This week has been a
roller-coaster. Firstly, I want to get the funny things out of the way. I
figured out a pun (of which I've already made a few in Spanish, which
I'm very proud of): Por medio de la Expiación de Cristo, podemos ser
limpios de nuestros pescados. "Pescados" is in place of the word
"pecados". Just put it into Google Translate; I'm too lazy to explain
the whole thing. It's hilarious, I promise. There's also a little boy
we're teaching named Santino who will be baptized when he turns 8 this
week. I was teaching some principle about the restoration of the Gospel,
and then Elder Mazzeo asked him if he understood what I said, and he
replied, "Uhhh, no entendí porque él estaba hablando en un otro idioma,"
which means "I didn't understand because he was speaking another
language." We died laughing. A similar thing happened when we were
beginning a lesson with a woman we had just contacted who had allowed us
in for a lesson. Elder Mazzeo asked who she wanted to say the opening
prayer, and she said (in Spanish), "Not him (pointing to me), because I
don't understand English very well." We laughed and explained that I can
speak Spanish too. Great times. Esas son las cosas que pasan cuando
pasen las cosas.
Conference was wonderful, and I
found immense value in every discourse I heard. It was all like one
enormous trove of gold that I had chanced upon, and I received so much
joy because of it. Elder Mazzeo, however, did not have such a great
time. He awoke very late on Saturday morning, which is basically fine
because the first session starts at 1300 here, but it wasn't fine when
he proceeded to vomit mucus and blood. I don't know much about medical
themes, but I know enough to discern that that really isn't good. We
contacted the mission president's wife (the medical contact of the
mission) and got a bit of advice, then went off to Conference in the
Stake Center in Mendoza Centro. We saw the second half of the first
session, but he felt worse in between sessions and ended up curled up in
pain on the floor of a classroom throughout the entire second session,
which naturally meant I missed that session as well. But hey, I got some
nice scripture reading in, so it wasn't all bad. He felt better after
that session and was able to watch the Priesthood session at 2100 (yes,
it really does happen that late; it's rough). He seems to be okay now,
or at least almost okay, so I think that whatever it was is passing, and
we're not too worried about it for now. But yes, Conference was
immensely valuable for me, and I am so glad I got to watch what I did.
I'll read the other discourses later.
Now I
want to mention a family that we found that was baptized but they have
not attended Church in decades, ever since right after their baptisms.
We discovered that the father of the family passed away only two months
ago, so we led a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. They accepted it well,
but later in the lesson the miracles began. We were only teaching the
mother and her daughter (about 60 and 40, respectively), but it was so
incredibly powerful. We talked about baptisms for the dead and how it
rounds out God's plan in perfect justice, allowing everyone to know
about the Gospel before being judged by its law. From there we ended up
talking about Temples and the sealing that can be done there to make our
family eternal, just like how we are the eternal family of God. You
have to understand here that both of those topics, baptisms for the dead
and temple sealings, are rare to be mentioned in the first lesson. As I
was describing the spirit world and started talking about the work of
the missionaries there making baptisms for the dead possible, I was
thinking in my head, "What am I doing? This isn't normal." But what
followed was one of the greatest miracles I have seen on my mission in
another person. As we spoke of those things, the Spirit flodded the
room, despite the little kids running around and the other daughter
smoking on the other side of the room. And then Elder Mazzeo asked the
mother if she wanted to follow the covenant path to be sealed in the
Temple to her husband, and she said she does want that, and I could feel
a deep desire in her. Who am I to judge the miracles of God and
stratify them by their miraculousness? All miracles are equally abnormal
and marvelous; but to my finite mind, that was the greatest show of
power that I have seen in an investigator. They were so beautifully
prepared to hear the message we shared, and I have high hopes for them. I
am seriously, unendingly grateful for that miracle, for miracle it is.
By definition, I will not get a baptism out of that family, because they
were already baptized, but I honestly could not possibly care less. I
saw the hand of God bring the Gospel straight into their softened
hearts, and I cannot deny His work is directed by Him personally, and
the salvation of their souls is infinitely, infinitely more
important than a number that I could brag about. I'll make a promise to
you right now: once I get home, I will not tell you how many baptisms I
had, because that means zilch to me. To give a number to the work of
God would be to depreciate the glory of His infinite mercy to these
people. That is my thought about that; I am trying to be more respectful
of the things that are sacred, and the glorious work of the Lord is
sacred; and as for these people, every one of them individually is
incomprehensibly more important even than that. The missionary work
across the world is special, yes, but these are literal children of the
Most High, and that is something that an abstraction like missionary
work cannot ever claim. That is why I want to be a missionary for the
rest of my life; I will continue a good work and save actual souls of
actual people, always seeking those who have been prepared to hear the
good news of the Gospel.
That is my message
this week, and I want you all to know at the last that I love you all
immensely. Thank you for your continued support from all the way over
there.
Con amor eterno de Argentina,
Elder Hill
Fotos:
619: It's me, el "cerro blanco".
639: Last P-day, playing pool - Élderes Johnson y Hill (left and right, respectively) on the right side. Elder Mazzeo and I won.
650: Movie night with the boys, watching the Priesthood session of Conference.
