September 2, 2013 This is the Real Life

Dear family and friends,

Things are just rolling right along down here in the magical land of Guatemala. It really is awesome. I am loving it so much. Lately, it has been kinda tough to get things rolling in this area, but there we are fighting the good fight. This week we are gonna be trying to get an investigador in the water. His name is Deyvin and is 16 years old. He comes from a super Catholic family and is a little bit afraid of what his family will say when he gets baptized. However, he keeps coming to everything. His cousins and aunt and uncle are all recent converts. It is really cool when you can see people expanding the gospel in their own families. We have also been working with and girl named Ana. She is 13 years old and also comes from a nice Catholic family. But, it's the same story there. Her cousins and aunt are members, but she is afraid of the "parent factor." She is basically a member now, but just needs the baptism.

Also, we are working with some kids of a lady that has listened to missionaries, but doesn't want to stop working Sundays. I have never taught here, but that is the word on the street (from my comp.) But, we started last week to work with them and they are really positive. I love it! Their grandma is a member and also has some aunts and uncles that are members as well. They are just killing it out there. Their case is kinda sad, but it is nice to see them coming to church and living the gospel. I don't think a single one of them goes to school because they don't have a lot of money to be able to do it. Their mom is a single mom and makes tortillas in their house and sells them from her house and works weekends in a discoteca as a bartender. (A discoteca is like a dance. Haha it is kinda hard to explain.) She has four kids and the kids' father doesn't help out at all... It is kinda sad, but it will be great to see the small changes that they make in their lives.

We are also working with a mom and her daughter. Their names' are Mildred(mom) and Briseydy(daughter). They are really excited to get baptized. The missionaries have always been there for them. Mildred is restricted to a little home made wheelchair and live with her mom(Briseydy's grandma) and another son. Her story is kinda sad too, because now she can't work at all and they all have to live off of what grandma makes. I just know that one time Mildred got really sick and never recuperated fully and it left her paralyzed. Now her legs are super swollen and her bones are really weak. She can't really do much, but is ready and excited to get baptized.

Soon, they going to tear down the church building that we are in and they are going to start building a new one and they are going to build an institute building. They say that is it going to be a sweet new building. The nicest one in Huehuetenango! Too bad I won't be in the mission when it is finished. I put up some pictures of a service project that we did. We cut down the HUGE trees that were there and took them to the members that use firewood. WE had to be at the church at 5 in the morning and we finished at like 10:30, but it left us exhausted. We had do to some pretty heavy duty lifting. Remember, lift with your knees, not your back!

I love this work and I love the Lord. I love the fact that we can be families forever. I love you all and thanks for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Hilton

 

 

August 26, 2013

Dear Family & Friends, 

Things are pretty crazy. Our Pday activities are taking too 

much time, it doesn't leave us with a lot of time to write. 

Life has been pretty great. I have enjoyed it lately, however,

it has been pretty difficult. Because I walked into an area 

that didn't have a lot going for it. However, now we have 

gotten some more good stuff rolling. 

 
My companion now, is Elder Garcia from Mexico. He is a really 

great missionary. I like to be with him. He is really great. 

We get along well and we are getting a lot more stuff rolling 

here. I am very excited. However, it has been kinda tough to 

get things started for us, but we have some baptisms for next 

month. I like the city for all the access we have to every-

thing, but it is super crazy. There are cars and motorcycles 

and scooters EVERYWHERE! Haha I have to be a lot more careful 

with where I walk here. It is pretty nice too, because it 

hasn't been raining too much either. I do have a lot more 

communication with President Bautista now. He is a great guy 

and I know that he really wants what is best for the 

missionaries.
 
That is really cool that Grandpa is writing a book about 

Ephraim hanks. I didn't know that. I am excited to be able to 

read itwhen I get home. I am sure it will be very interesting. 

Grandma is turning 80 now? Wow, time flies when you're having 

fun, right!? Dave, what a crazy guy. He is just such a killer.
 
Well, things are going great here. We have been working with a 

few different people. We are working with a lot, but they just 

aren't progressing too fast. This week we found some kids that 

are all getting ready to get baptized. Their names are 

Carolina,Angel, Daniel, and Alicia. They are all siblings and 

are getting ready to get baptized. We are also working with a 

young family that is really aweosome. Their names are Cesar 

and Paty. They are very interested in the church, but they have 

a few roadblocks to get them to church. They have a fabric 

store and work every other Sunday and they work everyday, so 

that just makes things a little bit harder to teach them and 

help them to progress. I would say that they are the most 

positive investigators that we have right now.
 
I love this work, though at times, it is super tough. I love 

it and I love the Lord. Let's get some people baptized. 

Love you all!
 
Love,
Elder Hilton

August 12, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Things are rolling right along towards some baptisms. I am pretty excited to keep the work moving we have a few investigators coming up for baptism. We have Ana, who is a new convert's niece. She is pretty sweet. I think she'll be getting baptized pretty soon. We are working with the two other Young men, Jairo and Marvin. They are pretty sweet and seem pretty excited about everything. They'll been gettting baptized soon, too. We are working with Elfano, who is a fireman and is pretty excited about everything too. He has his challenges, but I feel like he is just going to take off progressing right now. I don't have a TON of time today, but I hope to get a Little more off next week.

Yesterday, we had an activity in the Santizo Family's house. They invited a Young couple to come and it turned out really awesome! We played Uno, but the person that won got to draw on the others' faces with eyeliner. It was pretty crazy and fun. Their names are Cesar and Paty. I am super excited to start teaching them because they have a ton of questions about the church and they have told us already that they like it! The only problem is that they work every other Sunday, and they don't really have a lot of time during the week. I seriously am super excited to get working with them.

