¡Navidad, Navidad! (to the tune of Jingle Bells)‏

Dear Family,

I love being a missionary. I love seeing people show their faith. I love my Savior and I am so grateful for his Atonement. I know that He was "born that man no more may die." I know that the Lord loves you all and that the Atonement is something very personal for each of us. I invite you to think of Him this Christmas season and think of a gift that you can give to Him. I feel so much love for my Redeemer, for my brothers and sisters here in Argentina, and so much responsibility to share this message to all those who will hear it. What an important message that we have to share! As I learn about and experiment more of what Christ really did for me it makes me wonder how my Heavenly Father possibly could have sent me here to be His mouthpiece--to preach las buenas nuevas of the gospel. Wow. But I know that I am not alone. He is helping me every step of the way. I really am seeing things in a whole knew light and through small miracles and learning experiences every day, my life really has been changed. Hna Alvey gave me this quote the other day that very much describes what the mission (and life in general) is like: 

"When you get to the end of all the light you know and it´s time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly." -Edward Teller

May you all have a very merry Christmas and focus on the most important things. :) The Lord loves you and so do I!

La hermanita Hill

Sopresa!!!!

Hey family!

How are you? Well, you´re never going to believe it but I bid farewell to Tigre today! Yup, I will be spending the remainder of my days in URQUIZA! Back in cap-i-tal! It was a big surprise and I was super sad to leave Hermana Hualpa and Tigre...she is my only comp that I was only with for one transfer. And Tigre was the only area I was in for less than six months...I feel so unsettled! Haha I´m actually really excited to work my buns off here in Urquiza. I will get to know one more area and get to know more of the awesome peeps here. I love getting into new areas because it´s like a whole new slate and a whole new batch of people who are waiting for this wonderful message of the gospel. So my new companion is Hermana Alvey. She is from Las Vegas and is so great. There area actually four of us hermanas here... we will be with Hermana Kapp and Hermana Sperry, but Hermana Sperry is in the south right now and won´t be coming up until Wednesday so the three of us will be working together for right now. Hermana Kapp is from Mapelton, Utah and Hermana Sperry is also from Utah (Spanish Fork?) and they both went to BYU. Hermana Sperry will be leaving with me to start school as well. So, yeah, lots of craziness! I will be practicing my english with three American comps, that´s for sure :) In Tigre we were seeing a lot of miracles and I am excited to hear about what happens there and see the branch continue to grow. I love this work and am super pumped to see even more miracles here in Urquiza. Love you all a bazillion!

Hermanita Hill

Familia Quispe.  Lucy and Carlos are recent converts and help us a ton.
And Carlos is preparing to serve a mission!

We got to see Milsiades before his baptism at the
stake conference!  Future missionary.

With my new compies!  Hermana Kapp and Hermana Alvey :)

Little White Dress

So much goodness this week! Check it ouuuut.

Romina showing Astrid the font before her baptism <3

With all the fam :)

Romina with her dad, Miguel, and her sister, Astrid.
He reminds me of dad kind of sometimes because
he only has girls and he loves em a lot!

Okay here´s the story of Romina. She goes to church with her friend, Rosita, who is a recent convert. We taught her and she had always wanted to be baptized, but her parents never gave her permission. Last week we felt we should go visit her and talk to her parents again. Also near the area, we had a reference that we needed to contact. We felt that we should go contact the reference first--and it turns out the address didn´t exist. We felt that we should knock all the doors on the block we were at because maybe someone there was prepared. Everyone ended up rejecting us, so we decided to head on over to Romina. Her parents weren´t home because they work a lot, and that was part of the problem of never being able to get permission in the first place. But after teaching her, when we were about to leave, her dad showed up. We began to talk to him and at first he tried to avoid us, but we were persistent and at the end of the conversation, he realized that the best thing he could do for his daughter is to allow her to be baptized. He said he would talk to his wife, which he did, and they gave her permission! On the day of her interview, we brought her baptismal dress to try on. When she came out all dressed in white, her dad gave her a bug hug and just started weeping. It was such a special moment that I will never forget! I love how the spirit softens people´s hearts and always guides us to where we need to be. 

