Whatever happened to those Mormon guys?

¡Hola abejas re-ocupadas!

The other day on the bus, I heard a boy talking to his dad and said "hey, whatever happened to those mormon guys?"...in English. I kept listening for a little while but wasn't able to hear the response. Then I started talking to them and found out they are from California and are living here in Argentina and then we had to get off the bus! Grrrr. Now I will never know what happened to those mormon guys. 

I don't have a lot of time, but for an update, we are continuing to teach, Joel, Amelia, Adriana, Camila, Tiziana, and now their dad José. Tonight we have an appointment with Daniela, the cousin of the bishop's wife. We are studying and praying and working a lot to help them to prepare them for baptism!!!

Did you hear that the Buenos Aires temple now has an official opening date?! They had been postponing the rededication for EVER because there were some materials in the US that had to be imported into Argentina but couldn't. But now recently they told us a specific day....September 9th! And the open house is August 4-25. I'm excited that I will still be here :) Unless they transfer me to the South.....you never know.......

Well I really like you guys a lot and thanks so much for the emails and pictures. Sounds like life has been pretty hectic! Everyone is in my prayers. Don't forget to read and pray personally and as a family and to have the ole noche de hogar every week! We are so lucky to have commandments. 

¡Les amo con todo corazón!

Sister Cerro

P.S. Hna Jones could you maybe send me more of those magnifiers if at all possible? They're a big hit. Either people here have really bad eye sight or it's an excuse not to read during the lessons.....

Ward Missionaries and Joel!

Divisions with Hna Quispe de Peru.  I think I'll
be buying some rain boots soon :S

Burger King in Argentina...eating croquantes instead of french fries.

Calsa jeans.  All the rage.  Hna Jones would be so proud.

Flia Pernia.  From the US!  She is an amazing lady.  Her husband
isn't a member, but she brings her three little boys to church all by
herself.  It's great because when we teach them I get to practice
my English skills, haha.

I Love To See The Temple

Hey family!

Good to hear that you guys arrived home safely after the crazy weekend in Vegas! Also good to hear that the package arrived safely back to you haha what a relief! 

This week was great. We were able to teach the nephew of Elisa, who just moved here from Bolivia. He is 22 and will be living with his aunt and cousins while he studies engineering here. He has three brothers and two of them are members, and also his mom. They always wanted him to go to church, but he never had the desire to go or to talk to the missionaries. This Sunday, Elisa invited him and he went! He really wants to change his life and have a new start. We are also teaching a mom, Adriana, and her two daughters, Camila (15) and Tiziana (8). They are friends of Hna Busitios, and went to church with her. The members are de-diez! This Sunday we also had to give talks. Oh McKenna I mentioned you! I said that I challenged you to invite someone to church and that you have been fasting and praying to find someone even though you go to college where almost everyone are members. Good job! 

The last few weeks we have been giving pictures of the temple to certain families in the ward--a gift from the bishopric (see the following photos). The only stipulation is that they have to hang it in a visible place. It´s so fun to see how happy they are to receive this gift and commit themselves to keep the temple as their main goal. I want to go to the temple so bad!!

Well that is a brief summary of what´s going on here! I love you guys a lot. Keep being a light to those around you. CU L8R!!!!

Hermana Hill 

Familia Cortijo.  Nicolas is 9 and was recently baptized.  His mom,  Halyna, is
from Ukraine, and his dad is from Peru and met here in Argentina.  They are
preparing to be sealed here in the temple in Buenos Aires when the temple opens!

Hna Bustios!  The Bustios family is from Boliva and are also preparing to be
sealed in the temple.  (I think I've already told you a little bit about them). 

Familia Perez.  Milagros is from Peru and her husband is from Argentina.
Right now they are working on coming back to church so their son, Claudio, can
be baptized (he's 7), and so they can be sealed in the temple.

Familia Molinas.  (They also got a picture of the temple).   They are returning
to church and it's AWESOME.  They are always giving away
Libros de Mormon that we give them.

