Week 22: Barril Dobrado (Trump and Rats)

Last P-day:
      Luana drove us and the sister missionaries to a cool spot in our area to take photos. I had already been there last transfer but it was fun to return and take different photos. After hanging out and taking pictures for a while we all ate a little ´´dinner´´ (ham and cheese sandwiches) in the back of Luana´s pick-up truck and recorded us singing Happy Birthday in Portuguese to Rozlyn! Happy Late Birthday Roz!!! Then we went to the sister´s area in the centro and met a few of their investigators.

Tuesday:
      Elder andrade finally got his in-grown toenail fixed, but we lost a lot of time. A friend of Antonia (that 73 year old investigator of ours) did it for Elder Andrade for free in Antonia´s house. and after he didn't feel like walking very much so we just stayed in her house for a while. that was a pretty big set-back for our day. that afternoon we taught the Restoration to Josenilton, Andreza and their mom. the lesson was good even though it didn't go very smooth and organized as i would have liked it.  Then we went to the church and talked to the bishop and also celebrated Luana´s birthday. Before we returned home i found out that Donald Trump was up 51 %  and Hilary was sitting at 46%. I was pretty excited to find out who won the next morning

Wednesday:
    Trump trumped the elections! i don't really know what to think of it. Honestly i was surprised, but i try not to worry about what he will do as president. besides, i´m in Brazil and wont have to worry about having Trump as president until 2018 when i return home. hahaha. Until then Trump will be reining in the White House, hopefully not wreaking too much havoc.
      We had a rough time finding the houses we needed to on Rua Lirio, and we ended up asking two women on the road for directions. they were sitting on the curb, smoking and drinking and Elder Andrade taught them lots of things about our chruch including the Word of Wisdom. They were actually really receptive and we got their addresses and invited them to church.

Thursday:
    Today we found quite a few people who have been inactive for a while. We talked to them for a while and invited them to church. Next was Cristina.  She hasnt met any of her goals, hasn't gone to church since last transfer, and isn't really progressing. On the way to teach Josenilton and Andreza we stopped a woman to make a contact and invite her to church. it was totally random and unplanned, but thats just what we do. we talk to everyone. She gained our trust and told us her husband died super recently and she was walking to a friends house to talk and have some company to not feel so lonely. We shared the pamphlet ´´the plan of salvation´´ with her and got her address to return another day. her name is Celeste, and she lives on the same road as the church so she said she will definitlely make a visit. We parted and went to teach the Word of wisdom  to Josenilton and Andreza.

Friday:
   The good news for Friday was that we made 3 new investigators and taught the Plan of Salvation to Josenilton and Andreza ( and their mom, but i forgot her name). We went to the church afterwards in hopes to find the bishop, but he wasnt there. but we did find a seminary party upstairs and ate hamburgers and soda.

Saturday:
      in the morning we totally cleaned and re-arranged our kitchen (the fridge, microwave, stove-top, and food cabinet) and it is tons better. We ended up invited a bunch of people and potential investigators to church.  When we finally arrived home Elder Andrade was putting his stuff away in the spare bedroom on top of the spare beds (since we still don't have our wardrobes) when he heard a squeaking noise and something run out from his pile of clothes. RAT IN THE HOUSE!!! It ran into my room and hid under a broken wardrobe. We moved it to find the rat, then wacked it to death with a broom (breaking the broom in half in the process). then Elder Andrade finished him off by kicking him across the room, SMACK!! against the wall! During the frenzy Elder Andrade slammed the door shut so the rat wouldnt escape. this door has never been closed all the way because it doesnt have a door handle and if it gets shut it will not open. So we got locked in and had to enter in and out through the window until we got the door fixed.... fixed as in Elder Andrade kicking it down. Elder andrade is a little crazy.

Sunday:

     We passed by a bunch of people´s houses to walk with them to church, but had little success. it was disappointing because we had a minimum of 7 or 8 people that seemed like for sure they would come. they committed and everything but when we arrived a lot of people weren't awake. it was also raining so they probably didn't want to leave the house. Only Andreza (sister of josenilton) ended up walking with us to church.
    Family Night at Joaquim and Ramile´s house was special because it was Flora´s birthday! She turned 1 year old!!! there were more friends and family and it was great!!

