Elder Hilton June 7, 2016-2018 : Week 14: STOLEN BAPTISM!!

MONDAY- it was a pretty relaxed p-day. we had lunch with one of our investigators, Dilson. It is really rare to have lunch with an investigator, so that was special and fun. Afterwards we went to the LAN house and emailed for a while, then planned for the week.
TUESDAY- We went to Yasmin´s house and made a big list of all the people she knew that we could share our message with. we got 25 references from her and then she joined us to visit a few people. Afterwards we did street contacting and made 4 new investigators. One woman i contacted ended up already being a member, but she has been inactive for a long time. she was baptized with 14 years and now she is 28. Her name was Anna and she accepted our invitation to attend church if she could convince her husband to. her husband doesn't believe in god , but she will try. She was so smiley and laughing and it was a good visit. After we visited with Rodolfo and talked about setting a date to get baptized the coming Saturday.
WEDNESDAY- Today Emilly and Daniel accompanied us for a part of the day. We taught Cristina the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went well having Emilly and Daniel (two youth) with us. Its ALWAYS better teaching with members present. later that night we visited with Rodolfo.
THURSDAY- We went to the Centro to get our money from an ATM and while we were there we visited this HUMUNGUS catholic cathedral and took some fun pictures around the area. then we returned and had an awesome lunch with Joaquim. Then we went to the church to clean and prepare for a big mission meeting the next day with a bunch of other zones from other cities, and president bangerter, and a member of the 70. At night. Elder High and Elder Brown and their companions stayed at our house. So there were 6 missionaries in our tiny house. Since E. High and E. Brown are Americans we ended up talking for a really long time. We sat out on the balcony and talked about everything from what phones we had before the mission and crazy/awkward experiences /stories we have had so far. I got to know them pretty well and they are hilarious. E. High is from Dallas, texas and went to LDS business college for a year before his mission. Elder brown is from Farmington, Utah. he had a girlfriend and worked at a cemetery before his mission. His literally dug graves for a job! hahaha but he is really cool and funny. Us 3 talked for hours, and every minute was worth it speaking English! i loved it!
FRIDAY- more elders showed up in the morning and used our house to get ready for the day and for the meeting of zones. we went out to a buffet place for lunch and that was awesome. At the meeting, there were tons of missionaries from other zones in other cities, President Bangerter, and a member of the 70. I saw some old friends and made lots of new ones. Without notice, i was asked to play the hymns on the piano for the meeting. i was a little nervous because one of the hymns i had never played before and i was playing in front of a bunch of important people. I turned out playing the hymns very well, considering i had no practice before hand and had to sight-read a bit. the whole meeting was very spiritual and uplifting. Sis. Bangerter spoke first, then Siter Dia, then President Bangerter, then we had a break with food, etc. then Elder Dia (from the 70) spoke. he was great. it was a little harder to understand him for me since he is a Brazilian and didn't have the american accent that made it easy to understand pres. bangerter, but i understood a lot and learned a lot. One thing that i liked was his analogy of the Air-France 447 that crashed into the ocean flying from Rio to Paris. he compared that to our lives as missionaries and our faith. it was a great discussion! that night we visited Rodolfo and he had his baptismal interview and he passed and we established that i would baptize him. I was sooo excited!
SATURDAY- Practically all day we prepared for the baptism of Rodolfo. i was soo pumped to have my first baptism. i studied and memorized the baptism prayer, etc. I tidied up the bathrooms, scrubbed down the baptismal font, and swept floors. Then we filled the font and went to buy a cake. When we returned a group of guys, Rodolfo, and Elder J. sousa started talking and i stood by and listened.. they were discussing who was going to baptize Rodolfo! They kept looking over at me and said how i had already brought all my stuff, and prepared, etc They discussed it more and convinced Rodolfo to have someone else baptize him. I was a little frustrated because we had established that i was going to baptize him. And that he was now going to baptize him didn't have any baptismal clothes and it was 6:45 and the baptism was at 7:00. And so what does he do. he asks if he can use my clothing. I was a little frustrated because this guy practically, ´´stole´´ my baptism, but i gave him my clothes that i brought, because i remembered this isnt for me. He ended up having to baptize Rodolfo twice because he said the prayer wrong, but Rodolfo was baptized and was happy! After the baptism everyone went upstairs and we played a fun game where we answered trivia questions and if you are wrong your opponent gets to rub a pie in your face! then we had sandwiches, food, and soda after. it was a fun little party/celebration.
SUNDAY- Today in church Rodolfo was confirmed a member of the church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.. I was in the Priesthood circle so that was special. We had family night at Joaquim´s house at 7:00 and that was a good time.

Sorry for no pictures. i sent 2 weeks worth on Sunday, but none went through. (its just a suspense factor! haha) hopefully they get sent!. thanks for all your support and prayers everyone! i love you!!

- Elder Hilton

Our apartment

inside

My side is the clean side :) pretty brown sheets

Lots of hills to walk

Their cemetaries

If you look you can see my shadow right in the middle of the splash!

I love the Ocean!!!!

Pretty boats

I just love God's creations!

We are so blessed

Mckay didn't say what this brown dish was...But I think I see rib cages??? Zoom in and take a look!

Zone conference

I got a package from home!!!!!

here i feel like cinderella. the broom and i are best friends! haha. im the only one who cleans and even sometimes birds even fly into our house and hang out. and i also inherited Harry Potter flying magic broomstick ´´NINBUS 200´´ or whatever hahaha.