5-20-13 Jordon

Well, another week down. I don't think I have much to talk about today, so let's jump right in.

 

Meds. Yes, I did finally get my medication on Wednesday. The copay was $15, charged to my card. If it's not showing up, I don't know why. The prescription that went through was 2 tablets of 20 mg Adderall (not XR) taken in every morning. I tried that on Thrursday morning, and then after taking it it occured to me that I haven't taken adderall for about five years now, so it probably would have been a good idea to ease myself into it rather than take the full 40 on the first day. This thought was confirmed about a half hour later by an odd sensation and a small amount of pressure in my head. hehe.

After that first day, though, I went down to 20 mg. for the rest of the week to see if that would be better. It seemed to help to an extent, but I still was getting distracted quite a bit starting about half-way through the day. On Sunday, for example, the two speakers in Sacrament Meeting didn't know Spanish, so there was a translator. You'd probably expect that I would get more from the talks because they were in English, right? Well, for some reason, I was distracted by how the talks were being presented and couldn't really focus on what was being said. I was able to zero in on some parts, but for the most part my thoughts kept me occupied. Today, I decided to try upping the dosage to 30 mg. (1 and 1/2 tablets) We'll see how well it works. Right now I appear to have that sensation again, and my leg wont stop bouncing, but the sensation isn't as strong, and there doesn't seem to be that pressure. I think I might just need to get used to the meds again.

 

As for missionary work, we haven't really seen much success recently. We did an analysis of what we could improve on to help us out and came up with a few things; the two most prevalent being better quality OYMs and helping the members with member missionary work. We shall see how this plays out.

 

Interesting thing happened this week. We had a lesson set with a lady named Monica on Monday evening. When we went to our appointment, we knocked on the door and asked for Monica, but the lady that answered the door, whose name was Laura, said that she didn't know anyone by that name. So, we asked if we could teach her instead. It went well, and we're now teaching her and her family. I could have sworn that the address in my planner for Monica said #24, but last night I realized that it said # 21. Oops. At least we found someone else to teach.

 

So, remember how a while back I thought I saw Leif walking down the street. Well, since then there have been a couple other cameo appearances: Alex Beard and Devin Moulten. Am I actually seeing these people, or are my eyes deciving me. I always only see them while driving past, so I never get the chance to talk to them to find out if it's really them.

 

On a slightly less happy note, we recieved a text on Thursday, May 17, stating that the beloved Sister Francis Monson had passed away. I hope President Monson is doing alright.

Wow, I guess I had more to say than I thought. I hope you all are still doing fine.

Until next week,

Con Amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

5-20-13 DJ

Hola Everybody!

So this week has been interesting.  New Companion, New Area, New Everything pretty much. I mentioned this all last week, but it´s good to review sometimes. Anyway, the area is pretty good. My companion loves to work, and the Members are awesome. We had some trouble finding new investigators, but it´s been good.

At the end of the week we found a new investigator named Eva. She wants to follow the example of Christ, but she is afraid of what her Husband will think. He really doesn´t have any interest in listening to us (he skipped listening to us to iron his shirts in the bedroom...) but she is super ready for the Gospel in her life. We felt the spirit strong during her whole lesson and super strong when she said the closing prayer. It was great!

That´s about it for now, Adios!

-Elder Hill

PS: attached are some pictures of my new area. Enjoy!

 

                                         If you look closely on the road, there's a horse and wagon and
                                         2 bikers pulling carts.

                                                       Our House (& the church)

 

5-13-13 Jordon

Well, having had skype calls yesterday, I don't know how much news I can muster, but I'll give it a try.

 

Transfers:

I'm still here in Tempe. Elder Harder left to become a Zone Leader in Mesa Zone with Elder Niederhauser, and in exchange, I received Elder Spaulding as my new companion. (pictures 1 & 2) He's a great guy. My description of him is that he's excentric about the work. He's kinda crazy, but I like him. This seems like it's going to be a good transfer.

 

 

Interesting observation: It appears that all my companions thus far have either entered into or advanced in leadership. Elder Oscarson became a Zone Leader (a couple tansfers later, but he did.), Elder Gutierrez became a District Leader, Elder Niederhouser became a Zone Leader, and now Elder Harder went from District leader to Zone Leader. So, I guess Elder Spaulding has something to look forward to.

 

Bad news: the other day I dropped my camera. The screen still works, but all the camera sees is black, so any pictures it takes are black. I can still see my previously taken pictures though, so that's good.

