Amanda's Letter

Dear Family,

I am glad to here mom is back home from the hospital! Take that ICU!!! You´ve got nothing on her!! 

This week we saw loads of miracles. But I had a moment this week that rivals for top experience of my mission. So while I was in Colorado there was a less active father who had a daughter serving a mission. I grew to love the family a lot and I really had nothing to do with his change, we just had him come teach lessons with us all the time,  but during the 9 weeks I was there I was able to see him come back to the church. There were few moments in my mission that have more sincere from his wife giving me a hug with tears rolling down her face as she read to me the letter from her daughter who was serving a mission when she found out that her Dad had received a temple recommend and that they could be sealed the day she returned from her mission. Ever since that experience I have made sure that I keep tabs on all the missionaries families to make sure they are very much spiritually alive when their children return from missions. 

Well the Familia K.... was baptized about a year and a half ago and their oldest son is serving his mission. They haven´t been coming to church but the family is amazing. This week we had the whole family come with us to teach another recent convert lesson and the families clicked, pero de 10!! The Marinero family asked Hermano Kim why his family joined the church. I wasn´t quite sure what he was going to say because about 6 weeks ago he told me he wasn´t quite sure if God existed but he bore such powerful testimony of the change that comes when one is living in harmony with the gospel. The familia marinero began to cry and we had a mini testimony meeting. The spirit was strong and I know it testified to everyones heart. At the end Hermano Kim borrowed a  guitar and we all sang How Great Thou Art at the top of our lungs. I just wish I could have sent all of this to their son. This Sunday when I arrived to church the Familia Kim hadn´t gotten there yet and I called and they didn´t answer. I was sad they didn´t wake up but at the end of Relief Society (we have church backwards here, sacrament at the end) the presidenta welcomed Hermana Kim, and Hermano Kim to Relief Society (it had been a long time since they got their so early that they had both come into the RS room) It made me so happy! So grateful for the changing power that comes with the spirit. 

I love my comp! Hna. Barney! I knew her before the mission so that is way fun! We found our Robles family this week. Father is less active. Mother super receptive with two cute kids. 

I am fasting from English so it is weird to be writing so much English. Spanish is still a struggle. I still speak wrong. I can understand everything and I talk too fast. But I still don´t know the rules. Guess I should have had more Spanish lessons while doing the dishes with you, James! Oh and I am a huge RIVER fan!! And it is not because they won it all either. 

The Gospel is True.

Life is wonderful!

Hermana Hill 

Triumph: Try with a little umph!!!

Dearest Family,

I had the strange desire to write this in the form of a poem but not think will be happening... What rhymes with family? Clearly the length in the mission is directly correlated with the loss of creativity. 

Good thing I talked with ya´ll last week cause this week my voice is a mix between batman, and that frog voiced kid from little rascals. Its getting cold and managed to catch a little gripe. It was able to work fine though, just hope no one gets the wrong impression and a long with all the other misinterpretations about our faith is that they all their ´´homely Mormon women (mark twain)´´ talk like men too.  I did get a fever for a day or two and woke up in the middle of the night due to moaning. I thought the unrealistic thought of ´´the nerve of Hna. Sagers to wake me up!!´´ but then I came to the sad realization that the awful guttural noise was coming from my own throat. I am up to three blankets at night.... Its getting cold (yes, mom, I am thinking about turning off the fan)

Dad, this monday I decided to print off all your articles from the Ensign and downloaded your articles and humored myself listening to some strange man trying to be my Dad. I came to thinking, can you send me ´´Dealing with Differences´´ from that fireside that you gave with Mom before she died. That way I can listen to the both of you. And also Dad, you inspire me!! I love the way you write! I found myself crying during personal study the next day and now I am 5 paragraphs into memorizing The Family: a proclamation to the world. I love you so much. I am so grateful for the temporal sacrifices you made to be one of my best friends!! 

This Monday I realized, being the last week of the transfer, that this might be the last week I had to work with Hna. Sagers. We made some awesome goals and worked incredibly hard this week. We found so many potentials. The line kept coming to my head from my memorizing ´´Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Parents, and as such, each has a Divine nature and destiny.´´ I was overwhelmed with the love I have for not only you guys back home, but all my brothers and sisters. 

Mom, know my prayers are with you. Keep me updates on the surgery! I didn´t realize how serious everything was. You guys sounded so nonchalant on skype last week! 

Love you all!

