What a Week! (Week 84)

Hello All,

I have been home for about three weeks now. Due to the coronavirus, the mission had to end a little sooner. I am so grateful for the faith that I have developed in our Savior Jesus Christ that I can say, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord." The last week in the mission was crazy awesome. Monday morning, Elder Marques and I had a meeting with President Lago 8:00amon Monday, March 23. As we were entering into his office, he said " Elder Hillam, Elder Marques, I have some sad news. All of the foreign missionaries have to return to their countries this week; those that have more than 18 months will be released and those with less than 18 months will be relocated to another mission in their country." So we got to work. We informed the zone leaders and also told them to clean their houses and pack their bags. Around lunchtime Monday, we received an email from the church saying that all of the American missionaries need to be in the Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport by Thursday 5:00pm. We had two greatest difficulties. First, our mission is like the size of Texas. We needed to get all of the missionaries to the center of the mission which is Teresina. The virus made all of this much more difficult as several bus stations, as well as state borders, were closed. However, miraculously we were able to. The next challenge was to get all of the missionaries to the Sao Paulo airport by Thursday. So Teresina to Sao Paulo is like Georgia to Utah. Even with flights being canceled every minute, miraculously we were able to get everyone to Sao Paulo and then to the United States. Everyone in the office pulled all-nighters. Elder Marques and I returned from an emergency trip around 3:00 in the morning to find the Secretaries still working. What was cool to see, was that no one got tired until the work was finished.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and emails.
I would like to thank my parents for their incredible example and the love they have for me. As well as my Mission President and his wife, family, leaders, missionaries, friends, but most importantly, my Savior Jesus Christ. I am eternally grateful for the time that I had to serve Him, with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I am eternally grateful for repentance. I know that through my Savior Jesus Christ, I can be changed every day. I can be better and more like him. My work here is not done. I plan to continue to be molded by him and continue being his disciple.

Sincerely,

Austin Hillam