 

Tempe Cascade Update

Yesterday after Skype Calls, we went looking for a less active family in our ward, who, according to our records, lives in a trailor park near the church building. The same trailor park we had the police call on us in. We located the trailor they supposedly live in, and guess who we find there...the maintenence guy that doesn't like us. All we were looking for was to know if the family lives in that house or not, but he didn't care. All he kept saying was that we were trespassing that he was going to call the police if we didn't leave. In the last encounter, the police officer had me write down the addresses of the trailors we go visit. We wrote down four numbers, including this trailor we were standing at this time, but he had no recolection of this fourth number. We're going to investigate further. Stay tuned to find out what happens next.

 

Yesterday, I had asked for you to talk to Becky about getting me a TV Turnoffer. If I remember right, it requires a bit of programming before it can be used. If at all possible, could I get it pre-programmed? or if it requires any soddering, pre-built would be very much appreciated. I hope this isn't too much of a request.

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*A note to those reading the blog*

For those not informed on the background of this request: there are times when we get in to a families house to teach them, and we ask for them to turn off the TV, but all they do is turn down the volume. We try asking again, but they just turn it down more. This normally wouldn't be so much of a problem, but the picture moving in the corner of my eye is quite distracting. So, I've requested that my cousin send me a device that will turn off the TV for them. That's not mean is it.

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A while back I got bored during my language study and decided to translate a few things. These are the results.

 

La Promesa de los Boy Scouts

A mi honra, haré mi mejor para cumplir con mi deber a dios y mi país y para obedecer la Ley de los Boy Scouts, para ayudar a otras personas a cada momento, para mantenerme fuerte físicamente, despierto mentalmente, y recto moralmente.

 

La Ley de los Boy Scouts

Un Boy Scout es: confiable, leal, útil, amigable, cortés, bueno, obediente, alegre, económico, valiente, limpio, y reverente. (y hambriento.

 

(no tengo mas tiempo ahorita. entonces voy a escribir mas de este la proxima semana.)

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Well, thats it for this week. remember that daily phrase spanish calendar you sent me? I think the phrase for yesterday fits very well. "Nadie es más especial que su propia madre." (No one is more special than one's own mother.) Happy Mother's Day!!!

 

Con Amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

5-13-13 DJ

Hola Everybody!

So Elder Butterfield is gone and I´ve been changed to a new area with a new companion! His name is Elder Crookston. 

 

 

My area is the San Pablo Branch in the Villa de los Flores Stake. It´s about as far as I can get from Martin Carrera while still staying in the mission. It´s also like a complete reverse from Martin Carrera. While Martin Carrera was near everything, San Pablo is near nothing. On the plus side the members here are Fantastic! We also had a baptism yesterday for some investigators of Elder Crookston and his last companion. 

Speaking of my new companion, Elder Crookston is from New Mexico and has been on the mission for about 6 weeks less than me. So this will be an interesting Change with both of us being on the new side, but we are both looking forward to it and making plans to have great success with the people of San Pablo.

That about covers it. Hasta la proxima semana!

-Elder D Hill

5-6-13 Jordon

Hola familia.

 

Well, another transfer come and gone. We have our transfer meeting on Wednesday. There's just one problem, I don't know if I'm leaving or staying, yet. Something happened that we didn't get our transfer calls Sunday night as usual and instead we were told that we'd get them tonight, after p-day. So, it's hard to know what to prepare for. I don't know what to buy for food, or whether I should pack or not.

 

As for Mother's Day, yes, we do get to call home then, as well, but we haven't been able to set up anything yet because we have transfers right before it. So, be prepared to get a phone call or email to set something up in a few days. I'm really looking forward to it. For the moment, I'm in church from 12:30-3:30, so that works out well. We'll see how well it works out after transfers.

 

Anyway, the work keeps moving. We aren't having much success as far as progressing investigators are concerned. A lot of our investigators just don't seem to want to change. We're trying to give a reason to those who we think will continue, otherwise we're dropping them and moving on. We found a few new investigators and several potentials this past week. We had a lesson this one family that went really well, and they accepted a date for the 18th of May, on the first lesson. That's very unusual. So, we are super stoked. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to make contact with them since. We'll keep trying though.

 

So, remember that kid I mentioned last week? This week, he seemed to be a bit more subdued; anytime he wanted to get up and move around he walked rather than ran. For sacrament meeting we brought a few kids books for him to look at, and that seemed to work out fairly well. I wonder what he'd do with a rubix cube. Hmmmm.

