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-

8-19-13 - DJ

Hola Everyone!

So really, there is not much exciting happening right now. Diego is set to have his baptism this coming Thursday.  Also one of the YSAs in our ward brought his non-member girlfriend to church. We have an appointment with them tonight.  Really the work is starting to pick up here. We are striving to be more focused and diligent, and we are reaping the blessings that come from that.  And to top it off, transfers were today; and Elder Vazquez and I are staying right here. There are no changes in my district. So we are going to keep running with the investigators we have and see what we can find for new ones too. 

Really I am beginning to see a lot of things, and how they all work together. I´ll let you know more as I discover it. 

 

I´ll leave you with the favorite scripture of ex-President Tervort:

 

17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevilwould never have power over the hearts of the children of men.(Alma 48:17)

If you want to see the qualities of Moroni, see Alma 48:11-17.

That about covers it. Take care everyone!

 

-Elder D Hill

8/19/13 - Jordon

Well, this week doesn't have much to tell. Our investigators still aren't making it to church for some reason. We're trying to clear out all concerns they have but even those that have nothing to do on sunday still aren't coming for some reason. 

 

In brighter news, we have managed to add a few more people to our teaching pool. Each week we seem to be finding another person or two, and now our pool is substantially larger than it was when I got here. Unfortunately, I don't really have any cool missionary work stories this week.

 

However, transfer calls went out last night. Guess who gets to spend today packing. Yup, me. I have been told that I'm leaving my current area. My suspicions are that I'm getting moved to English for this next transfer. As I've stated in previous emails, there are currently 3 Elders in the mission that were called Spanish speaking: Myself, Elder Macfarlane, and Elder Clark. Elder Macfarlane is staying, and Elder Clark is leaving, however, he was called as Zone Leader, as well. Also, I did not receive a call asking me to train one of the new missionaries coming in, so I'm guessing I'm going English for a little bit. However, there are a couple missionaries who were called English, but natively speak Spanish. My thoughts are that I am possibly getting paired with one of them, and we're getting sent down to Florence to make preparations for a Spanish branch down there. (Currently there is no Spanish ward that covers that area.) We'll have to wait and see what happens. I'll let you know next week.

 

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Last week (not this week), we received some unexpected visitors to our door. The first to show up to our door were a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses inviting people to come to a convention down in Tucson. We thanked them for the invitation and then invited them to take a few minutes and hear about the Book of Mormon. They attempted to counter by asking where "Mormon" appears in the Bible and were startled when we openly declared that it doesn't. We attempted to continue, but they said they had to go and walked away. That was kinda interesting.

 

A little later, a man came to the door, introduced himself, and asked us if we owned or rented the house. He was looking to sell us some extermination services (I think). We declined but talked a little with him, and he went on his way. I think he was a member.

 

After that one, we heard a knock at the door and wondered who it could be now. (We don't normally get any visitors to our door, so to get 3 in one day was quite rare.) I checked the peep hole. I saw a car parked out front, and in front of the door stood a man who seemed oddly familiar. I opened the door and my suspicions were confirmed. It was Brother Both! He motioned for Sister Both from the car. I asked them something to the effect of "What are you doing here?", and they responded that they were in the area and said that my mom had asked them to deliver something. I then saw in Sister Both's hands a bag containing a couple containers of cookies. It was a rather pleasent surprise. We really enjoyed the cookies. Thanks Mom. [The Boths, friends of ours, tell us he stood at the door with his mouth open, unable to say anything for a few minutes!]

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So it's official! As of today, backpacks are no longer allowed. I got my satchel a while back. Attached are some pictures. As I expected, my shoulder was in a bit of pain with all the weight on one spot, so I did a little bit of modification and added a belt clip. My shoulder doesn't hurt so much any more.

 

 

 

So for about the last 15 weeks give or take a few. I have been working on a rather special project during my language studies. The results are also attached [4 pages of Spanish verse.  When translated, it is the Shakespearean Three Little Pigs he likes to perform.] Enjoy.

 

That's it for this week. Transfer news to be related next week.Talk to you then.

 

Con amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-

8/12/13 - Jordon

GO FLINTSTONE!!!

 

Now that I have you at least somewhat confused, I shall explain. A little bit ago, Elder Macfarlane and I were driving home. I was tired. We pulled up to a stopsign and Elder Macfarlane (driver) performed a "California stop" (or "New Jersey stop" as you may know it). Upon doing this, Elder Macfarlane exclaimed, "California stop." However, in my tired state, I was almost positive that he said "Go
Flintstone." How I interpreted "California stop" as "Go Flintstone", we haven't a clue, but that's what happened. For some reason, that has become my favorite phrase. Since that moment, whenever we have a moment of miscommunication, or just when we're discussing words in general, I will often say "Go Flintstone."

 

Anyway, things seem to be picking up a little. This week, the number of lessons we tought has increased from the previous few weeks. It appears that we will not be achieving our baptismal goal this month, but we're still trying our best to at least give people more knowledge about the Restored Gospel, and working to set things up for next month. For the moment, we don't really have any "solid" investigators, but we're doing the best with what we have. Unfortunately, I don't really have any awesome stories this week.

We are, however, making a bigger push to have members with us everyday. We hope the added testimonies of the members will help bring souls unto Christ.

 

That's it for this week. I hope you're all doing well. by the way, I love the Minion Missionary. It made me laugh.

Also just a heads up: Next week we have transfers.

 

Until next week.

Con amor,

-Elder Jordon Hill-