12-10-12

¡Hola a todos!

It's good to hear from you! I absolutely love hearing from home and about everything that is happening. Thanks for sending me a lot this week guys. :)

I'm extremely excited for Mikey and Copeland! They are doing the most incredible thing in my opinion. A mission is one of the most important things you can do in your life. Like they already know, they will be blessed so much as they serve lovingly and obediently. There are unfortunately a lot of missionaries that serve and then go home and revert back to who they were before. One of the greatest things about a mission though is that it changes the missionary for the better--turns them more into the person that God intends them to be. Thankfully, that doesn't mean you get boring or too serious, you just become stronger and more refined as a person.

Kurt is the man!  It doesn't surprise me to hear about how smart he is in Anatomy.  Anatomy is actually helping me here with Spanish because most bones, organs, and diseases are named based on the Latin/scientific name, so I'll often understand when someone talks about diseases and stuff and Elder Smith won't haha. That's probably the only area that I might slightly know more Spanish than him. I've been blessed with an amazing companion and I'm very grateful for what he has taught me and for all the good times we have had.

Changes are next week, so there is a possibility that I'll be in another sector next Monday. We'll see what happens though. Missionaries are staying in their sectors for a lot longer now (like 5-7 months average), so we both very well might be here next week, which is fine with me. :) We also have two missionaries in our district moving in with us after Christmas because their landlord is ending their contract. They're both great missionaries and it would be a lot of fun to live with them, so if that happens, I'm excited!

Probably the biggest thing from my time in Los Plátanos has happened. One of our investigators really wants to be baptized and set the baptismal date himself! His name is "B" and is the son of Hermana "S." Elder Smith and I have seen a remarkable change in his countanence with the Gospel. The Lord has really prepared him. I easily see him being active forever too, which makes me so happy. He is the fruit that I've been waiting to see in this sector. No one else has worked out yet, but Boris plans on being baptized on the 6th of January! He is amazing. :) We are still working with "A" and "A." We'll keep pressing forward with them, but it's probably not their time yet. Like you said Dad, it's all part of the missionary cycle. I just hope I'm here to see "B" get baptized! :)

Elder Smith and I are planning on going to the temple on Thursday this week. A mission rule here is that we can only go to the temple once per year, so this will have to hold me off for a while. It'll be interesting to have everything in Spanish haha.

There was a Christmas concert here this past weekend and Elder Archuleta sang in it. We didn't go though because we had appointments and no investigators or recent converts to take to the concert with us. Besides, there was a family history activity in the stake center and that was really helpful for me so I'm glad I went to that.

I'm glad everyone in the family is well. I can't wait to talk to everyone in a couple weeks!

I wish Lindsey good luck with her musical try-outs! I'll be praying for her. :)

I love you all very much. I miss you all but I am so happy that I'm here at the same time. I pray for you always and think of you often. This work is real and I love serving the Lord as one of his missionaries!

I love you!

Elder Hill

12-3-12

¡Hola!

I enjoyed the videos and email from home. Thank you for remembering me every week and keeping me in the loop. I hope you are all well and in good Christmas spirits.

This week was a pretty simple week. Elder Smith and I taught a bunch of lessons and had some good chances to serve others. We're still working with "B." He's really good and I think he could go really far if the missionaries stick with him. We also have been in more contact with "A." He came to a mutual activity with us and really liked it. I was surprised because the activity was that couple missionaries came to talk about the Perpetual Education Fund and it was a little more aimed towards members. We were going to take him to Stake Conference yesterday, but he slept in. I think a cultural thing here is that if someone is sleeping, you never wake them up. On the other hand, I can imagine what it would be like if two North American Mormon missionaries came and told you to wake up your son. You probably wouldn't be too interested haha. We're going to have to find out a way to get past that though because everyone sleeps in on Sundays you know? If "A" went to Stake Conference, he probably would have been very impressed. A girl that sings for EFY was there and sang a solo and then we had some really good talks from some people, including President and Hermana Wright. Oh I don't think I told you, but David (Elder) Archuleta is going to sing in a Christmas concert with the EFY girl at the temple here in our mission. He's famous here too haha.

I gave a blessing to a recent convert's father, which was really great. He suffered a stroke so he's fine in every way, except that he can't communicate his thoughts. So, he understood everything, but he couldn't ask us questions or anything without help. It was very frustrating for him. I really liked him though so I gave him the blessing. I think he we made his day and hopefully we'll go see him and his wife and daughter again because he and his wife aren't members.

We've been teaching "H," "J's" friend. When we taught him this week, he got really quiet, which surprised us. He said he wants us to keep teaching him so we'll see what happens. He's golden though. "J" really helped out in our last lesson too, so he definitely has support. It's funny though because they remind me of Kurt in some ways: they both think they're too cool. ;)

The Teletón happened this week. It is the Chilean version of the Jerry Lewis telethon. It's super big in South America. It's a huge charity that cares for disabled children and in order to support its programs, it raises money every year and a half. All the television actors get involved and help host and nearly all the television channels are of the Teletón. That was a big thing that happened this week.

One day, we went to see this one contact we made to see if we could help them in any way. When we got there, they were cleaning the front of their house, which was a mess. After being persistent, the mom let us in the gate and we helped her sweep and remove some garbage. They gave us sandwiches and flat Coke to say thank you haha. I don't think we'll be able to successfully teach them because the mom is really old and probably wouldn't understand, and the son is very odd and probably wouldn't understand either. However, it's all in the Lord's hands. He brought us to their house at the right moment to help them so He is definitely guiding His work.

