2/25/13 -

Hola Everybody!

So not much to report this week. Elder Butterfield and I have been working hard and don't have much to show for it.  We are keeping our spirits high and ready to dive in again full speed this week though. 

Oh, we got news on some mission changes that are happening the beginning of July.  The boundaries of the Mexico City Northwest mission are being changed, so that it actually is more the Northwest of Mexico City. They are also going to organize 8 new missions in Mexico, including the soon to be Mexico City Southwest Mission.  The missionaries in the stakes being moved will go to their new missions with them. As for what will happen with me, we will just have to wait until July and find out.

That´s about it, Nos Vemos!

-Elder Hill

2/25/13 -

Well, this week has brought several challenges and changes.

 

Transfers: I believe I stated that I was leaving Gilbert and Elder Gutierrez was staying behind. (He, by the way, was made District Leader this transfer.) So, my new location is...(drum roll)...Tempe! Yup, I got moved to the Tempe Zone, and my new companion is Elder Niederhauser (need-er-house-er). He's a great guy and is a lot of fun. I've noticed that our approaches to missionary work differ slightly, but we've been working through that, and are doing our best to serve the Lord in unity.

BTW, Headquarters did some changes, causing this transfer to be shortened by a week. So my return date is being moved up by a week as well. New return date: September 23, 2014.

 

Church News: You may have heard about changes in the mission to take place in the beginning of July. Or maybe not. But,apparently, they are planning to split Tempe Mission.  There will be two new missions added here. The Scottsdale and Gilbert Missions. So, I may be moving to a different mission. We'll find out in a transfer or two.

 

New Address: for my stay in Tempe, you can just send my mail to the mission office. I'll be able to pick it up each week.

1871 E Del Rio Dr.

Tempe, AZ, 85282

 

I'm out of time for today, so I'll write a letter explaining more.

 

Until next time,

 

Con amor,

 

-Elder Jordon Hill-

2/18/13 -

Hola Everyone!

Well there has been a lot going on here. No new baptism to send you a picture of, but lots of other stuff. 

 

First, I gave a talk in church on Sunday.  Yes, it was in Spanish.  No, I didn´t have my companion translate it for me. Yes, I made grammar mistakes.  No, I don´t know what they were, and most important, yes, the members were able to understand me.  I had several members come up to me and tell me that they could understand what I said and that my Spanish has gotten a lot better since I first arrived. 

 

Next: I met Elder Borcik. Elder Borcik is "The Mission Magician."   He performed magic for the mission talent show and was very impressive from what I´m told. We put on a dual show for a few elders in the office after a meeting that Elder Millerberg and he were at.  He went home today and Officially passed on the title of Mission Magician to me. So I have a lot of work to do to live up to that.

 

Third: Transfers were this week.  I´m staying right here in Martin Carrera for this next transfer, but Elder Millerberg was made a Zone Leader elsewhere in the mission.  My new companion is Elder Butterfield. He is also American and was my Zone leader for the last 6 weeks.  I´m not sure what I did to be blessed with American companions two changes in a row, but I´m feeling blessed. We have some potential to work with so we will have to see how it goes.

That´s about it for this week. Nos Vemos!

-Elder Hill

2/18/13 -

Well, this week has been alright. Dímas y Carmen, I think I've mentioned them before, are actually starting to progress. They came to the Noche de Amistad Actividad (Valentines day dinner and dance) that was on Friday, and they also came to Stake conference yesterday as well. I think we might be getting close to baptism, but they won't accept a date, yet.

 

So, guess what: I'm being transfered. We'll find out where on Wednesday. So, I get to spend today packing the majority of my stuff so I can go. Follow up info to come next week.

 

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Spanish Lesson -- False Cognates

 

A cognate is a word that sounds pretty much the same in English and Spanish. Examples:

Spanish      English

Posible   =  Possible

Mortal    =   Mortal

Salvación = Salvation

 

A false cognate is a word in Spanish that sounds like a word in English but means something different. Examples:

Spanish           Sounds Like     Means

Asistir      -       to Assist      -    to Attend

Atender     -     to Attend      -   to Assist

Embaresada - Embarressed - Pregnant

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I think that's about it for this week. Until next time,

 

Con amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

2/11/13 -

Hola everyone!

