Hermana Kristen Hilburn: First Week As a Trainer!

Well MAGANDANG ARAW (good day in tagolog) FAMILIA WAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT A GREAT WEEK!

DAYS GO BY WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN. AND BELIEVE ME WE ARE HAVING A BLAST IN PIDUCO HERMANA MENDOZA AND I.

This week has been seriously the craziest and awesomest week so far in the mission. I am so excited to be training and I love my cute little Philippino trainee Hermana MENDOZA!!!

We have just been having a hoot of a time. She is the greatest human in all of the world and has the greatest desire to serve. In just one week she has literally brought so much laughter and joy into my life. Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed and he sent me the funniest and cutest angel.

So this past Monday, Hermana Cook and I had to go for a conference for trainers after pday to Rancagua, which is a 3 hour bus ride. We haven't seen each other since the CCM so we were chatting and chatting until we realized that we should've already gotten to Rancagua. So we went and asked the bus driver when we were going to get there and he said that we missed Rancagua and we are 15 min away from Santiago!!! oops... So I did a little repenting because of course I was the one who bought the tickets. So we had to take 2 other buses to get back to Rancagua. It was a whirlwind of a night, but we made it finally to Rancagua. Unfortunately we missed the training so I still have no idea what I'm doing!!! But it's okay because I'm pretty sure my companion is the one who is training me, because she is INCREDIBLE. She literally talks to every person we come in contact with and has such a strong desire to share with everyone. It's inspiring especially because I've gotten used to blending in with the Chileans but she is hard to miss with her cute strong accent and her complements to everyone.

Hermana Mendoza has had one cambio in the Philippines before she came to the CCM in Santiago because she was waiting for her visa. So I really am not training her that much but mostly working on the language. She's got 3 VERY DIFFERENT languages in her ear (English Spanish and Tagalog) but she can speak fluent English so it hasn't been too hard to help her. She is the cutest and I was even able to teach her how to ride a bike this week!!! Wow, do I feel accomplished!

I'm pretty sure she is a lucky charm because this week we have found a new investigator every single day and we had 4 investigators in church!!! Loreto and her son and 2 others we found this week. We also had 3 of our menos active families come to church. IT IS A MIRACLE THAT THESE SLEEPY CHILEANS GOT UP IN TIME TO GET THERE BOOTY'S TO CHURCH so it was such a week full of miracles.

Loreto is having a hard time leaving smoking so put her in your prayers. She's been a bit distant form us this week because I think she feels a lot of pressure. So we are just going to get back into her heart and help her realize all the blessings that come from the gospel.

ahhh I think I learn more from menos activia's than I do from my Scriptures. jk But really, I am learning so much of how to be strong in my testimony because we help so many people that leave the church for the dumbest reasons. We are working with a new menos activia family that have a hard time with some history of the church and they watched videos on youtube that were full of lies. They had a lot of questions that I didn't know how to answer. They were so wrapped up in doubt that they didn't even feel the testimony they had of the Savior. So we read Helaman 5:12 with them and helped them to rediscover there testimony of Jesus Christ. We reminded them of how He is the base of our testimony and how we need to focus all our faith in Him. It was such an incredible lesson and I haven't been able to forget the importance of our Savior and Redeemer. He has helped wash away all my worries, doubts, fears and sins. All we have to do is put our faith in Him.

I love these Chileans so much and I love the opportunity I have to serve them every day. I love you all and hope to hear from you!!!! *hint hint My Brothers!!!

Hermana Hilburn