I am on week 6!!!

Oh my goodness... i am on my last week of this transfer! so crazy. I should hopefully be staying here with my comp but anything could happen... so ill let you guys know next week. our district leader was saying that i could train a dominican and im like uhhhhh... and my comp said i could do it but that itd be a quiet transfer lol.

I dont know that MUCH spanish... but whatever happens i know the Lord is in it and He trusts that I can do whatever He has called me to do with His help. 

Alright so this week, for some reason it seemed harder for me than the previous weeks physically and spiritually but it was good. We played softball as a mutual activity and that was fun. my companion and I got kinda sun burnt but not too bad haha. Today we played baseball at the beach! My comp is trying to convert me to be an Escocido which is one of the baseball teams here. the two main ones are lions and tigers. lions are the escodios and are read and the tigers are blue... i cant remember thier actual name but she has actually never watched a baseball game in her life... oh bless her heart. I explained to her some basic rules about baseball today lol. Anyway.. i havent chosen a DR team yet... 

this week we got to do some service and as you guys know... I LOVE SERVICE!!! We helped wash dishes for a lady in our ward and do laundry with one of our investigators, Carmen... I dont know if I have told you a lot about Carmen... but she is so awesome. I love her and want to be more like her... So it was all on the Lord's time because we "just happened"to stop by when she was doing laundry... and i say just happened in quotes because I dont think it was by chance.... but her washer machine has just broke and she was doing laundry for 6 people... so needless to stay there was a lot of clothes so we helped wash, rinse and hang them by hand for her and it was so fun! we sang and just had a good ole time. Carmen, oh my, in the eyes of the world... she has NOTHING... but she really has so MUCH... so much faith, love and such a sweet beautiful family. She has 4 kids: Maria who is 12, Luis Mario who is 11, Marisol whos is 8 and Darbin who is 4. She teaches her kids so much  and the girls hold these "dramas"for us when were over. theyre so cute. they had a drama about helping people and then they just had one about like the basic concepts of the gospel.. like praying always, reading the scriptures, going to church... such a cute family. the only thing holding them back from baptism is marriage... which is a big issue here because its not in the culture to get married because its spendy and then once you have kids you have to pay extra for each kid you have... and this family doesnt have much but they are saving what they can for marriage... but before even marriage... her "husband"isnt a citizen of this country. His parents didnt declare his birth when he was born... and its free to do. His mother abandoned him and his dad is a wanderer so trying to find them now has been a wild goose chase because we need one of his parents to be there to declare him. So we fasted yesterday because we needed some Heavenly help and today... Carmen called us! And Her "husband", Bajijio, his dad was at their house this morning! So we told her to go get him declared... to run over there lol. So hope to hear it went well and can work on throwing her a bola!!! i think thats how you spell it... but a wedding!! ahhi i am so excited. they are so cute!!

Anyway, I am beginning to love the mission more... but it is so hard... agh... i dont want to murmur... so i wont. but its not easy, its so worth it. i am seeing peoples life change for the better and seeing them become happier through living the Gospel....

The language is still coming little by little... the gift of tongues is real, as well as the interpretation of tongues. Its not immediate  and it takes a lot of work on our part but the spanish i do know and understand is because of Heavenly Father's help. When I teach and testify, Heavenly Father doesnt give me words I dont already know... I ahve to work and learn them but he does help me better conjugate and speak more smoothly and on track. Sometimes when I start talk I start talking about something I was not planning on sharing but I just go with it because its making sense... and i am conjugating right for the most part... i am helped along the way by my comp and members but i truly believe i am helping share something these people need in my little broken spanish.

just the other day, I couldnt understand all of what was being said but a scripture popped in my head... Alma 32:27... i believe is what is is... i dont know ha... at the time it was in my head and i shared it and my comp afterwards was like wow... thats exactly waht they needed... and i just followed the Spirit.

Man Seminary really helps prepare for missions... scripture masteries are so awesome. and they are so true..,.

ay... this church is true. Saying that... I am not saying that all other churches are wrong but they only have parts. 

I love that this church... really pushes to find out for YOURSELF... Like I am out here, proselytying.. teaching the gospel but I am not condeming or yelling at people to repent and stuff... i mean record we all need to repent... but really... everyone has their agency and believe waht they want. I just know this is the chruch church and true gospel and that through it we can receive so much joy and I just want everyone to have the chance to experience it... I want them to find out for themself if this is true.

Ask God. Ask Him. He is your Father in Heaven, and He loves you.. Pray and ask him... Have faith and go to work and show that you have faith... Miracles come because of our faith...

