the Savior understands me

This week was super tiring, due to the fact that I had to go to Teresina to revew my visa... but it's all good. I can stay. Hahaha.

Had an awesome zona conference, and they focused a lot on the sacrament. And not just on how we teach the sacrament as missionaries, but also our understanding and how we apply the sacrament. It is such an important thing each week, and sometimes we lose ourselves in those short minutes. I really urge everyone to study a little bit more about the sacrament this week, and the transforming power that is available if we just have faith.

I love the message and testimony that Elder Holland shares in this video entitled The Savior Understands Me. It is short (just 3 minutes) but so powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUhgBU3coPY

Miracle of the week:

Yesterday, we visited Iona and Gabriel, who had a bunch of questions about the book of mormon, and the truthfulness of it. We headed out a little bit (*extremely) late, and ended up sprinting to the house of our investigator, Shaolina, to walk to church with her. And it was incredible, because as we were literally running through the road, both Sister Vidal and I felt that we were running faster/lighter than physically possible... haha. Without a doubt, we had angels on our sides! And all ended well, because we were able to get to church with both her and her 2 year old son, Pedro, all in one piece. Phew. Miracles still happen, without a doubt.

Have a wonderful week! Beijos!

Sister Hill

Another Week in the Life of Sister Hill

For sure I have already passed my 9 month mark, because TIME IS FLYING.

AAH.

This Saturday I hit 10 months! I cannot believe it.

We celebrated the 1 YEAR mark of Sister Vidal this past week, with cookies from Mr. Cheney's and we bought a Captain American balloon in the road (because she has pretty much only had American companions... hahaha. 5/6 were american, so yes, we celebrated like americans (: haha) And I taught her one of only the finest things in life: reciting the missionary purpose using helium. Yes, we died laughing.

Miracle of the week - this week was rough, as we were working our tails off to find new investigators, as well as invite everyone and their dog to sacrament meeting...

But after church ended, we decided to run over to the house of Iona and Gabriel, two investigators that we have had since JUNHO. We have set countless dates and goals with them to head to the cartório and get married so that they can get baptized, and they are so great! But so so busy, so it's been a tad difficult. They started taking the lessons because Gabriel's mom was a member, and passed away due to unexpectable cancer. And I can see that they have changed so much, that they truly understand the plan of salvation and want to be sealed in the temple as a family. So this is when we challenged them to head to the cartório this week and get the papers - and they accepted. So everybody, PLEASE pray for Iona and Gabriel, that they can get this done and finally get baptized!

This week will be suuuper tiring. I head to Teresina tomorrow para renovar meu visto, so that Brasil doesn't kick me out haha #prayformadi than we have zone conference, and by then the week is practically over! Wow.

Hope everybody has a wonderful week!

Sister Hill

GENERAL CONFERENCE...OH MY!!

My oh my, conference was oh so good this year. So incredible to hear the wonderful testimonies of our modern prophets, and receive real revelation and answers for our questions! for anybody that missed it, please go take a look on the church's website, because these sessions were too good to miss. A few of my absolute favorites from this conference were from John C. Pingree Jr, Jeffrey R. Holland (because of course. I don't need to explain this one), and Donald L. Hallstrom.

And it was awesome to see two of the men speaking were Brasilian (: Everybody here was happy about that too haha.

But I loved a common theme that I saw in conference - life is hard. But hard is good! we learn from the hard things. and we don't have control over what happens in life, but we do have control over how we will react, and what we will focus on.

So we need to focus on Jesus Christ and his gospel.

It is so simple!

Miracle of the week:

For starters, this week was just plain hard. After finding out that I hadn't been transferred (after packing all of my suitcases, due to the fact that everybody guessed I would be transferred... super funny, because throughout the week, members would see me and were so happy that i stayed behind, hugging me saying 'I thought you were transferred!?!? I'm so glad you stayed!!!' (: hahah I love the members in São Luís) we traveled to Teresina for the leadership counsel, and returned thursday 5am. (we were more or less missionaries of the Walking dead variety... but oh well, what can you do?) We also lost a lot of working time this week due to conference.

BUT we did see miracles, I can promise you that!

after hearing conference, I was just aching in my bones to find and teach a family. As we started searching for new investigators, we were knocking on doors, and 12 year old Isaque opens the door. Come to find out, he lives with his mom, dad, and another brother. We testified of the plan of salvation, and they showed a lot of interest. I am grateful and excited to continue with them, and I pray that the Spirit can work in them to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel.

I love the gospel! I love missionary work! (especially when it's hard. haha.) there is honestly no place I'd rather be!

boa semana!

Sister Hill

1. batismo de Silvana from a few weeks ago!

2. Sisters here in São Luís in between sessions

3. daughter of the bishop, Leticia

4. Katly, a member. called to serve in Argentina - the same mission where Sister Vidal lives! everything happens for a reason (:

5. Sis Hill and Sis Freeman

6. My Ukulele...finally!!

7. Happy Birthday Dad...the Big 50!