Week 66: Temple and Taco Bell!!

I got to go to the temple this week!!!! On Tuesday our branch and the assignment to clean the temple. Our branch president asked us to come and help them. They needed extra hands. So Hermana Medeiros and I went! It was so much fun. It was so good to go into the temple and be able to feel the peace and the spirit that is inside. I learned so much and it really helped me realize again how important it is that we help members here go to the temple. After the session we helped clean the bathrooms. That was fun. We drove with our branch president. We got out of the temple at 10:15 (for those of you that don't know the missionary schedule, we are supposed to be home no latter than 9:30 and in bed by 10:30) We called president Walkenhorst and told him and he just said, "Was it good? Well get home safe!" So we headed home. Presidente Martinez on the way home asked us, "Hermanas, quieren tacos? (sisters, do you want tacos?) and he took us to taco bell! haha it is the only time in my mission that I will have a Taco Bell quesadilla at 10:30pm! We didn't get home until 11pm. I was so tired I couldn't believe it!

Wednesday we did the normal things. We had a lesson with Erik that was really good. We have been trying to get in contact with him for over 3 weeks and finally he was home!!! We were able to teach him the plan of salvation. He really liked it but is still scared of baptism. He said he wants to know everything before he is baptized. So we invited him to come to church and read the book of Mormon. We also found out that night in our lesson with Irvin that he is going to Mexico for the summer....... so sad. He leaves next sunday and wont be back until the beginning of July. (If everything goes as planned) It will be hard to say goodbye to him. We talked about scripture study and how that will help him feel the spirit. we showed him where a chapel is in Mexico and he said he would try to go if he could find someone to give him a ride. It's hard to let people go sometimes.

Oh man! such a good day! after a long afternoon of walking in the rain we went to the Gomez home (Irvin's family) for a family home evening with the Ochoa family. We watched Hope of God's Light with them and then the Ochoa's brought games. We were laughing sooooo hard! The last game that Junior pulled out was the flour game. He put flour in a bowl and then turned it over onto a plate. The flour stays in the shape of the bowl. Then he put a hard candy on top in the middle. so what you do is you take a knife and you have to cut a piece of the flour cake off. Everyone takes turns and if you make the candy fall, you have to get it out of the flour with your mouth. So we did it and guess who lost! ME!!! so I had to dive into a pile of flour with my face to fish out a candy. It was really fun and the whole family was laughing. It was good for the mom to have fun and feel the spirit at the same time.

Friday a lot of little crazy things happened. elder Pearson went to the ER because he thought be broke his nose (turns out he didn't). Got called by some random Francisco and got asked out to dinner (weird..). Had a lesson with a less active family and she told us why she doesn't come to church (lots of drama). Reymundo came out teaching with us and did amazing! (#teachinggoals) Saved Elder Pearson and Barry on their bikes (de nada #bananas #meltdowns #tearsshed). Dinner canceled so a member brought pizza to the church. (ate one slice and played volleyball with Hna Medeiros). On the drive home a car of boys started yelling at us..... turned out they are all RMs from Idaho doing sells here in OKC. so yup a crazy weird day.

We did a loooooot of Biking on Saturday and met a lot of really cool people. We met Hermano Carrera! miracle there. And Idalia and a couple other Former investigators. I think the highlight of all of that was when 3 drunk men stopped us on our bikes and tried to talk to us about God. They were so drunk that they didn't know what they were saying, but all three of them took a book of Mormon! We took a selfie with them and then headed out when one of them started to grab my arm. He broke the touch barrier! haha it was funny. We also took selfies on their phones, so someday when they aren't drunk they will look back and wonder who those two church girls are. So funny.

Sunday We met a family that moved from Provo UT! They lived there for a while and know just about everything about the church, but never got baptized. They asked us where the building was and for a Book of Mormon. We talked for about 30 minutes and set a return appointment for Tuesday. I am super excited. I got a little sick on Sunday but today an feeling a little bit better.

