9/16/13 DJ

Hola Everyone!

So I Lied. We had a baptism this week! Her Name is Sara and she is the Girlfriend of one of the YSAs in the ward. when the ruling came down that our investigators needed to go to church 5 times she had already gone 3 sundays. So she was baptized and confirmed this weekend! Ivan (her boyfriend) performed the actual Baptism and he got it right on the first try!

 

Also I survived my First Mexican Independance Day! (¡VIVA MÉXICO!) It was crazy. President told us we had to be in the house by 6 so that we would be safe. There were Fireworks and shouting going on all night. We also had a short Flag Ceremony after church, so that was really cool too. (pics 3499, 3500, 3508) I got to see how it`s done here in Mexico, and it is different, but still with respect.

 

 

In other news Elder Millerberg, My Trainer, finished his mission today and is on his way Home. It makes me realize how long I`ve been here that my trainer is going home. on the plus side Elder Zamora (the other trainee of Elder Millerberg) is m zone leader so we can talk about him whenever. 

That's everything, hasta luego.

-Elder D Hill

9/7/13 DJ
Hola Everyone!

Well it´s September. I know it was last week too but this week it´s more obvious.  We have been having a ton of rain this last week. I don´t know if some tropical storm worked it´s way inland to us or what but it´s been crazy. Wednesday we had to go from the top of the hill to the bottom in pouring rain. what made it worse was that the staircases down the hill were more like watterfalls than stairs. That was fun. we made ti down the hill in about 5 minutes (usually it takes us about 10) and we were soaked. it took my shoes 3 days to dry out. (they are fine now). So it´s been fun here.

 

Also, President Hall has asked us to teach more using the pamphlets that go with each of the lessons, and leave a pamphlet with every person in the lesson. he told us that we have ordered thousands of pamphlets so that we should have enough to give a pamphlet to every person in Mexico. He also said that if we don´t have enough, he´s going to pay more in his tithing so that there will be no excuses.

 

What else, OH. I´m teaching English! Scary I know. no seriously. President Hall has said that those missionaries who don´t already speak English will learn it and will take a certification exam at the end of their mission and they WILL pass this exam.  So I´m teaching my companion English and the english speaking missionaries are giving practice tests every week in zone meetings to the other missionaries. So this will be fun!

 

In other news (Pay attention Jordon) we had to clean out our Area Book. for those that don´t know what that is it´s a book that the missionaries have so they can track what they have taught to whom, and ours had alot of old information that President instructed us to get rid of. So Elder Vazquez and I put it to good use (See attached Pictures). We are planning on using it on the 26th to celebrate 1 year in the mission (yes that is my nametag in the last picture, thats how big it is.)

That´s everything, Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

9/7/13 Jordon

Hola Familia.

 

This week like the others has been slow. I always used to think that English work was so much easier than Spanish, but that's only because there were always people to teach when I was on exchanges. The finding part is still super difficult no matter what the language.

However, despite the lack of people to teach for the moment, this week has still been filled with activities. On Wednesday, we had Zone Conference. That was fun. There was a bit about planning and a bit about teaching, and there was a lot about obedience. President Nattress apparently refers to the Mission Handbook as the "Book of Blessings". It makes sense. If we do what we cam to obey the rules, we get blessed for it.

 

Do you remember that pointer that I bought in the MTC? Well, apparently, it's gotten me noticed...by President Nattress. At transfer meetings and at Zone Conference, he always asks me to lead the music, which I enjoy doing. And, I'm not certain why, but for some reason, whenever I pull out the pointer to conduct, I hear a little laughter in the room.  Especially, during lunch at this last Zone Conference. Whenever, we have a meal provided by the members in a mission meeting, such as Zone Conference, we always sing Called to Serve to them, and after the final verse we follow it up with "Arizona Gilbert Mission wants to thank you for this meal!" I like to have fun when conducting, especially in circumstances such as these. In this case, between verses of Called to Serve, I wave the pointer in a star shape and continue into the verse, and when we were saying the last part, I motioned to the members when we said "you". I truly am an entertainer, aren't I?

 

I was also asked to conduct at a very special meeting on Saturday. What makes this meeting so special is that Elder Neil L Anderson came to speak to our mission. He's a great guy, and funny too. And, for the majority of the meeting, Elder Anderson was standing no more than five feet in front of me! And, I don't mean I was on the front row and he was at the pulpit, he came down from the stand. At one point, he poked my nametag as he was saying that we wear Christ's name, and then he proceeded to read my nametag, "La Iglesia de JESUCHRISTO de los Santos de los Ultimos Días". There were some snickers in the room. And, I was beaming from ear to ear. I really enjoyed his time with us.

He also mentioned that we are a very special mission. Other than a Utah mission, our mission has one of the highest densities in any mission, and getting denser, yet. He told us that we need to get to know our members more and I already knew that member missionary work was going to play a huge part in this mission. He also mentioned that if things don't work out, that our mission will likely get enveloped back in to the Tempe Mission. I don't expect that to happen. I don't want it to happen. We will make this work.

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So I realized last week, that I never told you what my current address is. I'm living at:

1482 E. Maiddison Cir.

San Tan Valley, AZ 85140

 

Be aware that this is likely going to change 3 weeks from now.

 

That covers it for this letter. It sounds like it's chaos as usual at home, but with a different flare. I hope everyone recovers fine.

 

Until next time.

Con Amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

9/2/13 - DJ

Hola Everyone!

