It's STILL Christmas!!! (December 29, 2014)

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Remember how I said that Argentines are quite the partying people? WELL, we´re still celebrating Christmas! We continue to eat a lot of pan dulce. And, most awesome of all- we can still use the little cards from the Él esla Dádiva! It´s wonderful :) We ask "can we give you a card-cito de navidad?" and they accept, and it´s still a great way to spread the gospel! We´ve found so many people to teach that way. Usually people don´t even want our cards, but they take Christmas cards! So It´s a great thing that the christmas trees are up until 3 kings day, or the day of the wisemen :) which is like in, January 6th or something. We´re gonna use the Christmas spirit for all we´ve got! Hey, who knows, maybe it will last till Easter. ;)





I´ve got my new compañera now! Her name is Hermana Mercado, and she´s from Nicaragua :) She´s so great! Her hardworking and excited attitude are contagious, and it´s great, cause we´re able to work hard and see lots of miracles together. AND she´s a whole lot of fun in a tiny little body! Her head hits right below my shoulders :)

Christmas in Argentina was WONDERFUL! We ate both meals (christmas eve and christmas day) outside, in patios shaded by vines :) I love my little italian/german/spanish/south american Argentina. And we had Asado! talk about delicious! Nothin like slow cooked Argentine beef over a hot fire. Talking about fire, it is SO HOT here! Our appartment this morning was 86 degrees... that´s WITH a fan. And there´s a whole lot of summer where that comes from! I even got my first sunburn :)

 

Looks like my times up, sorry! Love you all!

Love,
Hermana Hill

FELIZ NAVIDAD! :) (December 22, 2014)

Buenas tardes todos!!!! (Good Afternoon All!!!)

Primeramente, a mi primo Elder Brush en Buenos Aires- lo siento por ser una stinky prima y no escribir por tanto tiempo... pero que tenga un MUY buen navidad y todo el éxito en el mundo! Hay muchos personas que vienen de La Plata acá y siempre pregunté si conocieron vos, pero después aprendí que es una ciudad gigante... jaja te quiero mucho y espero que tenga un navidad llena con asado y sin pan dulce con frutas, a menos que le gusta, por su puesto ;)

First, to my cousin Elder Brush in Buenos Aires - sorry for being a premium stinky and not writing for so long... but I hope you have a very good Christmas and all the success in the world!  There are many people coming from La Plata here, and I always ask if they knew you, but I later learned that it is a giant city ... haha.  I love you and hope you have a Christmas filled with roasted sweet bread without fruit, unless you like it, of course :)

Pues, to the rest of my dear family and friends- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Can you believe it´s already here?! yeah, I can´t. I look at the calendar and realize that I almost have 6 meses en la mission- HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN!?! Yep, 2 de Enero, mi cumple mez. but its not here yet, so I will keep denying for a few weeks that I´m grande en la mission.

These past weeks have been crazy crazzy, like, I didn't think that my mission could get crazier, then it did, and I love it dearly :) Did ya´ll know that there are gypsies in Argentina? no, there really are! They wear long skirts and live in extravagant houses... I knew there were some of them in Bahía but, Here in Trenque too!

Okay, that´s completely besides the point of everything... but it´s argentina, and I love it. What I REALLY want to talk about in my letter today is that sweet Dalma was baptized this week!!! This girl is so wonderful. With the water low and freezing, she went into the font with the biggest smile I've ever seen. And after, shivering, still smiling, said "I´m baptized!" Her mother is a member of the church recently returning, and made a lovely cake for Dalma. It was vanilla, with dulce de leche and peach filling, covered in fondant. And the members stayed after church to watch and to welcome her into the branch more fully! :) It was beautiful. It meant the world to our companionship for so many reasons! After 7 weeks, both of my companions are getting transfered. Hermana Boyce to Santa Rosa and Hermana Burgos to Tandil. I´m going to miss them SO much! It was wonderful to be able to end our time together with the celebration of Dalma´s baptism.


I´m actually writing all of this from Santa Rosa! Our tiny zona in Trenque came here to celebrate Navidad with our mission president and all the missionaries in this area :) It was so great! We got to go to the hospital and Casa de Ancianos to sing hymns of Christmas and share a little message. It was lovely to talk to the little abuelos and to hear about their lives and to share a little more of the chirstmas spirit!!! After, we had a talent show that was IMPRESSIVE. Like, one of the elders is a master in kung fu, and showed us some of his routines, with nunchucks and everything. His dad has taught him since he was little! And other hermanas danced, and my zone shared the song of our mission that one of our elders wrote :) woah, it was just beautiful.

 More than everything, my favorite part was the message that our president shared. I´m so grateful for my mission president and his wife, "mamá y papá noel". They help us with EVERYTHING and woah, what I learn from them, it´s amazing. I´m so grateful to know that we´ve been called by a prophet to serve here in Argentina, and I´m so so so grateful to share the message of christmas with the world! It has suprised me beyond belief to find so many people that don´t know what the reason of christmas is. I hope you all have a wonderful christmas, centered firmly in Christ and his teachings :)

I love you all!!! Feliz Navidad!!! Que Dios les bendiga y quida :)

Besitos!

Hermana Hill

He is the Gift (December 15, 2014)

Hola! ¿Cómo Andan todos?

GUESS WHAT!?! After a week of craziness, our zone leaders told us that we don't have transfers for 2 more weeks!!!!!!!!! Guess what that means! Our trio not only made it for 6 weeks, (which is like, unheard of) but we´re going to make it for 8!!! WOO! Super trio strikes again! The chants that we sang por todo el semana de "trio otro vez, trio otro vez" realamente paso!!! What a blessing, no? I love it! and It makes it nice for the holidays!

FAMILY just so you know, I´m going to call via Skype at 5 my time and at 1 your time. Does that work for everyone?

