The Master's Hand

ISABELLA'S LETTER

I was in a really bad internet last week and i couldnt get anything done and now i dont know why this machine wont read my usb so im having a hard time to emailing you my pictures and i have a lot. so guess what... they didnt transfer me and i began to cry the day elder burgoa told me you are staying, and you are going to be in a trio, and your companions are hna condori and hna madrid, i was like what! and i admit i flipped and i said Lord give me a sign that this is inspired and i will relax (i have heard hna condori sent almost sent home many of er companions with nervous breakdowns... not making it up either) and so i was sobbing thinking okay this is His work His glory and i know this is for everyones progress i know it but why am i freaking out, just give me a sign you will be with me through this. and when i think that lady my friend in the ward calls and says sister whats wrong i felt i should call you. she hears me sniffling and runs over and gave me the pep talk of a life time. i followed her instructions and am ignoring the bishop, but being polite and working with those who have the desire to work and made welcome notes for the two sisters and ¨terrible¨ hna condori has been one of the best companions i have had, she is quick on her feet, polite but tenacious and we get so much done. i have prayed to have experienced companions and i sure did get my prayer answered with her. she confesses she heard from the elders i was mean but the sisters all seem to like me and she didnt know who to believe and was nervous. and though i thought it be hard working in a trio we split up and go everywhere in the area the numbers are good. i feel that since i was trained i have been training and its exhousting but now i have hna condori who is just a month younger than me in the mish field and is very responsible and teaches like i do and we get so much done. i only have 3 more transfers and i hope to get another seasoned sister. but not my will but the Lords be done because his will is perfect. i never would have chosen this for myself but He chose and we are seeing miracles happen and its only been a week. Christian got baptised and i felt similar to when Chris bore his testimony in church for the first time.When i recieved his house address i wrote it on the pie recepie janice sent me and i thought this would be a good recepie for a baptism, what did he request for his baptism... anything strawberry! i have been bugging him about serving a mish and he is now seriously thinking about it. he is a young man who has been through so much and he got baptised not because he knew this was true but in his own words ¨i feel like i have more air to breath here and that has to come from God, this tranquility is his¨ i spoke this sunday about Chris and i and how we are also responsible for our brothers activity in the Church and Malu who recently turned 21 and is sending her now fully active boyfriend on a mish thanked me for the talk but whats strange is that i a few hours before church i changed the whole focus of my talk and bore testimony of the atonement as evident by Chris´s change of heart, which is so similar to what she has lived with her boyfriend. funny thing is that our dinner flaked on us and we went over to her families house to eat and i spoke of missions and their eternal reward and she cried and said i think thats all was waiting to hear. i think im going to go too. another funny thing is her last name is Florido. i hope this makes sense its a bunch or little coincidences that are in actuality beautifully orchestrated miracles brought about by the Masters hand. whats interesting about a mish is that you plant one seed hoping it gives fruit but it grows into a tree that gives many fruits and each of those fruits have seeds and of those how many trees will grow and fruit and give seed is known only to the Lord i am now fully understanding that many missionaries baptize not 13 in my case ot 20 but thousands. im sure that the missionaries that knocked on my fathers door didnt forsee him on a mission, and his kids on a mission and little natalie and really we are purely the product of missionary work and how could have i stayed home? i would have regreated it all my life. well i love you and my mish and i hope to make my father in heaven proud thanks for your support, and chris i got your letter muchas gracias amor por decirme que eres mi converso. te amo!

hna florido

 

 

 

CHRISTOPHER'S LETTER

 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your sacrifices.
I am sad that I cant go to the wedding. Thank you
for the ties. Thank you for your letters. You are the
best parents in the world. I am really bad with money.
I promise that I will improve.

Oh, we had a baptism this week of a teenager who
didnt want to get baptized with his family a few years
ago.

