My Amazing Family,
Thank you for another awesome letter. A lot of things happened this week back at home I hear. That's good to hear about everyone and that they are doing well. That's tough about my friend. (I deleted Austin’s friend’s name for privacy. He is struggling.) I don't know what to say to that; I hope everything goes well for him though. I am just glad they are doing something to help him. I will continue to pray for him.
Just a heads up We have a changed P-day this next week so we have P-day this Saturday, and then we won’t have another one not that Monday but the next. We have Zone Conference with a member of the 70 so we had to change some things.
I received the email from Erik today. That is awesome! That is so far away but I can tell that will fit him really well. He will love the language, I just remember people in the MTC learning that and I was grateful I was learning Spanish. He sent me part 1 of his letter...thats so Erik. When he leaves to the MTC I will lack a month until my year point. I am so old.
So this week was awesome but tough. Tough because of the people, but awesome because of the people. Just to update everyone on the Garcia family, they are Golden. We committed them to live the 10 commandments and also the word of wisdom. They accepted it easily and dropped everything that was stopping them from living it and are doing well. Every time we meet with them they tell us of this change that they are feeling growing inside them. We tell them that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ working in them. We can actually see them change, their countenance is different. They came to church yesterday. We showed up a bit late to pick them up, but they were all sitting outside under a tree waiting. They brought the little girl with them this time. She is so sweet and so mature for 4.
Thank you for another awesome letter. A lot of things happened this week back at home I hear. That's good to hear about everyone and that they are doing well. That's tough about my friend. (I deleted Austin’s friend’s name for privacy. He is struggling.) I don't know what to say to that; I hope everything goes well for him though. I am just glad they are doing something to help him. I will continue to pray for him.
Just a heads up We have a changed P-day this next week so we have P-day this Saturday, and then we won’t have another one not that Monday but the next. We have Zone Conference with a member of the 70 so we had to change some things.
I received the email from Erik today. That is awesome! That is so far away but I can tell that will fit him really well. He will love the language, I just remember people in the MTC learning that and I was grateful I was learning Spanish. He sent me part 1 of his letter...thats so Erik. When he leaves to the MTC I will lack a month until my year point. I am so old.
So this week was awesome but tough. Tough because of the people, but awesome because of the people. Just to update everyone on the Garcia family, they are Golden. We committed them to live the 10 commandments and also the word of wisdom. They accepted it easily and dropped everything that was stopping them from living it and are doing well. Every time we meet with them they tell us of this change that they are feeling growing inside them. We tell them that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ working in them. We can actually see them change, their countenance is different. They came to church yesterday. We showed up a bit late to pick them up, but they were all sitting outside under a tree waiting. They brought the little girl with them this time. She is so sweet and so mature for 4.
They were amazing at church. In Gospel Doctrine we learned about the Holy Ghost and people shared their experiences where the Holy Ghost has worked in their lives. Hermano Garcia shared his "testimony" about how we found him. He told everyone that he is 60 years old and that for his whole life in Mexico he never let anyone in his home that were missionaries. He then said that when we knocked on the door he was watching TV and didn’t feel like answering it. He said that he then had a feeling that forced him to answer the door. When he saw us he didn’t know what to think but he said that as we talked with him he felt something familiar and that is why he let us in. He said that ever since we have been teaching him he has seen his life change and things making sense. His wife then told her story about how she was praying outside when she was watching her grandchildren. She said she saw us but didn't think much of it. She was praying that God would help her family. When she got back to the home and saw us she said she felt this comforting feeling. It was such an amazing experience to be hearing this from our investigators. The spirit was so strong and everything in the class just started at them and were amazed. We then testified to them that those feelings came from the spirit. They told some people at church too that they are going strong for the 1st of September. We are so excited for them.
We are probably going to be dropping that two ladies and the husband that we found a while back. They still haven't read and because of that we can’t move on. We don't want to waste our time with them if they won’t do what we invite them to do, we can’t do anything if they won’t act.
We found a new guy this week also. We have been teaching this new member that just moved from Oakland to here. She moved in with one of her friends. When we visited her we taught him also. We have actually contacted him a long time ago but never went anywhere. We taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation. He didn’t read but he went to the visitors center with the member. We were so shocked. We invited him to be baptized and even before we ended the invitation he was saying of course yes! We could feel and see the spirit working in him as we invited him. His friend, the member, was so happy and is helping him which is good. We have sort of lost contact with them and they didn't come to church so we are trying to find them again. We are excited for him but we don’t know how this is going to go because they are living together and he is a heavy drinker. We will see we know that the gospel and repentance can change lives but what’s going to be hard is the member, his girlfriend, has been less active for a while so isn’t the best influence on him. We are working on him and we’ll see what happens this week. His date is for the 27th of September.
So to tell you about what has happened this week that has been tough. So last week I told you about a guy yelling at us about what we believed. This week has been the same but one was pretty bad. One of the guys we contacted was weird. We saw him getting out of his house and the moment I saw him my companion said "lets talk to him", but when we said that I got this sick feeling like we shouldn’t. My companion said hello right then which started the conversation. We asked him about his religious background and he said he was very religious but that he has studied about us Mormons and he had some things to say. He started to rip at Joseph Smith and at the Book of Mormon. He was telling us all this weird information about Joseph Smith and all this Anti-Mormon literature. What was bad though is right when he started talking against the church he got so angry. You could feel the spirit leave and the spirit of contention come in. I was speechless but my companion wasn't. The guy was telling us that we believed all this crazy stuff and that our leaders have brainwashed us. We told us that if we got rid of the Book of Mormon then he would talk to us. I stood up to that and testified about the book of Mormon and he just said he was sorry for us but that we were lost. What was funny was at the end he told us that America was having to vote for Romney because they don't have another choice; Obama isn't good for us. The thing that was bad though is after we went back to our car and my companion was asking me if I thought that our leaders had told us lies. It scared me that he was questioning and so I shared with him my testimony. This week has been really hard because my companion has been questioning and so we can tell Satan is really working against us.
