Monday, February 22, 2016

Week 53: Valentines day! And my year mark! And Elder Christofferson!

I didn't get to wish everyone happy Valentines day, so HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!! Or as they say in spanish, feliz dia de amor y amistad! This past week has been filled with so many miracles, I don't even know where to start. I also don't have a ton of time, so I will try to tell you about some of the miracles I have seen!

Sunday the 21st:
We taught the primary class! everyone in the class was either 10 or 11. One kid Emanuel blew my mind. He knows the gospel so well! And when he talks about it you can feel the spirit so strong and he has such conviction! What is even cooler about Emanuel is that he is disabled, but still knows who he his, a son of God. And he is only 10!! The kids of this generation are a special one. I am so grateful for their testimonies.

Saturday the 20th:
I MET AN APOSTLE!!!!!! Elder D. Todd Christofferson came to Tulsa, Oklahoma to talk to our mission and the Kansas mission. It was outstanding. At the beginning of the meeting we were able to all go up and shake his hand. It was so cool! It was odd though, because in that moment I realized that he wasn't some glorified being or anything. He was a man trying to follow the commandments of God just like me. Granted he has a lot more knowledge and experience than I do, but it just goes to tell that we have to learn through experience. Little by little. There were also 2 General Authorities there. Elder Robbins and Elder... uh oh.. his name starts with an S and I don't have my notes on me... He was awesome though! They all talked to us. I think the two main things that I learned from the meeting was #1 We are sent to our missions for a very specific purpose. We as missionaries will connect with people in ways that will change them. I think that goes for all of us no matter where we are in the world. "We are not contacting people, we are connecting with people" -Elder Robbins #2 I realized the importance of the Book of Mormon. It is the key to receiving personal revelation, answers. We must read out of the Book of Mormon and we must help others read from it too. There is no other substitute. "Please, please, please know and love the Book of Mormon." -Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Friday the 19th:
We were out and about when I had the thought, "go and knock some doors." I thought, Ugh I don't want to knock doors. Lets go try someone else we already know. Then the thought came again. "go knock some doors." kind of grudgingly I pulled over and we got out of the car and started walking to some doors to knock. As we were walking a lady named Ruth walked around the corner. So now we are going to flash back 9 months. I am in the North, my first area at a less actives house with this lady walks in and we start talking to her. She is super interested in learning about the Book of Mormon so we give one to her with a quick little lesson on the Restoration of the Church. We saw her a couple of other times before she disappeared. We had no idea where she went. Now fast forward again to this Friday. This same lady, Ruth just walked around the corner!!!!! I freaked out and got super excited and Ruth recognized me and got super happy :) we had a sweet little reunion after 9 months of no contact and then she told me how she has been going through a really hard time and was just thinking the other day that she should look for the missionaries number. She looked for it and couldn't find it. If I hadn't listened to that prompting to go and knock doors, We would never have found Ruth again. I promise you that miracles still happen. The Lord is watching out for us. He loves us and knows the details of each of our lives.

Thursday the 18th:
I hit my year mark..... One year as a missionary!!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!! it has been the most rewarding year of my life. I am so grateful for the time that I have had and that I still have some time left! I am so determined to push forward and keep going. We had interviews with President Walkenhorst. Mine was really good, as they always are. One thing that he told me that really stuck out to me was, "The Lord can't drive a car until we turn on the motor and push on the gas." Pretty much he was saying that we have to act first before the Lord can show us where to go. I know that is true. We have to start somewhere. Even if it is square 1. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Wednesday the 17th:
A lot of running around and service we did a total of 5 and a half hours of service!

Tuesday the 16th:
We found out that Idalgo hasn't moved yet! We stopped by to see if he was home, and he was! We were able to have a wonderful and powerful lesson with him. He is still super excitefd. I don't know if I mentioned this, but Idalgo doesn't know how to read. So we brought him the Book of Mormon on CD. We listened to a little bit of it with him and he ate it up! He loved it so much! The spirit was so strong while we were listening!

So yup that is a quick summary of some of the many miracles that are happening in Oklahoma city. I want to make sure you all know that I love you a lot! you are such great examples to me and Mckay! I can't wait to hear where you are going on your misison!!!!! AHHH!!!!!!!