And faith without works is dead.. James 2:17... Have faith... pray.. believe...

I love you guys so much! 

this week has been harder for me. I miss you guys a lot... but I love that companion shared with me that I am here because I want everyone here to be able to be with their families forever because i want to be with my family together... i may miss my family al ot... but this short time is worth it in the sense of eternity. life is short... so so short. and I want to do all I can in this life to be able to have so much joy in the life to come.

I have to go. But I love you guys!!

Hermana Hildman



Mailing options

If you would like to write to McKenzie there are two options. One is directly to her in the Dominican and is about .93 cents per ounce or via pouch mail through Salt Lake.  If you choose pouch mail it can only be one sheet of paper and folded into thirds sealed with scotch tape and apply U.S. postage and address the outside as follows;

Elder McKenzie Lynn Hildman
Dominican Republic West Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150

The address to mail letters or cards directly to her is as follows;
Elder McKenzie Lynn Hildman
C/Hatuey #73, Urb. Los Cacicazgos
Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana

Thank you

5 semana!

Hola mi familia y amigos!

This week has been really out of ordinary. Tuesday we visited a lot of people shortly and invited them to the conference this last weekend. We had to end our day short though because we had to leave for Bani and we stayed the night with the sisters there. I learned how to make Tostones which is the plantanos chips things. they are really good... but super healthy ha. We made those and fried salami... Dominican cooking. haha its dangerous though so much popping oil yikes. Anyway we left the next morning for the capital to go to the temple and we managed to shove our whole zone into like a 8 passenger van. 21 people.. ah yikes. it was a like a huge snuggling pool... but not really ha. anyway we went to the temple and it was amazing. first time all in spanish so that was interesting but it was good. Met a girl there that I had been talking to before the mission so that was cool. We then had Wendy´s!!! after the temple and came home. Thursday we went to Las Flores and visited a lot of inactive members and had good lessons. They just have a hard time getting to church because of their health but they have so  much faith.

     Okay... Friday. Friday started out a little rough because the night before we were told Deilyn couldnt get baptized and we were devasted because he was so ready and was working so hard. However we called pte..(presidente) well my comp did and he okay´d it. So that was wonderful but then things just kept getting worse... We lost the church keys and spent forever looking for them because we needed to lock the church because it was all prepped for Deilyns baptism and then the zone leaders called us and said he had sent the baptism registry papers with a gua gua ( a bus thing )and we spent our whole lunch chasing this guy down and I was ¨hangry¨because we were fasting and then the guy way overcharged us and ugh... so i downed my lunch very unhappily but we met up with Emilkin our awesome member missionary guy. This kid is seriously amazing... bless his little heart. He really is like the glue of our branch. 

      Anyway, we headed over to Deilyns familiy to invite them to Deilyns baptism and they said Deilyn was home and that he was up the hill getting his hair cut for his baptism... ahh so precious!!! it really helped to lift my spirits to see him so excited. 

      Deilyn a little later had his baptism interview with the district leader a little later at the church and asked if he could run home and go pick up his mom so he jumped on his motor and went and picked her up. it was so sweet to have her there. I had said the opening prayer, my comp gave a talk on baptism then we had a musical number. We sang Nearer my God to Thee in spanish.. I sang the first verse (SOLO!!!... crazy haha) and then my comp did the second verse then the 4 of us sisters sang the 3rd verse,. 

     Emilkin baptized Deilyn, and we totally forgot to tell him to bring a towel... so we gave him a another jumpsuit to dry off with. After the service Deilyns mom said she would be interested in learning more about the church which is so cool. Deilyn is seriously so awesome! I love him! He really is like Nephi in the Book of Mormon. His brothers are involved in some not very good things but Deilyn is such a huge example and prays and relies so much on Heavenly Father. I wish I had more time to share a lot of the miracles Deilyn has had because of his faith.

      I like a verse in the Book of Mormon, Ether 12 verse 6 and it says ¨You receive no witness after the trial of your faith¨

       Miracles come AFTER our faith. 

Deilyn is in the middle

Anyway, I love you all. My week has been interesting to say the least. being stuffed in gua guas and drowning forever in spanish but its so worth it. This Gospel is true and it brings so much happiness. Anyone who is searching and wanting to know if its true can ask God, our loving Heavenly Father directly... prayer is amazing. You can receive an answer through prayer.

I testify that you can. I love you! Remember Faith is key... but most importantly faith in Jesus Christ is the Most imporant key.. Show your faith through your works.

I love you all!!!

