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!

Week 61: 2 Tamales and a Book of Mormon Play!

Merry Abril 18th!

THE BOOK OF MORMON ACTIVITY WAS A SUCCESSSSSS!!!!!!!!! Thanks to the help of sooooo many people. Members, missionaries, family back home, and random citizen's trash, we were able to pull it off. This whole week was devoted to the activity. It was crazy. Man. It is a miracle that we were able to pull it all off. Miracle after miracle after miracle happened to help it happen, but en el fin de cuentas it happened!!!! The actual activity was Friday the 15th. Including actors we had a total of about 70 people show up. Which we were all very happy with. Preparations to make it happen included: running to stores, setting up lights, making a fog machine, decorating rooms, painting cardboard, making desert, cooking food, assigning costumes, making palm trees, setting everything up, making pillars, rehearsing with members, setting up chairs, building a boat, and so much more. Here is mas o menos what the week looked like:

Monday: We got to relax a little bit for our preparation day and we went to the zoo with our zone! It was a lot of fun. We watched the elephants eat, the bears fight, the lions roar, and a hippo poop. Hermana Medeiros and I found the cutest rings I have ever seen and we bought the same one! so now we have companionship unity rings! They are super cute. The weather was perfect for pictures because it was overcast so we took advantage of that  :) We had dinner with the Ordonez and we had papusas!! And they were sooo good! Her family is literally the best! They're so fun! And she taught us how to make them too so now I know how to make papusas. woop woop! all of our appointments fell through, so we went and invited some less actives to the activity.

Tuesday: We stopped by radio shack to get the right cords for the projectors and a music store to get adapters for the mics. pretty much a bunch of errands. We sorted through the costumes and painted cardboard to make pillars for Lehi's house. The whole building smelt like paint. We made more palm tree leaves. Hermano Pimentel took us to taste of china.... again!!! the buffet he takes us to every time he feeds us haha. After dinner we went back to the church and had practice. Miguel was hilarious! he has a one sentence line and he couldn't remember it so we wrote it on his scroll that he holds up for his part. The entire night he was pacing around the church practicing his one line. He is so funny. He was so nervous for his part!

Wednesday: we started off with errands again in the morning. We went to buy for less and bought Hermana Quiroz ingredients for beans. We couldn't find the meat that she wanted, so we went on a mad chase to find longanisa. We also had to open up the church for a funeral. It was for a 19 year old guy named Emilio. He committed suicide. Going to that funeral was super hard for me for reasons I won't go into. I watched the mom walk in and see her son in his casket. She broke down. I couldn't hold back my tears either. I watched so many people come in and cry. People I know and love and people I haven't ever met. It was really hard. It made me even more grateful for the plan of salvation. It was also a bit of a reality check for me. I am thankful for eternal families. We made a quick run to the mission office and I got to see Hermana James! She is training again in Stillwater. She will do good. We went back to the church and kept working on the play.  the YW helped us cut palm tree leaves and we took our dinner hour at 8. We ate super quickly so we could play volleyball the rest of our dinner hour. It was a blast to play with all the members! So much fun!

Thursday: Last day prepartions!!!!!!!!!!. President walkenhorst stopped by and dropped off the mission's mics and told us to guard them with our lives haha, no worries we didn't break any of them. Rosa and Miguel brought us flautas to the church since we didn't have time to leave. They are so nice. The ZL's were there helping us so Miguel went home and came back with more flautas for everyone. We had our last dress rehersel with everyone and barely made it home at 9:58 a full day of preparations. I have never been more tired.

Friday: SHOW TIME!!!! We ran some super last minute errands and had to return and get different cords, we tried to finish setting up for the activity and Hermana Medeiros and I made some dessert we had at a members house one time. She told us it was fruit (strawberries, apples, and grapes) mixed into sour cream and powdered sugar. it definitely didn't quite taste like hers but we had no other choice. and we were suppose to make enough for 100, but we miscalculated our ingredients and only made about 55.... so we spread them over the tables which helped our decorating... haha From about 4 to 10 I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off! I was trying to make sure everything was in order and ready to go. The activity started an hour late, but it was really good! Everyone loved it and the food was soooo good! Rosa and Reyna both made 100 tamales so 200 total and we were able to give everyone 2. We had about 70 people there so there were extra tamales for people to take home and it was just a super fun night! Everyone who came loved it and they were all praising us afterwards. I didn't think we were going to be able to pull it off, but somehow we did! The Lord definitely had his hand in it all!

