October 29, 2012 Nahuala - New Companion

Elder Monge Leaving, and new companion Elder Perez

The making of Lanterns for the Celebration

Missionary Exchange

 
Howdy family and friends!

Okay, so transfers were last week and I have my comp! His name is Elder Perez from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He is very focused on the work.  He is 18 years old and we are both here in Nahualá. Haha My training maybe could have not been complete, but I don't think it will ever be. Elder Monge helped me to realize how to have fun and how to work with the members. Now with Elder Perez, we are contacting a lot more. He had the suggestion to contact more, so I accepted it--humbling my heart. I also learned that we need to understand each other and treat each other as equals. I think our companionship is going to be very fun. We just contact and contact and contact. Right now, it isn't too bad--maybe because it is the first time either of us have done it. I actually really like it! This training business is kinda tough because my comp is better than me--he still has the MTC high. He has already transferred some of that to me, so things are good.

The weather is getting better--it doesn't rain everyday now. I have heard that it is just going to get a lot colder--maybe like 2 or 3 degrees... haha we'll see!

Things are really good. We are still working with Salvador and his family. Now we are contacting like crazy! We found a man named Nacho this week. We were in the street talking to somebody and he just walked up to us and asked us when we were going to come to his house. He lives kinda far away so we told him that we would go visit him the following day. I thought it was kinda strange and he acted kinda strange, too. So we went to go look for him the next day. Almost everybody in this part of town was family--that was kinda crazy, too. They all knew who we were talking about, but weren't sure where he was. We finally found him and started teaching him; his brother came in and told us that he wanted us to teach him, too. Now, his brother seemed even more strange than Nacho. So, we went over to Manuel's house after to teach him. He put us in this room where he was staining furniture. Here, I realized why they were kinda crazy guys. They spend all day, every day in this little room maybe 15' x 15' staining furniture. We were in there for like 10 minutes and we may have inadvertently gotten high! No worries... NEVER to happen again! That was definitely an experience that I will never have again and will never forget. Things are going really good. We are going to talk with Manuel and Nacho and tell them that they are crazy because they just sit and stain things in that puny room all day long.

Thank you all for your support and love. I love you all and I love the Lord. I am so greatful for the Book of Mormon and for having been born in this gospel. It kills me that there is so much supporting this gospel, but the people cannot see it. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hilton

Photo's from Guatemala

Break Dancing Lesson?? At the Church?

Must be Pday

Elders from my group- Elder Gates (St. George), Snow (Las Vegas), Garcia (Honduras), Smith (Ephraim)

Attempt at Making a Chinese Lantern at Ward Party

Come on!  I tried?

Let's light it on Fire and see if it works!

Total failure.

Now for a Fire Dance?

Bishop's cute kids

Calla Lillies on the patio?

Dinner Anyone?

Cornelio and his family. Reina (his wife) and Ronaldo (his son.)

Four missionaries in Nahuala- Elder Monge (Nicaragua), Parra (Ecuador), Vaughn (Kanab)

Seth has either grown or Guatemalan's are really short people.  He says they are all really short.  He thinks it is because they start working when they are a bout 8 and carry a lot on their heads. (Cornelio's mother, sisters, and nieces)

Seth looks like a giant! [Salvador's family. Hector (son), Salvador (father), Nikte (daughter), Micaela (wife)]

Corn with deformities

The Guarchaj family Home

Elder Monge, Anderson, Chiquito, la Hermana, Juan

The Tambriz Family- la hermana, Esbin, Marilyn

Guarchaj family

Tono's family- Tono, mom, 

Juana's family-

This is missionary work?

Oh man!  Hope the vine doesn't break!  Mom better not see these photos!

October 22, 2012

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!