 

So, I've taken a small interest in magic since coming on my mission. It might be the lack of ordinary playing cards propelling me to try to figure these out, but I've managed to work out the 10 card trick DJ does (and a few variations) and also Three Card Montey using pass along cards. (Although, I can't quite remember how the story for Three Card Montey goes. Help please?) I'm trying to remember how the clock trick works, but I'm stuck. Any suggestions for tricks to try, I have 14 different cards with the same back.

 

That covers it for this week. I will definately make sure to coordinate with someone about Mother's day. I'll "see" you then.

 

Con Amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

5-6-13 DJ

Hola Everyone!

First thing, we had a baptizm this week!

His name is Ariel and he is the boyfriend of Jazmin (the girl from 2 weeks ago). He is actually a pretty awesome guy. Very intelligent and is making a definite effort to better his relationship with the Lord.

Second, My companion, Elder Butterfield, goes home next week. His 2 years are up. His parents decided to come and get him instead of waiting for him to fly home. So they will be here this Thursday, and President Tervort said he would release Elder Butterfield to have them as his companions. This means that I`m getting changed early! I don`t have any idea who my new companions are or where I will be. I supposedly find out tomorrow night.

Third, my Zone Leaders decided it would be a good idea to have an Obligatory Morning hike this morning at 6. The idea was to motivate us and to help us come togeather as a zone. I did get some good pictures though, I got one of the sunrise

 

Then the Zone Leaders made their entrance into the meeting.

 

 and just for fun, here is another you might like.

That`s the news from Mexico, Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

4/29/13 - Jordon

Hola Familia.

This week has been kinda uneventful. Elder Harder and I are working as hard as we can to bring others unto Christ, but if they don't want to come, we can't make them. We're working with our current investigators to try to get them to church, but a lot of the time they have to work and can't make it. We're also trying to distiguish their interest level, and if they don't want to make the changes needed, we're letting them go. Our time would be better served elsewhere. For those who actually are interested, we're doing the best we can to help them.

Yesterday, we didn't have anyone at church. However, the Sister Missionaries (did I mention we share the ward with Sister Missionaries?) brought an investigator, and he really seems interested. The only problem is that he has a 5 year old son that doesn't like to sit still for longer than 5 seconds. He doesn't like to sit in class either. So, we, us and the Sisters, spent a good amount of time trying to keep the kid occupied, so his dad could pay attention. There was one moment during Elders Quorum that wasn't so pleasent, however. There was one moment where the Dad told his son to sit down. He layed down on the bench infront of us (for about 10 seconds), got up said something like I need to go to the bathroom, and ran off. Suddenly we hear a noise from the back of the chapel. I looked back, and the kid was thowing up. A lot.  (Eew.) His father quickly rushed him to the bathroom, and while his dad was tending to him, we and some of the Elders Quorum proceeded to clean up the mess. I think it might have been a combination of primary snack and all that running around he was doing. After he was cleaned up, and we found him a shirt, he was back to running around again. We're going to think of activities that would keep the kid occupied this week. I hope we can help him to have a good time in class.  (Any Ideas?)

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Ok, I don't know how, but some how I got sucked into the Angry Birds craze. At Wall-Mart they sell these Angry Birds eraser puzzles in those quarter machines by the entrance. Maybe you've seen them.  I decided to get one because it looked kinda cool. Somehow, I ended up collecting them, getting one or two each time I go. 

 I've gotten a few repeats, so I decided to customize them a bit.  I even got a couple pigs. 

So, who's up for a game? hehe. 

The Tower

Loading the Bird

Strike!

Success!

Add caption

 I took a video, but the video was too big to send. (ps -- No, we don't do this on a regular basis. We just did this once to get the video of it.)

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So, I reallized something interesting this week. Have you ever noticed how repetitive the scriptures can be at times? I was reading in Daniel chapter 3. Here's what I read:

 4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
 6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
 7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
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10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
 11 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
 12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
 13 ¶Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
 14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
 15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

Wow! When I read this during personal study, I actually laughed out loud.
Although, if you continue on it leads into the stories of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the furnace, and then into Daniel in the lions den. From these stories, and several others, I've concluded that as long as we obey the commandments given to us, everything always works out alright.

That's it for this week. I hope you all are having a great Spring. It's blazing out here. I looked at the temperature today and it said 101 degrees.And it's only going to get hotter. Oh, well. I'll live. (hopefully, hehe)

Con Amor,
-Elder Jordon Hill-