Well, I love missionary work and love the Lord. I am so greatful for all the blessings I have. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Hilton

August 5, 2013

Dearest family and friends,
 

Surprise! I had emergency transfers to Huehuetenango! They told me Monday morning that I was going to be zone leader and so I expected that they would wait till the end of the transfer to move me, but they did it Monday night at 10. We had a zone leaders meeting on Tuesday morning in the mission home and after that we went straight to Huehue. It has been kinda wild lately, but now we have a few people to baptize this month. Have I ever told you how much I love the mission!? My companion is Elder Garcia from Mexico. He came with my "kid" into the mission and he is really awesome. We have also been comps with Elder Morrow from New Mexico. He is pretty sweet too. Tomorrow he is going to be the financial secretary for the mission, so we have just been chilling with him lately.

Things are pretty wild now. I am in the same zone that I was in last time I was in Huehue, but now I am realizing that I need to be a much better teacher. I think that was what I was missing in Victorias. The ward here is really great. Yesterday we had an asistence of about 200 and the ward's name is Centro, so we are basically in the middle of the city. I like it, but it is just tough because people have a lot of questions... At least that's how it seems to me. I feel like people here are a little more educated than in other places. I am very excited to be here and to be Elder Garcia's comp.

We are working with a guy named Elfano, who has little bit of trouble with drinking, but he has a baptismal date to work towards. He is a great guy, I actually met him last time I was in Huehue. So, he has been an investigador for quite a while, but he said that he wanted to get baptized now. We are also working with two young men named Marvin and Jairo. They are good friends, and I guess they have just come to church a bunch of times, we just need to get them baptized! We don't know much about them, but we ahve baptismal dates with them and I am way excited to get working with them, too.

That's basically what we have got going right now, but I am honestly pretty excited about things here. We have some families that we are working with and I really hope to get them baptized soon. I am just very blessed to have the comp that I do because he is really smart and is just a killer missionary. I love this work and everything that I get to do. I love the Lord and everything that he has done for me. I love you all for all your prayers and love.

Love,

Elder Hilton

July 29, 2013

Dearest family and friends,

Greetings once again from the land of 22 (billion) languages! Things are going great, however, Saturday was a really tough day. We went to visit Elvira and Erick, but they weren't home. Elvira's ex mother in law came down and in her broken spanish-mam told us that Elvira and Erick had gone to the coast and that they didn't want anything more with the church... It was quite a low blow. We were planning on them getting baptized in August, but it doesn't seem too promising anymore. Basically everything fell that day and it was extremely frustrating.

However, yesterday a few investigators showed up to church and that just kinda calmed things down a little bit. It made me pretty happy to see that the people had still shown up to church. There is one less active guy that we have been working with  whose name is Jorge. He has been coming to church lately after like 15 or 20 years of being inactive. It is pretty crazy. I have enjoyed seeing him at church every Sunday. Also, yesterday, Rodrigo passed the sacrament and it made me very happy. Last week, Marili brought some new investigators to church and we have been working with them. It has been really great to see how they are working with us. Marili and her family have been so blessed by the gospel. I did exchanges with Elder Sanchez who is in a neighboring area, San Mateo, and Elder Avila went and visited them and found out that before Rodrigo's baptism he was always drunk and would beat his wife, but now he's dropped his friends that he would drink with, doesn't beat his wife, leaves the house when he gets angry. Marili has got a sweet testimony. I love this. There is honestly nothing better than being able to help people makes their lives better. It is such a blessing and a joy. I love it and I love the Lord.

Love,

Elder Hilton

Happy Pioner Day - July 22, 2013

Dearest family and friends,

The work has been moving right along down here in the beautiful land of Guatemala. I have really enjoyed it. My companion, Elder Avila, from Bolivia, is really awesome and wants to learn english bad, so we are always talking. It is really fun, I love it!

Last Tuesday afternoon we went out to Cajola to visit Elvira and Erick and their family and started coming back on foot because there wasn't any busses. It's about a 20 minute bus ride so you can just imagine how long it would be on foot! We started walking back and about 5 or 10 minutes into the walk, a man passed by in his little Toyota truck, he picked us up and saved our lives. We started talking and got to go visit him on Thursday. They were expecting us and made us some cow stomach soup. It wasn't the most delicious thing I have eaten, but it really made my day. Haha it's not everyday you have a personal contact and you try to visit them and they aren't home. What's even better is that they made us dinner! It was really nice, he presented us to his family, we shared a scripture about Christ, invited them to church and took off. We were going to go again yesterday, but they had to run to the hospital for something. To say the least, it was a fun week of finding people.

Well, yesterday Elvira, Erick and their family didn't come to church... We didn't go out to get them, but we thought they were going to come. It was kinda a bummer but, it taught us that we can't slack off! We gotta work til those suckers are baptized! They seemed really pumped to come to church on Saturday, (they gave us some chuchitos, in the states they're called tamales) but they didn't show up. They were going through some tough things and so I think that might be what stopped them from getting to church.

Yesterday in church we almost got to 100 attendance! It was really cool a couple weeks ago we had like 60 people in sacrament meeting and yesterday we got to 98. It was a really good day. Rigo, Marili's dad, got the priesthood as well. It is really rewarding to see people progressing like that. She has been such a shining light for her family. And now, things are moving along better than ever! We are working with her brothers and her neighbors.

I know that this church is true. In the mission I have realized that the truth is something essential. A lot of people say that the church is true, but maybe they don't understand what exactly that means. What is the truth? Knowledge of things as they are, as they were and as they will be, and God knows all truth. I love His work and am so grateful to be a part of it. I love being an instrument in his hands!

Love,

Elder Hilton