That's all I have for this week. I'm having the time of my life serving the Lord!!!  You're always in my prayers--family, friends, and other missionaries. I love and miss you! :)

Until next week and con amor,

Elder Hill

P.S. I didn't get any good pictures this week. :( Sorry!

11-26-12

An American Thanksgiving dinner in Chile!

Showing off the turkey.

Doing weekly planning in style ... with cookies!

¡Buenas tardes!

To start off, you asked about the earthquake.  What earthquake? We've had a few temblores [tremors] this week but nothing big. I heard that there was a fairly good sized temblor a few days ago but I think Elder Smith and I slept through it haha. Typical me huh? Temblores are definitely a new thing for me. I feel like the whole earth is on a waterbed actually, but whenever it has happened I have gotten pretty excited. One of them this week happened while we were teaching a lesson. Elder Smith noticed it first, and then we all stopped talking for a moment to feel it. Speaking of sleeping through stuff, there was a shooting in the Santa Julia Saturday night. A lot of people were talking about it because it woke everyone up. Well, everyone except for Elder Smith and I haha. We must be dead when we sleep! Mom, no worries, because we live in a gated apartment complex and we're completely safe. Besides, no one has ever given the missionaries a problem in the Santa Julia. What's ridiculous though is that at least three members' houses are right next to where the shooting happened. The Santa Julia is a bad place to live in my opinion. A lot of drug dealing goes down there. One time, when we were visiting Hermana "S," this random guy runs into her house because he was running from the cops for marijuana possession. Another day, Elder Smith and I were walking through the street where all the drug deals go down (the same street where the shooting was--go figure) and we saw the main drug dealer take out this shoe box filled with substances that I couldn't even guess were in there, and sold some to this girl. Crazy stuff crazy stuff. But we've never had a problem. The people just want their drugs that's all--it's an awfully sad way to live, but they don't want anything else.

Elder Smith and I have been getting some new investigators and losing others. We lost "D,",the Evangelical one. He first told us his minister told him to tell us to not visit him but to visit other people who don't "know God." But, his aunt offered us soda, so we said yes and entered their house. Then, we managed to teach him the Restoration. It was okay at first, but then he started getting defensive and asked us questions that he thought would poke holes in out doctrine. When we easily handled his questions, he got offended and a little upset. Elder Smith was very, very good with speaking to him as a person and spoke very understandingly and with testimony, but David told us that he preferred it if we don't go back. So, he's gone. It's too bad that he wouldn't hear "sound doctrine" to put it in the words of Paul.

We taught a woman named "S" for the first time this week. We actually visited a less-active who is returning to activity first, and then we asked him if he could accompany us to see her.  It was in her visit that we felt the temblor haha. She's from the South so she actually let us in.  People from Santiago aren't always very nice and often reject us, so when she let us in, I figured she was from the South, and she was! Elder Smith visited her a second time this week while we did divisions [splits], and in that visit her 15 year old daughter was there and she was interested too! I hope something really good comes from them.

"J" (the gringo from Washington) came to church again! I don't know what's going to happen with him but I think it's awesome that he comes to church every once in awhile. I asked him if he was thinking about coming again and he said he probably will. I don't think he has a spiritual experience when he comes because he doesn't understand much of anything, but you never know. In Gospel Principles, we talked about the scriptures, and afterwards asked us how we justify the scriptures in Revelation and Deuteronomy that say not to add anymore to the Bible. Instead of trying to answer his question right there, I'm just going to print out Elder Holland's talk from 2008 and let him read that haha.

Thanksgiving went very well! It was really fun to have Thanksgiving with the Saldañas, because they are some of the best people I know here. Everything tasted really good, and then afterwards, we gave thanks, which was a spiritual experience in itself.

I hope you all are well! Kurt looks great. I'm also very happy that you all had a great Thanksgiving! I definitely miss Mom's food haha. I'm definitely enjoying the weather here! Although it's so weird to listen to Christmas music because when I do, I feel like it should be cold and snowy outside! [Chile's seasons are opposite of ours in the U.S.]

Tell Micah I say hi! I hope he's doing well and is enjoying work and college. I miss Sawyer and Beckett too!

Just so you know, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to skype on Christmas. :)

I love you and miss you! ¡Que estén bien!

Elder Hill

11-19-12

You don't knock on doors in Chile.  You say "Alo!" at the gate.

I think I just blinked, because another week just flew by from last time I was at this same computer haha. It is so ridiculous how quickly the time flies.

I'm now officially a missionary because I am no longer on the 12 week program that missionaries take after leaving the MTC. They say that after the program you should be ready to train another missionary, but I don't know if I'm at that point yet haha. I had a really good week! Elder Smith had to go to a leadership meeting one day so Elder Bills and I worked in my sector for the morning. I was able to talk to people and handle everything on my own, which was a good feeling. :) I still understand more than I can speak, but it's coming along. Plus, once I get put with a Latino compañero, I'll be golden with speaking.

We had a lesson with one of the investigators we found two weeks ago. I don't think he'll go anywhere because he is heavily Evangelical and Elder Smith and I saw him preaching on a corner the other day. The Evangelical churches here make missionary work so hard. They basically teach that you can worship God in your own way and you'll be good. Some get really involved because they're meetings are mostly big singing and dancing parties. The music they play is really good too, and I think people take that to be the Spirit.  We found a few more possible investigators, but we haven't been able to talk with them besides at the door. I'm just trying to be patient and diligent, but not so diligent that I pass by their house everyday and scare them away. There's a difference between being diligent and too insistent with people.