To end I want to share a few words from my mission president. In his email to me this week he said some things that really touched me and I think that can help all of us. He said:

" The purpose of plan of salvation is to bring about the growth, development, and happiness of God's children. This is accomplished through the Doctrine of Christ. This plan focuses on our growth and who we may become, not on what we have been. God has never told us that we are stuck and cannot change. Quite the opposite. He is constantly encouraging us to grow and improve. He teaches us that He will help us and that "with God all things are possible." He teaches us to be less concerned about the past and more focused on the future. The apostle Paul understood this concept when he wrote to the Philippians (see Phil 3:13-14). "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." In today's terms we might say, "I have not become what I need to become yet, but that is OK. I will not worry about the past. I will apply the atonement and keep striving for improvement and to become like Christ." Nephi felt the same when he expressed, "O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart grieveth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of my iniquities. I am encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins which so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, ..." (1 Ne 4:17-21).

Let us focus on and hope for the prospects of improve. We have hope in ourselves. Past failures and mistakes do not condemn us to a future of mistakes and failures. Quite the opposite. Lessons learned from past experiences give us the ability to improve both ourselves and our areas. God's gives us challenges that we might learn and overcome them. Challenges are meant to strengthen us and help us grow, not to destroy or discourage us. Opposition is there for our growth. "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren and on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. (D&C 128:22)." "therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)."

I love you all so much!!!!!!! Talk to you next week
Hermana Hilton

Taco bell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the cute little Yanez kid!!!!

 

These geese think they own our apartment compex. They are everywhere!!!!!!

 

Walking around in the rain! #soaked

 

The flour game with the Gomez and Ochoa family!

 

Yup.... I had to put my face in a cake of flour!!!!!!

 These are our new drunk friends  :) We had way too much fun talking with them.

Week 65: Si nosotros cumplimos, podemos tener confianza que Dios va a hacer su parte.

Monday: We had a zone meeting with all the missionaries in the south okc/moore area. So we didn't get to go do proselyting, but we did have a really really good training by Elder Moe and Elder Butterfield. We talked about teaching simply. These people that we are teaching are brand new to learning about our beliefs. About living prophets and the book of Mormon and the plan of salvation and many of the other things we teach. We talked about how we need to teach simply and teach to their needs. It was a very good training. I am trying really hard to teach simply. Its been really good.

Tuesday: We went to the temple again, except for this time we took two less active members! We went with Reyna and Gabriela. It was really good. Reyna and Gabriela hit it off sooooo well. They are now really good friends. It's awesome to see. We were all able to talk a ton at the temple and set a vision for both of them to enter the temple. I am super pumped for both of them. Gabriela brought a cake for mothers day (In Mexico Mothers day is always the 10th) So we took pictures, had a lesson and ate cake. We had a lesson with Irvin that evening and he is doing soo well!!! He is on fire and the happiness is just radiating off of him. We talked about prayer with him. About how important it is that we talk with our Heavenly Father. He told us that is sometimes hard for him to remember to pray. We explained to him 3 Nephi 18:18-20 and that prayer is a commandment. After that he said, "oh.. I didn't know it is a commandment, no worries hermanas! I will pray everyday!" And he has been doing it. He also showed us an alarm set on his phone to remind him to read his scriptures.

Wednesday: We had interviews with President Walkenhorst! They are the last interviews I will have with him before President goes home. I will miss him. He is an inspired man and I have learned so much from him. Pretty much the whole time we talked about how we can help the branch.  Our church attendance is low and families are disappearing. He gave me a bunch of good ideas to bring to our branch presidency. We also talked about how the gospel is individual. He said, "sometimes we put people into these big categories to try and remember everyone, when in reality in the process we lose sight of their individual needs. This gospel is one by one. Christ healed one by one, and we must do the same."

Thursday: I would have to say the highlight of Thursday was getting to see the Deleon family. We haven't been able to get over there forever and I am so grateful that we got in with them this week! I love them so much. the mom, Adriana hasn't come to church in over a month and we were talking to her about it and she told us that she feels the difference in her life. (She is working on sundays) She said "I feel spiritually hungry. I am diving into the scriptures and studying them more that I ever have before and it isn't helping the hunger. I need to come to church" It's so true. It is so important for us to renew our covenants and take the sacrament. She said she was going to try to come this Sunday.

Friday: District meeting, Sister Cook was super sick, so all the missionaries that were there were Spanish missionaries, so we had district meeting in Spanish! That was way fun. We went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and we talked to a Jehovah's witness and he completed us on our grooming. It was really funny.

Saturday: We had our branch activity for Mother's Day. IT was a blast! We were supposed to have it outside at a park, but thanks to the crazy Oklahoma weather, it was really cold so we had it at the church. The Elders quorum made a huge barbeque and it was bomb! We had karaoke and music and just all had a good time enjoying each others company. We were on bikes for the rest of the afternoon/evening and we biked soooo much! We tried so many people and no one was home :( we did meet a lady from Italy. That was pretty cool.

