¡Hola a todos!

I can  hardly believe that another week has gone by! Bahía Blanca is just starting to burst into spring, and it´s gorgeous. The work here is progressing and we truly see miracles everyday. I wish I could send you all pictures! The computer isn´t working again this week... so expect tons and tons in the weeks to come. I´ve decided that the united states REALLY need dulce de leche. And milanesa. Every Monday, when we come to the city to send emails, we get churros that are filled with dulce de leche- it´s heaven! I can´t begin to explain how great it is!

A quick funny for the day- one of our investigators is an adorable and brilliant 11 year old. As we were sitting discussing the scriptures he tells us: "Jesus must be from Spain. He talks so fancy and is always using "vosotros" and such. Where is Jerusalem in Spain?" Okay, maybe you all won´t think that was as funny as we did, but it was just so darn cute! Also, I´m sure it makes more sense if you actually know Spanish.... dang. But ANYWAY- just know that funny things happen.... even if I´m really bad at making them sound funny in my letters...


One of our other investigators, Hector, is absolutely amazing. He told us the other week that he learns slowly, but that he still has bright hope and is excited to learn more about the gospel and be baptized. He wants to be baptized because even though he doesn´t understand everything, he feels good going to church and reading the Book of Mormon :) What faith and humility! He´s a really good example to all of us. He might not be able to understand everything yet, but he certainly is wise and definitely has been prepared to have the gospel enter his life right now.

Sorry that this letter is kinda scattered, I just have so much to tell you all!

For the past 4 weeks, we´ve had dogs follow us all the way to church! It´s hilarious, cause even if the investigators and members don´t come to church, their dogs will :) haha! I love it! Sometimes it´s freaky cause the guard dogs in various houses don´t like the pack of dogs and people coming to church with us every week, but these dogs also protect us and walk us home at night :) We even have a regular dog that comes to church with us every week. We named her Negrita- little black one (super creative, right?). It´s fantastic. but if I get fleas so help me...

For those of you that have asked, the language is coming along great!!! I can´t always understand, and I can´t always respond completely how I want to, but I KNOW that I have received a LOT of heavenly help with the language. And everyone says that my castillano is super good for a greenie! I mean, that´s not saying much, but it´s super comforting and kind that people tell me that! I´m so grateful!

One of the things that I have really loved that we recently started doing is singing in our lessons! Hymns and primary songs invite the spirit so strongly wherever we go! whether we have had a rough day, or a good day, humming and singing the hymns as we walk lifts our attitudes and turns our thoughts more to the joy of the gospel. That´s a huge blessing and super important, cause that´s why we´re here! The gospel is joy! And I´m so grateful to be here sharing that with the people of Argentina. There is so much peace and joy that comes from the message of this the restored gospel! Don´t forget to smile, and don´t ever forget to sing. Every day can and should be a day of joy! Sing until you feel good, that might sound annoying, but hey, do it for me. do it for yourself! Sing in a silly voice, sing with a weird accent, sing with all your heart! there is nothing more beautiful to me than someone who sings with their whole soul, even if they´re the most tone deaf person this world has yet seen. Righteous songs really are prayers to our Heavenly Father, and I know that they will bless your lives. Singing is wonderful! And singing with the purpose to bring your heart closer to God is something even more special. :)

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! God Bless you and keep you! ¡¡¡¡Quidase mucho!!!!


¡Ciao! ¡Les amo mucho!


Hermana Hill

Peras, Maté, y..... ¡¡¡BAUTISMO!!!