   Today i want to send out a better spiritual thought since these last few weeks i haven't been able to write as much spiritually things as i would like.
    I was reading in an old Liahona (church published magazine)  and came across an article that talked about our mission in life and i learned how we can ´´be still´´ and experience peace. i reflected on my life and thought a lot about how in life before my mission, I spent a lot of time wondering about my future. Mission, marriage, education, career. all of these were open questions, and I didn’t feel like i had many answers. Two passages in this article i read last night really stood out to me. ´´ During our young adult years, physical and mental energy are at their peak. We can make the most of them by determining to trust in the Lord and act “as for years.”Then these years can become a consecrated period of extraordinary productivity, growth, learning, and service.´´

After reading this I realized that my mission in life isn't waiting for me in the vague and distant future. It is daily and ongoing. Also this isn't just for people living in their ´´young adult years´´ i know this applies to everyone. Later in the article says this,

President Brigham Young  explained: “There is neither man nor woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live.”

In other words, our mission in life has already started. We don't so much need to find it as to recognize it. The article goes on to talk about three elements that we can utilize to fulfill our mission in life. i found it to be very powerful and make a lot of sense.

 ´´one way to recognize it is by understanding three elements that are already parts of our lives:


1.)A unique set of personal gifts.

2.)A unique set of personal challenges.

3.) Specific needs in the world that the Lord wants me to respond to.

Simply put, we fulfill our mission whenever these three elements intersect and we choose to act.

I really liked this simple idea and realized that we need not feel lost or without a purpose or mission in this life. Yes, life is filled with crucial decisions and some inherent uncertainty and stress. But i know greater confidence comes when we learn to rely on the Lord´s ability to bring about his purposes for our lives-day by day. I know with this knowledge we are better able to ´´be still´´ and experience more peace and true satisfaction. I testify that God has a mission for all of us to fulfill and he has given us the tools to do just that. i am grateful for the personal gifts, and challenges that i have in my life and for the specific needs in the world that have been presented to me that the Lord wants me to respond to. It hasn't always been easy, but it will always be worth it. I am grateful for the good examples in my life and especially for my family. I know that God has a plan for families and families have the potential to be forever. Im grateful that my grandparents were blessed to find the restored gospel and let it change their lives. Because of this, i have the family i have today, and the blessings i have. i encourage everyone to continue to learn more about this wonderful gospel and observe the miracles that will occur. Have a great week!

With Love,

Elder Hilton

  

Week 21: Feliz Dia Dos Finados (day of the dead)

Last P-day:
Here in Bahia no-one really celebrates Halloween, so it seemed just like another normal day, except that is P-DAY!! WooHOooo! it was a super good one too. We emailed in the morning and i got lots of emails from friends and family. it made me really happy. afterwards we went to the centro with the sisters and took photos at some cool places(especially the awesome look-out point , high above the city) you could see all the city and the ocean stretching out forever. Then we went inside that huge catholic cathedral and took more photos.  After p-day ended we went to Daniel (a recent convert) and he wasnt home. then set up an appointment with Roberta (who we still havent taught). We also stopped at supermercado Meira and bought food and cleaning supplies for our house and walked home.

Tuesday:
   We spent all morning until lunch cleaning the house. We deep cleaned, the stove/oven, our desks, up under our beds, we took everything out of our room and scrubbed down all the walls,  cleaned the ceiling fan, and the floor. Our room looks a lot better and it isnt as scary to enter it as it was. We had lunch with the owner of our house(they live on the first floor under us).
   Alefi didnt meet us when he said he would, so we left to Cristina´s. She had bought 3 packets of tobacco/smoke material and she looked terrible. she didnt let us take it so we ended up just talking a little and sharing a message. Then we taught Alberto (an Italian) in his house; it wasnt very smooth, then stopped @ Wesley´s house but he wasnt home. Next we went to Cinthia´s house and E. Andrade practically wasted time there casually talking. next we stopped at Fernanda´s home. she wasnt home because she was at a different church.

