Elder Hill and Elder Armstrong

HEY!

SO, it's the last week of the Transfer.. what a long strange trip it's
been.. haha A few things will probably be changing soon..

1. Elder Armstrong is leaving come March 10th... so sad to see him go,
his family is coming up here to pick him up a few days after transfers
I'll probably not be transferred.. no guarentees so mail things to the
mission home maybe?.... Anyhow.. Elder Armstrong has been such a great
help to me in the mission field great example of what a good
missionary is and I just hope I can accomplish and become what he is.
Very great guy, I'll probably send crap with him to give to you guys..

2. I'm gonna have a new companion! So that's cool! I get to have a new
buddy, hopefully he's a cool guy and we get along well.. I am almost
possitive we will I mean, we're in the mission field, what could hold
us back? other than ourselves.

3. John is getting baptized this Saturday, so we desperately need more
people to teach... It's so great to have someone on date it changes
everything you do! I hope we find someone soon. We've got some great
prospects :)

4. I've been out 2 months.. HOLY CRAP! Seems like I've only been here
for a week or so.. time is so weird, Dad was right, the days may be
slow, but the months are fast. Keep praying for me to be optimistic
and time to fly. It's so nice.

I've been doing so many great things this week. We got more referrals
this week than any other time in the whole transfer! So all that
tracting and contacting is paying off. As long as we keep up the good
work. we'll be blessed. :)

Last Saturday we met with a guy named Nong who is a interpreter that
Elder Armstrong was working with to try and teach a Bermese family. We
wanted to talk to him about the gospel and see what he thinks.. He
asked A LOT of questions which is SO AWESOME. Answering questions is
the best way to teach them. He seems really interested, didn't make it
to church last sunday but we'll keep trying to catch him. He's a key
in trying to baptize the Bermese family so it would be awesome if he
would come to church and feel the spirit there.

This week was a little slow for new investigators and teaching people,
except Less actives and Recent Converts... we taught TONS of those and
we're moving toward getting several people back to church. I might
have mentioned the Decamposes? before? I don't remember.. they were
converted and baptized about 9 years ago and they run a small store in
our area. We love them, they have good faith but they never come to
church because they have to run the store. We taught them to pray for
an opportunity and talked to them about family prayers and scripture
study. They're doing well, I really pray they can be successful enough
to shut the shop down on sundays and come to church. They told us
their conversion story (well, Sister Decampose did.. Brother Decampose
is hard to pin down) ... it was Beautiful.. She was in need of this
gospel. They do really well with sharing it as much as they can. They
talk to all their friends and have turned in several referrals for
family elsewhere. I love them.

last Saturday was a birthday party for one of the Dacus family's kids.
Her name is Emily, maybe i've told you about her? she's huge. haha she
turned 13 and she was begging for us to come over all day so we did..
and we got her a birthday present from the St. Vincent de Paul thrift
store.. a book on tape called "hug the monster" it's about conquering
your fears.. We didn't really think it over, I have no idea what's in
this book.. so hopefully it's kosher? haha Her parents thought it was
funny.. she wouldn't accept another book of mormon.. so she was happy
(because it wasn't another book of mormon) haha

We got an opportunity this week to help John out and get him some
Church clothes.. he's such a humble guy and he's so happy to have
people around. We love to visit him and his roommmates... they're
hilarious.. mostly just Kevin. He told us his house was haunted and
they Tony (another roommate) was immune to it because he has a magical
ability to pierce through the sphere of ghostliness.. He also said
that he senses I have a 7th sense.. hmmm... Thanks kevin.. haha

Well- I gotta go I love you guys so much! The work is good keep
praying for me! I need it so much. Lemme know how I can help in an y
way at home. I'll see you guys real soon (not too soon) haha ..

p.s. Read the book of Mormon everybody.. It's so good... I've never
loved it so much in my life, it's alive almost.. I don't know how to
explain it. READ IT! STUDY IT! LIVE IT! LOVE IT!

-- ELDER HILL :)

Some pictures Elder Hill sent with the last e-mail:

HEY EVERYBODY!

Just another day in paradise here... Burien looks just-- well, gloomy
and dark as usual... haha I couldn't email on president's day cause
the Libraries were closed but it's wednesday! woot! woot!

