(no subject)

Family and friends,

And especially Dad, because of the wondrous holiday yesterday. Thank you for all you do, and particularly for setting a worthy example for me to follow. You are a good symbol of my Father in Heaven, and I don't want you ever to change in that. I love you a whole heaping lot.

This week we got to do service, finally! We helped a YSA girl move in, and in that way I realized just how weak I've grown from not having used my muscles for so long, being in quarantine. I'll just get exercise by picking up chicks when I get back in December, I guess. (Mom, don't look at me with that tone of voice! I love you, too!) Then, for another family, we began tearing out a wall for them to expand their kitchen into the garage. It was really fun!

[Note from Mom:  When Ben was in high school, he took ballroom-dance classes.  He sometimes practiced fancy lifts with other dancers.  That is what he calls "picking up chicks", and that's why he could use that activity to build muscles.  😁]

There were also two fires at our apartment complex this week, one on Monday and another on Wednesday (though neither was in our own building, which was good). Both times, we just randomly found the parking areas suddenly full of fire trucks, which was weird.

Then, yesterday, in the middle of weekly planning, we had a surprise call from President Ence, telling us that Elder Carter would be transferred on Tuesday. That came as a huge surprise to both of us, because they hadn't said anything by that point so we had assumed that he was staying. He's sad to be leaving, and I'm sad he's going; it was a great transfer, and I learned a lot. However, he's excited for his new area in Omaha, and I'm excited to receive Elder Harwood as my companion, who was one of the transfer missionaries that came in with me, and served in Peru! He has about the same amount of time in the mission field as I do, if I remember correctly. He is currently in the Lincoln Spanish branch in this very zone, as a District Leader, so he's moving up in the world! Though unexpected, I feel strongly that this transfer was done by inspiration, and that there are blessings in store for me and for this area. And, on that Father's Day, I thanked my Father for all He has done and continues to do for me. I cannot ever let go of my gratitude to Him for having surrounded me with the Spirit and with worthy saints, both in the Church and out of it. Happy Fathers' Day, Fathers. I appreciate everything you both do.

Love,

Elder Hill

Fotos: los bomberos, el proyecto de servicio, y una prueba nuestra de cual es mejor (entre Cane's y Chick-fil-a, y Chick-fil-a ganó).

(no subject)

Family and friends,

This week has been pretty normal, and also very fast. Not quite as fast, but still very fast.

Elder Carter and I are doing well, and the zone is also doing very well. Our ward had another baptism yesterday! It was for the Capital Ward Sisters, where we're over the same ward but the baptism was theirs. It was cool! That makes two baptisms in two weeks in that ward!

Aside from the normal grind, the only thing of especial note that we did was participate in a video some other elders are making in a Book of Mormon videos series. Elder Carter was Laman and I was Lemuel in a video about building the boat and the voyage to the promised land. I'll be sure to show y'all when I have the finished product! We all think it was pretty good, despite our painfully and hilariously obvious lack of set and prop materials. It was nice doing a bit of acting, for once.

But to close, I just want to say that I know God is watching over me. I have felt His hand helping me back up every time I have fallen. I hope you all can feel that same divine help in your own lives, because I know He is beside each of you.

Love,

Elder Hill

Las fotos de esta semana son de un viaje que hicimos con las Hermanas Steele y Hopkin de Nebraska City y los Élderes Glines y Self, para grabar un video con las Hermanas. ¡Fue tan divertido!

Engage Warp Drive

Family and friends,

This week was, surprisingly, the fastest week of my entire life. Yesterday, we took a walk for a bit to get out of the apartment, and I suddenly felt like I was living two days at once, both yesterday and last Sunday at the same time. That's how fast it went by. The whole of eight days felt condensed into a single day. And now here we are again, about five minutes since last weekend's email. At that rate, there only remain 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 26 seconds left until I'm home. That sounds about right. Goodness, that means that my flight arrangements to return home will be, quite literally, last-minute!

I also want to say I'm SO happy I got to meet my new niece, Norah Bushman, by video call! She is incredibly precious and I already love her, even from so far away!

We had a baptism this weekend! His name is Jimmy Gonzales, and he comes from a rough background but is still somehow the sweetest and most innocent man I've met. He makes me smile every time we meet together. He's always telling us how much he loves his mom and how wonderful she is, and how he always wants to make her happy. His baptism was attended by ten people, perfectly our limit, and two of them were Jimmy's aunt and uncle, and two of them were his friends from a recovery group and leaders of a prison church. It was such an amazing experience seeing Jimmy give his pure, simple testimony about his desire to change his life around, which desire had brought him to that point. I also felt almost tangibly the love they all had for him, and it made me so happy.

