We are witnesses of the truth (well, Elder Cardozo is)

Family and friends,

I wanted to tell y'all about something that happened this week that was interesting. We were returning to the pensión after intercambios with San Miguel, and as we walked along a very long street between our two areas we walked by a police car on the side of the road. They hailed us, and we came over to talk with them. They asked for our IDs, and we offered them, then a woman continued to explain that they were in an investigation and that they needed a witness for a forced entry to take custody of someone, and that they were going to take us as witnesses. At that point, I had simply not heard well, and asked, "¿Cómo?" and immediately the woman rolled her eyes and started talking to Elder Cardozo. *sigh* I'm really starting to understand the whole biased society thing. I'm sure that no latino in history has ever misheard anything. Ever. (Is my sarcasm evident? Good.) But anyway, putting my annoyance aside, we explained (or, Elder Cardozo explained) that we couldn't be separated, so we both went with them, despite the fact that I was not going to be a witness just because I didn't understand the first few words they said. But it was an interesting time, and exceedingly boring and sad. We watched the police enter the house, present the charges to an accused woman, wait for someone to come to care for her under-aged children in her absence, and then take her in the van with us amidst tears from her and her children. They were in the middle of eating dinner when the scene started. It was rough, and I was praying the whole time for peace in the home. But after taking us all to a comisaría, Base Condor, near our pensión, we waited for another hour doing absolutely nothing aside from talking. We finally made it home at 00:30 on Thursday morning after multiple hours of the ordeal. But yeah, that was interesting.

But the day before, we saw a couple of miracles, too. Elder Hernandez (from San Miguel) and I had made really loose plans for Wednesday, and I didn't understand why but I felt like I had a spiritual confounding effect while planning, like God was impeding my mind so I would stop planning. So we left for the day, and the first person we tried to visit, Gabriel, had given us a false address. The woman who answered the door told us to try the next door. When we knocked it, a girl a bit older than I am answered and beckoned us inside welcomingly, saying that she was a member. To cut a long story shorter, they had just been talking the other day about going back to church, and suddenly we appeared! Miracle one. Miracle two: we found randomly in the street two young men who were in the same situation, who were wanting to go back to church but not wanting to just show up without knowing anyone. Thus, they wanted to find the elders first, and there we were! Miracle three: we found another man only a few steps afterwards, who is a relative of the first family that we found that morning, and was heading for their house! We got his address, and we'll try to visit with him this week. Then, as we were exploring some barrios that we had never visited before (in all my six months, we had never been; weird), we found an old woman who invited us to come another day. We came afterwards and were able to testify that there are Prophets on the earth now, which brought her more peace. Then, in the nighttime, we found yet again a chico of the first family from that morning, randomly on the other end of the area with his girlfriend. That day was full of miracles and weirdly fortuitous coincidences. (Side note, we discovered that day the compound Base Condor, which, weirdly, we ended up entering that night on official business, obviously unexpectedly. Weird.)

I don't have more time, but I just want to remind you all that I know that I am on the Lord's errand, and that I am led every day by Him. I am honored and grateful for this unparalleled opportunity.

Con mucho amor,

Élder Hill

Fotos:

• Yo y Élder Hernandez
• Soy yo
• Élderes Cardozo y Hernandez en Cerro de la Gloria esta mañana
• Dulce de batata con chocolate (Mamá, amarías esto)
• Soy yo. Que facha.
• Yo, otra vez
• Élder Cardozo subiendo la pared del canal
• Terreno del Templo (Site of the future temple in Mendoza, Argentina)

Luke 9:54

Family and friends,

So, first of all, I just have to say Mendoza is a bit weird, and now I understand even better why it really isn't doing very well: yesterday, the entire province shut down for a holiday (which is already kinda dumb by itself), but even the days before and after are holidays, and nobody worked anywhere! And, to top it off, what was the holiday? El Día del Niño. They're celebrating the existence of children by not working for three days in a row and therefore making everyone die for lack of money. And don't forget the siesta that lasts for three or four hours every day. I'm legitimately confused at just how lazy that is. Mortals. The politicians keep saying that they'll "seguir mejorando Mendoza", but if they want to do that, why don't they pass a law that makes it impossible for companies to shut down for the siesta? Maybe that wouldn't be the best idea, but they aren't using ANY ideas, so... I'm just really confused. Elder Cardozo says Buenos Aires isn't like this at all. But that's fine; it gives us more opportunities to teach people, I guess, so in a spiritual way it's beneficial for the people.

But this week, we saw miracles. We had a goal to find three new people to teach, and instead of three we found NINE. That's a bit of a difference. I feel really good for being able to serve more people thus. We taught a dozen lessons, and every one was full of the Spirit. We even had one in which the woman we were teaching, named María, seemed just to be bearing our presence and not internalizing anything; but then suddenly in the end, after we finished teaching the Restoration, she broke down crying and thanked us from the heart for having come to share that message of peace. What?! I thought she was barely paying attention, just having listened out of respect, but suddenly she had tears of joy! That was wonderful, especially after having a lesson that felt a bit more discontinuous than normal.

We had intercambios twice this week, once with district leaders and once with zone leaders, and I loved it so much! I love how hard they work, and they're a good example for me. I also discovered that Elder Anderson (see fotos) and I have some interests in common. He is the FIRST missionary I have met here that loves choir and theatre, and he says I'm the first missionary of that type that he has met, too. He doesn't do math or science, but you can't have it all, I guess. It was legitimately fun talking with him and being able to geek out about something that someone else actually likes. He was Javert in a production of Les Miserables! It was a great time. I can't even describe how relieved I am to have found someone who likes SOMETHING that I like. Everyone else is just insane about cars, girls, and... nah, just more cars and girls. I like more complexity, more culture than just an exceedingly worldly view on everything. That's far too simplistic for me, and it's a relief to have found a friend who I can relate with.

