Last week In the Santiago MTC

HELLLLOOOOO EARTHLINGS. IT IS YOUR FAVORITE MISSIONARY IN THE HIZZLE COMING AT YOU HOT FROM SANTIAGO!!! AND GUESS WHAT, LAST EMAIL FROM SANTIAGO AHHHHHHHHHH

Well I can't believe another week has gone by!! The days here are long and I'm always dead by the end, but the weeks go by so fast!! Feels like I emailed y'all yesterday! That is life!!

This week was just ggrrreeeaaattt!!! We have really shifted into only Spanish days and man let me tell you, it sure is scary!! But all is well because I got the big man on my side!! This week we got 4 new teachers and they are ALLLL so awesome. The teachers here are just angels. They are so knowledgeable and awesome and I'm going to miss them so much. So they challenged us to speak only Spanish this Saturday and we all did it! Let me tell you.. it was ruff but I was able to speak all broken, terrible grammer Spanish all day Saturday without cheating! It was so cool and I proved to myself I could do it but not gonna lie it was crazy hard, but after I was like lets go. I got this. So the reason they had us do it was because we are so close to leaving!! This is my last email in the MTC because next Tuesday we will be riding buses to RANCAGUA. YEAH I KNOW CRAZY. It's so close and I'm so excited/terrified, but mostly excited. In preparation for leaving net week we are going contacting with REAL PEOPLE and going on splits with REAL MISSIONARIES THIS WEEK. I'm so excited I could just die. So we will be doing that Thursday and Friday and it's just crazy!!!!! 

Other news! My comp and I were made the sister training leaders this week!!!!! It's so cool to be in a leadership position here, even though it's really small, it's just awesome. Also it feels so good to be noticed for hard work and yeah. It's pretty cool and I'm kind of a big deal... (shout out to my Fam)haha

I am just seriously so sad I'm leaving the MTC next week. This place has been the greatest place to learn about my Savior and about how I can serve Him and His children.

We listened to this amazing talk by Elder Rasband and he said a line in his talk that hit me so hard. He said he asked all the mission presidents he interviewed, "if the testimony of Jesus Christ is burning in your blossom as much as it was when you were a missionary". Man let me just tell you that hit me. I was like, is the testimony of my Savior burning in my bosom? I know He lives, I know He loves me, but is the desire to be like him in everything I do burning within me?

Every day here I realize things I can do each day to better follow the Savior and sometimes it feels like I am so far behind and that there is no way I can live up to the man He is. But I know I can and it's through him. Man I love my savior. This morning for personal devotional I was just reading the stories of Christ in the bible and reading about all of his amazing miracles and I love it!. I love my Savior. I love His atonement. I love how through Him and only through Him I can be converted to the character of Christ.  I just love it here!!

I am so excited and happy to be here and I can feel Christ's love here with me. He is the person that lifts me up when I'm down, pushes me to be better. and through Him I can be with my family forever!!! AND I AM JUST SO EXCITED TO SHARE THAT. AHHHHHHHHHHHH I JUST GOTTA LEARN THIS LANGUAGE FIRST!!! But I know I can do it. our teachers always tell us the norte americanos always bring such a strong spirit into the lessons. They always tell us that because we don't know the language perfectly, is why we do so. Because we need all the help we can get to say what we feel and know we are always teaching with the spirit. It's AWESOME.

Well, I feel like I've completely turned into one of those preachy missionaries and I'm sorry for that but I don't really care. God is so good I just wanna talk about Him all the time, the atonement is literally the awesomest thing in the world and I want to share it's healing powers with everyone. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it's teachings has changed my life. Okay, well I love you all to the moon and back and I won't hear from you for 2 weeks because no p-day next week:( but send your prayers because I can always feel them! I love you all and I love my Savior!!!

Peace and blessings.

Hermana Hilburn

District 7

Amazing week! Meeting A Prophet of God.

HELLLLLOOOOOO FRIENDS AND FAMILY BACK IN AMERICA!!!!! ITS YOUR FAVE MISSIONARY COMING AT YOU HOT FROM CHILLLLEEEE THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH. Wow I have absolutely no idea where to start because this week was by far the greatest one since I've been here. Keep reading cuz this letter is about to be hot fire. 