We've been developing good relationships with people. I'm happy about that because my love for them grows and our relationship isn't completely driven by the desire to baptize them. We passed by "A's" house this week to see how he was doing and we were able to set up an appointment with him. We showed him the Restoration video, which I think really got him thinking. We found out afterwards that he and his friends created their own church! It's called "Reset Church." So, now, I think that if he doesn't progress it's because he's afraid of upsetting his friends, because he obviously has to know that his church isn't the Lord's church. We'll see what happens. The three of us have a very good relationship. He always has us do a group hug when we say goodbye. It's funny because his head is at Elder Smith's and my chest height haha. He's a good kid. I really like him.

I probably won't ever see "I" again. He came to church after second hour and told us that someone in the ward told him that he's not welcome there anymore. We couldn't stop him from leaving, so we gave him a hug and told him that we care about him a lot. Then he left. BUT, there's a lot more to the story. Remember how I said that he had that dream about the Church not being true and he was going to take people from the ward to his church? Well he apparently had that conversation with the bishop three times, and said that he was going to take "X" (the woman who's renting from him right now and first introduced him to the Church). "X" said that "I" began crossing some boundaries with her and even got violent once. She told him that the Church isn't a game and that he can't waste our time just to find things out about the church even though he already believes it to be wrong. So, she told him to stop playing with people, and I guess he did. "X" said that she had a companion on her mission that was schizophrenic, and she said that he was showing signs of schizophrenia. She said she's moving out after the month haha. Why do I keep finding investigators with mental problems?? Haha. I hope that the Lord will bless us with a really awesome investigator because we had to go through all that.

On the bright side, we had a great lesson with a less-active's son, who has potential. We also had another lesson with a less-active and his girlfriend. Both lessons went very well and were very sincere. We're becoming great friends with people and being firm in our teaching of the Gospel. Hopefully all this bears fruit soon in the form of a baptism, but I'm being patient and making sure it is a quality baptism--not a "as quick as we can get them in the water" baptism. In God's time.

I got flooded with birthday stuff in the mail this week! Actually, Grandma and Grandpa Mick sent me a very nice card the week before and I forgot to thank them. ¡Gracias abuelos! !Les amo muchisimo! I also got a bunch of letters from the Price family! Thank you guys! I LOVED hearing from you all. Yes Eden, I'm still nice. Haha. I hope Halloween was fun for all you guys! I miss you all! Tell Sawyer and Becket that I miss them and jumping on the trampoline and playing Halo with them. :) I also got a PACKAGE from Blake and Emily, which was awesome! It definitely surprised me haha. I decided to open it at the church with some of the missionaries still there. The other missionaries gathered around and looked at everything you sent me. They all said that they wished they had friends like you guys haha. I'm definitely glad I have you guys as my friends. :) I'll get that picture to you too! I hope you're both well!

For Thanksgiving, we are going to eat with the Saldaña family, who are incredible. They said that they are going to give us a full-out turkey dinner with some of the American things they bought when they went to Utah for General Conference. I'm excited! :)

We have appointments made for this week, I'm starting to really dig my feet in with this work, and, most importantly, I'm doing the Lord's work with love. It's a good life.

I think I'm going to try to make frog-eye for Christmas because I think I've seen all the ingredients here haha. Go ahead and send me some recipes for things if you can! Elder Smith and I are going to make some super good pancakes that his mom has. And we got our oven fixed!

I love you all and I'm so grateful for the Gospel. It is true, it is real, and it is powerful. Being called as a missionary means so much to me and I see how the Lord is blessing us for our desire to repay Him for all that He has given us. Sé que Jesús es el Cristo y que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es Su iglesia en cada aspecto. Él nos ama y siempre nos guia si Le dejamos. Le amo con todo mi corazón.

Until next week family! I love you!!!

Elder Hill

11-12-12

Santiago East missionaries!

Ni hao! (in honor of a certain future missionary)

It was so great to hear about the mission calls! Copeland will do great things in Provo that's for sure. I'm sure it's a great mission. I can't believe Mikaela is going to Manchester England to speak Chinese!! Actually I can; the Lord needs the best there so it makes sense. :)

I'm still in Los Plátanos with Elder Smith for another change! I'm really happy about that because I love this ward and Elder Smith. This change will only last five weeks though so that the missionaries that get transfered aren't transfered on Christmas Eve haha.

About my plan to use less-actives. Let's just say that we found 4 (almost 5) new investigators this week because of that plan. :) I'm happy about that. We went to one house and asked for the woman on our list. She said she didn't know who that was, so then we said her last name and the woman came to the gate to talk to us. She said that that woman was her grandmother who died in 2003! She was the only member in her family, but an extended family of 18 people live in that house! So, we plan to find at least a few people in that family that are ready for the Gospel. :) We have already taught some (the children were the only ones who wanted to listen to us) but the woman who we talked to before wasn't there so I hope she'll be there next time. We also have a bunch of appointments made from contacting less-actives with part member families that I plan on finding investigators with. Our sector also had a Sector Slam, where all the missionaries in the zone come to a sector to work. We got a ton of references from that. Elder Hart and I talked to a few people that appeared prepared for the Gospel. It was a testimony builder of how the Lord prepares people. :)

On Friday, I took out my Carnét, which is my Chilean identity that everyone, Chilean or not, needs to have. I met up with Elder Cadden, Elder Measom, and a handful of other missionaries and we waited in lines, lines, and more lines haha. Elder Cadden started a conversation with a man who used to live in Salt Lake City and work for Deseret Industries but isn't a member. Example right there of how the Lord prepares people. :) Later that day, when it was just Elder Bills and I (I went on a division with Elder Bills while Elder Smith worked in our sector), I started and had a really good conversation with a woman while we were waiting for the Micro (Chilean public transportation). I didn't struggle at all to talk to her! Our conversation was very interesting too; it was about a cultural, musical event that's coming to Santiago. I'm used to Elder Smith speaking in most conversations with people, since he speaks better Spanish, but Elder Bills has the same amount of time that I have and I was the one that actually lead the conversation. I felt so good afterwards! Granted, she spoke clearly compared to others that live in my sector, but it's the beginning of me being a powerful missionary. :)

I love you all and I think about you all individually everyday! I feel like these days are golden moments in our lives, because despite the difficulties, we have everything to be grateful for. May the Lord bless you all!

