studies, we hit the road to find novas pesquisadores.

First lady we see, we talk to. We talked about faith, and eventually her friend joined us, and we answered their questions about us serving missions, how long, etc. Now for probably 10 minutes, a bee had just been bugging us... So at this point, I was shaking my skirt trying to get it away, Sister Lucas grabbed her umbrella and was batting it out of the air (I WAS DYING OF LAUGHTER) and eventually she killed it - by hitting the leg of this lady. We were all laughing so hard, and yes, they still want to meet with us this week XD hahaha

But by the end of the day we ended up getting 8 new investigators, and we had walked all over our area (which is HUGE and really far from where we live. The struggle is real) so our legs were pretty much dead. So yes, I have never been so tired in my entire life than I was yesterday. Literally, when we got home, we flopped on our beds, our feet were throbbing, and we couldnt move.

But hey, it's all part of the work!

Excited to start teaching all of the new people we found this week (: (woohoo!)

SO EXCITED to watch General Conference this week!!! I hope everyone is excited and ready to receive personal revelation, because I promise you you will receive it. Go into conference with three questions, and you will hear the answers you need. It is that simple. God really does speak to us today through a prophet!

Eu amo vocês! Boa semana! 

Sister Hill

1.  Our District

2.  We. Love. PRINGLES.

3.  My view just about 24/7

4.  #sishill  #welearnenglishhere

5.  The sisters in my casa were crazy with my 3 meses surprise - threw a giant bucket of conetti/water, sprayed stuff like silly string, the works. 

6.  3 MONTHS BABY

7.  Last P-Day, bought flowers to plant for the front of our house:)

8.  Zone Conference

Service, PANTS (hallelujah) and Miracles Happen

Boa tarde!

This week was awesome, and we worked hard!

Tuesday we did service for an investigator of Sister Finati, which was good. We had to chop trees and branches/bundle them into a cart to clear out an area, and in the hot sun you can bet your bottom dollar it was a lotta work. But it was fun with the other sisters. And the BEST PART - PANTS! Oh blessed, blessed pants. I forgot how awesome pants are. Sister Lucas has the funniest video of me running around jumping just ecstatic because we finally got to wear pants hahaha. Coolest part - the tree we were getting rid of was a mango tree, and there were some mangos left that were ripe. And he picked one up, sliced it up with his machete, and we ate it! Gotta love Brasil.

Afterwards we ate lunch with them, which was so good. The people in Brasil are incredible cooks, and they feed us so well! Grateful (:

We found new investigators this past week - Ana and Flavio. They have two sons age 10 and 7, and they are awesome. They're animated, and fun, and have lots of questions, which is always good for us (: They're not married yet (which is normal in Brasil, because it's expensive.. and even more expensive to get divorced). But we had an incredible lesson with them yesterday about the Restoration, and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray. And the spirit was so strong, I could see it working in them, testifying. Very excited to continue helping them continue on this path and learn more about eternal families and how they can be closer to Christ.

Okay, at this point, about half of my letters home consist of the words "The rain here is crazy." I will say this forever, because WHOA. A few days ago, there was so much rain, and the road was just flooded, and I took a picture to show you all. It was just an overall funny experience, wading through the road (aka river) in our skirts all the way to the house of Max and Sanna (menos ativos) where we gave a soggy lesson on the attributes of Christ... and it's moments like this that I just love being a missionary (: Also fun fact - we met with them in my first week here in Parnaíba, and yesterday they were amazed at how much better my Português is (: grateful for the gift of tongues working every single day.

Miracle of the week - yesterday we had church (8:30 be there or be square people of Parnaíba) and 10 minutes after it started, a man walked in. He shook our hands and said 'Hey! Remember me?' it took me a few seconds, but I remembered. A few days ago we were passing by and just greeted him, and he said 'Qual horas por Igreja?' And he showed up! After sacramental was over, he said he really liked it, that our church just seems different than all other churches, and that we have a special reverence. We talked with him and gave him a LDM/invited him to read. And he accepted our invite for baptism! We have another lesson with him today. Moral of the story, miracles happen.

Eu amo vocês! Não esquece de ler o Livro de Mormon hoje! E muito obrigada por suas orações e amor!

Beijos!

