Week 33: A GREAT WEEK!!

   This transfer has been passing by rather quickly, but for me thats good because it means we are busy and working hard. We have a baptism confirmed this saturday (the 4th) and one more the 11th.  As a District we are putting all our efforts into our work to be able to achieve ´´district of excellence´´ We are setting our goals high as a district and supporting one another to be able do this. Everyone in our district has a baptism for the 4th so we are all working even harder to achieve district of excellence. i really want our district to find more men and families, because i know we can have more results this way. Our district is going to fast tuesday until wednesday for our goals.
      Elder Washington and I are really focusing a lot more on striving to be missionaries of power and faith. We want to be escalator missionaries, not elevator missionaries. We really want to work hard the rest of this transfer to set up the next transfer to be a golden one.  We want to be even more obedient and diligent to achieve this. We really want to baptize weekly and we have lots of faith that through lots of prayer and fasting, miracles can occur. I am still very impressed at the way Elder Washington teaches. He truly teaches with the spirit and teaches people, not lessons. He understands people´s problems and gets to the bottom of things. He knows how to gauge situations and people´s necessities then take the situation with powerful teachings, goals, and testimonies
         Mosiah 20:11 says ´´...therefore they exerted themselves and like DRAGONS did they fight.´´ The mission is just like that. You have to work hard and fight every day like a dragon. I am always learning with Elder Washington as well as with my responsibilities as a district leader.  This week we had various interesting lessons. some very heated, and others relaxed and funny. We taught a family the Restoration. Washington and Joyce are the names of the parents. Washington (investigator) got really fired up about his beliefs and delayed quite a bit. There were lots of interruptions, but we taught well and bore powerful testimonies. In the end Washington (investigator) practically remarked, shouting at us, that in the end we´re the same as all the other churches, that we say, in the end, that we are the only true church.´´ Joyce, on the other hand, was a lot more receptive and warm . She told her husband many times throughout the lesson to shut up and let us continue our message. haha.  The next lesson we taught that day was to another family: Mario and Sara, and their son Mario. Mario accepted everything and asked lots of questions. He was really happy and funny. He is obviously a drinker, but we still taught with the same love. He said ´´Amen!´´ and shook our hands about 50 times throughout the lesson! it was a little annoying but hilarious at the same time.
     On Wednesday there was a 2 hour world-wide transmission for all missionaries. Dallin. H Oaks and a council of other church leaders gave training on ´´Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts´´. They also presented new changes concerning our schedule, and other things. That night we taught Joana and her daughter about the B.O.M. It was a very spiritual lesson and I was impressed at Elder Washington´s way of teaching it. Hosana accepted to be baptized on the 4th of Feb. and I will baptize her! She is super happy and excited as well as grateful for us. I am very impressed at the faith she has. Last Sunday was her first time going to our church and this sunday will be her 2nd and she has already committed to be baptized.
   Thursday I interviewed two girls from the sisters´ area. One is 14 yrs old and the other is 11 yrs. old. It went really well and Taina Santos de Andrade (11yr old one) chose me to baptize her!

    Friday we had a super yummy lunch with a super happy lady. her name is Mirian. She doesn't even live in our area but she insisted that we have lunch with her. She prepared a ton of food just for the 2 of us. I was stuffed!

We taught Raimundo the Plan of Salvation. It was an interesting lesson, because he always has good questions. Raimundo is a great investigator. He has accepted everything and can be baptized. There are only a few problems. First he isn't legally married. 2nd his wife is totally against us. She is a member of Candomblé and doesn't even want to talk to us. She won't even shake our hands. hahaha
We had a family night with Gilvan afterwards. Thais, Magno, and Manuelito came with us and we taught the Restoration to Gilvan. Gilvan is an investigator with heaps of potential. He is going to our church building and wants to get married so he can get baptized. He already quit drinking too! The only problem is that he doesn't live in our area. He lives super duper close to the boundary, but its not our area. We talked to the 2nd councilor of the Stake Presidency and he will see what he can do to change the boundary lines.

   Saturday: we had lunch with Jamerson (2nd counselor in the stake). Last night our power had big problems. the lines were burned so our power was super weak. It didnt support the microwave, or the fridge, or the washing machine. We could only have 2 lights on at a time. We ate real quick, ran home to grab our clothes we needed for the day, returned to Jamerson´s house to use his iron, then booked it to the baptism. i entered the water for my first time and baptized Taina Santos de Andrade. It went really well.

    Sunday: We cut out all the baptism invitations that we made and printed yesterday and gave them out to our branch. At church some investigators that we thought for sure would show up, didn't show up. But Joana proved faithful! she came into the chapel walking fast in her colorful tennis shoes, tank-top and jeans. I was so happy to see her. She is the funniest most active 60 years old lady i know. She always tells me about her walks that she takes her dog on at 4:30 in the morning. This week we are going to work hard to prepare lots of people for baptism. We are going to set up next transfer in a way that will make it possible to baptize weekly. That is our goal!

     I know this work is inspired.  I am grateful to be a part of the miracles among the children of God. I know that when we serve others we are truly in the service of God. i know that only through faith, obedience to God´s commandments, our dedication to follow the Savior´s example that we can find lasting happiness. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can have happy families, and be prepared for Christ´s 2nd coming. Im grateful for the knowledge of these gospel truths that i have. It is this knowledge and my family  that inspire me to keep going when times get tough and when I want to quit. Thanks for all your support and love everyone!

-Elder Hilton