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.