Elder Benjamin Hill: 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

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