Week 37: 2nd week in Itabuna

My week was a good one! we are preparing the Querino family for baptism. they are progressing a lot and it has been really cool seeing it all happen. my companion is doing well. he was trained really well by elder janish, another elder from idaho. As i've got to know him more and about his life , i have lots of respect for him. only him and one of his brothers are members. his other brothers are drug dealers and do candumblê. His dad doesn't support him. his dad is a nobody/drunk on the road. he sold his house and supermarket and bought lots of booze/alcohol. he already tried to kill his son once. he was drunk. Elder Da Silva had an impression from the Holy Ghost to get out of bed in the night. so he did and hid behind the door. then his dad walked in with a big knife and stabbed the bed! Elder Da Silva grabbed him and choked him to the ground and left him unconscious. then he packed his bags and went to live with his uncle for a week. training isn't really hard at all, nor stressful. he just does his 12 week training book and watches the training videos and i just keep studying, and i help him out if he needs it.

PIANO! finally i am playing the piano. i play prelude and this sunday i played for the whole ward. here's the funny part. after sacrament meeting ended i continued prelude. and all of a sudden, 2 men that i don't know ran up to me and asked me if i have any commitment in the next meetings. i said i don't think so. then they said ´´GOOD! can you play the piano for our meeting too??´´ so i ended up playing the piano for the other ward as well. So my sunday was filled with piano playing.

On the mission i am learning a lot and always am counting my blessings. We are so blessed now-a-days. if your life seems dark, i invite you to start counting your blessings. you will see that there is a lot of good going on. we have health, family, and FOOD! we are blessed sons and daughters of God. I am grateful for my family and realized even more during my mission how much of a blessing they are in my life. it kinda stinks because i'm not with them. but that was when i realized how special they really are. so my homecoming will be even more special. i hope everyone can try to create and develop strong relationships with their families. i know no one is perfect. and that families aren't perfect, but if we strive, our families can become our best friends. Our families should be our best friends, because after all they are who we will live with for eternity, if we do this life right. Every family has their faults and scars; i've realized this through my own experiences in my family as well as in the families that i am serving here in the mission.  But we shouldn't let these differences,scars, and bruises let us remain torn down. each family has their unique abilities, talents, and glorious celestial potential. We need to live up to our potential. i hope that we can all forgive one another. no matter their beliefs, pasts, ideas, lifestyles, or imperfections.  I especially pray that within our own families we can forgive one another. i want to stress the importance of loving and forgiving everyone, especially our own families. The strongest force we can have in this world is our families with God on our side. i know that if we pray and read the scriptures together as families we will be strengthened and will have power to resist the ´´flaming darts´´ of the adversary. temptations will be easier to resist and our families will be more blessed. I know that the Gospel truly blesses families and that the plan of happiness that god has created for us is real. i love learning more and more about the pure doctrines of christ . This is my testimony and witness that i leave today; that i know Christ lives and loves us.  He longs for our safe return. i know that if we do all we can to seek him we will find him and be blessed.

Have an awesome week everyone

-Elder Hilton

Week 36: 1st week in Califónia, Itabuna

Monday morning we played basketball with President Bangerter and he gave me permission to do whatever i want this p-day, including entering the big malls! so we went and i bought an awesome Bahia soccer jersey! 

On tuesday I went to the mission home to be trained. All the missionaries training a new missionary had to go to this training. we had a good breakfast. then we had some training before the new missionaries came. We greeted all the new missionaries walking in with President Bangerter from the airport. I watched all the training, and then we had a huge lunch. I remember 8 months ago when i was on the other side as a new missionary haha. Then i left back to my area to get all packed up. I left that night to Itabuna. My ônibus left at 10:45 pm and arrived in Itabuna at 6:00 am exactly. I waited alone for a few hours in the ónibus station until a group of Elders came. i met my new companion and we took a taxi to our area. Our house is great! its the biggest house  i've stayed in and it's only us two elders! I accustomed super fast to it!

