4-8-13

Seventh change in Los Plátanos and called to be a District Leader.

I'm still in Los Plátanos for another change! Who knows how long I'll be here haha. I remember when Dad was telling me that I would be out of here after my third change if not my second haha.

Elder Close and I are well. We had some rough moments this past week, but I'm remembering what you all told me about this time being one of the toughest time in the mission so I'm being as patient as I know how to and it is definitely showing its rewards. Every little conflict that we have had, we have been able to bounce back. I'm thankful for the gospel and this missionary work and how it allows us to do that.  I'm learning so much.

"C" is doing extremely well. She appears to be good friends with people in the Young Single Adults and went to General Conference with us on Sunday. We're working with her mom right now (who has a baptismal date for the 21st!). She has come such a long way and I am so happy for her. Her biggest trial right now is smoking but we are working with her and praying very hard for her.

We are struggling so hard to find new investigators so please pray for that specifically for us.

Oh, and my zone got split due to the huge numbers of incoming missionaries. I am now the District Leader for six missionaries! I'm excited to help and serve that way. I was used to it because Elder Smith was a district leader and I actually missed that dimension of the work after he left. So I'm happy that I get to aid in that part of missionary work again.

How did you all like General Conference? I loved it! I was actually hoping that they would say that the time that missionaries served was extended to three years haha. I watch half the Conference in Spanish with "C" and with another missionary. It's not the same unfortunately, but it's not bad. I watched Elder Perry's talk (I think it was him, he spoke about obedience to the laws of the Gospel) in Spanish and I could see him getting so passionate in the background, but the interpreter was pretty neutral. That was a bummer, but it's still great how well the Church can instantly speak to the whole world at once, despite language barriers.

I finally got your package this week and loved it.  I ate the Teddy Grahams during Conference haha. :)

I ran out of time so I need to go. I love you all so much! Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I always do the same.

Arto amor,

Elder Hill

4-1-13

Hey everybody!  Happy Easter!

First, I LOVED all the videos that you sent me this past week. I loved seeing everyone and seeing a lot of you. I was surprised to see Maddie with her glasses! But you are super gorgeous Maddie so no worries. :)  Lindsey, you look great and older. Maddie and Lindsey look older, Kurt just looks jackkked (you're welcome for the comment dude), and Mom and Dad just look younger than ever. ;)

I really miss you guys! I had a great week this week, although it's starting to get colder. Just think to yourselves, every day that's warmer for you, I'm just that much colder. ;) haha. It's a fun change though from the heat. I like drinking Ecco more now that it's colder.

Elder Close and I are doing well. He's slowly adjusting to Spanish. This companionship is teaching me a little more about patience in a different aspect I guess haha. We have a lot of fun though when we get all goofy so that's good. :)  Elder Close confirmed "C" yesterday! He was so nervous all week and when he gave her a blessing, he was shaking so much. "C" said her head was being shook the whole blessing haha, but she said it didn't bother her. There are just things that happen she says. She's a good sport. :) She's meeting a lot of the ward now! Her mom also wants to be baptized now because she has seen the blessings that the gospel has brought. Also, when we taught her about temples and baptisms for the dead, she was sold haha.

We taught some less actives that I didn't know before, so we're working with them. We also "broke up" with "F", but we're still on good terms. He said he thought about it and he didn't want to make too many promises that he said he wasn't going to keep always. So, we're done with him for now.

We had a fun activity on Saturday. We watched a play that a guy in our ward was in that was recorded as part of BYU's art program. He had special rights to show it so we invited investigators and watched it. No investigators showed up, but it was a good turn out still and "C" was there. It was so funny to watch our friend from our ward in the play because he had to hide his Chilean accent a little to make it more neutral. It was funny. :)

Nothing too interesting happened to me on Easter, but it was still a good day! I'm super excited for General Conference now!

I miss you all so much and pray for you constantly. I hope all is well at home!

Muchísimo amor,

Elder Hill

3-25-13

Heeeey!

