Last Sunday night we received a phone call from Isabel. She had received her visa. She was excited, but also had a lot of mixed emotions. She has loved her companion and they were having great success in San Jose. Isabel made arrangements to call us the next day on her Pday when she could talk for a while.
On Monday she called us at 5PM. She said she had gotten very excited, but it was also very difficult to tell the people and her companion good-bye. I am so excited that her first experience in the mission field was so positive and successful. She was scheduled to leave San Jose at 8:30 AM on Wednesday and arrive in Bolivia at 8:30 AM on Thursday.
On Wednesday Night she called us from the Miami airport. She said it was strange to be alone and without a companion. She again said how much she was missing Sister Crossley. She did pray for help in Dallas and was blessed with a couple of Elders and another sister exiting a plane and seeing he they stopped and talked with her. She tells us over and over how very blessed she has been. She also told me how apparent it has become to her that we are all brothers and sisters. We were hoping she would call once she arrived in Bolivia, but she wasn't able too. Then today we received this email. It kind of details her Journey to Bolivia.
hi janice hi david hi sweetie (as always i asked permision from my pres to wirte you and chris, my pres in sanjose said it was fine my pres in bolivia said i can only write by letters :( but we should be obedient so please forward this to chris) well i miss my companion from san jose and sanjose the trip was crazy it took a day and a half i was on 5 airplanes was in the middle seat everytme but the last, i threw up, am tired and know God is blessing me because even when i got here and i didnt want to do anything but sleep well i didnt want to have my temporary comps cancel their appointments so i showered and went out and God gave me strength. also the elders were amazed that i carried my back pack and a carry on with all my books that weighed like 30 pounds and a back pack of 16 pounds again God gave me strength. yesterday night we extended the baptismal date to a new investigator it was great nov 13 she will be baptized. well i got to go and email my parents love all
Don't send mail to the San Jose address anymore. Her email is the same. I am looking for her Bolivia address and will post it as soon as I find her mission book in her paper stuff. You can send a letter via Dear Elder.com for free. Just choose to send a letter by the pouch system to the Bolivia, Cochabamba Mission.
Holidays are not quite the same with out the kids here....but Happy Halloween Everyone!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Double Letter Monday and Coconuts!!!
From Isabel
hi thanks so much i couldnt see the pics you sent me :( what where they? i cant wait for the package!!!! thank you for the money i so badly needed it.i dont like using the credit card but was going to today. so thanks. i am so proud of you and david for planitng tulips (nice colors by the way) and sticking to the class. you are going to look so good and feel even better for 2012! YAY!!! i have no pics of the baby :( ...so real quick i wanted to tell you another story. so since we baptized two people our pool of progressing investigators went down, and honestly when we plan each week we measure the readiness of the people to recieve the gospel and if they arent keeping their commitments we "break up with them" and ask them to give us a call if there is ever anything we can do for them. because we only have 18 months to work hard and we have no time to waste like none i think if you do waste time "you gonna have som splaning to do" so we are always changing our teaching pool and we droped alot of people and we looked at eachother and though yup time to knock ALOT well my zone leader (joy! not) asked us what we were doing for the day we said alot of finding. he said really you dont have anyone to teach? knocking is a waste of time. so i asked (honestly i had the question i wasnt trying to be sassy or have attidude, but i guess i just look like im being a smart mouth) why would we be asked by our profet and apostles to knock atleast 1 hour a day then? well he got mad ans said well sis florido i think i would know a little about missions i just have more month here then you have weeks! (we'll forgive him he was on his man period) but it made me ponder alot. so i thought we are given commandments to bless us so we will knock and we have found this week many more pontentials that have the desire to learn and have been prepared to recieve the gospel. and we now have 4 more people with baptismal dates. and we have ricardo a family of 5! he has blood cloats one by his knee on by his lung and he has been given 1 month to live and is now on his 5th! so please pray for him. he wants to die knowing he is forgiven of his sins and wants to learn about our religion because he has been searching in others for a while and wants friends and a comunity for his family. but we feel he will live many more years because of his huge faith and the health blessing he recieved. Janice and Dave i love you very much dave i have been taking pics of mustangs for you. thanks again for everything. say hi to the family
Isabel also sent these pictures of Christopher in Honduras. He sent them to her last week. She talked about them in her snail mail letter we got at the end of the week and I asked her to forward them.
