Week 55

The first two pictures of me with the black guy are special. So this is a guy named Ailton. I found him when i served in Federação, Salvador. He hadn't been to church in 10 years. We helped him out and he came to church like twice while i was ther in Federação for 3 months. I was transferred and now 6 months later he shows up in the mission office with 2 Elders. I was surprised to see him here. I asked him what he was doing here and he replied that he is the Ward Mission Leader! I was super happy for him, so we took a picture together. The other photos are of Diego and his wife and kid. This was his third time going to church. He just needs to get married then he can be baptized. He told us he intends to get married in 2018. We hope we can get him to marry sooner. EVERYTHING is possible. 

GIZMO´S FRIEND!!  

and a cool view! our area is incredibly beautiful, just that i don't have any photos of it. We only get out to work around 5 pm and its already dark by then, so the pretty beaches and blue ocean aren't so breathtaking. The water is black and its dark so i don't even take my camera with me when we leave the office. One of these p-days I will have to just walk around our area and take pictures during the day. Just looked up Ondina, Salvador on Google and you will see what my area is like. Well you will see what the beaches and pretty parts of my area are like. We mostly work in the favelas. (the slums)

Eating burger king!!!!!

We had Mission leadership council meeting in the mission home on Tuesday all day, then today we had our zone conference . Zone conference today was in Amaralina. It is in a beautiful location. Here are some photos of the re-constructed Amaralina Ward building. This church building was burnt down when I arrived a year ago in the mission. When President Bangerter picked me up from the airport the day i arrived, he drove us past it and told us its story how people set it on fire and bombed it.  Now its rebuilt and beautiful inside and out. It is literally right next to the ocean. There is the chapel and on the other side of the road is the beach. Today the waves were bigger because of the windy conditions/ tempests so there were some surfers out in the water. I watched a guy do wakeboard windsurfing. He jumped off this huge wave and flew in the air gliding on the wind for a while, then landed back on the water! it was awesome! 

 

 

Week 54: Happy São João!

   President came into the office Friday morning and asked us if we have lunch marked for today.  We told him we dont have lunch. He asked if lunch fell through and we told him that we just really didnt have lunch marked with anyone. Then he happily said, ´´then you´re eatin´ lunch with me today! We´re going to the Pelourinho to a restaurant that I like and also we will see all the cool Saõ João decorations. So at lunch time he drove us to the Pelourinho and we ate at a nice restaurant. After we ate, we descended and he told us that he accidently took us to a different restaurant than he wanted and he spend triple the amount of money that he wanted to. Then he just laughed and said all is well. We took píctures around the Pelourinho and were able to be ´´tourists´´  for a few minutes.

Here is a little info. about São João and why they do this holiday here in Brazil.  
São João is a holiday here that practically lasts the last 2 weeks of June even though the actual date of the holiday is the 23rd (night) and the 24th (all day).

   ´´The Birth of John the Baptist (or St. John's Day or Precursor's Birth) is a Christian feast celebrating the birth of John the Baptist, a prophet who foresaw the advent of the Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ and baptized him. This feast is widely celebrated in the Christian world on June 24 and is one of the June festivities. ´´
   ´´ According to Catholic tradition, the bonfires burned in the mountains of Judea to announce the birth of John on June 24. ... Before the evangelization of Europe in the Middle Ages, the fires were used in pagan rituals, which celebrated the arrival of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.´´

    So these last 2 weeks here there has been lots of partying in the roads with random fires going in whatever place they feel like starting a fire. I´ve seen little burning piles of wood and trash and even large bonfires. President Bangerter told us that this holiday is centered in families. Families spend time together and make various food made of corn. They also eat lots of cooked peanuts and shoots of lots of fireworks/ bombs. Here they are pretty much just bombs. they aren´t the cool colorful fireworks like we see on the 4th of July. 
Here is a little info. about São João and why they do this holiday here in Brazil.  
São João is a holiday here that practically lasts the last 2 weeks of June even though the actual date of the holiday is the 23rd (night) and the 24th (all day).

We have been teaching a 22 year old man named Diego. He lives with his wife, who is a less-active member. They have a one-year old son named Diogo.  I still don´t have a picture with them, but soon i will. Diego has been to church twice with his wife. He is progressing a lot. The first time we taught him we taught the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and invited him to read 3rd Nephi Chapter 11 that talks about baptism. The next appointment we asked him if he read the chapter and he told us he read chapter 11, 12, 13, 14 and the first chapter of 1st Nephi. We were blown away. Then we asked him what he learned and he gave very good detailed answers! We are super happy and excited for him! He just needs to get married legally so he can get baptized. 
   Diego is a huge fan of the Bahia soccer team here and said that when a game isn't on Sunday he will take us there. Our last appointment with us his wife made meat pastels for us. We ate them after the lesson, then he called delivery pizza and gave us pizza and pop to take home! What a nice guy! 

