STRETCHHHHHH

Happy almost July!

 

I suppose my 'subject' today is missions really stretch you.

 

This last week i went on intercambios with hermana kantoa who is the companion of hermana glauser who was sick. Hermana kantoa is from a group of islands near fiji. english is her 2nd language therefore making espanol her 3rd. so this was my first time being the companion who knew more spanish, and lets just say i was super exhausted. it was cool when hermana kantoa would testify though. she may not have conjugated everything right but the general idea was understood and more importantly the Spirit could be ferlt which was really cool.

 

I feel that really just goes to show that this is God's work. His missionaries/serveants are NOT scholars and scriptorians and even if they were if the Spirit wasnt with them it'd do them no good.

 

Im reminded of a quote by Ezra Taft Benson:

"The Spirit is the most important element in this work. With the Spirit magnifiying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Without the Spirit, you will never suceed regardless of your talent and ability"

 

I for one do not know a lot of spanish or a ton of scriptures or huge doctrines, but that doesnt matter. I have been called and set apart as one worthy to preach the Gospel. 

 

I know the Lord knows me and these people. Only by listening to the Spirit will i see/have any success in this work. 

 

When i went out with hna kantoa i was a little stressed and i honestly WANTED to be the one who stayed in with hna glauser but i knew i needed to pray and ask the Lord. I knelt down and expressed my concern and my fears and then i felt a feeling of comfort come over me and the thought ýou can do it'i still had a little miedo (fear)  but instead of dwelling on it i tossed it aside and focused on the comfort i had received through prayer.

 

im not going to say that the day went perfect and i suddenly became a fluent, native spaeaker and maginificent teacher.. because i didnt but we did meet some new people, worked with a reactivated member and had several lessons where the Spirit was present.

 

God streches us. He "brings the heat"and streches us. It is only when we get "cold"and shut down do we "break"... I may or may not have just compared ourselves to taffy ha but really that really is how we grow and stretch.

 

I'm reminded of a last general conference talk from Elder Bednar (LOGAN YOUR FAV APOSTLE!) called "bear up their burdens with ease". He kept mentioning "this load"that we all carry and how its nessary for our "Traction". He mentioned:

 

"sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load"

 

I liked that he then shared the scripture:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for i am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light"- Matthew 11:28-30

 

because its necessary for us to have a load and we call carry one, why carry one were currently carrying when we can carry Christ's which is light and the yoke is easy.

 

Our burdents arent taken away because their necessary for our growth and "traction"but with coming unto Christ who will gives us rest, who will give us the strength needed to carry the burdens and help us carry them.

 

So... load are necessary and so if im going to have to carry one i want to carry the burden which is lighter, which is Christ's.

 

My mission is definitely stretching me in many ways... other than physically... ha... but really, I am spritually growing and developing a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father. He really does love us and He is our Father. He's always tehre and like I did this last week in saying a prayer. It was as if I was kneeling at His feet and He gave me the Fatherly advice and comfort I really needed. 

 

I truly do know God lives and answers prayers. He really does love us.

 

Life is hard and we all have heavy ladens placed upon us but when we seek Heavenly Help we can receive the strength needed to carry them.

 

I know Christ paid and suffered for each one of us. He completely understands and because of His Atonement we can BECOME better.

 

This Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of hope, of truth, of light. 

I know its true..

 

I love each one of you and promise you that:

 

"..only the Gospel will save the world from calmaity of its own self destruction. Only the Gospel will unite men of all reaces and nationalities in peace. Only the Gospel will bring joy, happiness and salvataion to the human family"- Ezra Taft Benson

 

Only the Gospel.....

 

I love you guys,. Keep firm in the faith you have and strengthen it.

 

con muchiiiiisssssiiiiiimo amor,

Hermana Hildman

Crazy crazy week.....

woof...

 

this was a long week and a super crazy one. my comp and i are were sickly, her more than me. she had a high fever for like a good 36 hours so we stayed in one day and she slept alllll day. then hermana glauser got sick and the other hermanas came from Bani for intercambios and it worked out that i was staying with hermana glauser so i stayed in with her and played nurse and read so that was nice.