Saturday: It took us all day to clean up. We folded everything and organized all the members things that they let us borrow into piles and helped take down lights and roll extension cords, i never knew it was possible to have so many extension cords with so few outlets. Miracle of the night was that we didn't blow a fuse and the gym didn't catch on fire.... but really. Hermano Garcia took us out to dinner.... where??? Taste of china round 2. Man. We finished up and headed home.

Sunday: we had a huge thunder storm. It kept us up all night and in the middle of it all I'm pretty sure we had an earthquake. crazy Oklahoma. We met the stake clerk at the church and updated the ward roster. That took a while, but we got it done. Hermano Romero (the mission leader) got called as the new 2nd councilor! he will be really good. Team fuego is baccckkk! I am so ready to put my feet on the pavement and start doing missionary work again! After dinner with the Guerreros, we went to try a referral, didn't answer so we decided to knock 2 doors and we ended up oyming a 3rd. We were able to give away 2 book of Mormons and get 2 return appointments!! It felt so good go be meeting new people and talking to people again. Missionary work is the best!!!

So transfers are this week and I have news............ Hermana Medeiros and I are staying together!!!! woooohooo!!! I am so happy. It will be a good transfer and we are going to work so hard. I am ready for the miracles to come. Elder Schwartz sadly is leaving. He will be dearly missed her in this area. He has done so much good here. Guess who is taking his spot..... .ELDER BARRY!!!!!! AHHH!!!!! when I found out I seriously was soooo excited!!! He is my mission brother! It is going to be really fun. I am pumped!  It will be so good for me and for the branch. There were so many changes this transfer. Hermana Medeiros and I are the only companionship who aren't changing. Everyone else in our zone is changing. So that will be fun.

Sorry there isn't much spiritual stuff in this email. I have learned more than anything that teamwork is so important. if you and your companion don't work as a team, nothing is going to get done. In everything that we do we need a team. The best team that we are always  a part of is, you, Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. They are team mates that will never let us down.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hermana Hilton

Our zone at the Zoo!!!!

Trying on hats in the gift shop :)

THis is Hermana Ordonez. She taught me how to make papusas! soooo good.

So I forgot to put this in the big email. On Monday I bought a ring from the zoo right? Tuesday I lost it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had looked everywhere I could think of and nothing.... On Wednesday morning we went to a members house to try and find it. No luck. Then we tried Subway. again no luck. Then Hermana Medeiros goes. maybe you threw it away with your sandwich... So dumpster diving we went! I had thrown my sandwich away at the church and when we went back and looked in the subway bag there it was all nice and safe!! woohoo!!!!!  

This is Melissa from the north! She came down for the funeral and we got to go to the mission office with her. I love her so much! It was good to see you Melissa!

now that what I call a full trunk.

The beginning stages of setting up.

hahaha this is Elder Thomas. He got pretty tired and decided to take a quick power nap. So funny!!!!

Practicing one last time before the big performance

making our desert in my makeshift apron! haha

Performance night! this is all the stage crew waiting backstage for our entrance

Say hi to King Noah! He did an amazing job!

One of my all time favorite families!! the Yanez family.

its a miracle we didnt' start a fire...... gotcords?

Us and the zone leaders after a long day of take down!

Yup I got pretty pooped after taking everything down!

before taste of china..... round 2

setting up lights for the play! go Elder Schwartz!

do you think we have enough Tamales?? Thank goodness we did!!!

Shout out to Grandma Teresa. I miss you grandma and I think about you always. I can't wait until the day I can give you a big hug and know that we will never be separated again. I love you Grandma :)

Week 60: Crunch Time!!!

Good morning!!! So this week has been so busy. We are going 120 miles per hour to get this Book of Mormon activity to work. This Friday the 15th we are having a HUGE branch activity. I believe I have talked about it before, but if I haven't here is a little bit about it. It is called A Journey to the Promised Land. It will be a play. like actors and costumes and memorized lines and lights and even a fog machine! so like super legit. The members of the branch are going to be Book of Mormon characters like Lehi, Nephi, Samuel the Lamanite, King Noah, Abinadi, King Benjamin, Moroni, and I might be forgetting some people. We are going to get to know their stories and "live" a little bit in the life that they lived. I am super excited! as exciting as it is, it has also been super stressful because we are the ones (us and the elders) that have to make it happen. We are coordinating practices, finding and making decorations, recording music, cooking food, passing the word, and much much much more. It will all be worth it when this activity is a huge success though! So pretty much that has been the focus of everything this week. Luckily the Lord has been very merciful and has placed little miracles here and there that have helped me get through the week. Here are a few of them.

