El chikungunyah... ya no puede caminar... dun dun dun

Well this last week my companion got chikungunyah so she was down pretty much all week so  we did some intercambios (which i think translates to companion exchanges). I went you half the day with the relief society president, Angela. Shes 100% dominican... GUYS! i went out with someone who knew NO english. It went well too! Shes awesome, my spanish is improving. im told i need to be more confident when ispeak.  so ive been working on that. yesterday in fact we takled to some guys on the street and they kept directing their questions at me... either its my confidence or... i was a little more attractive? haha jk... my poor comp was covered in a rash, poor gal. she probably just looked exhausted. but my comps been a trooper. I dont know if any of you know what chikungunyah is but i heard a rumor its in the states but i dont know. 

 

something ironic is  just last p day my comp was writing her email about the people here arent smart about the chickungunyah and wearing repellent, etc and then that night she got it ha... but anyway it sucks. i havent gotten it but my changes just greatly increased since 3 of the 6 hermanas in our house have now had it.

 

it consists of a fever, pain in the joints and weak areas (like if youve broken anything it attacks that area). it gets to the point that "the victim".. dun dun cannot walk really and they start to feel better and get this nasty rash all over that looks like hives and their hands and feet swell. I imagine if it hits the states you guys will get a vaccine for it. 

 

well anyway, now that you are all informed... ha.. im sorry. a lot of my week conisted of nursing my comp back to health and doing intercambios to keep the work progressing.

 

 

speaking of the work we have two baptism dates set with two young girls named gabby and yoelis. Gabby is really excited about the book of mormon and is 1 nephi 10 now. however they werent at church yesterday which is always a huge bummer... 

 

However patricia (which honestly i find that name wayyy prettier in spanish than english) and her two daughters were at church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! her and her husband were sealed in teh temple but theyv ebeen inactive for several years and this last week she told us she was going to church and she came! i wa so happy and proud of her!!

 

Esterlin came too with his friend Ellezer. We gotta get Esterlin i the water! hes been to church 9 times now! we had set dates before but they fell through and then elarned he needed 8 times in church and he hasny been reading a ton so we havent set a new date but i hope he gets baptized before the end of this transfer!

 

well, i hope you all had a decent week and hope you all know i love YOU! con todo mi corazone.. and God loves you even mas. 

 

id love to hear from you guys! miss you!!

 

love hna hildman

 

 

(ps if you want to write a letter it takes 3 US stamps or 1 global stamp)

do yah miss me? ;)

I will have been out 6 months tomorrow. shoot.... do you guys miss me? haha thats a long time. im told it gets WAY faster after 6 months... "dique"which is DR slang for "supposedly". It's weird to think that a day after tomorrow I will be home in less than a year...

 

Entonces.....

Something interesting that happened this last week is: i got bed bugs. That was fun. However it wasnt that bad. I woke up one morning with bug bites which honestly isnt a surprise even though i have a mosquito net. I was telling the other hermanas that i had gotten eaten the night before and had a line of them on my leg. I literally had 13-15 little bug bites in a zig zag line like the snake river on my thigh. I was informed they were NOT mosquito bites but probably bed bugs so we checked my bed and sure enough i had some. So i ended up washing like everything.... my sheets, the clothes i had worn the day before, the clothes that touched those clothes and then i showered too. and gracias a Dios... my comp had bed bug spray and i sprayed my mattress. I havent been bit since so thats good. Anyway, needless to say it was a busy morning due to all the washing but it was good. Im just glad it wasnt lice because i want to avoid having lice my whole mission bit we'lll see how that goes... 

 

Anyway, so i want to share an experience i wrote in my journal this last week with you guys:

 

My companion and I were about to leave Las Flores (a barrio en our area) but were going to stop by Isabel's first because her husband had just died. My companion was, well was beginning to be, uneasy because we had not prepared anything in specific to share and was like "we need a scripture!. do you have one???"and I was like its fine we'll just put d&c to the test. She asked, what does that mean? I said in the very moment we need to share, we'll know what to share... to which she replied... you share it then.... haha... i told her okay but if thought of one to share it too.