Elder Hill

Baptism number 20 for Christopher and a beautiful & Glowing Isabella (finally!!!)  Makes this Mom happy!  I have never seen Isabella look more beautiful and my son standing taller and so happy!  Heavenly Father has definitely heard and answered this Mom's prayers and I am so grateful!

  Until next Monday....

A very Happy Birthday!!!

We received two emails from Chris today with photos and music.  We have not heard from the beautiful girl today.  I have a sneaking suspicion she was probably transferred and so maybe we will hear from her tomorrow or the next day!

Christopher's First Email

Queridos Padres,

Os doy las gracias por haberme mandado la pelicula en que
me entonaron Feliz Cumpleaños. Muchisimas gracias. En
este correo electronico, os mando la grabada de mi tocando
el espiritu de Dios, dos fotos de un bautismo que tuvimos el
sabado y algunos de mi fiesta el domingo. Los miembros
de la rama me aman mucho y me han dado mucho realmente.
Espero, mama, que aprendas a hablar en español. Hay que
hacerlo ya. La mañana no espera a la noche; solo viene cuando
venga.

Con amor,
Elder Hill

Dad's translation:

Dear Parents,

I give you thanks for having sent me the movie in which you sang Happy Birthday!  Many many thanks!  In this email I send the recording of me playing "The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning", photos of a baptism we had Saturday and some of my party.  The members of the branch love me much and have given me much!  I hope, Mama that you learn to speak Spanish. Now is the time to learn.  The morning doesn't wait for the night; it comes when it may come.

With love

Elder Hill

Christopher's Second Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

I hope that you know that I had a really, really wonderful

birthday. I think I was sang to, like, 5 times. I was given
a pair of new expensive shoes, a souvenier keychain
made of wood that says HONDURAS. The 17th, we
had the best baptism of my mission, a sister who is named
Damaris. She has had a powerful conversion. The 18th
in church, after the meetings, I saw young man named
Cesar, who I have taught for 6 months here. We have
invited him and his sister to get baptized many times.
This Sunday was his first Sunday in church in a very long
time, the first since I have been here. I had a strong impression
to show him the baptismal font, and long story short.
I showed it to him and asked him to get baptized. He began
to cry and said that he was thinking about getting baptized
during the class. He will be my 20th baptism, and if his
sister gets baptized that willl be terrific. We are also hoping
to baptize a family of 5 this coming week. The dad has been

attending church for one month and this weekend he didnt
go drinking with his friends. My joy is full!

In the night time, I was truly blessed. One of my converts
and her sister made for me tres leches, which was really
really good. I also had received another invitation by a
family that I love a lot. We have had lots of special moments
together. We gave a blessing to the grandmother of the
family once and the spirit was so strong that I could stop
crying. I was overwhelmed for 15 or 20 minutes. The doctors
said that she was going to die because she broke her hip in a fall,
and we gave her a priesthood blessing in the hospital. She is
healing incredibly quick.


We went to this house, and they made us dinner with a cooked
wild hen from their house, potato salad and really, really delicious
rice. Hermana Kaylin made me a cake too. They sang to me
and at the end they sang,"mordida! mordida!" Which means to
bite. But... I didnt want to, but I did it and my companion pushed
my face into the cake.

I hope that you like all of the pictures, and no, I havent received
your package. This truly was the best birthday ever. I wish I could
always be in the mission work. We need to do better.

I wanted to share with you something. I learned in my study with
my companion that the book of Mormon is the proof that Jesus is
the Christ. Really, the bible isnt proof. It is just a witnees, but like
it says in Corinithians, by the word of two or three witnesses I will
reveal my will. The book of mormon testifies to the jews and all
of the the other religions that Jesus is the Christ. I hope that you
can all understand that. If the book of mormon is true, it means
that this is his church and that He is the savior of all. I want you
all to remember how important the book of mormon is.

WIth lots of love,
Elder Hill

HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY!!!  Love you, Son!!!

Peace!!! & A Happy Birthday!