Okay, as for this week, it was CRAZY. but like, more crazy than I ever could have imagined. When I get home, I´ll have to tell you all about Dalma and all the miracles that we saw this week. But for now, sorry! There´s not much time, and also a lot of it is pretty personal to her and it just wouldn´t be right to share it all over internet. that, and it´s like, impossible to explain fully. I don´t even fully understand what happened! In the end, ella no pudo bautizarse because she was in Santa Rosa, but she told us that she really wants to get baptized in the following week. I´m so so grateful that I´m going to be here for it. Dalma is amazing, and her faith really has strengthened mine, I have learned more than, well, than I can explain. So hows that for a story ya´ll? haha Yes, I do realize that I just spent an entire paragraph telling you nothing about everything...

BUT, I CAN tell you that we had the primary program this week!!! It was ADORABLE! And when they sang "Yo quiero ser un misionero ya" I almost cried. One of the kids waved at me and we were all just dying of the cuteness and innocence and awesome of it all.

I hope you all got a chance to watch "He is the Gift" If you haven´t seen it, definitely look it up on YouTube, every time I watch it I just love it :) Our Savior really IS the reason for Christmas, and I know with all my heart that He lives. I love the opportunity that we have as missionaries right now to ask people what they're willing to give to their savior this Christmas, and I've been thinking a lot about that too. I want to give everything I've got, all of my heart. when I fail in that though, once more I know that I can keep going, because of the Atonement of the very Christ that I´m trying to give my all to. It´s a long road, but there is SO MUCH HOPE. The more we learn about Him and read and practice His teachings, the more hope there really is in our lives. Right now, I´m working on figuring out little ways to give Him more and more every day, and I love it. It´s amazing how much more our lives can change every day when we do this! Like, after a great lesson or miracle or day in the mission, and I don´t think that my life could possibly be changed any more by serving here in Argentina, it does, and A LOT. how grateful I am for this!

I love you all so so much!!! I hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas season! The church is true. Go to the temple! String up some more lights and ornaments for me :)

con mucho amor,
Hermana Hill

El es la Dadiva (December 8, 2014)

Hola familia!!!

Argentina has a holiday almost every Monday now a days- we´re quite the partying people!!! Sadly, because of that, haha I´m exceptionally short on time recently :) But know that I love you all! And that hace CALOR here (It´s really really hot). And there are dead frogs in the street, and we have a piano in the church here that plays itself. And that El es la Dadiva is the best. Look up "he is the gift" if you havent already seen it!!! We´ve seen miracles here to be able to share it. And yep. haha Sorry everyone! My time is already up... so, so that you have something to read at least! here is my letter to my presidente de mision.

Hola Presidente!!!

Este semana ha sido marvilloso!!! Es como algo cambió en nuestra area. No sé si es que nosotras estamos trabajando mas eficaz, o el espiritu de Navida ha tocado la gente acá, o exactamente que, pero ha sido un semana de muchos milagros. ¡Nuestra investigadora Dalma esta progresando y va a bautizarse este fin de semana! Estamos RE animados, por su puesto. Ella es un buenisima ejemplo a su familia y amigos y novio. Sus padres son miembros y estan reactivandose en la iglesia. Su novio es un nuevo investigador ahora, y ella esta compartiendo con todos via Face y sus acciones. Es marvilloso. El cambio que hemos visto en ella es gigante. Estamos encontrando MUCHOS nuevos por medo de "El es el Dadíva". Tengo un testimonio mas y mas fuerte cada dia que  Jesucristo y su evangelio puede cambiar vidas cuando las personas deje que el entre sus corazones.

Hello President!  

This week has been marvelous!!! It's like something changed in our area. I do not know if we are working more efficiently, or the spirit of CHRISTMAS has touched people here, or exactly that, but it was a week of many miracles. Our investigator Dalma is progressing and will be baptized this weekend! We are encouraged, of course. She is a beautiful example for her family and friends and boyfriend.  His parents are members and are reactivated in the church.  Her boyfriend is a new investigator now, and she is sharing with everyone via Face and actions.   It is marvelous. The change we have seen is huge. We're finding many new people with "He is the gift."  My testimony grows stronger and stronger every day in Jesus Christ and his gospel  It can change lives when people let it into their hearts.

Love you all tons and tons and tons!!! Until next week!

Hermana Hill

Ñoquis (December 1, 2014)

Hola todos!!!

This week has definitely been an interesting one! Very sadly, Hermana Burgos has been really sick. :( As a result, we've been in the apartment nearly all week. A few times we've been able to leave cause she´s felt better, or we´ve done divisions with the members. Pobre cita. We've been to the hospital twice, each time a different diagnosis- air pressure change and migraines. All I will say on this subject, I never want to have to go to the hospital, ever, and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone... Hermana Burgos has definitely been more than drugged up, which makes for some pretty fun conversations! Poor thing. Hope she feels better soon!

Although we had to go through all that this week, it´s been a good one. The lessons that we had were great, and igual, I learned a ton! I studied the language a lot, and read in Jesus the Christ (I LOVE that book). I learned how to cook ñoquis- a weird little noodle thing. DELICIOUS. And a bunch of other things too, although I can´t exactly remember... it´s al
l a blur ;) So family, you´ve got my weird cooking to look forward to when I get home! Luckily I've still got some time to get better... Thanksgiving was wonderful! We made rolls and lemon pie! And hand turkeys titled "Estoy aggradacida por..." On thanksgiving I had the opportunity to leave the apartment for a bit and teach with Sara, one of the young members of our branch. She´s so great! We had a lot of fun! It was my first time teaching etc without another full time missionary... that means that I was In charge. Ah! run and hide! Well, luckily for the world, the spirit is the one who is REALLY in charge with missionary work, and my companions and I had already made our plans. It was a great experience to learn from, and also a great experience to see all that I´ve already learned! I´m so grateful for all that I've learned, and for that opportunity to take a step back and remember- woah, I´m speaking another language. Woah, I´m navigating Argentina. Woah, I´m a missionary!!! Like, is this real life? I´m so grateful for the opportunity to be here, to grow and learn and work.