It´s been yet another wonderful week in Argentina! I love it here so much. I love the people, the buildings, the food, the dogs, the sky, the language- everything. As the subject line stated, we had a baptism this week!!! It was so so wonderful! This week was the baptism of a lovely 9 year old named Zoe, I think I´ve told you about her before, but she really is a special girl. (lo siento, the pictures aren´t working on this computer, so I´ll be sure to send you some next week if i can!) Her testimony is so strong. She´s very inteligente. Y the spirit that she invites es tan fuerte tambien. (sorry for the spanish... I should just start writing this totally en spanglish, cause wow...) Anyway she´s awesome! After the baptism, we asked her if she would like to bear her testimony, or share her feelings, with the people there. she agreed promptly and shared the sweetest testimony of how she is grateful that she can follow the example of Christ, and start on the path to him, and how she is clean and can covenant with Heavenly Father. What an example she is for her family and all of us! A girl in our ward heard her testimony, and because of it, gave her little sister, who is also 9, permission to be baptized! She beforehand thought that she was too young to know how important baptism is, but these kids are so ready and so excited for this covenant! It was a miracle. They´re both very excited too! and it makes us all so happy! Especially because this will be a huge blessing to them both, to be able to help each other and comfort each other as covenant children of Heavenly Father. This week we have seen SO many miracles. I wish i had time to share them all in a way that would give them the explaining they deserve! but I want you all to know, miracles DO exist in this day and age. All we need is the faith to look for them and the faith to expect them to happen, trusting in the Lord and His will. Don´t be afraid to pray for them! Heavenly Father is waiting to pour out his blessings upon you :) If you don´t trust me, search it out for yourself- i know with all my heart that they are real! 

Really quickly, because I don´t have much time, I want to tell you about another miracle of this week! One of the members in our ward works a TON and can never come to church, and never has energy to read his scriptures. This 21 year old is going to kill himself with all his work, it´s ridiculous. Anyway, I had a little mini Book of Mormon in English that he said he wanted to try to read since he knows a lot of English and wants to learn more. (a miracle that I even had or bought that thing too- cause I have a billion other copies) We´ve stopped by his house many times and no one has been home. I´d almost given up trying. But I decided to put my Book of Mormon in my box anyway, just in case. we were in his neighborhood, and decided we´d try one more time. We were kinda worried about stopping by again, because we had already seen his dad (who is a HILARIOUS man and super kind. He isn´t a member, and hasn´t really talked to us, which is hard cause we want to help him with his worries etc). But we stopped by anyway. His dad answered the door, thoroughly shocked to see us again. We talked for a REALLY long time. Things have happened in his life recently that are truly miracles for him, he cried as he told us that he is just so happy and want´s to know how he can repay God for what he has done for him. We invited him to church, and he refused that cause he doesn't want to commit to anything. We assured him that it isn´t a commitment, but that it was okay if he didn´t feel ready. He agreed to read a pamphlet though! This is a man who for years hasn´t agreed to read or investigate anything! But he told us that because he needed it right now, he truly would read it. And I believe him. What a miracle that we thought to go back again! And a miracle that this was the exact time when he needed comfort! Heavenly Father truly knows his children.

One of our investigators made us doilies - you know, those lacy frilly things that classy folk tend to have under lamps and such? YES: so now, I have a bright blue doily under my scriptures. be jealous. my companion has one that´s bright pink. You wish you had one, I know. Sorry. I guess i ya´ll want to send me money I can ask her to make some more ;) But seriously, I really do love it :D haha, who would have thought! 

Also, pears here are amazing, and maté is delicious, and the Church is true. 

love you all! i´ll try to write more next week! God Bless you and Keep you!!! Choose the right. 

Love,
Hermana Hill

 

¡Hola a todos!

Brief update on the matter language of my last email- the people are actually saying a whole different word!!!! Seriously... It´s not `como esta´ at all! It´s actually `como anda` Like- how´s it going.... yep. but people still don´t say their s, that much is still true... haha it just helps when you know the words in the first place ;)

Where do I even begin!!! It has been a FANTASTIC week here in Bahía Blanca!!! Guess what!?!?!?! Our dear investigator, María, was baptized this last Saturday! It was beautiful. I couldn´t stop smiling the entire time! It´s an amazing thing, to watch someone you love make a covenant with Heavenly Father and open the door to the path that will lead them to a heavenly home and happiness forever. She is a huge example and a light for her family and neighbors. Many people came to see her take this step in her life, and afterwards we ate cookies and cake and cold pizza and drank maté (not the missionaries, but everyone else drank it. Not that it´s bad! It´s just a social drink and we don´t have the time to drink it) María was very happy and we´re all so happy for her! 