 

I kinda broke down this last week though. missionary work is tough man because you love these people and want them to progress and be happy and no one has really been progressing and people say theyll come to church but that doesnt mean they will and last sunday no one in our area had come to church and then my comp and i had a blow up and so i finally just broke down one day. however, im thankful i finally broke down and cried because i felt belther. sometimes you really do need a good cry and my comp was there and hugged me and that help with mending our companionship too.

 

and guess what?!?! we had people at church yesterday! Gabby came with Angie! Esterlin stayed all 3 hours. Carmen came with all her kids. A less active we have been working with named Ginet came with her daughter! Fernando had came down from Parra! I felt i was leaking happiness out of my pores. i was so happy. i gave a talk yesterday on missionary work and it went really weel and ijust looked at the congregation and i thought: ï really love these  people".... I know the Lord is gonne take me out after this transfer so i want to work super hard here these next two months.

 

UGH!! Love is such a blessing and a curse on the mission. Its the motivator to work and its the cause of sadness when people dont progress and then when you have to leave. However... i feel so so so soooooo blessed to be here and to know/love these people.

 

And, really im just an instrument in this work. It really is so cool that when I do my part in reading the scriptures, praying, getting up on time, going to bed on time in general just being obedient and keeping the commandments i am blessed and led/guided with what to say and share.

 

This IS God's work. I know it. I am working in it.This is His vineyard I am just a laborer.

 

Family, friends, familia amigos amigitos! I love you! and i truly do know God does too. You are not alone. The commandments really are tools more than they are rules.

 

Life is hard but the Gospel helps and helps explain our meaning to life.

Ill say it over and over again... becuase its true.

God lives as does His Son Jesus Christ. I know it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

con muchisimo amor,

 

Hermana Hildman

5 months in the mission.. whoop whoop

i feel like a ton happened this week because i have so so many pictures. im gonna try to send a ton out but my internet is really sucky today. :(

 

 

but anyway last p day.. i sprained my ankle playing "pato pato ganso"or in english "duck duck goose"so yay me right? haha but it hasnt really slowed me down its just been a little "gordita"is all. 

 

we had a fun "noche de hogar", "family home evening"with la familia santana sanchez and some memebers. we played "no come pedro"that was really fun.

 

my comp and i are getting along a lot better this week. 

 

we worked on a rug this week again. i dont know if i had mentioned it before but we have been doing some service and have been helping make this rug for a less actives wife. 

 

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!! The new mission president gave us permission to go to the temple with our branch!!! It feels weird to go to the capital because it kinda feels like im in states there lol.. but anyway i love the temple. our tire popped on the way back which seems typical but ha regardless we had a fun time with the members and i love to be able to go the temple. us missionaries even go to do a session. 

 

oh man i am sorry this email is all over the place and short. 

 

oh ps transfers came this last week. this last transfer was only 4 weeks so the coming one is 8. Hermana beesley is leaving but everyone else is staying in our district. which means i will be in Ocoa until atleast August 10th! yah!!!! :)) 

 

anyway i love you all! 

 

God works in mysterious ways

oh man weeks really are like years on the mission. im glad i have been good about writing in my journal this week because this week was really cool/special for me. im beginning to feel more comfortable with missionary work and loving it more. my spanish is improving and i finally feel like my personality is beginning to show through. i was able to be kind of jokeing and talk likei would have in english... but in spanish this week! 

anyway, time permitting i want to share a few experiences that happened this week.

 

one-

my comp and i went to last flores this week and went to a specific subdivision with hopes in finding a member who lived there. his name is roberto and he recently has been reactivated and is strong and we think itd be good to work with him in las flores. anyway, we had no edea where he lived because hna preilser and i had never visited him so we thought we would stop by a family julio had shown us about two weeks ago first. on your way down to the house we ran into this lady we had ran into a time before. the last time we had seen her she acted as if she knew us and asked us about our families and what not. but i did NOT know her and obviously neither did my comp. anyway, so wehen we saw this lady again our first thoughts were like "shoot heres that crazy lady again"but come to find out: 1, shes not crazy and 2 shes robertos wife and showed us wehre they lived so we could stop by later. Man, the Lord sure does work in mysterious ways and His timing really is perfect.

 

two-

we had a zone meeting in Bani and afterwards we went out to lunch and to "la Sirena"meaning "the mermaid"which is like the DR walmart. We always try to stop by there when were in bani and try and get things we cant get in ocoa. 