Well,  we had another week down. We worked hard and had another baptism. His name is Adan. His parents are converts of Elder Millerberg´s from about a year ago, but he didn´t want anything to do with the church back then. When we visited them about a week and a half ago, he said "I want to be baptized"(translated from Spanish), so we taught him and he was coming to church and we baptized him this past Saturday.

 

 

That´s us, Adan, and his dad. His mom had to work unfortunately, but she came to his confirmation in the morning so everything is good.  Other than that not much new to say. I haven´t received anyone's mail to me yet, but I´m told it´s not unusual for mail to take a month to a month and a half.

Have a great week!

-Elder DJ Hill

2/11/13 -

Can you believe it? We've been on the mission for 20 weeks. just 85 more to go. This week has been kinda plain. We've been making some progress with some of our investigators, but none of them will commit to baptism yet, but we're getting close. Two of our investigators, Dímas y Carmen, almost came to chuch yesterday, but their daughters were sick, so they decided to stay home with them. Ugh!

 

In other news, on wednesday we had the opportunity to go to the temple again. We got a few more names done. I love going to the temple. It's always so peaceful there, which is great cause my life is kinda chaotic right now, trying to get everything done and helping our investigators to progress.

 

Also, this past week our branch mission leader, Hermano Servando Rojas, got released because he was leaving to serve a mission with his wife. Guess where they're going: La Ciudad de Mexico. So, Elder Hill, you can keep an eye out for them in the offices. They'll be looking for you, as well. Here's what they look like:

 

 

 

By the way, Tyler, Happy Birthday I was telling someone about my family on friday, and I said that I have two brothers, one older and one younger. the younger is 16... (looked at watch to see the date) well, 17 years old now. So, don't think you've been forgotten.

 

Other than that, there's not much to tell from this week.

 

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Spanish lesson for the Dyslexic -- left and right

 

Derecha = Right

Izquierda = Left

 

Driving aplication:

A la derecha = turn my way

A la izquierda = turn your way

 

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Well, that's all for today. I love you all.

 

Until next time,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

2/4/13-

Hola, familia,

 

This week has been a bit uneventful. We've been trying to spread out a bit from our usual proselyting locations by going to visit some of our potentials in other areas that we cover, and, of course, trying to talk to everyone along the way. However, most of the people either aren't home or aren't interested. Of those whom we manage to get return appointments with, they usually haven't been there when we return. But, overall, we're doing alright. We're doing our best to find the elect and also working with those we have to help them toward baptism. I think we might be close with a few people, but they don't like accepting baptismal dates for some reason.

Oh, I had my first and second door slammed in my face this week; on the same day actually. Even though it's a tad discouraging, I laughed it off, and kept going. Over all, My spirits this week have been good.

 

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Language Lesson -- Accents and gender are important

Two words can be spelled the same (one with an accent mark, one without) and have different meanings.

Two words can be spelled the same but have different genders (los, masculine; las, feminine) and have different meanings.

 

Example:

La Papa -- potato

El Papá -- papa, daddy

El Papa -- The Pope

 

Fun Fact -- Did you know that the word "taco" in Japanese means "octupus"?

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That pretty much is it for this week. I'll talk to you next time.

 

Con amor,

 

-Elder Jordon Hill-

2/4/13 -
Hola Everyone!

So this week brought about a slew of new things. 

 

Firstly we had another baptism, a little girl named Vania. Her mom is inactive and wants to become active again so this might just be what she needs in order to come to church again.  She has been inactive for so long that she had us give a name and a blessing to her second daughter who is about 5 or 6. In other news, a member of our ward passed away from severely advanced Diabetis. While he's in a better place and no longer in pain, it's still sad. The Bishop asked Elder Millerberg and me to help with the funeral arrangements. So overall it was an interesting week full of new experiences for both of us.

Oh, and Elder Russel M Nelson of the 12 Apostles came and spoke to us, and by us I mean all 6 Mexico City Missions and the Mexico MTC.  He spoke on who we really are; Specifically the blessings, rights, and responsibilities we have as the seed of Abraham.  What made this really cool is I had been studying the 12 tribes as part of my personal study and discussing it with Elder Millerberg for the few days before this.  He answered almost every question Elder Millerberg and I had on the subject, so it was pretty great.

That's about it. Bye Everyone!

-Elder DJ Hill

PS: Apparently I can receive letters by way of DearElder.com here as easily as I could back at the MTC.