The weather here is NUTSO. Last week, when I sat here writing to you, I had my light skirt on and a short sleeve shirt. I sweated a ton as I walked around the city teaching. Now, I´m sitting here with wool socks, boots, two layers of thermal tights, shorts, heavy skirt, sweater, jacket, coat, hat, and gloves... I didn´t think it was possible to find a place with more bipolar weather than Utah, but it is!!! Welcome to Bahía Blanca :) our apartment also flooded a little from all the rain, and our power is out from all the wind... And I love it! My poor companion is sick though from running around in the rain and cold all day and from giving cheek kisses to all of our sick investigators (they´re not selfish, they´ll give you everything they´ve got, including a cold haha) So we´ve been chilling indoors for 2 days to try to help her feel better. After this excursion to the Centro to write you all, I´m taking her home and making her drink malta and soup and get to bed. It´s my turn to be the mother in our companionship!

Did I tell you last week that there are dogs everywhere? Cause there are. Everywhere. And sometimes, especially if the weather is bad, they run around in packs and it´s pretty freaky.

Oh! And I found two seashells in the street! (caracol en la calle). It was one of those tender mercies that just brighten your day.

To answer some of the questions of my mother: my area is Villa Mitre 2, it´s a little suburb like city just outside of Bahía Blanca (where I am right now to write to you all). I love it so much! I´m grateful for my good shoes and good rubber boots cause most of the streets are dirt and filled with water and ruts and craziness. I'm warm enough, that´s a huge blessing! The people here are super nice and I just am loving every second of it here! And, even if people don´t want to hear our message, they´re pretty darn polite about it. 

I need to talk to you all about the miracle of a smile. One of our investigators has had a REALLY hard life (okay, most if not all of our investigators have had really hard lives truly). We talked to her this week about the love that Heavenly Father has for us, and that through his plan for us, we can be with our families forever. We talked to her about how we know where we were before this life, and why we are here in this world, and where we go afterwards. She began to laugh and cry a little bit, and we were really confused. My companion asked her why she laughed, and after a pause, she said that she had never felt the love of Heavenly Father like when she is with us, when we tell her that God loves her with a smile on our faces. she said that when other people have told her that God loves her, she feels like it´s a conditional love. that she has to change who she is and pay for her sins so that God will love her, and this is something she doesn´t feel like she could do. But God´s love for everyone is unconditional. It´s for each person in this world. The amount that we feel doesn´t change the amount that there is for us! This life is that we might have joy everlasting! So smile. The message of our Savior is one of joy, so smile! Even if you´re not sharing a message of the gospel, or talking at all, smile, and share your joy! If you don´t have joy, smile, and others will smile back and give you some because you´re helping other people do the same. Think about how contagious that is! We also say hi to everyone in the street- that really catches some people off guard. Smile at people, at dogs, and the sky.. Am I sounding crazy yet? Good, cause maybe then ya´ll remember to smile ;)

I love you all! I hope you´re doing well!!! I love hearing from you and I´m sorry that I don´t have much time to write you each individually. You rock my socks, even from thousands of miles away. God bless you and keep you!

Love,

Hermana Hill

A note from the mom:  Katie is being an awesome missionary, as we can all tell.  I love how she bears her testimony with each letter, and how her joy and enthusiasm radiate from each word.  I've haven't been getting enough detail on her day-to-day, however.  Thankfully, she was kind enough to answer many of my questions her letter this week.  I also got a bit more information, and permission to "post this little update on my blog if you want."  

How do you like being an "official" missionary?  