hi thanks so much i couldnt see the pics you sent me :( what where they? i cant wait for the package!!!! thank you for the money i so badly needed it.i dont like using the credit card but was going to today. so thanks. i am so proud of you and david for planitng tulips (nice colors by the way) and sticking to the class. you are going to look so good and feel even better for 2012! YAY!!! i have no pics of the baby :( ...so real quick i wanted to tell you another story. so since we baptized two people our pool of progressing investigators went down, and honestly when we plan each week we measure the readiness of the people to recieve the gospel and if they arent keeping their commitments we "break up with them" and ask them to give us a call if there is ever anything we can do for them. because we only have 18 months to work hard and we have no time to waste like none i think if you do waste time "you gonna have som splaning to do" so we are always changing our teaching pool and we droped alot of people and we looked at eachother and though yup time to knock ALOT well my zone leader (joy! not) asked us what we were doing for the day we said alot of finding. he said really you dont have anyone to teach? knocking is a waste of time. so i asked (honestly i had the question i wasnt trying to be sassy or have attidude, but i guess i just look like im being a smart mouth) why would we be asked by our profet and apostles to knock atleast 1 hour a day then? well he got mad ans said well sis florido i think i would know a little about missions i just have more month here then you have weeks! (we'll forgive him he was on his man period) but it made me ponder alot. so i thought we are given commandments to bless us so we will knock and we have found this week many more pontentials that have the desire to learn and have been prepared to recieve the gospel. and we now have 4 more people with baptismal dates. and we have ricardo a family of 5! he has blood cloats one by his knee on by his lung and he has been given 1 month to live and is now on his 5th! so please pray for him. he wants to die knowing he is forgiven of his sins and wants to learn about our religion because he has been searching in others for a while and wants friends and a comunity for his family. but we feel he will live many more years because of his huge faith and the health blessing he recieved. Janice and Dave i love you very much dave i have been taking pics of mustangs for you. thanks again for everything. say hi to the family
Isabel also sent these pictures of Christopher in Honduras. He sent them to her last week. She talked about them in her snail mail letter we got at the end of the week and I asked her to forward them.
From Christopher
Hola todo!
All is well here. I´m working really, really hard. I´m sorry that I´m not going to write a lot this time. I wrote a lot to my mission president and have had to cut all of my letters short. ´We´re working hard. I love you all. I will write more next week
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Elder Hill and Hermana Florido Together at the MTC
Forgot to post this. Christopher sent us this with his photos!
The Catch Up on Hermana Florido
So our Isabella is still in San Jose. Following are her emails and some pictures she sent us as well!
Sept. 20th
janice i love you too thanks for being intune with the spirit thank you for the package and thank david for the note and just thanks for writing but could you print it out and mail it to me during the week. it gives me courage and strength to read mail from home. yeah its been a bit hard this week but such a blessing i think that is what i will say when i meet my savior i will say "Dearest Lord, my Savior on high life was hard but i have labored a while i have thrust in my sickle and what a blessing it has been." a mission is the strangest thing that you could ever do you become a strange animal out here your instincts are always on " who is ready who is ready?" you are always supplicating "Lord help me" "Lord help them" "spirit guide me"and it is hard and lonely, you are always accompanied but you are always alone but you are not i cant explain it but every missionary feels this way and i know that part of my work out here is to understand Jesus while he was ministering here on earth could you imagine all the knowledge he had the spirit he carried and still people received him not. i cant ever ask in my prayers to be easily received and have everyone make my day because it feels like blasphemy b/c i know the Lord son of God himself was treated more poorly than i ever will be on my mission and so all i can ever ask in my prayers to have help to bear my burden well. plus i speak the language. i know a couple of things i know that i am doing what i promised i would do in the preexistence i know that i was born to a family living the values of the restored gospel because i needed that training to do what i am suposted to do now with the lamanites here who follow the wrong traditions of their fathers. i know that i learned spanish and english and was born into two cultures and spent time in your family and in mine because all these things combined are going to aid me now because this is his work and his glory and i cant explain how i know this but i just know that i was ment for this i was ment to preach the gospel and it is the best experience, and i would not take it back for anything you learn a little bit of how the lord feels he says over and over again my arms are stretched out still and they deny my. thats how you feel knocking on doors talking to people they dont understand how another church will save them because they dont pray daily read the scriptures daily they dont know that no other church has these life saving ordinances, no where else do they have the authorization to do them no other church has a living prophet. its hard when you explain the book of mormon and people look at you glazed eyed and say i dont need another bible thanks.. you just stand there and think his arms are stretched out still. i dont know if i make any sense in my letters but anyway. i love you but i have to go please help your missionaries in your area and thanks for all your prayers i love you and i love David .
Sept. 29th