Let me begin with giving you a little insight on how my mornings go every single day. So those of you who know me know I hate all dogs in the world except my own. (shout out Coop, I love you). But in Chile, there are nasty dogs everywhere you walk. So we go to a park every morning to excersize and I swear the dogs there have an underground club and they all talk about me and plot their next attack. So my comp and I decided we wanted to be fit humans and run in the mornings. Bad idea! We started running and this group of terrifying dogs straight up started chasing me and I just couldn't handle myself. I swear something in my body went crazy and I just sprinting so fast to find shelter. But it was probably not missionary approved shelter because I grabbed an elder and threw him in front of me. I swear the whole park went silent, because I touched an arm of an elder. It's okay because I repented and the atonement is real. But it's all good!! I didn't die and the dogs I think are now afraid of me. I also prayed so hard that they would break up there little gang and leave me alone and let me tell you prayers are answered!!! Even though it's a dumb small thing I know my Heavenly Father watches out for me and the other missionaries. There has already been so many instances where I've really seen that.

So I also had this amazing experience this week. 

Friday was kind of a rough day. I just felt so discouraged and down and for those who really know me, whenever I am down about even 1 thing, my world is falling apart. But I decided I was just gonna push through and everything was going to be okay. So around 7:30 some elders came in and told us Elder Bednar... yeah ELDER BEDNAR AND APOSTLE OF GOD! was in the chapel next door. So of course me being the nosy person I am had to go find out for myself the truth. So we walked out and saw body guards outside and nice cars all lined up around the CCM.

So I FREAKED OUT because I wanted to meet him so bad but I knew we weren't really supposed to be thinking about it because we had to teach an investigator. So I just suggested we all say a prayer and study for our investigators and whatever happened would be Gods will.. So my comp and I did just that. We studied and planned for our investigator and we taught him and the spirit was so strong and the lesson went so well. He was so receptive and it was so awesome to teach a lesson like that. Then after we were done we went back to our classroom and started to plan for the next day. As we were planning I heard our cute mission president's wife yell, "who wants to meet Elder Bednar?"

I JUMPED out of my chair so fast and ran over to her and she told us we needed to be quite reverent and that we might not get to meet him because he had so much to do. But I was soooooo okay with that, cause there was still a small chance we would. We were all waiting on the ledge just getting ready to watch him drive away and his car pulled up to us and he got out and started shaking alllllll of the missionaries hands. YES ALL OF OUR HANDS.

I literally can't even describe how cool it was becasue the second he got out of the car, I was hit with the spirit. You could just feel his goodness and it was so undeniable. He started shaking all of the Latinos hands and he wasn't really saying much but when he got to me. He stopped(probably because he was like, why is this girl crying so hysterically) and then he said ¨"Hermana Hilburn" (I'm like basically struck dumb at this point), "where's home for you?" and I literally threw up, "California" and then he was like "oh, what part?" and then I was like "Granite Bay, Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis" every area around us trying to relate with him and he said "no way!!! I'm going there next month!!" and I just was smiling so hard. The whole time we were talking I was shaking his hand, so I was a little nervous I was violating the don't touch the elders rule, but President was watching and it was an apostle so I assumed it was good: Man I just can't even describe to you how incredible it was!

I just know my Heavenly Father loves me and knows me. This man of God was so in tune with spirit he could just tell by just looking at me that I needed his love. I know that he is a prophet of God and ahhhh it was so amazing meeting him.

I know this gospel is true and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. It has blessed my life so much I cannot even begin to describe how grateful I am. I know Christ suffered in the garden for all the sins, afflictions and pains of the world. I find so much comfort in knowing my Savior knows exactly how I feel. He knows me and I love him.

Well I just want to leave with you my motto of the week:

"Be the kind of missionary that when you wake up in the morning, Satan goes, "oh crap she's up"

So excited to be here and I love you all so much. Have a great week everyone and remember how much I love you!!!

Hermana Hilburn

All of Hermana Hilburn's Roomies

Week 3. Out with the old, in with the new!