I LOVE being an "official" missionary. It´s the bomb.com. The spirit is so strong, and I love the work. I love the chances that I have to help people. Literally all of my time is focused on that, which is such a huge blessing!!! 

From the pictures, it looks like you have another companionship in your apartment - is it just you and Sister Naylor, or are there 4 of you?

We share a house with 4 other missionaries, 6 girls in total (for a while there were 7 of us, with our TINY bathroom... yay!) 

How was church?  How many people were there?  What is the building like?  How far did you have to go to get there?

There are a lot of members, not as much as should be at church, but there are a lot! That is super cool. I don´t know exact numbers.  The chapel is just like the churches back home but with more tile and no dishes and way smaller. We have to fast walk for 30 min to get to our church, and it takes us one hour to fast walk across our entire area, if we´re going the direct route... it´s a lot! 

¡¡¡¡Hola Bahía Blanca!!!!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Welcome to my first letter from the beautiful and magical land of Argentina! Please excuse my typing errors, the keyboards are different here and the computer tells me that every word is wrong cause it´s not in Spanish (or castillano, as the Argentines would say. They´re very adamant that they don´t speak español, and I´ll agree with them on that one...) Speaking of language, it´s coming along great! It´s really hard, I just cant let myself get nervous. If I stay confident I do fine. Easier said than done, but I know that It´s a huge blessing that I´m able to do that! Holy moly I´m so grateful!!!! At first (and still now) It was really really hard to understand the accent here! I´m getting way better though! Many people don´t pronounce their ´s´ so "¿Como Estas?" sounds like "¿Comm Enda?" and it´s that way with EVERY WORD... yeah, I´m grateful that I´ve got a companion that helps me translate =) she´s the best!!! Her name is Hermana Naylor, and like me, is from Utah. It really confuses people when we tell them that... some people even thought that if they wanted to be a member of the church they would have to move to the United States... nope! It´s for everyone everywhere. Hermana Naylor is also blonde! So we get honked and whistled at everywhere we go... yay Argentina! It´s weird, and sometimes freaky, but mostly just funny! I´m grateful that Hermana Naylor is good at laughing at things! There are so many things in this world and in our missions that just aren´t worth worrying about, and I´m glad to have her as a teacher to help me see the comical in every situation. she´s the bomb. She´s very kind and spiritual and I´ve already learned much from her. we laugh all the time too- she is silly, just like me, so we get along great!

I´m grateful to have good shoes. the part of the city that we are in is very poor, and most of the streets are dirt. haha the first night I came home caked in it! I love it. We flush our toilet with a stick in the wall, but we have a toilet!!! There are so so many blessings here. And I´ve seen so many miracles. I wish I could strap a camera to my forehead and let you all see and experience this too.

Oh man! I have so much to tell you all about!!! The food here is AWESOME. With a member we had lamb milanesa and potatoes and pan y dulce and soup that reminded me of the bean and ham soup that I eat at my cabin sometimes! It was just the bomb. And last night, we stopped by to say hello to the same member and she made us come in and gave us Ice cream, and I coughed a lot cause we had just got done running to an appointment who wasn´t there so she gave me cough medicine! So in other words, know that I´m REALLY being taken care of here!

I have received more kisses here than I think I´ve ever had in my life! Everyone you meet, people on the street even, after you talk, and if you know each other (or if the person is just really nice) you give kisses on the cheek! Typically one, but some of the old ladies here are especially excited to see us and give us two. they´re so sweet! We don't give men kisses cause of mission rules (and it makes sense too, cause we´re working for Heavenly Father and don´t want to get to friendly with anyone of the opposite gender if you know what I mean) But sometimes, and it´s hilarious when it happens, hombre´s ignore our outstretched hand and give us a beso. SO FUNNY! But I love how loving everyone is, and I know I´m going to miss the kisses when I return (at least, I think so...) 

