Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! (Week 24)

Hello Family and Friends!

I have no time today so really sorry if I haven't had the chance to talk to y'all!

Everything is awesome! This week was crazy!

So I have a new district that I'm working with and they are awesome!

Elder Santos from Belém Brazil
Elder Rosa from Chile
Elder Luna from Mexico
Elder Perreira from...? (I forgot)
and my companion Elder Benites from Santa Catarina

Christmas Eve was super fancy. We ate with Bishop! They have a Christmas Eve dinner with all the missionaries in the area--five championships! They've been doing it for 15 years. So it was awesome! Super Super cool. They are the best!

Christmas Day was P day! We went to my old area for lunch with some awesome members! Ate so much. And, we got so much food from the members! Right now we have three lasagnas and three cakes in our fridge, and so much more food. Oh, it was also pretty cool to talk to my family! It was pretty difficult to speak English--especially the first ten minutes.

Today (New Year's Eve), we have to return to our house at midday and stay there for the rest of the night. Brazil can get pretty hyped up.

We're teaching so many people right now! Probably the hardest part for me is managing all the things that I need to get done. So today will be a great day to get a bunch of planning done!

This mission is awesome! It's never easy but that's what makes it so awesome! We learn so much every day!

Love,
Elder Hillam

Brazil

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day Lunch

Hello All! yall are the best! (Week 22)

Hello Family!

Thank you all so much for the emails and Christmas cards! They are awesome!

We had another crazy week!! Whoohooo. One of the hardest things about being a missionary is time. The time that you have from day to day, week to week, transfer to transfer and year to year! It's not enough!! Haha Time flys when you're on the Lord's errand!

This week we worked really hard to find the elects. God knows his elects, not us. But with his trust, we can find the people who are prepared to receive the Gospel. So with a lot of work, we found many elects this week! Woohoo

We have to bathrooms in our house. I fixed the shower head and now a lot more water comes out. So everybody wants to use our shower! haha Also this shower head is fancy. It can heat water really fast with electricity. But the problem is that its really easy to shock yourself. And I'm so tall that it happens all the time! Haha

Transfers! I will stay here with Elder Benites! Woohoo. This is good news because we already have some great Christmas dinner appointments. We will have two new missionaries in our house they arrive tonight! I felt like my mom the morning getting ready for company. Everything has to be super super clean. Even in places where only you would go or see. Haha. Thanks mom!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Serving the Lord is a great way to spend the Holidays!

Love Elder Hillam

Elder Bezerra goes home today or in other words, he died.

Elder Bezerra bought us pizza for our last night with him. Oh man, it was good!

The District!!

Hello my family!!! (Week 21)

Hope everything's going awesome!!

We had a crazy last two weeks. So keep your arms and feet tucked in and hold on!

So last week we had an Emergency Transfer!

We got a call from President early one morning. He said, Elder Aristimunho, pack your bags, you're going to altos (different area).

So I've been telling President about how good Elder Aristimuho is and that he's ready for whatever you give him. So I finished the training of Elder Aristimunho early, and now he's training and baptizing! So proud of him! So now I have a son and a grandson!

My new companion is Elder Benites! He's from way down south in Brazil. Santa Catarina. He's hilarious, a good teacher and a lot of fun to work with.

We also had Mission Tour and Christmas Conference!

Mission Tour we had President and Sister Bassett visit us. He's the 1st counselor in the area presidency of Brazil. They have been following me around in the mission. I first met them on the plane flight from Atlanta to São Paulo, they then came to the CTM to give a talk, and now they came to my mission! They took a picture with me and will send to Grandma Hillam I think. It was a fantastic training they gave.

Oh, President Lago was conducting the meeting and called on me to play the piano. So that was fun.

Also sang one by one with 2 sisters and another Elder! It went super well.

We then ate a ton of food!

Christmas Conference was the day after!

There was a ton of food! and activities. Each zone performed a play. All of them were super creative! We then ate more food!

Starting a diet now! All of my Cidade Leste friends (my last area) are telling me that I'm gaining a little weight. Uhh ohh hahaha

Was also able to see my trainer, Elder Moody! Woohoo. He had some super exciting news!

So his Grandpa served as a companion to Grandpa Hillam!! His Grandpa was also a Mission President in Portugal in the 90s. Super cool! I bet our grandpas were working behind the veil to make that one happen!

The work is going great! I'm teaching so many people, but whos learning so much is my self. I'm amazed with how much I've learned and changed through the atonement of Jesus Christ!

Thank you all for your emails! They are the best!

Conferência de Natal

Friends

My presents arrived!

Elder Wilkins

Elder Bennites

Elder Moody!!

Elder Silva!

Presents

Sister Lagos

Elder Moody

My son and my grandson

Leo!! The super cool neighbor in Cidade Leste. I had to return to interview some people before they could be baptized. We needed a ride back because our home was super far. So I called up my buddy Leo to see if he could give us a ride. Oh and Elder Moody was with us too!

Howdy Folks! (Week 19)

Another fantastic week here!

We had two baptisms this week!! Woohoo! Ana and Elvina!

