Feb 25, 2013

Hey,

I had great experiences this week. We have been staying pretty busy as you know teaching and progressing all of the people so it has been going great. Yesterday we were able to have four baptisms with Nelson, Clementine, Yves, and Oliver. Yves and Oliver are the children to Cecil and they loved the gospel and have been coming to church for a long long time. They were all great and they will all build the church so that was really good. I had a pretty interesting interview this past week as I interviewed Pascasie's family for baptism the kids they did well, but when it came to sister Pascasie she had a very interesting story behind her and actually even the kids have an interesting story. It has to do with the genocide so I will have to tell you later. They were also able to tell me that the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" has a very special meaning like we know it does, but in K-Rwanda it has a very great meaning. So it was a good interview and all four of them passed. As a Zone last week we were able to have nine baptisms four from us four from Kigali 2 and one from Kigali 3 so were able to have a good amount of baptisms. Something else that happened this week was there was a pretty big storm it hailed and was pretty interesting we were in the church but as we went out some trees were knocked over and even some houses were damaged it was the biggest storm I have seen since I have been here. I am grateful to serve and to be on the Lords errand and I hope to continue to bring joy and peace to everyone I see. Still waiting for the church to be recognized here. We hope it happens soon.  Well I am doing great we are working down here and there is much more to do. 

Thanks for the wonderful email I hope you have a great week and that all goes well. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Hildreth

Feb 18, 2013

Hey,

The work is going on very wonderfully here. The church meeting went really well two of our investigators were confirmed and one received the Priesthood so that was really great. Also we had 80 people at Sacrament meeting and about 31+ were investigators. Some I have no idea where they come from.  It is somehow hard to keep track of them all. Most of those who are progressing come to church all the tiem.  Next week we should have some good baptisms with Clementine, Nelson, and Cecils two kids Yve and Oliver. So we are excited for that also we have a pretty busy week this week making sure that everyone will be ready for this week. Also another great achievement was Claire said she was ready to be baptized on the 16 of March she is Christophes wife and the story how he found the church and the spirit that led him is super amazing. That family will be a very strong family in the gospel. So Sunday went really well. The missionaries that are here love it too much ha it is really just a fantastic place. There are people who have a hard time keeping some commitments, but they are a little bit better. My companion Elder Terry is awesome and a really great friend now, he is a hard worker and ready to go. Also the others are great too. They send some of the most trusted missionaries here. So I know they are all wonderful. These next couple weeks will be really busy for me and the Elders that are here. I know that the a humble people can truly feel the spirit and I can feel and tell these people are very humble and that they can feel that spirit and have a huge desire to learn they know that this truly can strengthen them. Also I know their ancestors who have passed on are waiting for them to go to the Temple to do their work for them. They remind me a lot of the people who lived just after Christ came to the Americas humble and really accepting and no manner of Ites among them. No tribalism no I am better they are similar and it is just such a wonderful place to be. Oh and by the way this week was a cold one maybe if you were here you wouldn't think so, but I was freezing I even had to wear a sweater to sleep and go out in a sweater so that I wouldn't freeze pretty crazy.

  Glad to hear everyone is doing well and having a good time I am grateful to have such a wonderful family and friends and I hope all of you have such a wonderful week! Love you all

Elder Hildreth

Feb 11, 2013

Hey,

I am still doing wonderful here and I am loving it so much! This week we were able to see a good number of people baptized and progressing to baptism soon. We had 3 people baptized yesterday Isaac, Cecil, and Oliver. All of them have been coming to church for a long time and have been really excited and just waiting to be baptized. Isaac helps with translating all of the time which is awesome. Cecil is an older lady who I guess has been coming for a very long time, but no one knew she wasn't a member and when they found out she started getting the lessons and now she is baptized and her kids will follow very soon. So that was something really great this past week. Also at church we had a surprise Christophe, Claire, and Claudia all came they said they wouldn't be able too, but they did and it was really neat to see them. We are hoping that family will be baptized soon. Along with them we had many other investigators 29 of them. We just have so many people who feel the spirit and want to learn more. We also had 75 at church  so very many have been coming and it is really cool to see the church grow here and I believe it will continue to grow a ton. The Branch is now also starting to give callings and they are getting home teaching ready so that is another great and exciting thing coming up. It is really growing in the right way right now and it will continue to grow very well. So this week I was able to learn some Rwandan culture  really neat too. When someone has a child they gather the whole family around to name the baby so what ends up happening is everyone comes and then everyone has a chance to hold the baby look at the baby and say I call you ... and you say a name this is happening while the mom is away and the dad writes down the name and asks what does the name mean you tell him and then after everyone says a few names they decide what the name is going to be and if they choose your name you choose for the baby they give you some sort of present it is pretty neat. Just thought you would like to know some Rwandan Culture still getting to know it. Well being here there is a lot of work to do even without proselyting everyone brings their friends and the church just continues to grow. We are just hoping we can see all the people that come to church and just get these people prepared and ready for baptism, but we know there is a lot of work to be done. I am grateful for the spirit which is there and will always be with us as we are worthy and obedient to what the father has asked. I am grateful for the work and I love it so much the people here are so amazing and wonderful it is a blessing to be here. 

  I am glad to hear everyone is doing well and I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! Love you lots!

Elder Hildreth

Feb 4, 2013