thanks for letting me know that Chris is well. i prayed to know that he got there safe and woke up knowing he got there safe. NO! no news from bolivia :( which i really had my heart set on but i just need to stop being a brat and submit my will to that of my fathers. i also decided that i would email this to chris because i dont know how long it will be until he gets mail from me. this week p day was changed to tomorrow and we are basiclly spending the whole day at the temple which is great but i like emailing you all. so we decided to come and email so you know whats going on. it has been such a crazy week i cant believe that i have been here a month! and it feels like a week and a half. why is it crazy? well i will tell you. a cop gave us 40 bucks so that all the missionaries in our district could eat as we were all hoping we had enough in our blue cards and we went over by 2 bucks. also we had a lady get married so that she can get baptized oct 16!!! and after a whole days work the last door we knocked on the lady wanted to hear more of the gospel. Also a gentlemen came to church by himself and after two lessons has agreed to pray about the truthfulness of the gospel and upon getting a a positive answer to his prayer he will be baptized the 31 of oct. Also elder davis who is from layton was surprised by his nonmember father coming down to san jose to get baptized by him and confirmed by the Holy Ghost. also we get (as they say on the streets) Hella reverenced by all the gang bangers they know who we represent and they ask us for forgiveness when they curse and they ask us to be careful and they thank us for asking God to Bless them and some get mad when people shut the door in our face we had to tell them that its okay one said "God it makes me want to jump them when they do that Sh*t to you" we just tell her God himself came down and was persecuted so why are we any different. also my comp and i have been praying for the spirit and for miracles because God can part seas right? we know that Prophets wrote their miracles so that we could have faith in asking big things from God, well we want to part the seas too and find the elect, find the people with a willing heart and humble spirit and we have been knocking and doing our creepy friendly wave ha ha and talking to everyone even when they just roll their eyes at us and just trying very hard to be diligent (as diligent as you can be for an imperfect being that is still learning each day) and yes maybe bribing the children and flirting a little so little that Crystal probably wouldnt count it as flirting ha ha (got your letter chikis i Book of Mormon is on it way to you in English la muy gringa)and also to have a prayerful heart like in Helaman 3: 35 well it has been working we get to go into peoples houses and laugh with them and testify to them and we feel prompted to go one way and so we do or we feel prompted to do certain things and to bestow blessing upon them and it has been great. like i'll give you an example i prayed to know if i was being useful as a missionary if i was doing what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do i felt rebuked for somethings and appreciation for other things i felt in my heart without a doubt what i needed to do and what i was doing right. and then on top of that when i went to an appointment the family told us that what we had shared on sunday was exactly what they needed and when we left she told us again that we had answered all the questions that she had been having lately, i still dont know what those questions are but i know that becuase i had been doing my best the best way i knew how God used me as his mouth piece and helped his daughter. what she doesnt know is that she probably felt prompted to tell me that she had her questions answered by us to help reassure me that i am a useful missionary, and thats how God works if you pay attention if you are listening you see all the many things we does for us that our dull senses can perceive sometimes. I am very grateful that in the only true church which is this church that Christ himself directs i can get answers to my prayers and whats best is that i can extend this promise to others "pray to know if your church is the church of Christ and then pray again to ask if this is the His church, no other church can guarantee you will get an answer from God himself letting you know this is His Church" now when people say im not interested i dont take it as an answer because they dont even know what they are turning down so i tell them well can i come back and share the message and then you can let me know if you are or are not interested? then i feel like i did my part. i feel love for them concern all the day long for them. thank you for your prayers on my behalf next time you pray ask that God may soften the hearts of the people we contact. ill give you another example of how prayer works chirs wrote me and told me that he had prayed that we would get three new investigators, that week we got three new investigators, prayer works because God lives and saddly many people dont know how to pray and receive answers alot of others tell us that they pray daily and when we ask them to pray it this memorized prayer or simply God thanks for giving me health thats it. i am glad i know how to pray help others learn how to pray. Jonathan help people learn to pray! Joeson teach your girls how to pray, parents in roy, mami y papi pray as a couple and pray for eachother and thank the lord outloud for each other. Gina gracias por to email ya pronto te escribo. Crystal thanks for your letter and by the way everything about your dream was dead on, and you have heard me pray if you have any questions ask missionaries because prayer is powerful. oh could i please get some music? mewithoutyou, peter brianholt, anything uplifting and Godly like folk music. Chris baby good Luck! and by luck i mean Many Blessings, muchas cosas buenas de Dios!!! i pray for you all the time and i know that if you humble yourself and have prayerful heart God will work miracles through you! tell me about your comp. and the food and smell everything i loved your package and PICs they made me all so happy and remember be bold if they say no tell them you dont know what you are saying no to may i meekly share some thoughts....
I Love you ALLLLLL
October 4th
I am so glad that you are both going to do water aerobics i had been thinking about it lately so im glad that you are doing it! i cant wait for my surprise! also i cant remember when it was daves birthday the 2nd right? i loved the letter that he sent me i will write him back soon, there isnt anything that i need the only thing is that it has been very hot here and today im going to see if anyone in the ward can shorten my skirts. i go shopping all the time at target so if anyone ever wants to send me a gift, a giftcard for there would be awesome. also i know that painting you are talking about chris and i were seriously considering buying it for both of you while we were gone but we couldnt afford it at the end but its beautiful. janice and dave thanks for all the love and prayers that you have on my behalf i can feel them bearing me up two states away. im getting a little chunky monkey like my comp says so also if you could send me sugarfree treats that would be awesome. you know how long it took us to eat the oreos? two nights TWO NIGHTS!!! it was bad my comp is a oreo fein but still i ate several it was shameful. I miss Chris i am excited for him i wonder what he is up to what his apt is like what his pres is like. Im so excited for him but everyday i miss the bear butt. You know this week we committed someone to baptism! this saturday we have Rogelio Sanchez going to the waters of baptism! i will tell you more in another letter.