Wednesday:
   Feliz Dia Dos Finados!! We arrived to zone meeting in Vilela late because of ônibus schedules. I GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGES! but i cant open them until christmas ;) Im starting to get into the chrismas spirit already haha! Today´s work was honestly not the most productive.  Cristina didnt answer, we didnt even work in the Urbis like we had planned, and didnt do any verifications, but we did have a good conversation with gabriel´s mother and her friend about the gospel.  after we walked down the street and seemingly out of nowhere we saw a man approach a woman ( i think his daughter) and start yelling at her, pushed her, and started hitting her and slapping her in the face. we just walked right by and watched it happen  and couldnt do anything, but eventually people helped separate them. it made me sad that people do this and havent learned to respect women.

Thursday:
  weekly planning and divisions. after weekly planning and lunch we went on divisions. i was with Fernando ( a return missionary) we stopped at 9 different people´s houses and didnt find anybody. we had some bad luck. we returned to the church and i found Alefi there ( a inactive member) i talked to him about the sacrament. The last two weeks of this transfer im really hoping to work harder and see some good things happen, possibly miracles.

Friday:
 We stopped at Cristina´s and i made a 3 week goal calendar to help her stop smoking and be baptized!.  Her goal is november 19th to be baptized.

Saturday:
  My Sister´s birthday!!! HAPPY B-DAY ROZ!! We invited a bunch of people to church and made 7 new investigators! ( to make an investigator, we quickly  teach a gospel prinicple to someone and write down their address and mark a day to pass by again) A good few of them actually seemed genuinley interested! Oh! today I GOT POOPED ON BY A BIRD!! i was talking to an old dude and inviting him to church and down it came. right on my shoulder. a little splattered onto Elder Andrade too! haha. i got it washed up afterwards. we also saw two guys get arrested right in front of our house.

Sunday:
 in the hour of sacrament when people bare their testimonies, Antonia a 73 year old lady that we invited yesterday got up and hobbled to the microphone and ´´bore her testimony´´ she just said that she is grateful she was invited by us to attend church and that she feels at home here and likes what she has felt in our church. i was super impressed because this was the first time Antonia has ever been to the ´´mormon church´´ and she got up and spoke in front of everyone.  we gave her a book of mormon and she said she will read it because she is very interested in it and loves to read anyway. Today lunch fell through but Marcos Longo saved us. his wife made us lunch at their house and it was delicious. marcos longo ( a longtime member of our ward) gave me a small portuguse bible! he is really cool. they have been to the USA 4 times. they have various family and friends that live in idaho and utah. they have good friends who live in Nampa, Idaho and also Idaho Falls who they visit and they also have a son who married an american girl and they live in Utah! ogden i think! its so crazy all of these connections! its a small world. he  pulled out a big road map of western USA. Caldwell, meridian, boise, everything was on it. and i saw all the roads we´ve driven and all the cities and points of interest that i´ve already been to. tell me about homesickness! i felt super close to home in that moment! haha it was awesome

This week i realized what a beautiful world we live in. i love to take time to marvel at the wonder of The Creation and all of God´s beautiful things he has given us on this earth. and especially the gift of a family that god has given us. I also want to share a short part of my mother´s testimony that she recently shared with me. she said something that i really agreed with and caused to to stop and think. she wrote, ´´ Life isn't always easy but because I choose to follow the best I can my saviors example, I make it through the rough times with much ease and strength.  I never question the gospel even when I dont understand everything and I think my life has been blessed because of my simple faith.´´

I feel the same way that we dont have to know everything about life and about the gospel to have a strong faith in it. having simple faith is enough too. We just need to continue studying and praying with faith and we will be strengthened with peace  and calmness even when there are raging winds surrounding us. im so grateful to know this gospel and to be able to have the chance to share it with others!  Boa semana para todos!! (good week to everyone!)

-Elder Hilton

One of my favorite ties!  Thanks Larson Family!

Found spider nests under our mattresses

cleaning our apartment

Zone conference, packages from home!!!!!

s

my early Christmas present, PIANO MUSIC!

I get to wait until Christmas for these!

mosquito net!

guys getting arrested right out our door

Week 20: Pictures from last week and this week!

Last Monday:
We cleaned the house, went to the centro with the sisters, looked at house supplies to buy, took pictures at ´´Praia Do Cristo´´(beach of Christ), and went to a mission farewell celebration of a young man in our ward.