Con amor,
Elder Hill

11-5-12

Getting into the spirit of the election!

Playing around with special effects on the camera for Halloween!

¡Hola familia!

This week has been a week of holidays. We had Halloween on Wednesday -- It was funny to see how an American holiday finds its place in a foreign country. All the little kids were out trick or treating, and when they went up to a house, they would yell, "¡dulce travesura!" Elder Smith and I realized that it was too late by the evening to go buy candy to help us talk to people haha so we just tracted a little and rained on some people's holiday. At least I learned; next year's Halloween is going to be sweet (no pun intended). There were holidays on Thursday and Friday too, so it was hard to meet with anyone and even harder to get into houses. We basically spent the second half of the week walking and walking and walking some more. I'm definitely learning patience. :)

We met with "I" on Tuesday, and the lesson went well, although he's not gaining a testimony because he's too busy analyzing everything so I don't know how much longer he'll last. Elder Smith and I can't do much for him because he's actually outside of our sector and he isn't progressing so there isn't much we can help him with.

Elder Smith and I are always seeking new investigators. Unfortunately, we don't find many, and the few that we do find don't last long. Thankfully, we now have a system that is golden. We ordered a huge map from the mission office that covers an entire wall. We've been spending the past couple weeks marking where all the less-active members live and now we are executing a Blitzkrieg with the less actives. There are 500 members in our sector, but only 100 are active, so the odds of finding a part-member family are really good, and we will also find some people that we can help come back to activity! At least that is my hope. This system very well might be a system that I will use for my whole mission. It definitely appears to be the most effective method. Elder Smith says that every baptism that he has gotten has been triggered by a less-active one way or another. I'm excited to see the fruits that follow, especially now that I'm becoming a more self-capable missionary every day. :)

Yesterday, two of the Sisters in our zone had a surprise baptism and we had to rush over to their capilla [chapel] right after lunch. It was so good to see the woman that was going to get baptized and her family and to see how happy they all were. Elder Smith told me after that during the interview, she told Elder Smith that she used to be wary of the missionaries, but her friend (who was a less-active) introduced her and all her doubts disappeared after meeting with them. She has actually had a few sets of missionaries over the course of a few months, so all the missionaries that helped and taught her came to her baptism. Even Presidente and Hermana Wright came! It was really good. :)

That's all for this week. I love you all SO much. Thank you for your prayers and I'm glad my prayers are reaching you too. The Lord lives! It's a great blessing to be able to say that. It's also so great to say with full confidence that we are His disciples. I love you family!

- Elder Hill

P.S. Hey I have a few things I would really like in the next package you send me. Don't worry about sending me food because I'm discovering that I can basically get any food I need here. But, I would like: a few Zebra pens (the pens with the metal casing if you know what I'm talking about and maybe in blue, red, and green too if possible), a pocket-sized Spanish to English dictionary, a regular English dictionary/thesaurus, and a nice dog whistle (it is so hard to yell across a gate and a yard to a disinterested Chilean while a dog is barking its head off haha--I've really been wanting to zap it with a dog whistle haha).

P.P.S. Transfers are at the end of this week so I might have a different companion next week. We'll see! Elder Smith is such a great companion though. I've grown to love him a lot. :)

10-29-12

Hey everyone!

Before anything else...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KURT!

Kurt, Maddie, and Lindsey all look so much more mature every week. It's always exciting and fun to see little ratitos (I can't think of an English word for it) through videos and photos. I probably say all that in every email but that's because it's true. I hope you're having a great birthday, Kurt. I hope you're all well in Hurricane Sandy right now; Elder Smith has friends on the East Coast who are bracing for the storm too. I remember Hurricane Ivan and how fun it was just to hang out in the house together without power, all while missing school haha. Let me know how it all went in next week's email!

A few interesting things have happened this week:

Our investigator, "I," has been investigating "too much" haha. He reminds me of Jacob 4:14 where Jacob says that the Jews "procuraron coasas que no podían entender. Por tanto, a causa de su ceguedad, la cual vino por traspasar lo señalado, es menester que caigan; porque Dios les ha quitado su claridad y les ha entregado muchas cosas que no pueden entender, porque así lo desearon; y porque así lo desearon, Dios lo ha hecho, a fin de que tropiecen." (seeked things that they could not understand. Behold, because of their stiffneckedness, which came by looking beyond the mark, it is necessary that they fall; because God has taken away his clarity and has delivered unto them many things that they cannot understand, because they desired it; and because they desired it, God has done it, so that they stumble. -- rough translation). That is basically what has happened to him. He comes every Sunday and likes meeting with us, but he usually points out points where our doctrine doesn't meet what he thinks it should be based on his studies. Also, he apparently had a dream where he said that a person came to him and told him the Church isn't true but that he will become a great leader in another church and that he should continue to come to our ward to bring people from the Church to his church. Sounds similar to Korihor's story in my opinion haha. For the moment, Elder Smith and I are being very loving to him, because he's still a really nice guy and I care about him a lot. But we'll see what happens to him. We'll try to steer him back to the path, but right now it looks like he doesn't want to be guided by anything except his studies of the scriptures.

