E Hillstead special: 6 months of life

HIT 6 MONTHS SINCE BECOMING MR. ELDER HILLSTEAD, WOOOO!! Aint no lie people, got set apart Sep. 2 and its been 6 months since the date! Can't believe I actually made it 6 months without mom's cooking and warm shower water. I feel invincible. These last months have taught and shown me so much, and I feel so grateful I've been able to have all yall along for the ride with me and for all the support you've shown me. Thank you for all the love and prayers sent my way, it has undoubtedly made a difference, and it will continue to. 1/4 of Brazil already through. Man, that was fast!

As far as the week itself goes, it was a lot of work! We've been striving a ton to meet new people and to add new folks to our teaching pool, and we've met a lot of people with some real potential. Def the best ones we've met though have been references through members. Can't overestimate how clutch member references are. Some of the regulars we've got in the rotation right now are Robson, Mateus, Maria José and Danilson, to name a few. We're gonna keep working with them, and with luck you'll see more of their names on these emails!

We had Carnival down here in Brazil this week, which was an interesting time. My extent of knowledge of Carnival was the portrayal seen in that one animated movie Rio, so I've been kinda just playing off that. But basically what Carnival is, is a celebration of worldly stuff and bodily enjoyment. So everyone is basically just drinking and partying and getting up to other no-goodedness. It's affected the work a little bit here. Some of the people we've been working with went and partied drank during the festivities because all of their friends were, and others were just out of town or unavailable. So there's a bit more to work through now, but also it's still really cool to experience the culture here and see what the Carnival holiday is like. 

This week I've been reading 2 Nephi. Elder McLane hyped up this book as his favorite book from the BoM, so I've been way interested to start reading. The Isaiah chapters we're a little tough to get through and to wrap my head around, but luckily afterward, Nephi gives some of his own prophecy in a more simplified vocabulary. I reccomend everyone who's looking for a fire spot to read for personal scripture study 2 Nephi 28. He does not mince words here and he inspires anyone that'll read to change their ways and repent. I wanna leave here just a verse that stuck out to me from the chapter, about the way in which God reveals things unto us. 

29 Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough! 

30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

It's important to remember that there are 2 distinct ways that God and Satan operate. Satan is always trying to justify bad behavior, to get us to stay in a sinful state, and to get us to tell ourselves that it's not bad, or it could always be worse. He wants us to stay unhappy and to not repent. God, on the other hand, strives to have us acklowledge our shortcomings, and through his mercy and the power of his son Jesus Christ, become our best selves. We wants us to repent, to be freed of sin and to live in a state of happiness. To put into another way: 

Satan strives to put men in a state of no change 

God strives to put men in a state of constant betterment 

I know for a fact that as we hearken more unto God's words and apply them, he'll reveal more unto us. Seek his word with the intent of genuinely revieving, and as you seek more, more will be given. I have 100% seen that as a missionary, during these last 6 months, and I know the same promise goes for any of you looking to increase your testimony. 

Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry it ain't the most detailed, I'll be sure to do something wildly amazing next week to write about. I hope everyone is doing well, write to me and I'll write on back, until next time! Peace out 

1. 6/24 

2. Missionaries of Paar 

3. Divisinho com Elder Almeida 

4. ️

5. Security camera footage 3:26am 

6. Villafan under my bed

7. Lesson that was awesome 

8. Drawing I made for those caras in the Secretario 

9. Elder Mortenson with Sophie (message me if you want backstory)