July 29, 2013
If Man Were Constant, He´d Be Perfect & The Blessings DO COME, but Only AFTER We Are Obedient, Faithful, and Diligent.
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| Elders Hill and Palacios SOAKING wet! |
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| Paola and her guinea pig |
It´s been such a long week that has gone by so fast! I know that sounds like an irony, but it´s true. I can´t differentiate or remember anymore what happened last week and what happened last month! It was a good week as far as the work goes. We´ve been finding new people and putting baptismal dates. It looks like within the next month, we should have around 7 baptisms. It´s pretty exciting because we just keep increasing our numbers because we are working hard. Alejandro drank again this week so we´re not really sure what to do with him. Raul and Paola cancelled pretty much every appt we had last week and we haven’t really seen them. We have an appt today so we´ll go see how they are. Paola should be getting baptized this week as well as Edgar. Edgar´s family is a little frustrated with him because they think that he´s just doing it for the girlfriend but he really does like church and says that he wants to be baptized. We still have to verify but it looks like we´ll have two baptisms this week! I had my second temple recommend interview as an endowed member and it´s a good feeling to be able to qualify to enter the house of the Lord. I´m grateful for the mission and the understanding that I´ve been able to gain so far. I can see how it will be a blessing for the rest of my life. 
Well, congrats on the new house deal! It looks like a big chore but it will be good. The blessings DO COME, but only AFTER we are obedient, faithful, and diligent. We have to believe in something we don´t see, but that we know will eventually happen or reveal itself.
Love you all! Be good and be safe!
Elder Hill
Go betweens on Monday~Ma & Mateo
I already have a mormon.org account. I´ll have to fill it out next week because we were in the office too much time today and I don´t have time before our appt. Renting or qualified to buy?
I thought so, but you are not on it. When are transfers? Buying :)!
I´ll check it next week. Transfers next week. I´m sure Palacios will leave
Hey, I have to go but I´m glad that you were able to get the house and all that. Just work hard and be diligent in what you know is right and more blessings are in store.
Sorry for being such a spoiled rotten brat and for being disrespectful. Good thing I came on the mission, if not, my poor wife would have had to put up with me and my immaturity.
Love you. Tell everyone hello for me.
Elder Hill
PIX: paola and her guinney pig
In the car and one time we were soaking wet
little shower cake thing (learned in utah)with Raul & Carina
David & familia
Jacqueline and kids, Alison & Minely
Julio 22, 2013
Everyone Suffers Sometimes & Open My Eyes More on the Sabbath...Keep it Holy!
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| Elder Palacios w/ boy of investigators familia |
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| Elder Palacios y Elder Hill with ??? |
Things seem to be getting more and more difficult as the time goes by. People say that everything gets easier after the first year, but not right now! I love my companion and everything, but it´s getting tough. Up until June 3 I thought that I was going to make my whole mission without having a "difficult and/or disobedient" companion. I know that there is something to learn from it, but it´s sometimes hard to see the sun through the rain cloud.
It was also a hard week for some of the members and the investigators. There are a lot of severly sick members in the ward right now and I feel like it´s because they need to be humbled to remember that God gives them everything and that he can take it away just as easily. Alejandro hasn´t been drinking so that´s good. He´s still progressing towards baptism. On Tuesday morning one of his neighbors was found dead. She had committed suicide shortly before her husband and 3 kids had gotten home from playing soccer. Alejandro saw her and it is marked in his head that he needs to take advantage of the life that God has given him and to not drink or destroy his body. The next day he had two friends shot and killed not too far from here because they were involved in drug trafficking. It´s a really sad situation, but Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways to bring to pass His plan.
There is a family here in the ward who has helped my open my eyes more on the subject of keeping the sabbath day holy. The dad has a calling, their sealed in the temple, he works for the church, but they recently signed up their son for a football league that plays on sundays. They sometimes go to church in the morning and then go to the game but they usually just go to the game. The son broke his collar bone during training and can´t play anymore but they go to the games still. They say that it´s a family time and that they are united but what they don´t realize is that if the brother doesn´t show up to church, he´ll lose his job. By losing his job, the marriage will have problems. If the marriage has problems, the kids will have problems. Pretty soon the prophecies will be fulfilled about those who dont´t keep the sabbath day holy. In true to the faith, conference talks, preach my gospel, and other manuals, the prophets have said that we don´t buy, sell, work, or participate in recreational activities on Sunday. IF we do, we will suffer the consequences. The saddest part is that we tried to help them see the problem but they don´t accept it. They justify their sins. I´m grateful for the mission because there are so many things like this that I am seeing and will change in my life when I get home.