Our other good investigator, "A," has definitely felt the Spirit, and he is an honest seeker of truth. But, the reality that the Church is true has scared him because he said that he had to change his beliefs from the Catholic faith to the Evangelical, and now he's afraid because if the Church is true, some of the things he has deeply believed from the Evangelical church are wrong. We're simply giving him a little space but staying in contact to make sure he knows that we're first and foremost his friends and we want what's best for him. Hopefully he'll come around.

We have been contacting more lately, especially since my Spanish has improved. I'll often go up and start talking to people first now. The Lord has been blessing us with new investigators and we'll see what happens this week. Inner city missionary work is tough! Unfortunately, not many people have been accepting us or they have not been staying with us very long. But, it's all part of the Lord's plan and it's all in His hands. It comforts me to know that.

So much is always happening here but, regrettably, I can't share it all. I hope that that is good enough for this week.

Thank you for your prayers and for the support you're always giving me. I wish I could do more for you but I'm assuming that in all your eyes, I'm doing a lot for you. I hope that's the case! I'm happy that I can be doing a lot for the people here. :)

          Kurt, know that I'm praying for you very hard and I've been conversing with the Lord a                         lot about you. There is a quote from President Monson that I was recently reminded of.  It is, "Your future is as bright as your faith." So have faith to be happy, to always look forward with clean hands and a pure heart, and to receive all things with thankfulness. You're super bakan, Kurt. I'm grateful for your example and your faith.

I love you all so much. Maddie and Lindsey, you both are so beautiful and shining lights to everyone around you. I miss you both so much.

I love and miss you Mom and Dad!!!

Mucho mucho amor,

Elder Hill

Whatta man.

Uhm.. haha

10-22-12

¡Oye! ¿Cómo estaí choro?

That's how all the fligtes (gangstas) here talk. I don't know if google translate will give you a proper translation of that or not.  Haha.  

This past week has been really good for me! I hope the same for you! Everyone looks really good in the videos, especially Kurt. It's fun to see how everyone is still the same, goofy person (that's probably mostly directed at Dad haha).

On Saturday, we had the coolest opportunity to have Elder Bednar come and speak to us. I got a good seat only a few pews from the front! Instead of him giving a talk, he turned it into a guided discussion but also gave us the opportunity to ask him questions! My mind went completely blank when that happened so I didn't ask him anything haha. The best way I have been able to describe that meeting is to first, imagine feeling the Spirit like getting splashed with a bucket of water, now, the meeting was more like jumping into an olympic sized pool of the Spirit haha. It was really powerful and I learned a lot more about missionary work and life.

I have some days in which Spanish still feels hard, but then I have some where I feel like I have almost no problem with conversing. I naturally talk to people now and I don't need Elder Smith to translate for me. So, once I get a Latino companion, I'll be fluent in no time haha. I love Elder Smith though so when that happens it'll be hard to move on to another companionship.

That skitzo investigator we have has gotten a lot more tranquilo (calm) over the past few weeks. Coming to church and talking to us has done him a lot of good, and we still haven't even taught him a lesson! He has come to church every Sunday and actively participates in class. Despite the good things that are happening for him, he still is kind of crazy and I don't know how far he'll really go, but I do believe that he can go the distance if he really really really wants it.

Our primary investigator is doing very well. He is incredibly smart and soaks up everything we teach him and then he seems to do his own studies outside of what we teach and commit him to do. It's good and bad because he looks at anti-mormon stuff too, but he seems to take it all in well and he loves being with people from church. He definitely feels the Spirit I'm sure but he hasn't let himself come around to accepting that entirely yet. He's such a good guy though and I'm 99% confident that he's going to stay strong as he is right now and once he receives a spiritual confirmation, he'll get baptized. We're pushing hard with him though and his friend who originally invited him to church is pushing him hard too. He has a lot of good infuences around him. :)

Another newer investigator we have (I can't remember if I told you about him) is 17 and a very good kid. If Elder Smith and I keep teaching him and he really has a desire to know the truth (which I think he does), then he'll get baptized. We're going to have a Noche de Hogar with him tonight. He has definitely felt the Spirit too, but we might need to help him recognize it.

We're contacting a lot, although I really want to find more people. We have a 13 year old, a mom who did service in Africa with Latter-day Saints, this one man who likes talking to us inside our apartment complex, and we just met a very promising man when we ate lunch today.

For P-day today, we went to a place called Santa Lucia, which was super rich and pretty. It also felt weird to be walking around the city in street clothes! Haha.

I miss you all like usual and I'm always giddy to read what's happening at home and update you on how I'm doing. 

That's all I can write for now. I'll talk to you next week! 

Muchisimo Amor,

Elder Hill

P.S. Can you let Kelly and Susan know that I'm thinking about them and I hope they're doing well? Thank you! 

10-8-12

Thank you so much for the happy birthday video! :) President and Hermana Wright called me this morning and sang me happy birthday too. Elder Smith helped me celebrate today by making really good homemade tacos (I also made myself partially uncooked pancakes for breakfast, Kurt, thought you'd be proud of that, and Mom you're probably proud that I was able to make pancakes!). Conference this weeked was amazing! I was able to watch the whole thing in English with all the other American missionaries and with an American family. 

I'm doing a lot in the work here! Yesterday, we went to see a family right after General Conference and talked about the temple with them. I told them that I could see them dressed in white in the temple being sealed, and I think it gave them some motivation. :) I'm seeing how love makes such a difference in people's lives and I'm doing what I can to show Christ's love through who I am. Although I can't express it very well through words, I'm expressing it through kind acts of service, a laugh, a smile, an "hola" haha. I'm confident I will become the missionary the Lord intends for me to be, but I need to work harder. I feel a little more like an equal in my companionship with Elder Smith now. I know the ropes and I offer every bit of support I can give him. He has told me he's grateful, and it's the least I can do for all that he is doing for me.  I can have very good conversations now, but they just aren't natural, and I still have too much of an American accent!  My goal is to completely lose my American accent when I speak Spanish.