Sunday: What a crazy day. Church was a blast because we got to teach primary again. We taught the little kids about when Alma and Amulek got put in jail. They were saying the funniest things! I love being with those crazy little kids. After church Gabriela came out with us. We put an address into her phone of a referral that we had received and it sent us un a wild goose chase. We finally came to the concultion that the address didn't exsist. We had dinner with the Guerrero's and they made tinga!!! that is my favorite food. It is soooo good. So funny thing happened. Reyna brought our investigator Rosa to church. And after sacrament we were talking and Reyna offered to pick up Rosa that evening and bring her to her home for a lesson. We of course were super excited about the idea and quickly agreed! We decided 8pm. So we show up to Reyna's at 8pm and go knock on her door. Her son answers and there is obviously a movie playing in the background. We ask if his mom is home and he said no, but invited us in anyways........ we walked in and quickly realized that he was on a date! We called Reyna and she had forgotten about the appointment. It was really funny. So yup. We crashed a date. And to make it even better we had Hermana Quiroz with us.

I would say the biggest thing that I have learned this week is that if we do everything we can, we do our part to our best ability, we are successful. We can be happy and say we tried our best. It's easy to get discouraged when things don't go how you want them to, but I think that is the beauty of this life, getting to trust the Lords timing. I am grateful to be part of this work. Like Hermana Quiroz always says, "Si nosotros cumplimos, podemos tener confianza que Dios va a hacer su parte."

Les queremos mucho! Se que este evangelio bendice familias. Jesucristo vive. Podemos tener felicidad en este vida si guardamos los mandamientos del Senor. Se que soy una hija de Dios y que el me ama.

Hermana Hilton

I love to see the temple!

 cokarachas at the temple........

The beautiful Oklahoma Sky Monday afternoon

Us and Gabriela at the temple

Pictures with Reyna And Gabriela at the temple!

Eating cake at the temple.

I got bulldozered by Elder Barry at sports and this is the results of it, bruised knees!

The elders quorum cooking up all the meat!

I think this little girl just stole my heart!!

Party time!!!  Happy Mother's Day!!

Week 64: Rats, Baptism, and Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so good to get to talk to my family! They are so funny and I'm glad to see that they all are basically the same :) Just a little bit older. They still like looking at themselves in the camera. And making crazy faces. And clobbering Gizmo. And making mom flustered when they all talk at the same time and she is trying to get her point across all while dad sits contently in the back and smiles to himself :) I love you family.  It was good to get to talk to them and laugh with them.

This week was a good one! Here is the play by play of this week. So much happened so bare with me as I try to put it all into words.

Monday: Played pretty good volleyball for p-day. Then went to Irvin's house with Reymundo. We taught him about the  Law of Chastity and eternal marriage and temples. He loved it. When Irvin answered the door he was grinning and there was a visible countenance change. A good one. He was glowing! You could tell that he was super excited for his baptism we told him, only 5 more days and he said "I know!!"  We had dinner with the Ochoa's after that (one of my favorite families ever! #relationshipgoals) They fed us hot dogs with salsa and beans. They were pretty darn good. Then they showed us their wedding pictures! so fun. Their little girl Melissa is the cutest little thing on the planet. Hermano Ochoa calls us his "homies" So you could say we get along pretty well ;)

Tuesday: So on Tuesday our new branch mission leader called us and asked if we could have branch coorelation. We said of course and off we went to the church. He sat us down and we went through all the families in the branch and talked about how we can strengthen them and help them. I am really excited to see the fruits of it. He gave us each two families to go visit this week and told us that he would ask about it on Sunday. (he is keeping us accountable!) I think it was the most intense but also most effective branch coorelation that I have been in. After the meeting we had a lesson with Irvin. Hermano Yanez came with us and did an amazing job. Irvin was still super excited! only 4 more days!