Now we have got some more time to write, so here come some details! To answer Mom's questions, today is transfers because tomorrow there was gonna be a riot. But, yes they do affect me! I am going to train! I am a little nervous, but I think it'll be really fun! I still don't know who I am gonna train. James Marriott is coming in this transfer; who knows? I could train him!? Elder Monge is going home. It is kinda sad to see him leave. I am very greatful to have been his companion. We have really become great friends. Haha, yes I did sprain my ankle playing soccer, very bad! However, things have cleared up. No worries :)  Yes it was me that had the springy tennis shoes that made me sprain my ankle tons. This last time was the only time I had sprained my ankle in my mission. I think it was probably the worst sprain of my life!

As for my pday pants, I have another pair and I can get more, no worries. I will make sure to use better pants from now on! Thanks for keepin me on the straight and narrow Mom!

Thanks for sending the package, I am super stoked to get it! The first package in the field! I can't wait to get it!

Yes, everybody here is short. Today I'll try to upload a funny picture of us and Salvador's family. They don't even reach my shoulder! Everybody is super short. It might be that from like 8 years old they are always using their heads to work. I really think that this could stunt growth.

That fall break sounds just wonderful. I really miss the leaves changing. Here everything is always green, which is not a bad thing, but I just like to have like real seasons. I was talking this week with somebody in our ward that studied at BYU and he told me that here there are just 2 seasons-rainy season and dry season. It is not like Utah where we have 4 good seasons.

That is really cool to hear about Divaunte, his wife, and their baby boy! That is really cool to hear. Tell them hi for me and that I am way proud of them. Landon found the lucky lady... FINALLY!!! Haha, that is really great too.

There is a returned missionary here that is having all kinds of problems with marriage and his wife. It is a really stupid situation. I am realizing that many of the people here have been offended by someone in the church. It is really hard for them to forgive and move on and make things better. This is basically the situation with Moroni, who has problems with his wife. They just need to make the decision to make things better and keep them better. Moroni's family is member, but his wife's is not. The wife's family are having a hard time forgiving Moroni's family for stupid things that he has done, and Moroni's family blames the wife's mom for the problems that they are having. The wife's mom is having a hard time thinking that she needs to get baptized because of this dumb situation.

Anyways, that piano party sounds really fun! Speaking of piano, I am starting to teach piano in preparation for a Christmas Concert. It is gonna be really cool! The kids are learning really fast. They have already been taught how to read music and how to count the notes in school, so we just have to convert it over to piano. I am really excited for this, but mom, is there anyway that you could scan some Christmas music and send it to me? Or like put the scans on dropbox¨? If you could do that, it would be awesome!!!

Okay, update time. Things are rolling along very well here! I really am starting to love our ward more and more. A lot of people have said that Nahualá is a really hard area and there is nothing to do. However, we have found that with the help of the members, things progress.

I am not sure if I have told you yet--We found out that Salvador and his wife are not married. This is also holding them back from the baptism. They are still really awesome. He has already finished 1 Nephi. He is a killer guy! It is just tough because he is more afraid from marriage than he is from baptism, even though he has lived with her for 21 years!!! I don't know why it is so tough. They think its just too much commitment to get married. I am not really sure, but its just weird. While Elder Monge was saying goodbye to everybody, he talked with them. I think that it made Salvador think about baptism a lot. We have explained that the Holy Ghost is something that could help him stay strong. It is just a weird deal. This Sunday his daughter, Nikte, came to church. He has told us that, "oh, Nikte, now she's Catholic!" It was really good to see her at church.

We had a ward activity on Friday--it was so much fun! It was kind of a going away party for Elder Monge. We played dodgeball and a game that was kinda like football. The thing is that we played both on a cement basketball court. It was so much fun to play football, especially because nobody has really played it ever, so I was able to help my team win! It was really a ton of fun! Afterwards, we tried to make Chinese Lanterns for Dia de los Muertos. However, our experiment went up in flames... Literally! There are pictures of that on dropbox.