I learned a TON from Conference that I'm going to integrate into my life. I'm going to serve more, show people the Lord loves them, show them that the Atonement is without a doubt real, use faith and reason to work miracles, convert myself to His gospel more so I can say without hestitation at the pleasing bar, "Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." I love the Gospel. I thought about how although we are all over the world (family and friends), I felt so close to all of you during General Conference. I felt so much sacred honor and responsiblity whenever someone spoke about missionaries during General Conference. That's me! I'm one of the Lord's servants! He directly spoke to me on Saturday and Sunday in my opinion.

I love you everyone. :) I never have enough time to write you everything I want to say, but I think about you and I pray for you always.

Some quick responses to letters I received this week:

Grandma and Grandpa Hill: Thank you for the birthday email! I love you!!!!!!

Emily: Thank you for your letter!!! I'll try to write you as soon as I can, but that might not be for a while. I love you Emily!!!

Ashton: I got your letter too!!! I'll write when I can as well and I'll beat your drawing. Your river rock battle comrade of unimaginable Elderness, Seth.

L-dawg Yoshimoto! Thank you for your letter!! I'm not being very fly right now by responding by email. But I'll write you when I can!

To all those who have written me and I haven't responded, I'm sorry! I'll try to write when I can but missionary life is incredibly busy! You're in my prayers and I am incredibly greatful. Your love and support mean more to me than you know. :)

Okay I gotta go now. 

¡Les quiero muchisimo!

Seth's birthday package

Seth and Elder Smith taking a snack break!

Seth's mission area!

Watching General Conference! (Well, actually Music and the Spoken Word).

10-1-12

 

Hola hola!

Saturday night, I we got our calls to see if we were being changed. The AP said, "Elder Hill.........se queda [stay put]." So, I'm in Los Plátanos for another change! Elder Smith is still my companion too. I've completed my first change in the field! I've made a lot of progress in the past six weeks, I've learned to be more patient with myself, to always strive as hard as I can, and to always smile and be grateful for the blessings the Lord has given me here.

 

We have an investigator with a baptism on the 14th. He's 12 years old and his name is Byron (not Bryon). I'm excited for our investigators to watch General Conference. We contacted another investigator and taught him the first lesson. He is very tranquilo [laid back] but has a strong belief in God so we hope to help him grow his testimony of the Restored Gospel. He's actually coming to our Noche de Hogar [FHE] tonight!

 

I haven't received the photos and the package yet, so we'll see if it comes this week. I have my fingers crossed! Thank you for the video you sent me, Mom and Dad. It was nice to see you. I tried to make a video but it was too big. I'll try to have something ready by next week. I actually didn't take pictures this week so you'll just have to enjoy the ones that I tried to send last week haha. That was a good picture of Kurt by the way. Sundays haven't changed haha. I also received a letter from the Zappe's a few weeks ago but forgot to thank them! Thank you Zappe family! Also, thank you everyone who's thinking about me, praying for me, or at least checking the blog.

 

Spanish is fine, I feel like I made some big steps this past week. I'm much better with conversing with people and don't struggle too much. I still have such a far way to go though haha.

 

On the way to the internet café, we ran into a couple that stop to talk to us! They said the see Mormon missionaries a lot and have wanted to talk to them. They live near our apartment so we're going to pass by sometime this week. The Lord's hand is in the Work here! I'm so grateful to be here and that the Lord is using me to work miracles in other's lives and that He is constantly qualifying me for this calling. I went on divisions [splits] with the stake president last night and I learned a lot from him--I'm always learning.

 

Life is good here! I hope you are all well!

 

Love,

         Elder Hill

This was the picture of Kurt Seth was referring to.

9-24-12

¡Hola familia!

 

Wow, has it really been over three months since I left? I have a hard time believing that. I love being updated with life at home, although I feel like I'm missing out on a lot. I guess that's the same for you when you think about me though! 

 

We met this week with the area president, Elder Arnold, and it was really good. He's really big on obedience and gave me some great ideas to improve my missionary work. Dad, I haven't used the Wilford Card yet, I need to try it!  Mostly everyone I run into here in the ghetto is disillusioned about religion and doesn't give it a second thought. It's tough - and that's an understatement. Everyone either lives in apartment complexes where missionaries aren't allowed or in houses surrounded by gates, which makes a door approach super hard. The only possible way to conduct successful missionary work is through the members. Thankfully, there are great members in this sector, but it's still hard even for them to find anyone, and Elder Smith and I know because we've talked to them and they try and try. On the bright side, I think Elder Smith and I are invigorating the members even more. We use ward activities as a tool to bring nonmembers to church.

 

Speaking of ward activities, our investigator Ignacio is doing so well! He actually reads what we leave him to read and more! He's super analytical though and said he's studying the Old Testament with the Book of Mormon to check all the facts like Nephi's reference to Jeremiah and such. He loves the ward though, has been to church twice and to two ward activities. He actually lives outside our sector so we're trying to hand him off to the missionaries in his sector by introducing him to them and sending him to institude where he can meet people in his actual ward.

