Hermana Hilton 2015-2016: 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