Friends, Romans, countrymen,
This
is such a beautiful city. I just have to say that. It smells terrible,
but the vibrant colors everywhere make it feel so much more alive than
Phoenix. Also, having a responsibility to personally clean the house and
do my own laundry is actually pretty fun! I'm surprised at how much it
doesn't bother me.
My classes are still
stressful, but I'm learning a lot, especially of Spanish. The gift of
tongues is real, and I continue to be amazed by my mastery. My branch
president said something last week that inspired me to work harder in my
time here: "You should be working like everything depends on you and
praying like everything depends on the Lord." There's a long way to go
yet, but I'm covering ground faster than I am able to do alone.
I
am very, VERY proud to say that I have eaten jello every meal of every
day, ever since I arrived here, which now makes a perfect, successful
streak of 48 times, and counting. Also, I tried jello with salsa verde
on it, and I can easily say that it is terrible. For some reason. In
case you were wondering. Oh, and while I'm on a weird topic already, my
roommates have been hiding goldfish crackers all over the room, and it's
hilarious because I can just be going about my day normally and then
suddenly a fish falls from nowhere. It truly is a wonderful experience;
this is probably what Celestial life is like. Plus conveyor-belt
toasters, of course. Oh, and I also figured out last night that the
resonant frequency of my skull is a B. It's really fun to hum that note
because it booms in my head and makes my teeth chatter. And thus I close
the insane chapter of my letter.
This morning,
Elder Ricks led me in my first real workout ever, and after about an
hour my arms were a bit swollen with unusually intense blood flow. I
went all the way until I couldn't go any more. I'm actually feeling
great right now, but I know it takes a while for the soul-crushing
soreness to set in. Heaven help me.
We had a
devotional recently in which we were taught the Plan of Salvation in a
way I had never seen before, which makes so much sense. We were shown
exactly why women and men are equal in their responsibilities, in the
eternal scheme: women bring God's children away from His presence and
into the world, where the men then use their priesthood power and bring
them back Home (all of it obviously revolving around the power of
Christ, though). It's eye-opening. We were also told a story about one
hermana who was at the CCM somewhat recently, who was struggling with
serious homesickness. As she thought about it one day, she had a thought
come into her mind from God: I miss my family, too; bring them home.
Dang. That's powerful. No matter how much I miss you all, I can safely
presume that He misses all of us more than I do, and I'll follow Him
instead.
I gave my first blessing the night
before last. Elder Ricks has all of the symptoms of sleep apnea that I
know of, so he sleeps terribly and ends up asleep in class daily, so he
asked for a blessing of peace of mind to help him sleep. I offered to
dictate it, and he accepted. As I spoke slowly, my hands on his head
along with Elders Ehlen and Harrell, I could feel the words coming from
another place, through me to him. It was a wonderful experience, and I
am also so glad I got to experience that with my companion.
I
found a scripture this week that resonated with me, and I want to share
it. Alma 13:1-2: "And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds
forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his
children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained
priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to
teach these things unto the people. And these priests were ordained
after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might
know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption." Whoa. I
have literally been called to be a model of Christ! The people I teach
will know the Salvador when He comes, by way of my example. That is
humbling.
Thus I close my relation: life is good, and God is better.
Sending love from Mexico,
Elder Hill
Pictures:
Pez
Pez
Pez
Yo y Élder Ricks somos raros
Despues del ejercicio
Élder Ricks, comiendo
Yo mismo
No comments:
Post a Comment