What a week this has been for all of us! I'm so happy to hear about everyone and that Kurt received his Patriarchal Blessing yesterday! I hope you're enjoying the snow days. :) Mom, you must be bored now without having to do so much stuff for primary [she was just released as Primary President]! But I presume that you're putting all of that time now into getting the house ready to sell and getting everyone ready to move out. You all must be so excited.

"C" was baptized yesterday! It turned out to be a wonderful baptism and she was very happy. She asked me to baptize her so I did (although I wanted Elder Close to baptize her). I understand though that I have had much more contact with her and we've become good friends. Her mom told me that she has a testimony of the Church and that she's going to get baptized too! We just need to help her quit smoking and make sure that she has a testimony from the Holy Ghost. Today, the sister missionaries from my sector, "C," and other sister missionaries and elders got together and we hung out for a little bit and had a mini picnic. It was fun. :) "C" is also going to go to an activity with the Young Single Adults tonight, so she is assimilating herself into the ward well! I'm so happy about it.

"F" isn't progressing much so I'm going to speak to him pretty straight-forward and try to resolve any miscommunication that we have between us (and we have a lot because he has weird ideas and I don't speak perfect Spanish haha). We'll see where it goes this week. He didn't go to church yesterday either.

We still meet with "A" here and there. Mondays have seemed to be good times to meet with him lately. We're going to see him after I write you. Right now, I'm working on being his friend and kindly steering him towards the truth. I hope he gets baptized while I'm here, but I'm not sure. We're going to challenge him for baptism again tonight.

President Wright called an unplanned meeting with the new missionaries and their trainers. It was an amazing meeting. He talked about the Atonement and about integrity.

We've been going out with a lot of members lately, but now I'm seeing that it isn't just if we can get a member in the lesson, but that we can help create friendships between members and investigators. I've wondered why investigators aren't progressing even though they have met five or six members that we brought over, and now I've realized that a each member has come over only once. There's no way that the investigator can have a good relationship with that member unless he or she has more contact with them. We're going to bring a couple over to meet with an investigator that we have, and I hope that it goes better.

I'm getting excited for General Conference! I might watch it in Spanish this time because I'm planning on bringing a ton of people. :)

It's still hot here, but it's slowing turning to Fall. I don't need anything at this moment. I can buy thermals here, and if I really need another coat, I'll just buy it. I'm hoping that I receive your package tomorrow. :)

I love you all a TON!  I'm looking forward to Skyping all of you! The time will be here soon!

Con MUCHO amor,

Elder Hill

3-18-13

Hey everyone!

This week went really well for me. I hope the same was for you guys! "C" told us that she is ready and wants to be baptized. So, the offical offical date is the 24th. :)

"F" is still learning and understanding very little. He keeps coming to church though and doing the things that we ask him. So, if he keeps that up, he'll get there eventually. I think he thought that baptism was just a way of saying thanks to God but doesn't mean any more than that. He thinks that it is bad to pray out-loud, because Jesus talks about the hypocrites praying in His Sermon on the Mount, but he doesn't even know what hypocrite means haha. I didn't explain it too well, but I got a good definition from the dictionary that Dad sent me so we'll work with him on that.

We found another investigator named "M" and she has a baptismal date now. I hope she goes the distance, but she says right now that she can only meet with us once a week. We'll have to change that. She's nice and receptive though.

We talked with a man who asked me how we are so happy and full of energy all the time. I told him it was because we are following Jesus Christ. He than asked me if heaven exists and said yes. He told me that it was another planet and that we were going to "jump" to that planet and leave people like him behind. I asked him if we could teach him because he obviously needed help haha. But he said no so we ended it with that.

We have some other investigators, but they aren't progressing much. We're doing our best though! This gospel is too important for everyone to not keep working hard.

Tonight, we're going to teach "A" in a Family Home Evening. I'm planning on talking about the Great Apostasy in depth to help him understand how important a true church is and that it has been restored.