WELLL HELLLLOOOO AGAIN FAM AND FRIENDS. What a week. What a life. What a gospel we have. So lucky! So blessed!! So livin la vida loca.

Ok well this week kinda felt really boring but really don’t worry there was some spice that occurred.

So out with the old in with the new, we got all new missionaries because we sent out the first batch last week!! and it was a sad and happy thing. It was sad to see all our beloved friends leave but we were happy to welcome some new ones in. Hermana Christensen and I had to move rooms which was sad because we had to move into an old elder room. And let me tell you, my inner neat freak came out, and it came out hard. It was nasty but my comp and I got together and cleaned it. The only problem was we couldn’t fix the broken shower, that creates the freaking River Jordan all over the floor when you use it but its all good. We just get to do a little more cleaning to keep up every day, but all is well. Our new roomies are from Chile, Peru, Argentina and Oregon, so it’s a party and a half.

New people meant new teachers as well, and man was I sad to say goodbye to our old ones because they were sent straight from heaven. But don’t you worry because my teachers now might be even better. Our morning teacher is David Archuletta. you might have heard of him before. He’s so cool. jk its not really him but it looks exactly like him, and he sings like an angel. So I pray everyday to lock my heart, because oh man he’s a beauty. But he’s also an amazing teacher. He has already told us so many cool things and man I’m just one happy camper.

One of the things we do as a district with our new teacher is a group teaching. and HOLY COW ITS SO AWESOME. (I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE AN EXPLNATION POINT ON THIS THING BTW SO CAPS LOCK) We all get to teach an investigator as a group and wow, it’s miraculous watching. We get to teach him and stuff and its soo cool because we are like all connected through the spirit. It’s incredible. I’ll be thinking what we should say and someone will then say it. like so awesome. ah. dope sauce friends.

I’m just happy to be here. At first I was really having a hard time because I was like man I’m far away. But I feel so much comfort from all the millions of awesome people I’ve meet so far. Also it doesn’t hurt anything to be on temple grounds 24/7. Like I walk past the temple at least 5 times a day. How cool is that. We don’t get to go this week because the temple is closed for cleaning but it’s alright because I get to look at it and feel the awesomeness everyday.

Well just wanted to share a little thing with y’all. I have never felt the power of prayer so much in my life. I am like so excited to talk to my Heavenly Father every chance I get. Whenever I’m feeling down and feel like I can’t do it I just pray and feel better. I also know my Heavenly Father loves all his children because every time I teach I feel just a portion of his love and I just am like, YEAH HE LOVE US. One of those pump up church is true moments.

Well I love you all so much and send me stuff still. I’m still a dumb human who doubts herself all the time and I love hearing from all you guys. It’s such a pump up. ah. Well I hope you guys have an awesome week.

Oh and if you have the chance, watch or read Elder Holland’s talk from October of 2009 "Safety for the Soul" it will change ya life.

LOVE YOU ALL. CHILE IS AWEOSME, CHURCH IS TRUE.

Hermana Hilburn

PS  I love the MTC president and his wife and they have the sweetest down syndrome daughter and she’s like my best friend here. We got to talk to her mom about having her and she is so incredible and told us she is just a little slice of heaven. She knows how special she is to Heavenly Father and I can feel that as well. I just love her and the president and his wife, they are angels.

Gotta Love this Artwork 

 Exciting P-day fun at McDonald's

Week 2 Down!

HOLLLLAAAAA MY HOMIE G's BACK IN AMERICA!!!! 

Just want to start off by saying sorry for last weeks email.. haha It was a rough week and I was overwhelmed but all is well now!!! It's crazy trying to get used to things here but it's getting so much easier and awesome! So smiles allll around. This week was just super totally radfest awesome!! haha It was great and I'm one happy lil missionary. The only thing that is sad is that all the Latinos that got here when we did are heading off and leaving this wonderful place. They only stay for 2 weeks because they don't need to learn a whole language, haha so they are off and I'm so sad!! I'm going to miss them so much. I got super close with a couple of them and it kills me that I won't probably see them until the next life. But they are so great and going to bring so many people a ton of joy in there lives. I'm also sad because we will be switching teachers and I really don't know how I can possibly get more amazing teachers than the ones I had. But hey, I'm sure they will be great.

