Christmas with pictures

Hi family and friends,

Belated Merry Christmas!!! I hope everybody's holidays were fantastic. I hope they were filled with the Savior just as much as--hopefully more than--with Santa and presents.

Our Christmas was nice and peaceful. Pretty much every single member in our ward went out of town for the holidays, so we were here! Skyped our families on Christmas day, taught and visited until the end of the day, and then went home.

We had a nice breakfast Christmas morning that our trainers made, that was sweet :) they're darling.

A member gave us 2 Pannetones (sweet bread... so good.) and a jug of grape juice. We feasted. :)

Here's a picture of our Christmas breakfast. And a mug that Sister Alvez gave me for Christmas:) it's a picture of us at this place we once went to where there was FREE FOOD. What started with a contact led to that... memories.

BTW... sorry I'm super awful at writing these things. I get writer's block. #1hourprobs

Muito amor,

Sister Hill

Oh yeah, and we got electricity back Christmas Eve morning. #bestChristmaspresentever

Christmas Conference, pictures and no electricity

Dearest family and friends!

Hope everybody is well. This week was a little different since we went to BRASÍLIA for our Christmas Conference!! It was so exhausting but still great. We literally (and anybody who knows me knows that I only use this word when I really mean it) spent more time on the ônibus than in Brasília. With 27 hours on the bus, and 12 hours in Brasília. But I got to see the wonderful missionaries from my MTC district!! SISTER HECK! I've missed those people. It was super fun to hear their stories, catch up since we hadn't seen each other since October... and I know that I probably won't see them for a while. It was super good to see them.

And we watched Frozen!!!! in Portuguese. Honestly I missed hearing the music in English because I love it so much... but it was still great. Olaf is still hysterical, even in português. "só coisas boas, só coisas boas." (all good things, all good things)... <3 #iloveOlaf

We watched Ephraim's Rescue too! I loved it, I had never seen that movie before...such a powerful movie about faith and our spiritual gifts. And that we can be tools in the Lord's hand to minister as the Savior would minister if He were here today.

Us and the 2 sisters in our house went street contacting for an entire day on Saturday, since we didn't have any commitments... we sang Christmas hymns for the entire world!! It was seriously the best thing ever. There was this one lady who when we started singing for her and her daughter, started filming us with her smartphone. It was so hilarious hahaha. Afterwards she was hugging all of us, so grateful for the present we gave her... interesting how some people just need that little reminder <3 I loved it so much, it was fantastic and we had a ton more contacts.

Dreams in portuguese have started. Had a dream the other night that my portuguese scriptures had magically turned into english scriptures... and weird stuff like that. It's all part of the experience:)

We had the ward Christmas party the other day. Papai Noel (Santa Claus) was definitely the highlight, walking in and giving Bis (chocolate wafer candy, sooo good) to the kids... Santa was a member from the ward. I loved how everybody freaked out;) it was so fantastic. The food was great. I could seriously go on for hours about the food.

We're still without electricity and energy in the house. #coldshowersfordayzz #stillusingtheheadlamp #reusingclothesbecausewecantusetheiron

Exciting adventures here without light and electricity. :) #missionarylife

Lovin' it here. Hope everybody has a super great Christmas!!! And don't forget the real meaning <3 That through Jesus Christ, we can change!!!!

Feliz Natal, Boas Festas para todos!

Muito amor,

Sister Hill

Our First Baptism!!! with pictures

Oi família e amigos,

This week was great. We had the baptism of Rodrygo yesterday!! My first baptism, it was awesome. He's great. Andreia is travelling for Christmas but when she gets back we're hoping that she can finally find a time to be baptized. Pictures attached of the happy day. :)

The past few days have been super interesting...something happened with the electricity bill, and for the past 4 days we've been without electricity. No hot water, no ironing, no light, and no refridgerator. Dad, you know that headlamp you made me bring that I didn't want to but brought anyway? Ummm I've never been more grateful for that silly contraption than now. #iuseittoreadmyscriptures #itsamazingwhatyoucandowhenyoudonthavetoholdaflashlight #whoknew #ohyeahthatsrightmyDaddid

t is way strange to not have snow. Honestly, it doesn't feel like Christmas. Irmã Giann (i think i mentioned her last week?), her mom made dresses for Christmas for the four of us missionary sisters!!! And they're amazing. I get mine tomorrow, I'll take a picture of it and send it:) tomorrow we take the 13-hour bus ride to Brasilia for the Christmas Conference with the mission!! I'm excited to see Sister Heck, I miss her soo much haha.

