Regocijad!

Dear Family,

JO JO JO Merrrrry Christmas! Ah it was so good to talk to you and see your bright smiling faces yesterday. Sorry I had such a hard time talking normal :S I´m glad you are all doing well. Thank you so much for your love and support! And to my friends as well….I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and thank you for the love and support and letters. I´m sorry I haven´t sent hardly any letters, there is never time to write. But just know that I appreciate you all! Oh and speaking of….just a reminder to all those who have exciting news such as mission calls, EMAIL ME RIGHT AWAY! thx

Okay so the baptisms. Wow. Miracles. And also a lot of adverstiy. So Ruben was a former investigator and we had tried to visit him before but he wasn´t home. So we got special permission to leave earlier in the morning to visit him. He was home and after talking for a little while we found out he still has interest in the gospel. I asked him if he would be baptized the next day and he got a huge grin on his face and said yes. We found out that two of his sisters, Milagros and Evelyn, had also been to church before and they both chose to be baptized as well. Miracles. Nicolas and Santiago are brothers and I already told you the story about them but they are amazing. Maxi and Joaquin are doing awesome. There weren´t very many people in sacrament meeting on Christmas, but Maxi and Joaquin got there early, even though they hadn´t slept at all the night before. A lot of the investigators and recent converts need us to call or pass by their house to wake them up, but these two brothers are always where they need to be without anyone telling them. I love the people here so much. I don´t ever want to leave Zárate!

I will send you lots of pictures. I love you a ton! Give Easton a big beso from his favorite tía :)

Hermana Hill

Nicolas and Santiago looking at the font before their baptism.
I love this picture.  They are little angels!

A frog entered our house and wanted to do some gospel/spanish study.

Baptism of Milagros, Ruben, & Evelyn :)

When we went to fill the font for Santi and Nico,  it was still full from the baptism
of  Maxi and Joaquin because the person who is in charge of emptying the font forgot.
So we took buckets and emptied about half of it and filled the rest with warm water.

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

Ezequiel y Lucas.  Aren't they just the cutest?

We bought some shoes for 12 pesos :)

Subimos el techo.

Las Chicas Super Poderosas

Familia!

 

No tengo tiempo! We just got done with doing tramites for Hermana Gonzalez and we need to get back to work.

 

Maxi and his brother Joaquin were baptized. It was amazing. I will give you more details next week.

 

I love you so much!

 

Christmas is so soon!

 

WOO!

 

The church is true! And it changes lives!

 

Hermanaza Hill

No puedo creerlo...

Familia!

 

¡Qué loca semana! Okay it seems like I´m always saying it has been a crazy week. But I feel like this week has been extra crazy! Let me just list a few things that have happened.

 

-I have a new companion. She´s super awesome. Like I said, she´s from Guatemala. She´s so cute and so happy and always says "¡no puedo creerlo!" She´s also a stylist so I can get a haircut, waxing, make up, etc done by this little chica. Jaja.

-The first day she got here, there was a huge rain/hail storm. We were super far from the house when it started and we got PELTED by giant ice rocks. It was fun though. Once in a lifetime opportunity :)

-We were in the middle of a lesson when the Secretary of the mission called and told us we need to get back to our house asap because another Hermana, Hna Gonzalez was going to come join us. She is a traveling missionary...she spends about a week with every companionship to help out and such because she´s re-copada.

-Hna Vargas had to go to the hospital in capital because she has a constractura cervical. Poor thing is like a robot, she can´t move her neck. So Hna Gonzalez went with her and I got to be a trainer for a day. A member accompanied me to all the lessons we had for the day. Her name is Julietta and is 19. She is a ward missionary in Zárate I and wants to be a missionary someday. She´s awesome. It´s with her that we found Maxi....

-We have a baptism this weekend! His name is Maxi Alderete. He had been investigating the church about a year ago, but his mom didn´t want him to get baptized. But we ended up visiting him and invited him to our noche de hogar on Friday. And he came!! And he came to church. He is fifteen years old and wants to change his life around. Right now he smokes but he said he is going to stop. And he had an earring on his lip but Hna Gonzalez got him to take it out and give it to her. Haha she´s awesome. And his mom said it is okay with her if he goes to church and gets baptized! The best part is, his sister is a member and she can help him to stay active.