I've grown a lot this week in my testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Following the advice of my companions, I decided to try to get to know Christ better this week. "If you want to grow in your testimony, or have a testimony of the Savior, get to know Him". In studying the scriptures instead of just kinda reading them, woah, yeah, my testimony of the divine mission and ministry of my Savior have grown SO much. My invitation to all of you, no matter in what state your faith is in right now, is to get to know Christ. It couldn't be easier to do than right now, in December, when everything so strongly bears witness of Him. I know that if you put forth your efforts to get to know our Savior this Christmas season, it will bless every aspect of your lives! And His influence will mean much to you long after Christmas. (Eep! Christmas!) I hope all of you can spend a little time every day thinking about Jesus Christ. I´ve found so much rest in my life this way! And I know that this principle applies to every person in the world- I've seen it! For those of you who are doing your part to get to know Him, study more ;) Dig a little deeper. Pray to see His influence in your "normal" everyday life :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy December! Eat some peppermint for me, ok?

Love,
Hermana Hill

¡Feliz Día de Gracias!

Hola familia y amigos!!!

Okay, first off, SO sorry, I´m like, definitely out of time... 4 months in the mission and i´m STILL trying to figure this time thing out ;) What are we going to do with me, huh? 

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! My companions and I are going to try to do some good old lion house rolls to celebrate :) But we might end up with just some cookies. Hey, but that's not what it´s about, is it? haha nope. This week I've been thinking about the things that prepare us in our life, and how grateful I am for the life that I've been given. What are the things that have prepared you for where you are now? What is preparing you now for something in the future? Even just silly little things. like, I ate "happy face pizzas" with my grandma Hill when I was little, and what do we eat a lot down here in Argentina- pizza without sauce with cheese and green olives :) 

I'm so grateful for my mission, and more than everything, for my Savior Jesus Christ.

I hope your holidays are filled with remembrance of our Savior :)

Love you all VERY much! 

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday Gene!

Love,

Hermana Hill

Corre Forest! Corre!

Hola Familia!!!!

First off, SO sorry that many of ya´ll haven´t been getting this email. The other computer that I was using had issues.... hopefully it works this time! 

It´s been another lovely week in Trenque Lauquen (which, by the way, means "sweet-water lake" in the language of the natives that lived here WAY back. Who knows if it actually does, but, urban leggend says so, gotta be true, right?). It´s been RIDICULOUSLY HOT. Like, we´re hitting 90s and 100s and its still spring... I mean, technically, November here is the May of my summer, so it´s normal. But with humidity, it´s like death out here. 

WHICH, brings me to a couple of miracles I wanted to talk about! We Misioneras are always looking for three things- people to teach, water, and bathrooms. Sometimes, we get lucky and find all three! One of these times was when we found Daniela. Hermana Boyce needed the bathroom, so we were patiently looking for the homes of members. But NOONE was home. Worst nightmare. So, we went knocking doors to find someone. The first door we knocked was Daniela´s. At first, she told us that she didn´t have time, so we asked her if we could just use her bathroom, she conceded, and let us pass. The other two of us talked to her while the other was occupying the bathroom. And it went SO well. She began to cry as we told her about the hope that comes from Christ and his help. Daniela has depression, and it´s SO hard for her to feel like she can have hope. But she told us that she wants to go to church with us and learn from us on those days that she feels good, "because this seems like what she´s been looking for". The spirit was so strong and my heart was and is full of love for her. I know it was a miracle that we found her that day, and I´m really excited to visit her more and hopefully help her and her family. It was a miracle that in that moment exactly, none of the members opened their doors, but she, the first one did. Even if that wasn’t, I´m grateful for the heat that led to thirst that led to a need for a bathroom that led to a great lesson. :) The same thing happened last night too! I can tell right now that summer is going to be full of miracles like these ones. haha at least, I sure hope so! 

Well, I´m out of time for now, but I sure love you guys! I hope all is well with you and that you´re learning and growing and doing great things. Let me know if there is anything that I can do for any of you, even from this far away :) God be with you and protect you!

Que estén muy bien! Les amo!

Hermana Hill

Pictures- yes, that IS mayonnaise. And tuna. And rice. in a tomato.

The lovely little theater of Trenque Lauquen.

And a selfie I had to take when my sweet companions didn´t feel good and were asleep. We´ve all got colds with the change of the weather... but It´s all good! :)

"I can make bread-what-what" (November 10, 2014)

Hola familia y amigos!

To explain the subject line (might as well start there jaja)- here in good old Trenque Lauquen, the youth have a tradition of going every Sunday night to the house of Gillé to make argentine pancakes :D  They’re crepes with dulce de leche! Talk about delicious! It´s just great. And it´s really fun to hang out with the cool kids! It´s awesome that they do things together cause they want to :) Keeps them out of trouble and keeps the branch together! Anyway, making a joke about English, Gallito said "Puedo hacer pancakes"  (panqueques) que=what and pan=bread in Spanish, so, being the happenin kid that he is, translated it to "I can make bread-what-what". The room of kids moaned at the terrible joke, but I thought it was hilarious... so there you have it! Bread what what.

I love Trenque Lauquen :) My companions, Hermana Burgos and Hermana Boyce are jems. I can´t imagine being here without the both of them. Knowing that any one of us could get transferred at any time is a little sad, cause we balance each other out and I have learned a ton from each of them. Hermana Burgos is from Peru :) It´s great to get to learn Spanish from her! It keeps me from falling in to speaking English during those moments when we´re not talking to people on the streets. That has helped me a ton! I´m going to make it a habit so that whoever I´m with, I can keep learning tons of Spanish. Like I’ve said before, if I want 100% of blessings, I´ve got to put in 100% effort.  "What isn´t part of due process won’t be part of due product"-Presidente Pareño. Hermana Burgos has taught me a lot more than just Spanish though. She´s very loving and humble and relates the scriptures to the lives of the people around her like a boss. I hope I can learn to do that better! Hermana Boyce is from Holiday Utah, and she too, has taught me a ton. She´s a great cook, and loves a clean floor (so I sweep a lot, a happy companion is a happy companionship).  My mom would be so proud! Mom, I don´t leave dishes in the sink (I can just see you now, not believing me or thinking it´s a miracle. yeah... it IS a miracle). Hermana Boyce is super strong. She doesn’t take no for an answer. Not only that though, a car literally ran over her foot, and she walked around for like 3 hours before asking us to go back to the house to ice it. What?! Yeah, sometimes her strength is pretty freaky.

