9/22/14 - DJ

(I'll be combining two posts for this one.)

 Hola Everyone!

[First,] Sister Moya says Thank you for the Baking Soda, Thank you for the Hershey's chocolate chips, and thank you for the recipe. We finally had time to make the cookies yesterday, and they came out delicious! (see pictures) So Muchas Gracias from Sister Moya.

So, Let's see what I have to talk about. We have some new investigators. There should be a lot of baptisms in the ward... shortly after I leave. Right now there is only one investigator who potentially can be baptized before I finish the mission, and he's pretty solid.  Susanna and her family are actively participating in everything. It helps that there is a Primary Presentation October 18th (Saturday after I get home) that her kids are excited to be part of.  

 

Yesterday was a great day in church. We had almost 90 people there, and there were 6 investigators of ours who came. (Not counting the investigators of the other companionship in the ward.) Granted, 3 of them are Susanna and her kids, but that's still really good. 

 

Also, last Friday we had the Noche Mexicana - the ward party for the Mexican Independence Day. It was a blast! And people brought their friends from all over, (the majority of visitors weren't from our ward.)

 

 There was also a double rainbow that night!

 

There was also a Mariachi. Well, a Mariachi singer with his "Cyber-Mariachi 5000". 

 

 

 It was still a blast, and everyone had a good time. 

That's pretty much it for this week. Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

9/15/14 - DJ


Hola Everyone!

So, this week was good. but first, HAPPY MEXICAN INDEPENDANCE DAY! (¡VIVA MEXICO!) Things are a little crazy around here at the moment. Mexicans really enjoy their fiestas. So we have to be in the house early tonight and tomorrow for security reasons. As such, I'm writing a little early today.

 

So [as for] last week. First, we are teaching Susana and her children (the daughter and grandkinds of Marcelino and Gloria who got baptized about a month ago.) They're super excited and prepping for baptism. That's where things get fun. Sharon, Susana's daughter, turns 8 October 21st, and they would like to be baptized all together after her 8th birthday. This, in my opinion, is fantastic with one slight problem: I won't be here to see it. [Still] I figure it'll be an awesome baptism with her and 2 of her 3 kids, with her father baptizing. That's more important than me being there.

 

I'd say more, but I was just informed that I gotta run to President's house. Our zone won a competition, so we get to have dinner with him again, and we were just informed that we need to be there at 4. 

 

Hasta Luego!

-Elder D Hill

9/9/14

Elder Jordon Hill has returned home (as is evident below).  Elder DJ will be returning shortly.  Since mail delivery to Mexico is so slow, if you'd like to send something to Elder DJ, please use the home address on the right side of this blog.

Thanks!!

9/8/14 - DJ

Hola Everyone!

So this week was alot of getting used to new things: 

 

1) New Companion, Elder Riveros (See pic 8470) 

 

 

 

2) New Bishop. (I did mention we had a change of Bishop last week, right?)

3) 4 missionaries instead of just 2

4) Church Starting at 9 instead of 8 in the morning.

So with all this, we went to work.  We had a lot of people in church this week. It's amazing what a change of an hour (and bishop) will do for attendance. We also went to the Temple Visitors Center again!  This Time we went with Marcelino, Gloria, and their family (their daughter Susana, her husband Felipe, and their 3 children) They loved it! It also turns out that Felipe is a member, but went inactive like 20 years ago, so we will be looking for his records to get them moved here. Susana and her oldest son accepted Baptism too! Look for their baptism photos a week or 2 before I come home.

 

September is also the celebration of Mexican Independence. So, in honor of that, I had this:

 

That's about all for this week.

 

 Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

9/2/14 - One Down, One to Go

Elder Jordon S. Hill arrived home at Chicago Airport on Tuesday, Sept 2, 2014, at 1:09 pm.  He caught up with his family about 1:25.  Welcome home, Elder!

9/1/14 - DJ

Hola Everyone!

   So I've now got one transfer to go, and today, Elder Rodriguez left for another area. and now for the next 6 weeks, my companion is Elder Riveros from Bolivia.  For those keeping count, he makes my 5th Latino companion and my 10th companion overall in Mexico! (no picture yet, next week) It'll be a fun couple of weeks.

 

Also, yesterday, we had a change of Bishop in our ward, and the rumors are flying about other changes in leadership. On top of that we received another companionship in the ward, so now there are 2 missionary companionships in National 2 (I guess that's the reverse of Jordon who was 2 wards for one companionship.) To top it off, the services are going to start at 9 instead of 8. All that plus Elder Riveros makes it feel like a new ward here. 

 

Great experience of the week, Marcelino, who received the priesthood a week ago, blessed the sacrament for the first time this Sunday, and he got it right on the first try. He was super nervous because he understood that it was important to do it right and spent all last week studying the sacrament prayers to be sure he could say them. What made it cooler (and I didn't tell him this) was that, with the change in Bishops, the whole stake presidency was there with their families, and several other stake leaders; so the first time he did it, it was in front of EVERYONE!  But I'll let someone else tell him that.

That's the news for now. Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

9/1/14 - Jordon

Well, it finally hit me. I'm going home. You know that feeling when you're about to go on a trip or something, and you feel like it's still quite some time away? Well, That's how I've been feeling...until Sunday morning in Sacrament Meeting. It made things a little interesting for me though. For Sacrament meeting all of us missionaries in the ward were asked to speak for 5 to 10 minutes about the different aspects of charity.  Best of all we didn't coordinate topics. We attempted to try it General Conference style, and it turned out really well, in my opinion. One of us talked about Charity being the pure love of Christ, another about how we obtain charity, another about how charity leads us to act (service), and another about what happens when we serve others motivated by charity. I elected to go last. I wanted to be the one to tie all the talks together. It was just before I got up to speak that it really hit me that I was going home. It made an interesting lead in to my talk though. I got up and said (in Spanish, "Well, for those of you who don't know me...it doesn't really matter. I'm going home tomorrow." Everyone laughed a bit. "But, maybe it does matter." Then I talked about the love I felt from everyone there, and continued on to the rest of my talk. It went alright.

So, I was thinking about it this morning, and I'd like to give you a few stats from my mission.

Over 16 Transfers in the field, I...

...had 14 Companions

...served in 7 Areas [He says he feels like The Doctor (Dr. Who reference)]

...lived in 9 Houses/Apartments

...served in 11 Wards and Branches

...served under 2 mission presidents (in two different missions)

...witnessed the completion and dedication of 1 new temple

...and had 3 baptisms, BUT

...numberless lives were influenced by my serving a mission, not the least of which was my own.

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So, back when I was in Tempe, I found some interesting pictures in the apartment of one of the departing Assistants to the President. I decided to hold off on showing them to you until now. Enjoy. 

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I can't remember if I had shown this to you yet, but in my first apartment I found some ducks in the paint on the wall. 

Yes, there are ducks there.  If you don't believe me check out the outline. It's not the best outline, but it shows what I want it to. 

Anyway, the reason I mention this is because it turns out that in my first house I found ducks and in my last house I found a duck. 

 One of the other elders left it behind for me. I don't know about you, but I find it kinda funny.

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Well, that completes my email. I have my interview with President at 3pm. Wish me blessings. I'll see most of you tomorrow.

Con muchisimo amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

(soon to be Brother Jordon Hill)