Week 20

 I swear every week I say the same thing, but this week really was amazing!! So many little miracles happened!

The first little miracle that happened this week is that we had lunch with Hermano Uesley and Hernana Javiera. Uesley is from Brazil and Javiera is from Chile. Uesley served in the Chile Vina Del Mar mission and that’s where they met each other!! But he learned Spanish from his mission and after they got married they lived in Brazil for a long time so the wife, Javiera, learned Portuguese. So both of them are 100% fluent in both languages. And they talk to their kids only in Portuguese so their kids learn both languages! And during this lunch I told Hermano Uesley that my brother, Mckay, served a mission in Brazil and he knows how to speak Portuguese. Luckily I remembered Mckay’s phone number and Uesley video called him! And it was super fun to hear Mckay and Uesley talk back and forth in Portuguese! But at the same time it was super confusing because there was 3 languages being used. For example, McKay speaks English and Portuguese, Uesley speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and I speak Spanish and English. So when mckay and Uesley are talking I can’t understand them, but when mckay and I are talking Uesley can’t understand us, and when Uesley and I are talking, mckay can’t understand us. As you can imagine it was crazy to try and talk so everyone understood, but it was super awesome to see mckay!! 

And to be honest, the rest of the week was kind of slow, but we still saw miracles! Xiomara’s boyfriend moved to Santiago!! Yayyyy! And she is preparing herself for her baptism this Saturday the 7th!! She is super ready and excited and has already seen the gospel change her life! I’m so grateful to be a part and witness her transformation. She is one of the strongest people I know. She has gone through literally the worst situations possible with no disire to live throughout her entire life, but now she has no thoughts of self harm or suicide and is looking forward to her life with a family that can be sealed for eternity. She had her baptismal interview on Sunday and we got the privilege to be in the room with her during her interview. And to see and hear her share her testimony was super powerful. And after we shared a really special moment together where I told her that it doesn’t matter to me if nobody for the rest of my mission listens to a word I say, it was worth it. I know that I chose to serve a mission for her. And obviously I’m going to keep trying to help other people, but I’m going to remember her forever. And when things are hard in my life after the mission, I will remember Xiomara and the faith she had and still has. If she can do it, I can too. And guys at this point I am crying. And I don’t know if everyone knows this, but before my mission I cried a lot but in a spiritual way. Every time I felt the spirit, tears would come to my eyes, almost everytime. But for some reason on my mission I have not cried very often. I can think of 2 times that I have cried. And I don’t know why but it has been a little bit hard for me. I’ve had to work on my patience with this. But in this moment the tears just came and flowed. And I felt a kind of love for Xiomara that I can’t express. Even right now I’m having a hard time putting my thoughts into words. But Xiomara also shared with us her gratitude for us and God for sending us to talk to her. It was a very beautiful experience. And it was an answer to our fast. Because we had been fasting the whole day. I know that power comes with fasting!!

We had the opportunity to be in the park with a giant poster of Jesus Christ that said “Christmas is Jesus Christ”. And we talked to everyone in the park and the other missionaries were there with us! It was a lot of fun!! 

Another miracle we saw was during our ward activity. It was an activity to remember the birth of Jesus. We sang as a choir Christmas songs and we watched the video of the birth of Jesus. This video is very spiritual and tears were flowing during this video as the spirit was confirming very strongly everything I saw. I know Jesus Christ lived and lives now. And I can never deny it. And I won’t deny it. And I am willing to serve and try everyday to give my life to God, to be as close to 100% faithful as I can be because he has given us everything.

We celebrated the birthday of Hernaman Ribeiro with Hernama Maria Elena, my grandma from Chile. And while she was preparing the food, the other sister missionaries were telling us of crazy miracles that they have seen, or heard from other missionaries that testify of the reality of Jesus Christ. That he really does live. One of the stories was that 2 elders were walking in the night back to their house. Where they were serving there was a temple on the hill. And they looked up at the temple, and there was someone walking around the temple grounds and it looked like there was some sort of a light with this person. And they just thought that it was maybe a night worker or someone. And later when they visited the temple, they asked the mission president if there was night time workers that kept the temple grounds safe, and the mission president said no. That there is no temple workers in the middle of the night. And these elders told him what they saw and the mission president said that sometimes Jesus Christ visits his temples and takes care of them at night. Now I’m not saying this is doctrine, but how special. The temples really are houses of Jesus Christ and he takes care of them. I just want to testify of the reality of Jesus Christ. He really lives. And we can participate in his love and mercy and receive healing, hope, patience, energy, or whatever we need. We can find it all in Christ. 

During this Christmas season, I challenge you to give a little more of your life to Christ. Maybe your time, maybe your thoughts. But give him something and I know with time you will receive from him more love, patience, and desire to follow him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I love you and God loves you!! 

Hermana Hilton