To close, I want to talk about patience. It is CRAZY important, and it´s something I really want to be better at. When you don´t think you have enough faith or knowledge or blessings or whatever, have patience. Pray for it- it´s a hard thing to have sometimes. But I know that practicing patience will definitely bless your lives!

Search the scriptures, seek ye the best books, pray, go to church :) Sorry that this wasn´t really the most spiritual of letters, I´ll work on that... ;) Love you all tons and tons and tons! I hope that all is well with you! Write you more soon. Have a wonderful week!

Besitos!

Hermana Hill

TRENQUE LAUNQUEN (November 3, 2014)

Hola familia y amigos!!!!!

Can´t even hardly begin to believe it- I´ve been transferred from my first and beloved area of Villa Mitre and am now in the area of Trenque Launquen! haha yes, that is a name. Tran-kay Lawn-ken. It´s the name of a city, AND a perfect yodeling name if you ask me. Just say that a couple times like a Swedish chef. Don’t you just love it!?

Man, I don´t even know where to start. Leaving your first area is HARD (so I´ve heard, and so I testify.). It ripped my heart out to say goodbye to the ward members and investigators of Bahía. I´m more than lucky, very blessed, to know that I can see them again at the end of my mission! That area is really close to the office of my mission, and so when I finish, there’s no way that I can stop myself from running to my area to give those people another goodbye. Yeah, that´s like, one of the only reasons that I’m getting by right now, cause dang, I just love those people so much. I hope and know with all my heart that they will be just fine and more than fine just great! Oh the testimonies that they left me! I wish you all could have heard them! Hector is sharing the gospel with everyone he knows and this past Sunday received the priesthood :) There´s not much that makes a missionary happier than that folks. Antonia made me cry. Cristian told me with all the confidence and surety of his  11 year old self: "Gracias por todo.". Maria gave me a bracelet and told me "Nos Vemos, esta no es adios." And told me that I will always have my Argentine grandma. Man I wish I could mention every one of these people that I love so much. I just am so so grateful for the time that I had with them. Any time with them would have been a blessing. I couldn´t ask for more. I´m just so grateful to have gotten to serve them. And man, if I feel like this right now, after 4 months in my mission, how am I going to feel when I finish it? I´m warning you all right now, I might come home without a heart. It´ll just be easier to throw it into the Atlantic.

Trenque Launquen is beautiful! There are SO many trees! In the center of every street is an island of grass and trees. We live in an apartment building that is super clean and super white. I´m in a Trio! I still don´t know one of my companions but I love my other, Hna Boyce already :) She’s from Utah too, and I´m pretty sure that our other that is coming is from Peru! woo! I´m so excited to get to serve these people! I´m going to work with all my heart to leave this place better than how I found it (which is already so great) and I´m going to give it my all to leave here with no regrets and the same feeling of love that I had when I left Bahía, if not more. (Yep, so basically I´m working towards leaving here completely dead. it´s all or nothing folks.) ;) 

I´m so grateful for the blessing and opportunity that I have to be here in Argentina and to serve a full time mission. There was a part of President Uchtdorf´s talk in the Women’s conference that I really love and have been thinking about lately (thanks mom for sending me all those talks in English!). He described blessings and miracles like this (these aren´t his words, and please look up the talk so that you don´t have to rely on my butchered version): God is ALWAYS sending us blessings and knowledge and inspiration and all of the things that he wants us to have. They are like a rain shower pouring down upon us. Why then, do we sometimes feel like we´re not getting any of them? Like we don´t understand? Like we don't have miracles? Because our umbrellas of doubt, sin, and fear are keeping them from us. Oh how I pray that we can open our hearts and close our spiritual umbrellas!  Learn, seek ye the best books and the best spiritual gifts to open your lives to receive these blessings that you NEED. Do those things that he has commanded of you. They’re for your protection and benefit!  They’re beautiful. Don´t go without the Sacrament- I have understood more and more than ever that we need the opportunity to renew our covenants and promise to make more every week. Prepare yourselves for it! Study these things, I promise you with all my heart and might that you will see blessings in your lives! Things are hard to understand.  Desire to understand, seek, act, ye SHALL find!

I love you all so so much! May the Lord bless you and keep you this week and that you have much success! Cuidasen mucho!

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hill

Mosquitos and Caladryl, what more does one need? (October 27, 2014)

Hola familia y amigos! 

Perdon, this letter is gonna have to be short! Once again, I wrote all those who wrote me before emailing the group email (oops)... Would ya´ll just stop being so nice and sending me such great emails?! (PLEASE know that that´s sarcasm! I love getting letters!)

Bueno, so that you get a little bit of a spiritual note, I´ll start with talking about our little Sofia. Sofia has been talking to the missionaries for at least half a year, if not more. And FINALLY she had a date to be baptized this past Saturday. She was so so excited and so ready, but in the end, her mom told her that she didn´t want her to unite with any one church. Or that she wasn´t old enough to do so. It was especially hard, cause Sofia thought she could, and we thought she could, for a long time. But in the end, nope. She´s going to keep going to church, and we´re definitely going to keep teaching her, but it was hard to watch this girl, who is so ready and excited to make covenants and be clean from the things she´s done, to have to wait for who knows how long. We´re going to keep praying and working so that she can. But I know that she´s going to be alright (of course) :) And that soon she will be able to be baptized. In the meantime, she can definitely still feel of the comfort that comes from reading the scriptures and going to church! We´re all so grateful for that! I´m grateful for the example of Sofia. Even though she can´t do this right now, she is deciding to be happy and keep going and wants to keep improving her life more and more! It´s hard, there are lots of crazy influences all around her, but she’s so strong and works so hard! She works hard to make time for her scriptures and church among all the crazy things that she has to do!

