Por Fin! (At Last!)

Elder Clayton, Nicte, David, bebe David & Elder Hill

This week was a pretty good week because of a few reasons. To start out, David and Nicte got baptized yesterday after church and were very content that they have finally been able to do it. There were scheduling conflicts the last few weeks, other wise they would have done it sooner. It´s a 2 month work in progress that has made a great leap of progress. They are definitely a future temple sealing! 

Good to see that Abel is in the MTC. I didn´t know who it was until I looked harder. He hasn´t had glasses for a long time. I have heard about my friends and their mission papers. It´s pretty cool. God is a smart guy because all of the Elders will be leaving at 18 and all of their girlfriends at 19 and they´ll get home within short of each other,  so there will be less Dear Johns!  Congrats to Tony. 

Thanksgiving was a normal day in the mission. I thought about it on Wednesday but after getting up on Thursday I forgot until Elder Clayton said, "HAPPY THANKSGIVING ELDER HILL!" We just worked all day and didn´t even eat with members, which honestly felt good to just work. We found two new investigators- David and Estela- who are mother and son. They accepted their baptismal date for the 15th of December and went to church and like it. They are neat people looking for the truth. The mission is great. 

This week I was studying more about the prophecies of the Book of Mormon in the Bible and just how many signs there are that point to it. I sometimes have a hard time understanding how people just don´t get that it is true. Satan has blinded many people, and it is our job to help them come out of the "darkness". We are all brothers and sisters-- even the drunks, drug users, and prisoners. Charity never faileth. 

Keep moving forward! Oh, and Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.”

Love, 

Elder Hill 

Happy Thanksgiving & The Sacrament

Blessing the Sacrament (googled photo)

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving this week!  This week was a little crazy again. It just went by so fast that I don´t remember what is happening. I remembered something that we hear last week in stake conference. What is the most cited scripture? Is it 1 Nephi 3:7? 1 Nephi 1:1? Moses 1:39? The answer is that it is in Moroni 4 and 5 and also D&C 20--- the Sacrament prayers. They are read every week in every church chapel throughout the world. The Sacrament is so important because without it, we would be lost at the very confirmation that we receive. The Sacrament each week is what renews our covenants- not just the baptismal, either- and makes us clean IF we repent and obey. It isn´t just bread and water. They are symbols that change lives and help us to progress. The Sacrament is important and nothing less. I hope and pray that we can all take into account what the sacrament really means. 

David and Nicte will be getting baptized this week, we hope. They couldn´t do it last week for their work schedules but hopefully Saturday. They say that they love the Church and will never change, even if they don´t get baptized. Pretty cool to hear that. 

Cerdos manos y pies ~ Pigs hands and feet

I haven´t eaten any strange things this week. The last weird thing we ate were pig hands or feet. It was pretty much sucking on bones and fat. It´s tasty- you should try it! Keep doing the simple things and the Lord will bless you. "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you." He is standing at the door of our hearts and knocking.... If any of us hear Him, let us allow Him in to get closer to us. He lives and loves us. The power of the Atonement is real, powerful, and cleansing. Let us take advantage of it now so that Christ doesn´t suffer for it again because we aren´t doing what we need to do. The Church is true. 

Love you all, 

Elder Hill 

P.S. God first, then Family- that´s the commandment. 

We Should All Have A Valid Temple Recommend & Look For A Spiritual Experience This Week.

Birthday & Zone Conference

We had Stake Conference yesterday and it was pretty cool because it was a regional conference. It was broadcast from the Conference center and Elder Richard G. Scott spoke to us .... in Spanish! He talked about his wife in his talk, and we all know that the best talks are the ones when he talks about his wife. What a stellar Elder!  Our bishop is a bit of a clown. So much that he has his own website of just jokes. We are trying to look for a member in the USA who married an investigator, but then he got deported. (BTW- I´ve met a lot of people here that have that happen. SISTERS- make sure your boyfriend is legal before you marry him!) Anyway, He told us yesterday that Facebook is more efficient than the Church´s system MLS. He´s a funny guy. 

Elder Hill passing through a Graffiti Festival on Dia de Muertos,
(Day of the Dead, where they celebrate loved one(s) that have passed on.

    We found a few new people this week from a Ward FHE lesson that we had and we have some members that since they found out about our new rules, they have been trying to find new people because they don´t want the missionaries to leave. Everyone wants to feed us food because they feel that we are angels in their house (they give us too much credit, I tell you) and so they want us to stay! It´s pretty cool! Honestly, I can´t remember what else happened this week. It went by so fast. 

