Dear Beloved Family, "The coldest winter I ever had was
the summer I had in San Francisco."
Sounds like everyone is doing really well. You have a lot going on and have a lot of interesting adventures. I am really happy that Tyler is doing better. I pray for him to be able to get back out and everything will be good.
This past week was a week to remember. From Oakland to San
Francisco, from Baptismal dates to miracles at "Porque Yo Creo."
Speaking Chinese to Riding BART and getting clipper-ed. My name in Chinese is
Shan Bo Zhanglao. Just an overview. Now to the specifics!
Monday: Monday night was really amazing. The family of
Consuelo arrived Sunday night and so Monday night we went by Edgar Fonseca and
witnessed the worst robbery I have ever seen in my life. We were standing there
talking with 4 guys in front of their car when all of a sudden two guys that we
had seen earlier, dressed all in black trying to sneak away from the house with
tons of stuff in their arms. We just all stood there watching them. They
weren't running. They were like slowly sneaking away. It was really bad. The
people we were talking to just said, "Don't worry about it we know that
neighbor, he's a drug dealer."
Right after that we went to visit the family
of Consuelo. IT was so great. We knocked on the door and the bishop son-in-law
said, "Elders, welcome." We went up and the whole family was there
sitting in the family room. We sat down and got to know them and figured out
what the plans were for this week. We talked about her baptism for the 18th of
August and when the family was going back to Mexico. They are returning back to
Mexico on the 9th of August. We looked at Consuelo's Conversion Calendar and
her 3 weeks for the Word of Wisdom would end the 9th of August. She would be
able to get baptized no earlier than the 11th right after the family had left.
We were a little bummed about that. That night we headed to San Francisco to
start exchanges with the Spanish Elders there. I stayed in my area with Elder
Robinson from Concord. It was a great time to be back with him, just like old
times.
So I got this call from the Cambodian Elders asking what to
do with a bag of $500 of illegal drugs. What??? I told them to call President but he
didn't answer, so the Elder called one of the senior couple missionaries that used to be a cop
and he told them how to dispose of it. It was just bad because the Elders took it from their less-active that wants to stop using it. He thought it would be good to give the Elders the drugs! They put the drugs in
their trunk! If they would have gotten pulled over, that would have gone really
bad.
Tuesday: Today was great. We had a doctors appointment for
Elder Robinson for his foot in Walnut Creek but he left his wallet back in San
Fran so we had to run back there and then go to the doctors appointment. After
the appointment we were able to teach Consuelo again that evening. It went
really well. We taught her the law of Tithing and she accepted. Tuesday was the
day of her injection but it went a lot better than she thought it would and was
back in the house. The family is so amazing. The bishop is really calm and
quite but powerful. The daughter sister Rodriguez was really great too. They
have 5 children and they are so great little Mormon kids. We call them the
little nenes.
Wednesday: Today we went to district meeting and then right
after went to dinner with the Lopez Family. We ate Tamales from Gautamala and
were able to teach two non-members. The Lopez family invited two non-members to
be there for dinner and as we talked with them they had questions of baptism of
babies. We read in Moroni 8 and she was very interested in that. She asked for
a copy of the Book of Mormon and we sent her as a referral to the sisters. The
only thing is that she lived on a boat so the sisters have to visit her in the
members home.
Right after dinner we went with Brother Lopez to teach Edgar.
That went well but he still is having trouble with his wife. We went in and she
was there with her friend and they were pretty sick. I asked Elgar if he
remembered the blessing of health we gave him and if his wife would want one.
He said that that was a good idea and was going to ask her. I was praying in my
heart that that would soften her heart and allow us to baptize Edgar. He went
into the room with them and they told him that they didn't want anything to do
with us. He came out and sat down a bit sad and just said, "Those woman
just sit in my room and watch operas all night long." We don't quite know
what to do now. We don't want him to get cold but its so hard with his wife not
wanting to do anything and living out of the mission.
We then went to the
lesson with the two young men, Giovanni and Rene. They are great! Brother Lopez
did such a good fellow-shipping job with them. We taught a lesson on receiving
answers because Giovanni said he has been praying daily for an answer and
hasn't received anything. Elder Robinson and I looked at each other and we both
by the spirit flipped to Enos. We read that with them and helped them see that
Enos had to pray for a day and a night in order to receive an answer. Prayer is
a struggle and takes work. They understood that and accepted to really pray
hard for an answer. We then finished the night by dropping Brother Lopez off at
his house and taking Elder Robinson back to his area in San Fran.
