Update: October 7, 2013

Meus Caridos Pais!

Eu amo vocês muito e oro por vocês cada dia! 

This past week was fun and exciting, but incredibly difficult. We had the treinamento dos novos missionarios this past terça-feira (Tuesday). Presidente Pinho is MARAVILHOSO! I had a really good conversation with my friend, Sister Doman, this week. We talked about talents and differences in personalities. In 1 Coríntios 12 it talks a lot about comparing the Church with the human body. Each part has a specific function and a body would not be a body if every part was a foot. Sabe? Ok. The Lord has need of EVERY one of His children. 

This week we went to an asilo (old folks home) as a service activity for the Relief Society. Sinceremente, it was really sad. These people have next to nothing and some of them arent even old. Their families put them there because they have special needs. They sleep in a huge room with about 30 twin size beds. The residents there became muito feliz quando nós cantamos para eles. God loves all of His children, and eu sou muita grata for the opportunity that I had to serve them.

In my personal study this week I am reading in Mosías. I noticed something that I had never noticed before. In the story of Rei Noé, toward the end in chapter 22 I think, there is a man named Gideão who is trying to kill the king, but the lamanitas come and attack the city so he spares the life of the king. Fast forward two chapters and this man, Gideão, is pleading with Rei Lími to not take his people to war. This is after they have been in captivity for a while as well. I love this. The Gospel can truly soften the hearts of every person who will give head to the boa palavra de Deus. 

Maria Eliegene was not baptized this week, but her baptism will the 12th of Outubro. She is a delight, sinceremente. She is a former member of the Igreja Universal so she likes to clap her hands and say things like <As tres forças divinas!> She has such incredible faith in the Savior. 

Carlos Gabriel was uma referencia dos Élderes. He is 13 years old and loves soccer and the internet. However, God truly prepared him and he should be baptized this Sunday. He already knew lots of the members from school so we had Uriel (membro) come with us to talk about O Livro de Mórmon. I love working with the members here. They are so willing to help!

We taught a super-special family this week. Cledi, Luciano and Ingrid are friends of a few of the families in our ward. They came to church TWO times before we had a chance to teach them. Here in Brasil, that practicalmente NUNCA acontece. We taught the lesson sobre a Restauração do Evangelho and it was so beautiful. The pai, Luciano, cried during the lesson. Cledi and Luciano têm dois filhos: Ingrid (9, and reminds me of Claire) and Gustavo (6). Ingrid and Gustavo stopped their parents car once because they saw me and Sister Hamburgo enter the supermercado. They are FOFO DEMAIS! (too cute) The parents and Ingrid are going to be baptized on the 19th.

Sister Hamburgo and I fizemos contato na rua com um casal: Amanda e Robson. They are super great and get this: they are already married LEGALLY! In the rua when we made contact Amanda said that she had been waiting on a blessing in her life. She suffers from ovarian cists. The one she has right now is 33cm. She has a lot of pain. She and Robson are really young, but they love every time we talk about the gospel. They said that they always feel peaceful and we said that it was because of the Spirit. They are going to be baptized on the 20th. 

 

Com Amor,

Sister Abbie Hills

Update: September 23, 2013

This week we had a lot of joys and a lot of trials. One of the recent converts of Sister Hamburgo and Sister Gonçalves has been missing for over a week now. Her name is Nayara and she has some difficulties mentally. Pray for her! 

I passed the two month mark! It is crazy how fast time flies! We went out with various members this week and I am so thankful for their help. We taught a woman named Regina the first lesson. She is super fun and loves to talk. Unfortunately, she moved somewhere in our area and we havent been able to find her. 

Boas notícias! Maria Eliegene is going to be baptized this Saturday. She is a super sweet old lady who is the mother of a recent convert in our ward. She has a lot of faith and has been baptized three times in different churches. I just love talking to her. 

We met a wonderful woman and her family this week. Joana is the mother of three children: Lucas (14), Livia (11) and Daniel (4). Daniel is autistic, but so smart. He doesnt talk and has been sick this past week. We went by with a woman in our ward named Gina, who is a convert of about one year. She was absolutely fantastic and helped Joana make food and held Daniel for her so she could talk. Lucas and Livia are good kids. They all were going to go to church, but Daniel had diarreia so that didnt work out. Joana is so great and has suffered a lot being a single mother. The light of the gospel has definitely made her more happy.

We went to the temple this week. It was so wonderful. I got to see some of my friends from the CTM. I love going to the temple so much. I always come away from it feeling renewed and peaceful.  