I know that miracles exist and are real, and I know that Christ lives! I love you all so much! I´m sorry that I really ran out of time this week. To explain the title, like, 10 members this week told me "CALIDRYL. Buy it! OFF spray. Buy it!" Yeah, my legs are a disaster, I´ve come to terms that they´ll never be the same again... haha oh well! Also, we have pets! We get to clean up slugs every day in our house- be jealous. I´ve named the one in the picture Mundungus. Yep. He´s a regular. I learned the word for slug in the MTC (babosa) and thought- HAH! Never gonna have to use that. I was deceived. 

Love you all so much! Hope all is well with you! Bye!

Hermana Hill

Oh and Happy Halloween!

"¡¿Como Andan Las Elderas?!" (October 20, 2014)

Yep, you heard correctly! Someone asked definitely asked us "how goes the elders (in feminine form)". We laughed about that for quite some time.

How are you all!? This week has been another great one! 

First matter of business- FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE!!!!!!!!!! Okay, okay, I realize that it is NOT mother’s day where most of you are, but down here, in spring, it was. Just know, I was definitely thinking about you, mom, and my grandmas and my aunts that are all so great! So, happy argentine mother’s day!

(Someone is playing Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel (one of my favorite bands) on the panpipes outside of the cyber today... Could Argentina be more cool?!)

Okay, I don´t have the email of my dear brother Zack, so he gets a whole paragraph here for his own self! Sorry ya´ll, but he deserves it! Zack, I´m so stinking proud and happy for you!!!! Grandma G told me you got ordained an elder and I cried- I´m just so happy and excited. My heart is full cause I just know that you´re doing the right things and climbing in the right direction on God´s path. Keep on climbing! I´m so happy for you cause I KNOW that this is going to bless your life right now, and forever! I can´t tell you in the way I want to from so far away, but I´m really proud of you Zack and really happy that my big bro is doing really great things. Miss you tons, know that I’m trying to send you a big hug right now- feel it? Good. Love you!!!

Wow, so sorry everyone, I´m so out of time! Just know: another great week. Weather´s crazy. We´ve found people to teach and are searching hard for more. There are no coincidences in the Plan of our Savior. The chocolate milk here is just like the kind I had when I was a little kid- the yellow nestle boxes and everything! SO DELISH. Reminds me a lot of Grandma Hill. I made our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with argentine ingredients. Yummy! The sub for brown sugar here is black and super moist... so my cookies looked dark brown, a little hard to know when their done, but eventually (after a few, sad little charcoaled stubs) we had delicious cookies that all the town wanted to try. Thanks mom for the recipe! Here, we say "eh" more than the Canadians. That´s gonna be a habit hard to break! Remember Hector? HE IS SUCH A HUGE EXAMPLE. He broke his leg, people are turning down his work cause he´s a Mormon, his cousin came to spit in his face cause he´s Mormon, and he´s SO firm: "of a truth, I’m more firm in my faith. I need to share my testimony next fast Sunday". He then proceeded to give us facturas (sweet bread with chocolate, sugar, and dulce de leche) "I just gotta thank you. I feel very content. Very firm". I hope I can be like Hector one day! I´ve been studying the talk "the fourth missionary" by Bro. Cordbridge or someone. It´s so so great! It talks about missions (obviously) but we can definitely apply it to our lives! I hope you can all read it. Even just a part of it, cause it´s really good. NOTE- if it makes you feel guilty, don´t. just keep going on the path doing great things and continually changing! :)

Okay, cause I´m out of time, just so that you have more to read (haha sorta) here´s my letter to my prez this week. Short too, but yep!

Katie’s mom’s attempt at translating: We are looking MUCH to find new investigators.  We have some, but they are not progressing (this week it will happen for sure).  Those who are progressing are children without the permission of their parents.  So we're working very hard, and one thing we have worked to remember is that we have to be thankful for the miracles and moments we have. Because if we are not thankful for what we have, why should we have more? And these people here need miracles, in Villa Mitre 2.  Two very happy grateful missionaries who will work very hard with joy this week.

Estamos buscando MUCHO para encontrar nuevos investigadores. Tenemos algunos, pero no estan progressando (¡este semana, va a pasar por seguro!) Los que estan progresando son niños que no tienen el permiso de sus padres. entonces, estamos trabajando muy muy duro, y una cosa que hemos trabajado para recordarnos, es que tenemos que ser aggradacida por los milagros y los momentos buenismos que tenemos. ¿Porque si no estamos aggradacidas por lo que tenemos, porque debemos tener mas? Y estas personas acá necesitan milagros, entonces, ¡quidado Villa Mitre 2! dos misioneras muy felizes y aggradacidas van a trabajar con gozo muy duro este semana. 

Love you all so much! Keep the faith, work hard, smile big! Have a GREAT week!

Les Quiero mucho! Ciao!

Hermana Hill

PS- oh yeah, I also went to Walmart last week ;)

Clapping

Buenos Dias to all of ya´ll who are all over the world... ;)

It´s another beautiful beautiful day en Bahía Blanca! We go from days with all of our winter gear, to days where we can´t leave the house with tights on because of the heat... Welcome to spring! Today is especially beautiful, cause not only is the sun shining, but there is a art festival across the street in the main central. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? well, I get to sit here writing, listening to the accordion players. They´re so cute! Little old men with little old Argentine hats (I seriously adore the cultural hats here.) Occasionally, the sound of panpipes floats into this little old internet cafe! I can´t wait to go walk around and see more of the culture of this country that I love! (There is definitely someone playing "la cucaracha" on a pan pipe right now, haha!!! I love this place!)