Isabella's Letter
what can i do i really dont know how to get along with the bishop and i still dont know the transfers bc the president was out of town so we get told today if i go somewhere new but i feel so frustrated to still have a crummy relationship with him and his family that makes up most of the wards leadership. his wife said sister speak with love which i feel i do, i told him to read 2 nefi 9 40. afterwards im not sure it was the best thing to do bc of his reaction. but i keep reading to myself alma 7 23 and 24 i really want to be like jesus and my pride gets in the way darn pride! i love cala cala, the meek and ¨weak¨ of the ward the ones that some leave to the side they are the best they make me laugh we serve one another we are like our own little zion. i wonder if i get to train and stay here or if they ship me off. leaving investigators thats the hard part even if they are little stubborn... you learn to love them so much you nurture them, feed them go to bed thinking of them you pray for them in your heart throughout the day you fast for them your heart breaks when they dont progress or when they feel the gospel is true but run in the other direction. danielita made a necklace others made me dinner one made me cry he said im going to talk to the president. so hard if they do ship me off so hard if i stay, but what ever the Lords will is, i know its going to be for the best of me, the ward, the bishop, the investigators and my companion. his will is perfect and magnificent. so i will be letting you know que pasa.


hna florido

ps i really need liquid for my lenses and chris i wrote you hopefully it gets there on you birthday.


Christopher's Letter


Dear Mom and Dad,
I have had a very good week. When I thought we weren't doing so well with our goals and numbers, I was surprised that we were carrying along just fine. We didn't have any baptisms this week, but I am happy to report that this week, we will have one baptism of a Sister who is quite converted to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. She, this week, had a dream in which she was pleading with God if this was the true church. To which she beheld a bright, blinding light like the sun in the sky and suddenly woke up with a strong feeling in her chest. I asked her the day before she had the dream, "Sister, do you believe that this is the true church of Jesus Christ?" To which she responded,"Well... I'm not really sure." The day after her dream, I repeated to her the same question. "Yes, I know this is the true church," she replied. Ha! I love this job.

More and more, I'm becoming an old man here. Haha. I can feel changes that I have never felt before. And all of the sudden, I really dislike bananas. From one day to the other, I have lost all enjoyment of eating a banana. Of which, there exist more than 10 or 20 varieties of bananas. In the last week, I have eaten so much more meat than I have consumed in my entire mission! Haha. I love eating everything that there is to eat, but my body says to me that it wants vegetables. Greens. Grasses. Spring water. 'sigh'

My companion is really funny and tries to sell me everything he has. His ipod, his shoes, his electric razor, and his watch. Haha. It makes me laugh.

I want to thank you for all that you have done. The mission has really saved my life. I would have been a fowl, irresponsable creature if I had never lived and suffered the life of a missionary. From my youth, I was blessed to recognize the spirit, but the discipline is something that I have always lacked. In school. In diet. In the arts. I never completed anything. I think for that same reason, I am going to have to fight with all my heart to baptize a big family.

I, too, Dad, have wanted to go to the temple and do sessions in Spanish. I am really glad that you went. I hope that you both are taking care of your health. I pray for your both always, especially in this aspect. I wish to know you with all my heart.

I love you so much.

With love,
Elder Hill

It is Elder Hill's 24th birthday on Sunday (the last birthday I must endure without him too!) Happy Birthday Chrissy Bear!!! I love you and miss you son!

Speaking From The Heart and the Road Home!!!