Rabbit for lunch

   In conference we were reminded that we should all have a valid temple recommend even if we live far from a temple. It reminded me of the interview questions that we have and what they mean. They aren´t just a checklist, they are requirements to enter the House of the Lord. They are covenants that we have made or are going to make. They are important. I haven´t gone to the temple in Mexico, but it is still a reminder that I need to be worthy of that passport to Christ´s house. Tithing is worth paying to "rent" a temple recommend and to help other people on the other side of the veil. There is a statement in Ch. 9 of Preach My Gospel that talks about vicarious ordinances as being the SAME saving missionary work as what 55,000+ missionaries are doing. It´s truly incredible God´s Plan. Keep studying the scriptures and becoming your own first "convert" so that you can be prepared to help somebody else. We´re all in this together. 

… I translated the word literally. It was basically a treatment is what I meant. They extracted the antibodies from my urea and made the stuff. ( I am thinking for his dermatitis he has struggled with since in MX) I forgot the words to describe it. Spanish is ruining my English.... it´s sad. I can´t talk like an EMT anymore. 

Gotta go. Tell everyone hello for me. 

Love, 

Elder Hill 

P.S. Have a good week. Look for a spiritual experience. 

I Am Looking For Men ~ Young and Old...Full Time Mission

Published on Jul 3, 2012

Personal experiences and testimonies of European youth who are preparing for missions, currently serving as missionaries, or have recently returned from the mission field.

I Voted! Go Out and Vote Too! ~ ¡Ya he votado! Ir a votar también!

I Voted! Go Out and Vote Too! 

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE IN UTAH HERE: http://vote.utah.gov/elections/location/
AND if they can't find your name at your polling place ASK FOR and FILL OUT a PROVISIONAL BALLOT!

                        ¡Ya he votado! Ir a votar también!

Do You REALLY Know?

Elder Clayton, Hermano Tomas & Elder Hill at Vacquero
Okay..... thanks for posting happy birthday. Not sure it needed to be so flowery but thanks for the thought. 

Tony Hsieh, Jessica Dixon, Rachael & Matthew Homecoming 09

Rachael Gehmlich

Rachael & Matthew Senior Prom 2011

We have pretty much everything as far as food goes.
It´s pretty Americanized here in that aspect. We buy cup o noodles at the store. Yes, I mailed my ballot. 
Just one question about the collage that you sent me last week, who is the girl who is taking a picture of herself in the mirror with black, etc. (Rachael Gehmlich, dressed as gothic/punk/emo girl) I don´t recognize  who it is. 

(Mom was ROFL)

Rachael dressed as gothic/emo/punk girl

I am still in Tezontepec until 17 December. Pic: we went to the vaquero again with Hermano Tomas. 

This week was pretty interesting. We have been implementing a few changes into the missionary work here in Mexico and I would like to share a few thoughts on that..... 

David & Jaina's hijo, Elders' Hill & Clayton with bibs on!

Before two weeks ago, we had the goal to talk to 140 people in the street each week. AKA- contacting. If we were out finding people and they weren´t home we could knock on doors; what many people refer to as tracting. However, there has been a new change. We can no longer do either of those activities. We don´t contact unless inspired to do so and knocking doors is forbidden. Now the question may arise-- How are we going to work? The answer = more effectively. We now have the opportunity to have to work with members to help them preach the gospel to their friends and family. The missionaries are simply there to teach and help the members have their own converts. In the last three years 110,00 people have been baptized in Mexico; 12,000 are active. It is a frightening thought that only nine percent of my work efforts will be retained. It is clear that when members are involved in teaching and the investigator is a friend of those members they are more likely to stay in the church. It is a difficult change because now we are teaching the members how to be a missionary. "Every Member a Missionary" Another change is that the native language MTC programs will be reduced from 3 weeks to only 2 weeks, beginning in February. These changes, along with the new age requirements,  to me are sign that the Second Coming is that much closer. We need to be prepared to meet our God, just as the prophets have been saying.

One thing that a few members and even investigators have commented to us these last few weeks is about testimony meeting. I love testimony meeting, but there is something a little wondrous about it. If you think about it, pretty much everyone gets up to the pulpit and says, "I know that the Church is true, the BOM is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world." All of those things are true, but what these people have commented on is that everyone SAYS it, but how many people KNOW it and FEEL it? It was something that caught me off guard, but it is true. I think that sometimes we members of the Church are too traditional, in that we just get used to doing everything in the Church without KNOWING AND FEELING if it is true. Take Moroni´s promise and ASK if it is true. Moroni 10:3-5. With the new changes in missionary work we can´t wait until the last moment to know if it is true, and after the mission we have to keep that fire well fed. 

It was pretty cool yesterday because Irineo received the priesthood and came to church looking like a new man because he cut is hair. Some members called him Jack Sparrow, but now he looks like a well trimmed priesthood holder. Jaina bore her testimony this week, too, and I have to be prejudice and say it was the best. She´s not our convert, she´s the Lord´s convert. 

David & Jaina's hijo

Keep at it my friends. Loves, 

Elder Hill 

pics, 

We ate with David and Jaina this week and little David wanted us to wear bibs, so we wore bibs and took a picture.