Week 6: I MADE IT TO COSTA RICA!!!!!

Hi mom just wanted to let you know that I made it here in Costa Rica safe and sound. There are lots of funny stories that I want to tell you like how because I was the Travel leader, I had to make sure everyone was at the bus on time with the right weight of suitcases, etc. but one Elder never showed up, so I had to run to his casa (the lights weren't on) and bang on the front door till someone opened it and then go bang on his door til he woke up (apparently his alarm didn't ring..) and I told him we gotta go! I told him to take what he needed to wear out of his suitcases and get ready while I take his suitcases to the buses. Luckily we barely made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare. After that, everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, I think I'm getting sick because I barely got any sleep at all because I was nervous and right as i was drifting off the CO alarm went off in our casa at 1145 and we all didn't know what to do, so we ended up going out of the casa and standing there while we waited for a guy to come inspect it. And then I never really fell asleep by the time my alarm went off at 3. so i'm really tired right now so sorry if this doesn't make any sense. oh its super windy outside and humid just like florida.

Saying Goodbye to Estevon, THE BEST COOK EVER!

The people that welcomed us were Americans that had been in the field for about a year, and they were speaking exactly like the latinos: fluent, fast, and expressively. I didn't know all of what they were saying, so they had to use a bit of English to get the important stuff across. seriously though, I look up to them so much for how they were able to accomplish that level of spanish. I was reminded that I still have tons and tons of learning to do to get even halfway to where they are. But as I was thinking about this, I was reminded about what the scriptures say. In Moroni 10  it says that perfection is in Christ, not in the world.  So, when we have faith in Christ, we can be "perfected in him" or be forgiven of mistakes, and be made a better person. I know that if i'm diligently faithful, spanish and lots of other things will come naturally.

The Mission President on the left and us 5 "newbies" who just arrived from the Mexico MTC

San Jose Costa Rica Temple!

Scripture of the day: D&C 112:10 "Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers."

Quote of the day "Fully accepting our Savior’s Atonement can increase our faith and give us courage to let go of constraining expectations that we are somehow required to be or to make things perfect." - Gerrit W. Gong

Love, Elder Hilton

Picture on the left is my new companion!  Picture on the right is a family member of one of my Haley's family she spent a lot of time with on her mission in Oklahoma City!!!  We ate breakfast at their house the morning we arrived.  Crazy, small world!!!!!