This is not a St. Patrick's Day joke :S

Familia Cruz.  This family is so great and so funny.  They have had a
lot of challenges, but are so strong in the gospel.

¿Por qué? ¡Porque!‏

Fam,

Sup? First of all, mom and dad be careful in sin city. And tell Elton hi for me and that I love his work in Aida! Second of all, Kaylee, you're right, that little Easton guy literally melted my heart! You can't do that to me! Wow, you guys are all over the place, sounds like everyone is having lots of fun and that is important :) 

On Thursday we had interviews. We talk in English in the interviews, but sometimes it's a struggle for me haha. Luckily with Hna Peralta we practice english so I don't forget it completely. (Oh and we got letters and stuff, and the package wasn't there :S But I got the credit card so if you could call and activate it that would be fab. Gracias!) Interviews with President are always so great and I always learn so much more of what I can change and do better. We have been learning a lot about "vision" and how we can receive a vision specifically for our area. I love the scripture in 1 Nefi 11:1 that talks abou how Nefi, uh Nephi, wanted to see the vision that his father saw. Have you ever noticed that the vision of Lehi is one chapter and after Nephi, desired, believed, and reflected on the vision of his father and how he can recieve it himself, he recived his own vision....more than four chapters long! I have been thinking a lot about this concept. How we learn from the servants of the Lord, but expand our own vision by receiving our own revelation directly from the Lord. It takes a lot of praying and studying and applying. Something I've been trying to do more is ask "why" in every moment. Why am I here in this moment? Why is this person sitting next to me on the bus? Why did this person just completely reject us? There really is a purpose to everything we do, but if we never ask why, we won't ever know the answer. Okay so that's your challenge. Start asking "why" more during the day and look for the purpose for everything you do. ¿Lo harán?

This week was great. On Sunday, a woman named Amelia came to church all by herself. She is 72 and lives alone and was looking for a church that she could go to. She was walking one day running errands and walked by the church. At first she thought it was a school or something, but then realized it is a church, looked at what time the meetings are, and came! She loved it and felt the spirit very strongly. We invited her to another activity that we had that night (post capilla abierta) and she came! Also Elder and Hermana Garvin, who were in charge of the activity, invited a man on the street to come. At first he said no because he was dressed in his exercise clothes, but they assured him that it was okay, so he came. He is from Brazil and came here to study and has been here for four days. He speaks Portuguese (did I slaughter that word?) so it was hard to understand him, but luckily the Bishop's mom is from Brazil, so he and his mom also know Portuguese. Tonight we have a lesson with him in the apartment of one of the counselors of the bishopric, Hno Zamora. Also, Luz's son, Luciano, came to church with his friend, Agustín, who is less active. More and more I am seeing that there are so many prepared. That the field is white and already to harvest. Experiences like this really make me motivated to talk to EVERYONE! 

Well I think that's all. Oh, una pregunta para la Hna Jones: Do your DVDs from Argentina work in the U.S.? I want to put all my pictures on DVDs but I heard they don't work there. Let me know, madre. (Remember our friend from the kiosko next door?)

I love you all a MILLION.

Hnita Hill

¡Felices Pascuas!

Family!

I hope you all had a happy easter. Dad, I liked the subject of your email. Too bad Hna Peralta has never seen Nacho Libre. (Is it bad to mention Nacho libre in my missionary email?) Easter was really really great. I will tell you why. William received the Priesthood!!! It´s just such a happy thing to see people not only be baptized, but to also progress in the church. This gospel is all about progression and even though we are so imperfect, we are here to progress. And that is thanks to our loving Savior. I´m grateful for this time of year when we turn our thoughts to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But as Bishop Galbuchi mentioned in his talk on Sunday, every Sunday is an Easter. Every Sunday we have the chance to take the sacrament and think of this marvelous gift we have to conquer death. I´m learning a lot more about the importance of the sacrament here on the mission. And although I still don´t "get it" all, I get enough to know of the importance of the sacrifice of our Savior and the opportunity we have to grow closer to Him each day. And I´m so grateful to share this message! I´ve been thinking lately about how I haven´t thanked you, my dear family, enough for how much you have done for me and supporting me so much and letting me have this opportunity to share what I know, thanks to you! I mess up a ton and sometimes don´t take for granted this opportunity as much as I should, but then I think of how short of a time I have here (yes, dad, I realized I completed nine months already :S) and put in my pilas and trabajar! So thank you, thank you, THANK YOUUUU. 

