11 Months!!

E AÍ FAMÍLIA?!!!! Wow is change great! I am loving my new area, Parque Bristol and my new companion--Sister Curcino. The area is A LOT different than Santo André. It's mainly just homes (actually it is). No favela or apartments. My area is tiny like my first area here in the field. So we are able to walk from one end to the other in half an hour whereas in Santo André, it was a little over an hour. Here it is a lot calmer também. Everyone isn't running through the streets trying to catch an onibus or trying to get to work on time. It makes me feel like I'm back home a little bit. Also right now in June and July, Brasil is celebrating a holiday called Festa Junina. During this celebration, people dress like cowboys/girls with everything from the hat down to the boots. This really makes me feel at home. But they celebrate this in the churches so each church picks a days and people come and set it all up. I have only walked past a few but here the ward will do this the 9th of July and I am super excited!!!  With the Sisters in her apartment at Subway! Sister Curcino is AWESOME!! She is only here for a short period of time while she waits for her visa. She was called to serve in the TEMPLE SQUARE mission!!! And guess who her first companion here was? SISTER HUBERT!! hahaha seriously, all of my companions are connected one way or another, it' pretty crazy. Anyways she has been here for a little over two months and Monday the mission office called her and told her that her visa had arrived! But she still has to do some other government stuff so I'll get to be with her for hopefully a full transfer. She is super sweet and I am loving being her companion!  Mission President taking a selfie! This week we worked real hard. We taught a lot of new investigators and one of which I would like to tell you all about. We taught an older couple this week named Irene and Luciano. Luciano has prostate cancer and stays in bed all day while Irene constantly takes care of him. He isn't able to ingest everything he eat because it just comes right back up so he is on a diet of watermelon, water, and very light crackers. And even then most of the time, it comes back up. But despite this, his faith in the Lord is firme and forte and her's também. They have muito(lots) hope that he will get better and be able to get back to a normal life. We have visited them two times already and when we came back the second, Irene said that the last time we visited, after we left, they felt a huge peace and Luciano slept better that night. They love having us over because when we are there, they feel peace and he feels better. I know that this is happening because they are allowing the spirit to work in their hearts. We can say all we want but it is really the Spirit who brings these feelings of peace and comfort. We are just instruments to bring this Spirit into the homes of the people.  I hope you all have the most wonderful week ever!! Love you all so much!!!  Love,  Sister Hilchie :)

Tchau Santo Andre!

OI FAMÍLIA!!!!! 

Today is TRANSFER DAY! And after a glorious seven months in Santo André, I am being transferred to Parque Bristol! It's more towards São Paulo, and I will be right next to the zoo and botanical gardens. I am pretty excited. I will be serving with a sister who only has three months in the field, don't know much about her but am super excited to meet her! AH! I am ready for this new adventure. 

This week we visited the son of Paulo (our recent convert), Guilherme. Paulo was pretty excited for us to teach Guilherme. He only has 15 years but is a great young man. He is really searching for an answer to whether or not the church is true. He really wants to know and this makes it a bit easier for us because he is willing to do the compromissos that we leave with him (reading the Book of Mórmon, praying, etc). And every time that we visit or see Paulo, he asks how it's doing. Since Paulo and his wife are separated, Guilherme lives with his mom and Paulo just goes and chats with him almost every day. So in other words, he already knows how it's going so maybe he just wants to hear it from us. You could say Paulo is pretty anxious to go to church with his son and give him a better life. It's pretty cool to see, and I am super glad that I played a part in it all. 

We also visited a lot of our investigators this week to give one last lesson, Sister Taffarel and I together and to take loads of pictures. I have met some wonderful people here over these past months and it is hard to let them go but I know that they will be in good hands. Sister Taffarel is staying here and a sister that already has more than a year under her belt with be her companion so our investigators will be well taken care of. 

Hope you all are doing well and are having an awesome summer!!! Enjoy it!! Love you all!! 

Love, Sister Hilchie :)

Seja Felizes (Be Happy)!

E AÍ FAMÍLIA?! 

Action Shot!

Guys guess what?! It's the last week of the transfer already!! Ahhh nossa time really does fly...it feels like just yesterday we were starting the transfer. Well anyways, this past week was pretty awesome! We worked really hard, acompanhamos (forgot how to say that in English..)(follow up?) with a lot of our investigators and have a really good group of strong investigators. We're really excited about this and of course this happens right as the transfer is ending but we will leave them ready and strong for the other sisters that will work here or who knows, for us if we stay!

 I would like to tell you all about one of our investigators real fast. His name is Oseias. Oseias is an older man who has already retired but is the busiest retired man I have ever met. When we first met him, he told us that he had already been taught by the elders (so more than a year ago because sisters have been serving here since March of last year). He already went to church with them and like it a lot. He said that what we teach is simple and makes sense and that's why he enjoys it. The last time we visited him, we taught the restoration. He had a few questions which he was not afraid to ask, and we were able to answer them all. He also came to church yesterday!!! We were so excited to see him there all dressed up in a suit and tie! He was born Mormon but just hasn't realized it yet. 

We also had a mission tour with week with Elder and Sister Fortunato. Elder Fortunato is a setenta(Seventy) and was mission president of the Belo Horizonte mission. I learned a lot with them about missionary work and how we can be missionaries with mais success. One of the things they talked a lot about was about attitude. Ah guys attitude is everything!!!! I learned that our life really depends on our attitude. As we are positive and upbeat, even when things don't go our way, we will be so much more blessed and successful and be a light for others. However if we let every little thing irritate us and bring us down, we will be like Eeyore, all grey and depressed because nothing goes right. I know that as we try our best to look at the positive side of things. Look for and do the little things, we will feel more of Heavenly Father's presence in our lives. sooooo keep smiling and think happy thoughts! 

That's all for this week folks! I hope you all are enjoying summer break! I love you all so much!! Have the best week ever! 

Love, Sister Hilchie :)     

Baptism of Paulo