Well, I only have 5 mins left, so I´ll share the most important part of all this, the miracles =) Our investigators are so so amazing. I learn so much from each of them. My first night here, we talked to like 4 people in the street who wanted to hear more about the gospel, who were friendly, and who loved to talk to us. It was certainly a miracle that we met them =) We walk around all day to get to all of our appointments, our area is huge, and there are so many people who want to hear the gospel. I just want to tell you about all of them cause I love them all so much, but I absolutely have to tell you about Rodrigo. He´s amazing. Rodrigo is a 18 year old boy who is SO nice! He has some type of mental disability that makes it so he´s more like 14ish, and he is just the coolest person you will ever meet. We´ve talked to him a few times and he came to church yesterday and wants to be baptized! I was struggling with español, excuse me, with castillano, and he just patted my arm and said "respíre, respíre, tranquila. be happy, you´re my best friend" (He speaks a little English and loves practicing with me, it´s the best! that translates to- breathe, breathe, tranquil- or something like that) I almost started crying. What a blessing he is!!! He´s so kind and always looking out for others. he always wants to hug and hold hands with everyone, and it breaks my heart to tell him no, but he always has a happy attitude about it and smiles real big and says "oh yes, porque usted trabaja por Dios" (oh yes, because you work for God). He´s so smart. and the insights that he shares about overcoming Satan and following Jesus Christ are so beautiful. Like I said, I wish I could talk about all of the sweet people that I know. The children here are just the most adorable! We´re teaching a little girl named Zoe who although she only has 9 years, she knows so much and is confident in it with firm faith. And she´s only been to church a few times but she has figured so much out and is just the best. She´s helping her mom stop smoking and takes good care of her little sisters. What an example!!!

I know with all my heart that this church is true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth today. I´m so grateful for this knowledge! It has changed my life, and I wouldn´t be here if I didn´t know it with all of my heart. People are always surprised when we tell them that we pay to be here, but i wouldn´t trade this experience for anything. I love it! I love the people! I love my Savior. I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon, I know that it´s true! I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week. God be with you! 

Lots of Love, ¡Chao!

Hermana Hill

Adios Provo!!!

Buenos Tardes a mis amigos y familia!

This is it! This is my last email to you all from the CCM. I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!!! That means that my visa came through, and I have plane tickets and everything! I'm going to Argentina!!! We fly out on Monday morning (we have to leave at 6) then head to Georgia, then to Buenos Aires! You should of seen all of us on travel plans day (last friday). After lunch, we couldn't contain our anticipation and excitement and booked it to the mailroom. Elder Groen got there first and held the white and pink papers high over his head. We couldn't help but cheer and run a little faster, hopping up and down until we got our own plans in our hands. Our entire district got our plans. What a blessing! Elder Rawson is going to equador, but the rest of us fly out together. We all felt bad that he wont be with us, but we're just glad to have gotten to know him and that we all got our visas! This week we also finally met some of the other missionaries going to Bahia Blanca (there are only 3 in our district). Apparently there are at least 10 of us going to that one mission alone on monday! Holy Guacamole! This time next week I'll be in winter! Sorry if this letter is a little all over the place, it's been an eventful day preparing to leave the country and preach the gospel.

This week has been awesome (as usual). It has also been very humbling. I need to speak spanish more when it's just me and my companion. Heavenly Father definitely got that message across to me yesterday when I tried to teach a lesson. I don't know what happened! My usual semi-fast and decent spanish turned into a halting mess. The only time that I felt confident in my spanish and felt the spirit in my words was when I recounted the story of the first vision in spanish. I'm so glad that I memorized that. There is power in Joseph Smith's words! I will work hard to speak more and learn more, because speaking with conviction is something I never want to be without! It's hard sometimes to get out of the way and let the spirit be the teacher. The prideful natural man in me so often takes over and tries in vain to handle a lesson, or to take care of a disagreement or anything. But it's only through trusting in Heavenly Father that I feel truly like myself and can become a good missionary! I have really learned that to be true these past weeks at the CCM.  I also have found that memorizing scripture can become a great strength to us. When we feel tempted or depressed or confused, we can invite the spirit back into our lives by silently singing a hymn, by praying, by reciting scripture to ourselves. I have to remind myself that I truly have come a long way though! The language that used to be so hard for me gets easier and easier every day! I'm better at understanding than speaking, but I truly believe that the Gift of tongues is real. I'm so grateful for all the tender mercies that I have seen this week. The help that I have received from my Heavenly Father has been immense!