Tuesday:
Our lunch fell through but an inactive member who was at the mission farewell party yesterday told us she would happily cook us lunch. She lives in Pontal so it was a long walk. Her name is Dirse, she is 79 years old, and quit going to church 5 years ago. After we went to Cristina´s house to accompany her and see how she is doing. She wants to talk to the bishop to see if she can get baptized this Sat. and no have to wait until the following Sat. We also stopped at Gloria´s house(big diabetic inactive lady) the first time this transfer.

Wednesday:
We had a district meeting in our church building here in Nelson Costa. The sisters joined us for a great lunch at Sandra and Bruno´s house. Then we went home quickly for Elder Andrade to change his clothes and take a shower because after district meeting he dived into the baptismal font to pull the plug. Afterwards I went on divisions with E. Loureiro while E. Andrade and E. Ohling went to do the baptismal interview of Carlos at his house.

Thursday
We had a pretty weak planning session then had lunch that went way too long because E. Andrade likes to converse a lot. We went to Cristina´s house and she said she wants to be baptized the coming Saturday. We marked an interview for her tomorrow

Friday
We went on divisions. I was with Mateus and E. Andrade was with Samuel. I found Dilson home so i shared a message and extended challenges, invited him to Carlos´ baptism, to church for the confirmation, etc. After we went to the church and waited for E. Gomez da Silva with E. Ohling. E Ohling and I went to Cristina´s house and E. Ohling interviewed her. She didnt pass due to smoking problems(she had smoked that morning), but he set goals with her to be baptized next saturday. Today during my time spent with E. Ohling was very nice. He is an American and our Zone Leader. He´s also a great missionary and a good example. He really lifted my spirits and helped me a lot even though he didnt do much. He gave me some good advice and encouragement.

Saturday
CARLOS´ BAPTISM!!! Before lunch we stopped at the church. E.Andrade cleaned the font while i got the room all set up and clean. Then we walked to LiLi´s house way out in N.S.V. After we returned to the church filled the font and waited for the sisters to arrive. they made a cake for the baptism! Carlos´s family came, which was awesome. i actually got to play a little ping pong with Carlos´s dad before the baptism because he arrived early. We showed Carlos´ family around the church and explained what goes on during our meetings, etc. Carlos (15 years old) was baptized by his 16 yr old friend.  After the baptism and cake we went to Cida´s house(inactive) then to Sis. Ione´s house, then to Cristina to follow up with her. She was doing terrible. Cristina said she hated the interview with Elder Ohling and doesnt want to keep investigating the church. She through a big pity-party and wanted to give up. E. Andrade shared some insightful things and tried to help her,but  she just wanted to take all her various medicines and go to bed. I found another gecko at the head of my bed today too. i shooed it out of the house. haha

Sunday
Today as less productive than i would have liked it to be. Church was great. Jamile drove us to pick up investigators in N.S.V. we had 8 people in one small pickup truck. The first hour was a primary program that consisted of 14 children;they did a great job. After church jamile drove us, our investigators, and some youth to their bairro in N.S.V. there were 12 of us in the truck! Lunch was great. it was super yummy and well prepared: the best one i´ve had this transfer! We did two verifications and tried to teach an inactive family that lived on the same road as lunch. It didnt go very smoothly. Then we stopped at Carlos´ house for him to fill out some missing parts of his baptism forms. His mom gave us some fruit and Geladinhos. Then we walked to the church to watch Junior open his mission call. he got called to São Paulo East. Then we had family night at Joaquims house

Monday (P-day!!)
Today we went to the centro with the sisters and took more photos. we took photos in some really cool places with awesome views of the city.

I love this work even though its hard at times. Stay strong and stay firm. share your testimony with someone today!


-Elder Hilton

Last P-day...Praia do Cristo (Beach of Christ)

 

mission farewell party for Marlon

 

lunch at Sandra and Bruno´s house with the sisters

 

Week 19: ´´Broken Bed and Peace to my Head´´

 last Monday(oct. 17th)-
 we got a lot of the house cleaned up, which was really nice. Elder Andrade was pretty sick and he wanted to take a nap so i cleaned the house and got organized while he slept. my first week with Elder Andrade has been hard adjusting. he is from Cape Verde, islands part of the continent Africa.