Elder Close is doing well. He's really struggling with Spanish. He's getting frustrated with it a lot too. Pray for him please. We get along really well. I care about him a lot and I want him to have a good time and do a lot with me. I think I'm too serious for his tastes (but you guys know me. I'm not that serious am I? Let me know in the next email haha).

I hope that Chad, Torie, and everyone had a good time in DC and a good trip home. I'm looking forward to be living closer to them. :)

It's crazy to hear about the ward split. I can't believe how the Church is growing. I just saw on lds.org that they updated the LDS version of the scriptures too. All of that kind of makes me feel old haha. I feel like I'm seeing changes that one sees as years accumulate. 

I love you guys so much! Everything is going great here. I love this mission and I love seeing how the Lord is blessing all of you. I'm still waiting on your package, but I'll let you know as soon as I get it. I got a letter from Ashton and from Sarah Black this week, which was really nice. :) Ashton is doing well! From what he wrote me, he's having a great time like I am.

That's all I have for this week. Oh, Mom, can you send me a picture of the wall in the family room that you decorated? A member in my ward wants to use it to get ideas on how to decorate her family room haha.

I love and miss you guys sooooo much! I'll talk to you next week!

Con amor,

Elder Hill

3-11-13

¡Hola chiquillos!

I hope you all had a great week! This week for me went very well. On Monday, we had the setting apart and farewell of Hernan, who went to Floridianopolis, Brazil on his mission. It was fairly emotional for me because I really like Hernan and we became good friends. I'm going to keep in touch with him a little bit. My new companion, Elder Close, is doing well! He didn't know much Spanish before the mission (or at least he doesn't remember any from high school haha), so, it's been a tough climb for him. I've been trying to be very patient and helpful. It was weird to go from a companion who was my example for Spanish to a companion who doesn't know much of it. I'm trying to teach him everything right though. Towards the end of the week, we had a surprise meeting with the new missionaries and some service with made us really busy with studying and planning, but we're doing well.

"F" came to church on Sunday! We went by his house in the morning, but decided not to yell because everyone was sleeping. We saw that the gate was opened and thought that that meant that he left, because he was already on his way to church when we saw him last Sunday. Turned out that he was asleep hmmm. We called him after the Sacrament and he showed up in twenty more minutes.  :)  We had some really good lessons with him this week and he's progressing a lot. Unfortunately, he has a lot of weird ideas about doctrine. For example, he didn't want to accept Jesus Christ because he thought he was only supposed to worship "God." We corrected him on that, but he has a lot of ideas like that.

"C" went to Valparaíso this weekend, so she missed church. We were going to see her tonight, but she just called me and cancelled the visit. :( She has a baptismal date for this Sunday, but I'm worried that it's going to fall again. I'm going to have to do something crazy this week to make it all work out haha.

We have other investigators, but they're not progressing much yet. We desperately need to find more, but I've really struggled with that my whole mission. I wish I had some cool musical or artistic ability to attract people to talk to me or make them more interested.

Today, we went to a big mall in the nicer part of Santiago called Las Condes. We ate lunch in the Hard Rock Café, and an extremely nice man came up to us and gave us money to pay for our lunch (and Hard Rock Café isn't cheap). John Collins, if you ever read this, thank you! It was fun to go around the mall and feel more at home (because the nicer parts of Santiago feel more American). Elder Close's camera also broke so we tried to get it fixed. We found a Nikon store kind of near the mall, but we didn't have time to check it out.

I wish I could be there while the Mickelson family is visiting! I love being here but I don't like missing out on family. I hope they had a good stay. I really liked the video that Maddie sent this week. I love and miss you guys so much!!!! Only a little more time until we can skype again. :) Thank you for sending that package! I'm waiting very patiently for the music haha. I can't believe all the changes and things that are going on at home! I hope everything is well and happy for you guys. Everyone looks older (except for Mom), but at the same time everyone looks the same. I love you all so much! :)

Mucho Amor,

Elder Hill

2-25-13

Hey everyone!!!