Ana has been taught by the missionaries for a long time and has a huge family! We arrived at church late this Sunday with investigators and saw that she wasn't there! Sunday was so important because she was to be confirmed! But she wasn't there! So, we hopped in a car with a member and drove to her house to find that she was hosting about 30 people at her house to celebrate her baptism. So, she will be confirmed next week!

Elvina is awesome too. She has a son that's serving a mission in Argentina right now. She has a fantastic story!!

Elder Aristimuho and I are running every other day! Woohoo! Brings back memories of when I was running with Nathan Moore! Got to do something to balance out the members and the bakery nearby.

Hope all is well! Everything is going great here! English is getting so much harder every week.

Oh, I forgot that it was Thanksgiving this week!

I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Not only the redemptive part (the part where we can repent, feel light and burden-less) but also the Enabling power we can receive. I use this power every day, to work harder, keep going, teach better, speak Portuguese, etc. So study Christ's Atonement!

Got to go but love you all so much!

Y'all are the best

Elder Hillam
austin.hillam@myldsmail.net


Pictures:

Elder Hillam and Elder Aristamunho with the Bishop and his wife

Ana's and Elvina's baptism

Ana's and Elvina's baptism

Recent convert-- Joao! He's the best!

What's Up Everybody? (Week 18)

Another fantastic semana (week); was a great week full of learning (ehh... that's every week!)

We found so many cool and prepared people this week!

Some random news! 

This area is way cool! We have a neighbor that has a weight set so we wake up every morning to get swole! Oh, Elder Aristimunho and I went running this morning too--gonna feel it tomorrow!

Also, got bit by a fire ant! You all know that's my weakness, but it wasn't a problem at all--just was really swollen... 

I will be singing a duet with another Sister Missionary for the Mission Tour. This is one time each year when the whole mission is together. President Bassett will be attending too. He's the second counselor in the Area Presidency. I met him on the flight to Brazil. So yeah, I've been working on my vocals. We'll be singing "One by One." I think it's by David A. Bednar, an Apostle of the church.

I think the most important thing a missionary needs to have, is the trust of the Lord. Can the Lord trust you to follow the promptings of the spirit? Can He trust you with His children? Can He trust that you can talk to the people He puts in your path? As missionaries, we need to completely forget ourselves and just love the people here. Don't think about the numbers, just think of the people and what they need, and the numbers will be a consequence of your love.

SO, can the Lord trust you with this work?

Always learning out here on the mission!!

Love you all. Have a fantastic week, all the people here already have their Christmas decorations up. It's not even December!! (Will need to build a Christmas tree).

Elder Hillam
austin.hillam@myldsmail.net

Pictures:

Gave Elder Moraes a fresh cut

District Meeting!

Companionship planning!

Got bit by a fire ant. Tudo bem!

Howdy Family! (Week 17)

Hey folks! Hope your week was great! Had another great one here too!

This week we had a baptism! Whooohoo! His name is Fabiano! He is awesome!

This week was also crazy! So I'm now training, in a new area that needs a lot of work (like as if we were opening it), and I'm also the district Leader. Whoo Hoo!

Starting this week I am much more organized!

So this week was full of learning! My companion is Elder Aristimunho--he is from Uruguay! Speaks a lot of Spanish! One day I gave our phone number to a lady and I responded with the numbers in Spanish! Ha Ha! Elder Aristimunho loves to work hard which is all I ask for! He is fantastic. Wish you all could meet him personally!

I'm now living in a house very close to the church, which is super nice! We have two other Elders in the house too! Elder Bezerra and Elder Moraes--they are the zone leaders and are both from São Paulo. It's a blast with them! This is Elder Bezerra's last area/transfer.

I'm also the District leader now. It's awesome! Always thankful for the opportunities I have to serve. Obedience is very important and something I have to teach to my companion and my district. But what I've found, is that the best way to teach obedience is to show them the blessings that come from being obedient and to teach them about their purpose as a missionary. So if they are a 'purposeful missionary," obedience will come as a consequence; a little hard to explain here but yeah! This concept can also be applied to many other areas in life., like raising children.

Love all the emails and advice y'all give me. Thanks so much!

Don't have much time but love you all,

Elder Hillam
austin.hillam@myldsmail.net
ElderHillam@blogspot.com

Cleaning the house!!! Needed a lot a lot a lot of work

Baptism fotos! 

Elder Bezerra and Moraes somehow came home 

with like 200 mangos, oranges and lemons!! Oh yeah!!!!!

Hi my friends! (Week 16)

Hello Everybody!

Have no time this week to email but here we go!!

We had a baptism this week!! Woohooo! Alcionete! She was in tears throughout her whole baptism. So happy that she is following the example of our Savior!

We had one night this week that was so hot. I thought the fan was a hairdryer. I actually slept though, but Elder Moody was struggling, haha he even got up and poured cold water on himself! I should've taken a picture of our beds that night!

Transfers! I will be moving to a new area, Taquari! It's really close! I will also be training Elder Aristumunho from Uruguay! I so pumped! It's also sad to move to a new area and leave all these people that I love and the work there too, but that's the mission Life! Elder Moody will be transferred to an area in Parnaiba and become a zone leader there! So proud of him!