Okay back to Sunday. One of our investigators, Luz came to church. She is the mom of a friend of a less active boy in our ward and she´s really great. The first thing she told us when we talked to her is that she´s catholic. But we began teaching her and she told us that even though she grew up catholic, she has a desire to really know which church is true and be baptized in a church one day. But she said she takes it really seriously and doesn´t just want to get baptized into any church. At the end of the lesson, she said the closing prayer, pleading that God would really help her find the truth. On Sunday she came to church and during the talks of sacrament meeting, I heard her sniffling next to me. The messages of Christ really touched her heart. I´m excited to keep teaching her and help her receive an answer that the church is true!

So remember when I used to like writing poems in like fifth grade? I decided to relive my childhood and write another one. The bad thing is that it is still fifth grade quality but I wanted to share it with you:

La Receta

At times I´m in the kitchen,

With the urge to eat something sweet

I start looking for a recipe

To make myself a treat.

A cup and a half of sugar,

I measure it precise.

Two eggs, three cups of flour-

These cookies will turn out nice!

I bake them in the oven

At exactly three-fifty degrees,

I set the timer-nine minutes.

Don´t burn, I beg you please!

I pull them out of the oven,

They turned out pretty good!

How great to have this recipe,

They taste just like they should.

I made these cookies often,

A habit, it became.

I followed the recipe exactly,

Always it was the same.

Then one day I moved away,

To live far from my home.

I left the recipe behind, 

To learn to make cookies on my own.

First attempt: turned out disastrous,

With burnt cookies surrounding me.

Why didn´t anyone mention

That this oven cooks differently?

The second time: not enough flour,

These cookies look more like soup.

Third try: way too much butter.

I feel so out of the loop!

But I will not be defeated,

I adjust things here and there.

I try to remember the basics,

But decide to add my own flair.

This is how it should be-

I´m now baking from the heart.

Maybe a little more sugar

Would be a good place to start.

And through this trial and error,

I made a new recipe of my own.

They´re the best cookies I´ve ever tasted-

Through action the way is shown. 

And just like that old recipe,

We rely on the ones we love.

They have taught us of the way

To reach our Father above.

They have helped to guide us

And show us the ingredients,

And we follow them precisely

Because it makes good sense. 

But we are all so different,

And should receive it for ourselves.

We must follow all the guidelines,

Then comes heaven´s help.

We are here upon this earth

To be tested and be tried.

And we must come to really know

Who´ll be our constant guide.

He will help us to perfect

Our own recipe of life.

Through recognizing our mistakes,

That can pierce just like a knife.

But if we keep on trying,

And correct what isn´t right,

Christ will see into our hearts,

And help us receive the light.

So as you´re making cookies,

And make a mistake or two,

Keep trying, and fixing, and relying on Him-

To create a recipe just for you.

(DyC 58:26-28)

Well, off to work! I know that today is going to be a good day because the chica working at McDonald´s put extra snickers in my mcflurry. Why am I always talking about food......?

Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Cerro

Flia Feresin made me a birthday lunch and had this on the
computer screen when we came in.

They also made me a poster :)

Do you see why I am getting fat?

After a lesson with William and the Flia Feresin

Hna Peralta made me a cute sign and I made myself a nice
(a little burnt) french toast birthday breakfast.

Distrito

¡DÁME LA MONTAÑA!‏

Hi again :)

 

I hope you all had a fun time in Park City celebrating my birthday! Haha birthday smirthday....no time to think about birthdays when there are people to baptize! Wow, you are right, Kaylee. I almost died when I saw your kid in his swim trunks. Will you please send him in the next package? Thx.

