Week 39 & 40 It's a Miracle

First off Mckay was really frustrated because he had typed up his big email with tons of details of all his ups and downs.  He was so excited to share them!  BUT......his computer timed out and it didn't save his email.  So he frantically typed up the following email.  If you know Mckay, he really loves to share lots of details of his experiences so he was pretty bummed.  Here is the email:


  My area is wonderful. I am loving the teaching and the work. This transfer, I only have been disappointed with a few things concerning our ward and the support of the members including the bishop. But this sunday a new bishopric was called so hopefully good changes will take place.
       I am really enjoying the work with Elder Da Silva. He is very diligent and willing to work hard. He is very disciplined which makes him a great companion and example. I know I'm his trainer, but to be honest I have been learning a lot from him. We teach each other. I feel like that's the way it should be; each one an example for the other. We both are feeling motivated and pushing to meet our goals. This has been the most peaceful and  smooth transfer concerning the work and my companion. We work hard, and diligently. we get a long perfectly. no fights, nothing. few disagreements, we both know how to teach and are leaving commitments/assignments for our investigators to do, marking next visits.
       I know that miracles happen in our lives if we look for them.  after Idenia´s interview she came out with tears in her red eyes and told us that she wants to be baptized with her son. Prior to her interview she wanted to wait, because she didn't feel prepared. We had already taught, everything and more, but she wanted to wait. Elder J. Silver (who interviewed her) said that in the interview they both knew it was right. A miracle had happened. God sent the Holy Ghost to testify and comfort Idenia.  Even more miracles happened. Believe it or not, on the way home from church after their confirmations, while walking past the buzzing marketplace, Anderson found R$150 on the ground!  What a special gift. hahaha.
       I'm really grateful that Idenia completed her interview on my birthday. It made me super happy to see her showing her faith. I never want to forget what happened that day. This week I gained a lot of insight and a bigger vision of how my life can be if I do my  mission the right way. It's all about obedience, diligence, and lots of hard work. You have to push yourself everyday to be a better servant of the Lord, and sacrifice a lot to accomplish your goals. It´s not always easy for me either. Every day is a battle; a battle that's not easy to win, but  one that can only turn out victorious when the Holy Ghost is at your side. These are just a few of the things I learned and felt this week. I can't explain it all due to lack of time. But what i felt most strong this week was the love that God personally has for me. That he sent his Son. That Jesus suffered for me and died and resurrected for me. And that I´ve been given the opportunity to learn, grow, and serve; each day finding out who i really am.
     Thursday night, I couldn´t sleep because my mind was thinking about so many things. i was feeling happy, sad, stressed, and motivated. all the feeling were swelling inside of me and were overwhelming me so much I couldn't handle it alone any more. I decided to go pray and talk to my Heavenly Father. I expressed everything that i was feeling and i felt comforted afterwards. Then seemingly out of nowhere some words were put into my head. They go like this.

´´My mission isn´t where i´m at
or what people see, but rather
what I do and what changes
inside of me´´

i wasn't even thinking of anything directly related to those words, but i knew they were inspired. I quickly wrote them down on the nearest paper. This week has been miraculous. I hope we can all look for the miracles that happen in our daily lives.  I know that God is happy when we pray to him and in return he blessed us. have a great week everyone and happy birthday to my little bro Zachary!

with love,

-Elder Hilton

Evellyn and I.

visiting Ilheues

Ilheus is only a little less than a hour bus ride from itabuna, so our zone met up with the other zone and had p-day together. we did a little sightseeing as well as pingpong in the church

visiting my friends in Ilhues.  Grandpa this picture is for you!

my birthday lunch! 

it dumped rain twice thursday (my bday). we got drenched.

 Elder Da Silva in his hammock

a present that i recieved from Anderson. Anderson and his mom were baptized this saturday. 

baptism of Idenia and her son Anderson

Week 38: Flying By!

 well, its flying by! i just wrapped up my 3rd week here in Itabuna. This week we have been working to prepare a few people for their baptisms. We are preparing 7 people to be baptized! Anderson (15 yrs old) accepted to be baptized on the 11th. You have to attend church a minimum of 2 times before you can be baptized.  this sunday was anderson´s 3rd. His mom (Idenia 40 yrs old) went to church for her first time so she cant be baptized until the 18 of march. So her goal is the 18th. Her son as well has only been to church once so he can be baptized on the 18th. Fernando (11 yrs old) will be baptized on the 11th too! he is great! and we have a few others for the 18th. This week i interviewed and baptized a man of 38 years. His name is Paulo. He really changed his life. he is a good man.