It's awesome to feel my testimony growing and being surrounded by so many cool people makes it pretty easy. Even though my testimony is changing, don't you dare worry, I am still the most awkward person in the whole entire world!!! haha One of my favorite teachers' name is Hermano Verra and he's just a lil goofster. He's always teasing me and I'm always teasing him. It's all fun and games and I love him!! So every time we have language practice he makes up sentences and we have to repeat them and translate them for practice. So it was my turn to translate and so I was feeling pretty confident in the Lang and I was like okay I'm ready. So he says a sentance and I thought about it and I was like thinking thats a lil weird for a teacher to say to a student, but he's goofy so I was like okay. So I thought he said, "it would be a blessing to be my girlfriend." When I said that everyone looked at me so strangely and I knew right away that was not at all what he said. Stupid me got a few words mixed up and what he really was saying was, it's a blessing to be your teacher. So I mean I guess I was kind of close but... hahah but the language is coming along!!! I am getting it slowly and I'm starting to understand so much more. We just taught an investigator last night and he told me that my Spanish was pretty good. So I'm feeling pretty okay right now!!

Another funny thing that happened this week was I met an Elder from Bothell Washington and his name is Elder Birrel. We were just talking and he knows Kyle and Grace!! Our companions were talking and I swear 3 teachers saw we were all talking and they all started to trickle on in to you know... make sure we were all keeping to ourselves and not flirting. It is sooooooo funny because I have no idea why they even would wonder with me, NO BOYS NO PROBLEM. So funny but there's been some problem with some of the Latinos being a lil to affectionate with the opposite sex so they just had to make sure we were following the rules. And we were, Don't worry. haha

I've had so many cool experiences with investigators but I really just want to tell you about one!!! My fave teacher ever's name is Herman Diaz and he is just so cool. He only teaches us like once a week but it's so awesome learning from him. He gave us a scenario of this man who was baptized and stopped going to church 2 weeks after. He told the bishop he wanted nothing to do with the church. Of course we still went because we were asked. I was so nervous for some reason because I was like, this guy doesn't want us there, he doesn't have a testimony, why should we go? But my comp who's awesome was like Hermana Hilburn, we were asked to go and we have to find out if there is something he needs. So we knocked on the door and he just peaks it open. He didn't want to talk to us but we jsut asked him how he was doing and if there was anything we could do for him. He then told us he wasn't good enough for this gospel and we should just go away. He was then about to shut the door on us because my companion and I were both speechless. But then I had such and overwhelming feeling of love I just had to tell him. So I just word vomited all in English about how much my companion and I loved him and how much his Heavenly Father loved him. I seriously felt I went on for like 20 minutes just telling him to never feel that way because no matter what his Father in Heaven loved him and for whatever reason he was sharing just a portion of that love with me so I could help.

Even though this wasn't a real investigator I have never felt a more real feeling of the spirit. It was telling me exactly what this man needed to hear and I was just the instrument in that moment. After we were done my teacher asked me why I said those things. I just explained how I couldn't not express the feelings I was feeling. He then told me that's exactly what I was supposed to do. Follow the spirit no matter how much doubt you may have. 

ahhhhhhhh I'm just so grateful. I'm so grateful to have a knowledge of my Saviors love for me. It's jsut so awesome and I can't wait to share with others. Even though the food here is kinda scary, the rooms are a lil nast and I'm constantly tired, I lvoe it. Because I know deep down in my heart that all those things don't matter and I'm here to serve my Father in Heaven.

Well I love you all so much and still keep me in your prayers because I truly felt them this week!! 

Also I could always use words of encouragement. Even though I'm a missionary I still am stupid sometimes and miss home and doubt myself. hahah Dang Satan.

Well keep on keeping on family and friends. My motto this week has been, "If you have a bad thought, tell it to go to heck," because that's exactly where it came from. oh and then pray to be strengthened." hahah love you guys and the church is true!!!!

Hermana Hilburn

Hermana Ollerton will be serving in Concepcion

 Herman Hilburn's District in the Santiago MTC

 One of Hermana Hilburn's favorite Latino roommates

Kristen being Kristen. Good thing we know she is happy:)