Our house is the one on the top floor

Wednesday all day, we cut our hair bought, some food and visited some members and taught some investigators.

Thursday We had weekly planning and a good lunch with Raimunda Bitencourt. We taught a family today, the Querino family. We taught the Restoration and invited them to read and pray. 

Friday: My district consists of us and two sisters; Sister Snow (again) and Sister Biano. We had district meeting today and sister biano gave a training on Christlike attributes. it was really good. Today we taught ZéCarlos and his wife the Restoration. We also taught the Querino family the Plan of Salvation. They had all prayed about the last message and all received an answer. We also met Fernando today, He is 11 years old. his whole family is inactive, but he is going to church and we are going to teach him and baptize him!

Saturday: Today a member gave us money, and we ate at SUBWAY!! after lunch we taught a recent convert and read Mosiah 5 with her. We also taught Marcello about 1 Nephi 8, about Lehi´s dream and made a list. we were able to get 20 references from him. At night we taught Robson, Anderson, and their mom, (the Querino family) about the Book of Mormon. We invited them to church and only Robson and anderson went. their mom was busy taking care of a sick family member but said she will go next sunday! on sunday we had church like normal and taught 4 lesson with Eric (a member) The highlight was with the 

Querino family. we invited them to be baptized and some accepted and other said they want to pray and think about it first! we are super excited for them!

Now a little bit about my new companion. He is 21 years old and from Recife. Now i will talk a little about his life. i can say these things because he has already talked openly about it with me and with other members. So his mom died when he was 7 yrs old. His dad beat her a lot and she developed cancer. He continued beating her until she died. Then he sold the house, and everything and moved out. His dad is a big loser, that just wastes all his time and money drinking. That's what Elder Da Silva told me.  Elder Da Silva has one brother that's serving a mission right now and two other that are drug dealers and do Candomblê. Before his mission ELder Da Silva was a jiu jitsu instructor, as well as a soldier and a police. He has some crazy stories. He has already seen his friends die right in front of him after being shot, etc. He is a cool guy ,and knowing that he knows really well how to fight and defend makes me feel safe on the streets. hahahaha. he has lost a lot of weight so he looks scrawny, but i'm sure he is tough. haha.  He has been on his mission field for 6 weeks!

Well that's just about all for this week. i hope everyone has a wonderful week. happy president´s day!

My mom sent me this and it came just in time before I left and on Feb 13!  My favorite package so far!! Thanks mom!

  

Week 35: I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got transferred I am sad to leave Federação. i loved the work here as well as the members of our branch, and our investigators. I have so much trust in Elder Washington that he will take care of Federação and i know that there will be lots more baptisms here. The work is golden in Federação. But now i am leaving to California, Itabuna. I am excited to meet my new companion as well as the ward and its members. I am anxious to get working and strengthen the ward in Itabuna.

 Its a disappointment to separate from Elder Washington, but i have even more to learn in Itabuna. I hope i am a great example to this new Elder that i will train.

This week was full of blessings and miracles. Débora was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. She is super happy and super sad that im leaving.

I know that this is the Church of Christ and that we have a perfect organization with pure doctrines. I am grateful to be a part of the work of the salvation of souls. There is nothing else in this time of my life that can bring me, as well as others, real happiness. It definitely isnt always easy, and i dont believe it is always supposed to be easy. Each of us have a token to pay. Everyone struggles, but with the Savior´s help we can overcome all difficulties, setbacks, disappointments, etc. I'm grateful for the love that my Heavenly Father and Mother have for me and the plans that they have for me and for everyone.

love,

-Elder Hilton

a baihiana meal i ate. it was pretty strong. 

 i interviewed Patricia. she is 20 years old and her boyfriend baptized her. His name is Junior. He plays professional soccer for Bahia´s team. so of course i snapped a few pictures with him! haha

this is for all the pig fans out there!....rozlyn.....hehehe

PIGGY PAINTINGS ON THE ROAD