I had an
interesting and powerful experience. When we left the car it was a bit late and
I just got a sick feeling, it was uncomfortable being in San Fran. There is
just a different feeling. We went up to their apartment and the second I walked
into their apartment I was hit by a wall. The spirit was so strong and it was a
spirit of safety, that everything is ok. When we left to go home right when I
stepped out of the apartment that feeling left and I felt weird again. I told
that to the other Elders and they said they get that everyday. San Fran just
has a different spirit. The scriptures say that "My spirit will not always
strive with man." That is true.
Thursday: Today was back with Elder Bradford. We were super
busy though. We got our weekly planning done and then headed out to go drop by
Consuelo. She is doing really well with the Word of Wisdom and so we called
President Meredith if we could get permission to baptize her on the 4th when
the family is here!!!!! We ate dinner with the Velasco family and that went
really well. It went well. Our appointments fell through that night. We then
headed back to San Fran for exchanges with the Chinese Elders. I went there
with Elder Davidson. It was an awesome exchange.
Friday: Today was great! I love the neighborhood in San Fran called Daly City. That afternoon we taught Kevin their baptismal candidate for Sunday. We
taught him in English because he is younger so I was able to contribute. I was
learning a lot of Chinese though. We talked to a ton of people all over the
streets. We contacted on Ocean Ave and at College City. We didn't find anyone
but it was some good finding time. We then spent the evening visiting some
less-active members and old investigators. I felt like I was in a whole
different mission being there.
Saturday: Today was really fun. We left at 10:30 to go to
Chinatown in downtown San Fran to teach English class. That blew my mind there.
We got to BART and that was the first time I rode BART. We had CLipper cards
which were fun. You use them to pay for public transportation. There were so
many people on BART. It was underground too so I felt like I was riding the
subways in New York.
When we arrived in downtown and walked up the stairs from
under ground and just looking up at the huge buildings just blew my mind. It was so
amazing! I felt like I got transferred to another mission. We then walked the
streets to grab a bus and then jumped on the sardine bus and rode to Chinatown.
We got off grabbed some Chinese food and taught English class. It was great, I
was called on to teach the alphabet. That was fun, there were quite a few
people there. Elder Davidson is so good at Chinese.
We had such a good time
running everything around the city trying to grab a bus and then getting
crammed on it. It was fun. We then rode BART back and went to a lesson with a
recent convert. San Fran was really misty and foggy but never rained. It was
pretty cold too. We got stuck in so much traffic because of all the baseball
games and things. I wasn't able to contribute a whole lot in the contacting and
teaching but I was able to do a lot and I was able to teach Elder Davidson
about Accountability to the Lord and about how to evaluate yourself in order to
improve. It was a really good 48 hour exchange and I learned a lot about how to
really talk to everyone! We then ended exchanges at the mission office for
transfer calls.
I am staying as Senior Zone Leader and my companion is none other than one of my MTC companions.....Elder O'Farrell from Ireland.
I drove to San Fran 5 times this last week. The bridge is huge.
Also Elder Bradford invited and taught the Giovani and Rene the Word of Wisdom
and so Elder Bradford took all of their tea and coffee with their permission, of course, and we threw it away.
Sunday: Today was the day of miracles. So Elder Bradford on
the exchange was able to invite Consuelo to be baptized on the 4th of August
and she accepted. We then before church went to pick up Consuelo's family with
some other members for more ride space. The whole family was all in white
shirts and ties and the little girls with their scriptures. Consuelo was all
ready and had makeup on and everything. We got there to church and they all
went to primary and Consuelo stayed with her grandchildren. It was the best
Sunday ever. So much love!
After church we ate with the ward and then Bishop
Gonzalez and his wife (Consuelo's daughter and son-in-law) came to "Porque
Yo Creo" and were the special speakers. We talked to President and put
together the agenda for it. There testimonies and their story was so powerful.
Consuelo couldn't come because her back was back because of sitting for so long
in church. The Gonzalez family did so well, they didn't quite expect that many
people but it was good. I saw Elder O'Farrell and Elder Rodriguez and also
Margarito from Concord. It was a great one! President is working with us to
change Porque yo creo so that we are in charge of it every time so we will see.
That night we did our indicators and had a great week. I am excited for this
week and for the new change.
So Consuelo will be baptized this sunday.
Thanks family! i LOVE ALL OF YOU! TAKE CARE.
Elder Hill
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