Hermana Hilton 2015-2016: 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!