Happy Hump Day! - May 27, 2013

Dear family and friends,

Can you believe how fast time has flown!? One year down and another to go! And the work keeps marching on, as well. This week has been full of surprises! Surprise number 1: we went to go get haircuts and they really cut it good! Haha I don't think that I have cut my hair this short since I was like 4 and aunt Carol said she didn't like it! Haha I told the hair cutter lady to cut it pretty short on the sides, and a little bit longer on top. We put a 3 on the side and a 4 on top. And so the pictures explain a lot of what happened to me. It is super short, but very nice because I don't have to do anything to it... nor can I don anything to it. Surprise number 2: the other missionaries here in San Juan were planning a baptism on Saturday and one of the converts said that she wanted me to baptize her. It really caught me off guard. I had only met her a few times in exchanges and at church. She had been kinda doubtful about her baptism because her husband, who lives in the states, had told her not to get baptized. However, she had a dream that I was baptizing her and decided to go through with it. It was a great experience. It made me feel that I really am here for a reason. The Lord has me here for some reason or another. Surprise number 2.5: Maria, Giovani's mother, and Giovani's whole family came to the baptism and Maria is going to get baptized on Saturday! We are still waiting for Giovani and Esperanza to get married so that he can get baptized, but they are just so awesome. I love them so much. Surprise number 3: yesterday I received a phone call from Elder Monge and he is here visiting the mission! It made me way happy and excited to see him especially because he hasn't written me since he went home. It was even cooler because we went out and worked together because he was here in San Juan for 6 months of his mission. I miss the kid a lot! He has such a gift for gaining the confidence of the people. We visited one of his converts, Amanda, and it was so sweet! Man I loved it!

We keep working with Alejandra and her family. It seems like some people from Adventist church came and visited her and the flame kinda died. However, she still came to church yesterday! WE are also working with her brother, Ricardo. He is 18 years old and has had some troubles with drinking, but is going to stop drinking and wants to get baptized! It really makes me happy to see him make these changes in his life.

I love you all and thank you for everything that you do for me! I know that the Lord has his purposes and his ways, even though sometimes it is hard for us to align our will with His. If we can do it, we will be happy! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Hilton

Howdy! - May 20, 2013

Dear family and friends,

I am kinda squeezed on time today, but I'll get what I can off to you! Things are going pretty good. However, Elder Gomez and I both have been fighting some sicknesses lately. We keep fighting and working hard.

We are working with a part member family. The father's name is Giovani. We uploaded pictures of his family to dropbox this week. He didn't come to church yesterday because his wife feel from a ladder and broke her arm... I haven't had a lot of time to talk with him about that, but he is really excited. They just need to get their documents so they can have their IDs and then they'll get married and he'll get baptized. We have been working with his mom, but I think that her pastor came and talked with her about why she hadn't been going to church with him. We were explaing the Restoration to Giovani and his mom came in and she started to talk about how it didn't matter which church she went to because we all praise just one God, so it doesn't matter. WHAT!? This surprised us a lot because she seemed very postive and everything, but outta the blue she just decided that she didn't want to get baptized. Tomorrow we have a lesson with her, we just need to make her realize the importance of authority.

We have kinda just let off a little bit on the other families that haven't been coming to church. However, we are working with Marili and she came to church for the first time on Sunday! She has had a tough time because she had to work Sunday for 15 quetzales. That's about 2 dollars. However, we had a sweet lesson with her about the Sabbath Day and she dropped her job and this past week had a job interview on Tuesday! It was really sweet to see how once she had the faith to drop her job on Sunday, a better one opened up to her.

Well, I am about out of time, but I love you all and thank you for your support!

Love,

Elder Hilton

The week after Mother's Day - May 13, 2013

Dear family and friends,

It was so nice to talk on Skype on Saturday. I loved it a lot! Haha it was very nice to be able to talk with you on Skype, however, it was much harder than a regular phone call. It made me very grateful for the family that the Lord has blessed me with.

Well, Elder Gomez and I keep working hard and trying to find the people that are ready. He is really funny sometimes when he teaches. Haha sometimes he just goes off talking a ton trying to explain things or to explain a story that he wants to share. With that, our lessons become pretty lengthy. He is a good boy and I enjoy my time with him.

 In the phone call I talked about a few families that could get baptized on the 25th of May. They didn't come to church on Sunday, so their dates have fallen! We had a sweet lesson with Marili about the Sabbath Day and I really though that she was going to come, but she told us last night that something came up and couldn't come. However, Maria and her son, Giovani, both came to church again on Sunday! He is really going to get baptized on the 25th and hopefully his mom as well! He is preparing to get married to his wife and get baptized on the 25th! It is going to be so sweet! Also, yesterday there was another family that came to church. They live kinda far away, but they came and loved it! Their names are Rudy and Candelaria. They are a young couple and we have a lesson with them tonight. Alejandra came to church on Sunday and liked it, as well. Haha she is so funny and always has so many questions. She has been really worried about eating pork because in the Bible it said something about it. She is a funny lady, and I think that she is going to get baptized on June 1st. 

