10 Months

E AÍ FAMÍLIA!!!!! My week was just awesome so I hope yours was just as wonderful! We worked real hard and are constantly learning from each other. Every day is a new adventure with Sister Taffarel and I can't believe we have already been with each other for almost three months. Time passes so quickly, and it is amazing to see her progress. I do have to admit that it was a bit rough at the beginning, getting used to each other and her getting used to the mission field but now, we are in the groove. Sister Taffarel is a great missionary and is really blunt with most of our investigators which is great! She has more guts than me. So I am learning to be more out there and straight forward with our investigators and not only is it helping us but also our investigators.  This week we had a baptism!! Paulo was baptized Saturday and is super happy to be a member of the church. I know I haven't talked a lot about him so I will talk a little bit about him now:  *He was looking for a church to join. He had been to muito but never felt good in any one of them until he stepped foot into the Church of Jesus Cristo of Latter-day Saints. The other day he told us that while he was visiting one Sunday, he felt a wonderful peaceful feeling and then later that same sunday, he went to another church and didn't feel that same feeling. We took the opportunity and taught about the Holy Ghost. He said that he knew that God was talking to him and giving him answers and that he just needed to follow them. So because of this, he literally threw out all his coffee and stopped drinking in one day (which is super hard for almost everyone we meet).  *He lives by himself because he is divorced from his wife and his three sons live with her. But he goes there every now and then to visit them. They're all older and involved in the world so he is going to try to bring them one by one into the gospel!  *Before he joined the church, he didn't like the Mormon’s.....I have no idea why. He said that he always heard a lot about us and what we believed and thought we were strange. Well Paulo now you are just as strange as us haha.  Well that's a little bit about Paulo. It is through him that I know that the Lord realmente prepares people for us to find and teach. As long as we are searching, the Lord with show the way. I know that the gospel changes lives and brings miracles into our lives. I am so grateful that I have the restored gospel in my life and that now I am able to dedicate a year and a half (well now only 8 more months.....) helping other come to know the gospel and feel the Savior's love more abundantly in their lives.  Also Sunday, the relief society had an awesome activity. It was about bread and how Christ is the "bread of life." In João 6:35 it says: "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." So after the presidency shared a quick message, they had all of us line up shoulder to shoulder with our hands out, palms facing the ceiling while closing our eyes. They turned on a hymn that talked about Christ's hands and His love for us. While the musica was playing, one of them came around with a nail and pressed it into each palm. Afterwards, each member of the presidency came around and gave us all a nice big hug. It was such a small thing to do but you could feel the Spirit so strongly. I felt as though Christ was hugging me. I know that Christ loves all of us so much. He is the way. The light. The caminho. And I know that as we draw near unto Him, we will never hunger or thirst.  I love you all so much and hope you all started off the summer with a bang! Have the most wonderful week ever!!!  Love,  Sister Hilchie :)

