Happy New Year!

TRANSFERS!

It's been another good 6 weeks. The next transfer finds me here, again, in Revere! I'll be sticking with Hermana Kemp and Sister Tantillo (mi hija) is going to Brockton to teach in Portuguese and Creole. She's the coolest person ever. I have loved being her trainer so much and I'm going to seriously miss her for the next year and so many months. I can't explain fully how comparable having a trainee on the mission is like having a child in real life. You watch them learn everything new, you see their hidden talents, and you learn so much about trust, and respect, and love, and unity. She is going to be an incredible missionary and an even better woman after her mission. We'll see great things from Bonnie Tantillo!

I'm super stoked to be staying here in revere. This has truly been one of my favorite places for missionary work. I've been here for just over 4 months and it feels so natural. I don't need to use the GPS anymore so that's super comforting. I have friends and "family" everywhere we go. Great things are yet to come and I can't wait to see it! When I got here we were only teaching three people and throughout time they all dropped off, but we picked up new people and continuously had three. When Hermana Kemp got here she was a fireball for finding new investigators. Watching her interact with people has given me more confidence and in the past few weeks we have met a lot of people that are interested in learning about the Gospel.

The thing is... everyone is interested in talking about God. Either they hate him, or they don't know him, or they absolutely adore love praise him. A few times when we were riding buses I remember feeling really awkward opening conversations about God. Instead I'd pick up by saying, "Hola! De donde es? Le escuche hablando espanol, estoy aprendiendo!" and they immediately start talking to me. If they were going to be on the bus for awhile I had enough time to eventually turn the conversation over to explaining why I'm here, and if I had a burst of confidence and a liiitle extra time I could ask them if we could keep talking some other time and get their contact information. This time allowance rarely happened and I really just ended up with a lot of good acquaintances. Sometimes I'd be fortunate enough to bump into them a few more times and continue talking bit by bit, but I hardly ever was able to break out of my comfort zone and simply ask them how they felt about God. I've since seen people break into gospel conversation on their own. A man in Martha's Vineyard asked a whole section of people if we are being punished by God when we have trials. A guy on the bus in Boston started praisin' Alleluia "I LOVE JESUS!!! WOOOO.... WOOOO!" Maybe I shouldn't be that bold in my invitation, but I have learned a lot from these examples. One of my favorite things to do now is simply ask people how they feel about God. Nobody has turned me down yet. Even if their response is bad, as long as I'm willing to listen they are willing to talk. And as soon as I get the opportunity to speak I invite them to learn more. 

BASICALLY here's what I'm saying. Never assume what people are going to do or say. You just can't. Maybe if you give them the benefit of the doubt you'll be disappointed a few times. Or maybe even a lot of times! But there seems to be an added measure of success in others when you yourself have a little extra hope for them. 

It's been awhile since I've told you some good stories so I'll do that next time. 

I hope everyone is doing great! If not, change it! Be happy and smile. I love you so much.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

love,

Hermana Hileman

This email seemed boring. 

I was going to add in a joke so I asked the elder next to me to tell me a joke. He said, "women's rights" and it was so quick that I responded blankly, "whaat?" so there ya go folks. Have a great year :) Treat your women well!