Guatemala MTC - July 29th, 2012

I heard about the Batman thing... That makes me so sad, and
scared to do anything. But, anyways, aside from that, things here are
very good! I am very excited to get out to the field. I have heard a
lot of good things from returning missionaries that my president is
the bomb! I am very excited, and I felt ready to get outta here three
weeks ago. However, the extra threes weeks have really helped me to
grow and learn to love everybody even if they do things differently
than me or even if they aren't being as obedient as they should be.
Sounds like things went well with Kaitlyn's wedding. How crazy is
that! I can't believe it.

Oh this week was very wonderful. We were
able to go to the temple once again, and I took with me a few
questions that I had. It is amazing when we are in the presence of the
Lord how easy it is to hear the spirit. I know that He answers our
prayers if we intend to do whatever the answer is. I am so grateful
for all the wonderful missionaries I have met here. There are so many
that will go on to change so many lives. What a wonderful work this
is! Tuesday, we had another proselyting activity and this time, it was
only Elder Gibson and I. It went very well. I love the people here.
They are always so nice, and I have heard in Xela that they are even
nicer! The first man we talked with was named Marvin. He had some
splotches of white on his face, hands, and neck. I am not sure what it
is, but at first he seemed a little bothered by us. Then, as we talked
more, he accepted a Book of Mormon from us and told us that he would
read it. He has a lot of friends that are members and knows that we
have a very nice court for playing some ball! We asked him to go to
church on Sunday. He knows that we marry in the temple and I explained
that we get married in the temple to be together with our families
forever. Always and forever. That is something he wants and it was so
sweet. It is such a consolation that we have this knowledge of eternal
families. We know so much and it is wonderful! Another man we ran into
was named Luis. We had finished talking with another man and starting
walking away when Luis said something to us and so we came back and
talked with him a little more. He was a little more difficult to
understand, but I think that he was visiting a friend in the hospital.
We found that he likes the Book of Mormon, and has one! He is trying
to learn english and so he has an english one, we gave him another one
and gave him a number to call to get the missionaries at his house!
The only thing I wish I could see from this, is if the missionaries
actually contact him. This is one of the biggest reasons I am so
excited to get out the field. I know that this church is true, I love
the Lord and love this work. Continue doing what is right and you will
be blessed beyond reason. I love you all. I love the support that I
have. I received 4 letters from friends yesterday. How blessed I am to
have such a great support group. I love you! Love, Elder Hilton!

July 21, 2012 Guatemala MTC

Things are good! I am working hard, and sleeping everynight, and
eating three wonderful meals a day! I will continue to work as hard as
a I can, if I follow the rules exactly I know I'll be safe and
protected. It is inevitable that there will be hard times, but I am on
the Lord's errand. I need to do everything possible to take care of
myself, and in the places I slack, the Lord will pick up. No worries!
The beginning of this week I had a little run in with diarrhea. (no
pun intended) I woke up not feeling too hot, and had to use the
bathroom. I went and talked to Hermana Nicolaysen, President's wife,
and she gave me some stuff to take and told me to go back to bed. So I
did, and now things are much better. There is tons and tons of fruit
available here so I just have to be careful. I learned a little more
about the assistant to the president job. I am to be his eyes and ears
and stand for a good example. On Wednesday, a latino companionship got
in a pretty childish little tussle. They didn't wanna do anything with
each other after that. This was wednesday night, so I and the other
assistant, a latino thank heavens-Elder Herrera, spent until sleeping
time trying to explain to one of the missionaries how he needed to try
and fix things because they were not going to change companions. I
hope that this all makes sense! The other missionary did not want to
talk at all. Which made things even harder. We told the first
missionary that he just needs to realize that this is the Lord's work
and they need to do it His way. Both are not the humblest men on the
planet either, which doesn't help anything. However, things are
starting to get better with them. I really hope that they have some
experience that just humbles them pretty hard. We got to go to the
temple once again after it being closed for cleaning. There were too
many Nortes in our group so a select group got to go with the Latinos
where some were receiving their own endowments. The whole session was
in spanish, but it was so wonderful. I understood basically the whole
session. It offered some sweet time to think about the experience that
I had when I went through the temple. It was so sweet. We did get some
new latino roommates, both are so sweet. Elder Juarez, from Guate, and
Elder Ramirez from El Salvador. They are so sweet. Both come from
strong member families. Elder Juarez is 22? (not really sure.) They
really are both so great. Elder Juarez is a great soccer player. Still
loving all the soccer here. It is wonderful! Still playing the piano
we have a sweet musical number planned for sacrament meeting on
Sunday. Having to practice a lot for this. We are going to sing the
Prophets first prayer to the tune of come Thou Fount. It is gonna be
so sweet. Loving things here, but it is tough sometimes. Hopefully I
can get a letter off soon. I love you all! Love, Elder Hilton!

