Monday, August 8, 2016

Week 77: my last email!

So it's finally come to this.....The last email..... I don't know how I feel about it. At the same time I am super excited, I am nervous, and sad, and scared, and pumped and pretty much just pooping my pants. Everything is happening really fast and it has been a roller coaster of emotions. This last full week has been amazing though. We have seen so many miracles and had soooo much fun. And I have taken soooooooo many pictures!!!!!!!!!!

Monday: Hermana Applegate was still sick, so we found someone to come watch her and Hermana Hernandez and I went out and worked. We got in with Maria and Arturo Parra. We have been working with them for a while and we decided that it was time that we figured out what was going on with Arturo. he had been there in the lessons, but he doesn't participate much. Hermana Hernadnez and I really focused the lesson on him and at the end of it he agreed to be baptized on September 17th!! That was a huge miracle. Then at the end of the lesson we invited him to say the prayer. It was like pulling teeth trying to get his confidence high enough to say the prayer, but he did it!!! It might sound like something really small to someone, but for Arturo praying was like climbing mount Everest when we first started meeting with him. And he did it! He made it up! now he has been praying with us since. It's so cool to see him gain more and more confidence as he keeps learning and practicing.

Tuesday: I went on splits with Hermana Romero because Hermana Applegate was still sick and in the house. It was weird to just be with a member and not a another misisonary with me. We had a lot of fun and got a lot of good work done together though. Hermana Ordonez took us to the Gomez's new house in the evening. It is really nice for a hispanic living in Oklahoma. I was really impressed. They are now officially moved. and they moved into the elders area. We decided that when I leave the elders will take over teaching them. Tear. I'm sad about that, but so grateful I got to teach them while I did!

Wednesday: Ashley Gomez had her baptismal interview and passed!!!!!!! wooohooo!!!!! she passed it with flying colors and was so excited! She tried on baptismal clothes on afterwards and then we went and played volleyball with the branch! It was so much fun. We had some pretty good competion going and everyone was soooo loud! which makes it twice as fun. I had a small sad moment when I realized that it would be my last Wednesday night with the 6th branch. :( We sure went out with a bang though!!!

Thursday: Weekly planning was weird when we got to next Thursday. I went to go write down dinner with Rosa and Miguel at 5 when Hermana Applegate said.... ummm hermana.... you will be eating dinner with your family that night, not Rosa... I shed a silent tear. So weird. especially since the whole going home thing still doesn't feel real. 5pm rolled around and we went to Rosa and Miguels house. They prepared an outstanding meal for us for my despidida. They were so nice. We had tamales, my favorite food that Rosa makes!, crazy corn on the cob, rice, and beans. Then Miguel got up and gave a little "speech" thanking me for all I have done and then pulled out a cake...... uh oh........... when you are in a Hispanics home and they pull out a cake, that means that the cake us usually going to end up all over your face..... I was smart and pulled up my hair though!! haha after finally getting up enough courage to try and take a bite of the cake Elder Barry slammed my face into the cake!!!!!!! Rosa was laughing so hard that she was crying. literally my entire face was in the cake!!! there wasn't much of a cake left. haha Elder Barry ran off like a scared goose and I tried to breathe! haha I had so much cake in my eyes and about a quarter of the cake went up my nose!!! two days later I still had cake in my nose! It was a lot of fun and I am really going to miss Rosa and Miguel. They are two people that I will never ever forget.

Friday: Last District meeting! most missionaries that I have seen have cried at their last district meeting, but I stayed strong and held back the tears!!! woop woop! so many emotions. After district meeting we all went out to eat as a district. We went to the one and only Cici's pizza. it's this all you can eat pizza place. yup. we had a lot of fun. That evening we had dinner with the Ramirez family. Jorge was wearing my favorite hat and I stole/borrowed it for the dinner :) I don't know why I love that hat so much, but I do. We invited Ashley to come over to dinner with us. It was fun to hear Jorge and Yolanda share their conversion stories with Ashley and then to see Ashley get super excited for her baptism. She is on fire. I love her so much. She said this at dinner and I thought it was amazing, "That's what I want, an eternal family and a clean page. A new start."

