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. :)