Heaven smiled down on the Hilton family in 2023!
Our
biggest smiles: when
the sun dried our clothes after hiking in the Narrows; John’s grilled chicken;
touring The Chosen film site; Rebekah’s crepes; powder ski days; Harry Potter
themed family reunion with a food tour & paddle boards; 3 adult moose at
Silver Lake; serving at the Provo Food and Care Coalition; Joseph’s chocolate
shakes; reunion with ancestor scavenger hunt, ropes course & zip line;
Sherlock Holmes shows; Statue of Liberty in NY; Annemarie’s welcome home hugs;
Kenya safari; rappelled down a 300 foot waterfall; humanitarian trip to Uganda
where we helped multiple villages get clean water sources, danced with the
villagers in celebration plus got to know the locals—life changing, seriously
one of the best things we have ever done—thank you Family Humanitarian
organization for this opportunity!
Fewest
smiles: got lost on a dark & cold hike; funerals;
flat tires; some tennis matches; uncooked & burnt meals.
Rebekah (10) received multiple medals in her Irish dance
competitions; first place Battle of the Books Cascade Elementary! Niagara
Falls, Church history tour; No sugar for 2 months for cash! Hard ski runs; high
scores piano festival; much effort into fundraising for and serving in Uganda
with Family Humanitarian; determined.
Katrina (14) passionate about almost all learning
including English classics, biology & math; girl’s tennis; card games
master; Israel tour; performed in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Rebekah;
published her first compilation of original short stories; high scores in
piano; fundraised for humanitarian trip; pioneer trek.
Joseph (17) president of Natl Honors Society & is
organizing multiple fundraising efforts for clean water in Uganda villages;
Varsity tennis captain; politics; Mock UN; taught kid’s magic camp; Israel tour;
hot tub time w/ dad; hiked Camelback mtn in sandals; looks out for sisters; Wicked
on Broadway; Maeser Prep Academy; driven.
Maria (19) white water rafting on the Nile; Conference
in Washington DC for young Americans; Newsies at the Sandy Hale Theater;
Studying Economics; Econ TA; RS pres; temple worker; received a mission call to
serve in Taiwan, Taichung leaving Jan 1; shows love to her siblings even in college;
loving life.
Annemarie (21) Finds joy teaching others about Jesus
Christ, especially in the England Leeds mission speaking Mandarin; put on events
for the Chinese holidays; translated website content into Mandarin; returned
from her 18 month mission in Nov; we are so happy she is home; back to BYU in
Jan; smiles & serves; loves God.
Levi (22) Mentor/in-field remote trainer at the MTC; student
taught seminary; sold solar in summer; President of BYU College Republicans &
advocates for civil dialogue; BYU political review writer; Israel asst tour
guide; Junior at BYU in the Finance program; runs podcast “Mission Moments”; fun;
resourceful; forward thinker.
Lani creator of card set to play/learn/teach about
“Who’s who in the Easter Story;” led service expedition to Uganda; discovered
the glory of an electric bike (helps her keep up with John); happy about her
recent LDSLiving article, “Did you catch the inspiring conviction of 20 women
who worked with Paul?” Into the Word.
John Enjoys countless hours serving college freshmen
in church assignment; biking up Provo canyon; loves leading tours to Israel, happy
with his new book Voices in the Book of Mormon & upcoming free
online course: “The Book of Mormon: A Master Class;” badminton w/Rebekah; magic
w/ Joseph; Jesus focused.
We loved learning more about Jesus Christ this year! We hope it changes us and helps increase our faith in His redeeming power. We want to feel this truth and act on it: “Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion” Hebrews 12:1-2 (New Living Translation) Amen! It’s joyous to be all together again after 3 years! The gospel of Jesus Christ works! It brings joy! It doesn’t mean life is perfect, but it does mean life is sweeter with Jesus!
Love, John & Lani Hilton family
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