To finish, I give you all my witness that what I am preaching to the people here is correct. With each passing day, I feel it more strongly, and it is coming to be like a blazing hearth, whereas before it was only a candle. Words fail to express my gratitude. God is so good to me.


Love,
Elder Hill


Fotos:

Una snek que encontramos mientras caminamos un día

Foto de mi sobrinita tan bonitísima (y aterrorizada? 😂)

El bautismo de Jimmy - él está allí con Hno. Rawlings, su bautizador

Oh, God, forgive us

Family and friends,

This past week felt very slow, until I realized today that it was P-day again. That's just how it works.

We had the awesome chance to do some service with the Sisters who serve in our same ward, doing garden work and also removing an entire retention wall in a member's backyard - obviously, we did the heavy wall destruction and moving and the Sisters did the garden work (but they were carrying around bags of compost and such, which I know are heavy, so I won't complain). It was really fun, actually! It was wonderful to get out of the apartment, and it was also fun doing the service. And the woman who lives there served her mission in Salta, Argentina, so we chatted in Spanish! That was fun. We also killed an adorable little snake we found, which was really angry and hissing but was also very small, which is why it was adorable. But they told us to kill it, so we did. It was quite bloody beheading it with a shovel, but it was a novel experience. That was a good day.

Well, it was a good day until Elder Carter did a baptismal interview for someone that afternoon. It went perfectly well until they got to tithing, then the man exploded at Elder Carter, yelling that he can't afford tithing and that he just wanted to worship Jesus but the Church just wanted to take his money. He even hung up at one point, in his rage. Obviously, he didn't pass the interview, and the other missionaries called him afterwards to see how it went and he screamed at them, too, when he had only ever been civil with everyone before. It's weird when someone goes from a baptismal interview to a "do not contact" in less than a day. That was one of the most exciting things that happened to us this week.

The MOST exciting thing to happen to us, as you might suppose, was the rioting. Yes, there was also rioting in Omaha, and even here in Lincoln. Both cities have curfew from 20:00 to 06:00, enforced by the National Guard. I don't know yet what happened last night, but we did see hundreds upon hundreds of protestors in front of the Capitol in the afternoon when we went to pick up our dinner.

We still can't figure what is the purpose for these riots - do they expect every police officer to go to jail? Or that they all to be perfect people? (That would be optimal, but is impossible.) Or that the entire police force be dissolved across the nation? The latter is the gist I get from all the anarchy, and if that's the case that would be what they'd get: anarchy. Then everyone would see their error, when all government execution of the law is removed. That is the kind of chaos that exists in Hell itself. I've read some commentary regarding Perdition and the state there, and why it would be so terrible: it would be so terrible because there go the people who saw the Light and rejected its law and order, opting for chaos and furthering destruction in their society. All people there are engines of chaos. There is no deeper darkness that I can imagine. That is why God has instituted governments among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, to lead them to emulate a bit closer the government of God as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is a God of order.

In short, though I see great evil in what was done by one officer, he was dealt with justly, charged with murder according to the law, and that should have been the end. I know that as a missionary I'm not supposed to have a political stance, but I'm not taking a political side in this but a moral side; and this is my opinion: "Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away" (3 Nephi 11:30). I have recently begun to see the vision of this doctrine, and it would be so beautiful and glorious if the people would simply adopt it. But the devil is raging in the hearts of men, exactly as prophesied in the scriptures, and peace has been taken from the earth.

I found it appropriate that as we passed the protesters the song playing in the car had a chorus that said, "Oh, God, forgive us."

I wish I could flood the world with the love of God that I feel, because I know that only His grace or eternal justice can quell the violence of this world; sadly, I already know that it must be eternal justice, and it will be executed when Christ comes again. But that will not keep me in any way from preaching His love to all I can reach - it brings too much joy for me not to do so.

I know that Christ will come soon. I know that we must prepare for His coming so that we may "[go] forth, and thrust [our] hands into his side, and... feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet... and... know of a surety and... bear record, that it [is] he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come" (3 Nephi 11:15). I testify that the Messiah already paid for all these trials that have been amassing bit by bit this year; I know that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and that "whoso believeth in [Him], and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God."

I'll be praying for you all and for the protesters and for the police. May God be with us all.

Love,

Elder Hill

Fotos: 

• Julie Lucas (para vos, Katie; pero mi cámara es tonta y no saca fotos rápidamente - por eso mi cara está rara), 
• Un gyro que compramos ayer; 
• Hay un video que hicieron los Asistentes con mi piedrita blanca cuando estuvieron acá y nosotros estuvimos en una reunión de estaca - es un video inolvidable, les aseguro.
• y algo muy chistoso que encontré en los ajustes en Facebook para los anuncios - dice que es uno de mis "intereses". 

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