Vamos a la playsha

Hola querida familia muy linda!

Gracias por sus emails! Les quiero muchísimo. No tengo muuuucho tiempo porque hoy vamos a caminito (el lugar con las casas de colores). Bueno, espero, porque la verdad es que no sé como llegar....Vamos a preguntar muchas personas y usar mi librito con mapitas y los colectivos. Con suerte, vamos a llegar! Oh, y también, vamos a tratar de ir al estadio de la boca!!! 

Basta con el castellano. Well this week has been super crazy and good. We have been working our buns off looking for new investigators. Our first week together included a lot of searching and walking and people cancelling appointments, or not being there when we showed up and it kind of seemed like we weren´t going anywhere. But this week we are beginning to see the fruits of our labors. On Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference. It was great because even though it wasn´t in our church, here close, Amelia, Raul, Mercedes, and Eros went. Amelia is practically a member....she goes to every single activity, is BFF with every member, pays her tithing, etc. She is only lacking the most important step--baptism. It is going to take a lot of faith because she is still having problems with her eyesight and can´t read very much. But I know that the spirit will touch her heart and she will be know that faith is not a perfect knowledge. We are also teaching Raul, the cutest 83 year old man there is. He is roommates of a member in our ward, Daniel, and they have started reading the Book of Mormon together every day. Mercedes is a lady who has been investigating the church for a long time and the missionaries here had visited her before. Her sister is a member and lives in Virginia and has always tried to help her have the desire to join the church. Right now she is progressing a ton. Eros is 13 and lives with Adriana and her family. His mom died when he was little and his dad lives in another city. He is living here so he can play soccer. After the conference, Presidente Gulbrandsen and Presidente Catala came over to us and began talking to him and telling him how he was going to be a missionary in the future. He had a huge smile on his face, it was really cool. A couple months ago during one of our meetings with all the missionaries in the stake, P. Gulbrandsen received a revelation and told us that this stake-Congreso-will be a place where people who are prepared will come from all over to be baptized. We are seeing that it is being fulfilled...William and Joel had both moved here after just a little while, and also Eros has only been here for about two months. We also found an investigator, Gustavo, who moved here from Peru about three weeks ago. I know people here are prepared and that if we work hard and follow the spirit we will be able to find them. So many people are searching and I want to do all I can to help them find what they are searching for. Oh, also it was awesome because P. Gulbrandsen shared the story of Hna Sosa´s mom in the conference, and P. Catala didn´t know he was going to share it. He had Hna Sosa and P. Catala stand up and P. Catala began sobbing. It was a really special moment that no one there will forget. Wow, my companion is famous! She really is awesome and so humble and willing to work. I´m grateful to be here with her here in Almagro! I´m way too blessed. En serio. Okay ttyl. Chao chao!

Hermana Hill

Run to Daddy!!!!

Famileeee familaaaa famileeee familahahahahahaha....

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Papá! :D!!!!!!! Okay I decided that I love every
picture that I get that is of dad. Well, I love them all really. But
dad is such a big goof. Love the birthday hat! But mostly, I love the
guy wearing the birthday hat jaja. Thank you for everything, padre. I
hope you receive my card in the mail soon :)

Sounds like the stake conference was BOMBA! What a great opportunity
to listen to all those leaders of the church. I know that they are
chosen men and women of God and that by listening to and acting on the
words of our church leaders we will be extremely blessed. This
Saturday and Sunday we will have our stake conference. I´m super
animada. We´ve been working our colas off this week searching for new
investigators that will be able to enjoy stake conference, and further
on, the temple. The people who we are looking for right now will have
the opportunity to prepare to receive a temple recommend to be able to
see the rededication of the temple! We have such a huge responsibility
to find them and to help them to have this once in a lifetime
experience. Speaking of stake conference.....So my companion Hna Sosa
is RE CAPA. Mom, you said you thought I had been on divisions with her
before but I think you´re thinking of Hna Salas. Hna Sosa has only
been here for three months, so she just got done with her training.
And now it´s her turn to train me! Haha. She is from La Pampa,
Argentina, a little south of Buenos Aires. But anyway, let me tell you
how her family joined the church. One day when her mom was 18, she
fainted in the street. There just happened to be two Elders closeby
who helped her to the hospital and called her parents. Later on in the
week, they passed by to visit and "see how she was doing" (code word
for baptize the entire family haha). And, yup, her whole family-of
nine-were baptized! Before leaving on her mission, her mom told her
that the Elder that baptized her was a Stake President in the our
mission, but she couldn´t remember which stake. Guess what? It just
happens to be Presidente Catala, our stake president. Yesterday,
before church, we had a meeting with all of the missionaries of the
stake and the stake and mission president. After the meeting, she
talked to Pres. Catala and told him that he baptized her mom. There
were tears in both of their eyes. It was cool to see the happiness
that it brought to both of them and that the blessings of serving a
mission continue even years and years later. Speaking of blessings of
a mission, Camila and Tiziana were confirmed yesterday. They coudn´t
be more great. Camila is even going to seminary at six in the morning,
and just a month ago, she didn´t like getting up early for anything.