Hna. Hill 

1. Need I say more.

2. At your request mom, here is a normal faced picture as well...

Amanda's Letter

Dearest Family,

Feliz 5 de mayo!! I celebrated by stilling some Mexican candy from Elder Garcia yesterday during leadership meeting!! Love spicy candy!! And I got my hands on some legit Mexican spices for tacos. Hay carramba!! 

Oh, what time is Ryan calling yáll for mothers day? Don´t want to crash the party, I will call on Saturday for cinco minutos and we can figure that all out then. All I ask is answer the phone... (not like the airport Mom, just kidding! I love your guts!) 

This week was weird. We had consejo and we ended up spending about 2.5 days in Mendoza. I got really good at medical translating though. Right when I was filling confident with my Spanish they through me another whole line of vocabulary. And before you get the idea that I am dying of some exotic parasite you should know that 1. this is Argentina and their is hardly anything exotic. 2. That would be my companion whose suffering from parasites 3. Really the nurse has been in the U.S. for the last couple of weeks so I ended up translating everything to help her catch up. Next day was President Avila last zone conference so we only really worked 3 days this week. 

I have this really complex thought process that I will try to write down. During Zone conference an Elder I had worked with at the beginning of my mission got up to give his last testimony. When I had worked with him he was not exactly obedient and it was sad for me to see him waste so much of his mission. But as he stood to speak I was amazed by how much he had changed in the last 4 or 5 transfers. The spirit testified powerfully, and taught with his heart. At that moment I realized that he would be returning a hero. He had served a full mission, and from what I could see, he would leave reconciled by the grace of our Savior and, thus, would leave perfect. 

This week ´´give us this day our daily bread´´ really caught my attention and as I was thinking about this and in relation to the manna that the children of Israel gathered daily I couldn´t help but think of this Elder, and who we are really comes on a daily basis. It goes both ways. It doesn´t matter how disobedient you were yesterday you can repent and receive your daily bread for that day. And it doesn´t matter how hard I work I cannot save my bread for tomorrow. With the sound of the alarm I must wake and give my all, yet again. It was slightly disheartening at the moment I came to that realization. That the work never stops. That there is never a break. That even when I am released I still need to stand in the face of opposition and I know that if I keep doing what I am doing I will never receive a break. So why do we jump out of bed when the alarm rings? Why to we continue to serve when we are rejected? Why to we continue to cry with those that mourn knowing that they probably will choose to cry even if there are reasons to laugh? Why do you continue to love your children even though they never listen to what you say? Because we show our love to God by being obedient. Because the faith to build must be followed by the diligence to maintain. Because we know that in order to live (spiritually) we must collect our daily manna. And in order to live joyfully now and for forever we must be spiritually alive.

The gospel is true. I testify of that. And because it is true, life is wonderful.

Love,

Hermana Hill

Amanda's Letter

I wanted to use the subject ´´Even falling on your face is a step forward´´ but felt like the other was a little more inspiring!

I wrote lots of emails this morning and now I don´t have nearly as much time as I hoped to tell you about how awesome this week was. And it just gets better! I woke up this morning at 6 to a text from E..... sincerely apologizing for not coming to church yesterday and that she promised she would go to sleep earlier so that she could fulfill her commitment to us the following week. (got to love texts like that) We also live above a bakery so I get to wake up every morning to the smell of freshly baking croissants. Though a blessing it is also a curse. Its like when you walk through the mall and come across the pretzel store and you know its a waste of money and time but your mouth starts to water and it looks really tempting. It is a good thing I am learning lots of self control on my mission. It has been said, you cannot say ´´Lord, I am your servant´´ until you can say ´´I am the master of my soul´.

Well this Saturday Hna. Sagers and I sat down at a plaza to start our fast when some kids playing soccer over shot the goal and I ran over to kick back the ball. I looked at my companion and she yelled ´´Fine, 5 minutes´´ with her permission I decided to show up the 13 year old with my mad goalie skills. I dropped by bag next to the goal post and I am proud to say that not a single goal was made and got three different houses who the boys said had just had baby´s (one of the best way to get referrals because they KNOW everyone and will tell you where everyone lives) I ran back to the bench and we started our fast. I was excited for the day we had 3 solid lessons in a row and all with different members. I opened my bag and my heart sunk when I realized that the phone had disappeared and when I looked to the kids playing soccer they had all magically disappeared. Mad that the phone had gotten stolen I was determined to get it back. So something you should know about Argentina. Just about everyone sleeps siesta in San Juan. Only people from about 7-22 are awake. And because the police generally take their nap too it is a perfect time for..... well, no good.