 

Last weekend was conference! It was great. We watched it in the chapel with the stake. We missed a whole bunch of it because we were picking up investigators to come with us and it is about 30 minutes away and we also left between sessions to pick up more people. But vale la pena. Also they had it in English but I watched it in Spanish because there were no other English speaking sisters to watch it with. But I actually understand now so no hay problema. Did you know that Elder Scott does the spanish interpretation for his own talks? Rad! I think my favorite talk (of those that we saw :)) was Elder Eyring. Give me that mountain! Aren´t the leaders of the church great? You´ll have to send me the Ensign of the conference talks if you can.

 

We had transfers today! We get to stay here in Almagro! We´re so excited!!! I have a feeling I´m going to be here for a long time. Like I was in Zárate. It´s better that way. And I like being with companions more than one transfer too because there is so much we can learn from each other and, wow, this transfer we have goals a full. We´re rrre-animadas :)

 

I have no time. Thank you for the birthday wishes. I love you so much!!! The church is true!!!!!!

 

Hermana Hill

Pequeñas y Sencillas‏

Okay SOOOO sorry. I send an email last week but just now today it told me it didn´t send because I had too many attachments :( So this is the email of last week......

 

Hello family!

Hope you´re ready for another.....SEMANA EN FOTOS! It´s been a loco
week like always! Full of challenges and blessings a FULL. (Mom, do
people say "a full" in Chile too? Or is it just an Argentina thing?) I
can´t believe that Hna Jones got to hold Easton before me!!! Haha how
cute that you all went to lunch together. I hope you are all doing
well and are loving life. Because life is to be loved. Okay here goes:

Mi distrito. So we we were going to go see the colorful houses

but we were sitting there waiting for the colectivo for almost an

hour. So we ended up going to the chapel and playing handball. In our

skirts haha.

Who doesn´t love a district jumping picture?

It rained HUGE piedras! But right before we had to leave the hail

stopped and it only rained. Our Heavenly Father was looking out for

us!

Violeta! She is awesome. She´s 23 and her boyfriend is a less

active member. But she was interested in the church so because of her

they both started going to church. We taught her and she was baptized

this Saturday! But guess what? The morning of her baptism, she moved

to another ward and was baptized there, so we didn´t get to see her

get baptized :( But that´s okay because it doesn´t matter where it is,

the most important thing is that it happened!  Doris and I at the capilla abierta en Almagro.    She´s so great.

She was baptized right before I got to Almagro and she is such a great

missionary. Her story is incredible. She has studied the bible a TON

and has been to a bunch of different churches. At first she was really

skeptical about the Book of Mormon but after studying a lot, she

received an incredible answer that it is true.

Capilla abierta en Almagro! A bunch of the wardies.

Elder and Hermana Garvin (they´re in charge of all the capilla

abiertas), Bishop Galbuchi and his wife (they are the best ever), and

the Hermanas de Congreso (Hna Quispe is from Peru, and Hermana Hermosa

is from Argentina)

Capilla Abierta en la Boca. The youth were awesome, they were out

in the streets inviting everyone who passed by!

La familia Bustios. I love this family! They have had so many

challenges but are always relying on the Lord. The husband was

baptized about a year ago and they are working on their goal of being

sealed in the temple.

I see more and more every day that the only way to be happy is by
living the gospel. I am seeing just how important it is to do the
small and simple things (Alma 37:6-7). The details matter! On Sunday
we had a meeting with the stake presidency, mission president, and the
missionaries in the stake. The stake president shared a story about
two missionaries who decided to wheel a less active member in her
wheelchair to church every week.....5 kilometers down (and back up) a
steep mountain. With time, the members also began to help. In the end,
she was able to go to the temple and receive her endowment, her family
reactivated, and her daughter served a mission. Sometimes we don´t see
the results of our efforts, but I know that if we do all that we can
with love, our efforts are not in vain. If we serve with charity, the
blessings come and lives are changed.

UN BESITO!!!!!

Hermana Hill