ISABELLA'S LETTER
Straight Forward and From The Heart!

well i cant send pictures this time becuase my memery card reader was
a bit warped from the heat of sending it from utah to bolivia so it
finally broke. but i will send pictures next week promise. its not
this week its next sunday when i find out when i leave i lost track of
the weeks,the bishops thinks we are the only ones responsible for the
success of misionary work. i gave examples of temporal our district
leaders ward where they baptize so much because they have the bishops
full support and the members refrences and the ward misionary plan we
prepared is great it would work, the bishop really liked it but it was
announced for all of the members to hear it and only 18 people went
and we were expecting the leaders to go, only one went. we asked him
what his plan was what he suggested and he simply said its good. in 4
weeks we will announce it to the ward during sacrament meeting. what
even more discuraging is that when someone misses church he asks us if
we know why, and we usually do know why they missed. i feel very
overhelmed i feel like we are in charge of everything. finding
investigators, picking them up making them feel welcomed protecting
them from some of the bad habbits that some ward members have,
retaining them when they do get baptised and making sure that are
befriended. i will give you this we were to prepare the missionary
plan, it took us 4 hours then we needed to prepare the refreshment.
our ward mission leader is trying his best but this is all very new to
him he went to buy everything and make 50 photocopies, and we were to
present it to the ward. the bishop just showed up and then complained
that we should have had a meeting just with the leaders first. and i
said well why bishop if every member is a missionary not just the
leaders. to say the least this week was hard, gruling and stressful.
and too top it off an elder gave me the feed back during a practice
that i was too straight forward. which made me feel bad because he
added that maybe i was scarying investigators away. to which i just
responded braking the law of chasity is a serious sin and the
investigator cant guess it he needs to fully know it. but there was a
huge blessing for me this week, in every lesson, every person we
taught said you really understand me, or i feel what you are saying is
true or the one i most liked you reached my heart. and then the same
elder confessed that while teaching a refrence we gave him about the
law of chasity she said to him elder get to the point, im not supposed
to have sex if im not married right? well then just say that. really
it feels like i have been here forever. i looked at my companion and
said if the president leaves me here again i will call him and say
pray again of course i was just joking but my companion bust out
laughing and said maybe they will white wash this place and we stayed
up late last night imagining what the ward would say if one sunday we
just didnt show up one sunday and sent elders to say the president
prayed over the area you are left alone to carry on with all of the
missionary work... later! and we laughed and giggled and said well we
are here because the Lord needs us here and said goodnight and dream
of fleeing both my compi and i dreamt of flying or traveling far far
far away. my mother han crossley wrote me and reminded me that about a
year ago she picked me up to train me. i had great times there in san
jose. i miss rogelio and mabel and griselda and hna muniz and everyone
else in that ward.
well goodbye have to go
hna florido

CHRISTOPHER'S LETTER
The Road Home

I am so happy.  I can feel a great joy in my heart.  I can feel the great change
of heart that Alma talks about in Alma 5.  I am so far from perfect, but right now
I can feel the spirit.  I really liked that quote by Elder Ballard.  It is like the saying
that says the truth will set you free.  I like that.  It is beautiful and it feels just to me.

We have to wait to baptize the family.  They didnt come to church this week, but
I know that they will get baptized.  There are lots of challenges, but I think that I
am beginning to have the faith that I need to begin to baptize families. 

I didnt tell you, but I love you, Mom, Dad, Isabel, Grandma, Grandpa.  I love you
all so much.  I hope that you can search for the change that God desires of every
one of us.  A Bob Dylan song says that a man not busy being born is busy dying. 
I agree.  I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Book of Mormon
is true, that God communicates with a Prophet on earth and that angels (celestial
beings) come to teach the gospel.

My new companion is Elder Paz (peace) from Guatemala.   He is a really, really amazing teacher and I have learned a lot in 5 days.  He has 18 months in the mission and is really great.  I will send you a picture of him next week. 


I hope that you are all well.  I feel like I dont know you or like for all of my life
I was sleeping and now I am just waking from a bad dream.  The Gospel of
Jesus Christ really does change people...  I am grateful.  I need to save some
photos to my camera, but I want you to know that I love you so, very, very
much.  And I look forward to getting to know with a sane mind and a pure heart
that the Lord has blessed me with in the mission.

With lots of love,
Elder Hill