i love you both and thanks for the little car he will be going places with me:)
October 4th (2nd Letter)
Hola mi familia querida! how are all of you. so i will not be able to send you all pictures today because my companions usb cord doesnt work on my computer. so I have the greatest news to share! well this weekend was general confrence i hope we all watched it because God was talking to us his children through his prophet and apostles. and that was our door aproach this past week. we had maps to the building and invited people to come and hear the word of God through his only prophet. three people came! our goal was 6 so it was good. one important man came Rogelio Sanchez. he is from mexico his 5 foot tall he is so funny, humble as can be and has been searching for God for the longest time. he came to church by invitation of a member friend. Members do your part invite friends to come unto Christ! Rogelio said that he grew up in a very small town of very catholic people and that he saw missionaries before and he felt prompted to seek them several times but he was afraid of what others might say because many would tell him that "mormons" worshiped the devil they didnt believe in God or Christ. they hated the virgin Mary. i was astonished to hear how satan has worked so hard against the church of Christ by spreading lies among the people (its so amazing how similar it is in the book of mormon) and so he never did attend church or invite the missionaries in now he laments because he says i could have really used this light that you share with me today decades ago. when he was growing up his father was a drunk and beat his mother sometimes almost to death. his mother stayed with him because she couldnt afford to leave him with her 6 children. Rogelio being the oldest would get in between them all the time. his mom started to have business as a tailor and her business started to flourish well his dad didnt like this independence and Rogelio's aunt started to tell his father that his wife was cheating on him and would probably leave him. Rogelio cried last night as he told us of how much charity his mom had for his dad to take care of him always. he said that two years before his dad had gotten into a fight at the bar and someone stabbed him in the lower stomach causing all his insides to come out and that his mom would beg for money to give him the medical attention he needed. two years later he is better his alcholism getting worse and the beating getting worse and Rogelio's aunt saying that his mother was cheating on him. she had a little money saved and decided to leave before he killed her. Well rogelio told us that we came one night to his parents fighting and his dad shot his mother before his eyes, his youngest sibling only being a year and half in the living room crying. the others hiding. he held his mom she begged him to not hate his father because he was not in his right mind, she asked him to look after his siblings. rogelio was barely a young adult then and had to explain what happened to his siblings later that night he finds out that his father had fled but his uncle had caught up to him and being drunk as well shot him to avenge his sister and then shot himself. Rogelio feels remorse for not keeping the family together, guilt for not keeping his word to his mother and holding anger against his father, and saddness that all this time has passed and he still doesnt know how to be healed of the loss of loved family members and a broken home. we asked him if conference had helped him. he wiped his tears and said i was marveled because it did i felt like an innocent child after hearing the prophet. i feel joy and a perfect hope in my bosom after i speak to you both. i know i want to get baptized. we said Rogelio your mother and your father are still alive but in spirit alone. and they are learning about this plan of salvation and we are here to tell you that you are ready to be baptized so that eventually you can be baptized for them and rebuild your family again. he said he would be baptized this saturday. i met him a week after i came to San Jose, less than a month and he feels peace by praying and reading the scriptures and attending church. the second day we saw him we asked him do you know the book of mormon is ture?(now my mind was like why would you ask him that he probably hasnt read but my heart was guided by the holy ghost so i asked him anyway) and he answered yes i know that this book is true i have read the chapters that you asked me to read and i know that if this book is ture so is the church and i also know that Joseph Smith must have been a prophet of God. i asked him so you prayed to heavenly father to know? he said of course. Chris i pray for expericens like this for you. always pray in your heart before contacting peopl well i have to leave i have been emailing for too long i think i am breaking rules!
les quiero BYE!!!
October 11th
Hello im sending pictures today hope that you like, also i we had two baptisms this weekend and my companion and i taught them and we were so happy to be able to extend the love that Christ offered us to them we sung I Stand All Amazed and i couldnt get thruogh the hymn i kept crying it was wonderful the legacy that these people are leaving for their kids and future family
-the mustang is for David i thought of you when i see them now.
-my favorite family Griselda the one with the glases cant get married because her man wont marry her and ruin his legalization here in the USA
- my district you gotta love them except when you dont
-sweet tan line
-tiny little Rogelio trying on baptismal clothes
-Mabel G. and Rogelio S. the newest members
Sept. 20th
janice i love you too thanks for being intune with the spirit thank you for the package and thank david for the note and just thanks for writing but could you print it out and mail it to me during the week. it gives me courage and strength to read mail from home. yeah its been a bit hard this week but such a blessing i think that is what i will say when i meet my savior i will say "Dearest Lord, my Savior on high life was hard but i have labored a while i have thrust in my sickle and what a blessing it has been." a mission is the strangest thing that you could ever do you become a strange animal out here your instincts are always on " who is ready who is ready?" you are always supplicating "Lord help me" "Lord help them" "spirit guide me"and it is hard and lonely, you are always accompanied but you are always alone but you are not i cant explain it but every missionary feels this way and i know that part of my work out here is to understand Jesus while he was ministering here on earth could you imagine all the knowledge he had the spirit he carried and still people received him not. i cant ever ask in my prayers to be easily received and have everyone make my day because it feels like blasphemy b/c i know the Lord son of God himself was treated more poorly than i ever will be on my mission and so all i can ever ask in my prayers to have help to bear my burden well. plus i speak the language. i know a couple of things i know that i am doing what i promised i would do in the preexistence i know that i was born to a family living the values of the restored gospel because i needed that training to do what i am suposted to do now with the lamanites here who follow the wrong traditions of their fathers. i know that i learned spanish and english and was born into two cultures and spent time in your family and in mine because all these things combined are going to aid me now because this is his work and his glory and i cant explain how i know this but i just know that i was ment for this i was ment to preach the gospel and it is the best experience, and i would not take it back for anything you learn a little bit of how the lord feels he says over and over again my arms are stretched out still and they deny my. thats how you feel knocking on doors talking to people they dont understand how another church will save them because they dont pray daily read the scriptures daily they dont know that no other church has these life saving ordinances, no where else do they have the authorization to do them no other church has a living prophet. its hard when you explain the book of mormon and people look at you glazed eyed and say i dont need another bible thanks.. you just stand there and think his arms are stretched out still. i dont know if i make any sense in my letters but anyway. i love you but i have to go please help your missionaries in your area and thanks for all your prayers i love you and i love David .
