The first week being a mother... i mean trainer ha- Feb 2nd 2015

So this first week has been super exhausting but super great. 

 

My daughers name is Hermana Larson. She is from San Diego, California and is like the sweetest, coolest, nicest person ever! i love her! Shes super tall like me and very skinny unlike me ha. She already has so much love for these people and i so intune with the Spirit. Its so awesome to see really how much the Spirit works in missionary work. Shes so good at recognizing the Spirit and pointing it out to me that I really have kinda taken it for granted.. and thought of special things as normal. but really the Spirit works and helps us every single day of missionary work and im glad she has helped me really notice it.

 

She shared something with me that really stood out to me that id love to share:

 

I dont know how the other churches do missionary work. The spirit is the most important thing in missionary work and thats the only thing i got right now.¨

 

The spirit always testifies of truth and truly is so important in missionary work. I love this work and know that its God´s work. Im not just going about sharing about Jesus Christ but I am truly striving to be His representive and do as He would do. I know Christ lives. I know He is our Savior. This is His church. I know that the Spirit testifies of Christ and of Heavenly Father. I am not really doing, I am just trying to bring the Spirit with me so that it can testify to these people of the truths that I know.

 

God loves us, I know it and i know you can all know if you dont. 

 

I love you all!

have a great week!

 

con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hildman

It's a Girl!! Jan 26th 2015

Yupp, I am having an hija...

i am training and Hermana Dibble is heading off to the capital and I am receiving a new hermana straight from the MTC.
 

i dont have much time because my comp ahs to pack and we have to leave today

i love you all!

the church is true!

 

hermana hildman

Small and simple things Jan 19 2015

So this week went by pretty fast.

Some things that happened this week:

1. ERICK GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

2. I got food poisoning.. and was out for a good whole day. That wasnt fun.

3. I hit year in the mission!

4. I mit Victor Payano who is a pitcher for the Texas Rangers.

Any way my dear loved ones, I dont have a lot of time but I just wanted to share a small experience I had this week.

We have a friend/investigator whos name is Juan Carlos. He is haitian but has lived here in the DR for over 14 years now. He speaks several languages and is taking our english class we offer every saturday. Hes come to church a few times but he works a lot. Anyway this saturday was his birthday and we forgot to wish happy birthday in class but we called him that night and he was so happy .He said he had even forgotten it was his birthday because no one had wished him a happy birthday. It was just a small act but it meant a lot to him, and it meant a lot to me that we could have Idone that for him.

He lives alone and works a lot. I dont know him a whole lot but he came to church on sunday and gave us hugs after church. Which was kind of awkward because we cant hug those of the opposite sex but he hugged us and was really touched by our small act of calling him the day before.

I truly know that God loves us, and that he uses others to help meet the needs of His children. I am here sharing the gospel and teaching about Jesus Christ. But really I am here as His representative doing as He would do. I know Christ lives and that He died for us.

We are loved. We are imperfect and we have dificulties but the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps strengthen all.

Never underestimate the small and simple acts you do. People remember the acts and how they felt.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

con amor,

Hermana Hildman

 