So not much to report on this week. It was pretty normal, but there have been some changes in the mission that I don´t think I´ve filled you in on. First, everyone going home after September 2013 is getting an automatic, non-negociable 2 week extension to their mission, so my new return date is October 13, 2014. Second, President Johnson, the area president, has changed the number of times our investigators need to come to Sacrament Meeting before baptism to 5 times. With this new change you probably won´t hear about baptisms from me for about a month and a half, but here´s hoping. Third, our mission is going to recieve 50-80 new sister missionaries in the next year. With this news we will be recieving our first 4 American sister missionaries. This is big news since never before has our mission (or Mexico for that matter) had sister missionaries from the US. Right now President Hall is searching out the safest areas in the mission to put them. 

Really that's everything. This week was hard, but we are pushing through. Oh, we also had 4 members called as ward missionaries, so we are starting to have our own little Army of Salvation. This´ll be fun.

That's it. Take care everyone!

-Elder D Hill

9/2/13 - Jordon

Well, this week is going alright. Aside from a very small active teaching pool (somewhere around 3 people), things are going alright. The area is quite small in comparison to what I've had in the past, and for the first time in my mission, I do not have a car. I'm actually alright with this. I feel that the dimensions of our area are such that a car would be very helpful, but not absolutely needed. However, my companion would say otherwise. (He really wants a car.) 

Of the few investigators we have, there are a couple who are really solid. Joseph is a young kid, and is set to be baptized on Sept. 28th. (it was the 7th, but his parents wanted him to wait so they could be baptized with him, but they aren't doing anything to strive for that. The grandpa, who is a member, stepped in and set it up for the 28th. That way, it's not too far off, but the parent's still have time to get ready if they choose to do so.

The other good one is Spencer. He, too, is a young kid. He's super bright and just seems to absorb whatever information we give him. We invited him to be baptized and it was decided that he would fast and pray about it on Sunday (yesterday). We'll find out how this plays out.

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So the other day we were traveling along, on our way to visit someone, and we came to a fork in the road. No, I did not pick it up...

...but I did take a picture of it.

hehe 

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Ok, I have a question. When was it that the couple (Camerin and Christine?) from the YSA branch were supposed to be getting married in the Mesa or Phoenix Temple? I haven't heard anything about it since entering the MTC, and I was curious.

That should cover it for this week. I hope everything is okay with Kelli. I'll be sure to keep her in my prayers.

Until next week.

Con amor, (or for Dad: "Avec amour,")

-Elder Jordon Hill-

8/26/13 - DJ

Hola Everyone!

Well this week was good and bad. Good in that we found more investigators, bad in that we didn`t have the baptism of Diego like we thought we would. Really we don`t know what happened. Everything was set. He passed his baptismal interview, but the night before he said he wanted more time to learn before baptism. Like he wants his baptism in December. Oh well. 

 

On the other side our other investigators are promising.  We brought one of our investigators to the baptism of the other ward in our building, and after she asked us "so what do I need in order to be baptized?" This made our week. 

 

On a different note, we should have the baptism of one of our other investigators this week. Sylvia needed to get married before she could be baptized, and she went to get her papers from her mom yesterday. So the plan is for them to get married on Friday and for her to get baptized on Saturday. 

 

In the mean time Elder Vazquez and I are working hard and keeping up with the good work. That`s about everything. 

 

Nos Vemos!

-Elder D Hill

8/26/13 - Jordon

Well, this week has a bit of excitement.

 

First up, Transfers. It is confirmed: I'm currently in English work. However, I'm not down in Florence; instead, I'm still within the boundaries of my last area. My new companion is Elder Cope.

 

 

 

 He and I left from the MTC together. We cover two wards.  In my last area, there was a former investigater in oure area book that was being taught by the English Elders in that area. One of the wards we have contains her. The other ward covers an area named "Little Mexico". I still suspect that I'm supposed to be making preparations for a new Spanish area though. President Nattress called me last Monday night and said that he was putting me in English for a transfer, and that he needed me to demonstrate my leadership skills. Also that there was a 99.9% chance that I will back in Spanish next transfer. He also suggested that I study the training manual because I will likely be training soon as well. I'll see what I can do.

 

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Remember that spanish phrase calandar you gave me for Christmas last year? It's been rather interesting. Most of the phrases are quite random, but somtimes it almost seems like it knows what's going on at times. Let me give you a couple examples: A little while back, I was giving myself a haircut (I bought clippers). however, when I started cutting, I accidently forgot the guard, resulting in a patch of very short hair. I was distraught over this. I did what I could to hide it (i.e. cutting the rest of my hair shorter than I had initially wanted), however, the damage had been done. Well, the next morning, I'm sitting at my desk, still completely distraught over the event. I then realized that I hadn't turned the page on the calandar. So, I did, and this was the phrase: "El tiempo restaura las heridas." ("Time heals all wounds.") Quite fitting, don't you think? I  laughed at the accuracy of the words and felt better after that. The other example I have for you is a little more comical. One night we had gotten home supper late. I don't remember why, but we did. We were both exhausted from the days events, and we decided to plan in the morning. Well, the next day I turn the page on the calandar, and the phrase reads: "No he hecho planes." (I have not made plans.") haha. Things like these seem to happen a lot.

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That's all for this week. I hope everyone is doing well.

by the way, I love you, too, Mom. (hug)

(I love everyone else as well.)

 

Con amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-