Sister Hill

1.  Doing service - cutting and bundling trees 

2.  Fish for lunch!

3.  Yummy food

4.  Pants for Service

5.  CRAZY RAIN!

6.  Sister Sanches

Primeiro Transferencia? (First Transfer?) CHECK

I can´t believe that my first transfer in the field is already over. It honestly flew so fast! (And so slow at the same time... haha)

Waiting to hear about transfers was nervewracking. Oh my goodness, seriously. I was dying to know where everyone was going, if I would stay here in Parnaíba, and still have Sister Lucas for minha companheira, or if the other sisters would be leaving - longest. wait. ever. Sad day, one of the sisters that I just love, Sister Ongaro, was transfered to another area this morning.

But all is well! Still here in PARNAÍBA, and Sister Lucas will finish my training (: Super excited about this, because we are really close now. We have the same sense of humor, and connect on a lot of levels too. Ela é incrível!

A few thoughts from this past week:

First, we have another family to teach! We met the mom, Ana, in the road a few nights ago, and she agreed to have us come back again this week. Really excited to teach them, because honestly I adore families. The gospel brings so much strength to our families, and I love sharing that with people here. The other sisters in our house are teaching a family right now that is now attending church frequently, and changing their lives to live the gospel, and you can already see that they are so much happier! Excited and hopeful for them to be baptized.

Yesterday we had Family Night with some of the membros in our ramo, which was so awesome. Sister Lucas shared about optimism and why we need to continue through our lives, problems and all, HAPPY. I love how the gospel gives us a perspective and purpose here, and how we can have joy in Christ. It´s incridible just how much happier you are when you are living the gospel.

But excited to start another transfer, and continue sharing the gospel here in Paraíba. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Beijos!

Sister Hill

P.S. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so please enjoy (:

1.  The BEST ACAI in the world.  No lie.

2.  The rain here has been absolutely crazy this past week, muas tudo bem!

3.  Sisters of Parnaiba - last day of the transfer :(

4.  Me and my companion

5.  Photo with Tateu, a member here

6.  Sister Ongaro <3

7.  The street/front of our house

8.  SO, MUCH, RAIN.  (I have the craziest video of cars driving through the roads aka rivers)

9.  Family Night with members

10.Cool buildings in Parnaiba

CARNAVAL

Oi familia! Super quick update of this week!

First of all, emailing is a tad different this week porque CARNAVAL. Yes, carnaval, a giant party here in Brasil, that went from last Friday to yesterday. Our hours were different these past few days, because it wasn't safe for os to be out at night, so we were em casa by 5:30, and didn't get to email.

So here I am today!

Just a few things in the little time I have:

First of all, received my letters this week and was so happy (: Loved seeing all the fun things you are all up to! Mom and dad, thank you for your insights (and keep them coming!) I love reading them over and over again in my free time because it's like you're here with me. Also, love sharing and discussing them with the sisters in my house, so that's fun.

Last week we had zone conference which was wonderful. President Melo spoke with us, and I loved some of the things that he said! How we can't have fear to invite and testify. When we teach with the Spirit, we teach one heart to another (aka the best way to teach) And lots of other wonderful insights!

A few experiences from this week:

1. We had another lesson with one of our investigators, Maciel. When we started to teach, he explained how he felt so happy and grateful for us - like he wanted to give us a present or something. He kept trying to explain what he was feeling, yet could never adequetely describe it. It was totally a slam dunk moment, because Sister Lucas and I knew that it was the Spirit testifying to him!

2. Funny experience in an Onibus. So yesterday, Carnval was finishing and we used an Onibus to get home (because tired. MUITO consada) And the onibus was full of people.. until the bus stopped in front of a catholic church/carnval/party that was happening. And seriously, every other person on the bus left. Ha! Sister Lucas and I thought it was so funny because it reminded us of the story of President Monson (I think?) when he was in the army and was the "last one standing" as a Mormon. Had to take a pic because seriously, it was just a golden moment.

But this is the last week before transfers, so we are working harder than ever!

Thank you for your prayers! Eu amo vocês!

Sister Hill

1.  On the bus...ALONE (so funny!)

2.  Agua de Coco

3.  Makin' cookies for members

4.  Attemtping to braid my companions hair (seriously, braiding black hair e dif'icil!

5.  Com Maciel e Maria, two of nossa pesquisadores

6.  In front of the chapel

7.  Stayin' cool

8.  Nosso distrito!  last district meeting before transfers

9.  Elder Szpack finishes his mission next week...So we had a funeral for him (p.s. I DIE every time I look at this picture hahaha)