Wednesday: We had the usual service and Food Bank. Reyna was there and it was really good to get to see her. It made her really happy to see all the missionaries there (every week about 12 missionaries go)  So later in the afternoon Hermana Ordonez took us to a lesson with Alondra. It was the first time we had met with Alondra, so that means Restoration. Alondra loved it and told us that she really wants to know, so she is gong to read the Book of Mormon. We are going back next Friday, so fingers crossed that she read! Then we went to the church for the usual Wednesday activities. We had another lesson with Irvin. We had him try on baptismal suits to figure out what one will work. He was hilarious!!!! We picked one that was too small and when he tried it on he got stuck!! He was laughing the whole time and was like... Hermanas this isn't going to work. so funny! 3 more days! Then for our dinner hour we played volleyball with the branch. Fun as always. Then at 8pm we had a meeting with Presidente Martinez. We talked to him about his vision for the branch. He told us that he wants to help the weak members become strong. He said to help them do that we need to teach them about prayer. He also told us that we need to be praying our brains out for these people. It's so true. In the words of Presidente Martinez, "Kneel down and pray. Stand up and get to work." He also gave us some names of people that we need to visit. So we have our work cut out for us.

Thursday: Cinco de Mayo!!! Fun fact Hispanics don't celebrate cinco de Mayo. but Hermana Medeiros and I still had a really fun day. I think that it was one of the weirdest days of my mission. I know I have said that before, but this one takes the spot! Ready? So we went to the Ochoa's in the morning for language study and she helped us learn all the vocabulary in Alma 2 which for the record is all about battle! So yup. now I know how to talk about a battle.....don't know when I am going to use that...) haha then we biked to the mission office to print out the baptismal programs for Irvin's baptism. And from there the elders (Elder Barry and Elder Moe because they were on exchanges) took us to Reyna's house. She asked for a blessing, so over we went. We showed up and she had prepared hamburgers for all of us! That was a surprise for us. So we ate and the dinner conversation ended up being Elder Barry teaching us all how to make a sloth noise! Reyna thought it was hilarious. After eating we gave her a blessing. In the middle of the blessing Elder Moe's phone started going off......... loud! He couldn't take his hands off of Reyna's head, so he stuck his hip out signaling for one of us to reach in his pocket and turn the phone off. AWKWARD. Hermana Medeiros gave me the funniest look like, "Do I get it?" I gave her the head nod that said yes. And she reached into his pocket and pulled out .....his camera! so then she had to reach in his pocket again and grab the phone. It was super duper funny. and super awkward in the missionary world! We have been laughing about it since. So I didn't think that the day could get any crazier... but man was I wrong........... We went over to Presidente Martinez's house to have him approve the baptismal program and you will never guess what happened.... we went on a wild rat chase!!!!!!!!!!!!! we walk in and Presidente is like, "Hermanas we need your help catching a rat? Will you help?" I was like opportunity to serve, "YES!" But then it hit me....... he wanted us to catch a rat......... but I had already said yes.... uh oh...... So he brought down a cardboard box and told us to hold it up to the vent in the ceiling because that was where it was. So Hermana Medeiros is standing on a stool holding up a cardboard box waiting for this rat to fall into it. (my heart has never pounded so hard!) The plan we had was that when the rat fell into it we would quickly bring the box down and close the flaps so that the rat couldn't escape. So we waited. Presidente came back downstairs and came up behind Hermana Medeiros and grabbed her sides! She screamed and I started laughing so hard! It scared her so bad! so we were still waiting for the rat to fall when Presidente comes back downstairs a second time except for this time he has an air conditioner tube in his hands and he says, "Hermana Hilton! It's in here! Help me!!!" So I run over and grab one end. we bring the box down to the ground to put the rat in there. So we count down..... 3.......2.........1!!!!!!!! and Presidente runs behind me and yells and grabs my side to scare me!! I screaaaaaaaaaaaaaam and fall onto the couch when Presidente says, "Hermanas there isn't a rat."  .........wait....what? There isn't a rat?? laughing and with a grin on his face he says "No :)" oh man. He got us soooooo good! I was convinced that we were really catching a rat. It turns out that the thing making the noise upstairs was Hermano Miguel Flores fixing their air conditioning. Oh man. The best part is that Hermana Martinez was videotaping the whole thing! We headed to the church after that and Irvin had his baptismal interview. He passed!!! he was really nervous, but he did great. 2 more days!

Friday: It wasn't has crazy today. We finished up the programs for the baptism and then had dinner at Hermana Quiroz's house. She showed us pictures of Guadalajara and now I just want to go! That is where she is from and it is beautiful.  We taught Irvin again in the evening at the church. Reymundo came. Irvin is so excited. We talked about the Holy Ghost and he said, "Tomorrow it's on it's way and Sunday it gets here" So true. He is so excited. 1 more day!