July 14,2012 Guatemala MTC

The spanish is coming poco a poco. Things are very good here.
Not so much rain this week which is
good and bad. The rain storms here are insane! Mainly because the
thunder makes such a loud, clean clap! This week all the latins took
off for their missions! In the time that we were missing latins, we
got to go an acre size 3D map of Guatemala! It was insane to see how
high up in the mountains Quetzaltenango is! The CCM president also
explained to us how the Book of Mormon played out in Guatemala and
Mexico. It makes a very convincing story! Right after that, we got to
go to the market and it was a sweet experience! It was a lot bigger
than any of the markets in Samoa. I got a sweet native shirt and some
other stuff. There was three levels of the market here. One for crafts
and home stuff, one for souvenir type stuff, and one for the food. The
food level was on the bottom. It was so crowded and so much food. We
walked down there for a couple minutes and the conglomeration of
rotting food, too many really sweaty people, and I don't know what
else--but it smelled RANK. I was so done with the food level after
about 30 seconds. We got to eat at Wendy's too which was a huge plus!
We talked to a man named Gustavo in the market, who just walked up to
us and said Mormons?? We were like ya!!! We continued to talk with
him. We didn't have a Book of Mormon to give to him, but it was sweet!
We took his information, so I hope that the missionaries find him!
There are always returning missionaries staying here in the temple
housing and so we get to talk with those that served in Quetzaltenango
a lot. Man I am so pumped to get out there! I love the days when we
get to go contact. They're wonderful! I was called as assistant to the
President of the CCM this week. I told him I'm not perfect, but it is
something that I strive for always! I think that was a big reason he
chose me. So excited for it. Haha basically my responsibilities are to
turn off the lights in the CCM and turn em on in the morning! Then,
Sunday morning I am supposed to help serve breakfast. Not too tough,
but very excited for it! Time is about up. I wanna close with a little
testimony: I know that my Savior lives. I know that this work is His.
Continue to be obedient and the Lord will bless you! Love you all!!
Love, Elder Hilton!

July 7, 2012 from Guatemala MTC

K, so I have 15 minutes to write this puppy, we'll see how much 

I can crank out. Don't judge me for all the mistakes that are 

inevitable...
(Mom, love ya and could you maybe dig up my priesthood lineage

chart and send it to me?! That would be wonderful!) 

Anyways, this week went by so fast. I have been here in the 

CCM almost 3 weeks now! How crazy. All the Latinos and viejo 

nortes are preparing to leave to the field either monday or 

tuesday. last monday we got to go proselyting somewhere in 

Guatemala City, pretty sweet but everything is very cramped 

not a huge fan of it! I loved it. We knocked doors with our
latino roommate Elder Segura, who has been just a peach this 

week. He has asked for a lot of things including a couple 

shirts, a couple pairs of pants, and a tie. None of which 

are not very inexpensive. I did end up giving him some 

shirts and a tie and a pair of pants, but it is just tough,

cuz he doesn't have a lot-- at least thats what he says, i

m not completely sure if its true. Either way he is a killer
worker and loves to do the right things.  We went knocking 

doors with him. We got to get into a house and it blew me 

away... We taught some people named Johnny and Vannessa 

with their gramma Amalia. They had hardly anything.... it was 

shocking how much we have in Utah and how much they had here. 