Tuesday
During personal study i read ´´Canaries with Gray on Their wings´´ by Thomas S. Monson in the June, 2010 Liahona. It was really good. i suggest everyone read it because it is uplifting. We had lunch way out in Roberto Luiz Santos´s house. Its a looonng walk. he is a single man, who lives in a tiny humble home. Pres. Bangerter called and got our location to pick us up and spend the day with us. Pres. B drove us to the church and had interviews with us. The interview/conversation with pres. was great.. i cried when i told him how overwhelmed and alone i have been feeling. he began to talk about his mission and he cried when he told me about his experience serving in an island in Portugal, feeling alone, difficulties, etc. i said sometimes my emotions make me feel like i want to go home, but i know that wont solve anything. if i were to come home early it wouldn't benefit anything. what keeps me going is the thought of returning after 2 years of fighting battles and returning home spiritually stronger and happier. after interviews he drove us to two of our investigators houses and helped us a lot. he preached incredibly powerful and helped a lot. it was really nice to talk to him and explain what i have been experiencing, my difficulties, my happiness's, my disappointments. He brought me lots of peace. After meeting with us individually he met with us together and gave us some quick helpful advice and then we went out to visit some of our investigators. First was Cristina. President B. alone taught the Word of wisdom extremely powerfully and addressed her problems, made goals, and had her pray. She gave a great prayer and after she handed over her smoking stuff.  Next we drove back to the church for Pres. B to meet with the Bishop. We found Carlos (15 yr old youth) and told him we need to talk to his mom and dad tonight. After Pres. B was finished with Bishop  we drove to Carlos´s house, following Carlos on his bike. There we found his mom, his grandmother, his siblings, and another friend of his mom. Unfortunately Carlos´ dad was sleeping, but president bangerter still taught and preached very powerfully the first lesson the Carlos´s family.  at Carlos´s house we met his family and gained his family´s trust and set a date to get the signature from carlos´s parents to be baptized. his baptism is going to be this coming Saturday, October 29! President is a great man. a very proactive, lets-solve-this-problem kind of guy. after our meeting with carlos´s family it was already a little past 10 pm. we drove back to Nelson Costa and looked for a place to buy gum,candies,mints for cristina to help her stop smoking. every place was closed, so we drove way out close to the centro to find a place that was open. he found a drugstore/pharmacy, ran in bought various goodies for us to drop off at cristina´s house the next day, then he walked the a pizza place next door and bought us pizza and  2 liters of Guaraná  ! what a nice guy!  He drove us home and went we arrived a drunk man riding a bike ran into our car. it was kind of funny. Both president bangerter and elder andrade haven't been feeling good and needed priesthood blessings. Pres. gave Elder andrade a blessing then turned around and asked me to give him a blessing. I GAVE MY 1st PRIESTHOOD BLESSING IN MY LIFE TO MY VERY OWN MISSION PRESIDENT!  It was such a privilege.

Wednesday
we had district meeting in the church in the centro. president arrived and gave us some training which was great. In the evening we stopped at cristina´s house to see how she was doing and we were surprised to open the door to a birthday party  with a few friends of cristinas. we made some really cool contacts today and met some people that i am excited to teach.

friday
Lunch fell through, Cristina wasn't home, and we were disappointed when we stopped at Cristina´s house. She took a while to answer the door which is unusual because her house is super tiny. I walked in and found one of Cristina´s friends that was at the birthday party with only tiny underwear on. As he scrambled to put clothes on he hurriedly sat down on the bed,  broke it, and fell to the ground.  and pretty much lets just say that we arrived at cristinas house and found a practically naked old dude in her room, scrambling to get dressed, BROKE THE BED in his attempt, and his excuse for not having any clothes on was ´´its really hot today´´ i was thinking, ´´hmmmm, its hot everyday here, nice excuse buddy´´  so now I think  she has another problem other than smoking and we need to re-teach the lessons on the commandments. She told us she smoked today After we went to Carlos´s house and talked to his family, this time his dad was there. His dad liked us a lot and bought cake and Guaraná for us. we got his signature so now carlos is all set to be baptized Oct. 29th.

