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

O be wise, what can I say more

Fam,

First off, Mom, remind Jordan to answer my email of this week!! Thanks!

This week was awesome! I believe I worked smarter this week then I have so far on my mission. That has been my focus this tansfer. That and recognize that all of these little goals are really for the purpose of helping families to be together forever. It is so much better to teach families instead of just people. 

This week we had an attendence of 63 people at our baptizm on Saturday. We had 2 different recent converts perform most baptisms and they brought lots of family and we were able to contact lots of references and pass a lot on from other missionaries that were there.

I had a really sweet experience. Elder Martinez baptized Veronica but she started to cry before entering the water. She got really scared and Elder M. had no idea what to do.I knelt down on the top stair and asked if she wanted to pray. Elder Martinez said one of the most powerful prayers I have heard and she boldly took steps of faith, I don´t think I have ever seen someone that happy come out of the water. Her Mom was so excited as well! Families, they are wonderful!

I was also able to stand with Hna. R....... as she watched her oldest son baptize F.and A...... It was powerful. I could feel so strongly this mothers desire for her children to walk in truth and the joy knowing that her 17 year old son had made a 180 degree turn and was now worthy to baptize someone which made their goal of going to the temple in July that much more possible. 

There were lots of highlights of this week. I had an awesome intercambio in Ballofett. I am impressed with the calaber of new sister missionaries that are coming in. When does Kaylee Hill come to Argentina? 

Oh and I got letters from the Zundel family this week. My district leader Elder Stocks, gave them to me and says to say ´´Hi´´. Heidi, I need your mission email, so I can answer all your questions. 

Love you all! And for those who are Philly, enjoy.Sorry, I am not there to make the Panini´s.

Love you all!

Hna.Hill

Dedication

Dear Family,

We worked really hard this week. Big surprise there.... Just kidding but this week was awesome. Mom, you said something about the fourth semester starting, that is insane! Random fact that I find hilarious is that today starts week for of school here in Argentina and the kids have only gone to school 4 days of the last 3 weeks and will only have school on Friday this week. All the teachers are on strike until the government gives them a pay raise. All the parents and children are getting restless but hey, who can complain about having an extra month of Summer?! 

And Maddy, I don´t even care if you become every ones favorite Aunt but make sure you just enjoy all the time you have with our nieces and nephews. I cannot believe that Seth got a job!! Tell him he needs to write me again! 

The leafs are changing and falling and along with that comes the change in temperature which has left both Hna. Cooley  and I talking like dying cows but actually people listen more carefully to see if they can disypher what we are saying. We found this awesome guy from Haiti. By the time everything was cleaned up from the baptism we only had like 30 minutes left to work so we hit the streets to reach the daily goals and saw miracles. 

But the highlight of my week was when I was working with Hna. Flores in her area. They have been teaching a 17 year old for about 2 months and they haven´t been able to get permission from her father for baptism. Hna. Flores and I started the intercambio on our knees praying for the opportunity to talk to her father. As we entered her house she told us he wasn´t there. We taught the lesson and toward the end he entered the house and headed upstairs with the word ´´chau´´ or goodbye.... Hna. Flores brought up the story of Ester and the spirit was so strong. We prayed together and we asked her to take the steps of faith to invite her father to listen to us. As she asked how she was going to do that we heard him start to practice is guitar. So we invited her to ask him if we could listen to him play. She was terrified but stood and with steps of faith asked him to enter the room. She entered again followed by her father who is an excellent musician. During the first two songs she sat her back to him with her head down. I recognized his second song he played (turns out listening to the Herb Albert CD on repeat on Saturday morning cleanings did help me prepare for my mission) I was so grateful for the confidence that comes from hope and the knowledge that God will fulfill his promises. His response to my question was ´´I will support my daughter in her decision¨. I don´t think I will forget the facial expression of T.....We invited him to listen to what we were teaching his daughter and he said next time. And ended with a final song. I couldn´t help but radiate the happiness that I could see in T... eyes her held was held high and I couldn´t help but think of all the modern day Esters all around the world.

Love you all! And remember it takes steps of faith to accomplish those things that are most important. 

The gospel is true.

Life is wonderful!

Hermana Amanda Ray Hill

Amanda's Letter

March 17, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was insane! I fell in love with Malargue. It is the furthest city south of the mission. I am so sad I didn´t bring my camera. I haven´t seen a sunset that beautiful in years. I was working with Hna. Jasso who is a new missionary and is super full of fire. Malargue is way small and we had to walk at least 3 kilometres just to get to our first appointment but that evening has been one of the best in my mission. We took the young women's president from the branch who comes from a family of 12 and went from finca to finca (a kind of farm...) and taught family after family. It was a big leap of faith for the Hermana to finally share what she sincerely believed and it was very well received. Her niece from our first visit asked if we were walking and offered us her truck. So she came with us to all of the rest of our visits and by the end of the 5 hours was asking what she needed to do to be baptized. She drove us back to town and she drove out of the way to make sure she knew how to get to the church on Sunday. Oh it was beautiful. I was excited to keep working in Malargue but we got a call that night and ended up traveling back to San Rafael at 1 in the morning. 