Milsiades

 Okay this kid is so awesome. On Saturday the zone leaders called to pass us a reference of a boy from Paraguay who came up to them on the street asking them where the church is. He said he was from Tigre, so we ended up calling him and inviting him to a baptism that night. He went and he told us about how he had been investigating the church for a long time in Paraguay, but was never baptized because his friends who weren´t members were always telling him that he shouldn´t. Until one day, one of his friends who is a member told him that he need to ask God if these things are true and if he should be baptized. He received his answer and decided he should. Then he moved to Argentina, so he didn´t have the opportunity. He has been here for six months, and never knew where the church was, until he saw the Elders on the street and asked them. And now he is preparing to be baptized this weekend! And he wants to be a missionary!!! And then....we found out he lives out of our area. So it will be other missionaries who will baptize him.....NOOOOO! Haha...but we are really happy that he will be getting baptized and that we got to see this miracle!

Thanks so much for the AWESOME PACKAGE! We are super
excited about our regalitos and Hna Hualpa wants me to tell you gracias!
I have the best family.  Es la verdad.

Hey.

Last Pday we went to Parque de la Costa.
The Lagoon of Tigre.

She's so cute!

Whoever said missionaries can't divertirse?

Hello Family!

Last week has been full of prayer, fasting, running, hard work, and miracles. Yesterday was the baptism of Maria Laura :) She is the mom of two girls who were baptized last year. They were baptized with their grandma and always went to church with her, but the grandma moved, and since then, they haven´t gone to church. We went to visit them to see how we could help and began teaching Maria Laura. They have been going to church together as a family and she made the decision to be baptized! Have you ever noticed how the gospel is perfect for families? Also yesterday was the primary program and her little girls got to sing and say their little one-liners. We`re really helping the primary to grow here in Tigre! We´ve got a whole bunch of future leaders here. It´s crazy how kids really are more of an example to their parents than the other way around sometimes. It´s always saying in the scriptures how we need to become like little children...Mosíah 3:19, 3 Nephi 11:38, Mateo 19:17...(or maybe it was 17:19). There is a lot we can learn from these little people, as I´m sure you are seeing from being with Easton! Thanks for being so great! Love you LOTS!

Oh also I was going to tell you that a girl who I was teaching in Almagro, Aylen (I send a picture of her once) got baptized! And now she´s sharing the gospel with the whole world! Did I also tell you that Victor´s son, Alex got baptized? It´s so awesome to see that when we plant little seeds they actually are harvested sometimes!!! 

Hermana Hill

P.S. A girl in the stake, Rocio Rios got called to Cordoba also! She leaves December 13, as well as Hna Hualpa´s friend. When does Karina leave? Also Hna Hualpa wants to see a picture of Karina if you could send one. 

Bautismo de Maria Laura!  (spot the Daniel)

Love these guys!

Ezequiel.  Nuff said.

surfin' USA

Querida Familia!

I heard the song surfin USA the other day and almost started doing that dance that we made up when we were little....you know the one...."wearing their baggies....bushy bushy blonde hair-do..." But that´s so beside the point :)

I totally didn´t realize that it´s Thanksgiving this week! Feliz día de acción de gracias! It sounds better in english, doesn´t it? Well I don´t have a lot of time, and I´ll tell you why. Because today is kind of like a super short pday. Because apparently tomorrow the whole country of Argentina is doing...manifestaciónes. Manifestations? I don´t know what it would be in english. But, you know all that political hubub. So we´re not allowed to leave our apartment all day tomorrow. Dang it! Hate to lose a day of work when there is always SO MUCH TO DO in the obra del Señor. But, así es. So today is just internet and compras and back to work! But, hey, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, how about I send you a classic list of things I am grateful for (in no particular order):

-the gospel and everything to do with it

-my family

-the Book of Mormon

-the Bible

-Argentine food

-Argentine ice cream

-Dulce de leche

-Alfajores

-Jugitos

-the ability to exercise (for obvious reasons...see above)

-health

-the sky in Tigre

-rivers

-cute little kids

-el don de lenguas

-my companion, Hna Hualpa, and every companion I have had on the mission.

-the Spirit

-kioscos

-my friends

-those small moments when you know that the person that you are talking to feels the love of Christ

-uplifting music

-seeing people progress

-seeing people happy

-seeing families that love each other

-laughter

-letters

-three straight hours of studies every morning

-knowledge that I have a Savior who loves me and wants to help me and see me succeed and live with Him again

-knowledge that I can live with my family forever and can help others achieve the same

-temples

-hearing people pray for the first time

-the opportunity to repent and be better every day

-ofertas!

-the funny moments when I say things in spanish that don´t make any sense...yeah, still happens :)

-un montón de cosas más....there is just no time.

I am so grateful for all you do for me and for this time I have in the mission! I want to use every single second I have in the way the Lord would have me do. I love you all a ton!!

Hermanita Hill

Ofertas!!!

