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!