Week 74: The week of Dedication

 This week really flew by! It was our week of dedication. President and the mission council previously decided that we would do this to improve our work and see more miracles and baptisms. So we dedicated ourselves to higher set standards established for this week (waking up earlier, leaving to work earlier, teaching more lessons, etc). Although we ran into lots of obstacles, we saw what i consider miracles. Diego accepted to be baptized this week and we were able to get to know Leo´s wife. Leo and his wife have been living together for 22 years and aren´t legally married! Our goal is to teach Leo´s wife everything that we´ve taught to Leo and invite them to get married and baptized. Her name is Jucileide. She turned out to be really nice and receptive. She was curious about the Book of Mormon without us even talking about it. She just saw it in our hand and said, ´´what is that? your Bible?´´ Then we let her look at it, as we explained what the Book of Mormon is. She wanted to read it, so we gave her a copy with her name written in it. She said she will start reading it and even go to church with us on Sunday with her husband Leo. We were really happy. We were getting ready to go, when she offered us soup that she just got done making. It was a blessing for us that she is receptive. We are excited to teach her and see how she will gain her testimony. We are teaching really good people and some are progressing really well. Maybe i won´t be here to see them all get baptized, but i know it will be wonderful when they are all baptized.

  Diego was baptized Saturday night at 6:00 pm. There was a good number of people that attended because there was also a ward activity/ barbecue from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.. People stuck around to support Diego. On Sunday, we left our house early and took a bus to our area. We had confirmed that Leo and his wife, and Patricia would come to church with us. We got to their houses and Patricia was sleeping and she said she had a bad headache so she didn´t come. Leo said he had a slightly urgent matter concerning his work to take care of so he didn´t come either. No one that we invited was ready to go. I called Romilda (our recent convert) and asked her if she was coming to church. Since we were close by, and none of our investigators would be coming to church, we stopped by her house and we all took a bus together to church. Church started our normally, but I was surprised when they called us missionaries up to help with Diego´s confirmation. When I arrived at the front of the chapel, I was told that I would confirm him. Normally it´s a member of the bishopric that does this, so I was surprised, especially since this was my first time confirming someone as a member of the Church and giving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was a little nervous, but it went okay.  

  This week we had lots of divisions marked with various member of the ward, in hopes of teaching more lessons to meet our goals. Elder Costa e Silva went with Mike one day, Raimundo another day, and Friday with Vitor. There were two other divisions marked but they fell through. The whole week I stayed with Elder Cantuário and worked with him.  Every now and then we were interrupted with emergency secretarial tasks, such as needing to go to the bus station to buy passes.
  Here is a interesting story. So in the favela, in the area close to Romilda´s house we often see this scary looking white guy with lots of tattoos walking around. This guy has tattoos everywhere; on his arms, neck, all over his face, etc. I never thought too much, because we just walk past him and say goodnight, and he never responds. Thursday night we were at Romilda´s house and we left a bit earlier than normal, around 8:30 pm. We left that area and crossed the road to get to the coast. We just stayed over there and did contacts. The next day on Friday night we had a lesson with two investigators at Romilda´s house. Romilda told us that a shooting had happened Thursday night around 9:00 pm in her own road (its more like an alley way). She told us that there were lots of gunshots firing off and in the end that white tattooed guy was killed. She saw him dead on the ground and she had to step over him to get to where she was going. Then we realized that was the same night that we were walking in that very spot. Luckily, just about a half hour before we left that alleyway before the shooting. It was funny because none of us even heard gun shots and we were close-by. I believe that God was protecting us.

  Well that was my week. I am preparing myself and the office for this upcoming transfer (next week). There will be 13 new missionaries arriving in the mission and 8 missionaries leaving, so I have PLENTY of work to do. Friday afternoon we had a meeting with President Bangerter and we talked about some things concerning the mission, and he gave us some extra tasks. I love this mission, even though its a lot of work and requires so many sacrifices. This week was a week of dedication and doubled work. We had lots of challenges, but also many miracles! I like the quote that goes like this: "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." I know that we can do our best in all we do, and when it´s not enough Christ will fill the rest. And when we fail, He is there to forgive us and lift us up. I try to remember this each day as I try to fulfill my missionary responsibilities. I am so thankful for the Savior´s example of charity towards all men. He is the best example. He is the light of the world. " And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness." (Alma 38:9). Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you guys! Share with me how you can be a light for the world, or how you have been one!

-Elder Hilton

We ate good food at the barbecue. It was rice, beans, and lots of meat! There was ping pong and some other games. Edmundo picked some coconut off the tree and we drank the sweetest coconut water i've ever tasted.!