Yesterday was my first ZZZone CCConference.. so good President Larkin
is a super awesome guy, he's so deep and caring. I love it. He told us
our apartments needed to be cleaned, and we needed to make ourselves
as holy as our callings are. So we cleaned the apartment.. it's almost
shiny, We're cleaning out the rest on next P Day..

Lots of excitement this week, Our on-date John Fitzgerald is meeting
with us consistently and has accepted that he will face opposition in
his quest to 'become one of those mormons' haha He's so great, his
roommate Kevin Peterman, is completely nuts. I love to talk to him. He
tells me the gnarliest things, and often exclaims "I HAVE A MENTAL
ILLNESS! I HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS!" I agree.. he does. haha, OK so I'll
try and put together a bunch of Kevin stories.. but there are so many
I have a hard time telling them all. The work is going really well,
we're getting referrals and help from members that we've been praying
for. I thank you guys so much for all the prayers.. I feel it in the
work seriously. I love everything about this gospel it's so full and
enriching.. I was thinking about the other day where Christ says
"narrow is the gate straight is the way" well.. it's true, we all have
different problems and things we struggle with but- the answer is
always the Atonement and come unto Christ.. in ALL THINGS! wow.. it's
so great.. OK!

So we meet some really nutty people out here a lot.. The other day we
met a guy named Dawn... He looked pretty homeless and was asking for
money to buy soda at the dollar store.. so naturally he followed us
home.. and on the way home he was telling us some pretty intense
stuff.. He went to prison for something.. I think harrassment of sorts
(i'll let your imagination finish that story) he told us he once
wished he could rip someone's teeth out with vise grips.. but that he
shouldn't wish stuff like that because he's not sure if his wishes
come true.. yeah, he's something else. haha-- well.. I love you guys
so much.. I miss you ridiciulously.

I'll post some pictures of my adventures and send you the card in a
few weeks with my Companion.. he's going home after this transferr so
I'm going to be top dog in Burien.. EEK.. anyhow.. I love him and I'm
so glad I got to serve with him.. ALSO! I'm 1/1 in my quest to be
everyone's favorite companion.. he told me himself.. It's touching
really :)

OK Now I'm peacing out.. I love you guys.. keep up the good work..
keep me posted on news and such.. I hear Deron Williams is gone :(
ACK! HOW THINGS CHANGE! .. Oh well.. Love you guys.

-Elder Hill

HELLOOOOO E'ERYBODY!
Another day in paradise.. or Burien, maybe one day I'll get
transferred to paradise... haha It's raining today, and it's raining
yesterday, and it's raining forever here.. haven't seen the Sun in
like a week.. BUT! I have longjohns so it can rain ALL it wants. I'm a
man. haha, The other day, I was at a family's house, the mom just got
baptized her name is Ipha, she is a Chuke, her kids love scriptures
and stuff it's one of my favorite things to sit and talk to the 5-6
year old about Nephi and answer his questions about the scriptures..
such a pure testimony. Awesome.. but anyways, I was a their house and
they fed us 'bowl O' noodle' which is like a spicy Ramen basically,
haha and Tarson came up and asked me "Is that too spicy?" and I said
"no, I'm a man.. I can take it" and he said.. "well, I'm not a man, so
I'm gonna eat a cup of noodles" hahaha... oh great kids.. I love all
the little kids.. so fun.

SO! this week started off really slow, everyday everyone was canceling
on us and John Fitzgerald (the first guy I commited to Baptism Date)
canceled lessons with us because he was gettin pressure from his old
church.. so That was super depressing... We were getting pretty down
about how everyone was ditching us, but we soldiered on! We tracted
and Contacted whenever we could, and found some new people to teach!
and we fasted of course.. cause that's the greatest thing ever. .
anyhow.. We met a guy named Michael who is from Iritria or something..
it's by Etheopia. He was a Christian there and there's lots of
persecution for Christians in that area, So he moved here for
religious freedom and to have a better life. He's got such a strong
testimony of Christ it's amazing.. Anyhow we met him and he was really
excited and we invited him to a church tour. He showed up the second
time we invited him and told us all about his testimony and how he
felt really good when he talked to us and he feels like it must be
true! AWESOME! So we commit him to baptism.. next month! He's ready,
just needs to come to church. however, yesterday he didn't come, and
when we went to his apartment he wasn't home.. (although there was
another michael living there so we asked for michael, and they asked
if he was white or.. black michael..- he's black michael.) haha that
probably doesn't make sense.. I dunno I'm rambling now. ANYHOW! Things
are so good.. I wrote a bunch of letters with stories.. and I'm
excited to do this work. I feel good. I feel so blessed by the Lord.