Saturday: Baptism day!!!!!!!! After a mad chase to find the right key to fill the font we finally got the water in and ashley baptized. It was a beautiful service. Ashley was so nervous. I can imagine why! but everything went so smoothly. After she was baptized I ran into the bathroom where she was changing to make sure everything was ok. I went back there and asked and Ashley says, "Hermana! My brother didn't bring me a towel!" I laughed and ran to try and find something she could dry off with! The only thing I could find was a dry baptismal suit, so that's what she used to dry off haha. Pobrecita. But we were talking and I told her, "Ashley, guess what? you are the most perfect person in the world right now." she looked at me for a while and said "really?" I told her yes and her face lit up and she smiled and siad "that's cool" it was a tender moment, I gave her a big hug and held back tears. I am so proud of her. there aren't very many 14 year olds who care enough about having an eternal family and wanting a clean slate to start on.
Before the baptism we had dinner with the Yanez family! I love them sooooo much!!!!!!!!!! like life goals in that family. They made us carne asada and I died and went to heaven because it was so good. We had a lot of fun with them.

Sunday: Oh man.... my last Sunday as a missionary. At the end of sacrament meeting Presidente Martinez invited me up to bare my testimony. I broke down. all the emotions hit me like a brick wall and I just cried. I got some words out, but the tears outnumbered the words. I just remember looking out over everyone and feeling this crazy overwhelming feeling of love. I remember thinking, these people have changed me, and now I have to say goodbye. Man. It hurt. bad. But I did it. I hugged everyone and their mom and shed so many tears and took a million pictures. The one that hurt the most was when Reyna walked up to me with tears in her eyes. We fell into each others arms and just wept. We had a tender moment that I will never forget.

Yall...... I can't believe the time to go is here. It's insane. It has come so fast and I have been trying to think of a sentence, a way to express what I have learned, something to share with you and I cant. There is too much. I have learned so much and more than anythign I have changed. I am a different person. I guess if I had to say the biggest thing that I have learned this whole time I've been here in Oklahoma, it's that GOD LOVES ME. He loves me. He loves you. I am a daughter of god. He will help me and through everything,. He has helped me through the good, the bad and they ugly of the mission and he isn't going to stop. I love Him too. I love him more than I have ever loved anyone and they way I have learned how to love him, is by learning to love the people in Oklahoma. I love you Okies!!! even though most of the people I love aren't even from Oklahoma! haha

I love you all too and will see you soon!
Love, Hermana Hilton


This is the Solis family. so many cute little girls :)

Getting bored in the house with sick Hermana Applegate, so we tried on pants!!!!
 
Dinner on thursday when I got my face smashed in a cake!
 
a quick pick with Rosa and Miguel!

cici's pizza
 
that is my favorite hat

dinner on Friday at the ramirez house with Ashley!
 
filling up the font!!!
 
and being crazies in the car!
 
got to see Hermana Medeiros one last time! it was such a bittersweet thing. I love that girl more that anything!
 
More baptism pictures!
 
BAPTISM!
 
ASHLEY"S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
and This is the gomez family. 
 
hugs and tears for dayz!!!!
 
Gabriela and Reyna.
 
The Yanez family
 
hugs and tears for dayz!!!!
 
saying bye to the Deleons 
 
and the Guerreros.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Week 76: blessings, drugs, great danes, and hospital visits.

Well fam bam and friends. after this email there will only be one more left and I will be home with yall!! it's crazy. I still don't feel like it is going to really happen. In hard times of your mission, going home is something you want to come so quickly, but when you get the the point when you can count how many days you have left on two hands, you wish they were months and not days. I can't explain it. It just sneaks up on you so quick!!!

This week was a good one. Buckle up because it is kind of a wild ride!

Tuesday the 26th: We went over to Reyna's house with the elders to give her house a blessing. She said that they (Reyna and her roommate Luli) have been seeing weird things and that they wanted the house to be blessed. So that's what we did. Elder Barry said an amazingly powerful prayer to bless the house. The spirit was so strong you guys. I almost felt like if I would have opened my eyes there would have been the spirit as a person standing there in front of us. Elder Barry finished and no one said anything. It was silent for a good long while. Finally we asked Reyna and Luli how they felt. (background on Luli: she isn't a member and has been friends with Reyna forever. She has slowly warmed up to the missionaries and this was the first "experience" with us she has had) Luli started crying and opened her heart to us. This was a lady that 6 months ago was calling us children of the devil. she told us that she was feeling the spirit and she told us about her life. She told me about her daughter that got killed a couple years back. She opened up to us about her worries and her questions. It was so cool to see a woman feel the spirit and realize what it is.