Thanks for all of your prayers and I love you all so much!

Com Amor, 

Sister Abbie Hills

Photos from Baptism

Wow, that was weird typing the word baptism in English. We had four baptisms this weekend. The first picture is of Juliana and her friend Karina. The second is of Sabrina. The third is of the rapaz (young man) in the striped shirt, Jefferson. I am so blessed to be able to help my irmãos here in Jardim Lucélia come unto Christ.

Jó 23:10

Sister Abbie Hills

Update 9-9-2013

Eu amo você muito!  I love you and thank you for all of your prayers. 

Learning português is going very well. The problem is actually communicating how I am feeling with my companion. She is very nice, and I have learned a lot from her, but I feel like she nevers listens to any of the suggestions that I attempt to make. It has gotten me pretty down, but I love her and want to work well with her so we can do the work of the Lord.

Speaking of the work, we are having a baptism this week! Sabrina is 16 and is so wonderful. The Lord truly prepared her. We are blessed that there are so many youth in our ward that are willing to help with the lessons and giving encouragement. We are also teaching her mother, Sandra, but we cant set a baptism date because she is currently living with a guy who is 17. That is our biggest problem here: No one is married! I so desperately want to help these people enjoy the blessings of an eternal family, but they have to have the desire. 

We are also teaching a senhorinha named Salete. She is around 60 and doesnt move very well on one side because she had a stroke. She has a baptism date set for the 21st, but she needs to stop smoking. She came to church with us yesterday and had a wonderful experience. She also shared an incredible story with us. After she had the stroke, she couldnt move from her bed to make food or anything. She prayed and pleaded with the Lord and she said a large man came to her house and told her to stand. He helped her stand up and she has been walking around to this day. How marvilous! The Lord blesses us with angels all the time.

This week Sister Hamburgo and I studied a lot about how to recognize the Spirit. The scriptures I loved most that we read were in Morôni 7:13-20. Anytime we get a prompting to do something good, it is the Spirit and we should do it! Also we read in 1 Corinthians 12 about gifts of the Spirit and it goes right along with your sentiment about everyone being needed in the Church. 

I love you guys and pray for you all often!

Com Amor,

Sister Abbie Hills

Visit to the Campinas Temple: August 19, 2013

Dear Family,

 

This week the temple in São Paulo was closed for cleaning, and we have had the opportunity to have the missionaries visit the beautiful Campinas temple.  It is a little further away than our temple in São Paulo.  It is a smaller temple set high on a hill, which is seen from a distance as we enter into the Campinas area.  The missionaries have really enjoyed the visit.  We thought you would like this photo.

 

We have an amazing group of missionaries here in the CTM at this time.  It is such a blessing for us to be able to serve with them. Thank you for your continued support with emails and letters.  They are much appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sister Degn

Update

***Sorry things haven't been posted on time lately.  

It is due to computer issues.***

Minha Mãe!

Eu amo voçê muito! Eu estou no campo agora! (I am in the field now.) I havent met our investigators in our area yet. Our area is Jardim Lucélia. Minha trenadora (my trainer) is Sister Hamborga and she is from Recife. We live in a house with two other sisters: Sister Gonçlaves and Sister Henriques. The past two days we havent done a lot of teaching because we had a mission conference and a transfer meeting. All of my roommates are Brasilian so no more inglês for me! God is so good and is helping me to understand and remember the language very well. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be here in Brasil. I know that this is the Lords work. He is the one who accepted my desire to serve Him. I chose to serve here in the pre-earth life.

Com Amor

Sister Abbie Hills

Weekly Update

This week has been super awesome. In the past TWO weeks I have sung "How Can I Keep from Singing" in a small group, "Eu Sei que Vive Meu Redentor" as a solo and played the piano for "Este e O Cristo". God is definitely helping me to use my talents. We went to the city center on Wednesday and handed out copies of the Book of Mormon. One guy was very emotional and in return gave us a book on ghosts in Sao Paulo. We didn't keep that book. Another we gave it to him and passed by him later and he was ALREADY reading it! Que legao! (How cool!) So my favourite experience this week has been with our investigator, Pedro. We have been trying to get him to pray for the past four lessons and he has a difficult time with it because his wife and son recently died and left him alone with another son and he feels like God has abandoned Him. BUT we have been very patient and loving and he FINALLY prayer with us! I don't think I have ever experienced that kind of joy in my life. 

Love you! -- 1 Corinthians 10:13

Sister Abbie