The mission is awesome! It's like a school! and the best type of school. We are always learning, every day! I love it!

Have a fantastic week! You are all the best! Thanks so much for all of your emails!

Some awesome Members!

Taught Elder Moody how to cut hair. He did a good job for his first time.

Irma Socorro one of our recent converts, invited us to eat cake at her 70th birthday.

Wow I am tall!

Elder Campos and I did a divisão!

Alcionete was baptised! Woohooo!

Some awesome Members!

Taught Elder Moody how to cut hair. He did a good job for his first time.

The District! Missing another Duple

Howdy Family!! (Week 15)

Hey Folks!!!

The sun is strong here! It's changed or faded some of my ties and pants. Haha!!

Happy to announce that we had two more Baptisms! Maria and João! They are fantastic! Maria is such a good example. She continues to make the best choices. Her family is always drinking and making many, many bad choices. João has a sister that returned from her mission a couple months ago. He noticed a huge difference. Maria and João both want to serve missions one day!! Oh, and Sister Lago (Mission president's wife) surprised us with attending the baptism!

One of the great blessings of serving a mission is that we have an hour every day to study the gospel! I love starting the day with studying the scriptures and have learned so much. This week I will finish reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese for my first time! I'm so pumped! I encourage everybody to read and study the scriptures every day. We need to charge our spiritual batteries!

So our faucet has been broken for a long time. It still works but it's really sketchy. Last week, it started to leak water and other Elders from a long time ago jerry-rigged it with a shoelace. So last P-day I replaced it. I also convinced the mission to pay a little bit more to buy a faucet with an attached filter. This would save us so much money every month and not have to carry a huge tank of water to our apartment every week. Anyways, we now feel spoiled with our fancy faucet! Oh, thanks Dad for teaching me how to replace a faucet--Teflon tape and all! Oh, and our neighbor Leo drove us downtown to get a cheap one! Leo is the best!

Don't have too much time this week, but I love you all so much!!!

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Hillam

Baptism!

Baptism!

Cutting Elder Moody's hair this week!

Howdy Folks (Week 14)

 You know that you have adjusted to the climate of Teresina, when you need a sheet covering you at 84 degrees. It got down to 84 one night in our apartment this week and I was cold! Like what!?!

We had another fantastic week this week! Woohooo! We met so many people prepared to receive the gospel. Booyaa!

Many people ask how we arrive in a country not speaking any of the language and learn it so quickly! Well, we have a special gift called the "Gift of Tongues"! When we serve God and do our part He blesses us with this gift, the ability to learn the language super fast! But this knowledge can be applied to so many other things. When we put God first, or when we need or want something and have the right purpose (building up the Kingdom of God), He gives us what we need!

The members here continue to impress! One of the hardest things about being a missionary is that we can't be everywhere at one time. This is when members come in! There are so many fantastic examples of Christ-like servants here. Two members that have been a great help are Kelly and Isabell. They are both recent converts of seven months, just dying to serve a mission, but they have to wait a year before they can serve. They both have testimonies so strong that they give all their free time to the Lord. We asked them if they could wake and pick up our other investigators on the other side of town; that involves a distance of 45 minutes of walking in the sun to the church.

They arrived to church with six of our other investigators!!!! Keep it up!

This week was full of miracles, learning, and trying new things!

Love,

Elder Hillam
austin.hillam@myldsmail.net
ElderHillam.blogspot.com

Just a family of our recent converts walking back home from church. I snuck a picture!

LEO! Our super cool next door neighbor that's fluent in English and is studying to be a lawyer.

Hey Family!! (Week 13)

We had another fantastic week here! The weather here is always Sunny and blue skies!

It's always fun when we knock on someone's door and wait for them to come out. We stand flat on the door/wall to be in the little shade there is! Haha

That was another revelatory conference! Que legal! Every 6 months we have the opportunity to hear from the Prophet and 12 apostles. Its a great opportunity for our investigators to gain a testimony of a Prophet, apostles, modern-day revelation and so much more! The church is living! Go watch the talks on lds.org.

All the members meet in the chapel to watch conference. All of the general authorities speak wonderful Portuguese! We watched Saturdays session in Portuguese and Sundays in English. But there's pros and cons to both because there is air conditioning in the chapel, but conference is in Portugues so I can't understand 100 percent especially because they're reading so fast! Or I can bake in the secretaries office and watch it in English haha. Only joking.

We had 3 investigators show up to watch woohoo.

Out baptism fell this week. Well not really. We just almost baptized this man again. His records of his baptism were lost until the morning of his baptism. Long story short was that he moves around a lot and his records were in Fortaleza.

So many different kinds of fruits here. The Bishop is growing these in his backyard:

maracujá
manga
acerola
goiaba
mamáo
atá
Siriguela

Some other fruits ive had here are these:

Caju
melancia
carambola
jaca
Banana Maça
Buriti
Jambo
tamarido
laranja
Pitomba
Cajá
Bacuri
Cupuaçu
açai
guaran

And there's a lot more too!

Hope your week is fantastic! Continue the good work wherever you are!

Love,
Elder Hillam

Elder Moody ran into a tree and ripped his shirt!