I walked over to one of the older groups who were smoking, I am not quite sure what and asked if they knew where the kids lived and explained that they had just stolen my phone. I loved one of the guys response ´´Are you serious? Kids these days!´´ but they were so nice! One whistled a guy on a bike and in the space of about 3 minutes they had gathered all the kids together and told them they needed to give our phone back NOW or else.... One kid told us what house to go to and the whole clan came with us to knock and ask for Fede. He quickly returned the phone!  It was awesome. It made me think twice about the labels we put on people. The whole experience was super funny. 

Had an awesome exchange this week. I went to Pocito which is in the middle of NOWHERE! I did not get a single rejection the whole time we were there. The people were so humble and willing to change. That is what I thought missionary work was like and always imagined myself in that kind of pueblo but I have grown to love cities as well. Well I should say I am growing to love them. 

We got an awesome new ward mission leader this week and I am super excited for the fire he will bring. But I have a feeling I would be able to stay in Rivadavia for very long. But long enough to get the work pumping. 

We went to Ullum last P-day. I have some super funny pictures of me frolicking in the flowers and me being me but they are all on Hna. Sorensens camera, and I still wish to get married someday, so for now these pictures will have to suffice!

The little things

Dear Family,

The internet is awful today so hopefully this will go through.

This week had its ups and downs. But obviously had more ups then downs. Guess who I was able to do intercambios this week with?!?! Hna. Sorensen!! We killed it! They are in the finding process (like us all) but we found 6 stellar investigators. We pulled a San Rafael and called down the blessings of Heaven. I was also taught a beautiful lesson.  So packages are not getting through to Argentina but E´ C. Came back from General Conference with a suitcase full of stuff for Hna. Sorensen. I was really touched when he dropped by the pension after driving 11 hours just to drop of the package. When Hna. Sorensen realized the sacrifice the busy member of the 70 had made for her she asked why, he then said, ´´Anything for the family of an old companion.  He did the same when we were serving¨  I do believe I have made some of my lifelong friends here on the mission.

This week I realized the importance of enjoying the journey. This week Hna. Sagers and I had a rough day. No one was home, well that’s not exactly true, lots of people pretended not to be home which is always worse. But there is this gorgeous field and we took 5 minutes to watch the sunset. I was overwhelmed by all of God’s love for us. While we were there a young family must have had the same idea and had a good conversation with the family.

This week I studied the atonement and found that as I did so I couldn´t wait to leave the pension to do work. Horarios have changed and we can leave at 9:30 and there have been huge miracles as you are out of the pench by then.

I have to send you the sweetest picture! S….. also gave one of the most powerful testimonies I have heard at a baptism and the confirmation was also very sweet. I am so grateful  I was a part of her baptism.

The Gospel is true!

Life is wonderful!

Hna. Hill

I´m Ancient...

Dear Family, 

Today I opened my email, wrote a quick email and then saw that I had received my Trunky papers. Sigh.... Why is time going by so quickly?!?!? Dad, are you coming to back home to Argentina when I end my mission or are we coming back together when the Cordoba temple is dedicated? (Please note that Sí o sí vas a regresar conmigo). Is the Stake President still the same? What is his email address?

This week was crazy!! I cannot believe it has only been a week! We had a way awesome Zone Meeting last week. Hna. Cooley didn´t have much time to prepare but the spirit was so strong! It was a good way to end my time in San Rafael. I didn´t say goodbye to hardly anybody. Not even all of the recent converts, but didn´t feel like it was necessary. I still miss San Rafael a lot though. But even more then I miss San Rafy, I love chimbas. I love Sister Sagers so much! She is an amazing missionary she is also very profound and I feel like everyday is very edifying. And I don´t mind that she laughs at everything I do. Makes me feel super funny.

