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.
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