So last Monday the 4th we were sitting in the Walmart parking lot after shopping, waiting for the Elders to get finished. This lady pushing a cart walks by and looks at us. She keeps walking and then all of a sudden stopped. She back tracked a little and looked at us again. Hermana Medeiros and I are a little weirded out by this point, but the lady proceeds to walk up to our car. I rolled down the window and she quickly said, "I want you to come to my house!" then us, "uhhh ok." She said after that, "I have been thinking a lot about religion and I just get so frustrated! There are so many denominations but only one Jesus! I just want to know which one is the right one." A little shocked and super excited I said, "Well I think we can help you! :)" She gave us her information and we sent it to the missionaries who cover where she lives. They went and taught her on Saturday and said she is doing really well. That was such a mind-blowing miracle.

Wednesday we had the opportunity to serve Yessica. It was a crazy crazy adventure! She wanted us to help her clean out her house and her backyard so that she could have a yard sale. Oh man. Going through other people's stuff is not my thing. (especially if I can't throw things away!) We moved a lot of stuff to the front of their house and got it all set up for a yard sale. The whole time Yessica's little girl Mila was helping us out. She is soooo stinking cute! After service on Wednesday we went around the northern part of South OKC and invited all of our less actives to the activity. and a miracle happened!!!! EVERYONE ANSWERED!!! I have knocked these doors a million times before and no one had answered. But this time literally every single door we knocked opened. It was amazing to finally get to meet the people and get to know them a little bit.




Friday we had a BIG rehersal with all the cast members for our activity. Elder Schwartz's family sent all his costumes to him, so we also had a lot of fun trying on all the costumes. I was blown away by how much he has and how much his family sent him.


Trying on costumes with all the kidlets!

Saturday we were able to go teach a lesson to the De La Cruz family. Rafael and Rosa and their mom was there. The mom told us that she is going back to the Dominican Republic on Friday (so like last Friday) So she wanted us to come over and have one last lesson with her and with her kids. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ. It was so cool to see her bear her testimony to her kids about how this gospel has changed her life. She wants so bad for her children to have the peace and knowledge that she has found. I think that all of our parents want that for us. I know I am so grateful for parents that taught me. It was a bittersweet goodbye.


This is the De La Cruz family!! Rafael, Mama, and Rosa!  They are awesome!


Another fun thing we did on Saturday. In the morning we helped with the Elemetary School track meet! So much fun! we helped all the little 5th and 6th graders in the long jump. way fun.



Sunday evening we went over to the Ordonez's home. We went over there to coordinate some things for the activity. We ended up talking with them for a little bit and I have never laughed so hard. I love this family soooo much! Hermano Ordonez asked us "wait... what happens if you are on your bikes and a tornado comes?" (he was so worried) and I said, "well we better pedal realllllllly fast!" he laughed and laughed and laughed. We joked around about that for a while. Then when he asked Hermana Medeiros to say the prayer before we left he asked where she was from. She said Ukatan (a state in Mexico) and he goes "oh... for real! how much time do you have here?" hahaha we laughed and laughed and laughed again. He totally believed her and the whole time his wife was laughing because she knows that we aren't from Mexico. Hermana Ordonez laughed so hard that she was crying. To be able to laugh with them that night really was a miracle. It was a well needed relief. I love the Ordonez family so much.

Well I think that just about sums up everything that I want to tell you guys. I have studied a ton about prayer this week. We had a district meeting on it. I have been studying it and then after that church was all about prayer. I know that it is the way that we can communicate with our father in heaven. He wants to pour blessings out on us. We just have to ask him in prayer. I am really working on having more sincere prayers and I know it has already begun to help. I know that our Heavenly Father listens to our prayers because we are literally children of Him.. He loves us so much. I hope and pray that you all had a wonderful week and we will see you next week!!!

Les quiero!
Hermana Hilton

This is the Romero family! brother romero is our branch mission leader and sister romero is the relief society president.

 This is cute little Mila!!!! we did service at her house :)

#teamfuego with the bomoberos!

 Just the girls

 I love this guy! Jorge Ramirez! we were having too much fun with our crowns :)

Week 59: La Conferencia General

Oh family and friends. I love you.

I am so grateful for this weekend that we have had to listen to our church leaders. I learned so many amazing things from general conference this time around. Here are some of my all time favorite quotes!