James 2, verse 17

Hermana Hildman

Deilyns baptism his mom on the right

Happy St Patrick’s day

so i kind of wanted to tell you how my week went.

mon' one of our investigators Carmen and her ´spouse´ agreed to a date to get legally married. and we actually had our first lesson with her ¨spouse¨... hooray´

Tuesday' we went out the elders quorum pres and met some new people. one girl was a teacher and i could like understand all she was saying because she was speaking really clear which was sooo awesome. 

wed'... my first zone conference... woah... that was an experience.. it was good... but we were there at the conference for 8 hours... ugh.. so much time lol.

thursday was an awesome day... we had a really cool lesson with our investigator Deilyn. i came up with the idea in the morning... and when i say i came up with the idea i dont think it was mine because it worked out sooo good. we had him start out in this room and we blindfolded him and said he first started out this way in the dark searching for God and the truth and therefore tried to find this rope. he found the rope... being the word of God... and it led to a door. the door representing baptism... then opened the door and walked in the hallway.. persevering... and then came to another door being temple covenants and then when he opened the door it was all lit up and he walked a little more and we had the room represent the celestial kingdom. he really liked the activity because he has a hard time understanding. and he said that when he was in the last room and took off the blindfold he said he know we were still there and that we were still in teh church but that it didnt feel like it and that he felt so good. it was so cool. and he is getting baptized this friday!!!! ahh i am so excited.

oh and thursday the power went out while i was doing laundry so i ended up doing it all by hand.. that was an adventure haha. 

friday' we decided to go out to eat and got sandwiches and i tried tostones which are like plantaine chips they are really good. we went up to parra with a girl from young womens and she is awesome. she is such a missionary and she was such a great addition to our lessons. she is only 15 and is so awesome.

oh and we got to do a little bit of service with peeling gualdoli... which is like peas.. that was fun. i love service.

okay saturday i turned 2!!!... two months out here... crazy. I woke up and went out to the kitchen and the other sisters had got up early and made me pancakes and cute little cards. it was so cute. i felt super special.

we went to barra (the other sisters area) and helped at their youth activity. the elders came too. there were a lot of kids and we played a lot of games. 

then sunday like a ton of the kids from barra came to church. so that was way coold. my comp had a talk in the pueblo about tithing and i had a talk in parra about pride vs humility... woah.. it was short and i shared a lot of sciptures ha... oh and the pueblo ps is like where the actual church is.. and most the members are. we also hold another short service in parra and that is where i gave my talk.oh and one of our investigator families came to church it was so awesome. the dad is an inactive member but the rest arent members. and they are so sweet. i love them. the one daughter janelca this last week we stopped by and asked if they had prayed to see if the church was true and she said she did and she felt so good and thought it was so cool that God answered her prayer.. she was like have you prayed to know its true lol... she loved church on sunday. 

Anyway,

church is true... like really. it is perfect. it helps us live the Gospel  which brings happiness now and to come... happiness that lasts FOREVER. Doing wahts right brings happiness that lasts. I am reminded of a scirpture in alma 41 verse ten that reads ¨Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. behold, i say unto you, wickedness never was happiness¨.

I like this scripture and I really feel it applies so much today. The world tries to convince us that smoking, doing drugs, drinking, partying, making fun of others, etc is fun... and at the time it is.. or seems like it is.. BUT it doesnt last. it doesnt last because ¨wickedness never was happiness¨... its deceived as happiness and is short lived. 

I testify that things of God, helping others, following His commandments and living the Gospel is what brings true, everlasting happiness. 

Tough times will come... but they will come a mist the happy... and if you do whats right you will come up on top... and happy. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior and Redeemer of the world, amen.

With love,

Hermana Hildman

The church is perfect, despite that the members are not

Oh man I have soo much to tell you guys! 

I´ll start off with things about Ocoa.
1. Dominoes is such a super intense game here haha... we asked the dad of one of our invesitgaroes Dailyn to teach us and they get all into it and slam them on the table and oh man... haha.

2. Yesterday we were walking to Parra and there was a baseball game going on and there was a donkey just chilling in right field... like what.. haha

3. Everyone keeps dying in Parra... I swear.. I dont know why... 

4. Oh man... the women here... and breast feeding... so not like the states... they just wip it out and im all like woah woah... culture shock there lol.

anyway.

This last week I had my first zone conference in Bani.. and I bought a blanket yay and a bunch of other things... one including dominoes pizza. oh yummy. 