Today, for P day, we took off to look for some caves that people have told there are. Haha we found the place that we thought they would be, but just found a HUGE rock. So, we decided to keep going because they had told us that from some point on top of the mountain you could see the ocean! So, we took off in search of the ocean, but never found it.

I don't have all the time in the world right now, but just want to let you all know that I love you and thank you for your support and love. I know that the Lord puts specific people in our paths for a reason. I love you all and thank you for all that you have done for me!

Love,

Elder Hilton

Questions and Answers - May 13, 2013

Questions that we had:
But, what are all the shirts photos about?  Looks like your  living place is kind of empty.  Do you have chairs other than your desk chairs?  Is your only running water outside?  Where do you shower?  Do you have a couch?  Where was your bedding?  Your bed looked empty.   Where do you hang your clothes?  It looked like you had a small armoir, or something for hanging clothes, but it didn't look very big.    Looks like you have a clothes line that might be used for hanging lots of things.  Did you ever take photos of your living area in Huehuetenango?

You mentioned that your present companion was a little homesick at the beginning, was that when you were sick?  By the way, are you taking your vitamins, especially vitamin c if you are fighting a cold, or emergency drinks?  Gotta keep healthy so you feel like doing the work.

Answers from Seth:
We made some soccer jerseys for the zone and those were our options. I took pictures so that all the other missionaries could see and choose. Haha yes the house is kinda empty. Yes the only running water is outside, we shower in the little room that is outside. We don't have a couch or other chairs. Haha my bed wasn't really made, but I still have the blanket and everything! No worries! Haha to hang the clothes... I only really hang my shirts, my suit coat, and my suit pants. I fold up all the rest of my pants and it seems to work fine. This is the first house that I have had that didn't have two closet things.

I am still a little bit sick, but things are going well. Sometimes I do take the vitamins believe it or not! However, it isn't really every day haha. I can't remember when it was when I started to get sick. Thanks for evrything mom. I love you a lot!

Love,

Elder Hilton

Happy Mothers Day! - May 6, 2013

Dear family and friends,

Happy Mothers' Day to my mother, my grandmothers, my sister, my sister-in-laws and all my friends' mothers that helped to raise this wild child! Thanks for everything you have done for me and for being so patient with me! 

Well, this week has been a good week. Yesterday, we got a little frustrated because not a lot of investigadors came to church. However, a new investigador did come to church and it seems that she is going to get baptized with her son! Her name is Maria and she is really awesome. On Tuesday, I did exchanges with a new missionary, Elder Sanchez from Honduras. He is in San Mateo. We had our first lesson with Maria and he helped me out a ton! He has like 3 weeks in the field, but it was a really cool experience. We taught about the Restoration and she said, "oh, so this is the TRUE church!?" We just were like, YES!!!! It is the true church of Jesus Christ! It is really cool when the people understand so easily like that. I love it! Maria can't read, but we bought her a little gospel art book. So now, she can look through that and learn a little bit. Initially, we were just teaching her. However, her son started looking through the book and he liked it, so he came to church with her yesterday! He liked the hymns that we have and wants his own hymn book and his own gospel art book! It has been really sweet what has happened with them.

We have another investigador that always comes to church, her name is Paty. Her boyfriend is on a mission in Nicaragua or Honduras and so she comes to church all the time and always reads the Book of Mormon. Haha yesterday, she told us about how some Jehovah's Witnesses came around and she kinda stood them up in what they were saying! It was pretty sweet. The reason that she doesn't get baptized is that she wants support from her Catholic parents and she wants to wait for her boyfriend to be at the baptism. So, this week, we are going to have a Family Night with her parents to try to gain some confidence with them so that they can support her in what she wants to do.

It is kinda short this week, but time is up! It is alright though, because I'll be calling for Mothers' Day! Thanks for all the support!

Love,

Elder Hilton

Dad, thanks for the info. I had seen a little about that guy, but not too much. Now I understand a little better. That is really kinda crazy!

Haha, here the majority of the people wear shoes, but in Nahuala, there was quite a few more people that didn't wear shoes. I'd say that there it was like 5% of the people. Mainly just the old people don't wear shoes. They just aren't really used to wearing them. Ha they are just fine without shoes. Yes in Nahaula is where everybody speaksQuiche. I have heard that in Quiche hardly anybody speaks quiche. It doesn't really make sense to me haha, but whatever! Thanks for the update ad for the info! Love you dad!

Love,

Elder Hilton