This week we got to teach a lesson via Skype! It was so cool! We taught Maria, a member living in Arizona. She is so sweet! And her spirit is so strong. We were grateful that she spoke english too, cause we felt like there were things that we needed to say in spanglish. Through this, we were able to speak well! And I felt a lot of peace from the Holy Ghost afterwards knowing that I had successfully done something hard for me :) 

I have so many funny stories this week! I wish I could share them all! One thing that we get to do to help us with the language is an online test, where we are given a prompt that we respond in spanish to. We get feedback later in the week. Sometimes we have more time to answer than we know what to do with. One elder in our group didn't know that you could just move on to the next question, and sat there for a minute after asking his "investigator" to read a scripture: "bien hecho! yaaaayyyy..... ole..... leendo....." Okay, maybe that's not as funny for you all cause you don't know this elder, but we all thought that that was pretty great coming out of our stoic cowboy. 

I love you all so much! I can't believe that next time I write you all, I'll be in a different country, typing on weird keyboards, speaking a different language, and eating different foods. The good news is, no matter what is different, the gospel is the same! Heavenly Father's love for his children is the same. The atonement is still real, the scriptures are still true. What a blessing it is that we live in this amazing time when the gospel of Christ is restored! What a blessing it is that we have a living prophet today like the prophets of old. I know that Thomas S. Monson is that prophet, and that he has the keys and the power of the preisthood to lead the church of our Savior. I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to make and keep sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father! I heard this week a cool insight about covenants that I thought I'd share. We know that the Iron Rod that Lehi and Nephi saw in visions is the Word of God. It was suggested that this not only can be referencing the Scriptures, but also God's word, His promise.  May we hold steadfastly to the covenants that we have made and partake of Eternal Life. I pray that we can each help others to find the rod as well, to help them make those covenants that would lead them to Eternal Happiness. :) I invite you all to remember your covenants and to help others to do so, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a wonderful week! And thank you all for your emails and letters. Know that I get them and love them and cherish them, even though I don't always respond! :) Love you!

Hermana Hill

How time doth swiftly fly!

Hola mi familia y amigos!!!

What a wonderful week it has been, I have no idea where to start- it's just all been so great. I'm learning so much, and my heart grows as I learn more about the Gospel. What a blessing it is to be here.

This week we got done teaching our first "investigator" (our teacher acted like one of the investigators he had on his mission so we could get practice teaching). A few weeks ago, I couldn't wait to get done teaching him because I was frustrated with my teaching and embarrassed by how it was going. But I was actually really sad to be done teaching him! I'm so excited for our "new investigator", but I have really grown to love Ángel.  I know we weren't teaching the real Angel, but I loved watching his testimony grow and watching him draw closer to Christ. We were SO ecstatic when he began reading the children's book of mormon (he had to leave school when he was really young to support his family) and when he agreed to go to church on our last lesson we couldn't contain our joy! We had been asking him to do those things since day one, and now he's doing it and wanting to do it too! Our teacher told us last night about the real Angel and we saw his picture. We've never met him but we all love him! I feel the same love for my other investigators now, and some too for every person that I meet (it's growing more and more). Imagine all that love, now multiply that number by infinity. that's how much our Heavenly Father loves us. Woah. I'm learning so much. I have so far to go! But I know that Christ and Heavenly Father will help me, and make up for all those things that I lack.  :) 

Oh and guess what everybody!!?!!?! I totally had my first dream in Spanish!!! Well, I don't remember it, but apparently I woke up my companion one night speaking spanish. She said she didn't catch what I was saying, and it was probably gibberish and random words, but I still feel like it's an accomplishment, okay....?

