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