May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. -President Thomas S Monson

To believe, we need to get the gospel from our heads into our hearts!  -Bonnie L Oscarson

If you cannot say you know God is there, you can hope that He is. You can desire to believe. That is enough to start. -Dieter F Uchtdorf

There is no life so shattered that it cannot be restored. -Deiter F Uchtdorf

In today’s world, no matter where we live and no matter what our circumstances are, it is essential that our preeminent identity is as a child of God. -Donald L Hallstrom

These are just a few of the many many many wonderful things that we said in General Conference. I know that these men are called of God. They lead and guide us. We can be happy and have joy in this life as we head to the things the Spirit teaches us when we listen to their words. I know it. I am so grateful that twice a year we get to hear from them and set aside a weekend to be edified. There are many things that I discovered that I need to work on. One of them being forgiving others and most importantly forgiving myself. There are so many discouragements and doubts in this life, but if we have Christ as our rock, we won't fall. He won't let us. This doesn't mean that the hard times one come. It means we will be able to get through them. There is a Mormon message about a man who battled with a drug addiction. He said he finally decided to go to his knees and pray to the Lord. He states, "I didn't know what I was expecting to happen. So I though if he were right here in from of me, what would I want him to say? I thought, well I just want him to take this and say ," thanks, I got this." and instead at that moment I heard a question. "Will you let me take this?""  We must let Christ take our burdens. We must turn to him. It is the only way. I am beginning to see that this isn't just a once and your done thing. It is a daily plead we must do. We must give our will to Christ. Then He can heal us. 3 Nephi 9:13  "will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal‍ you?" Once we let go and let him heal us we find joy, we feel the love of our Savior. One of my favorite songs ever is "Multiplied" It expresses exactly how I feel about this love of our Savior.
MULTIPLIED

Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot contain
Your love will surely come find us
Like blazing wildfires singing Your name

God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
These Hallelujahs be multiplied

Well I guess yall probably want to know how the week went, so we will get to that a bit.
Monday was awesome it was Hermana Medeiros' birthday and we had a fiesta!!!!! It included a lot of basketball, a piñata, a cake, and a whole lot of laughing. FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MIJA!!!!!! TE QUIERO TAN MUCHO!!! We had a lot of fun.

Tuesday was pretty crazy too. we went on another temple trip with Reyna. She is really preoccupied with a lot of stuff going on with her family right now and isn't really sure where to go. She is in a lot of need of direction from God. The best part is that she is looking in the right places for that help that she needs. I love her so much and she reminds me so much of you mom. I don't know why, but you two have a lot in common. :) She came to conference on sunday and it was perfect for all of her worries and questions. I am so proud of her that she continues onward even when so many things aren't going her way. She is a saint and I love her so much.

Wednesday we worked a toooooooon on the Book of Mormon activity that we have quickly approaching the 15th of April. Elder Schwartz has written out a full play and we are practicing with members and making decoration and recording music and working like crazy to figure it all out! It is going to be soo legit when it all comes together!!! I wish you could all be there. We are even going to have a smoke machine!!!! A lot of our time and energy has been going to that and I pray that everything will go well.

Thursday we had exchanges which means that I was with Hermana Johnson for a day. IT was way fun. We went and taught Erik. He read!!!!!!!!! #miracle I can't tell you how amazing that is. He said he would be baptized too! woohoo! He really has a sincere heart and real intent. THe only thing is.... He is more comfortable in English so I think we are going to have to pass him over to the English missionaries since we work strictly with Spanish speakers.

Friday we went over with the elders to give Reyna a blessing of strength and guidance. It was amazing to see her resolve change and be strengthened through the power of the priesthood. They change that came about her was physical. you could see the determination, the peace, the confidence of the Lord on her face. The priesthood is real.

Saturday was the start of conference! In between the two sessions Hna Medeiros and I went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate her birthday and also my late birthday. Them back to the church for conference. We had dinner at the Vargas home and we had a barbeque outside. Way good hamburgers!!! then back the church to do more Book of Mormon activity preparations #palmtrees

Sunday we again watched General Conference. In the evening we took Hermana Quiroz to go visit Rosa. We taught the Plan of Salvation and man. You can see that Rosa is really beginning to become interested in all of this "Mormon stuff" haha She is starting to feel that hunger and starting to get fed by the spirit. It is a wonderful process to see. She also said that if she finds that it is true she will be baptized! She has a sincere desire to learn. Rosa and Hermana Quiroz get along sooooo well! I love it!

The work is moving along here in the Hispanic population of south Oklahoma City. It is a privilege and a joy to get to serve the Lord here. To end I want to end with one more quote from General Conference.

Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever. -Jeffery R Holland

It's true. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are cheering us on. I love you all so much and hope that you have a wonderful week!!!!

Cuidense
Hermana Hilton

Family Night with the Deleon Family and their brand new puppies!!!

hehehehe Hermana Medeiros' birthday party at Rosa's house! the good old Mordida!

Exchanges with Hermana Johnson!

Some of the palm trees that we are working on for the activity

late birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my favorite mija ever!!!!

barbeque at the Vargas' house! With good old dad fixing the car in the background haha.

Conference weekend woop woop!!!!!!