The Ship Where Lies The Master

Friends and family,

This week felt somewhat long, but suddenly we're here on Monday again, and I don't know how it came so quickly.

I think probably the most notable happening this week for me was yesterday, when I received a hilarious text from a YSA guy. He asked a question to which I responded, "I don't know". Then he immediately accused me of separating myself from my companion verbally by using a singular pronoun where I generally use a plural. I have attached a picture of the conversation; Elder Carter and I thought it was hilarious. I need to get to know this guy better. I like his style.

Other than that, I just want to share a quick thought. Yesterday we helped console a woman who has lived through rough experiences, and I was able to bear powerful testimony about the safety we experience by being in this Church. We have heard the Church called Good Ship Zion before, and in that conversation it finally clicked that that relates perfectly to the hymn "Master, the Tempest is Raging". The chorus of that song brings tears to my eyes every time. "Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea, or demons, or men, or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and earth and skies." Even if the water gets choppy, we have to remember that we are beside the Son of God, and He cannot fail, "for he saith—I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity; whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall" (Moses 7:53). I testify that in the near future, as the scriptures show clearly, the world will truly become that raging sea, full of wars and rumors of wars. But I testify with even greater surety that in such general turmoil, the one safe place will be in the Good Ship, for "no waters can swallow [His] ship". Even if it seems He is sleeping, or that He is delaying until the end of the world (D&C 45:26), we can trust in Him. Eventually, He will come, and He will make all things still. I am eternally grateful for that knowledge.

Love,
Elder Hill

Fotos:
Pasando tiempo en una arboleda esta mañana

This is an image sent by President Ence of a mission leadership meeting, with the zone leaders and sister training leaders.  Elders Hill and Carter are in the middle picture on the left side.  President Ence wrote, "This isn't the way we prefer to do these meetings, but it works for now."

So ridiculously obvious

Family and friends,

This week absolutely flew by! What I never thought of is this: that when you spend all of your time on your phone, the time always goes by quickly; and that's exactly what we do! We are constantly on our phones, not because we're bad missionaries but because we're good ones and it's necessary.

I am loving the climate here in Nebraska! We've had highs in about the 60s and 70s for this entire past week, and rain for three of those days and overcast skies nearly all the rest. My compañero, Elder Carter, doesn't like the cold or the rain, but I'm on cloud nine! And everything is so beautifully green! This is the first time in my life I've lived in a place that is not a desert, and it's so novel and I love it! Where we live in Lincoln is quite similar in feel to Gilbert, but it has water, so I'm enjoying it!

So far, I have met many people who like to Bible-bash, which is new to me because, frankly, in Argentina the people were generally not educated well enough to bash. Bless their hearts, they're wonderful people, and so kind; but they simply aren't quite so educated. But now, welcome back to the States, Elder Hill! This is Nebraska, where everyone knows their stuff. But it has been a good exercise to me practicing teaching with love instead of contention. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

Without the Spirit in every word, I will have no charity; and without that keystone it will not matter how much I know, because they won't want to listen. I'm so glad I get to practice legitimately caring for people, because that's a skill I'll be glad to use for the rest of my life.

I've been reading in spare time the Institute student manual for the Pearl of Great Price (you know, light reading), and I learned something legitimately new about Kolob, which made me feel SO STUPID. I somehow had never before connected the scripture "all things denote there is a God", with Kolob, and I was always so caught up in all the "deep doctrine" speculative garbage that I never saw through the haze to the reality and utter simplicity and beauty of the doctrine: Kolob represents Christ, the One closest to the throne of God. He was the First Creation, and governs all others; He gives light to the entire universe, to each creation in its proper time; and, the "greatness" of other stars in the book of Abraham is measured by their proximity to Kolob, just as our personal "greatness" through grace is measured by our proximity to Christ. It's almost frustrating to me that this seems SO RIDICULOUSLY OBVIOUS, and I never thought of it before. That just goes to show that nobody can ever finish learning and know everything. There's always another ridiculously obvious fact you never knew, just around the corner. But to finish up, I'm so grateful for the scriptures and the unending guidance I receive from them: my life would be very different without them, and I cannot see it being any better than it is now. God has blessed me far beyond any level of personal deservingness, and has saved me from a less-desirable fate by grace. My life is full of light because if Him, and I will praise Him forever for it.

Actually, just one more thing. I realized this morning that today marks the end of my 72nd week of the mission, which is cool because 72 is the smallest number that can be constructed in the form (a^b)(b^a) where a and b are two different primes. It's also cool to realize that that means today is day 504, and that God has managed to forgive my weaknesses as a missionary daily, over "seventy times seven" times.