 

We accidentally invited someone with schizophrenia to a ward activity on Friday haha. Elder Smith and I just finished some service and were walking back to the pension to change before the activity and this one man came up and started talking to us. He was with a friend of his who is a less active member and they asked us when the ward plays volleyball (since we played last Monday). We told them we didn't know but that there was a ward activity in 20 minutes. They looked at each other and said "Vamos," [let's go] which caught me by surprise. After we got to the church and sat down, the bishop pulled Elder Smith and I aside and told us that they're both schizophrenic... We ended up having to babysit them basically that night to make sure nothing bad happened. Then, the one that was the worst of the two showed up to church yesterday! Although I know you should never turn someone away from church, Elder Smith and I might need to figure something out if he keeps coming. He's nice, but he could possibly become dangerous really quickly and he's already drawn too much attention to himself. So, those are my "best" and "worst" investigators for the week haha.

 

Spanish is going well, I'm just trying my best. I'm always getting better even though I don't always feel like it. It's kind of like working out. Sometimes I get so exposed to Spanish and I try so hard to learn it that my brain gets tired and I feel like I'm doing worse. But later after some time and rest, I find that I've learned a lot. Hopefully by Christmas I'll be good to go!

 

I gotta go.

 

Con muchisimo amor,

Elder Hill

9-17-12

¡Hola!

Life is good here! Elder Smith and I are neck deep in the Work. Sometimes it feels like we're neck deep in water and other times in molasses haha, but we're doing what we can to make the Work move forward. I think we're starting to spark the whole ward into missionary mode. :) Yesterday, none of our actual investigators came, even when we went by their homes the night before and then in the morning before church. BUT, the members brought three investigators that we met for the first time yesterday! One of them looks like he has a ton of potential; he seems very interested in the Church and we have an appointment set up with him on Thursday. We are very excited. :) His name is Ignacio so keep him in your prayers! Our investigator Raúl might not be able to make it to baptism sadly. We talked to his cousin who came for the holiday, who was actually a bishop, and he told us that Raúl is really good guy. I think our less-active members are starting to come back to church more! Yay!

Elder Hill with his ward

Fiesta!

Our little volleyball champ ;)

On Tuesday, Santiago went crazy. On 11 de Septiembre here, people form mobs and run around Santiago. Most people do it just to do it, but I think it started as a way to celebrate their freedom that was taken when Pinochet (Chile's former dictator) took over a couple decades ago. We had to return to the pension early because there were gun shots heard for hours and some people threw chains on the electrical lines to take out the power. It's so widespread that the cops don't do anything about it really. Elder Smith and I just bought some "pan" and returned to the pension and had a nice "once" (chilean meal after dinner) while listening to Elder Holland and the gunshots haha. I went on divisions Thursday and had a great time with Elder Krewson. There was a demonstration in his sector so while we were walking to an appointment, we walked through a cloud of tear gas! When we realilzed what was happening, we got really excited and I took of video of us, since it was a new experience for both of us. ;) I saw how being a friend as a missionary makes up a HUGE component of being a missionary. He made everyone he visited laugh but was able to teach the Gospel in a serious way too. I hope to be like that.

The ward in our sector put on a huge party on Saturday for the holiday. People danced the "cueca" (national dance of Chile), we had "mote y huesillos" and empanadas (so good!), and there was a talent show. People in Chile can dance! Today, we played volleyball with some of the people in the ward. I'm really beginning to fellowship the members and investigators, even though I still can't speak super well. I talked with one of the misioneras on the phone today though and understood her perfectly. Like you said Mom, I can understand a lot better than I can speak haha. The language is a process. I hope the way I interact with others leaves something more powerful than my words.

I'm loving it here. I love the ward, the people, and even the drunks (one drunk kissed me on the cheek last night, which was interesting...haha). Tomorrow is the big 18 de Septiembre, which is Chile's independence day!

I love and miss you all!

¡Hasta la proxima semana!

9--10-12

Seth with Giovanni

In the streets of Chile!!

Hi everyone!

This week has been really good! Elder Smith and I were only able to meet with each one of our investigators once this week because of scheduling conflicts, which was a big bummer. On the bright side, we still visited with and saw a ton of people. One less active hermana in the ward actually came to church yesterday because we have been visiting her! That was a huge plus. :) I'm inviting everyone, including less active members of the Church, to come unto Christ. This week is Chile's independence day, so everything is a little crazy here (¡tiqui tiqui ti! - do you remember that, Dad?). We actually have to return to the pension [apartment] early tomorrow night because it gets super dangerous. But we have the Lord's protection. Something interesting the Elder Smith just told me is that the previous mission president spoke to his parents and told them that Santiago is an R-rated city that is full of temptations, but the the Lord shields his missionaries. I found that to be true because I don't notice anything of that sort haha.

Elder Smith and I are really trying to get the ward even more involved with missionary work. We're going out on a lot of divisions with the Priests and Elders and even have a schedule for the month now. I think the testimonies of the members will help us so much when we teach our investigators. The Priests have a tradition in this ward that after divisions, we go to this small restaurant called El Guatón and we get some completos [a Chilean hot dog usually served with a ton of avocado, a Chilean staple] and talk for a little bit. The Priests here are really great.

On Wednesday, we ate cena [dinner] at this one younger man's house and Giovanni came over too, it's always so good to spend time with people who are strong in the Church. Noche de Hogar [Family Home Evening] and zone activities with missionaries are really great for that reason too.

We have a new Mission Leader in this ward, and so far he's an all-star player in missionary work. I'm excited to work with him more. He also served us brownies and hot chocolate in our first meeting! So, I have no doubt he'll be amazing. ;)

On Saturday while we were out contacting, I saw this woman ahead of us on the sidewalk. I told Elder Smith that we have to talk to her and I said a quick prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to let her be someone we can teach. She turned out to be super interested in the Church. She was especially interested in the resurrection, because she said her son was murdered as a child. It was a super emotional conversation. We're planning on meeting her this week.