Week 73: Bells have Rang, and the Font is Calling

This will be a quick one. It was a very busy week. We had Mission Counsel meeting all day on Wednesday, then a zone meeting on Thursday. Right after the zone meeting we took Elder Santana to the airport to catch his airplane flight to go back to his area in Porto Seguro, because he missed his bus the night before. During the week I´ve been finalizing flight plans for departing missionaries and preparing for transfers. One Thursday we took Elder Hipólito to the airport. He went home to do a surgery, then he will come back to finish his mission. On Friday at 9:00 am we went to the ´´cartório´´ (according to Google Translate that would mean notary´s office, but i don´t know if that´s accurate). Anyway Diego and Samile were married and it went well. They arrived a bit late, so the ceremony was pretty rushed and they gave us only 5 minutes to stay and take pictures in that room. It was funny because they were all taking pictures with only their cellphones, then Diego asked me to take pictures for him with my camera. Of course i helped him out and took pictures. I am really happy for Diego and his decision to be married. He is showing his faith in Heavenly Father´s promises. Soon, he will be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

It was a great week for us, even though it was busy and required a lot of work. Work brings joy! I hope everyone back at home is doing well. I like to hear about your experiences that have strengthened your testimonies. It sounds like the temple open house in Meridian has brought lots of opportunities to share the gospel with friends and family. I know that when we look for missionary opportunities we will find them. We can pray to have more. This is what i do everyday. My companions and I always pray that we might find more people to teach and that we may have success. We are teaching a man named Leo. He is 41 years old and seems to be pretty interested. In our first lesson with him, he accepted the invitation to prepare to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized. I know that missionary work is for everyone and that everyone can do it. It starts by simply talking to people. I am grateful for this special time i have to serve a mission and help people come unto Christ by receiving the restored gospel through faith, repentance, baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is a great calling. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ heals people and makes us happier. I love you all! Have a good week!

- Elder Hilton

Elder Hipólito and I with his awesome Star Wars neck pillow. 

Eddy Carlos (taxi man) with my watch. He took it in to his friend to get it fixed for me.

 Wedding pictures of Diego and Samile

week 72: Happy Halloween (Feliz dia dos Finados)

Hello everyone! How was Halloween this year? No one celebrates Halloween in Bahia so it was a normal day. Here in Brazil it´s called Dia dos Finados (day of the dead), and it´s on November 2nd, not in October. Pretty strange, huh? Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY Rozlyn! Big 15! I can´t believe how grown up you are becoming!

   So November second was a Tuesday and it was a special day for us. First off, it was the day my companion Elder Costa e Silva hit his one year mark. I remembered how i forgot to celebrate my one year mark, so we commemorated together by burning one of his shirts.

Second President Bangerter scheduled a meeting with us that afternoon in the office. We met for 3 1/2 hours. He went over ALL our individual responsibilities as secretaries and gave us various tasks to work on. It was a little mind-boggling. Then we reviewed various important matters concerning the mission and I presented some reports for him. There is a lot of things, but i won´t go into it. After, he talked to us about our own work in our area, about our investigators, our planning, etc. To see all our responsibilities and their high importance was a pretty humbling experience for us as secretaries. After our group meeting, he had everyone go out so he could meet with me personally. He kindly talked with me about my concerns about my family and I felt a little more comforted after our conversation.

On Friday we had Zone Conference at the Amaralina chapel. It was two zones in one conference this time (Salvador and Imbuí). It was announced that there would be breakfast, so everyone arrived with empty stomachs. We soon found out that something went wrong and we wouldn´t have breakfast. President made a funny remark about it and we continued with the conference in the spirit of fasting ;) It ended at 2:00 pm then we all ate lunch there at the chapel.  We had great trainings and lessons passed to us by President Bangerter, Sister Bangerter, the assistents, and the zone leaders. Everyone left feeling uplifted and more confident to be an excellent missionary.

   That night we left to our area and taught Joselito the Law of Chastity. Joselito is a very sincere man who knows the church is true. He told us he just won´t be able to be baptized so quickly because he wants to be well prepared. We were happy to hear this, because this is exactly what we do as missionaries.  He has already been to church 3 times and has friends who are members. The biggest obstacle is getting him married to his wife who he has been living with for 22 years and already has grandkids. We are planning a family night in a member´s house that lives close to Joselito to teach him and his wife about Chastity and why they need to be married.  We are still constantly trying to find new people to teach who will progress. Here in Bahia it is very easy to enter in people´s homes and teach. The people are kind, but the challenge is getting them to keep the commitments we leave with them.
 
   This week i learned that i am happier when i work hard and am patient with myself. A lot of things happened this week that were very inconvenient and got me impatient and upset inside myself. I let it get me down and then recognized that having this ´´storm cloud´´ above my head does no good for me. I knew I only needed to have more faith and push forward. Through this experience i was able to understand more about the word hope.  Hope is a long lasting faith that God will keep his promises. It is the ´´confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness´´ (and hard work).

   Now here´s a funny experience. We were walking home on Wednesday following one of the most popular paths on the coast in Rio Vermelho, when we were stopped by a crazy stoned homeless looking guy. He was super big and tall with nasty dreads and he stunk like marijuana. He shouted WOOP WOOP!!! it´s the ELDERSS!!!! His yelling and dramatic motions called the attention of the crowds of people, then he gave each one of us a weird handshake and a hug. I tryed to avoid his hug, but he still managed to tuck me into his shoulder and he smacked me twice on the top of my head. Then he yelled Yip YIP!!!! WOOOOOOO!!! ELDERS!!!!!! and went on his way. We walked away anxious to arrive home quickly to wash our hands and take a bath. Hahaha. I later learned that he was baptized into the church a long time ago. It would be fun to take a picture with him, if i find him

Keep working hard and remember that WORK BRINGS JOY. I love you all! Happy Birthday Rozlyn Kay!!

-Elder Hilton

Some pictures of our awesome TRIO companionship. Elder Costa e Silva, Elder Cantuário, and I.