Love,

Elder Hill

Fotos: 

• el Capitolio de Nebraska
• placas de misioneros en ingles, español, y japonés
• mi compa, Elder Carter

Safe Arrival in the Nebraska, Omaha Mission


What a delight it was for us to greet your missionary, Elder Hill, at the airport this evening. Elder Hill was excited to have finally arrived in the mission field. The MTC is a wonderful place, but there is nothing like being your field of labor.

Preparation Day for the missionaries in the Nebraska Omaha Mission is typically on Mondays, which is when missionaries take care of personal needs, including communicating with his family.  So you should expect to hear from Elder Hill next  Monday.

We just wanted to assure you that Elder Hill has arrived safely to the Nebraska Omaha Mission,  Tomorrow, Tuesday, Elder  Hill  will receive some additional training here at the mission office, then will be off to his new area on Wednesday.

We are grateful to have Elder  Hill  here with us in this mission.  We look forward to growing close as we are yoked together in the service of the Lord.  You should have received an email from Elder Hill  already and if not, it will be arriving soon.  Also, a photo of Elder  Hill with Sister Ence and me will come shortly.

Sincerely,

James N. Ence
Nebraska Omaha Mission President

---------------------------

Family and friends,

I have arrived in Omaha safely, and I am feeling great! I am excited for the future, and things are looking up. Remember that God loves you all! He looks on all of us in mercy always, and He will never cease to extend His graceful hand to us, proffering salvation. I know He lives.

Love,

Elder Hill

Ben will leave Argentina

From Lani Hill:

We have not received an email from Elder Hill since March 16th.  He and his companion have been in their apartment since a couple of days after that.  He will be coming home temporarily, but we're not sure when that will happen.  He'll have a 14-day isolation period at home, then will probably be reassigned to a mission here in this country.

On March 16th in a video call, Ben told us that all the missionaries were given extra money to purchase food and supplies for 2 weeks, from a list provided by Sister Panzacchi (the mission president's wife).  The missionaries were told to box up all the extra things they bought and put them away for an emergency.  But no one guessed it would be so soon!

Sister Panzacchi also asked every missionary companionship to send her many pictures of their food and supplies AND of their sparkling-clean apartment.  Ben and Elder Thornton were happy that they had done a deep-clean of their apartment a few weeks earlier, without being told.

We spoke with Ben on the phone today.  He and Elder Thornton are sad that all of a sudden, everything they were working on with investigators had to come to a crashing halt.  He said it's kind of discouraging.  But he's willing to do what he is assigned to do.

"I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son" (Malachi 3:17)

Family and friends,

So, this was an interesting week. I think you all probably know why. We did weekly planning on Thursday morning, as usual, and everything was normal; and then we found out that night that all Church meetings are suspended until further notice. All of those carefully-made plans went straight out the window in an instant. We really had not even heard anything about the viral plague until that point. We had heard of its existence, as well as some half-hearted alerts, but nothing more. Even now, we don't see much panic, but that's even more confusing to me. Now we have heard much more news, and we see that the entire globe is shutting everything down, but Argentina is reacting very slowly - that is, it seems (from what I've seen on the news) that the government is working on controlling the situation, but the people barely care. People are worried, but they're not doing anything about it: there's no panic here. Which is SO funny to me. They're just sleeping the siesta, not caring. As usual. It's really funny.

Regarding changes for the missionaries, there is nearly nothing that has changed. We are meant to stop shaking hands and to keep our distance from people who are coughing, wash hands, etc. Other than that, we change nothing in our work until further notice.

But Sunday was interesting, as it was my first time having the Sacrament at home. Considering we were just two people, and we would go through the bread and the water really fast, I proposed that we use a bit more bread and a bit more water for each of us, so that we could ponder on the ordinance more; then we had a small moment of silence after each of the emblems. I think it may have been the most spiritual moment I have ever had with the Sacrament. I remember eating the bread and feeling the body of the Savior nailed to the cross to pay for my sins; as I drank the water, I gazed at it, feeling His love in every fiber of me. I know my Savior died and rose again for me. "With His stripes, we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). I know the truth of that scripture more profoundly with every passing day.