Sept. 29th
thanks for letting me know that Chris is well. i prayed to know that he got there safe and woke up knowing he got there safe. NO! no news from bolivia :( which i really had my heart set on but i just need to stop being a brat and submit my will to that of my fathers. i also decided that i would email this to chris because i dont know how long it will be until he gets mail from me. this week p day was changed to tomorrow and we are basiclly spending the whole day at the temple which is great but i like emailing you all. so we decided to come and email so you know whats going on. it has been such a crazy week i cant believe that i have been here a month! and it feels like a week and a half. why is it crazy? well i will tell you. a cop gave us 40 bucks so that all the missionaries in our district could eat as we were all hoping we had enough in our blue cards and we went over by 2 bucks. also we had a lady get married so that she can get baptized oct 16!!! and after a whole days work the last door we knocked on the lady wanted to hear more of the gospel. Also a gentlemen came to church by himself and after two lessons has agreed to pray about the truthfulness of the gospel and upon getting a a positive answer to his prayer he will be baptized the 31 of oct. Also elder davis who is from layton was surprised by his nonmember father coming down to san jose to get baptized by him and confirmed by the Holy Ghost. also we get (as they say on the streets) Hella reverenced by all the gang bangers they know who we represent and they ask us for forgiveness when they curse and they ask us to be careful and they thank us for asking God to Bless them and some get mad when people shut the door in our face we had to tell them that its okay one said "God it makes me want to jump them when they do that Sh*t to you" we just tell her God himself came down and was persecuted so why are we any different. also my comp and i have been praying for the spirit and for miracles because God can part seas right? we know that Prophets wrote their miracles so that we could have faith in asking big things from God, well we want to part the seas too and find the elect, find the people with a willing heart and humble spirit and we have been knocking and doing our creepy friendly wave ha ha and talking to everyone even when they just roll their eyes at us and just trying very hard to be diligent (as diligent as you can be for an imperfect being that is still learning each day) and yes maybe bribing the children and flirting a little so little that Crystal probably wouldnt count it as flirting ha ha (got your letter chikis i Book of Mormon is on it way to you in English la muy gringa)and also to have a prayerful heart like in Helaman 3: 35 well it has been working we get to go into peoples houses and laugh with them and testify to them and we feel prompted to go one way and so we do or we feel prompted to do certain things and to bestow blessing upon them and it has been great. like i'll give you an example i prayed to know if i was being useful as a missionary if i was doing what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do i felt rebuked for somethings and appreciation for other things i felt in my heart without a doubt what i needed to do and what i was doing right. and then on top of that when i went to an appointment the family told us that what we had shared on sunday was exactly what they needed and when we left she told us again that we had answered all the questions that she had been having lately, i still dont know what those questions are but i know that becuase i had been doing my best the best way i knew how God used me as his mouth piece and helped his daughter. what she doesnt know is that she probably felt prompted to tell me that she had her questions answered by us to help reassure me that i am a useful missionary, and thats how God works if you pay attention if you are listening you see all the many things we does for us that our dull senses can perceive sometimes. I am very grateful that in the only true church which is this church that Christ himself directs i can get answers to my prayers and whats best is that i can extend this promise to others "pray to know if your church is the church of Christ and then pray again to ask if this is the His church, no other church can guarantee you will get an answer from God himself letting you know this is His Church" now when people say im not interested i dont take it as an answer because they dont even know what they are turning down so i tell them well can i come back and share the message and then you can let me know if you are or are not interested? then i feel like i did my part. i feel love for them concern all the day long for them. thank you for your prayers on my behalf next time you pray ask that God may soften the hearts of the people we contact. ill give you another example of how prayer works chirs wrote me and told me that he had prayed that we would get three new investigators, that week we got three new investigators, prayer works because God lives and saddly many people dont know how to pray and receive answers alot of others tell us that they pray daily and when we ask them to pray it this memorized prayer or simply God thanks for giving me health thats it. i am glad i know how to pray help others learn how to pray. Jonathan help people learn to pray! Joeson teach your girls how to pray, parents in roy, mami y papi pray as a couple and pray for eachother and thank the lord outloud for each other. Gina gracias por to email ya pronto te escribo. Crystal thanks for your letter and by the way everything about your dream was dead on, and you have heard me pray if you have any questions ask missionaries because prayer is powerful. oh could i please get some music? mewithoutyou, peter brianholt, anything uplifting and Godly like folk music. Chris baby good Luck! and by luck i mean Many Blessings, muchas cosas buenas de Dios!!! i pray for you all the time and i know that if you humble yourself and have prayerful heart God will work miracles through you! tell me about your comp. and the food and smell everything i loved your package and PICs they made me all so happy and remember be bold if they say no tell them you dont know what you are saying no to may i meekly share some thoughts....