We had Stake Conference yesterday, Sister Marriott spoke in portuguese! I didn't know that she knew any portuguese! She has a very, very strong accent but I could understand everything she said. Larry W. Wilson also spoke, his was about the iron rod. Loved it. And Elder Cook spoke too. It was so fantastic. The members here cry when they get to hear the words of representatives of the Lord <3 Makes me cry.

The baptism of Rodrygo was amazing. When I saw him go under the water I almost just broke in tears...ugh it's so amazing to see somebody change their life for the better. And baptism is just the beginning! There is so much more that will happen.

I got your first letter this week, postmarked November 7th. Haven't had time to open it yet. Sooo takes about a month and 10 days to get from UT to Brasil to Palmas. Hmm. Not too shabby. ;)

Thank you for the FHE ideas. Thank you for the prayers. I've passed the homesickness phase. I've realized I don't want to be anywhere else but here, because now I have relationships with these people and I want to be around them!!!!!!!! Now that I can finally communicate... Mom I think I had a tiny "click" the other day. On the 13th. And I just started talking with people... it's amazing, the day when you finally don't have to translate everything you hear into english before you can speak. You just know what they're saying. It's the most incredible thing. the gift of tongues is so real.

The scriptures are amazing. I finished the Book of Mormon, starting over... can I just say Nephi is so incredible?

I had a little revelation about the story of Lehi and Nephi the other day...

When the Lord commands for Lehi's family to depart into the wilderness, they depart.

But the Lord didn't tell them at this point in time where they were going. He hadn't told them yet about the promised land.

But they left.

They had so much faith in the Lord that they just left without knowing where they were going.

I want to be like that!!

Thank you for the support, thank you for everything.

More pictures to come.

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#10daysleft

Muito amor,

Sister Hill

p.s. don't take electricity for granted

p.p.s. getting devoured by mosquitoes here but it's all good ;)

p.p.p.s. you forget sunscreen ONE DAY and you're fried.

p.p.p.p.s. pamonia is amazing. so is panatone. google them ;)

Also attached a picture of me and Sarah, a primary girl in the ward. We drew pictures while waiting for Almoço. <3

Hope everybody is well, keep sharing that awesome video Ele É O Presente!!! (He is the Gift.) Share it share it share itttttttt. I love the campaigns that the church does. So good.

Oi gente :)

This week we marked a wedding & baptismal date with Erica and Irismar!! So, their story... their son, Willyam, was baptized last year at the age of 9. He's 10 now and hasn't been going to church because he was the only person baptized in his family. But this week we marked January 17th as this date for them, we're sooo excited!!! Willyam is my reason for being here in Tocantins<3 he's such an amazing little guy, he loves the gospel<3

Rodrigo's baptism is this upcoming Sunday, the 14th! He and Andreia came to church yesterday, she is so amazing to me. He's the one getting baptized and she reads the Book of Mormon more consistently than he does. We want to invite her to be baptized tonight after we have FHE with them, we're praying she accepts so that they can be baptized together this week:)

Besides that, all is well... Christmas is coming!! It's only 18 days away, in fact! What are you all doing to prepare? I heard about the campaign that the church is doing, so cool!!

Hope you have a great week, don't forget the gospel is true<3

Muito amor,

Sister Hill

Oi!

Transfer was yesterday...and I'm staying here in Palmas with Sister Alves! And Sister Costancio and Sister Soares are staying too, I love the four of us. Our district is tiny, just the 4 of us plus 2 more Elders.

This week we visited Rodrigo and Andreia to teach the Plan of Salvation, we asked if they had any questions before we begin...and Rodrigo asked (this is translated from português, mind you) "If one of us wants to be baptized, does the spouse have to be baptized as well?" Was SUCH a surprise to the two of us, we had no idea he wanted to be baptized since he had only been to church once. But he really wants to be baptized!! He wanted to be baptized this Sunday, because his cousin Iyarle leaves for his mission to Brasil, Santa Maria this Wednesday and he was hoping that maybe he would be able to be baptized the Sunday before his cousin left...but we talked about it and set a date for December 14th. Andreia is Catholic and she isn't sure about the church yet, since she worked 3 years to be baptized into the Catholic church...but she knows that the Book of Mormon is true!! I talked with her yesterday, her and Rodrigo read one chapter of the Book of Mormon every day, they're already in 1 Néfi 17. They're both amazing, and Rodrigo is excited for his baptism!!