I love you!
Hermana Hilton

Our primary class this sunday :) 



 This is little Emanuel! I love this kid so much!!! shout out to all the 10 year olds! 



This is Rosa and Miguel. Both are recent converts and super nice! We eat at their house every Thursday 



This is the DeLeon family. They were baptized about a month ago and are all doing super well :) We were having an FHE with them



Chilling with my friends after the meeting with Elder Christofferson. 


Road trip to Tulsa to see Elder Christofferson!!! 



Pictures from the zoo last monday :) It was a lot of fun!  Allen is the one in the pink sweatshirt without the hat




Some missionaries were crazy and snagged a selfie with Elder Christofferson. 








Monday, February 8, 2016

Week 51: The Return to Stilly and IDALGO!!!!!!!

Another week has come. I found out that my brother Mckay put in his mission papers application this last Wednesday! this is a big step for him and I am so excited! AAHHH!!!!!!!! Let the waiting begin!!!

Guys guys guys guys guys guys!!!! Guess what!!! ROSI GUERRERO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



It was such an amazing experience!!! I wish you all could have been there. So I I went back to Stillwater this Saturday and it was the most amazing day ever. I got to see so many people! The Gonzales family, Marla, Ashley, Callie, Hna James! Elder Barry, Hna Bryant, The Buckners! Moroni, the Johnson family, the Fox family and The Guerrero family! It was such an amazing service. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Stillwater is doing amazing. I love that place with all of my heart.

South OKC is seeing so many miracles too! We met thjis little teeny tiny man named Idalgo on Monday. We taught him the Restoration and he loved it. We came back on Saturday and he committed to be baptized on March 12th!!!! Then.....(this is a huge miracle, so buckle up) ........... He came to church on Sunday!!!!!!!! AHHH!!! and he loved it. We are seeing him tonight and his is amazing. cool story. His mom Doris sat in for the Plan of Salvation lesson and when his mom brought up the fact that she was already baptized as a little baby, Idalgo pretty much said, "Mom, think about it, it doesn't even really make sense. #1 YOU didn't make that decision, your parents did and #2 you need the authority!" #hallelujahchorus It was amazing. Here is a picture of him :)

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On Sunday we had just over 100 people there! 12 of those 100 weren't members! #milagro! And 10 of those 12 have plans to be baptized before the end of March. The work is booming here.
Buckle up once again!!!! This time for the funniest story you will ever here!!! In Sacrament meeting one of the families had their little baby blessed. There were about 6 men in the priesthood circle doing the blessing when the baby started pooping!!! President Martinez started talking realllllllly fast and one of the elders got the giggles. hahaha!!!!#Pricelessmoments

On a more spiritual note, this week my studies have been focused a lot on the atonement. At Hermana Cardenas' house we talked about what the definition of atonement would be. He said to "satisfy or fullfill the law of God" o en sus palabras, "cumplir con la ley de Dios" o "pagar el precio en completo" The atonement is what does that for us. It justifies and sanctifies us as imperfect beings. A couple scriptures that I love are Mosiah 4:2-3 and Alma 36:24-25,27

Christ is always there for us. I can testify of that. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week :)

Hermana Hilton




Monday, February 1, 2016

Week 50: There can be miracles! If you believe!

My testimony of miracles has increased so much this week. And you know what is crazy, nothing majorly huge happened this week. Last week I talked a little bit about change. Change never is easy, but it is worth it. This gospel is a gospel of change. and in the words of Joy Hurst, "The gospel is sufficient." Change is worth it. It helps us grow and stretch and push in new ways than ever before. As we humble ourselves before the Lord, He shows us how we need to change. Then we commit to it and He helps us change. The process of change is an interesting one. It starts with faith.

1. Faith is the desire to change. Faith that we can change and that the Lord can help us and the desire to change.

2. Is repentance. this is how we change. We act on what we want to change and try to be and do better.

3. the Sacrament. The sacrament is where we change. We go to church and partake of the sacrament. this is us recommitting to the Lord our desire to change. Our desire to become more like Him and as my dad said this week, "We have to change everyday if we want to get closer to being like our Father in Heaven and getting closer to being like Him is how we get closer to Him."