I know that there is a great work for me as an individual. There are
people out there that need me to sacrifice to bring them unto Christ..
Yesterday we tracted into a guy who told us that we were muslims.. and
that he didn't see the light of Christ in us... His heart was so
hardenned, and even though he was pretty brutal to us. I can't help
but plead for his heart to be softened at one point and for him to
realize Christ's way.

Well, I haven't much else to say, If I think of anything I'll snail
mail it to you. OH! Please get info about all my buddies and their
mission calls, they should be coming soon.. I'm excited for them. It's
an amazing adventure. Burien is a great place, I meet crazy people
every single day and I LOVE THEM! I wouldn't survive if everyone was
just a normal person. haha ..

OK I GOTTA MAIL MY MISH PREZ SO I LOVE YOU GUYS! PEACE!

p.s. thanks again for package.. longjohns are GOLD! and I don't think
I need any more socks.. I'm good with longjohns.. thanks!

HEY FAMILY!

Things are looking up! I met a guy on the way home from the store last week named John Fitzgerald and he asked me if we were mormons. Naturally we said "yes, yes, we are"... he said that he read the book of mormon years ago and tried to be baptized but there's a rule against people on probation being baptized apparently? I did not know, but anyways! HE's no longer on probation and I personally committed him to baptism this March 5th! SO EXCITING! He knows it's true, and we had to fenagle him as he felt more comfortable not changing his situation but we showed him the importance of being in the true church, especially when he KNOWS the book of Mormon to be Scripture.. Sillly Silly Silly... haha OK well, I'm excited he came to church yesterday and everyone was really nice to him and he really liked it. He's been picked on everywhere he's ever been in his life so it was nice to have friendly people in the ward... Always be friendly.. it makes such a difference to everyone in everything we do. So many people are baptized because they knew members somewhere and they were nice. So be nice all the time! Jesus did it!

Ok well, I met some great families and gaining some ties with them, The Dacus' are a sortta active family that we have dinner with every week.. we got them to come to church and they are seriously such great people. I have a lot of fun at their house, even though their daughter (12 years old) is like 2-3 times my size and probably benches like 4 times as much as me.. pretty scary..

OH! Last night.. I went to dinner at the Puloka's a polynesian family, the dad and the son are the bishop and first counselor in our ward. Very good people.. Super fun to be around. They have a son Alex who is awesome.. about 20-21 just got his drivers license haha and such a good person.. Rachel- if Tanner starts acting up, I may have found a decent replacement.. just keep in mind? haha JK JK... never... hahaha ANYWAYS, after we ate dinner we went to the Waddoups who are quite possibly the strangest people I've ever met? maybe I've mentioned them? I laugh a lot.. but they invited their neighbor 'gustavo' (who speaks spanish... and we don't) to dinner and a family study with missionaries? Well, they ditched, so we had to eat dinner again.. with them, and I was a little worried but thought.. eh? it's been about 45 minutes I could pack in a few more plates.. well... He dished us up some 'millet' i don't know if you know what that is? it's gross... Dad probably likes it. It's super healthy makes your digestive system work in Alkalynes.. or so Brother Waddoups told us? Idk.. but he have us Millet, and piled this massive salad on it along with a huge slab of chicken.. all of it ridiculously seasoned and covered with a dressing that he 'manufactured himself, in the kitchen'... Well... It looked like Diarrhea and smelled as such.. So i started eating... It was the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life, and I wanted to die.. But I'm a missionary so that's not an option.. I ate the whole freakin thing. It was nasty.. and I declined seconds. :P

Anyhow.. I love you guys so much.. I gotta write my Mission Prez right now so Please keep praying for me, I'm still struggling but I'm doing better? Keep up the prayers write me a lot.. I sent some home and you should have my mission address from that? I hope.. Happy day.. I love you guys. So much. :) Miss you always.. Please be there when I get back.. and Mother.. I want 100 hugs when I return home. :D

Love- Elder Hill.

HEY FAMILY!