Saturday
we had a big activity were lots of missionaries and youth met at the church in the centro and we split up and did divisions with youth. we made tons of contacts and new investigators, then returned to the church in the centro for lunch.  other elders from a different area like almost 2 hours away baptized in our building´s baptismal font because their´s had problems. like no water or something. my companion and i went to the church and cleaned the bathrooms, the font and the room at 3 pm. the other elders were supposed to arrive around 3:30pm but they were super late and didn't arrive until 7 ish. we didn't stay for the baptism because we had lots of people to invited to church the next day.

Sunday
We thought for sure we would have lots of investigators in church because we invited lots and lots and some really sounded like they would come. Other than Carlos, none of our investigators showed up, even the ones that confidently said they would.  Today was Mateus´ brother´s mission farewell talk. we had a meeting with the ward council. when i was getting ready for bed just about to turn out the lights i saw a good sized gecko quickly crawl along the wall at the head of my bed. i didn't know where it went and as i was trying to fall asleep i was hoping it wouldn't  crawl into my bed. haha

Today Monday
Today i got some really nice supportive emails from my family. i want to especially thank my grandma Susan for her email. THANK YOU GRANDMA SUE! also today, my younger sister, Roz, emailed me an awesome analogy that i want to share. she quoted Edene Christensen: ´´the difference of contributing, and committing. are you contributing on your mission, or are you committed. think of the difference between a chicken and a pig. A chicken just gives eggs, while a pig gives its whole life. what do you want to be mckay? Choose now. and keep it in you mind always. chicken or pig?´´
 i want to be a pig! and give it my all. i want to give my life for 2 years to serve here. i wont give just a few eggs now and then, like a chicken, but i want to focus all my efforts, energy,etc in the service of the master chef (God).
Today we went to the centro with the sister missionaries to look at supplies to buy for our house. then we went to places around the city to take photos. funny story: as we were walking we came across the same man that we found in Cristina´s house who was without clothes and broke the bed. We said hi to him and invited him to Carlos´ baptism. it was a little awkward, but all is well.

A little about my area.  there are people who make sacrifices. our ward boundaries are humungus and not everyone has cars and sometimes it can be a really long walk for some people. lots of people have bikes tho. for us to walk to the church from our house is about 20-25 minutes. my area has well over 1,000 people that were baptized and our ward frequency is only roughly a little over 100. our goal is 150. there is a lot of work to do here. Lots of inactives, and lots of investigators. Sometimes its overwhelming, thinking of all the work to do, but we are taking it one bite at a time.

 

my new companion Elder Andrade

Week 17: Algeria & Diarrhea

To start off i will translate the title of my email. Alegria is portuguese for joy/happiness. and i believe everyone knows what diarrhea is. This week a lot of things happened that brought me joy and a few other things happened that didnt bring joy, to my stomach.

General conference was great even though i listened to it in portuguese. afterwards i downloaded it in english to listen to at home. i learned a lot from conferece and i cant wait until i get this ensign to study the words of our prophet and apostles more.  This week we watched the movie´´Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration´´ with an investigator. It was really good and he said he really liked it, that he will download it himself and watch it again. I felt the Spirit testify to me that this is all true. that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he really translated the Book of Mormon throught the power of God. All that he went through testifies of the truth of this gospel. If any of you havent seen this movie, i encourage you to watch it. it is only 1 hour and 1 minute and worth it.

This week our lunch fell through on multiple days, leaving us to cook for ourselves. i made the mistake of buying a frozen pizza and eating that one day for lunch. the other days i just made spaghetti, french fries, apples and peanut butter. that was better, but i think the pizza made me sick.
Other than that my week was great. we have been having a hard time getting our investigators to progress

Cristina is still smoking her tobacco and we need to get permission from Carlos´s parents for him to be baptized. they think it is too early for him to be baptized. but we know he is ready.

I love this work and i know that the Savior loves every one and is there with open arms ready for them to accept Him. I know we all have the opportunity to repent and start new with what ever we need to. i love this gospel and love seeing it change people´s lives!

Have a great week everyone :)

-Elder Hilton

Let the ping pong battle begin!!!

Elder Sousa and I

Packages from home!!!

Good times

Pretty beaches

Go Brasil!

Dinner

Make shift rain ponchos