Conversion and Change

Sister Taffarel and Courtney

OI FAMÍLIA!!!!!  Hope you guys had a wonderful last week of school and are ready to party it up this summer (but not too much without me tá bom?!)! This week was really really busy but we were able to see a lot of miracles, which was absolutely awesome!  We had a companion swap this week but instead of one day, it was two. At first we were a bit surprised/anxious/nervous but in the end it all worked out right and now we are stronger and better than ever! One of our sister leaders is Sister Oliveira (my first companion in the field) and it was awesome to spend the day with her again. We were actually able to communicate and understand each other without any problems or hand gestures haha. Anyways, the first day I stayed with Sister Oliveira in Mauá and on day two, I went back to Santo André and worked with Sister Ramos. Wow did a lot of things change in just one day. We now have investigators willing and ready to be baptized. I think a few of them just needed that extra push and with Sister Ramos, they got it. One of them is Paulo.  I started to teach Paulo with Sister De Lima but only visited one time. He works a lot and is rarely in casa so it was hard to set a date to teach him so we kind of just moved on but never forgot about him (also because we see him almost every night walking home). So finally one day when I was walking in the street with Sister Taffarel, we saw him once again and finally set a date to visit him. Alright, so Paulo has heard a lot about the church and all the myths that go along with it. So when I first visited him with Sister De Lima, we taught the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mórmon.  The second time we went there, we read a bit it with him and talked about baptism but he was a bit iffy about it but said he would come to church. And guess who showed up two Sundays ago?! Paulo! He really enjoyed it and the next time I visited him, we talked more about baptism and how it is not complete if we don't receive the Holy Ghost. His attitude completely changed and now he is preparing to get baptized this Saturday! We are super excited. He had a little problem with café but after we talked with him about how it's bad for him to drink it, he literally got up, took his coffee out of the fridge (powder and all) and threw it in a grocery bag. It was amazing to see how the Lord touches the hearts of people once they know the truth and not because someone told them but because they felt it through the spirit. I know that the Spirit is key in the role of conversion. It is through him, that people change and take action like Paulo did. I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to serve my Savior and help others come closer to him and watch their lives change because of the gospel. It's so awesome!!! Well umm that's the big news for the week. I learned so much because of this division and am excited to put it into practice to become a better missionary and be able to help my investigators melhor. I know that as we strive to change our lives and do the little things that God asks of us, that others will notice. And it is through us and the little things we do that the Lord makes the big changes. So guys keep being awesome! Don't forget to smile and have an awesome summer break!! Love, Sister Hilchie :)    In the apartment

Exploding Meatballs!

HEY FAMÍLIA!!!!!  This week was pretty much very awesome!! We worked really hard and it really does pay off. We met some amazing people this week, and I would like to tell you about a few.  First we have William and Erica! And guess what?! They're actually married legally!!! We met them knocking on doors and marked with them to come back this past Saturday. We went back Saturday and taught a great lesson. You could definitely feel the Spirit testifying of everything we said. It was pretty awesome! At the end of the lesson we gave them a panfleto(pamphlet) that talks about the Restoration of the gospel. As we were handing it to them, we asked if they had already questioned why there are so many churches on the earth today if there only exists one God and one faith? William said that he had and then we asked if he believed that there was one true church on the earth today. Once again he said yes and it is because of this that he left the church he was going to. You don't know how happy we were when he said this. We marked to go back this upcoming Saturday and share with them the great news that Christ's church has been restored and that today em dia we have a living profeto and 12 apóstolos that lead and guide Christ's church. I know this to be true and that there only exists one true church here on the earth today and that church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is organized the same way was when Christ was here on the earth and established His church.  Alright secondly we have Paulo. He has about 45ish years and is separated from his wife. But he has a huge curiosidade about the church. Whenever we visit, he always has a billion and one questions for us. It's pretty awesome to see how interested he is in the church. We already gave him a Book of Mórmon, and he is starting from the very beginning and said will read until the very last word. We are pretty excited to work more with him. So when we visited him this week, we invited him to come to church with us. He said he would. Beleza. So we left and Saturday night we were walking home when we met Paulo in the street. He came up to us and told us that he was thinking whether or not he really would make a visit at the church the next day but told himself that if he saw us, he would go. Well look at that! We were literally in the right place and the perfect time. So he came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it! Alrighty so one last thing before I go. One night this week, Sister Araujo (one of the sisters I live with) decided to fry some meatballs. So we were sitting in the kitchen waiting on the meatballs when out of know where hot oil and pieces of meat came flying at us. We jumped out of our chairs, screaming, turned off the oven, and hit behind a wall. Then a couple minutes later, bam! exploded again. So we threw the pot in the sink but that did not help at all because they exploded again haha. But this was the last time. After a while, we came out from behind the wall and there was meat and oil everywhere. We spent a good part of that night cleaning it up and decided to not fry meatballs ever again. hahaha Well hope you all have a wonderful week!!! I love you all so much!! Keep being awesome and don't forget to smile!! Love, Sister Hilchie :)