In conclusion, the mission is great. We have to work really hard this
week to find new investigators but with a lot of fasting and prayer
and diligence, vamos a hacerlo con la ayuda del Señor. Les amo, siguen
esforzandose de leer el Libro de Mormón. I´m proud of you, kids!

Love, Hermana Hill

Hermanita Sosa!

Thx 4 tha scrfs n slprs!

¡Buen Día, Familia!

¡Tanto tiempo! It was so good to see you all yesterday. Hope everyone had a great mother´s day, I know I did! Mom, just so you know, all of these baptisms were for you :) Oh, I got the package. Thanks a BILLION! Hna Peralta loved the ring by the way! And don´t worry I will send all of your love to the wonderful people of Almagro. Okay not a lot of time but here are some really great pictures in no particular order.

Duh! I almost forgot to tell you about transfers! I am still here in Almagro :) And I am here with Hermana Sosa!! She is from Argentina and is awesome. We´re going to work a FULL. Love you! 

With Elisa (aunt), Fernanda (cousin), and Gabriel (mission leader).

Lovely.

I call this one "la escalera" Gustavo (cousin), Joel, Obispo, the sisters 

Everyone plus Adriana, their mom. "Estamos animados!"

Elders...

Familia Choquemesa (the aunt and cousins of Joel.  They are the bessst

Vitali, Camila, Tiziana, Kevin (you talked to him yesterday, haha)

Thought you'd get a kick out of this one.

Book of Mormon Stories

FAMMMMM!

Hola. Papá, ¿qué significa "kia orana"? Hannah, ¡que linda que sos! You look so much older! Must be the lack of braces. Are you really 16? Such a big girl! Hope that kid you went to prom with is a classy guy. Or else............I'm gonna darle una piña. I love spanglish so much, you are all going to darme una piña when I get back with how much spanglish I'm going to hablar. Hehe. Well this week has been increíble!!! Update ya. 

We have had some really great lessons with Adriana, Camila, and Tiziana. They are TOO awesome. On Sunday morning,  before ward council, we called them to make sure they were all awake and ready to go to church. They said they were good to go. Flia Bustios was going to go pick them up in the morning so they could all go together. Church started and everything, and none of them were there, so we called Hna Bustios and she sounded a little frantic and said they were on their way. They ended up arriving for the second class because it turns out Hna Bustios had accidentally slept in. Adriana said she was so nervous when Hna Bustios hadn't arrived because they were all anxious to go to church, and she knew that her kids woudn't be able to be baptized if they didn't go, and she couldn't remember exactly how to get there. She said that as they were waiting, they began to read the Book of Mormon. Then after a while, Hna Bustios passed by to take them. That day was testimony meeting, and Tiziana went up with another girl from primary and they read the story of Ammon-the story they learned in Primary that day. We'll have to explain to her the purpose of testimony meeting, but it was still very brave of her :) Joel is also progressing a ton. He wants to be baptized, but wants to make sure he will complete with all of the commandments and do everything correctly after he is baptized. He realizes how important baptism is and really wants to make a change in his life. Amelia is also de diez. She's already BFF with all of the members. She is always taking notes during church and during the lessons we teach her, it's so cute. 

Last week we had a special conference with President Gulbrandsen. We all received a Book of Mormon in our native language to read before the temple is re-dedicated. We also received three colored pencils. One to mark every time it mentions or refers to Christ, one for all the times it mentions our missionary purpose (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, endure to the end), and one to mark all of the scriptures that strengthen our personal testimony. I LOVE IT. This morning I read 1 Nephi 8. It's always been my favorite chapter. I KNOW that we will always be happier if we are holding fast to the iron rod. Really. Who cares what the large and spacious building is saying (or, rather, the people in it. Buildings can't talk...) Bueno, you told me that I don't have to sugar-coat everything in my letters so I will tell you something that is hard for me. It's hard for me to see SO many unhappy people! And the reason that most of them are unhappy is because they are so lost. They are lost in the large and spacious building or the mist of darkness, or the river. Some people would think that it would be easier to walk in the broad path, instead of the straight and narrow. But, really it's so much easier to not get lost when the path is really tiny. When the path is too big, we wander all over the place, with out knowing which way is straight...which way leads to the tree of life....the love of God....Jesus Christ. I KNOW that the gospel brings true happiness. I KNOW that the way to show that we are willing to follow our Savior is through baptism, and always continuing to have faith, repent, follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.

I love you all a million and can't wait to do some skype-age with you this Sunday!

Hna Hill

P.S. Hna Jones, I can't really think of anything. ¿Quizás medias gruesas? ¡Invierno viene ya! Pero, realmente no pienso que necesito algo en particular. Sólo las lupitas si puede. Le voy a mandar una carta hoy :)