Spanish is coming along fine. It's pretty apparent to me now that I can understand more than I can speak. I'm working on pronunciation, but it's hard to overcome my gringo-ness haha. There's an elder in our mission who everyone talks about because he's American but has a perfect Chileno accent. They say it's because he's very musical and has a good ear to notice small things in how people speak. I'm trying to listen and imitate people, but it's quite a process.

Oh, something else of note: I successfully gave myself a haircut today! And it looks pretty good!  [He didn't send a picture of it.]

That's all for now.  I love you all so much and I miss you! You are always in my prayers. :)

¡Que le vaya bien!

9-3-12

His Pension (Apartment)

¡Buenas!

I can't believe it has been two weeks already! I'm working very hard and teaching as much as I can! I attached some more pictures of a family here, Elder Smith and I celebrating his birthday with dingdongs, and a little bit of my pension [apartment].

Elder Smith and I have been going on divisions [splits] con Giovannni, an RM. He is incredible and I have a lot of fun with him. I can understand Spanish much better than I could last week. I follow a lot of conversations as long as it's within my vocabulary range. After being around rapid-speaking Chileans, the native Spanish-speaking Elders are so easy to understand. Saturday night, we went out to teach with Giovanni but couldn't get in any houses. So, we went back to his home and I ended up sharing a spiritual thought with Giovanni's family, who aren't members. He bore his testimony on Sunday and expressed a lot of gratitude to me for that service. Even when some days are hard, teaching someone like Giovanni's family at the very end of the day makes the whole day worth it.

We're teaching Raúl, who we committed to baptism on the 30th of September! We're also trying to find people we've contacted and we're trying to contact more. It is so difficult to contact here! It's a big city so everyone keeps to themselves. I've made a goal to talk to at least three people about the Church everyday so I hope I will contact more with that goal in mind. We go to a family every Monday for Noche de Hogar (family home evening) and it is a lot of fun. Either Elder Smith and I or the misioneras [sister missionaries] give the lesson and then we eat and talk, which is a lot of fun! The family's daughter has friends who she went to visit in Potomac Mills! Small world huh?

I love it here and often think of the scripture where Jesus tells His apostles, "My peace I give unto you." I am learning how to have His peace in cualquier momento acá en [at anytime in] Chile, y I hope to help others have that peace also.

¡Les quiero! ¡Que estén bien!

First Real Chilean Email 8-27-12

Greetings from across the world!

I bet you're all excited to hear from me. ;) Mondays are my Preparation day. Things are going so well here! It definitely is a different place here. Castellano [the Spanish dialect spoken in Chile] here is definitely different from RM Spanish, and that's an understatement haha. I can understand some of what Chilenos say, and I'm learning all their Chilean phrases and everything, which is fun. But yeah, it's hard! Elder Smith is thankfully super conversible in Spanish and helps me out a lot. He's trying so hard to be a good trainer and teach me by example. The ward I'm in is very good; everyone is kind and greeted me very warmly. I gave my testimony on Sunday without anything written and just went by how I felt. Everyone I meet with says my Spanish is very good and I can speak well. After a week, I can understand much better and recognize fairly basic questions such as how I like Chile, where I'm from, and almost anything Gospel related. I'm pretty ahead of a lot of missionaries who come here and can't speak or understand anything. Hopefully I'll become even better in the coming weeks, but I will remain patient of course.

My pension (yep it's called a pension still) [where he lives] is very modest, but it's still very good. Many people here live very humbly, and they're happy. Elder Smith and I visited and talked with a recent convert family, and they are incredible. They might live poorer than anyone else I've met here, but their testimonies are so powerful. I could actually have a really good conversation with them because they are Peruvian, and I've learned that Peruvians speak very clear Spanish--Chilenos talk faster haha. We spoke to them about the temple and the mother said she wants to send her daughters to BYU.

Elder Smith is from Centerville, Utah, and is hilarious, fun, but very focused and serious about the Work. He knows a ton about the Gospel and he says he has learned everything just from being on his mission for a year! His birthday is tomorrow so we're going to try to do something a little bit nicer than the ordinary.

There are two Misioneras in our ward, which doesn't happen too often here. Hermana Zuñiga is from Argentina and Hermana Valeriano is from Peru. They are both amazing and so kind to me. Neither of them speaks English besides what they've studied on their missions, and a lot of times I feel like I get my best practice from talking to them. I'm really grateful for them and how they make every situation bright and happy.

Elder Bahr (from Bismarck) is in my mission! I spent a few hours with his companion on an exchange and then we all met up at their pension and talked about people in North Dakota and such. What a coincidence huh?

I am super grateful that I brought a coat with me instead of buying one here because it was really cold for the first few days!

They have a Walmart here, but it's called Lider for some reason. It looks basically like any regular Walmart besides how things are in Chilean pesos and a lot is in Spanish, but there are many American commodities so I'm not suffering food-wise or anything like that haha. I really like the Chilean food actually. I eat a lot of rice and beans, salad, flan, fruit, and meat. The members feed me very well. I eat lunch in members' homes, but we don't have dinner here. Sometimes, we have once, which is basically tea time. They have a bebida [drink] here called Ecco, which is super good and is basically coffee but not coffee (it's like wheat coffee or something) and we're allowed to drink it. We can't drink maté here though.

The mountains here are striking and definitely beat Utah's mountains hands down.

That's all for now! I love you and miss you!!!!!!

Muchisimo amor,

Seth, with his MTC companions.

Like he said, he was one of the most spoiled missionaries there :)

Seth and one of his best friends, Elder Driggs!

This is what Chile looks like!