week 87

Hola mis queridos amigos! This week was quite the whirlwind staring off with transfers like always, but what made it really hard was that with all the changes our area book application deleted all 600 of our friends profiles. We tried everything to get them back, called every thinkable person that might be able to help, and all it led to was us sending in a long, detailed report to the Global Services Department in Salt Lake. The next day I got an email sayingg a case for my inquiry was created, and that we would be contacted shortly, but it's been a week now and we haven't heard anything! For those reading this that aren't familiar with the area book app, what happened to us is basically like losing every contact you've ever made on your phone. And since contacting people is all we do, it's like losing your job. We felt really lost for what to do at first, but it turned into lots of Facebook finding and starting conversations with people that are in the same groups as us. Meanwhile we have been creating profiles in area book for as many friends we can remember and reporting everything we can remember about past lessons with them. All we had was a whiteboard with around 25 names to go off of. So yeah, that was the start of our week! We had finished drawing the lines for the new district and re-drawing the lines for our other 2 districts in our zone and we hoped that once the lines showed up in area book, that our friends would show up too, but yesterday the lines finally came and we still had only 3 people in our areabook (all three of which were new people we found on Facebook this week). But apart from that huge setback, our week was fantastic!

Tuesday: 

Today something really sad happened that made me pretty angry. In the morning/afternoonish I recieve a text from Liliana, and older lady we are teaching. She asks me "Do the Sister missionaries ask for money?" (you have to remember that these hispanic people are so nice and trust us so much) "because some sisters are asking for money so send to someone who needs it in the Dominican Republic. Is this true or spam?". I Immediately said "No not us nor the hermanas will ever ask for money, it is definitely a trap. Send them a text that says you know they are not the hermanas." We immediately called the hermanas and asked them about their WhatsApp, and when they tried to enter is was blocked. Meanwhile Liliana sent me screenshots of their conversation and it was sickening how the person was using emoji's and mimicing the hermanas way of talking to ask for money. We called a few leaders, and Presidente Matos got in contact with the Police and President Bush got in contact with WhatsApp to get their account recovered. As soon as they got it back they called all of their contacts to see if they had recieved texts from them in the last few hours. Unfortunately many of them had and two of their friends actually paid the scammer. The hermanas felt terrible and we felt so bad for them. We called and thanked our friend Liliana for exposing the scammer and she felt really bad for the hermanas too. But the situation was resloved eventually and the work continues!

Wednesday:

The highlight of today was definitely District Council! Our district is so different after transfers and I am so proud of our district leader because he is doing such a great job. I'll put a picture in the bottom of all of us :)

All of our proselyting time today was spend calling members and Faebook finding (because we have no areabook:(

Elder Douglas played the Guitar for a bit after 9 today and he's really good! He also played the uke pretty well, and he's teaching me some good chords. It's going to be such a fun transfer!

Thursday:

I officially turn 20 months old in the mission! We made the buffalo ranch chicken in the crock pot again to celebrate so the house was smelling SO good. From 6:30 to 9 we had 5 lessons and every single one went through! It is so awesome being able to teach with such unity and know and trust that your companion will be able to pick up literally anywhere that you drop off. The lesson with Hermana Cover was especially espiritual as she told us of her mission and her current efforts to share the gospel and the rejection she recieves because of it. I was able to share a verse I had read that morning in 1 Pedro 4:13 to help her with those feelings of rejection. Then we talked about Alma and Amulek and the power of the testimony of the members and it was great.

Also the lesson with Alexander was incredible! We read another chapter in the Book of Mormon with him and answered all his questions. Then afterwards, he said that he was going to keep reading after the call to be in 2 Nefi 9 by tomorrow! 

Friday:

Today we were GOING to have service in the morning, but it started snowing so we couldn't drive. But then we realized it would only be a 15 ish minute walk, so we got permission and walked to the service! We were the only ones there though, so it wasn't quite as fun as normal, but hey, it's a heck of a lot better than being stuck in the house!

I'm running out of time again, so I'm going to skip to Sunday night because there was a MIRACLE that happened! On Firday Alexander had canceled, but we rescheduled it for tonight, an when we called, we started talking to Alexander, and then Nancy walked in and sat down in the camera next to him!!! After that we finished the Plan of Salvation, and talked about marraige and read some parts of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and got to know them and their goals better. It was such a good conversation and then we had to bring up the factt that they don't live in  our area and so other Elders would have to continue teaching him. When he asked why, Elder Streiff said that it was becasue of a separation in the church (a new branch was being created) but Alexander misinterpreted it and thought that we were separating from the church in Manassas and becoming Elders of a different church in Chantilly. I stepped in an explained that it wasn't a separation, but a growth that required a new building. I explained how the church is world-wide and we are still missionaries of the same, true church, and then he asked "can I go to the one you guys go to then?" and We tried explaining to him that no, he should go to the building that covers the area where he lives, but then he said that he lives in Centerville now and that the building in Chantilly is closer to his house!!!!!!! We all just sat there in silence realizing that we wouldn't have to pass him off to other Elders and then just celebrated a whole bunch! I am so EXCITED to see those two in person at church WOOHOOO!!!

A quick spiritual thought: 

This week one of our friends sadly said something along the lines of "If the true church of Jesus Christ was upon the earth, it would be so full of goodness that people would automatically flock to it, there would be no need for missionaries to proselytize.”

I thought about that quite a bit this week and have come to accept that his comment was just pretty naive and uninformed. Think about it, when the Savior was on the earth, even though he attracted some curious crowds from time to time, He did not find a massive following that could be sustained by itself. He himself had to call missionaries to go throughout the world to proselyte and find those who were ready to receive the gospel. And, ultimately, He was rejected and yielded his life to the angry misguided crowds.

Every day as missionaries (and members of Christ's church) we are called upon to suffer some degree of rejection for the Savior, Jesus Christ. That reality is not easy and it’s not pleasant. People are not generally “flocking” to our message. In those moments when it seems hard and unfair, we can remember the Savior’s promise to us, that “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16: 24-25)

With lots of love,

Elder Hilton