That was basically our week in a little. It was a good week, but now its time to hit it hard with the hijo! I love you mom and dad, family, and friends. Thanks for everything and all your support. I am so blessed to see the hand of the Lord work in my life and in the lives of these people.

Love,

Elder Hilton

October 8, 2012 - Nahuala

Study Room

Dressers/Closets

Bedroom

                                                          Seth's Apartment in Nahuala

Hey Family and friends!

Well, we made it through another General Conference. This made me pretty homesick--to see all of Temple Square, the Conference Center, and to imagine the things that everybody is doing. I can only imagine and killed me not to be there! However, I still had a very wonderful General Conference. I loved the Priesthood Session and Elder Russell M Nelson's talk about asking the missionaries! I also loved Elder Neil L Anderson's and Elder Dallin H Oaks'. It was really cool to be able to listen to the voice of the Prophet. He is an inspired man and literally speaks for God on the earth. I really loved conference!

We are still teaching Salvador and his family. We ate dinner at their house last night, and it was soooooo good! It has been a long time since I have had food that good. We ate something called recaldo and rice, but it was really heavenly! It was basically like Guatemalan Haystacks. Very delicious. I am starting to like all the other food a lot more, too. Salvador and his family are so wonderful and I am very greatful for the opportunity I have to get to know them. We had a lesson with him this week and asked him if he would get baptized on the 20th of the this month. He said it was a little too soon. He wants to go a whole year without drinking before getting baptized. We tried to explain to him that if he did get baptized, he would always have the strength and help of the Spirit with him. Maybe we didn't do a very great job of teaching it, or maybe he just really wants to go a year without drinking. I think that this week will be the fourth week without drinking. He said that this is the longest that he has ever gone without drinking. It is just one example that the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. There are a lot of Evangelical churches here that say you don't really have to do anything to be saved. How twisted things are. We told Salvador that if he took a question that he wanted answered to General Conference, it would be answered. He asked us how that works, like if he needed to show it to anybody. No, the talks are inspired from God. They will answer any question that we have.

There is not a lot to write this week as I am getting more used to the mission life. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He knows exactly how to help us. All we need to do is just ask. He is our loving brother. I love you all and am very greatful for this opportunity to serve the Lord.

Love,
Elder Hilton

October 1, 2012

Okay, so last week I told you about Salvador and his family. They are still progressing. They read the Book of Mormon and have lots of questions! It is a rare thing that they can read, want to read, and question what they read! Right now, there are four people living in their house. Salvador, his wife--Micaela, Nikte--his daughter, Hector--his son, and Waykan--his other son. They are such a wonderful family and really wanna do what is right. Hector is like 14 and always is very interested in what we have. I really would like to see them get baptized and sealed in the temple. This week we showed them a video called "Together Forever." Salvador really learned from it and applied it to his own life. He also told us about another dream he had. It is crazy the control alcohol has over some people! So, this is the dream: he was just walking around or something and a friend offered to drink with him. Salvador told him that he was really trying to stop. The friend insisted, saying that he had a bottle of beer in his bag. Salvador told him that he didn't have anything, but the friend told him to check again. Salvador was sure that he didn't have any beer in his bag, but checked anyways. He found a bottle of beer and then woke up. You can interpret this dream any way you want, but I just thought about how Satan always has a way in!

The other family that we taught for the first time yesterday is really awesome, too. The wife, Maria, really wants to get baptized! The husband, Francisco, thought that too, but now isn't so sure. Or so say the members that we are working with. So we got to talk with him a little yesterday and he had a lot of tough questions for us! He is a really cool guy; he has worked in the states for like 12 years, so he knows some english, too. Our lesson was a tough one, it started raining really hard on their tin roof so we had to speak really loud and they didn't have a lot of time, so we also had to speak really fast. It was really cool and he seemed very interested!

Thank you for everything, I really do appreciate all the support! I love the Lord and realize the role of the Atonement more and more everyday. Love you mom, dad, family, and friends!

Love,

Elder Hilton