Anyway we got our shopping done and got stuffed in a gua gua to go back home when i realized i couldnt find my agenda/planner and i began to freak out because we needed to call some investigators because we were running late. so we got out of the gua gua and headed back to la sirena to try and find it. it wasnt in the locker and no one had turned it in so we decided to turn my whole bag inside out and sure enough it was there in a closed zipped pocket.. so i felt kinda dumb but atleast i had found it. so we headed back to the "gua gua station"to hitch head home and on our way over we saw a big gua gua headed to ocoa with ROOM! so we hurried and jumped on that one. There were a group of people sitting around of us and i decided i was gonna try to get out of my comfort zone and talk to them in spanish. it was kinda awkward but whatever, im awkward. anyway they eventually got off and were replaced by a couple. the one man knew some english and we began talking to him. we ended up teaching a short lesson. we think thats the reason i had lost my agenda so we could ahve had that lessonw ith him. we may have only planted a seed but it was worth it. Like i said, the Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

Anyway i love Ocoa and i really do love the people. and my love is forever growing. im going to be sad when i leave this area but i know i can/will see these people again.

 

This last week we taught Carmen and her kids as usual but also her mom! and bayillo!! (her "husband") It was so cool tohave everyone involved. we were able to have everyone aprtipate, even little Darbin. We talked about the plan of salvation and darbin wants to live in ël "sol" the "sun"... being the Celestial kingdom. Oh my goodness i just really love this family. When we left Darbin ran and gave me a hug and bonged his head on my book of mormon. i felt bad because as were walking a way i could see had a red mark on his head from my book but he yelled "te quiero!" ï love you!"and i yelled "te quiero mas!"ï love you more!".... 

 

I truly truly love these people. I am thankful that Heavenly Father has given me this sweet opportunity to meet and love thise wonderful people. i truly am seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ change lives, including mine. I know God lives and He loves us. I know He works in mysterious ways at times but He is all knowing and He loves us so we can trust Him.

 

I love all of you and truly know God answers prayers.

 

 

Con muchisimo amor,

 

Hermana Hildman

familia y amigos... es junio ahora... wao...

First off... happy belated birthday to my best friend Molly!!!!!!

 

Hola! its now June... woah... Summer time, crazy. I hope all of you are weel and have some fun summer plans, like writing me ;)... haha but really i hope camping, swimming, smores are all parts of some of your plans.

 

This last week we met the new mission president and his wife. Hes very adventourous (sorry i cant spelly).. He's 6'5'', likes to surf, climb mountains, and competitively bike race. His wife is a little more mellow and likes to read, cook and teach piano. He served a mission in spain and they have both served a mission in france i beleive? theyre origianlly from san diego california.

 

This last week was our first full week as a new companionship. were still trying to get things down with teaching and what not but its going good. we had some cool lessons this week but like none of them showed up for church... 

EXCEPT Josefina!.. who is a  less active who was baptized about 40 years ago. and from what i understand hasnt been very active. but we visited her this alst friday and she came to church on sunday which i wasnt expecting because i had visited her before with hermana priesler and she didnt seem like she wanted to come back. but she came to church and i hope she keeps coming!

 

we didnt have any investigators at church because carmen was sick and the others just didnt show. :(

CHURCH ATTENDANCE... thats how we progress. Howevers its not just going to church. We're not just "sunday mormons"... Sunday is a day of rest, a day to be edified, to be "sprititually rechared"a day to renew our baptismal coventant to start again in the comping week. we live the standards always, all throught the week and then come sunday we recharge and try again the coming week. 

 

Church isnt a hobby, it should be who you are... not just what you do on Sunday, but always... always lviing the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the same church that Christ established when He was here. It jas all the parts of Christ's church because it is His church. I know it was restored by Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is true.

 

the Restoration of the church weighs so heavy on the Book of Momron because if its not true Jospeh Smith wasnt a prophet and the church wasnt restored. 

 

However I know the Book of Mormon is true. I want you to read it. and if you have read it.. read it again... Pray sincerely to God, our Father in Heaven if its true because you CAN and WILL receive an answer wther its true or its not. You have nothing to lose, but so much to gain.

 

God loves you. I love you. You are a child of God and He wants you to be happy. I know that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through living it we can be happy, receive strength we need the hope the comfort, all of our needs.

 

i know this is Christs church. i know it is. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

 

 

con mucho amor,

Hermana HIldman