The Astonishing Adventures of Sister Hannah Hiatt

This week has been wild. I'm in the Pilar Ward in Maua, São Paulo, Brasil now, with a new companion and everything. Both of us are new to the area, and although we live with two missionaries who already know their way around, we have the grand adventure of trying to get to know the area (which is really ridiculously huge) and find people to teach on our own. My personal strategy has been to keep walking until we're thoroughly lost, and then talk to literally everyone (asking for directions, teaching about Christ, inviting them to be baptized... you know, the usual) and pray that we find our way back home before 9. So far it's worked pretty well and we've met a ton of awesome people (the only difficulty is finding them again later). My companion's name is Sister Melo, and she is super mellow. Seriously. We were talking about the people we're teaching and I used the word "investigator," and she responded by saying "You know, I like to think of them ...

Feliz Pascoa! I hope everyone had a good week and an awesome Easter. We had Stake Conference and it was a really good spiritual uplift. They spoke a lot about the life of Christ and especially about the atonement, and it was really powerful. In the Garden of Gethsemany, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. He suffered all the pain, all the guilt, all the hurt we have ever felt and will ever feel, and because of his sacrifice we can repent and become pure and clean again. It is only through His grace (and our daily efforts to accept His atonement and repent) that we can return to God's presence.  Also the Ward Mission Leader gave us chocolate eggs so it was just a really good day all around. Today is transfers, and I'll be leaving Riberão Pires (my first area!)! I'll be with a new companion (who will also be new to the area), and we'll have to find our way around and meet new people. It'll be an adventure, but sounds like we'll be living with two other Sisters ...

This week's adventure was the day we went on splits and I spent 24 hours with a new Sister with only five weeks here in Brasil. She's from Bolivia (so she speaks Spanish), but she already speaks Portuguese comfortably. Not going to lie, I was kind of nervous going in (I barely know what I'm doing and I have 5 months, not just 5 weeks) but it turned out awesome. She's the kind of person to belt out Disney songs and do all the dishes within 5 minutes of entering the door (in our house. Excuse you, those are *our* dishes, and we will clean them.... eventually) and never stop smiling. Like, seriously. Who even is she? Anyway, it was a really awesome day. It's always good to have a day where I get to show off what I've learned and get a new perspective on things. We were teaching two brothers about faith and read the part in Alma 32 about how the word of God is like a seed and if you take care of it and wait, it will grow into a testimony. As part of the lesson, thou...

So I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I really love General Conference. Like, seriously. It's the best. Any time you get to hear from an apostle of God is awesome (and I've gotten to hear from two separate ones in person in the last 5 months... #brag), but when they're all together and giving talks and the Spirit gets so strong... aaaah. I can't even describe how amazing it is. It was a little different this time because I watched in Portuguese and the translator for Elder Uchtdorf didn't have an awesome German accent, but overall it was just a really good weekend. I felt there was a big emphasis on missionary work (in the family, in the field, and on the other side of the veil) and I definitely took some things away that I will be putting into practice. My favorite talk (even without the accent) was Elder Uchtdorf's. He gave five steps of how we can be better missionaries. The first is to love God and study His doctrine. When we understan...

Woot woot, what a week! Nothing huge happened, which is to say that every day is just regular awesome instead of holy-guacamole-awesome (like when you get to hear from a general authority.... I guess this week is the calm before the storm (I'm so so excited for General Conference! I'm betting they'll change it so missionaries choose how long they serve))). So this week I've been spending a lot of time studying the Plan of Salvation, and something clicked. Everything we hope to obtain-- happiness, joy, knowledge, confidence, purpose-- is a gift of the Spirit. When we're doing things right we feel the Spirit, which is like looking through a window to heaven. We feel peace, love, comfort, confidence, and things make more sense. But then we end the prayer, shut the scriptures, leave the temple, and the world creeps back in with all of the frustrations and uncertainty and problems. The whole point of this world is to teach us how to move past the sins, frustrations, and ...