 

Anyway, we show up at Isabels house the same time this couple does too on a motor so we walk in together. Isabels daughter (who weve never met) lets us in. A nieghbor shortly shows up too adn were sitting on the couch and we were told Isabel was sleeping so we decdided to visit with the other guests. Turns out the couple were students of Isabel and have been together 15 years and have 3 cute kdis.... funny experience ill quickly insert. She showed us a picture and said "how could anyone say they were ugly?"and i heard... which one is ugly? and i was like none of them are ugly but that one looks unhappy... and yah... she turned to my comp and was like she doesnt understand. i was like whatd she say? oh man.... but anyway we visited for un chin (a little) and asked since Isabel was sleeping if we could share a short message with them they said "claro"... or "Clearly". So we sang a hymn said a prayer.. and boom! a scripture popped in my head. It was cool. The spirit of the lesson was really cool. and then afterwards the daughter came in and said Isabel was awake and wanted us to come visit her. We come in to visit and find out she too is sick (with Chickungunyah) and so we sang, had a prayer, visited for a little, sang and Julio (our branch mission leader) just happened to appear and sang the last verse to the song. he asked if we were just starting and we said ending but we asked if he could offer the prayer and it was a really nice prayer. 

Anyway this was cool. The Lord's timing is perfect and He really does take care of His children, usually through others but He does watch out for us, i know it.

 

 

 

I did have another experience personally that really went to show me AGAIN God knows us and He knows how to help us and when. He sets things up perfectly... its sometimes frustrating, ha.

 

Because, you start to doubt or feel alone and you pray hoping someone much bigger than you can help and then... boom... He does. crazy how that works.

 

 

God is real and He is our Father in Heaven. No i havent had a vision or seen something miraculous in the eyes of the world but i have seen His hand in my life to pick me up, comfort me and send me/lead me to something i need in the exact moment just to show He's there.

 

I love all of you. I hope you have a great week and really try to see God's hand in your life.

 

We really are so blessed. Im glad He loves us so much because without Him I really cant do anything.

Anyway, i love you!!

 

 

con mucho amor,

 

Hermana Hildman

 

chistoso

famila y amigos

this weeks email is going to be un poco diferente. I fel like sharing some funny experiences because well, they happen. I will preface them by saying they were funny in the moment so if you dont find them funny now im sorry you just had to be there.

Experience 1:

My companion and I were visiting Roberto and to start the lesson we always sing a hymn so we asked what he would like to sing... he finally decided we should sing "Jesus en Pesebre"or Äway in a Manager"in english. Anyway the first word in the song es "Jesus"... and we begin to sing it and my comp begins to go ALL OUT in singing "Jesus es mi luz"(which is The Lord is my Light).... she got really embarassed haha... Roberto was like "Wheres that song?"she replied, ïn my head"... we then started over but my comp and i had a little trouble with singing because we were trying to not laugh...

Experience 2:

My companion and I were trying to decide how many contacts we had had one day and we couldnt decide and it was beginning to get a little heated (which i realize now was dumb reason to begin to get mad).. Then my eyes began to freak out and my comp was like ":whats wrong?"and i was like "my contacts"... it was ironic...

Experience 3:

My companion and I had just gotten into the street from leaving from an appt and there was this cow tied up next in a small piece of land next to this house. My comp was like Ï dare you touch it"and of coarse I was like Ökay, what will you give me?"she said Ïll give you a Chocarica (which is delicious chocolate milk) to which i thought was reasonable and as i started to walk closer to it I noticed there was this kid sitting on the porch intently watching us two so i started to feel weird. I then decided to talk to him... and ill write the convo in spanish first because it sounds less awkward to me in spanish but then ill write it in english ha.

Ësto es su vaca?   [is this your cow?]

*kid nods his head*

Ës muy grande   [Its really big]

then we walked away.

oh man... anyway... im still my weird awkward self... These experiences were funny in the moment and i hope you enjoyed them. Hope you all have a great week and enjoy the little fun moments you have.

love you all

Psalms 100:1-5

 

hermana Hildman