Upon hearing of the gravity of this current pandemic, I reread a favorite scripture of mine, Doctrine and Covenants 43:25: "How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!" This experience we are living now is a call to repentance, and we must heed. God told Joseph Smith TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO that His coming was at the doors: welcome to the modern day, when His coming legitimately is just a couple "signs of the times" away. I say again, welcome to the modern day. I have seen so strongly the fulfilment of the last phrase of that scripture, "but ye would not": we have been given so many blessings; He has "[poured us] out a blessing, that there [is not] room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). And yet, we have been lazy. There is no more time to be lazy; it's time to be perfected in Christ. But, above all, I know that these signs are a blessing, because, as Jesus taught, the faithful will see these signs and know that He is near. As says the scripture, He cries with the voice of mercy and glory, and would save us with an everlasting salvation. This is no castigation, it is a blessing to the faithful. His coming is nigh, and I testify it boldly to the world because I know it is true. This is the true Church of the true God, and I will be forever grateful for the immense and immeasurable blessing of having known the Truth Eternal, even in my youth. I await with so much excitement the coming of my LORD.

With so much love,

Élder Hill

Fotos: me olvidé de llevar mi memoria conmigo, entonces ustedes tendrán que esperar hasta la semana que viene.

Mine is thine

Family and friends,

This was another fun week, and I did some intercambios with elders in my zone. One of them, Elder Herrera, from Chile (see foto), was an interesting companion. He has a speech impediment, and very often words simply stop coming out of his mouth and his face convulses, trying to force them out; if I understand correctly, half of his brain is damaged, and that causes his ailment. It was an interesting day, but I was actually very impressed and significantly inspired by him. I couldn't help thinking of how incredibly much faith he must have had to serve a mission with such a huge impediment. And his bishop and stake president considered him able, so I am very impressed. It was a cool day for me. He has a very good heart.

I also gave a lesson last night for Family Night with a couple of families in the ward, and I focused on the commandments of God to continue learning, and especially the commandment of "ask, and ye shall receive". I had never thought of that as a commandment before, but I realized that the wording shows that it is, and that changes the meaning for me. We also discussed DyC 93:39, regarding Satan taking away the light of the people through their disobedience. To finish up, I read to them JS-History, verses 13-17, and related everything else to that, showing the consummation of the entire topic in the First Vision. In short, I can simply testify that God wants us to ask, and He commands that we do it. I even learned something fascinating from the JST version of Matthew 7, where Jesus taught that if we knock on our Father's door, He will not only answer and give us bread instead of a rock, and a fish instead of a serpent, but will welcome us into His home, saying that what is His is ours. That is like the ending of one of my favorite hymns ever, called My Shepherd Will Supply My Need: "O may Thy house be my abode... There would I find a settled rest, while others go and come; no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home." I am full of joy at the thought of being a member of the household of God, not just in visit, about to depart again, but as His eternal child. All that is required of us is to ask, to knock, to seek Him.

"Come in, my son; for mine is thine, and thine is mine" (JST Matthew 7:17).

With unending love,

Elder Hill

Fotos:

Caballos, para vos, Hannah

La montaña hermosa

En la cumbre del mundo

Yo y mi compañero

La vista

La Virgen

Yo con el cartel del cerro

Estoy bien, no os preocupéis

Los cinco élderes y el obispo que fuimos a Cerro Arco

Élder Herrera

 

 

 

 

Cerro Arco

Family and friends,

This past week was a good week. However, I don't have a lot of time, so I'll talk about the most exciting thing that happened this week, which was Cerro Arco. We talked with the zone last week to tell them our plans to hike the mountain called Cerro Arco, which has large antenna towers on top; I believe I have already sent a picture of it before, but y'all will obviously receive a few more, anyway. A couple of people told us they wouldn't go, but that's normal, so we started the week. Everything was normal, and it was a very good week, and we blessed a lot of people, et cetera, et cetera. We got to Sunday. We got to Sunday night. This was last night. Ev. 'Ry. 'One. Bailed. After making many, many phone calls, we managed to organize a trio (because everyone was so lazy that they didn't want a trio to mess up their laziness-doing) and we salvaged one more elder from the pandemic apathy of the zone to come with us today.

We had organized the trip with the bishop of the Las Heras Ward here in Mendoza, who gave us a bunch of pastries because he works in a panadería. We trudged happily up to the top, took pictures, then trotted, still happily, back down. It was a good time, and I really enjoyed it. I loved being in nature again, finally.

Just know that I am very happy, and that all is well here, though we are not stopping just because things are fine. I am enjoying my life very much.

With much love,

Elder Hill

Les mando fotos la semana que viene, porque se me acabó el tiempo.