I hope that you´re all doing well with the move. Let me know where you end up and all that fun jazz. Just look for the good in the trial. If we´re always focused on the negative, that´s how our life will be. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Hill
It was also a hard week for some of the members and the investigators. There are a lot of severly sick members in the ward right now and I feel like it´s because they need to be humbled to remember that God gives them everything and that he can take it away just as easily. Alejandro hasn´t been drinking so that´s good. He´s still progressing towards baptism. On Tuesday morning one of his neighbors was found dead. She had committed suicide shortly before her husband and 3 kids had gotten home from playing soccer. Alejandro saw her and it is marked in his head that he needs to take advantage of the life that God has given him and to not drink or destroy his body. The next day he had two friends shot and killed not too far from here because they were involved in drug trafficking. It´s a really sad situation, but Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways to bring to pass His plan.
There is a family here in the ward who has helped my open my eyes more on the subject of keeping the sabbath day holy. The dad has a calling, their sealed in the temple, he works for the church, but they recently signed up their son for a football league that plays on sundays. They sometimes go to church in the morning and then go to the game but they usually just go to the game. The son broke his collar bone during training and can´t play anymore but they go to the games still. They say that it´s a family time and that they are united but what they don´t realize is that if the brother doesn´t show up to church, he´ll lose his job. By losing his job, the marriage will have problems. If the marriage has problems, the kids will have problems. Pretty soon the prophecies will be fulfilled about those who dont´t keep the sabbath day holy. In true to the faith, conference talks, preach my gospel, and other manuals, the prophets have said that we don´t buy, sell, work, or participate in recreational activities on Sunday. IF we do, we will suffer the consequences. The saddest part is that we tried to help them see the problem but they don´t accept it. They justify their sins. I´m grateful for the mission because there are so many things like this that I am seeing and will change in my life when I get home.
I hope that you´re all doing well with the move. Let me know where you end up and all that fun jazz. Just look for the good in the trial. If we´re always focused on the negative, that´s how our life will be. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Hill
July 15th, 2013
Hung Over In Church ~ Addictions...Stay Away From Them!
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| District Leaders
Yesterday we went to pick up Alejandro to go to church with us. We got to his house at like 8:30 and his mom told us that he had just gotten home from partying. We decided to wake him up and take him to church. He woke up, showered fast, and was throwing up before he got dressed. We got to church just in time for Carina´s confirmation which was a nice experience. After the first hour, Alejandro was a little bit on nerves and feeling sick. He told us at the end that he was feeling better and that it was a blessing because he would normally be throwing up in the street all that time that we were in church. Addictions-- stay away from them.
Carina and Raul are doing well. They are already planning their sealing for next year. Well, not planning it but they do talk about it quite a lot. Raul and Paola (brother/sister) didn´t go to church but they are doing well. Paola told us that she feels that she was already prepared for us and when we began to teach her, she felt a familiar ring to what we were teaching. She´s what we call an "elect". D&C 29:7 I believe is a reference for that.
Nothing else really happened this week. Time is going by so fast that I can´t remember. We found out that there is a sister in this ward who has always been really gossipy and she started spreading rumors about me! She doesn´t have much to rumor about but I guess that´s why they are rumors, because they are not true. She´s on the waiting list for a good little "regañada" (mom’s translation=scolding) from the scriptures. DON´T GOSSIP! Oh, and yesterday President Call called us and asked us to go to the offices this morning. My companion said that when he called last night, his heart skipped a beat. It was just for a little interview and nothing interesting happened.
Well, I really can´t remember what else happened this week. I´ll keep better track and inform you next week. Have a fabulous week, fam, and we´ll talk on Monday.
Love,
Elder Hill
July 8, 2013
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Baptisms y Bowling!
This week we found Paola and Raul and they are pretty good investigators. I know that there are a lot of people here waiting to know the Gospel and we have to find them. They are bro/sis and they will probably want to get baptized together and I think it will be in august so that Raul can stop smoking. We talked to Alejandro yesterday and he was still hung over from the parties Friday and Saturday. He said that he does want to change his life, and I know that it is hard, but he just keeps falling. We´ll talk to him today and see how he is doing.
Happy 4th of July! I feel like June was just beginning and I thought that it would go by slow.... nope! Time goes by faster and faster every day! This week was a bit challenging. We had a lot of investigators that we had to drop because they weren´t progressing even though they know that it is true. Sad deal... hopefully one day they will put their fears to one side and trust in God.
Loves. hugs and kisses.
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| Carina & Raul's familia
Yesterday we had Carina´s baptism so that was pretty neat. We have been waiting quite a while to be able to do it and they chose yesterday so that they could bless their baby and have the baptism on the same day. It was cool because Raul blessed his baby, his brother blessed his daughter Alison, and then Raul baptized Carina after church. It was a great thing to see all of their family come from DF and from other parts to support them in the baptism. Carina´s parents aren´t receptive to the church or anything, so I´m not sure they know that she was baptized. We felt a strong presence of the spirit there after the baptism and Raul shared his testimony. They will definitely be in the temple next year to be sealed.
