I fell

Friends and family,

So, this week something weird happened. I had never fallen on my bike before, right? But this past week, I fell twice within the same ten minutes. Upon exiting an alleyway, Elder Becerra suddenly turned in the opposite direction than I was expecting, and in my moment of confusion I turned too late and careened into the ditch. Luckily, it was padded with nice long grass, so it didn't hurt. More luckily, Elder Becerra happened not to look back in that moment, so I quickly jumped out and righted myself without his seeing it. Then, what do I do? As we were entering another barrio I tried to jump a short curb like normal, but my back tire didn't jump it for some reason. I ended up literally sprawled on the ground in the dirt, lying on my back. Elder Becerra continued on a bit, then stopped just to guffaw wildly. The worst part? We proceeded to visit an old woman, to whom he recounted what had just happened, and she laughed, too. Now I can die in peace, knowing that a 95-year-old argentine woman is laughing hysterically at me. It's so great. But don't worry, I was laughing, too.

It is important to note that we had transfers this week, and Elder Becerra went to Mendoza Capital. I now have here Elder Ericksen as a companion, and I'm a district leader, also!

Anyway, I realized this week something that is really deep: depression saved me, spiritually. In a conversation, a woman asked me how I came to know that this is true to the point that I wanted to serve a mission. I have always known I would serve a mission, but I realized in that moment that the real decision to serve, in my spirit, began to be made because of depression. Because of the immense darkness that I became acquainted with, I grew to appreciate the light that I have always had, and I began to have joy. Because of the immense darkness, I began to have joy. How? Because by the infinite wisdom of God, He fixed up my soul, repairing me until I was able to understand the purpose of it all. I have experienced big determining moments since then, but the first one came about because of darkness, counterbalanced by God to make it light.

I am doing well, and I am feeling very happy and content, ready to confront the future, with all its difficulty. I will not let it win, because I decide that it will not; I am the master here, and I surrender the mastery to Someone Higher.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Hill

Singing, a baptism, and deep thoughts

Family and friends,

So, this week was a bit insane. We went to Alvear for a baptismal interview and also a wedding of the man who is to be baptized, which was fun. I especially loved it because I saw a lot of members that I had known before from Pellegrini! That made me really happy. That night, we returned to Balloffet and almost immediately prepared for the ward music activity, in which I was to sing. To make a long event short in relating, we had the joy of hearing a professional accordion player, and it was magnificent. He even played a traditional tango, which made me want to dance, but it takes two to tango, right? So I couldn't. Sadness. But I sang "Vuelve el Amor"  ("Evermore" from the movie "Beauty and the Beast", in Spanish) and they loved it immensely. But the bishop's wife missed that performance and was really sad, so the bishop requested that I sing something more, so I spontaneously sang Josh Groban's "So She Dances" (in English), which was also loved, though completely unpracticed. All in all, that activity turned out to be a very fun and good one, which is great because we weren't even sure if anyone would come. I think the bishop liked my singing, too, because he had me sing in Sacrament Meeting the hymn "O My Father", which was not planned before. But he trusted me with a last-minute assignment, which is a good sign.

The next day, Talía, the wife of Sergio, was baptized! That was a surprise to us because she never showed interest as we talked with Sergio, but then when we talked with her without him, she agreed to be baptized instantly! She was so happy about it, too. I had the honor of confirming her a member of the Church.

Now for my deeper thoughts. Of late, I have been feeling so poignantly my lack of ability to empathize with people. I have generally been an open book with everyone; if anyone just kept asking, I would just keep telling. But it seems that I have somehow never learned how to open the books of other people, and that hurts. I just end up ignoring their personality and plow right into a lesson with doctrines that don't apply because they won't understand because I don't know them. That is a result of not having charity, and I have never felt so much pain at not having charity as I have these past weeks. But then one thing that came to my mind is the Standard of Truth, written by Joseph Smith, which says, "The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." That caught my attention. Think of that: NO HAND can stop the work from progressing. That includes me. Thus, I quickly came to the conclusion that if I keep striving to be better, I cannot be a weakness in this work. I cannot hinder it. I CANNOT. That is a powerful thought, and it has given me a lot of hope. In short, because of that thought, I have begun to flourish, despite my pained spirit and debilities. I love my Savior so much more, because He has saved me from a very real damnation; this experience has helped me see exactly how difficult perfection is, and, consequently, exactly how powerful mercy is. I proclaim His kindness.

With so much love,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

• Hno. Olguin y Pte. Stepeñenco
• Tirando arroz
• Varios miembros de Pellegrini
• El nuevo matrimonio
• #AlvearOeste
• Mi calle favorita de Pellegrini
• Salvador Facio y su acordeón
• Bautismo de Talía
• ""
• Picking up chicks [When Ben was in high-school ballroom-dance classes, learning how to do fancy lifts, he called it "learning how to pick up chicks." I don't know who is picking up the little girl, but it's not Ben.]