We are getting more creative with our lunches. Lunch is the biggest meal here so us sisters switch off with the other sisters who cook for that day. But we have had like Ramen.. meat.. and spaghettie but were getting creative. Especially because we´re so limited to meat here.Anyway. Its kinda fun. We just throw whatever seasonings we have in the cupboard in it like real chefs haha.

Anyway, My spanish is coming along little by little. my comp kinda forgets I dont understand all that much yet and I just look at here and im like ¨ayúdame... which means help me lol. And When I tell the investigatores I have only been out like a week... theyre all like woah... so thats good. I am trying to keep learning it. REading in the book of mormon helps a lot.

This last week we finally got 

For whatever reason her email cut off right there. I am sure it is a glitch as it happened last week as well

Photos!!!

Love is a Universal Language

Well first off i want to apologize... i made a HUGE list of stuff i was going to share and i cannot find it.

sad sad day.

so i will try my best to remember what i wrote.

to start off my companion is from melba idaho. her name is hna priesler. she knows michael jenkins! what are the odds. and she went to West one year. and stuff. i love her so much. she is like 5´3´´ but she doesnt feel that short to me which is weird because i am HUGE in this country haha.. everyone here tells me i am ¨muy grande¨¨ and im all like yah... ¨¨estoy muy alta¨¨ haha.. one girl told me i needed a big bed haha. its funny.

Ocoa is the area i am at and it is in the mountains and it is sooo beautiful here. we do walk through some rivers so i am glad i found hna francis´s blog before i left about crocs... which is ironic because i replaced her here... whattttt... so crazy. its so pretty. i love it. i do get cold at night though so i have made a mkade shift blanket out of my cardigans and scarfs at night... haha look at me be so handy.. haha chiste... anyway i am so spoiled here. our house is huge. we have electricity, running water, a microwave.. like woah.

oh, ps. i have hitched hiked here... not to scare you. but its was super nice because we were going to Parra which is up the mountain and we got a ride up and down... like that never happens I guess... oh man. so nice. 

We have a donkey that lives next door and those creatures are noisy... `ps

One of our investigators looks like Uncle Derek... but like a younger, darker version haha. His name is Dailyn and is so awesome. He believes in the church and is going to all these activities and i invited him to be baptized (in spanish... what) and he said he would prepare but doesnt know he´ll be ready. but at the rate he is going.. he will be ready. he said when he commits to something he fully commits and i undestand that. but he keeps excercising his faith and he recognizes God´s hand in his life its so awesome. 

My spanish is coming along. The other day a guy asked if were were from Argentina... and we were like no we´re Americans lol. So i mean I guess that´s good right. I didn´t talk all that much so i think he was speaking more about my companions but he did say you guys and just just one of us... so theres hope. maybe ill sound like a latina soon woo hoo. 

We went to a waterfall today with the zone and that was fun. i got to hold a bat... a real one. i felt kinda bad but it was super cool. i hope to send you all these cool pics soon. oh and my bug spray is so awesome against mosquitos but there are these flies.. i think thats what it is anyway... my leg got attacked which is okay... like they dont itch but it was weird..

funny experience and tender mercy... so we get hard cover book of mormons to carry while we are out and my companion asked me to turn to mosiah 18 and it wasnt there... i am missing 50 pages in the middle and have mosiah 1 through 11 twice in my book... oh man i am glad i found that out now before i started to decorate my book and mark it and stuff holy moly. what a blessing. 

Oh man oh man... God is so real and loves us. I haven´t been out in the field very long.. not even quite a week and I cannot deny that this church is true... because I know it is. I have felt the Spirit so strong. This week we were teaching a family about the Restoration and (mind you I dont really know these people) and i felt this strong love for them... like i love all our investigators... and im like shooot i dont even know these people.. but God knows them and loves them sooo much and is so excited that i am here teaching His children. anyway... we were teaching this family and i taught right along with my companion and testified and i literally felt like i was glowing... like on fire. and the words i were saying were not my words... the mom started to cry and hugged me afterwards and thanked me adn it was so neat.  hna preisler and i were walking back and were like on cloud nine... we were like there is no way you can deny the truth of the church.

oh man guys.. i love  you so much. this church is true. i feel like i have been out forever. my companion and the other two sisters i live with all get along and click and its great. i am learning so much... like ¨veo veo¨ which is like eye spy.. and i love the children.

really like what my title of the email says... love is universal. no matter what. i may not be able to speak very well in either spanish or english but love is in all languages. and i seriously love these people. they dont have very much but they give all that they do have. just like waht it says in moroni 7, verse 47 charity is the pure love of Christ and these people live it.

i pray for you.

Dios le ama. 

Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador.

Hna,. Hildman