The Sister Missionaries all have Relief Society together here, and we got to be taught by Sherri Dew this past Sunday! that was stinking awesome. And on Sunday nights they have movies for us to watch (conference talks, devotionals and other church movies, but hey, they're stinking awesome! We LOVE watching those!) The one we watched this Sunday was called "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. It was amazing. He talked about how the character, or moral instinct, of Christ was to continually look and focus outward, away from himself. Throughout his entire life, he not once focused on himself. The natural man in all of us is the opposite of that. We look inwards. Our lives are lived as if we were Cookie Monster (Elder Bednar's analogy, not mine- I wish I could claim it!). "We want cookie now!" He told us amazing stories of Christ and of other people in this world like Him that focus on others. They aren't offended. They love others. They serve and have true charity for those around them. It's a lifelong process, but I know that Christ atoned for us so that we can become like that one day. :) And if we work on it, He will help us. We find ourselves when we lose ourselves in the service of others. But you can't serve others because you want to find yourself. You've got to serve them because you have charity for them. This helps us see our own worth, and more importantly, helps us become closer to Him who heals us. Whatever you are going through, be still, and know that God will help you! Search for Him and serve Him! I know that your life will be blessed, and you'll begin to recognize the blessings and miracles that have always been there.

I love you all so much! I hope you are doing well!!! Thank you so much for your kind and fun emails and for being so awesome. 

Okay, I'll close (maybe) with a funny story. :) My sweet companion, Hermana Sprenz had to give a talk in sacrament meeting this week. None of us know when we are going to be called up to give a talk, so every week we write one on the topic that is suggested. It has to be all in spanish and be 5 minutes long. Freaky, right?! It's super good practice though, so thats alright :) ANYWAY- She was doing SO good, even though she was nervous. She made it to the end and began to bear her testimony. It went a little something like this: "Yo se que esta iglesia is verdadera. Yo se que Padre Celestial es el padre de nuestros almas. Yo se que Jesucristo es mi hijo..." That translates to: I know that this church is true. I know that Heavenly Father is the father of our souls, I know that Jesus Christ is my son. Her SON! We laughed pretty long about that one!! XD Poor thing was mortified. "I blasphemed!!! It wasn't just a silly mistake! It was blasphemy!!!!" Good ole Espanol, keeping us on our toes and helping us blaspheme. ;) I definitely said in one of my lessons that we can't return to God without the Atonement because our fish remove us from Him.... Those darn fish, getting in the way of our salvation... Pescados= fish Pecados=sins, can you blame me!? haha it's been a funny week. We now eat swedish fish and call them Pecados de Sweden (sins of sweden). Yep, that how we roll. 

Have a delightful week everyone! Love you! Hope you're not too mortified about the language skills that I told you about... The church is still true, even if we can't speak very well yet :)

God be with you!

Les amo mucho!!!

Hermana Hill

Halfway there - say what?!

Hola familia y amigos!

It's been another great week at the CCM. This week our zone got our new missionaries. They're great! It's weird being the old people who know what's going on, but It's a good change! Many of them are intermediate Spanish speakers, so I'm always surprised when we can ask them questions or when they help us on our Spanish... It's nice to have added help around. And it's nice to have more people to face in four square and volleyball! And it's nice to be able to do more service and remember how far we have come.

Teaching our "investigators" is going so much better now too! We're getting the hang of it, and we know more Spanish. The spirit has been really strong in our last few lessons. We still have much to learn. I'm so grateful for my teachers here! It has amazed me how many times they have said things that I totally need to hear. We have lessons on the things that I need most for my teaching, or we'll talk about a concept that helps me greatly in my own life. I mean, everything that we talk about here helps me with my life, but it's amazing how specifically it answers my prayers time and time again. I  know that the program here is inspired and that my teachers are led by Heavenly Father to know what to teach. My journal is nearly half full already with spiritual thoughts and lessons. I learn much from the other missionaries as well! They say that things are magnified when you are on a mission- the downs are deep, but the joys are glorious! It's very true. 