We visited Francisca and Jorge yesterday, Sister Alves and I believe that they're no longer progressing investigators. They aren't keeping their commitments and haven't been in church for a couple weeks. We're going to fast for just them this Sunday! Jorge is an elect, he loves the gospel so much, he is so intelligent and willing to share his testimony, he's going to help us visit other investigators this week. But Francisca isn't very open, she doesn't like a whole bunch of attention pointed directly at her...she was reading the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago, but now neither of them are. We're praying for them hard these days.

Super cool experience this week:

We returned to the house of Dena, we had visited her one time previously, just to introduce the gospel, give her a pamphlet and mark a date to return. So we returned on Saturday, and to our surprise she had read and marked the entire pamphlet, and had questions about everything. Which means she actually read. And then she surprised us again with a story about how she already had the Book of Mormon in her house, it had been sitting there for years when her son gave it to her, telling her about a "different Bible". She loves the Book of Mormon!! She's going to pray about it, we're feeling like she is an elect <3

Our zone in Palmas is going to Brasília for Natal (Christmas)!! It will be a 13-hour bus ride there...but who cares, it will be an adventure. And I have Sister Alves so it's all good :) 

Boa semana por vocês, gente... the gospel is true!! <3

Até logo,

Sister Hill

Olá, família e amigos!

This week was good. Sister Alves and I really concentrated on finding new people to teach, because the majority of our investigators were not progressing, and many investigators with baptismal dates fell through. So we did a lot of finding! A lot of clapping in front of the gates of peoples' homes.

We have a new investigator, Helica! We met her husband on the street, he said he wasn't interested in the church but that his wife was searching for a church. So she's our new investigator! She's an elect. She came to church this week, stayed for the whole 3 hours. We gave her a Book of Mormon after teaching the Restoration, I'm excited to see how she's been doing with that.

Rodrigo and Andreia told us that they read the Book of Mormon together every night.

There's been lots of random rain and thunderstorms here in Tocantins..and when it rains here it POURS. Like flooding. The last time there was super huge lightning and thunder, me and the 3 sisters in my house heard the light crack super close to our house, we could FEEL it. When we got on the bus we passed maybe 10 trees that had been hit by lightning and broken in the road. I think it's awesome, lightning is super cool :)

Nothing super exciting this week, besides our new investigators we're working with.

Até mais,

Sister Hill

Amigos é família,

Esta semana foi bem! Não facil...mas bem. My portuguese improves every day. Every day I improve just a little bit. It's the most amazing thing. The sisters in my house are so patient with me. I remember the first day that I was in the field, the first week, I could barely converse with my companion, and couldn't converse at ALL with the other girls in my house, Sister Constancio and Sister Soares (whom I love a LOT, btw). And now we all talk and laugh throughout the entire day. I love them.

We taught Jorge and Francisca the commandments yesterday, Jorge is INCREDIBLE in that he is definitely um eleto, one of our elects... he's so receptive of the gospel, I know that he was prepared to receive it. But Francisca, his soon-to-be wife, we don't know. She hasn't been progressing, she hasn't been keeping her commitments, she hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon and she doesn't come to church...we're trying really hard to help her. And she loves her coffee, her café, and I know the Word of Wisdom is going to be a hard thing for her. But we have faith in her still!! We just reeeeally want her to understand the importance of them getting married to be baptized, not the action but the principle, the doctrine...there's meaning behind this!! Her salvação...I have to always remind myself that people have agency. Sigh. Still getting used to that.

It's a nice balmy 110degrees Fahrenheit here in Palmas, Tocantins!! Wow! Gotta love that sun!! I got my first real sun today as I only put sunscreen on my arms and feet today, figuring that would be enough...lol.

Today for P-day we went to "Taguarusul" and climbed this huge mountain, the view was BEAUTIFUL. Pictures for you of that. :) And also we saw some macaws on our way to the ônibus the other day!!! There were like four in the tree! Some pictures of that as well.
Hope you are all well. I love and miss you!!!
I love 1 Nephi 3:7 because the Lord is going to ask us to do some hard things...but we CAN do them! He will never ask us to do something without knowing that we can do it. It just takes trust. <3

Com amor,
Sister Hill