(No subject)

Family and friends,

Hey, I actually finished reading Saints, as well! I loved it so much. In truth, I read it in about three weeks, three months ago, because I was kinda addicted.

So, here I am again, writing on a Tuesday because yesterday we were in Alvear with the whole zone. It was a great day, but there was only one computer available because the chapel of Pellegrini had no internet, the chapel of Alvear 2 is really far away, and Pacífico has only one computer, AND that day was a random holiday that ended up closing both of the computer labs in the city. Porquería, digo yo. But Elder Becerra cooked a scrumptious steak, and we played Signs (or whatever name you want to give it), the game where everyone has their own sign and we pass a signal around trying to avoid the person in the middle who is trying to touch the person who has it. I got really good at that by necessity, because my sign was touching my temple with my index finger, and it was too easy for the others to pass it to me, so I was basically the backup plan for everyone. So what did I do? I just did it better. I would barely even receive the signal, I would just bounce it on to someone else. It was so fun.

This week, Sergio has actually started to teach his wife! While we meet with them both, he teaches her with us. On Tuesday, we even shared with him the Articles of Faith, which he had never seen before, and he taught his wife all of it, without our help at all! That was legitimately impressive. Ese hombre tiene pilas.

But I just wanted to finish by saying that I am legitimately happy, and I cannot imagine a better thing to be doing right now. I'll add more details about the work I'm doing next week, if I have time.

I love you all so very much. God be with you.

Love,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

• Jorge Siri, su hija, y yo
• Mi nuevo 3x3x1 Rubik's fidget spinner [Ben collects different Rubik's Cubes]
• Elder Graham
• Hna. Valdez, de mi grupo
• Almuerzo en Domingo con Diego y Fabiana y sus hijos; son personas que enseñamos
• ¡Estoy en Alvear!
• Divertiéndome en la lluvia [See this Arizona boy enjoying the rain!]
• Zona Alvear
• Zonas San Rafael y Alvear: Foto de una conferencia de zona esta semana

Labyrinths and my birth

Family and friends,

Firstly, I apologize for not having sent this message yesterday; we didn't end up having time to write anything to anyone. But hey, it was a GREAT day! We visited Malargüe as a zone, Malargüe being another distant city in my zone, a bit like Alvear but prettier. It has wonderful snow-capped mountains in the near distance, and is full of green inside the city. We even spent the morning in labyrinths, which was my first experience in a real maze that's not on paper. I loved it. I attached a lot of pictures.

Now, a special message to Jacob: you have a Latina girlfriend here if you want one. She heard that I have a brother seventeen years old and was immediately interested, because she is also seventeen. She saw you in my family picture and said you're "chiquito", which means "cute" in the context, but is ironic considering your towering size. But yeah, her name is Sheila, and she's newly baptized and has no boyfriend, so she's free game. So, if you want to Google-Translate yourself a degree in international relations, as we heard in General Conference [from Elder Gong], you can do that. I'll send you her number and everything. Just so you know.

Would you please send me the music file of the "Evermore" (from "Beauty and the Beast") minus track that I bought on your Amazon account? I need it for an event next week.  I'll sing it in a ward activity, in Spanish! I was lucky enough to find lyrics for it in Spanish, and I already have them memorized.

I realized something really funny this week. I have been feeling very pained by my imperfections and errors for a while (or, up until General Conference I was), and I realized that I just completed my ninth month in the mission. Guys, I've gotten to the end of the pregnancy, and those were my birth pains. Or, I guess my pains at being born...? Because I wasn't the one giving birth, and I don't think anyone was birthing me... That metaphor is full of holes, but it conveys my point, that I feel like I've been reborn in these past few days, and General Conference helped so much with that. After nine months of learning to be a missionary, I have finally been born into the field. 

I think my favorite talk in Conference was that of President Eyring, in which he taught much about holiness, and how to develop it. It spoke straight to my soul, and I drank in every word of it. I hardly even took notes because I was so rapt that I didn't look away. But obviously, I was also insanely inspired and excited by the announcement of the Bicentennial Conference, and I was overjoyed to learn from Mom's email to me that the change will be the acceptance of The Lord of the Rings as canonical doctrine! That's amazing. I'm also joking. [Elder Uchtdorf's talk.] But honestly, I have never, in any Conference, felt so incredibly excited, not even when they announced the Temple in Mendoza (and I stopped breathing at that one). I have just been screaming inside because of extreme excitement combined with impatience. I will prepare myself for that Conference, because I want so incredibly badly what the Lord has in store. I know that if I prepare myself, it will be something grand.

Con muchísimo amor,

Elder Hill

Fotos (la mayoría de estas fotos son de los laberintos y de Conferencia General; voy a describir unas pocas):