Wednesday the 27th: We had exchanges so sister Washburn joined Hna Applegate and I. Itwas really fun. we went throughout our day and nothing too crazy happened. We had an appointment with Rosa at 8pm. So we head over there and Rosa's friend is standing at the door and she looks really scared. She waved for us to come in but I had the feeling, stay outside. So I didn't go in. She started telling us that her exboyfriend had been calling her and telling her that he was going to come with his "friends" and kidnap her. She was so scared. We didn't know what to do.... so we talked with her for a little bit and then called the elders. They told us to get out of there! man I was so freaked out! This lady was shaking because she was so scared and she kept looking out the door every two seconds to see if he was coming. Thankfully rosa's daughter showed up so we were able to leave. As we were walking out we asked Rosa's daugher if this lady did drugs and she said yes. so lesson learned. DONT DO DRUGS! It was crazy to feel the difference when the spirit wasn't there in the house. It made me determined to live my life in a way that I can always feel the spirit.

Thursday the 28th: Hermano Cabello came out teaching with us and we drove out to Mustang to go visit a member there. We got there and thank goodness they were home! We visited the family Chavez. They are super cool. As we are talking with Hermano Chavez he tells us that he has a Great Dane. I didn't believe him. So he goes out to the garage and brings in his huge Great Dane! that dog wasn't a dog! it was a horse!!!! I was blown away by how huge it was. So as some of you know I am allergic to fur, so you can imagine that I walked out of that home with Great Dane slobber and fur alllll over me and two swollen, itchy eyes! Haha it was way worth it though :) On the way back home Hermano Cabello bought us pizza and we sang hymns in the car with him while we waited fore the pizza.

Friday the 29th: Nothing too crazy. Hermana Applegate stayed home with a sick sister and Hermana Hernandez and I went out and worked. We attempted to have an English class, but no one showed up... fail. We had a lot of fun at dinner with the Ramirez family though!!!

Saturday the 30th: Hermana Applegate didn't feel too good, so we took it easy. In the morning we helped Hermana Escobar with her yard. We took apart a tree and there were sooooo many spiders!!! it was gross. The tree had been on the ground and had black mold all over it, so we were super careful! It was pretty nasty though. Then we went out with Nery and visited a bunch of people. Nery dropped us off at our dinner apointment with the Rodriguez family. We had a lot of fun at their house! their son Adrian is in a band and he busted out the guitar and played my favorite song in the world!!! Bubble toes!! we jammed and then read in the book of mormon with them. They are very sad that I am leaving because we have gotten really close with that family. Adrian gave me his guitar pic! That was huge. I will miss them.

Sunday the 31st: the the craziness begin. Hermana Applegate didn't feel good at all, so we called Sister Mansell and she told us to go to the doctor. So at 8 am we loaded up into the car and headed to the Urgent care. The urgent care doctor said that he was worried that she had a blood clot in her lung, so he sent us to the ER! we called sister mansell and told her what was going on and she referred us to a different office. We went and as we pulled up there wasn't a single car in the parking lot. We figured we would try it anyways. So we walk up to the door and it is unlocked. We walk in and the alarm system goes off!!! someone forgot to lock the front door and we had just "broken into" a hospital!!!! Oh man I was dying of laughter! I couldn't believe that three missionaries had just broken into a hospital on a Sunday! What the!? so we waited for the police to show up and we explained to them what had happened. Luckily they believed the three girls in skirts carrying bibles. haha So we head to a different ER and Hermana Applegate is admitted. Then start the blood test and the x-rays and the cat scans. We were at the ER from about 10 am to 2 pm. When all the tests came back we found out that Herman Applegate has pneumonia and not a blood clot in her lungs, so that was good news. All the members were freaking out and calling and texting us the entire day. It was good to know that the cared so much about us and about Hermana Applegate, they were really sweet. I was on the phone the whole day talking to members. after they released her from the hospital we headed home and Hermana Applegate got a blessing. we let her rest for the rest of the day and Hermana Hernandez and I found ways to entertain ourselves.

So after a week of crazy experiences I am so grateful for this life. I am so grateful that we have technology to help us! I am especially so grateful that Hermana Applegate is ok. Yes she is sick, but it isn't something deadly. It is times like these that we really grow together and help each other. I love my Savior who understands everything that we feel. I know he is real. He loves me and he loves you.

Until next week :)
Hermana Hilton


This is jose martinez aka Ricky martin. 

Reyna made us food after we gave her house a blessing!!! love this lady!!

The cavez family and their humungo dog!
 

Hno Cabello
 
And Reymundo. This kid headed out to Hawaii!! have fun!
 
service at Hermana Escobar's house. So many spiders. 
 
I thought this one was going to eat me.... 

Breaking into a hospital!!!
 
And finally finding the ER
 
wanna trade hair?
 
This is what I mean by Hermana Hernadez and I found ways to entertain ourselves haha