Mini Missionary

Hello!!  Hope you are all enjoying the end of November!  I can´t
believe I am already starting to think about what we will be doing to
celebrate Christmas here in Santa Elena.  I am excited!

I am now serving with a ¨mini¨ missionary, Hermana Franco.  A mini
missionary is a youth who is from the mission limits who serves with a
fulltime missionary to fill in a hole in the mission for a time being.
We are short a few hermanas, so we are constantly looking for a few
girls 18 and up who can help out the mission for six weeks.  Hermana
Franco is so great!!  I wish I could load up photos for you all but
our connection is way slow today.  She is from Santa Fe, the capital,
about 4 hours in bus from Santa Elena.  She is 18 and is the oldest of
8!

I have quickly realized that serving with a mini missionary is a very
grand opportunity for them to see if they really want to serve full
time for 18 months.  I admire these youth who come out without ANY MTC
experience and are thrown right into the work! I would be devastated!
So I am trying to do my best to give her a great impression of the
mission... and she seems to be doing great so far!!! Hermana Franco is
so relaxed and always laughing... so I think we make a good match : )
Our first day out was very rainy... she slipped and fell in the mud, I
was so worried she had bruised her leg badly and thought she was going
to think this was going to be the longest six weeks of her life, but
just as those thoughts flashed through my mind I saw her laughing the
biggest laugh, and she ended up using it as a metaphor in our lesson!
I am so grateful for her cheery attitude.. she has been helping me
think of creative things to do here before I end my mission.  She also
likes Boys II Men and Stevie Wonder. woot!

Things are coming along with new people we are teaching... we are
praying and hoping and praying that our new investigators will
progress.  In the last few weeks I have been blessed to see the Lord´s
hand guiding us to people who needed us in the moment, and we knew it
was right because the contacts told us ¨Ï was just praying in my room
and feeling horrible and then you came.¨  Wow.  Gives me the chills,
in a really good way!!

I want you all to know that coming closer to our Lord Jesus Christ is
the only real way we can receive the happiness and strength we need in
this life.  As a zone we have been focusing more on the Atonement in
our studies and are talking more and more about the Savior in our
teaching, and it is incredible.  I may be planting a lot of seeds
right now, but I can´t imagine doing anything else right now in my
life.  It truly is the best decision I have made in my life (yet) and
I hope the people we are teaching will be able to say that when they
begin to accept and live the gospel.

Love you all so much!

xoxo hermana hill mill

Happy Birthday Seester!!!

On the 25th is my sister Emily´s 20th birthday!  woot!  

Happy Birthday Emily!!  I just want to tell you how grateful I am to be your sister.  I have seen (well, read.. heard) in just this past year how much you have grown, and I am very proud of you!  You help me remember that in small and simple acts of service, one can help another have a better day.  You find such joy in serving in so many different and creative ways.   I love that you have developed a love for missionary work on your own, it didn´t come as a result from wearing a nametag for 18 months like it has for me, and that is truly inspiring.  The missionaries are lucky to have you help them out, and the other members with which you work are for sure benefiting from the light you shine in your testimony and  happy attitude!  Sos una capa!  Te quiero mucho!  Keep having lots of dance parties and learn all the newest moves (well, the good ones) so you can help me try to find my groove when I get back!  

Love you seester!  

And by the looks of the photos I received, she and our dear friend Autumn had a fun time celebrating in our backyard this past weekend.  To all my G7 friends,  thank you for taking care of my lil sis and for being such amazing friends!  I love you and miss you all so much. I tell all of my American companions and aquaintances in the mission that if they are looking to move to California that I know of a very good looking and fun bunch of people that they can hang out with if they ever find themselves in LA.  : ) 

Impressions

¡Hola! ¿Como andan todos?  Espero que ustedes esten bien : ) ¿Como fue su Halloween?

I can{t believe it is November!  The time is slipping away from me. We are working hard to find new people to teach, and all the while I keep thinking how important how testimonies are, even if the people don{t want to listen at first.  I started imaging what kind of impression we leave with the people we contact in the street.  I like to think how they are after closing their door and may  think to themselves, [huh, a living day prophet?  never heard of that before...  those girls were really friendly.[  Oh man, it is such a WIN see the change in people}s faces when at first they seem so closed off and maybe even a little bugged, and then after we chat with them to sincerely get to know them and smile like crazy and maybe give a few laughs to show them that we are normal people, and then after a few minutes they are the ones with a smile!  Sometimes I can{t help but think [Ha!  Victory!  You warmed up to us![ But we can only take a little smidge of the credit, because we are vessels holding the Spirit that helps them feel their Heavenly Father{s love.  There is so much to say in our body language and attitudes and how we can either invite or scare away the Spirit.  I have always thought it kind of amusing and just plain great when people in my life have asked me or my friends and family (and I{m sure this has happened to you too) [Why are you so happy all the time?[ or [there{s something different about you.[  Even though these people don{t realize it, they are seeing the light of Christ we carry.  It{s a beautiful thing to be able to leave impressions on people, and we don´t know the effects it can have on them!  We all have a light inside us, remember that.  Whether it be our words or simply our attitude and the light in our eyes, we can bear our testimonies in many ways of how to live the gospel, and people will want to live it to when they see us : ) 

Love you all!  xoxo hermana hill mill