This week was wonderful! And hard. But more wonderful because of those hard moments. I don´t have to share all of it, but friday and saturday of this week, we had an experience that I wont soon forget. Friday was one of the hardest days we´ve had yet. We´re working a lot right now to find more people to teach, so we spent a lot of time knocking doors. Okay, really it was a lot of time clapping outsides of gates. I don´t know how the argentines know when someone wants to talk to them or the neighbor, but hey, it works! For those who don´t have door bells, we clap :) It´s good that I have lots of practice from all the concerts I went to last year, watch out, when I get back, my clapping skills will blow you away. ANYWAY... haha I don´t really want to talk about clapping. With almost every door that we knocked, there was a person who wanted nothing more than to tell us to stop talking and go away. Woo! yeah! that was the bestest. Why was this different than any other day you ask? Well, because in this area, we don´t really get a lot of that. We get more of, "otro momento chicas! Estoy REY occupada. Ciao." But not this day. This day was filled with people who just told us to stop talking. And there really wasn´t anyone to teach. We didn´t really gain any new investigators. It was really hard. And we felt bad because we didn´t feel like we were fulfilling our purpose as missionaries.

But the next day was different!

After our studies, we started preparing for lunch in the casa, when we got a call from the young women in our ward telling us that they had pizza for us in the chappel and would love to eat with us! Woo! 1- pizza is the bomb. 2- who wouldn´t want to hang out with these happenin girls!? It was so much fun!! And it was great to get to know the ward better and to feel like we could help them out (I know that doesn´t make sence, because THEY were the ones serving us, but I hope that what we shared with them helped them). They´re so great. Right after, we began our fast for fast sunday the nest day. Here, since the main meal is lunch, we fast after lunch on satruday till lunch on sunday :) We felt good and excited to get to fast to help the work in our area! Almost as soon as we had left the church, we decided to talk to a girl outside who was waiting for a bus. And guess what! We had an amazing little lesson with her and she want´s to meet with us more. She´s 19 too, and her favorite color is purple, just like my companion. Anyway, what I´m trying to say is, we really feel like we can connect with her and we´re pumped to get to know her and to help her with her family that she has to take care of! Almost exactly after talking to her, a member from another ward called us and told us that he met a girl at work who wants to hear the gospel and who lives in our area! He gave her a Book of Mormon, and when we called her to work out a time when we could meet, she was SO NICE. she even closed the conversation with "¡Un Gran Besito a ustedes! ¡Ciao ciao!" And the rest of the day was FULL of miracles. We talked to members of families that we had neverbefore had the opportunity to talk to. We found people that had lost contact with us. We found new investigators. We had many lessons.

To go with all of these things, was a feeling of intense joy and gratitude. It wasn´t just because it was a great day, but that we could feel Heavenly Father changing lives and changing our own lives. I felt so much love for the people in this area! Even and especially the ones who didn´t want to listen to us. I wan´t them too to have the gospel in their lives. It´s hard to feel love sometimes to everyone, but man, it´s so true that praying for charity and seeking to have it in your heart will set you free! I´m so so grateful for the message of this the restored gospel. I´m so grateful to get to share it! I´ve seen it change lives. I know in my heart AND in my head that it´s true. I´m so grateful for our Redemer Jesus Christ. I don´t have enough words to express what I feel!

I´m out of time for now, but I love you all so much! Thank you for your letters and your prayers! They mean so so much :) I hope you all get a chance to study the talks of conference! It´s so cool that we get to hear modern revelation!

Okay, I´m really leaving now, really ;)

¡Les Quiero!

Hermana Hill

Conferenci​a y Rodrigo- the best of the best!

Oh what a wonderful week!!!!

I can´t even begin to express how much this week has meant to me. I've learned so much and really, miracles are real. Okay, I don´t have much time, so before I forget- Dad: I´m in the same area, Villa Mitre 2, which is an area just outside of the big city Bahía Blanca. Also mom: winter is back, but I am definitely warm enough, and I´m grateful for my sleeping bag that helps me tons.

And now for the fun part of writing: telling you about the amazing week!

This week was the baptism of our dear Rodrigo! We prayed so much that the downpour of rain would stop long enough that people could come to listen to conference on Sunday. And it did! We woke up and the sun was shining, as soon as the afternoon session stopped and everyone was in their houses, the sky opened and poured again. As a result, there were a lot of people at the stake center to listen to conference and consequently, there were a lot of people for the baptism of Rodrigo!!! Rodrigo is the bomb. He said hello to literally every one of the hundreds of people at the stake center. And they all love him! He shared his testimony after his baptism and it was wonderful! We took a ton of pictures, and all the members had cookies and brownies (brownies from us misioneras) and mate and cake. We are all so happy to have gotten to be there with him and watch him make his sacred covenant. There was a lot of adversity against him before this, his family and him got sick, the rain, the baptismal font wasn't completely filled and the water was cold, his mom doesn't have a phone right now, and he lives far away, and well, a lot more. But we worked HARD so that everything could work out. We didn't give up. We called members to give people rides, give talks etc. We ran all over our area to get him there. But really, it wasn't us that made it work out. Here's something that I know- because we put in all of our effort and had faith that it would work, it did. Heavenly Father helped us find ways to get it to work that we never would have thought of before. He softened the hearts of many people to help us, to help Rodrigo. If any of you are in need of a miracle right now, work with all of your might for it. Don´t give up. Fast, pray, study. Don´t have fear. Heavenly Father loves you SO much and is waiting and wanting to bless you!

I hope you all could watch conference!!! I loved it! I didn't understand all of it cause it was in Spanish, but I loved it nonetheless and learned a ton! I know that Heavenly Father helped me to understand what I did, cause I don´t know how much I would have gotten without His help!!! Read and pray about the words that were spoken in conference, I know with all my heart that they´re true!

