A week of administration

It hurts to have to neglect my area for a whole week, but this week, we had to completely focus on the administration in the offices. It´s always like that every transfer. I have goals and plans and desires for my area but a lot of the time there's no time to get them done. 

This week we received the new missionaries (6 north americans, one from Chile, one from Peru, a sister from Brazil and a sister from panamá)

Taking the missionaries that ended their missions to the airport was a preview of whats going to happen to my group in one more transfer. We had some problems with the overweight luggage of one elder and I got a little stressed out. It kind of ruined the moment of saying goodbye to him due to my stress and worries. 

I´m really happy about my mission and I hope that many more miracles occur before I end.  Thanks for all your support and love, I know I´ll continue to receive it when I get home.

Love, 

Elder Hilton

Ask for miracles

I told my comp several times this week ¨I´m so trunky¨ 
But in the weekly planning inventory he told me that I´m not trunky because I still haven´t lost my vision of the work or my diligence.

That´s what I´m going to work at, not losing my diligence or my vision of my goals. I was going through my journal of all the mission and the most exiting stories that there are have to do with praying for miracles. 

Several times in the mission I've been able to pray for a miracle and promise that I´d write it down. In the night I've been able to think about the day and recognize several miracles. Big and small.
I did so once more yesterday with my companion Elder Valencia (From Perú) and something happened that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the prayer of faith. We now have several investigators that are going to come to church and one with a baptismal date.

My biggest goal for the rest of the mission is to baptize 3 families. I really hope it happens and know that it can if I work hard each day to gain it. As they said in the conference, we can´t pray to strip someone of their agency, but I can work hard to find the right people, the people that have been prepared, I can pray to be guided to say the right words and be guided by the spirit in word and action. 

I really want to come home with a purified heart. With a new attitude. With a desire to serve in my heart. That's the change I strive to see in myself and in my converts. 

Love you guys. 
See you in 8 weeks. 

Elder Hilton

Our Savior´s Love

I loved General Conference.
I loved how they talked about the Plan of Salvation and how everyone can recognize the truths of it.
It got me excited to talk to people about Christ as is taught in the Book of Mormon.
An apostle once said that due to the restauration, we know more about Jesus Christ than anyone.
David A. Bednar said that we need to know Christ to be saved. 
By reading the book of Mormon, accepting what it teaches and living it, we come to know him perfectly. If we come to know him, we come to know his Father... And this is eternal life: to know the Father. 

The restored gospel makes it possible for us to live all that is required to become like our Savior. 
Jesus Christ once said ´be perfect´ and the testimony that Nefi leaves in the Book of Mormon is that the Lord will not give us any commandments without preparing the way for us to get them done. We have the potential to become even as our Savior.

As we feel his love in our loves and show our love toward him, we become true diciples. We become full of his love and are transformed in sources of his love and help. It is a goal that requires you to leave your comfort. Talk to people you normally wouldn´t talk to, do things you normally would feel uncomfortable doing. But thats the beginning of growth. 

I´m starting to see in my life that my weaknesses are too much and too strong for me to handle on my own. I need to rely on my Savior in order to be strong. We all do.

I love my family and am excited to see them once more. I´m planning a meeting with all my friends that have gone on missions so we can share some experiences and hear eachother talk in our native languages. 

Thanks for you support love and prayers.
With all respect and love
Elder Hilton

How to Be Busy and Love Others

The administration makes you naturally want to just make everything work out as we have it planned. But a good administrator is one that knows how to adapt to the needs of each individual and deal with it with patience and love. It provides a great opportunity to serve in a loving way. 

Sometimes we plan visits and we can´t get to them because of that. This week an Elder went home early because they discovered cancer in his abdomen, and a sister has an emergency transfer due to asthma. All those types of emergencies are to be delt with as soon as they appear and that makes it hard sometimes to get to the visits.

 But the good part is that we were able to invite some people to the General Conference and theyre going to come. One of our investigators came with us to visit his neighboor. 

My desire is to be completely prepared for a life of service in the gospel with an attitude of patience and love towards others. That´s why I´m grateful for this experience in the offices. It´ll be up to me to take advantage of this experience to learn and grow.

The Book of Mormon is the reason why I´m doing what I´m doing. This book has me convinced of the truthfulness of the existence of God, His Son Jesus Christ, the restoration of the church, and all it entails. 

Love you guys,
Elder Hilton

Work Hard, Get Up Early, Work Hard, Repeat

One of the things I love but that gets me so tired is being able to get the Elders to the airport. I did it two weeks ago, I did it last week and I'm going to do it this week. A lot of times, Elders go home for health, for passport problems or other issues that aren't related with sins. Its fun to get up early and do these things because no other elder can do so. But at the same time it makes me so tired all day. 
I love working close to the president and learning from him. 
My companion is the secretary of the finances and he has such a big vocabulary (Hes from Peru) so I'm learning a lot more spanish.
Im getting fat because Im eating a ton of burger king hahaha

Love you guys

Elder Hilton

Secretary of the Mission

They called us for the cambios and we were sure that I was going to stay and that Elder Moreno was going to go. (I had the hope of training a new missionary) but they called and told us that Elder Moreno was going to stay (Hes going to be there for a year) and that I had to come to be the secretary of the mission!

Its been the craziest responsibility ever. We had to take all the missionaries that were going home to the airport to help them to get through all the processing and we were up all night! So I just slept last night after a really long time of no sleep. We got to be present in the last dinner with president and the last testimony meeting with the missionaries that were leaving so it was really special. The food was really good haha! 

I'm going to learn a LOT these last 3 months to be more responsible, more organized and more confident. I have the goal to help at least 2 more families to know the gospel so I´m going to have to learn to balance my time between the office and the field. I'm going to be focused and work as HARD as I can to finish off the mission. Then when I get home, I´m going to keep working hard to prepare myself to create a family. That's the whole purpose of this gospel, to create happy families. That what I hope for. 

Love you guys

Elder Hilton

A Sad Week

I got sad a lot this week. We saw a lot of people reject the gospel or hear slander from other people or get drunk and a lot of other things. There's so much wickedness in this world.

But we did a cool activity of cake. We got the members to deliver cake to their neighbors and invite them to hear us. Were going to do it again this week because a few new people came to church because of it this week and now there's more investigators. And these investigators are different than the ones we find because of the friendship that they have with the members. They feel the support and love of the members and progress a LOT better. 

Here's my home made animal style fries that I made hahaha

For the time I'm going to end with my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Because of this Book I know that Christ is real and that God exists. I know their plan for me and the steps I must take in order to achieve this plan. If it weren't for this book I would probably doubt the very existence of God. There's so many people that doubt the existence of God but if they read the Book of Mormon they wouldn't doubt it. 

Elder Hilton