4. The Holy Ghost. or the Spirit. This is what helps us to continue to change. It teaches us what we need to change. It sanctifies us. It leads us by the hand. It teaches us.

5. Then the process starts over. We learn from the Holy Ghost what we need to change and we develop the desire to change (or in other words faith that God can help us change Step 1) We start to change and do everything that we can to change. we act. (repentance Step 2) We to go church on Sunday and take the sacrament which is us telling the Lord and committing to him that we will change (step 3). Then the Holy Ghost helps us on our way through the changes and keeps showing us what to do to be able to become more like our Heavenly Father (step 4).  And then we repeat (step 5)

This process is called the Doctrine of Christ. It is through this process that miracles are seen. Miracles are happening every day whether we see them or not. It is us changing and being humbled that allows us to see miracles.

So here are a few of the small miracles I saw this week :)

Tuesday: We didn't have our car so we biked all day long we went a total of 14 miles and at the very end of the day we went to go visit a less active family. They all were there and they had a couple of their nonmember friends there with them too! We taught them the Restoration and the less active family testified so powerfully of the truthfulness of this gospel! This is the Osuna family.

Wednesday: We had our zone temple trip. So I was able to take a break from the world and go to the temple. That in itself is a miracle because we don't get to go to the temple very often as missionaries.

Thursday: After a looooong day of planning we went to visit a less active Oscar Perez with a member. A quick summary of his life. His wife and him were baptized and sealed in the temple about 7 years ago. Not long after that his wife got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and passed away 5 years ago. This took a hard beating on him. He became frustrated and with time has lost all remembrance of the hope that the gospel brings. When we visited him and taught him you could see the flicker of a light in the back of his eyes. That flicker of hope. Oscar came to church on Sunday for the first time in 5 years.

Friday: Went to go visit a lady at the Seniors home. We taught her about the Restoration of the church and set a baptismal goal for her for the 5th of March. After that we took Hna Osuna out teaching. It was the first time she had come out with missionaries. She did amazing!! (this is the same sister from Tuesday:) She connected wonderfully with our investigator and helped her tons!

Saturday: We were on bikes again. but instead this time we biked 21.15 miles! I thought my legs were going to fall off when we finally got to a less actives home. He was outside and we quickly said hi. He was one of the funniest people I have ever met. He made me laugh time and time again! And in that moment I needed a good laugh to get me through the day. He was a miracle. By the end of that lesson I was Hna Shakira and he was Hno Ricky Martin :) So funny!

Sunday: We had branch correlation (the first one since I have been here). Our branch mission leader is Hno Romero. He is one of the funniest 70 year old men I have ever met. He looks like a mix between a mouse and a monkey and is about 6'4". He dances every time his phone rings and is always cracking jokes. He talked about how we cannot fall of the boat. We cannot
go home from our missions and stop doing the things that we teach every day. He talked about his son and started to tear up. (this guy isn't prone to show emotion) you could see the pain that it caused to know that his son was not doing what he should be. Our parents loves us are really want the best for us.

I think the biggest miracle of all happened last night though. I got a text from the Stillwater Hermanas and this is what it said, "#1 Rosi passed her interview and is on for the baptism and #2 Bartolo is in Kansas  and went to church today" I read that and tears welled up in my eyes. Bartolo is still holding on to the iron rod and Rosi is going to be baptized this coming Saturday :)

These are just a few of the small miracles that I saw this week. I know that miracles our happening every day. They may be big, them may be small, but they are there. I am forever grateful for the people that have changed my life. Those here in the mission and those back in Idaho. Yall are amazing and I know that this gospel changes lives for the better. There is nothing better :)

Hermana Hilton

This is little Gabby!  She is an Angel!!!



And crazy little Emmie! (I met her on my first day and we both gave eachother nicknames, hers is Emmie and mine is Hna Princesa) She told me this Wednesday that I am the coolest sister missionary that she has ever met! #score! I love her so much.

Biking for DAYZZZZZ!!!!!!


The miracle text from Bartolo!