It's hard for me not to turn on my ipod or search for music online, but I love how much we sing here! Oftentimes the songs we sing are exactly what I need. And when i get on to the computers I get to listen to MoTab, and that is a HUGE blessing! I think my companion thinks I'm nuts, cause I definitely burst into tears the other day just from the comfort that the music was to me.  I also listened to a video of John Williams conducting the choir and orchestra in 2002! I was super excited! I was thoroughly astounded when most of the people around me had no idea who he was... I'm not in Kansas anymore totto... There was also a random song that was arranged from Jupiter by Holst. :D It was great! haha and once again, I was a little sad when no one knew Jupiter, or even Holst. Sorry, you all probably didn't want to read this email just to hear me rant about mu

sic some more, but oh how I love good music! It's definitely one of the strongest ways that I feel the comfort of my Heavenly Father. I'm grateful that that is still true, and that He is still blessing me through music! I don't mean to make it sound like they're torturing me here with the lack of music- oh heavens no. There's a time and a place for it and rules are important! But if it's possible, my testimony of the power of music has increased! All of you should go listen to some good soundtracks and classical music and MoTab for me :)

Not much is different this week than from last I wrote. The food is still good (we don't have as many choices as they do on Main Campus, but it's still usually delicious.) Oh! And the Life Cereal this week was totally labeled "eternal life" that made me happy... Oh Mormon jokes- I love em!!! The work is still good, the Gospel and this church are still true :) My district is so close, I love them so much! 

One thing that I learned specifically this week: every person in this earth has a different spiritual gift, and each and every one of those gifts are important. One of the Elders in our group was feeling discouraged that it seemed like everyone around him had a talent or specific gift and that he didn't. It's been great to see him begin to see his great worth. He might not be musical, or extremely athletic, or brilliant, but he has the gift of Charity and Love. When he talks to you, you feel important. He is amazing at finding good in all the people around him and telling them. Rarely does he talk about himself when he's bearing his testimony. He's usually thanking others and thanking the Lord. That, to me, is way cooler than being able to dunk a hoop or be an accomplished musician. And his other talents will come as well as he seeks to develop them too! That's the super cool thing! We've all been given gifts, and we get to work to develop them! And we can pray for gifts- Heavenly Father is waiting to bless us and help us become more like Him and His Son. I don't know if I've already mentioned that to you all, but I would just definitely invite you all to pray and seek to develop good talents- spiritual and temporal. All are important! 

I've learned so much! I wish I could share it all with you. :) I hope you will all read the Book of Mormon. I've started asking questions and praying before I begin my study. I know that Heavenly Father has helped me receive many answers to prayers that way. What a glad message it is that God speaks to us! And anyone can know it! I'm so grateful for my Savior. His atonement makes all things possible. I have drawn closer to Him these past few weeks than I have ever been in my life. Because of Him, my weaknesses can be healed and my inadequacies can be overcome. His doctrine is the center of this gospel. I invite you to search His life and teachings. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End- they seem so simple, but each point is filled with such great beauty and importance! I could write about it for hours. I'm still trying to understand it and learn it. It's a process, and what a blessing that is! 

I love you all! I hope you are all well and having a great week! I love hearing from you :) Tuesdays are preparation days, but they are also holy days cause i get to hear from you! (that, and I'm on a mission, haha so if they're not holy I'm probably doing something wrong). Have a great week! Study Preach my Gospel- it rocks. Love you all!

Te Amo!

Hermana Hill

Katie's mom again... Katie sent some more pictures this week, but technically I think they were from last week. It is so good to be able to see things through her lens, so to speak.  Also good to see/hear that she hasn't stopped loving music and art in her life.  This girl has taught me, and continues to teach me, so very much.  What an example.