I Love you ALLLLLL
October 4th
I am so glad that you are both going to do water aerobics i had been thinking about it lately so im glad that you are doing it! i cant wait for my surprise! also i cant remember when it was daves birthday the 2nd right? i loved the letter that he sent me i will write him back soon, there isnt anything that i need the only thing is that it has been very hot here and today im going to see if anyone in the ward can shorten my skirts. i go shopping all the time at target so if anyone ever wants to send me a gift, a giftcard for there would be awesome. also i know that painting you are talking about chris and i were seriously considering buying it for both of you while we were gone but we couldnt afford it at the end but its beautiful. janice and dave thanks for all the love and prayers that you have on my behalf i can feel them bearing me up two states away. im getting a little chunky monkey like my comp says so also if you could send me sugarfree treats that would be awesome. you know how long it took us to eat the oreos? two nights TWO NIGHTS!!! it was bad my comp is a oreo fein but still i ate several it was shameful. I miss Chris i am excited for him i wonder what he is up to what his apt is like what his pres is like. Im so excited for him but everyday i miss the bear butt. You know this week we committed someone to baptism! this saturday we have Rogelio Sanchez going to the waters of baptism! i will tell you more in another letter.
i love you both and thanks for the little car he will be going places with me:)
October 4th (2nd Letter)
Hola mi familia querida! how are all of you. so i will not be able to send you all pictures today because my companions usb cord doesnt work on my computer. so I have the greatest news to share! well this weekend was general confrence i hope we all watched it because God was talking to us his children through his prophet and apostles. and that was our door aproach this past week. we had maps to the building and invited people to come and hear the word of God through his only prophet. three people came! our goal was 6 so it was good. one important man came Rogelio Sanchez. he is from mexico his 5 foot tall he is so funny, humble as can be and has been searching for God for the longest time. he came to church by invitation of a member friend. Members do your part invite friends to come unto Christ! Rogelio said that he grew up in a very small town of very catholic people and that he saw missionaries before and he felt prompted to seek them several times but he was afraid of what others might say because many would tell him that "mormons" worshiped the devil they didnt believe in God or Christ. they hated the virgin Mary. i was astonished to hear how satan has worked so hard against the church of Christ by spreading lies among the people (its so amazing how similar it is in the book of mormon) and so he never did attend church or invite the missionaries in now he laments because he says i could have really used this light that you share with me today decades ago. when he was growing up his father was a drunk and beat his mother sometimes almost to death. his mother stayed with him because she couldnt afford to leave him with her 6 children. Rogelio being the oldest would get in between them all the time. his mom started to have business as a tailor and her business started to flourish well his dad didnt like this independence and Rogelio's aunt started to tell his father that his wife was cheating on him and would probably leave him. Rogelio cried last night as he told us of how much charity his mom had for his dad to take care of him always. he said that two years before his dad had gotten into a fight at the bar and someone stabbed him in the lower stomach causing all his insides to come out and that his mom would beg for money to give him the medical attention he needed. two years later he is better his alcholism getting worse and the beating getting worse and Rogelio's aunt saying that his mother was cheating on him. she had a little money saved and decided to leave before he killed her. Well rogelio told us that we came one night to his parents fighting and his dad shot his mother before his eyes, his youngest sibling only being a year and half in the living room crying. the others hiding. he held his mom she begged him to not hate his father because he was not in his right mind, she asked him to look after his siblings. rogelio was barely a young adult then and had to explain what happened to his siblings later that night he finds out that his father had fled but his uncle had caught up to him and being drunk as well shot him to avenge his sister and then shot himself. Rogelio feels remorse for not keeping the family together, guilt for not keeping his word to his mother and holding anger against his father, and saddness that all this time has passed and he still doesnt know how to be healed of the loss of loved family members and a broken home. we asked him if conference had helped him. he wiped his tears and said i was marveled because it did i felt like an innocent child after hearing the prophet. i feel joy and a perfect hope in my bosom after i speak to you both. i know i want to get baptized. we said Rogelio your mother and your father are still alive but in spirit alone. and they are learning about this plan of salvation and we are here to tell you that you are ready to be baptized so that eventually you can be baptized for them and rebuild your family again. he said he would be baptized this saturday. i met him a week after i came to San Jose, less than a month and he feels peace by praying and reading the scriptures and attending church. the second day we saw him we asked him do you know the book of mormon is ture?(now my mind was like why would you ask him that he probably hasnt read but my heart was guided by the holy ghost so i asked him anyway) and he answered yes i know that this book is true i have read the chapters that you asked me to read and i know that if this book is ture so is the church and i also know that Joseph Smith must have been a prophet of God. i asked him so you prayed to heavenly father to know? he said of course. Chris i pray for expericens like this for you. always pray in your heart before contacting peopl well i have to leave i have been emailing for too long i think i am breaking rules!
les quiero BYE!!!
October 11th
Hello im sending pictures today hope that you like, also i we had two baptisms this weekend and my companion and i taught them and we were so happy to be able to extend the love that Christ offered us to them we sung I Stand All Amazed and i couldnt get thruogh the hymn i kept crying it was wonderful the legacy that these people are leaving for their kids and future family
-the mustang is for David i thought of you when i see them now.
-my favorite family Griselda the one with the glases cant get married because her man wont marry her and ruin his legalization here in the USA
- my district you gotta love them except when you dont
-sweet tan line
-tiny little Rogelio trying on baptismal clothes
The Catch Up On Elder Hill Post
Hi everyone sorry I am seriously behind in updating this so I will do two posts one for Christopher (this one) and one for Isabella.
Sept 20th
I don't have a whole lot of time. I'm writing you by hand this time.
I just wanted to say that I love you, and thank you so much for
helping me bear my cross while I'm out here. Tell everyone in the
ward that I love them. Thank B. Crossley for me.
I love you mom and dada!
Then in the mail a few days later we received a birthday present for David and some pictures. Here are the pictures. These are from the MTC.
