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