Sorry that I didn't have time to write more this week, maybe if I have time next week I can write you more about this one ;) love you all!!! Stay true to the faith! May God bless you and keep you!

Con Mucho amor,
Hermana Hill :)

¡Ciao ciao!

Cleaning out our nasty back yard last p day.  It was a lost cause, but a worthy one.  We really need a new house...

With Hermana Sprenze and Hermana Foster - doing paperwork to be legal in Argentina!

Rodrigo & Hermana Saunders

Day of Service & Maria

¡Buenos!

Wow, I don´t even know where to start! This week has been wonderful again- I´ve learned a lot and grown a lot and worked a lot. Argentina is beautiful and starting to warm up! Woo! The trees have leaves (leaves have trees- for all of ya´ll who will get that joke) and the nights are clear (for the most part) and the sand storms are plentiful- yeah, that´s where we´ll start! sand storms!!!

Saturday was our stake´s day of service! It was wonderful! we put on the yellow "mormon helping hands" ponchos or, in Spanish: "manos mormones que ayudan" ;) it´s not quite as catchy in Spanish, but you know, it works! We went block by block and house by house to tell people to bring out garbage and plastic and things that don´t work or have no purpose so that we and the city could clean it up. There´s a lot of diseases cause of this stuff that just sits in yard and streets and houses, especially in the poor districts. We passed out cards that inform people of how to get rid of mosquitoes (which I hope they do, cause I counted my bug bites the other day on my legs: 50 picos de mosquito... yeah. NOT fun. and that´s WITH OFF spray.) It nice to get to know people, work with the members, and help as many people as we could! A lot of people were really happy to see us! And other people were really happy to have access to the garbage of others so that they can use it- woo recycling! I´m so grateful that we had an opportunity to serve in such a widespread way! Like I´ve talked about before, even a smile can make a difference in peoples lives, and service with a smile- holy moly! how contagious and awesome is that!?!?! It definitely made the day for many of us. Even in the sand storm that blew up, service was good to do. We walked through the streets with our eyes closed, not cause there was anything profane (well, I don´t think there was, I don´t really know swear words in castillano) but because of the sand. Our hair, ears, clothes were full of it by the end. But still, it was a lot of fun! It was great to laugh at ourselves and our situation- a bunch of crazy people and kids, going street to street with smiles cleaning up garbage.

There are so many things one can learn from this experience! first off, wise is the man that learns to serve! I´ve found that many of life´s secrets are unlocked when one does service with a smile, with a good attitude and good heart. They learn to look at the world in a light of beauty. Service brings hope to people, that there IS good in the world. and that we can make that good in the world. We understand the people around us better when we serve them. When we can view them in the light of love, and help them. We learn about ourselves. I can´t explain it in a way that gives justice to the good feeling of doing service. Really, the only way one can understand, is to try it! And keep trying it, and keep smiling, and keep serving. reflect on your opportunities to serve. learn from every bit of it. write your experiences so you can go back and think and reflect and smile some more and do more in the future. If you have a doubt, if you're sad, if you're mad, serve, love, pray for charity and for hope. every heart can change! I have a firm belief in that!

Hermana Saunders and I had a really great experience last night. After a hard day and not much success in finding the people we had planned on teaching and visiting, we found María :) We pass by her house almost every other day in the hopes of finding her, she´s amazing and kind and it´s wonderful to talk with her and her children and to learn from her. She didn´t have very much time, but we were still able to have a short lesson of sorts. She told us kindly and gently that she really respects us and loves to talk to us, but that she really believes in the Catholic religion and doesn´t want to change. Her mother is Mormon, and she has learned a lot from her, but doesn't want to take up our time cause she has already found God. A thought came to my mind to ask her about if she has read the bible, so I did. She responded that she has, more or less read parts of it, but that she wants to read more and loves it with all her heart. :) she likes to flip open to a random page, read a random verse, and learn all that she can from it, cause every verse is important. (haha I love doing that too sometimes, there is so much to learn!) After talking with her about the bible, we introduced the Book of Mormon. It´s another testament of Jesus Christ, and just like the bible, by reading it, one can come closer to Heavenly Father. We promised her that if she reads this book, and prays about it, and knows that it´s true, then there is a prophet on the earth today and the same church that existed in the days of Christ is here, restored! At least, by reading this book and talking to us, we can all grow closer to Christ, and at the most, if she want´s to and feels that it´s right, with no pressure from us and no negative feelings, she can join this church, be baptized in the authority and with the power of God, and so much more! María is so kind, after we shared this with her, she invited us to come to church with her sometime and to continue to visit with us, because she loves us and God and wants us to feel the way she feels in the church. She´s going to pray and study, because if this message that we´re sharing is true, she wants to know. This warms my heart so much! Cause that´s exactly why we´re here preaching the gospel- cause we have prayed and asked and pondered and read and we know with all our hearts that this church is true and want to share it with all the people around us! We can´t go to her church right now as missionaries, but I really look forward to talking to her and getting to know more about her and growing with her in love for Christ :) There is a lot more I can say about this, but I don´t really have time, sorry.... :S I´m so grateful for the opportunity that I have to help others feel the love of our Heavenly Father! I´m so grateful for this gospel and the Book of Mormon! I know that it´s true. I know that this message sounds crazy to a LOT of people, especially coming from a 19 year old blondie, but hey- I know in my head and my heart that it´s true! :) 

You´re all wonderful! Pray for opportunities to share the gospel, it´s so important! :) I know that God answers prayers! If any of you have a doubt, or worry, or youre happy, or sad or anything, I know that Heavenly Father will help you! :)

Argentina funny for the day: here, they don't say "kinda". to describe things with the equivalent of kinda, they use "medio" (medium). "You know Antonio? You know, the medium fat guy over there?" "I can´t hear about the gospel right now, I´m medium busy" "um, my schedule is medium complicated, I´ll call you". Yep. Maybe it´s not funny for ya´ll, but I get a chuckle out of it okay!? 