-We also have a bunch more investigators but I don´t have time to write about them all.

-We went on divisions the other day and, again, I got to be a trainer. I went with a girl in our ward, Eliana, who is twenty, who is also really awesome.

-I feel so busy but I love it.

-Today I have been in Argentina for three months. Where does the time go??

-I feel like a ton more has happened but I can´t think of it all right now.

 

I can´t believe it about the crazy strom you had!!! Is everyone safe and sound? I sure hope so! How scary!! At least you got some good missionary experiences out of it :) Hahaha mom, I can´t believe you sent that text to the wrong person! I remember doing that a few times back in the day. Awk-ward.... Alfajores are delicious treats they have here in Argentina. Google it. And, yes, they do taste better on the roof. Hna Jones can testify to that :)

 

Well I love you. And I love the gospel. Don´t forget to do the little things each day. I know our testimonies grow by reading and praying every single day. Don´t forget! Make it a priority. Something I have been trying to remember to do is pray everyday to ask if the Book of Mormon is true. It has helped to strengthen my testimony. Right now I´m reading in 3 Nephi. I LOVE IT. It´s so interesting to see that right before something amazing is about to happen (the coming of Christ), there is so much opposition. The people were the most wicked and Satan had the hearts of many. But these were the people who were destroyed...those who remained faithful through it all were the ones who were able to witness the coming of Christ. Don´t ever give in to doubts, only go forward with faith.

 

I love you!

 

Tía Hill

 

P.S. Hermana Jones: Thank you for the email! I love the photos!!!! I almost died laughing when I saw the pink jump suit. Oh boyyy. Are we friends on facebook yet? Have you stalked me yet? It sounds like it has been crazy being home. Good luck with the whole adjustment! I know you can do it. Keep being a missionary, okay? Don´t worry, we are taking care of Zárate for you :) I wish I could write more but just know that I love you!

¡Vamos que se puede!

Hello and hi and hola!

Wow, it´s been quite the eventful week! We´ve been running around like crazy and traveling to San Fernando and back a few times, but it all came to a wonderful end with the baptism of Susana! We were worried earlier in the week because we weren´t able to teach her for a few days straight because she hadn´t been home. We thought she was avoiding us, but it turns out her daughter had been having some health problems, so she was with her a lot. We finally were able to find her and teach her and help her to have her baptism on Sunday! It was awesome. It´s amazing because we had only known her for two weeks. She knew very little, but her testimony is so strong. She knew she was making a correct decision because of the way she feels every time she goes to church, reads in the Book of Mormon, and has lessons with us. And that is all the knowledge you need! When the Holy Ghost testifies you just need to seguir, no más! Also, it was so great that Hermana Jones and I were able to share such an awesome experience on our last day together. That night, we went to her despedida and on the way home, the Elders called us to tell us about TRANSFERS! This is how it went: Elder Lane: "Hermana, have you been exactly obedient?" Me: "Yes...." EL: "Hermana Hill, you are going to be training next transfer." Me *small heart attack* "You´re lying!" EL: *Lots of laughing in the background* "You´re right. You´re going to stay in Zárate with Hermana Vargas!" Ja. Ja. Very funny. So here I am, sitting next to my cute new little Guatemalan companion! This is her first time being senior companion, but I can tell she´s going to be great. She is super nice and I am very excited! Let me tell you though, it was tough saying goodbye to mi mamá. It´s definitely going to be super different, but change always comes and I know I will learn a ton from each of my companions. 

It sounds like Thanksgiving was wonderful! For our Thanksgiving dinner, we ended up eating alfajores on the roof...long story. So, a little different than the usual! You´ll have to keep filling me in on all of your holiday adventures! I´m not sure what I´ll be doing on Christmas exactly, but I know that we have lunch at one of the member´s homes, so that will be good. It´s going to be super weird having Christmas in the middle of summer...kind of like when we went to Hawaii but a little different :) Oh! I was going to tell you! Tell grandpa that the daughter of one of his missionaries in Mexico is in my mission! Hermana Gonzalez. Her dad´s name is Daniel. I guess he was AP when grandpa got to the mission. And she said she´s even stayed at his house before. They live in Orem now. So yeah, cool story :)

Well gotta go! I will try to send pictures.