Queridísimo Familia!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for going through all the trouble of signing up for my classes! I´m sure they will just be great. I remember that is was such a pain in the neck waiting until midnight and then the website being all slow and not being able to get into certain classes haha..so seriously thanks so much for all you sacrifice to help out your little helpless hijita over here in Argentina. On Sunday, in fact, we had a lesson about sacrifice. Thank you for your selflessness. I love my parents! Congrats to Karina! I´m so excited to have a cuzzie who will be serving in the same country. My companion has a friend who will be serving in Cordoba and is coming in December. Her name is Hermana Meneses so that would be cool if they were compies! Cade and Kaylee, send me pics of your apartment! How great that you will be living so close! How are all the sissys? Hannah told me that I would be getting a letter from you guys once a week...what happened to that??

On Sunday we had the opportunity to give talks in church. I actually kind of like giving talks even if the ward probably still doesn´t understand half of what I say...maybe that´s a blessing :) Of course we talked about missionary work. We are just a little branch here in Tigre, but I have such a desire to see this branch become a ward. It´s fun to see when the members share with their friends. In my talk, I told about how a couple weeks ago we asked Ariadna, a ten year old in our branch, who she wanted to invite to church. She said she has a friend named Brisa who she wanted to invite. We went with her to her friend´s house, but shedidn´t want to come out and talk to us. We left, but on the way, she said she had another friend who she could invite, Milagros. We went to her house and she was very excited to receive the invitation and last Sunday, she went to church with Ariadna and her family. The truth is that when we share the gospel, we will get rejected a lot. But Ariadna was an example of not feeling down or having fear to keep sharing. I know that this applies in all aspects of our life, and it´s something that I have been learning here in the mission. Man, sometimes I wish I could just start the mission over, knowing what I know now. But I know that the learning and growing will never stop. I have learned so much that will apply throughout my entire life. I am grateful that the Lord allows us to see our weaknesses and help us realize how we can change to know Him better and become more like Him. We had quite the opportunity the other day to talk to a pastor of another church. He said all sorts of things to us, but we were able to testify to him of what we know. I am so grateful to be a member of this church and to be able to testify at all times and in all things and in all places.

"Hermanos, ¿no hemos de seguir adelante en una causa tan grande? Avanzad, en vez de retroceder. ¡Valor, hermanos; e id adelante, adelante a la victoria! ¡Regocíjense vuestros corazones y llenaos de alegría! ¡Prorrumpa la tierra en canto! ¡Alcen los muertos himnos de alabanza eterna al Rey Emanuel que, antes de existir el mundo, decretó lo que nos habilitaría para redimirlos de su prisión; porque los presos quedarán libres (D&C 128:22)!

Love you all bunches! Qué sigan adelante :)

Hermana Hill

P.S. What´s the deal with this 666 chip thing? Everyone keeps asking me about it and I just keep telling them that I have no idea haha. Sounds pretty iffy!

This is the Tigre train station and behind it is where we live!

Would you think less of me if I told you we ate this entire pizza...?

Bebe.

Juan!  The son of our investigator, Pablo :).

Bienvenidos!

Bring on the HEAT!

Dearest Familia,

Well summer has begun and it's hotter than a pistol and we're not quite sure we'll survive for when summer REALLY starts but I think we can handle it because we're workin for the Lord! Hermana Hualpa and I are super pumped to be working here in Tigre and are finding a bunch of new investigators. Mom, I was actually with Hermana Rentería as long as all of my other companions. I've been really lucky to have every single one of my companions for two transfers--12 weeks! And yes, Hna Hualpa will most likely "kill" me. Nooooooooo!!!!!! Did I tell you that Hna Shelley and I got to be companions for an evening? She is training this transfer, so while she was waiting for her companion to get here, she stayed with us for a night and came to our appointments with us. We always knew we would be comps again! It sounds like you all are doing well and having a lot of fun! And happy birthday to Cade!!!! Hope it was super divertido!

I have been learning a lot about diligence and faith and we have been praying and fasting to find those who the Lord is preparing. We are looking for FAMILIES who are prepared. Practically no one here is married, which makes things tricky. But we KNOW that there are people waiting for this message and through our sacrifices and diligence and faith, come their opportunities. More and more I am realizing how important it is to rely on the Lord and the spirit, and not on my own strength or knowledge. Thank you for your prayers, I love you all a ton and I gotta go!

Hermana Hill

Hermana Hualpa about to be attacked
 by a bruja!

Summer has begun!  (Ignore the pansa)

It's asado and its happy to see you :)

Ghosties for Halloween!

Some cute cards that some little girls found out of the
trash on the street and gave to us. Haha que tierno!