Feliz Pascoa! Happy Easter! (Week 40)

Dear Family and Friends,

What a wonderful time to remember about the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Ressurection. I am so thankful that through Him we can change! We can get better every day. He can mold us into our full potential!

We traveled a lot this week! We went to Esplanada and Caxias. They are both a little bit more than an hour and a half away.
The Sisters in Caxias are doing some great work there!
This week will be doing some more traveling. Basically, we work with the missionaries in their areas and help them move their weaknesses into strengths.
On the trip back from Esplanada our van died, so we had to wait for another. Haha. We were super lucky to catch the last bus in Caxias within the nick of time. We also were sleeping on the bus and woke up in the nick of time too. Heavenly Fathers is always watching out for us.

Last Monday we got our ingrown toe-nails out. Woohoo. All the ladies there are sisters and members. One of them is from my first area!

We also got a ride in the back of an old Ford Pick up truck and an old Volkswagon bus this week--also by donkey too!  haha!

Saved a giant turtle in the road.
Stake Conference is next week! Will be an exciting challenge!

Time was a little short! Got to run! Hope you all have a fantastic week!!!

Love
Elder Hillam

Toe Work at the Salon

Wooden Table

My hair is regularly cut for training purposes

Elder De Paula and Elder Cotanea, Elder Groom and Elder Hillam

Week 39

Hello Family!

Super Exited for Marlie and Parker! Can't wait to see the pictures!

Busy week as always!! We had two baptisms this Saturday! Baptism of Kauane and Samuel!
They are both awesome. Kauane is an ancient investigator of missionaries. It's always a challenge on getting the transportation right for our investigators. After everything fell through, we ended up calling an Uber to get our investigators from their houses to the Church.

Our ward did a ward fast. It was so cool to see a little ward work together. After Church, we had lunch together. It turned out great, and the investigators that we brought loved it.

This week is Saint week. So there are lots of crazy traditions here. Like one day you can't eat meat, another day you can't spend money, and some other cool things. Yesterday was the first day. Every corner had a pastor with his loudspeaker.

The Zone is doing great. One of the awesome parts of being a leader is watching others grow and develop. Watching and helping others gain a love for the Savior, and understanding their purpose as a missionary.

I was talking with Renato this week. He's a recent convert of ours. He is 62 years old. He was addicted to alcohol, cigars, and coffee. He was able to put these addictions away in 2 weeks. I asked him how. He just pointed to The Book of Mormon in his hands with tears in his eyes. We made a promise to him when we meet him, that if he reads the Book of Mormon with faith every day, he will find the strength to stop. He took that promise to heart.
I hope that we all are reading the Book of Mormon daily. Gain a testimony. Ask God if it's true.

Later today, Elder Groom and I will get our toe-nails done. We are pumped.

Love you all so much! Have a great week!
Elder Hillam

Baptism of Kauane

Baptism of Samuel

Baptism of Samuel

Break the Fast Lunch with the Ward

A familia da Andreza

Irma Inacia

Bom Dia!! (Week 38)

I hope that you all had a fantastic conference! I sure learned a ton. We were really blessed to bring investigators to all of the sessions. It's a little difficult because we don't have a chapel in our area. But we do have an Imão Castro. This man is so selfless--picking people up from areas soo far away and driving them to watch conference. We love squeezing in cars too. Usually, Elder Groom sits on top of me in shotgun. lol! We brought microwavable popcorn to conference thinking that there´s a microwave in the church. There's not. And one of our investigators brought a bunch of little kids and sooo we needed this popcorn!! So, before the session started we went knocking on doors close to the church to find someone that has a microwave. Took like 13 doors! (no one has a microwave) But finally found someone that has one so we ended up with our popcorn for the kiddos. I do it for the kids

Oh, and so Elder Groom and I were misinformed when Easter is. Thinking that Easter was Sunday, we hid two big chocolate eggs for the other missionaries in the house! Pictures below. Looks like we will have to celebrate Easter again in two weeks.


Last P day we went to Laurianas house to learn how to make Bombas and Pasteis (bombs and pastries) Basically fried dough with meat and a bunch of other stuff inside. Super good! Take a look at the photos!

Every minute on the mission truly is the best. Why? Because I'm becoming more like my Savior. No other reason why.  Develop a love for the Savior and you will change in ways you have never imagined.

Have a great week!!!

Love Elder Hillam

Making bombas and pasteis

Our District!

Celebrating Easter a little early!!

It's April!! (Week 37)

There's never a bad week on the Mission!

It has been a lot of fun with Elder Groom! He loves to eat cake!
For some reason, as missionaries, we eat cake on a weekly basis. Literally, I have eaten cake more weeks than not on the mission.

Super excited for General Conference. Every six months, the whole church gathers together to listen to the Prophet, the Apostles, and other leaders of the church speak. God loves his children today and still speaks to us! Take your vitamin pills!!

This week we did divisions with Esplanada and Timon. I had the opportunity to work with Elder De Paula and Elder Câmara. This is one of the great things about being a Zone Leader--Having an opportunity and responsibility to help the missionaries grow and develop.

Irmão Castro
So a week ago, Irmão Castro (second counselor in the bishopric), his wife, and two other members went to an area far away and started knocking on doors, asking if two young men could visit them and talk about the church. So, they gave us 17 references. This past Saturday, Irmão Castro picked us up and we visited some of these people. It was awesome!!! Lets goo members! The members make a huge difference in missionary work. Our problem as missionaries is always time--and the members help a lot with this.

Hope you all had an awesome week!
Thanks so much for your emails and prayers!

Love
Elder Hillam

Distict Timon

Split with Elder De Paula

Why does this Banana Bread taste so much like my moms?

We live with Elder Câmara and Elder Nieves

Planalto Zone Conference