So, this week has been tough in the work. On the bright side, we have some new investigators and we are constantly finding more. Elder Smith and I are quite a team when it comes to teaching and contacting. He is an amazing companion. "C" and "Y" went to the beach at the last second so they weren't here for the whole week. That was really tough. They returned on Saturday and "C" went with us to church on Sunday. We talked to her about her baptismal date (because it is for the 3rd of March!) and she said that she is still good for right now. She says that she really likes church and feels very good there. She didn't read much or meet with us at all the past week, so spiritual confirmations have been scarce. It is SO important that investigators and the missionaries stay in good contact and meet often, otherwise, spiritual answers are tough to come by. That applies to everyone; we all need to be doing our part to have the Spirit in our lives.

Big news--Elder Smith was changed this morning. And I'm staying in Los Plátanos as a trainer! I'm super excited but a little anxious too. I'll meet my companion tomorrow when they arrive. I actually just found out who it was because my name showed up next to his when I entered in my weekly indicators online. His name is Elder Close, so I'm assuming that he's a "gringo" haha. I'm not sure if I would have been happier with a gringo or a latino, but now I know who he is and I'll move forward. I'm excited. :) Please pray for me very hard this change! I'm going directly from the only companion I've had in the field (and who trained me) to training a gringo. It'll work out great and I'll learn a ton. I'm definitely capable. Elder Cadden and Elder Measom are training too. I did divisions [splits] with a brand new Elder this week and I really enjoyed it, so maybe I'm made to train. Haha.

That is all the big news for the week. Pray for "C" and for Elder Close and for me! This is going to be an interesting week!

I love you all so much and I'll let you know how things are going next Monday!

Les quiero muchísimo,

Elder Hill

2-11-13

¡Hola!

The new sister missionaries arrived this week, our sector split, and now we miss having the whole sector to work with haha. We're doing alright, but now we aren't running from appointment to appointment and we are often left with just contacting people in the streets, which so far hasn't produced many results. Nearly all the people we talk to are "set in their ways" when it comes to religion. If I could point out a scripture in the Bible that says the Mormons are the true church, they still wouldn't accept it... A lot of people express that it is ridiculous that there are so many churches, but when we try to explain why that is and how the original church of Christ is on the earth today, they don't understand and still think of the Latter-day Saints as any other of the many churches. It honestly is like Joseph Smith's Palmyra here, and unfortunately, most people aren't interested in finding out what is the truth. We keep trying though!

The city of Santiago cut a lot of people's water this weekend, which caused many to not come to church, including "Y"... We made the bad call of not going to pick them up because we thought that they would be okay (I've learned my lesson now to never assume that). She and her whole family apparently slept in. We went by that afternoon to see them. We're going to make sure she goes this next Sunday. We actually set baptismal dates with the mom and a sister for the 3rd of March, which Elder Smith and I were very excited for. Yesterday, the mom said she doesn't want to continue with the lessons. She really surprised me with that. She didn't bring up a valid reason why she wanted to stop, but she did say that she would like to tell us about it privately. So, I don't know what's up, but we're going to figure it out. Her sister is so on track for baptism. She's really cool and good about everything. I'm grateful for that.

We had another woman tell us that we are "cold" people (which was her way of saying no to listening to us), even though she said that we are "really good people" and "definitely sent by God." I don't know why they say that haha. It's their choice to think that though; it's too bad that false observations like that are going to keep them from the restored gospel. It makes me really sad when people are held from the truth because of silly excuses, but that's just how it is.

We had some good lessons this week, but we want a lot more. It's hard when you can't find anyone to teach, but I'm trying my best. We have some new plans we're going to try out.

  

Wow, a lot has been going on at home this week. That's great about Corinne's mission call! A girl in my ward also opened hers this week and was called to Brazil. I don't remember the name of her mission either haha.

  

I am healthy and my apartment is clean. ;) No worries!

I have to go now. I love you all so much!!!

Con amor,

Elder Hill