Purged from his old sins (Cementista)

Friends and family, happy belated Mother's Day!

Alrighty, guys, buckle up for the jokes. ¿Qué significa "panqueque" en inglés? "Bread-what-what." ¿Por qué no podían los nefitas planchar su ropa? Porque Moroní escondió las planchas. Another funny thing was what Elder Mazzeo said when he saw a man in a wheelchair. He said, "Fa, che, ese hombre es un auto." I just about died of laughter. Also, just to prove how dumb I can be sometimes, I just barely got a joke that I heard years ago: Where does a general keep his armies? In his sleevies. Oh my gosh. That's terrible. It's also funny to me that I have already seen Endgame among the goods of the street vendors; that's so incredibly blatantly pirated that it's almost hard to believe.

Another funny experience was contacting a couple on the street. They accepted a pamphlet and we asked if they would like to learn more and they said they would, so we asked for their address. But they said they would just come over here to hear our message so we asked where they would meet us and they didn't give an answer so we asked if they really were interested and they said they were so we asked for their address but they didn't give it and said they would meet us here so we asked where "here" is and they didn't answer (and they wouldn't give us their phone number, either) so we just told them that we need their address to be able to teach them. At that point they finally just said that in that case they weren't interested. Wow. Just tell me no. I'm not going to be offended. We both laughed at that afterwards.

But as for the spiritual side of things, I realized something a couple weeks ago as I testified of it to an investigadora. I realized that the truth of the Gospel that I am teaching is the most sure thing in my life. God has not revealed the deep truth behind science and mathematics, but He has done exactly that for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I still want to be an astrónomo, but I will always be more sure of the words of God than of those textbooks, because I received the truth of the former directly from the Owner of all truth. And, coupled with that realization, I realized fully that the spiritual world utterly dwarfs the scientific. And that says a lot, considering I have come to know the immensity of the entire universe in all of its complexity, and there is still infinitely more in the spiritual realm of knowledge than that infinity. It blows my mind, which has become hard to do after so many mind-blows in my life. That's the Gospel for ya. It's a fractal: the closer you look, the more details you find, without end.

Then I also found a scripture that went straight to the core of my soul:

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8).

Now, the kicker, verse 9:

"But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."

Forgotten that he was forgiven... That is powerful. Those who do not have those attributes of Christ have forgotten that they are clean. It seems I have forgotten. That is something I need to work on: even just remembering my ability to obtain forgiveness and that I have already received so much pardon is powerful. I suppose that is because if we always remember our cleanness, we cannot forget our Savior, and we cannot help but do what He would do. And, ultimately, that is my invitation to you all for this week. Remember that you are clean.

And, as a member in my current ward says every time at parting, "Stay kind."

Con amor sempiterno,

   Vuestro amigo en el sur,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

Familia Gaitan: Guys, this is from the Liahona (in Spanish; I'm not certain about the English) from November 2018, page 120, and those women are in my ward!!! That young toddler is the sassiest little niña that I have ever seen. She even knows already how to roll her eyes, the little diva!

84: ¡Mi nueva camisa de Boca!

87: Monedas viejas que encontré en la calle el otro día

93: Mi cara de pereza en la pensión