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.!