Los Campos Blanco

Familia y amigos como estan?!

Oh boy do I miss you! I think about many of you throughout the day. Different people remind me of someone from life before the mission and it makes me warm inside to know that there are good people everywhere I go! I hope that everyone is doing so absolutely well! Too optimistic? Never. I really hope you're doing so absolutely well!

Before anything else; I realized I never introduced you to my companion! Well, she is super cool and I spend every minute of every day with her (literally) so here is what I have come to learn:

Hermana Brown

Springville, Missouri

Taller than me

Bright blonde

Good teeth (seriously, a guy on the street commented on them about 15 times)

2nd of 7 kids whose names all begin with either K or C

BYU-Provo for 2 years (and actually wants to keep living in Utah... say whaaa?!)

Super healthy and makes me spinach smoothies in the mornings. Sometimes. When I'm wiling to drink them

She is quiet. It balances well because I talk a lot, and together we push each other to either talk more or to talk less, respectively.

Super funny. I especially like when she kneels to pray at night because she practically throws herself on the ground and flops her body over her bed. I don't know if I've told her this yet.. hold on, let me go tell her. Ok, I told her.

Very faithful. Without her our days would go by without direction. I feel like she's my compass, my Liahona. She is constantly in tune with the Spirit and often throughout the day will say “We aren't supposed to be doing this...” and then thinks for awhile. Then we'll put our heads together and come up with other ideas, pick one, completely change our schedule and end up finding exactly who we were supposed to find and do exactly what we were supposed to do that day.

Well that's my companion. Because she is blonde and I am blonde and we are on FIRE I gave us the team name Fuego de Rubio. The district seems to really like this title and it has picked up quite nicely!

OK PEOPLE! THE FIELD IS WHITE! THIS WORK IS INCREDIBLE!

Hermana Brown is also a new missionary... she had 5 weeks in Boston before I got here and she was assigned to be my trainer. Clearly, she has a lot of knowledge and strength because she took on this duty with flying colours. We took on the first week and did pretty well. Last Sunday the Mission President sent us Hermana F. This angel of a sister is from Paraguay and now has 1 week left before she goes home. She spent a whole year in this part of Boston so she came and showed us the ropes. She spent 4 whole days with us training, teaching, laughing, organizing, and helping us get our A-game on! We were sad to see her go on Thursday night but were excited to get started on our own... somehow it felt like the first day of our mission for both B and myself. Friday started and I'm not gonna lie, I had prayed the day before that it would snow again and that we could have one last day to get organized before starting. But lo and behold, the church is true, the book is blue, and the sky was too. So we took off. IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER! Everything we did, from the moment we left the house to the moment we returned home at 9:30PM was perfect. I don't have time to explain it all now but B wrote the whole day in her journal and we are going to scan it and send it soon. It took her 3 days to get it all down on paper and we are still marveling in how amazing that day was. The craziest part is that it didn't stop there. We woke up on Saturday and again, it was the best day ever! Sunday was nothing short of the same. Call us Butter because the past three days we were on a Roll. I'm tellin' ya.... it was amazing.

Here's the thing I want you to remember, if you don't remember anything else I write in any of the emails I send, this is what it's about. This is why I am here serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Heavenly Father Loves You. When we are defiant, when we mess up, when we feel lost, when we are confused, when we feel that we've done all we can but still feel unhappy, he is still there. He has directed the past three days, not us. This is His success, not ours. B and I can schedule our day any way we like but when it comes down to it, we do not chose where we go. The past three days we have been guided to people that are defiant, who have messed up, who feel lost, who are confused, who feel that they've done all that they can but still they feel unhappy... and we were able to help them. And had we gone through the day the way we wanted to, we wouldn't have even seen these people. I can't tell you the number of times that we've missed the bus we wanted and ended up getting to our destination JUST at the right time to bump into a situation that changed everything for the better. We met a wonderful woman from Haiti on the Train because B felt that we should take that particular car. We got off at thecompletely wrong bus stop and was waved down by the coolest Italian guy that is so ready to hear about the gospel. We walked miles to an appointment that didn't even happen, but because we missed the bus and had to walk we were picked up by a member that told us about her Aunt, our good friend, who went to the ER the previous night. So our scheduled appointment didn't even happen, and we had time to hop the train to the hospital. We are guided and directed every day and because we see this happening, we know that this is not our work that we are doing, but His. Remember that thing I told you before? Heavenly Father Loves You. Whatever you need, whenever you need it, in the moment that you need it most, Heavenly Father guides you. If you are feeling so down that you can't feel that guidance, or can't act on it, then guess what? He guides something TO you. Sometimes, it's the missionaries :) He is very aware of your life, even the smallest things, and He is helping you every step of the way. He has guided all of you to me at some point during my life. And if that were the only guidance I could see in my life I would be eternally indebted to God because he sent me some of the best people I could ask for in each of you.

So you thought I'd be all spiritual all the time? PSHHH here's some funnies for ya

Turns out I walk like a toddling infant because there are holes in the toes of my boots already. Solution: I wrap my feets in grocery bags

At dinner the other night we were singing a hymn and one Hermano sang like Celtic Woman, and the others sang like... well.... not good. I have never had to fight so hard to hold back laughter.

I ate 5 bean burritos last night. I wasn't even in a Hispanic home... this was purely by choice.

“Oh, I know where we are! The library is right down the street!”... we were right in front of our neighborhood, the library is about a 10 minute walk from there. Right when you think you know the place.... my companion still laughs about this.

We forgot to wear our name tags to the library. So I'm just chillin' in jeans like an apostate.

I had my first Dunkin' Donuts and I sure did dunk those donuts!!!

The houses here are different colours and sometimes you feel like you're in Whoville.

Hermana T pictured here holding her blue rose. She makes the best food and has the greatest spirit about her, but I have never understood a single thing she's said!

Well I'm off now. Gonna clean the whole house and I am STOKED! Gonna get me some beach and sponges and paper towels and I'm seriously excited about it. My new address should be up now so go on now and write me! If y'ant to.

LIFE IS A MISSION!

Hermana Hileman