Hermana Hill: Blanca Navidad :)

Hello!

Thanks for the emails! I did a few laugh out louds. Especially seeing dad in the ELF SUIT! Classic. Please tell me that is his for keeps? It was good hearing from the my funny sisters! McKenna, good job with your finals and I will look for Elder Skousen. Hannah, good job in swimming, and stay away from the creepy seniors at viewmont. Camri, ugh...ozzy. And poor Bella.....:S

As always, SO MUCH I WANT TO WRITE. But of course life is crazy. This week has been very satifying. We are definitely seeing the fruits of our labors! We had seven investigators at church this Sunday, which is the most we have had in Zárate. We also had the most people in the chapel that we have ever had--67. It doesn´t sound like a lot, but it was a huge blessing to have that many, believe it or not! I am beginning to learn how to lose myself in the work.

Let me tell you the story of Maxi and Joaquin a little. So Maxi was an antiguo investigador and we found his registro. He had met with the missionaries before and had been to church as well. We decided to see if he still had interest and find out why he wasn´t baptized before. It was one of the days when I was on divisions with a member, Julieta, when Hna Vargas and Gonzalez went to the hospital. We had some trouble finding his house, but were finally able to find it. There was a teenager sitting there smoking and he hurried and left. A girl came out and we asked for Maxi. Turns out he was the boy who we saw. He came out and we got to know him a little bit and talked about the gospel. After about five minutes I asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes. We invited him to a noche de hogar that night and he actaully went! We also started teaching his brother Joaquin. They are chicos muyyy especiales. Because they had both been to church many times before, and they had testimonies, they were able to be baptized quickly. Many miracles occurred in order for it to happen though. Maxi was able to quit smoking and he took out his piercing on his lip. At first their mom wouldn´t let Joaquin get baptized because she thought he was too young to make such a big decision. But Joaquin had a huge desire to get baptized. Although he doesn´t say much, he has a huge spirit and always has a smile. When his mom said no, he wouldn´t eat the rest of the day because he was devastated. We continued to plan for his baptism because we knew that his mom would have a change of heart. Which she did (amazingly). She was able to go to their baptism and it was such a spiritual experience. We had asked Maxi if he would share his testimony after he was baptized and he said no. Joaquin hesitantly said he would. After the baptism, he went up to the front, but got all shy and wouldn´t say anything. His mom started asking him questions, trying to prompt him like "how do you feel? do you feel clean? do you feel like Heavenly Father is happy with you?" He just got a big smile and nodded his head. Then Maxi started to bear his testimony and talk about how he felt during his baptism. It was like he couldn´t hold it in! He said that he was nervous right before, but he came up out of the water and felt a peace that he had never felt before. After the services, their mom, Adriana, even told us that she felt something she had never felt before and she even felt like sharing her testimony with her sons. I know that the spirit can change people! I believe that Adriana would be baptized if it wasn´t for her husband who is against it. But, I know she will have the opportunity because with God nothing is impossible! I was talking to Maxi a while ago and he said that many missionaries would come to his door before, but he would always say he wasn´t interested or he would hide. He said he didn´t know why he decided to talk to us when we went to his house. He said when he went to the noche de hogar, he stood outside the church for about fifteen minutes and wasn´t going to go in. But he heard us sing "noche de luz" (silent night), which he remembered from church and liked it, and he decided to go. We sang that song at his baptism. I know from this experience that people are being prepared by a loving Heavenly Father all the time.

Wow I have to go. Hope that story made sense.

I love you so much and wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you remember our loving Savior. I have a compromiso for you all. This Christmas think of a gift that you can give to Christ. Pray to know something that you can give up in your life, something you can do better, some way to use your time for more things of the Lord. I know if you do this, you will be so blessed. I am going to do it too :) And if you feel like it, let me know how it goes.

LES AMO!

Hermana Hill