Hna. Cooley and I were both exhausted and fell asleep on the 4 hour ride. I remember jerking awake and immediately grabbing my bag and it wasn´t until I was off the bus when I realized how blessed we were that we didn´t keep on sleeping all the way to Mendoza (another 3.5 hours). Who knew the spirit was an alarm clock too!

On Sunday we had 3 investigators that beat us to church and T. ended up making some really good friends. I just love her! She got to the church at 8:20!  This week we taught her the Word of Wisdom and she told us that she coffee wasn´t strong enough to be bad for her. And when on for the next couple minutes about how there is no way God would ask her to give it up. After she finished her rant we asked her to pray in that moment to ask God if that is what He wanted her to do. She started her prayer and immediately said, ¨I know I need to give up coffee, and know that you can give me the strength´´. She hasn´t drunken coffee since. And she is coming with us to visit some menos activos this week. If you can include Familia Millard in your prayers that would be great!

This upcoming week will be really crucial. And we had lots of change in the zone including new sisters! Hna. Hatch is back in my Zone which is so great. Just love her to death! Quite literally.... as she is ending her mission soon. 

Raquel and her family is doing great. The ward is helping her out a ton. She has helped me realize how much I have been blessed with and the sincerity we should all have. Basically, if you can´t tell, I have fallen in love with San Rafael! I love it here! I never want to leave!! 

Love you all! Heidi, I wish you the best luck on your mission! I promise I will write you when I get home!! Until then, you can read the plethora of letters your family will write!!

The gospel is true.

Life is wonderful!

Hna. Hill

I´m loving it!!

Dear Family,

I am at a period of my life on my mission that really I am in love with everything. The weather is perfect (for the most part), I have an awesome companion, we found 3 families last week (and mom I think you completely misunderstood me, there were 80 people in sacrament meeting JAMAS have I ever had anywhere close to that number of investigators at church) give me a couple more weeks... Just kidding. But I love my mission a lot. And I have always been blessed by miracles during my mission and whenever I get a new companion they are always really good at recognizing all the miracles and reminding me of how blessed we really are!

One specific miracle- we were walking and decided to talk to EVERYONE (1st best way of finding people). During the siesta we were walking quickly and we got lost (2nd best way to finding people) we stopped a lady who was watering her lawn (illegal, but the police sleep during the siesta too) and as we talked to her she asked, ¨are you guys christian?´´ and we answered in the affirmative she invited us in telling us she was looking for a church. Though she lives alone we contacted her family that live around centro and on Sunday the whole back row was filled with honest seekers of truth.

This week I started the Book of Mormon again. It is so true! I love that book!! By theme for this week is Hebrews 10 -
35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

 36 For ye have need of ^apatience, that, after ye have done the ^bwill of God, ye might receive the ^cpromise.
 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man ^adraw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
 39 But we are not of them who ^adraw back unto ^bperdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

I have been amazed at the power that comes from the words of the scriptures. After consejo I really wanted to purify my heart and remembered the peoples desire, after King Benjamin's sermon, to do good continuously and as I studied King Benjamin's sermon this week I found that the change was wrought about my the better understanding of the character of Christ, and what he did for us.  What the atonement really means. How powerful it is to know of that infinite and eternal sacrifice. How powerful it is to know and be a witness of Him at all times and in all things and all places. And though I do not fully understand what He has done, it has changed my heart. How blessed we are.

Thank you for the updates on Grandma. Say goodbye for me, give her a big hug, kiss, send my love and remind her of all those times I snuck into her room in the super early morning to talk to her and even though I would wake her up she still loved me.

Love you all!

The gospel is true, and life is wonderful!

Hna Hill

Argentina Mendoza!!

What!!!! Kaylee got her mission call to Argentina Mendoza!!! When does go into the MTC??? That is so exciting!! And I should probably send shout outs to Maddy Buhman and Sierra Wise! So proud of my little girls. Who knew that Lacrosse makes SICK missionaries! Obviously the LORD. 

 

I had to say goodbye to the Hna. Sorensen. I got the Hna. Cooley this week. We will work hard. It was hard because we I wasn´t able to work for three days this week because of transfers, consejo, and the fact that San Rafael is ridiculously far from Mendoza. But we had over 80 people at church this week. And we had an activity that 26 women came to (not counting children) to learn how to make torta de Helado! People brought investigators and it was a huge success seeing as though we have about half generally in Relief Society.

 

R..... came to church with her 4 children this week. I was surprised and grateful. And was so proud of the ward. They loved her SO much! She felt so welcome and we didn´t sit by her in any of the meetings which always makes you feel good as a missionary. And they ended up serving the cake we made at the activity to the whole ward after church.

 

I feel like so much happened this week, but I don´t know what else to write. The gospel is true, and life is wonderful. I feel like this transfer has so much penitential and it will probably be my last transfer in San Rafi, so my plans of baptizing the whole city will have to be exhilarated to the max!! Jaja!

 

Love you all!

Hna. Hill

 

And Dad sorry for going through all that trouble to switch deferments. I promise it won´t happen again. 

Dog Eating Grapes! Oh there are grapes everywhere. Thats what you get for being in wine country.

My beautiful mountains.