This week there was a day that was really long. We didn´t get into any houses. Just rejection after rejection. We talked to everyone and their dog (quite literally, Hna. Sagers has this thing for those really ugly small dogs that do nothing but bark and pee, and as you know quite well, I am more of the giant dog type, and it is a great way to start a conversation) With the owner of course.... We got shut down at one house with a giant Rottweiler, but they gave us a reference of a young couple down the street. We ended up teaching them later that night. Jordan, you once asked me if I felt the presence of my Mom on my mission. I have from time to time. But during this lesson I felt her so strong. I could barely keep myself from crying during the whole lesson. We sat across from a couple that had been married for 2.5 years above their heads was a picture from their wedding where their joy was evident but the husband after fighting cancer  for the last 2 years had changed a lot in appearance but still had the same hope in his eyes and it was evident that the two years of struggle had brought them closer together then further apart. My heart went our to the young couple as it hit close to home, particularly this time of year but also I fully remembered that this next week also includes Easter with the promise to those who are true and faithful will be fully healed, spiritually, and physically. And even though I could not promise this young couple that they would be able to stay that much longer in this life. I could, with power from my own testimony and that of my Mom, that they could be together for eternity if they allowed Christ to spiritually heal their hearts. 

The gospel is true.

Life is wonderful!

Love Hna. Hill

Live, Laugh, Learn

Dear Family!

Dad!! Happy Birthday!! Que lo cumpla feliz!! I really thought of you yesterday during Elder Packers talk and was touched that of all the titles He could choose He chose the title of Father. I am so glad you too are my father and for all those long walks we went on and all the time I would come into your office and you would set aside your work and take the time to put me first. I love you lots! Happy Birthday!

This week was not an average week. I left Monday afternoon for Mendoza, stayed in Mendoza for tuesdays counsel meeting and instead of coming back we had a sisters conference. A year ago this mission had 16 sisters. This sisters conference we had just under 70 sisters. We all climbed Cerro de la Gloria and looked over all of Mendoza. We all had a dinner at Presidents home and the following day I was incharge of two hours of activities for all the sisters. Turned out being a teen counselor really has come into play. It was a blast. We also had a marriage and family therapist come and teach us how to deal with conflict (not nearly as good as you Mom) and now I am just waiting for to have an argument with my companion so I can practice everything I have learned (just kidding).

So I got back to my area thursday and had weekly planning and district meeting. Then we had conference Saturday and Sunday. We worked efficiently for the time we had. Yesterday I was extrememly touched as I watched the C.... Family as they watched conference (Hna. Reyes and I were sitting behind them) When Pres. Monson stood up, husband and wife straightened up and turned a new page of notes and their daughter pointed and said, ´Look, it is the prophet of God´´.

I loved conference! I have so many awesome plans for this next transfer!! I AM GOING TO RIVIDAVIA!! I am giong to la provincia de San Juan. Everyone tells me that I have one of the best wards in the mission! I am so excited! And I will be traveling a ton, me and Hna. Seagers are over the whole province. I love San Rafael so much. I have seen so many miracles and we have so many people progressing right now but I know I am leaving these precious souls in capable and dedicated hands.

Preach My Gospel from this week: Pg. 152 or 163 in spanish. (About having your line in the water all the time you are fishing) This week because we were out and about, or in meetings it was hard to do the typical missionary work. But I had a way cool experience with Hna. Ashby the new mission nurse. She asked me to take a picture of her as she bought food from a street vender for the first time. I translated for her and we talked to the vender for awhile it came up that his wife died 6 months ago and that he was raising a 9 year old daughter by himself. Testimony was shared and we got all of his information so the missionaries in Mendoza could teach him. I didn´t think anything of it, I mean that is what we do all the time. But Hna. Ashby was so excited. I was able to be part of her first Abrir la Boca. She showed everyone the address and phone number of José and had his baptism planned by the time we left San Martin Plaza. I realized then how easy it would have been to have only taken the picture and not have said anything. I realized that we are always represantives of Jesus Christ. We cannot allow these miracles to pass us by. We must be agents unto ourselves decide to share the peace that comes with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that does not mean only finding, but stregthen where we are. I remember one siesta in Godoy Cruz there was NO ONE and I thought to myself ´´What the heck! I came her to testify, not to walk´´ In that moment the impression came ´´Well then testify, you are not alone.´´ That siesta me and Hna. Rodriguez had one of the most powerful conversations that determined the character of person I want to be when I return! That line in the water is a continous thing! It doesn´t start when you leave the apartment. You decide what type of missionary you are going to be at 6:30.

Preach My Gospel Study: Lesson 3 in chapter 3. Study along if you so desire!

Sabés? I feel kind of embarrassed for admitting this, because it meant I didn´t listen to all those Family History lessons we had during family reunions, but from Hill, Ray, Mulford, and Snell side how did we come to know the truthfulness of the gospel?

The gospel is true.

Life is wonderful!

Stay cool!

Hna. Hill