Saturday: IRVIN GOT BAPTIZED. Before the baptism we went to the Yanez's house. We had a barbeque and it was the best barbeque I have ever had. All my favorite people in one place. I couldn't have asked for anything more! We ate hamburgers and I played with the cutest little kids on the planet and then Hermano Yanez gave me a guitar lesson. Then we headed out for the baptism. Everything went so smoothly and Irvin was so happy. It was a huge blessing that his whole family was able to come. The spirit was so strong. Junior Ochoa baptized him and  when Irvin came up out of the water he had the biggest smile on his face. His mom was in tears the whole time. It was good to see her son so happy and to see the change that has happened with in him. It was also good for her to see how much the people in the branch love her children. They are so amazing. Irvin's little sister Ashley was super happy the whole time and told us that she wants to be baptized too. This family will all one by one take the step to be baptized. I know it.

Sunday: Mother's day! Irvin got the holy ghost! I have never seen him smile so much. His whole family was also able to come for the confirmation. I didn't get to talk to them afterwards, but I'm sure they liked it. From the stand, I definitely saw the mom, Yessica wiping tears off of her face. It was a good sacrament program too. All focused around moms of course :) Then that evening I got to Skype my family!!!!! It was good to see them all together and happy. I love you family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great day! and remember,
"Kneel down and pray. Stand up and get to work."
Love you all!
Hermana Hilton

Happy mothers day! the whole fam bam all together!!!

BARBEQUE!!!

This is cute little Mellissa :) aka the cutest little kid on the planet!

learning the guitar from Hno Yanez

THe whole crew!! I love all these people so much! the Yanez family and the Ochoa family

 IRVIN AT HIS BAPTISM!!!!!!

Irvin and  his whole family. I am so happy that they all made it.

Irvin in his first white shirt and tie!!! #onfleek

 Skyping the family!!! love you crazy Hiltons!!!

Week 63: Tornadoes, translating and tennis

Well what has happened this week.

Monday: I got to play tennis for a little bit on P-Day! It was really really fun. I definitely can't play very well anymore, but it was a lot of fun messing around with all the other missionaries. After P-Day all of our plans fell through, so we decided to go walk around and talk to the people who were outside. So in Mexico and also here there are these guys that walk around with a cooler of popsicles on wheels and ring bells and then all the little kids run up and buy ice cream from them. So it's kinda like an ice cream truck, just super ghetto style. So this lady, Carina was outside watching her kid buy an ice cream and we went up and started talking to her. She was super nice and we were able to share a little bit about the Book of Mormon with her. We also talked to this guy who was fixing his speakers. That was a funny conversation. It's always feels so good to go meet new people and help them come to know their Savior a little bit more.

Tuesday: There was a huge tornado threat, so us and the elders pretty much stayed together the whole day. We didn't really know what to do because the storm was supposed to be really bad. Here is the forecast that we had. 8/10 chance of tornadoes with softball sized hail and 90 mph winds. I'm not exaggerating! that was the forecast! So at about 5:30 we headed over to our shelter. We go over to a member of the OKC 1st ward. We got there and they showed us where everything was and then we sat down and watched the weather channel (President lets us watch it so that we can be safe) As we were sitting there I started sneezing but didn't really think anything of it. sneeze. Then from the corner walked in two big hairy cats........ uh oh. Sneeze! My eyes quickly started swelling up and I thought I was going to die!!! SNEEZE SNEEZE SNEEZE! Then thank goodness Sister Gates noticed that I was dying and took the cats into another room and gave me a Benadryl. It knocked me out pretty good, but it sure helped the sneezing and swelling eyes. So that was an adventure. Thankfully none of the tornadoes touched down where we were at, so we were safe. and we got to go home and go to bed safely.