October 4th
estoy aqui! una semana.
all is well.
my spanish is well.
my president and i get along really well.
a few days ago i had my first two coconuts aqui.
con mi compañero.
y tomamos pinturas!
um.... we have 2 fechas bautismales.
we have two familias who are rebien y listo para el evangelio
si tendran fe.
my companion se llama elder christiansen de tremonton utah.
el es awesome. he and i get along really well, and he´s a very
diligent worker. it´s fun to have someone who wants to do the
work. we´ve both inspired each other a lot.
the first few days i was living in tegucigalpa with the presidents´
assistants. we ate fast food americana like crazy. pizza, burger
king, subway. which was great but kind of gross. haha.
the food here is amazing. eggs, beans lo mejor!, tortillas, dry
cheese, avocado if we´re lucky, and... no se. oh! and we´re
drink an amazing amount of orange juice. and yesterday i basically
ordered 25 coconuts from the cost which is really cool. i love
my area so much. today we´ve wondered out into babilonia
a bit and man god picked the place lo mejor para mi. en serio.
hay 4 coconut trees that i´ve found. i could throw a rock and
hit a banana tree in any direction. no joke. also, ALL of the food
is different than what we have in the states. the smells of oranges
here is like inhaling pure concentrated essential oil of the naranja.
it´s amazing. pleasuresome even. it´s a new high, and yet i don´t
really care. i ate fruit almost all of yesterday because we were
trying to make appointments and we missed cena with a familia.
so all i ate was fruit, and i have never been sad (not really) to miss
beans, eggs, mantequilla (which is this amaaaaazing home made
sour cream SOLO de honduras... magnifico=, and arroz or tortillas
or whatever else we have with comidas.
we´re trabajando siempre. my neighborhood is a roller coster
up, down, up down. nunca derecho. never strait or plato, flat.
it´s really, really, really intense. but as soon as i´m tired or something,
all of the sudden we contact or teach a lesson, and then I forgot
i was tired at all. secondly, people will randomly feed us in the calle
when we miss a meal or it turns out someone offers us fresca tortillas
or algo. it´s amazing.
anyway, i love you. all is well. ciao!
October 11th
Hi mom and dad,
how are you? i hope that all is well. im glad that youre both out doing things with one another. honduras is great. i bought 25 coconuts yesterday from the shore, where we are not located. haha. one of our neighbors picked them up for me. i can not really undesrstand what anyone is saying half of the time. today we contacted a bus though. an entire bus in my broken spanish. haha. we are at the mall right now. which i dont know if i have expressed it clearly but it is soooo weird to see mcdonalds, burgerking and other american-izations aqui. but its all good. we are working, working, working. and yet it feels like there is always more we could improve. especially my spanish. i have a gringo companion so that hinders my spanish probably more than i have considered. i feel a little bit alone today here at the mall. i think that i am going to research the cost of a blender for smoothies in the morning. for the first two weeks here, i ate sweet bread and chocolate milk or sweet bread and orange juice. today two years feels like forever. but i dont need consolation. i am happy to be here. i just feel alone and miss isabel too much to put into words.
there are wonderful members here. yesterday we worked harder than we have worked physically speaking before. i cant tell you how much we walk, and the hills are steep, up and down up and down. which is good. i have lost weight and cant really tell how much. the thing i notice is my close start to feel awkward. anyway, church. we didnot get anyone to come to church. which is bad. really bad. but im learning, however, i dont like being new sometimes. haha. there is always a humbling experience around the corner. which is good, because we fall into a state of arrogance. in reality, i am grateful for the times that i feel like nothing. life is easier to know that if you trust in god, that it is his plan, that you are simply playing a smal part. life just flows better that way. which doesnt mean that we dont set goals or have desires, we just realize that when life makes changes you can accept them as gods plan. its not your life, its a part of his that was given to you.
ive given lots of blessings in spanish. weve had some amazing spiritual experiences. we saw our first baptism in the district a few nights ago by some another companionship. to see this young man change his entire life was amazing and how humbled was he. amazing. i remembered a lot from my life during the baptism. and how wonderful must it feel to come out of that water. and even if for me already having been baptized, as painful as some memories are, this is the reason why we have the savior.
anyway, i love you mom and dad. bye
So there you have it. The last letter was a little hard for this Mom to read. I wish I could reach through the miles and hug him. Although my suspect he would prefer that to be Isabella!!! I love this boy. I will post his address that you can write to him and you can email him as well. Also, Dear Elder will send letters free to the pouch system and then it is sent to Chris through the church. If you want to know how to do this email me.
Christopher left the MTC on Sept 26th and arrived in Honduras on Sept 27th. We got to talk to him twice once from the Salt Lake Airport and once from the Miami Airport. It was awesome to hear his voice and experiences. He got to have a conversation in Spanish with his Dad and that was fun to watch. He also bore his testimony to us in Spanish. It is truly amazing how quickly they pick up the languages at the MTC. So here are the letters and pictures...hopefully in order.
I don't have a whole lot of time. I'm writing you by hand this time.
I just wanted to say that I love you, and thank you so much for
helping me bear my cross while I'm out here. Tell everyone in the
ward that I love them. Thank B. Crossley for me.
I love you mom and dada!