I love preparing péople to be baptized and seeing them change their lives! its the best work to be involved in! As i think about my work as a missionary i feel really grateful for this unique opportunity i have. its not everyday that you get to study the scriptures in depth and see miracles happen in the lives of others as well as your own. i was studying in Helaman and i came across this scripture that i liked a lot that boosted me up.
   

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi (Elder___), for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

 5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

This scripture really can help motivate anyone to keep God´s commandments. God always promises that if we keep his commandments we will be greatly blessed. I am grateful for that promise. I know that the commandments of God are blessings. we shouldn't see them as restrictions because in reality they are blessings and protection. I know that God loves us and gives us commandments because he loves us. i know that difficulties are a test of our faith and obedience to God´s commandments.
-Elder Hilton

 

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

Week 36: 1st week in Califónia, Itabuna

Monday morning we played basketball with President Bangerter and he gave me permission to do whatever i want this p-day, including entering the big malls! so we went and i bought an awesome Bahia soccer jersey! 

On tuesday I went to the mission home to be trained. All the missionaries training a new missionary had to go to this training. we had a good breakfast. then we had some training before the new missionaries came. We greeted all the new missionaries walking in with President Bangerter from the airport. I watched all the training, and then we had a huge lunch. I remember 8 months ago when i was on the other side as a new missionary haha. Then i left back to my area to get all packed up. I left that night to Itabuna. My ônibus left at 10:45 pm and arrived in Itabuna at 6:00 am exactly. I waited alone for a few hours in the ónibus station until a group of Elders came. i met my new companion and we took a taxi to our area. Our house is great! its the biggest house  i've stayed in and it's only us two elders! I accustomed super fast to it!

Our house is the one on the top floor

Wednesday all day, we cut our hair bought, some food and visited some members and taught some investigators.

Thursday We had weekly planning and a good lunch with Raimunda Bitencourt. We taught a family today, the Querino family. We taught the Restoration and invited them to read and pray. 

Friday: My district consists of us and two sisters; Sister Snow (again) and Sister Biano. We had district meeting today and sister biano gave a training on Christlike attributes. it was really good. Today we taught ZéCarlos and his wife the Restoration. We also taught the Querino family the Plan of Salvation. They had all prayed about the last message and all received an answer. We also met Fernando today, He is 11 years old. his whole family is inactive, but he is going to church and we are going to teach him and baptize him!

Saturday: Today a member gave us money, and we ate at SUBWAY!! after lunch we taught a recent convert and read Mosiah 5 with her. We also taught Marcello about 1 Nephi 8, about Lehi´s dream and made a list. we were able to get 20 references from him. At night we taught Robson, Anderson, and their mom, (the Querino family) about the Book of Mormon. We invited them to church and only Robson and anderson went. their mom was busy taking care of a sick family member but said she will go next sunday! on sunday we had church like normal and taught 4 lesson with Eric (a member) The highlight was with the 

Querino family. we invited them to be baptized and some accepted and other said they want to pray and think about it first! we are super excited for them!

Now a little bit about my new companion. He is 21 years old and from Recife. Now i will talk a little about his life. i can say these things because he has already talked openly about it with me and with other members. So his mom died when he was 7 yrs old. His dad beat her a lot and she developed cancer. He continued beating her until she died. Then he sold the house, and everything and moved out. His dad is a big loser, that just wastes all his time and money drinking. That's what Elder Da Silva told me.  Elder Da Silva has one brother that's serving a mission right now and two other that are drug dealers and do Candomblê. Before his mission ELder Da Silva was a jiu jitsu instructor, as well as a soldier and a police. He has some crazy stories. He has already seen his friends die right in front of him after being shot, etc. He is a cool guy ,and knowing that he knows really well how to fight and defend makes me feel safe on the streets. hahahaha. he has lost a lot of weight so he looks scrawny, but i'm sure he is tough. haha.  He has been on his mission field for 6 weeks!

Well that's just about all for this week. i hope everyone has a wonderful week. happy president´s day!

My mom sent me this and it came just in time before I left and on Feb 13!  My favorite package so far!! Thanks mom!