Things are looking up! I met a guy on the way home from the store last week named John Fitzgerald and he asked me if we were mormons. Naturally we said "yes, yes, we are"... he said that he read the book of mormon years ago and tried to be baptized but there's a rule against people on probation being baptized apparently? I did not know, but anyways! HE's no longer on probation and I personally committed him to baptism this March 5th! SO EXCITING! He knows it's true, and we had to fenagle him as he felt more comfortable not changing his situation but we showed him the importance of being in the true church, especially when he KNOWS the book of Mormon to be Scripture.. Sillly Silly Silly... haha OK well, I'm excited he came to church yesterday and everyone was really nice to him and he really liked it. He's been picked on everywhere he's ever been in his life so it was nice to have friendly people in the ward... Always be friendly.. it makes such a difference to everyone in everything we do. So many people are baptized because they knew members somewhere and they were nice. So be nice all the time! Jesus did it!

Ok well, I met some great families and gaining some ties with them, The Dacus' are a sortta active family that we have dinner with every week.. we got them to come to church and they are seriously such great people. I have a lot of fun at their house, even though their daughter (12 years old) is like 2-3 times my size and probably benches like 4 times as much as me.. pretty scary..

OH! Last night.. I went to dinner at the Puloka's a polynesian family, the dad and the son are the bishop and first counselor in our ward. Very good people.. Super fun to be around. They have a son Alex who is awesome.. about 20-21 just got his drivers license haha and such a good person.. Rachel- if Tanner starts acting up, I may have found a decent replacement.. just keep in mind? haha JK JK... never... hahaha ANYWAYS, after we ate dinner we went to the Waddoups who are quite possibly the strangest people I've ever met? maybe I've mentioned them? I laugh a lot.. but they invited their neighbor 'gustavo' (who speaks spanish... and we don't) to dinner and a family study with missionaries? Well, they ditched, so we had to eat dinner again.. with them, and I was a little worried but thought.. eh? it's been about 45 minutes I could pack in a few more plates.. well... He dished us up some 'millet' i don't know if you know what that is? it's gross... Dad probably likes it. It's super healthy makes your digestive system work in Alkalynes.. or so Brother Waddoups told us? Idk.. but he have us Millet, and piled this massive salad on it along with a huge slab of chicken.. all of it ridiculously seasoned and covered with a dressing that he 'manufactured himself, in the kitchen'... Well... It looked like Diarrhea and smelled as such.. So i started eating... It was the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life, and I wanted to die.. But I'm a missionary so that's not an option.. I ate the whole freakin thing. It was nasty.. and I declined seconds. :P

Anyhow.. I love you guys so much.. I gotta write my Mission Prez right now so Please keep praying for me, I'm still struggling but I'm doing better? Keep up the prayers write me a lot.. I sent some home and you should have my mission address from that? I hope.. Happy day.. I love you guys. So much. :) Miss you always.. Please be there when I get back.. and Mother.. I want 100 hugs when I return home. :D

Love- Elder Hill.

Some pictures Will sent home from the MTC.

(Sent Monday Jan. 31)

Things here in Burien are moving slow, I am struggling but I'm really trying to focus, it's good to meet the families here and gain ties. Last night we ate at a family's house who had two little boys same ages as Asher and Isaac.. I miss those kids... anyhow.. They were really funny, and dinner was good and fun. Seems like everyone we meet has lived in Provo for some part of their life here.

We taught a few families this week there was one family that is part member, they're Chukeese (island close to guam apparently?) and they are so great, lots of kids running around and you can tell they are great people. The father has not kept commitments for a while and the mother is the one who is baptized. It took missionaries like 8 months to get her but finally they were able to get her to commit to marriage and get worthy for baptism about a month ago. She's doing well, they're in a very poor community but they are happy for the most part.

Another family we taught was straight from Berma, (or.. called something else now) they don't speak a single bit of English, we have come to find out. This was the 4th lesson and they really don't understand at all. However, they do feel the spirit and they are very willing to listen, and are happy to hear it. I can tell they are a great family. Again, very poor, humble people. They are in abundance here. Hopefully the Lord will prosper them.

So- We, Elder Armstrong and I were talking the other day, and he showed me a picture of his family, come to find out his mother is a seminary teacher, and I've had her before.. weird. . . . .

Things have been hard this week, I need to figure out how to make them better.. I dunno, but keep me in your prayers everyone! P-Day is on Monday, So you'll hear from me on mondays. OK? Happy day?

I love you guys so much.. I've been reading recently out of 1NEPHI and seen how great his Faith is, I envy that trait. I know everyone knows those chapters pretty well but read them over and see how you can relate.. I felt like I could do better..

I love you guys so much...

-Elder Hill