   I wanted to share an experience that happened this week concerning the importance of families and our individual ´´life stories´´.  This week I had the feeling that i should ask my Grandpa Tim about his conversion story. The idea just came into my head so i sent him a quick email asking him about it. Then he sent his story typed up to me. I printed out the story and stuck it in my Book of Mormon. During that day, I read it while walking up and down stairs and hills in the favella. I found it very interesting and enjoyable to read. Later that night, when we taught Diego, I felt impressed to share a little about Grandpa Tim´s conversion story. I started then remembered that I had the story in my Book of Mormon. So I pulled it out and we started to read it together ( I translated).  We only read a little bit of it and Diego was actually very interested so I told him that i will translate it to Português so he can read it better. After we left I realized that Grandpa Tim´s story could help him a lot, because Diego and younger Grandpa Tim are in similar situations. Diego is living with his wife who is a member and they have one kid. He is investigating the church and is learning a lot. The only difference is that Diego treats the missionaries real well (with pizza, and other food). Grandpa Tim seemed to be a bit tougher. hahaha. 

   I am grateful for my family´s example to me. It is them that motivates me to serve a mission. I am grateful that my Grandpa decided to join the true church of Jesus Christ. Even though he delayed, he was baptized and now has served faithfully in the church and has been very blessed. It is the same for each one of us that is baptized. God will bless us for keeping his commandments and following his son´s example. I am grateful to have the privilege to be a member of Christ´s church. It is an honor to be a priesthood holder and to act in His name. I hope that I can do all I can to persevere and be worthy of His name. I love the Savior and know that he will return one day to reign over this world. I know that he sent us in families to prepare to meet him and live with him again. I am thankful for God´s plan for each one of us. 

Have a great week


-Elder Hilton

Week 53: I'M BACK IN SALVADOR!!

  

 This transfer was a surprise to me. I thought that my Zone leader was joking with me when he said i would be the Secretary of the mission. It wasn't all quite real to me. But here I am now in the mission office being trained by my buddy Elder High to be the Executive Secretary of the mission. This is how it works here: the Executive Secretary and the Financial Secretary are companions. So right now Elder High is the Executive Sec. and Elder Costa e Silva is the Financial Sec. Elder High has been the executive sec. for 6 months and now he will be training me all this transfer then the next transfer he will be going out and it will be just me and Elder Costa e Silva.

LEFT TO RIGHT, Elder Costa e Silva, Elder High and Me

 
   This is what we do as Secretaries. We get to the office by 8:30 am and have our personal and companion studies in the office. Then we work until lunch time. After lunch we resume our work, whether it be at the office, airport, bus station, etc. We run around all parts of the city in taxis.

We dropped off some sisters at the airport this week. We said goodbye to Sister Snow who finished her mission and went back home to Wisconsin. It was kind of strange sending her home after being in the same district as her for 5 transfers. 

As an Executive Secretary I am responsible for entering in all the information from all the baptismal papers of all converts into the church system. I also schedule, and book all airplane and bus traveling that goes on.  I´m also responsible for renewing all VISAs  for missionaries ( a lot of annoying paperwork). We do conference calls for missionaries when they need them. We work closely with President Bangerter and he relies on us a lot. Occasionally, he asks us to do others side jobs. There are lots of things we do as secretaries and if i look at it all at once, it is overwhelming.

 The office

We just need to be well organized and understand that all things are possible because we are on the Lord´s errand. I pray that I will be able to fulfill my responsibilities and do what the Lord wants me to do and be what the He wants to do be. I love what the July 2013 article in the Ensign says about this subject.... and it applies to everyone who is serving in any position in the church, whether it be in a mission or in your own ward.

  ´´Each new calling is an opportunity to serve and grow and should be approached humbly and prayerfully. Calls to serve in the Church are given by priesthood leaders after they have sought inspiration from the Lord. “You are called of God,” explained President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency. “The Lord knows you. He knows whom He would have serve in every position in His Church. He chose you.”

´´The Lord will help us in our callings, especially when we feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities. When we pray to Heavenly Father for guidance, He will direct us through inspiration and will bless us to serve well. The Lord helps those who serve Him and will add His power to their efforts (see D&C 84:88). As President Thomas S. Monson promised, “When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.”

   I love the promise of our dear Prophet Thomas S. Monson. I trust that God and Christ keep their promises and will help us accomplish what we are call to do.

   I am understanding how a call to serve gives us the opportunity to help others and to develop and share our talents and spiritual gifts. We are ´´repaid´´ for our service by blessings from the Lord. D&C 84:88 talks about how when we are helping do the Lord’s work, we can pray for and receive His help. That is a promise! I know that serving others brings blessing and joy. That is what i hope to accomplish during my time as Secretary.

Have a great week and happy summer break to everyone!

-Elder Hilton

Beautiful view of Salvador

Elder and Sister Briggs bought us pizza! and breakfast the next day

My companion the financial secretary, Eder Costa e Silva

My new place of "work" haha

I couldn't help but to share with you what we are eating for lunch. I have been in the office working all day and now we are finally eating lunch.