They had gravel yard with huge cement wall around
it, a couple chickens tied up and a lime tree and a banana 

tree. They were very humble as are many of the people here. 

I understand that I need to write more, but am almost out of 

time. I want to let you know of the things that I know. 

Although this business may be kinda dangerous, I am on the 

Lord's errand and will be protected through obedience. There 

is nothing more important than bringing people in to know of 

the joy and peace that we have--through our trust and faith in
God that Everything will be alright. Why should I fear anything 

I have the Lord with me. Continue believing in these things. 

The Lord is with us in everything that we do. I love you all 

and feel your support everyday. 

Thanks! Love, Elder Hilton

First Week and a Half in Guatemala

Hola Familia! Wow things sound pretty crazy! Haha we survived

the earthquake, they say that they are pretty frequent down 

here, we slept right through it! We also ate caballo (horse) 

for the first time in my life! The kinda sad thing is, it 

tasted pretty good! Dad, my compañero says that you had a 

compañero in Spain named Elder Gibson!? Guess what!? (It may 

not sound that exciting, but is very coincidental--meant to
happen!) My compañero's uncle was your compañero!!!! What is 

even weirder is that your Elder Gibson had a twin brother and 

that twin brother is my Elder Gibson's father! What a small 

world! Wow, all those fires sound very scary, I am praying for 

you to be safe, and don't want many more of those. Things are 

going very great, making a lot of great latino friends as well 

as gringo friends. There are many Latinos here that have not 

had their shots, or had their wisdom teeth taken out, or have 

not received their endowments. Also, many of them come from 

part member families. It is kinda cool to the work rolling
forth like a stone cut from a mountain without hands you know!?

There are two latinos, one compañerismo, that really stand out 

to me. Elder Castillo and Elder Vaca. They are such killer 

people. Elder castillo is a handsome Mexican from Sonora, 

Mexico and I cannot quite remember where Elder Vaca is from. 

Both are very good at soccer! Oh my, the soccer here is so much 

fun! I love it. The latinos put every ounce of energy they have 

into getting that ball into the goal! Anyways, Elder Castillo 

received his endowments this week, and it is very cool. My
roommate, Elder Vasquez, got his wisdom teeth taken out--his 

stitches came undone, lost a lot of blood, and was borderline 

shock. The dentist was able to come help him, but it was a 

sketchy situation. Mom, I can only imagine how freaked out you 

would be if I had to do all that business alone! So glad to have 

that knowledge, however. We now have an latino exchange companion, 

and his name is Elder Pineda from Panama. He is very humble, and 

is pretty timid. I don't think he has much of anything. It's 

amazing how much of a sacrifice it is to send these missionaries 

on missions. I am extremely glad they do,because their testimonies 

are strengthen from it. All the Latins are very strong in the 

gospel and know why they are here.  Today is Pday and we will get 

to play some soccer for about 3 hours. Extremely excited for that! 

That's how things went down last saturday, and it is so much fun! 

Well the spanish is getting better everyday. I love it here, the 

food continues to be amazing, interesting at times, but it is 

very good. We went to the temple here for the first time on Monday,
it is very small. Each session can only fit like maybe 30 people 

max.  I love it here so much. The weather is surprisingly a lot 

like Utah. We had a HUGE rain/thunderstorm on thursday. The 

thunder sounded so clean. It was amazing! also Elder Gibsons 

uncle will call sometime soon i think. things here can be so 

hot and warm and then switch to
rainy just like Utah, kinda crazy! However, it is much more humid 

herethan in Utah. Love the humidity. I am almost out of time.

                            Love, Elder Hilton! Love, ya!