Wednesday: WE GOT A NEW CAR!!! it is the nicest car I have ever driven for this long. When we got it, no joke, it had about 40 miles on it. So brand spanking new! It took a while for the Tiwi people to switch everything over, so we were at the mission office for a while, but it was fun.  We got to teach Ashley and Irvin again with Junior. They are doing good. Irvin is on track to be baptized this Saturday. Ashley isn't, so we are going to wait a little bit longer for her's. We had dinner at the church, so we ate super quick and them played volleyball with the branch. It was a lot of fun. I stuffed Hermano Yanez and now he won't let me hear the end of it. It was pretty funny. :) I love this branch

Thursday: We biked our brains out. We biked from SW 10th to SW 89th! that was an adventure. We had to go crazy fast too because we had an appointment. We got to go visit Hermana Escobar. She is the sweetest lady ever and her family treats her like crap. It is so sad. She told us about how her health was super duper bad the past couple of weeks. The doctors told her that they don't know how she is still alive. She should have passed away with how sick she was. As she was telling us this she opened up and told us about her daughter. He daughter has a terminal brain tumor. Hna Escobar was crying while telling us all of this. She said to us, "Hermanas, God didn't let me die because he knows that my daughter couldn't handle it. She would die of heartbreak too. I have to be here to support her." She is so giving. She has nothing, but she wants so bad do help. She gives everything of herself to her family. Her daughter is in Mexico and so Hermana Escobar is thinking about going back to help take care of her daughter and her grandchildren. She has so much faith. I hope to someday have as much faith as her.

Friday: Tornadoes round two. Nothing happened to us and we were only at our shelter for about 45 minutes, so that was good, because we got to work. We had choir practice that evening and it took forever! the branch is singing in Stake Conference, so they were all super nervous and anxious. So we practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. I think we practiced for about 2 hours.

Saturday: After all the practicing, it was show time for the choir. They all sang at the Adult Session that evening. Before hand they were all talking about how they were sweating and super nervous. Jorge and I practiced his solo about 5 more times before the meeting started. Even with all the nerves they did amazing! I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the place :) Elder Reed of the seventy was there and he talked about charity. It was really good. I think the thing that stuck out to me the most that he said was "We need to stop striving to be PERFECT and seek instead to be WORTHY" I think it is so true.

Sunday: I think that the Sunday was one of the most stressful and scary Sunday's of my life! Presidente Martinez asked me to translate the meeting. I was soooooo scared!  I was going to be translating for a seventy and the stake president and all the stake leaders.......... I was so scared. but then Reymundo swept in and he helped me. We traded off every other talk which helped a ton! I didn't get much out of the Sunday meeting for myself because I was trying to get it all into Spanish. So that was an adventure. We went out and worked after church and we had a lesson with Olivia. She is this super cute young mom her oldest is 14 and they have the nicest Hispanic house I have ever seen in my entire life. They gladly accepted us into their home and we taught them about prophets and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Later that evening we had the De Paz family out with us and we tried another new family. They also let us in and we had a good lesson with them. The De Paz's helped so much and were champions! They helped Carlos and Maria understand the gospel and the spirit they were feeling. It is so good when members and the missionaries work together. Everything is 100x more effective and the work moves forward so much faster.

I love everyone! Keep smiling and never forget to work hard, have fun, and follow Christ. That is the recipie to joy in this life. We can combat any weakness any sadness any doubt with faith in Christ. Faith is what pushes us and what pulls us up when we fall.


Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Love you all! Have a blessed week!

Playing the best sport in the world!!!!! aka tennis!

Yup we still knocked this door! Ain't nothing gonna stop the work of the Lord!!! ...no one answered the door.

Just a fun pic :) 

Staying safe and dry during the Tornadoes

 I don't know if you can tell but this is when my eyes started swelling up at our storm shelter's house. Those darn cats.

;

Our new car!!!  :)

Doing service on Saturday for Sister McLaren :)

happily serving the lord :) I love Hermana Medeiros she is seriously the best person ever!!!! TE QUIERO MIJA!

 

Week 62: "Near far, where ever the tornados are”

First off, Irvin and Ashley. Irvin and Ashley are two jovenes. Irvin is 15 and Ashley is 12. They are an INSPIRATION!!!!! When Hermana Hunt was here with me they started coming to Wednesday night sports. Pretty soon after that they started coming to Sundays. For the first little bit I figured that they were members. When I found out that they weren't, my mind was blown. When Hermana Medeiros got here we started teaching them every Monday at 5pm. IT has been really good. So think about this. one day we went over there and the mom told us that she doesn't force or tell them to come to church or anything. They do it all on their own. Imagine this guys. two teenagers who could be doing whatever they want on a Sunday choose to come to church because they love the spirit that they feel there. I remember asking Irvin why he comes and he said that he loves what he learns and just wants to keep learning more. We have met with Irvin 3 times this past week and every time he is progressing so much more. Junior (a member) has taken a huge role in helping Irvin in this journey. Irvin is currently preparing to be baptized the 7th of May. He is really excited and he really wants it. Every time he comes to church or takes a Friday night to come have a lesson with us, I am inspired. When I was his age I definitely didn't appreciate the gospel. I saw it more as an "I have to" rather than an "I want to". I am learning that we are happier when we change our attitudes to "I want to". I am super excited for Irvin and Ashley

