Hey yall!!! (Week 11)

How yall doing?

This week was another fantastic week! We had two more baptisms!!! Let's gooo

Irma Socorro and Simon. Irma Socorro will have 70 years next month! She is so nice and always makes us juice and gives us cake when we visit her! She also has a fantastic story but doesn't have much time to share!

This week I went on splits with another Elder (Elder Banda from Mexico) in his area! It was a ton of fun! But I also had a really cool experience. We first had to refill the water and pick up some stuff from his house first. There are 6 Elders that live in that house. When I went to their house I noticed that it was so so so so dirty. There were also 4 other Elders sitting around just talking when they should be working. One of those 4 elders asked me Why Elder Moody and I have so many baptisms (we get these questions a lot like how do you find all of these people etc.) It was sad that he was asking me this as he was sitting in his dirty house relaxing and not working. I've always have had good answers to these questions but the main answer to this question didn't come to me until later that day. Elder Moody and I have had so much success because the Lord Can Trust Us with his people. We follow all of the rules, our house is always really clean, and we are always working! And so many other things. I'm not here to brag, but you can really see the difference between Elder Moody And I and those who are not having success.

So anyways, Missionary work starts with a clean house!

Always keep a clean and organized house because the spirit can reside there. The Spirit will work through you when you don't even know it! For example, We plan our day in our house. The spirit works through us to make choices and a lot of times when we don't even know it!

So Thanks mom for teaching me how to clean!

Oh and we played Basketball for the first time in the field. Man, it's been a while! And it was hot too!

I Love you all! Brazil is way cool and I'm still discovering more fruits that I haven't even heard of!

I Stand All Amazed at the amount of food I just ate!!!! (Week 10)

I Stand All Amazed at the amount of food I just ate!!!!

"Eat more, Elder! Do you not like my food?" Hahah!

Hello All!!

Happy to report that we had another wonderful week here in Brazil!

We had three baptisms and confirmations! Yahoooo!!

I have to continue to brag about the members of the church here! The ward mission leader is Irmão (brother) Reggi Naldo. He is a big, six foot 250 pound Brazillian! Last week he wanted to come work with us! I was thinking for an hour or two, but no, he stayed with us for six hours, walking miles in the sun teaching with us! Fantastic de mais!!!

I also have been experiencing a miracle! I'm getting tan! That's a first! We experience miracles every day in all forms.

The mission is fantastic! I love seeing the Lord's hand working in my life as well as our investigators!

I want to share this one experience we had with Irma (Sister) Socorro! She is almost 70 years old! She has been seeing missionaries on and off since 1995, and she will finally be getting baptized this week!

So how?

Well, the secret is to have your investigators understand why you are here. We are not here because we need more members, more baptisms etc. It's because we love them, and we know what we are teaching is true.

We got her to go to church this week and taught her how to pray. She doesn't know how to read or write, (that's actually a challenge we have with a lot of our investigators--we share cool experiences another time) and she finally prayed with real intent. A couple nights ago she had a dream. With so many tears, she said, "I saw a man, wearing all white at my baptism."

This was her answer. She even turned down other activities and invitations so she could go to church.

This mission is fantastic! I love you all! Love everyone you meet!

Love,

Elder Hillam

Oh, and our neighbor Leo, is awesome!! He is learning English and speaks so well! Last week he taught us how to make Açai! It's a kind of purple fruit juice that stains everything, but you can eat it with everything and its soo good! Anyways, he is awesome!

Tchau!!

Birthday and Baptisms (Week 9)

Muito Obrigado!!!! Thanks so much for the Birthday Wishes! Mission Birthdays are the best!!

And so sorry if I didn't have time to respond to y'all!!

This week went by so fast!!

We had two more baptisms and confirmations!! Woohoooo! One family we have been working with is the family of Sebastion. Long story short, we helped save his marriage, helped him stop drinking, and many other problems! We have brought his entire family into the gospel and they have never been so happy. This week we baptized his oldest daughter!! It has been amazing to see how the gospel makes families so strong.

Wednesday we had zone conference!! We hopped on a bus and went downtown to the Stake Center! It was fantastic--and Sister Lago made me a big cake and the whole zone sang Happy Birthday!!

More Cake...

So Saturday was my birthday and Elder Moody, my companion, told members of the ward (in secret) that my birthday was Saturday! So during our Lunch appointment on Saturday, some more members showed up at the end with a massive cake with my name on it! It was soo good. The members are fantastic!!

This Sunday we had five investigators come to church and we reactivated a family of four who has been inactive for four years. They were so happy to be back. We found them a couple weeks ago walking on the street. We had eight members from the ward pass by their house! As missionaries, we can find lots of people, but its what the members do that brings conversion!

It's amazing all the people we find. We find all kinds of prepared people and I know we find them because we are obedient. (Just read that sentence. My English has gotten bad) So anyway, be OBEDIENT. Obey your parents and Your Father in Heaven.

Loving the mission! Bringing souls unto Christ is what brings Joy!! Check out Doctrine & Covenants 18!

Wish I could write more!!

Love you all so much!

Elder Austin Hillam

Feel free to email Austin at austin.hillam@myldsmail.net
Letters are posted at ElderHillam@blogspot.com

Howdy Folks! (Week 8)

Hey Everybody! Beleza?

Hope everything is going great back in the States!! It's going great out here!!!

We had two more baptisms this past week and 5 confirmations this last Sunday! I gave my first confirmation and in Portuguese! It's crazy and awesome how the Gift of Tongues work! Amazing experience!!

The members continue to impress! One day this past week we were walking to the Bishops house for lunch. Which was pretty far away. Anyways while walking, the school bus stops us. And a member (I think she's a teacher) yells out the window asking us to come on board!! So yeah we got picked up by the school bus, full of kids, and got a ride to our lunch appointment! How cool is that!!

One of the most awesome feelings is when we come to an investigators house or a recent convert to find that they are reading to Book of Mormon on their front porch. I have seen this multiple times and it's just awesome!!! Or when a family shows up to church or to a baptism and you can just tell they spent a lot of time showering, makeup or whatever. It's the best!

We had two baptisms this week. Marcos Eduardo Dos Santos Sousa, and Alif. It was awesome. Kinda fun though, the font lights were out! So we had to do the baptism in the dark! We had lights from the room though So wasn't too dark. But it was lit!!

The people are so humble here. They don't have much. One day this 3-year-old Leo was just having a blast kicking a piece of Tupperware as high as he could. No shirt, no shoes. Just running around all day always happy. So it's really humbling here, so keep thinking about all your blessings and things you're grateful for. And if you are ever bored or sad, just go outside and kick a piece of Tupperware!!!

I wish the days were longer they go by too fast and we need more time!!! Guess its a good problem to have. Oh and the frogs here are sick! They make the coolest sound and are bigger than my face!

Love Elder Hillam!