Decisions determine destiny-Jan 12th 2015

Wow i already have a month here in San Juan. I still feel fairly new in this area and theres a lot of ground we still haven't touched. theres a lot of missionaryAnd as President Monson has taught:

~~~Decisions determine destiny~~~

Really those things we choose whether they be as small as what to eat for breakfast or as big as deciding who to marry. They affect us, each and every one.

Having said that, I dont want everyone to worry about Every single little thing you do. However, be conscious of what youre choose and if those choices are ultimately helping lead you to your goals.

"Every journey begins with one step, so watch your step"

I am learning that others journeys are not always align or parallel with mine. some of us have different goals and desires because were all different. Therefore, different journeys leading to different destinations.

However it never hurts to invite others to take a stroll with us. we are a forever changing/evolving people. we are not cast in stone.

i will be forever thankful that i was invited to come back to church; that the members reached out to me... a 14 almost 15 year old girl who was walking down a journey that seemed good, she was happy.. but took a stroll back to church and never went back.

I adjusted/changed my journey . A better path. A happier one and sometimes a harder on but a path that leads to something greater.

I love Heavenly Fater and His plan of happiness, His plan of salvation. We are His children and have a purpose here. He knows us, He knows what we need and He knows when sometimes others need us.

I honestly dont know exactly how my life will be after th emission. I know ill be thrown curve balls and hardships. There will be times when ill be questioning "why?"... However, I know if i trust God, our loving Father in Heaven and do all I can to stay on this straight and narrow path it will ALL be worth it.

Life is hard and really the decisions we make determine our destiny but the best decison anyone of us could choose is reach out to our Heavenly Father. He can make much more out of our lives than we can alone.

I know He loves us, He wants the best for us. We are His children.

I love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Con amor,

Hermana Hildman

Ps. ERICK IS GETTING BAPTIZED SATURDAY

PPS. We learned how to make "Chaka" this last week. Its really sweet and big here. its mainly corn with milk and sugar.. .but a process for sure.

Pictures from New Year's, New companion, & house mates

The above is from New years eve; we helped a less active make bollitos.. which is fried yuka.

i helped grind it and then we rolled it and stuffed them with cheese.

please just look at how precious these kids are.

the first pic with the two kids is they saw me taking pics of my companion with the bollitos and they wanted a picture and the litle boy is her grandson.

he was my little buddy. he kept like petting my skirt because it was soft and while i was grinding the yuka he sat with his back against my leg drinking his bottle ha... so precious. 

Companion Hermana Dibble

 

Serving the Lord-January 5 2015

New years was really tranquilo for me but it was fun.

New years eve we helped Teresa (a less active member) make bollitos which is fried yuka. she told us the next day that she had sold all of them that night! i think to think it was because of us ha.. .but who knows?

we ate pizza, chicken, and salad with our branch president and some other leaders and then went home. waiting till 12.. said felicidades and crashed in our beds ha. The next day we had a zone activity to the waterfalls which is super super super far away and we were all a little exhausted from staying up late and getting up early to go. however it was really fun and super pretty! 

Teresa came to church yesterday and that was so cool! she is very poor so works a lot but we helped her peel yuka saturday so she could go to church on sunday and she came with us! yay! it was a good sunday. sundays always exhaust me but im gld today is pday for that reason ha. 

anyway im sorry this email is shorter this week. but it was a good week. I am happy and working and sweating in the DR heat but the work is true.

We have good days and we have hard days and i had a few hard days this week but i am thankful that I have the gospel in my life and know that I have a loving father in heaven. Were never alone even when we feel we are. I love this gospel, I know its true and that it is the greatest blessing we could ever give. 

Im thankful to be sharing it with those are  willing and to be serving others... but most importantly serving heavenly Father (mosiah 2:17)

 

con mucho amor!

hermana hildman

I hope you all had a great and a happy new year! Dec 30 2014

For our christmas activity we as a zone went to a nursing home and visited with the citizens there and sang christmas songs. That was a sweet experience. I visited with a man name Claudio for a long time. :)

 

Christmas was good. Christmas eve we were invited to an investigators home and had lasanga, rice, papeles, food... i cant remember it all. but it was good. Christmas day we made a potluck lunch and played games then skyped/talked to our families and that was weird haha... but it good. The time went by really fast. 

 

As a house we made a gingerbread house. hermana Dibbles parents had sent it to here. (we ate it the next day ha.. yumm)

I met an LA dodgers baseball player. He´s a brother of one of our investigators. hes superrrr tall and hes only 18! shoot... 

We had some good lessons this week. My favorite one is with one of our investigators named Erick. Hes 14 and has a baptism date for the 17th of January. 

We talked about the vision of the tree of life that Lehi has in the book of mormon. It was really cool. We explained what certain things represented and it CLICKED in his brain. I literally saw the lightbulb go on in his head. He got all excited and was asking questions and understood! He really wants this Gospel for his family too. His family is really nice and I still dont know them very well but they dont seem super interested... which makes me sad. and it made me sad to say Erick so excited and then make the comparison in the vision that lehi wanted to share the fruit with his family and some partook but some didnt. 

 

Life is tough. Missionary work is tough but I know that God lives and that Hes always here to help us. He can help change us into better people if we let him. 

 

My companion has a quote written in her scriptures that I love that goes:

¨He cannot work on what He does not have. He cannot have you, unless you give yourself to Him¨

 

God cant change us, help us with our weaknesses if we dont let him.. if we dont turn to Him..
 

I have a lot of nooks and bangs in my personality i hope to smooth out and I know I can only do so if I pray and ask God to help me. He really is our father in heaven and He can really do anything. I know He lives, I know He loves us.

 

con amor, Hermana Hildman

 

ps. Have a happy new year!!