Monday: Pday we played basketball at the church with a bunch of missionaries. I decided that I will never be good at basketball. but it's good exercise, so I still play. We went to Ashley and Irvin's house and taught the whole family about the importance of scripture study. Reymundo took us out to chick-fil-a for dinner and we had our appointment and member cancel on us, so we went and knocked some doors.

Tuesday: We went to SouthMoore High School to monitor testing for service. That was actually really boring. The teacher who was in the room with us was really funny and in between tests we got to share a lot about the gospel with her. So that was pretty cool. I'm also pretty sure the I saw the lady from the Mormon message "after the storm".   we found out that Reyna fell at work and had to go to the hospital. She is pretty bad. We went over to give her a blessing. I hope she gets better soon. This was also Elder Schwartz's last day in the area. All the members that were at choir were really sad to hear that he was leaving.

Wednesday: Transfers. We picked up Elder Barry!! He is going to do so well and I am so happy that we get to serve together again. It has been about a year since we served together, so I am really excited. We were in the north together for last year's tornado season and now we are together in the south for this year's tornado season. It should be fun! We visited Reyna to see how she was doing. She is looking bad, but is hopeful that everything will get better. oh..... one more thing (mom don't get mad) I pulled out my camera to take a picture and the SD card inside was gone..... All my pictures gone. We looked everywhere for it and nothing. so yup.

Thursday: We planned and were on bikes for the rest of the day. We got to see the Rodriguez family.  We left their house with burritos for lunch tomorrow :) We were biking through an apartment complex to knock some doors there when these two little girls walk up to us and start talking to us. They ran in side and we though we wouldn't see them again. Them 5 minutes later they walked out with otter pops for each of us. We talked to them about Jesus Christ and they said that they want us to come teach them about Jesus.  So cute :) We taught Rosa De La Cruz and set a baptismal date with her for the 14th of May. She seemed a little nervous but was willing to work for it.

Friday: We had an amazing district meeting. It made me really pumped for this next transfer! We are going to do work!!!!! So the main goal of Friday was to try and find my SD card. We headed straight to the last place it possible could be which was the food bank. I had my cameral there, but with the circumstances and everything in the food bank I kinda figured that it wouldn't be there. I definitely hoped it would be though! So we drove over and said a prayer before we walked in. We asked someone if they had seen anything and he said, nope, but go ask the front desk lady. So a little sad, we went up to the front desk and asked the lady there and she grinned and said "oh yes!! We were trying to figure out whose that was! someone turned it in." I wanted to cry. Prayers are answered.

Saturday: we found this new lady Olivia. She is amazing. We talked to her while she was planting her tree. She was like of course I want you to come over! She told us that she had missionaries coming over a while ago, but that they stopped and she was sad. She gladly invited us back. She has a lot of potential and already wants to learn, which is amazing!!! I'm pumped for that one. We visited Gabriela and she has on her own started to read the book of Mormon again. She was inactive for a long time, but she really wants to come back. She is on fire right now and sends us all of the scriptures she likes via text.

Sunday: We got a new branch mission leader. Hermano Espinosa. He is the past branch president, so he knows just about everyone. So that will be really good. I am pretty excited. We had an FHE with the Deleon family. Then taught Irvin with Junior at the church. Irvin is so excited. He asked Junior to baptize him. It's going to be good.

Yup that has pretty much been the whole week. Its been good. I love the Lord and love this work. AND I LOVE OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Hilton

These are the two little girls that brought us otter pops. :) so cute

This was the last time we all played basketball together before transfers. #Oklahoma I will miss this crew

Traditional Ihop breakfast run before transfers

The new OKC 6 squad! This is going to be a good transfer 

 

Burritos from the Rodriguez family!!!

 

I got to see one of my best friends at transfers!!! HERMANA JAMES!!!!! Stay beautiful Hermana!!!

got rain? Tornado season is here which means the rain has started as well!!! woohoo!