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| Elder Palacios, Carina, Raul y Elder Hill |
Today we went bowling as a district. It was fun because we haven´t been able to do anything for a while for certain situations that come up each week. We bowled 3 games and I had to put the example for the district and win two of the three. On the second game I taught the Hermana Chalacan (from Ecuador) how to bowl and she mastered it on the last game and won us all. That´s what I get for sharing my talents! :)
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| Elder Hill's District: Elders' Hill, Richardson, Calle, Palacios, Hermanas Chalacon y Marin |
Other than that, we didn´t have a whole lot of noteworthy events this week. I went to a training meeting on Wednesday and we ate Domino´s pizza, Thursday was the zone meeting, and on the 4th I was on exchanges with Elder Richardson. I think that by the end of a hard day´s work we had both forgotten that it was the 4th because we didn´t do anything special. I reported to Elder Shumway that night and they told me that they bought pizza to have a little party and then I realized that it was the 4th. Oh well, I guess for next year I´ll just party it up triple time to make up for the two years of being a Mexican.
Be of good courage. I know that the move isn´t something easy, but it will all work out in the end. If it´s not okay, it´s not the end. There IS a plan, but the battle sometimes is aligning our will with the Lord´s. Do what is right and God will bless you. This I know.
pics
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| Elders' Palacios, Hill y zone |
--zone conference a while back
-handsome Elder bowling
the district Elders Richardson, Calle, Palacios, Hill, Hermanas Chalacan and Marin
Love you, too. I know that it isn´t easy but just accept the change. Accept that it is a time to learn something new. This life isn´t forever and we need to learn all that we can if we are to be Gods and not angels. You´ll look back on this life and say, I´m so glad I went through all that. Just have an eternal perspective. It´s not the end of the world. Change is the only constant.
Gotta go but I´ll keep praying and hoping that you can find a place to go and that it will be a better circumstance.
Love you all, tons.
Sincerely,
Elder Hill
Fotos-las hermanas
scores from the first game. I scored better the second game. :)
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| I had to laugh seeing this, as Elder Hill's name is not on here, however "ROJO" is, meaning RED!  |
July 1, 2013
Happy 4th of July & We Pass Through A Trial To Help Other's Later On!Happy 4th of July! I feel like June was just beginning and I thought that it would go by slow.... nope! Time goes by faster and faster every day! This week was a bit challenging. We had a lot of investigators that we had to drop because they weren´t progressing even though they know that it is true. Sad deal... hopefully one day they will put their fears to one side and trust in God.
For 5th Sunday we combined the priesthood and RS and talked about missionary work. It was a pretty cool experience because it was my companion, our ward missionary leader, and me who were in charge of the class. We didn´t have a whole lot of time this week to organize it but we went in and presented a powerful lesson on missionary work and the Spirit told us in the moment what we had to say. It happened again at night when we did a ward FHE. We talked about missionary work and how doing our visits (VT and HT) that we can save lives spiritually speaking. Our ward mission leader (Hno. Serrano) is a doctor so we talked about something simple (the Heimlich maneuver) and how we recognize what it´s for and then we presented a lesson on how to recognize the spiritual wounds and what medications we use to heal them and the help our brothers and sisters realize how important the church is. We have a lot of less active or inactive people here.... it´s sad. Out of 1,300,00 member in total in Mexico, only 300,000 of them are active. TO THE RESCUE!
There was a member who spoke on Sunday who was just awesome. This guy has had some of the worst experiences happen to him, but he has also seen the most spiritual things as well. Once upon a time he was thinking, "Why me?" and his mom told him, "How can you ever give words of comfort and consolation if you have never suffered before?" It struck me- sometimes I don´t realize that I have to pass through a trial in order to help someone else later on who is also having that problem. It sometimes seems like the story of my life.... but it´s gratifying knowing that I can ease someone´s burden because I already suffered. I feel, on a very small scale, somewhat how Christ feels-- He suffered for us so that we suffer not if we only go to Him (D&C 19:16-19). Just as a friend seeks us out to receive help, such should we do with our Savior.
We all pass through hard times-- some harder than others-- but so that the hard, jagged, and ugly rock that we are as natural men can slowly and patiently be smoothed and improved to be the diamond that God knows we are. Our potential as His children is great, but sometimes we don´t see what we are within. We think that we are the same old jagged rock when we´re meant to be a prized jewel. D&C 58:2-4 and Mosiah 24:13-15 tell us that we all have challenges.
I know that life isn´t easy, but it never was designed to be that way. I feel that life is easy, you´re doing something wrong. (Not sure what he meant here~When live seems easy, you’re doing something wrong??)
Carina will be baptized next Sunday so I´ll be sure to send the pictures next week!
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| ELDER HILL IN FRONT OF MEXICO CITY TEMPLE FOUNTAIN |
Love you all!
Elder Hill
Just remember-- you´re having a hard time and so am I, with my companion. It’s not the same, but learning is learning.
Hey, I have to go now but I hope that you can have a good week and look for the silver lining. I love you and thank you for all that you have done for me. Be good and all will be well. It´s a promise from the prophets.
Love you. Tell the family hello for me and I hope that all works out well.
Loves. hugs and kisses.
Matthew
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