Then in the mail a few days later we received a birthday present for David and some pictures. Here are the pictures. These are from the MTC.
 |
| At the MTC |
 |
| His District at the MTC |
 |
| A Picture of Honduras at the MTC |
 |
| A Picture of Honduras at the MTC |
 |
| Elder Delahunty, Chris' Comp. This is his Batman Face. |
 |
| Drawings by someone in his district. Would this be studying??? |
 |
| Chris titled this his JC Penny photo shoot! |
 |
| Gym was closed most of the time, so he resorted to the newest exercise craze...the chairgym! |
 |
| He wrote on the back of this one that he looks like Grandpa Burt here! I love this picture! |
 |
| Companions! Provo Temple |
 |
| He titled this Honduras and Guatamala |
 |
| His district and 2 teachers in front of the Provo Temple |
 |
| Elder Delahunty playing the piano. |
So the MTC came to an end and the following are the two emails we have received since he arrived in Honduras.
October 4th
estoy aqui! una semana.
all is well.
my spanish is well.
my president and i get along really well.
a few days ago i had my first two coconuts aqui.
con mi compañero.
y tomamos pinturas!
um.... we have 2 fechas bautismales.
we have two familias who are rebien y listo para el evangelio
si tendran fe.
my companion se llama elder christiansen de tremonton utah.
el es awesome. he and i get along really well, and he´s a very
diligent worker. it´s fun to have someone who wants to do the
work. we´ve both inspired each other a lot.
the first few days i was living in tegucigalpa with the presidents´
assistants. we ate fast food americana like crazy. pizza, burger
king, subway. which was great but kind of gross. haha.
the food here is amazing. eggs, beans lo mejor!, tortillas, dry
cheese, avocado if we´re lucky, and... no se. oh! and we´re
drink an amazing amount of orange juice. and yesterday i basically
ordered 25 coconuts from the cost which is really cool. i love
my area so much. today we´ve wondered out into babilonia
a bit and man god picked the place lo mejor para mi. en serio.
hay 4 coconut trees that i´ve found. i could throw a rock and
hit a banana tree in any direction. no joke. also, ALL of the food
is different than what we have in the states. the smells of oranges
here is like inhaling pure concentrated essential oil of the naranja.
it´s amazing. pleasuresome even. it´s a new high, and yet i don´t
really care. i ate fruit almost all of yesterday because we were
trying to make appointments and we missed cena with a familia.
so all i ate was fruit, and i have never been sad (not really) to miss
beans, eggs, mantequilla (which is this amaaaaazing home made
sour cream SOLO de honduras... magnifico=, and arroz or tortillas
or whatever else we have with comidas.
we´re trabajando siempre. my neighborhood is a roller coster
up, down, up down. nunca derecho. never strait or plato, flat.
it´s really, really, really intense. but as soon as i´m tired or something,
all of the sudden we contact or teach a lesson, and then I forgot
i was tired at all. secondly, people will randomly feed us in the calle
when we miss a meal or it turns out someone offers us fresca tortillas
or algo. it´s amazing.
anyway, i love you. all is well. ciao!
October 11th
Hi mom and dad,
how are you? i hope that all is well. im glad that youre both out doing things with one another. honduras is great. i bought 25 coconuts yesterday from the shore, where we are not located. haha. one of our neighbors picked them up for me. i can not really undesrstand what anyone is saying half of the time. today we contacted a bus though. an entire bus in my broken spanish. haha. we are at the mall right now. which i dont know if i have expressed it clearly but it is soooo weird to see mcdonalds, burgerking and other american-izations aqui. but its all good. we are working, working, working. and yet it feels like there is always more we could improve. especially my spanish. i have a gringo companion so that hinders my spanish probably more than i have considered. i feel a little bit alone today here at the mall. i think that i am going to research the cost of a blender for smoothies in the morning. for the first two weeks here, i ate sweet bread and chocolate milk or sweet bread and orange juice. today two years feels like forever. but i dont need consolation. i am happy to be here. i just feel alone and miss isabel too much to put into words.
there are wonderful members here. yesterday we worked harder than we have worked physically speaking before. i cant tell you how much we walk, and the hills are steep, up and down up and down. which is good. i have lost weight and cant really tell how much. the thing i notice is my close start to feel awkward. anyway, church. we didnot get anyone to come to church. which is bad. really bad. but im learning, however, i dont like being new sometimes. haha. there is always a humbling experience around the corner. which is good, because we fall into a state of arrogance. in reality, i am grateful for the times that i feel like nothing. life is easier to know that if you trust in god, that it is his plan, that you are simply playing a smal part. life just flows better that way. which doesnt mean that we dont set goals or have desires, we just realize that when life makes changes you can accept them as gods plan. its not your life, its a part of his that was given to you.
ive given lots of blessings in spanish. weve had some amazing spiritual experiences. we saw our first baptism in the district a few nights ago by some another companionship. to see this young man change his entire life was amazing and how humbled was he. amazing. i remembered a lot from my life during the baptism. and how wonderful must it feel to come out of that water. and even if for me already having been baptized, as painful as some memories are, this is the reason why we have the savior.
anyway, i love you mom and dad. bye
So there you have it. The last letter was a little hard for this Mom to read. I wish I could reach through the miles and hug him. Although my suspect he would prefer that to be Isabella!!! I love this boy. I will post his address that you can write to him and you can email him as well. Also, Dear Elder will send letters free to the pouch system and then it is sent to Chris through the church. If you want to know how to do this email me.
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