I´m officially out of time. Love you all so so much!!! Have a great week! Watch conference and tell me how it goes!!! You´re great!!! 

¡Caio!

Con Amor,

Hermana Hill

¡Primavera en my alma hay! Bautismo de Hector

¡Hola familia y amigos!

This week was the end of my first transfer in the mission! I can´t even begin to believe it.... 6 weeks in argentina?! already?! It makes my heart race a little. I also "killed my mom"- the compañera who I had finished her mission! My mama de la mission, Hermana Naylor, is headin on back to utah. Transfers are like receiving your mission call again. you know you´ll be happy wherever you go, but the not knowing who you´ll be with for the next 6+ weeks 24/7, where you´ll be living, who you´ll be serving, is weird and crazy. I´m going to be staying in Villa Mitre 2! I love it! I´m so excited! There´s a lot of work to do here and I´m elated to do it. My new companion is Hermana Saunders! Ella es tan buena! I actually got to meet her back in Utah one time when we both found out that we were coming here. We had lunch at Argentine Corner. it was great :) and now we get to be companions! Yay!

This week was so so great. Our investigator Hector was baptized and confirmed this last weekend! He´s amazing. And a huge example. He decided early on that he wanted to get baptized, and it´s been amazing to watch his progress! He stopped smoking cold turkey, and want to hear a miracle? He said he doesn't even want cigarettes anymore- we fasted and prayed a lot, and our prayers were DEFINITELY answered. He says he´s a slow learner, but he makes sure he understands everything we teach, and more importantly, understands what the spirit tells him in his mind and heart. In so doing, he has had conviction to press forward and wants to keep doing it. I hope we can all have that kind of faith and hope and dedication. I could just go on and on about his example. One of his friends from work had a stroke, and his friend has no family, so Hector moved in with him to help him and take care of him. Hector sacrifices a lot, and when we tell him so, he immediately thinks of other people.

Also, general conference is coming up!! I´m so excited. I even made a count down... :) It´s great.  Hope you all watch it and are preparing yourselves to watch and listen to it. Go with questions to every church meeting! to every time you study the scriptures! to every time you pray! I know that if you do that, you will find answers to those questions, and even to questions that you didn't think you had!

I´m totally out of time, but I love you all tons and tons! May God bless you and keep you!


Love,

Hermana Hill

Another Beautiful Week and Baptism!!!!

Hola a todos!!! 

As the subject line states, we had a baptism!  It was so wonderful. It was of our dear Antonia, the sister of Maria! It was so great. She is so funny! And the spirit was really strong. Everyone was so so happy!

Hermana Naylor and I had an Other Side of Heaven moment with mosquitoes this week.  We were literally dancing outside the house of one of our investigators to try to keep them off; my legs are full of bites!  We learned our lesson, bug spray is now a morning and after lunch routine.

This week was testimony meeting!  Remember Rodrigo?  One of our investigators?  He's so great. For those of you who don’t remember, Rodrigo has a mental disability of some sort. He's so friendly and nice and smart and it's a joy to know him. He was able to come to church with us this week, and had fun sitting with all the members, and during the baptism, he sat by the bishop on the stand :) He bore his testimony this week and it was just awesome. He told us that he's grateful to have this ward, and to have so many people who say hi to him and smile at him.  He likes the feeling of unity and invited everyone to be even more united. He said he was grateful for his life and for his opportunity to learn about Jesus. What a great example Rodrigo is to us all!

The primary also did a play this week!  Our ward did Hansel And Gretel. It was so so cute! 

This week was so so great! I really don't have any time at all, so I copied and pasted what I wrote to my mission president, please excuse the fact that it's in Spanish, and bad Spanish at that... but anyway! I hope you can find someone to read it to you/translate it! so so sorry! haha I'll try not to let that happen again... :) 

This is Katie's English-speaking mother... I've done my best to translate this section of Katie's message, and intend to remind her that I do NOT speak Spanish.

This week our investigator Antonia was baptized!  The experience was nice.   But before this, we had a very interesting and almost sad lesson.  This is that I wrote in my journal afterward -"Today we went to the house of Antonia for a lesson.  Her niece was there, and we talked a lot about her religion (she is Baptist) and the Book of Mormon.  She asked Antonia a question, but Antonia, a girl in the church, could not answer.  For this reason, we told them that Antonia will not get baptized this Sunday, but continue to go to church and learn more to be prepared for baptism because it is a big thing.  She told us that she doesn’t know things - but she knows her stuff!   Yesterday at the home of Maria (her sister) the asked each of them the baptism interview questions and it went very well.  Her niece came, and we continue to talk to Antonia. I shared with her Mosiah 18, and told her that I know she is definitely ready, because she really has the love of Christ in her heart. She wants to share the message of the gospel with all her friends and family because it feels good.  She feels that the church is her family.  Satan does not want you to feel ready, and wants you to be afraid.  We talked for about an hour, and the spirit was very strong.  In the end, she asked us "Am I really ready?"  We said "Yes." She replied, “Good.   I'm going to be baptized on Sunday.  Juice girls?" It was perfect.   And  I feel pure joy that she will be baptized and that her heart is prepared and ready to be a called a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Antonia’s smile is one I cannot forget!  It was so funny that after a long time to explain things to her, was to "girls juice." My heart is filled with joy !!!!"

Sorry ya'll, that's all I have time for. Love you all!  Keep the faith, I know that this church is true and that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring joy into our lives! 

¡ciao! May God bless you and keep you!

Love,

Hermana Hill

The play Hansel and Gretel by kids in our ward :) They were so good and had all their lines memorized! How cute! And the two main characters were Zoe and Cristian, two of our investigators! woo!

Our lunch :) made it myself! Sweet potato fries and milanesa nepolitana (chicken with delicious bread stuff on the outside and tomato pure and cheese and spices) YUM.