Love, Hermana Hill

Pictures

Sunset in Zarate

This is for Haley Loveland

Got myself some pantalones flojos!  Girls are always wearing pants like this.
But these are definitely the most colorful.

My helmet fell in a NASTY gutter full of moss, mud, poop, garbage, and who knows what.
So, Hermana Jones washed it for me and hung it out to dry.  She's the best.

Flowers in Argentina are really pretty.

We made lots of jugitos :).

Noche de Hogar...jaja.

Lucas, Oriana, Lara.  Cutest kids ever.

Pochocio

Dear Family,

Thank you for the wonderful emails and pictures! It was so fun to see what you´re all up to. I can´t believe how successful you all are...half marathons, swimming champs, and concert symphonists (I think I made up that word). Also cute Halloween costumes everyone! Also, those were some awesome pictures from England, ma! And Easton is the cutest! Kaylee, I can´t go to your blog, but feel free to email me your posts every now and then. I loved hearing all about that kid and seeing the pictures! Wow. Oh and isn´t Thanksgiving ths week? That cracks me up that Kaylee asked if they celebrate Thanksgiving in South America......still the same ole sista :) Oh and I was laughing at your boy meets world comments as well. And Cade´s jokes :)

So much I want to say! So many questions to answer! About Hna Shelley...she got transfered the transfer after she got here. Long story but she was in a triple for a while and then got transfered to the south where she is serving with Hna Jones´ last companion...who she trained. So in other words, this Hermana just barely got done getting trained and now she is training! I´ve heard she´s incredible, though. She´s from Chile. I´m sure they´ll be an awesome companionship. Oh and she had to go buy a bunch of warm clothes haha. Hna Jones is leaving next Monday and I´m super sad. But I know that´s just a part of the mission and we will both keep going forward and learning and having new experiences! As far as holidays go, they have a lot of random holidays all the time where the kids don´t have to go to school. Nothing too huge though. I can´t believe Christmas is coming up so soon! And it´s going to be smack dab in the heat of summer...weird.

Susana is awesome! She is like our little mom here in Argentina. Everytime we go there she gives us all this food and she´s just so funny. Also, pretty much every time she prays, she cries. At first when she started praying, she would only pray in her head with us, but in the last lesson we had, she prayed out loud and it was so sweet. She came to church this Sunday again, and they announced her baptism. Things are going really well, thank you for your prayers! I know this is the week she will need them most, because right now is when the most adversity will come. But she always says "I´m not getting off this horse!"

More good news: on Sunday Pablo Baldis received the Aaronic Priesthood! It´s so exciting to see how much their family is progressing. The church in South America is in dire need of priesthood holders. The large majority of our ward, and the church in general, is women. So it is awesome when there are complete families, with a father who holds the priesthood. Let me just take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to my wonderful dad who is a worthy priesthood holder and an amazing example to me! It´s just so apparent to me, especially being here, how much the gospel truly does bless people. I wish I could somehow let people know that more than I am. I try so hard to tell them how happy the gospel has made me, but the trick is getting them to believe me...or do the things they need to do to receive that happiness. I was talking to a woman at a kiosko the other day, Griselda. We started talking to her and getting to know her a little and found out that her daughter had died two years ago. You could just tell by looking at her how sad she was. We told her that Heavenly Father has a plan of happiness for us, but she didn´t seem to believe that anything could make her happy. She told us that we had no idea what it was like to lose a child. All I could say is that she is right...I didn´t know. But I know that Christ knows and that he could help her. We testified to her that she could feel hope and peace. Even after we left, I´m still not sure she believed us. And people never will believe us unless they are willing to experiment--try for themselves....pray, read the scriptures, go to church. This is what helps us develop a stronger relationship with Christ and feel his love in our lives every day.

So keep it up :)

Oh, we had our noche de hogar and the numbers were a little sparse, but more will come as we do it every week. I hope haha. We talked about missionary work, Libro de Mormon, watched an awesome movie about sharing the gospel, and had them write their testimonies in a LDM to give to someone. And ate popcorn. Also, keep thinking of ideas!!!! And let me know. Thanks :)

Love you all a whole lot!

Hermana Hill