I don't have any more time, but I just want to assure you all that God is with us, the Spirit stronger now than ever before. I know He is here.

Just another day in the life.

With heaps of love,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

• Intercambios con líder de zona Élder Anderson
•  "One of these things is not like the others."

Neither shall [she] cease from yielding fruit

Friends and family,

This week I really don't have a lot of time to write, but I'll try to share something of worth.

This whole week we've had so many disappointments because we've had a heap of appointments that all fell through. The worst is that we were going to give a lesson to a man who is under house arrest and thus literally is not able to leave his house, but when we stopped by he was sleeping. It was 11:30. Why. How. Also, regarding him, I talked with the zone leaders just to make sure it was okay with them if we taught a condemned man (for safety concerns, I was just asking their opinion), and they said it was alright. When they heard that he still has a year more of his sentence, one of them just said, "Bueno, that means you have a year to get him to baptism!" Gracias, Elder Valencia.

But, in the VERY end of the week, last night, we sought a woman whom the missionaries had just up and stopped visiting a year ago, or so, after she had passed a baptismal interview but her sister had opposed her firmly enough to deter her. So the missionaries just left her? We talked with her and apologized for the sake of the other elders that had just left her, and then we taught a little bit about baptism and BOOM, just like that, she accepted another baptismal date! She will be baptized on August 31, if all goes well. This time, she says, she will do it more quietly to avoid her sister and make her own decision. I'm so happy for that! And we even have two more people who could possibly be baptized soon, as well! Finally!

Yesterday I shared a scripture with a member family that was very impactful (sorry, Mom) for me: Jeremiah 17:5-8:

   Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
   Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

I pondered on that scripture this morning, and I thought, "How can I be so daft?" I have departed from the Lord and His goodness so many times, despite the fact that I have seen the beauty and the blessings of His presence, and it makes no sense. I am so incredibly weak. I thought about the time when Christ said that we must treasure up riches in heaven, where moth and dust cannot corrupt. Here on earth, moth and dust continue to corrupt, thieves continue to steal, and even our very lives depend so often upon the whims of murderers, in a variety of ways. Why do we trust in the arm of flesh? "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Hebrews 12:9). That has awakened in me anew the determination to be perfect, even as He is (Matthew 5:48). Thus, "choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." All I can say is that, despite my hypocrisy in being a preacher of perfection and being imperfect myself, I have seen the vision of the goodness of this plan I follow, and I cannot bear the thought of not helping others to that path (see Mosiah 28:3). As always, I can only testify of what I know to be true, no more, and no less; and I testify that this is it. If you are searching for the Truth, it is here.

Love,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

• Un kilo de kinoto (kumquat) que compré
• Me di cuenta que eso significa "hang yourself"
• Five pictures taken inside a football stadium:  En el estadio Malvinas esta mañana
• A model of the stadium:  Este es un modelo del estadio con otras canchas cercanas; en el medio allí se ve la cancha de Quidditch
• Cerro de la Gloria, esta mañana

(no subject)

Friends and family,

My time for writing emails has been cut down again to only one hour, so I'm not sure how much detail I can give in the future. I'll try to keep giving a lot, but we'll see.

So, I have been blessed this week, much more than I deserve. Elder Cardozo and I have been getting along better this week, and honestly it's because of me. I just remembered this week (finally) my catchphrase from before the mission, which has really helped me: "I'm not paid enough to have bad days." And, especially now that I'm not paid at all, that's especially true. Elder Cardozo has still been doing many of the same things (though he has improved a lot, too), but now I just don't care as much. I'm finally getting to rebuilding my moderate immunity to offense that I had before; I hope to grow that very much more, the "turn the other cheek" attitude, as Christ taught.

One thing that hit me this week again is something that taught in John 15:20 and Hebrews 12:5-11 - he whom God loves, He punishes. If God doesn't punish me, it means He doesn't love me. In other words, he must love me a whole heaping ton. I highly recommend you all study those scriptures, because they have blessed my life.

A song that has been in my head all this week is "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath, and that has helped me understand better how important the other people are that surround me every day.

I step out on the busy street,

See a girl and our eyes meet.

She does her best to smile at me

To hide what's underneath.

There's a man just to her right,

Black suit and a bright red tie,

Too ashamed to tell his wife

He's out of work, he's buying time.

All those people going somewhere;

Why have I never cared?

...

I've been here a million times,

A couple million lives.

Just moving past me by;

I swear I never thought that I was wrong.

I want a second glance,

So give me a second chance

To see the way You've seen

The people all along.

That has hit me hard, and has made me want more than ever before to talk with all the people I see, to help all of them as best I can. I'm so grateful for my chance to be here in Argentina to bring others to the endless Light I have found in the Church of Jesus Christ. I am so very happy to have a second chance every day. And this week will be even better. I hope to be able to keep writing a lot, but we'll see. In the end, the only thing of worth I can leave is my testimony that this is the truth. I know it, and I want to proclaim it from the housetops of Mendoza with the voice of the angels. But until I earn that voice, I am content with what He has already given me. I am feeling good.

Love,

Élder Hill

Fotos

• Élder Benitez, un Asistente del Presidente, en su último traslado
• La luna, los Andes, y barrio 8 de Abril
• Actividad del barrio
• Un kiwi que compré por solo $20 (más o menos $0.40 en EE.UU)
• Un caballo en el medio de la ciudad