The other one was bad and so I don't want to share it but yeah my companion almost got into a fist fight with a guy. It was bad. This week has really tested us. It’s been a strength to me though because I have had my testimony reaffirmed.
I am happy though and we have been working hard hard hard. We have had so many people get so angry with us and so against us. I have never seen that before being here. We have taught so many people but they just tell us that "I was born (insert religion) and I am going to die (insert religion)." It’s really sad they won't be open minded, but what can you do. I have gotten a lot more blunt with people but I have also learned so much about charity. When someone is yelling at you that he is going to beat your.... ... if we don't leave is pretty trying on your love. I have felt the saviors love though as I look at them and sincerely try to love them. It’s scary but I know the Lord is on our side. We are a little worried about what will happen when it gets even closer to elections. The people here are getting so angry and defensive when we even say hi to them. The elections have ruffled their feathers.
English classes so far are a fail. We had our first class, and not a single person showed up. We are going to show up one last time on Wednesday but if no one else comes again we’ll stop them.
I love everyone! thank you! I did get a letter from Holly which was awesome! but yes mom I love your letters even more :) Everything is good though don’t need anything and my heart is good. I have been so busy this week. I have been trying to do everything i can. I spend every minute I have doing teaching records or something. I hate wasting time. My companion told me that he has never seen a more hard working missionary and that when I finally get and learn the skills I will be unstoppable. I just laughed at him. I have so much to learn. One thing I have learned this week is that resemblance of missionary work and marriage. One: There isn’t anymore me or I, it’s us and ours. Planning can be tough with two heads. I am learning to be patient and to think as one. We learned this week something important. I felt bad because one of my finding ideas didn’t really workout but my companion said, "hey were a companionship, when one us falls we both fall." Two: Teaching investigators is like teaching kids also. I am glad I am getting 2 years of practice...haha
Thanks everyone! I love you.
talk to you soon this Saturday actually!
Bye! Elder Hills
We are probably going to be dropping that two ladies and the husband that we found a while back. They still haven't read and because of that we can’t move on. We don't want to waste our time with them if they won’t do what we invite them to do, we can’t do anything if they won’t act.
We found a new guy this week also. We have been teaching this new member that just moved from Oakland to here. She moved in with one of her friends. When we visited her we taught him also. We have actually contacted him a long time ago but never went anywhere. We taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation. He didn’t read but he went to the visitors center with the member. We were so shocked. We invited him to be baptized and even before we ended the invitation he was saying of course yes! We could feel and see the spirit working in him as we invited him. His friend, the member, was so happy and is helping him which is good. We have sort of lost contact with them and they didn't come to church so we are trying to find them again. We are excited for him but we don’t know how this is going to go because they are living together and he is a heavy drinker. We will see we know that the gospel and repentance can change lives but what’s going to be hard is the member, his girlfriend, has been less active for a while so isn’t the best influence on him. We are working on him and we’ll see what happens this week. His date is for the 27th of September.
So to tell you about what has happened this week that has been tough. So last week I told you about a guy yelling at us about what we believed. This week has been the same but one was pretty bad. One of the guys we contacted was weird. We saw him getting out of his house and the moment I saw him my companion said "lets talk to him", but when we said that I got this sick feeling like we shouldn’t. My companion said hello right then which started the conversation. We asked him about his religious background and he said he was very religious but that he has studied about us Mormons and he had some things to say. He started to rip at Joseph Smith and at the Book of Mormon. He was telling us all this weird information about Joseph Smith and all this Anti-Mormon literature. What was bad though is right when he started talking against the church he got so angry. You could feel the spirit leave and the spirit of contention come in. I was speechless but my companion wasn't. The guy was telling us that we believed all this crazy stuff and that our leaders have brainwashed us. We told us that if we got rid of the Book of Mormon then he would talk to us. I stood up to that and testified about the book of Mormon and he just said he was sorry for us but that we were lost. What was funny was at the end he told us that America was having to vote for Romney because they don't have another choice; Obama isn't good for us. The thing that was bad though is after we went back to our car and my companion was asking me if I thought that our leaders had told us lies. It scared me that he was questioning and so I shared with him my testimony. This week has been really hard because my companion has been questioning and so we can tell Satan is really working against us.
The other one was bad and so I don't want to share it but yeah my companion almost got into a fist fight with a guy. It was bad. This week has really tested us. It’s been a strength to me though because I have had my testimony reaffirmed.
I am happy though and we have been working hard hard hard. We have had so many people get so angry with us and so against us. I have never seen that before being here. We have taught so many people but they just tell us that "I was born (insert religion) and I am going to die (insert religion)." It’s really sad they won't be open minded, but what can you do. I have gotten a lot more blunt with people but I have also learned so much about charity. When someone is yelling at you that he is going to beat your.... ... if we don't leave is pretty trying on your love. I have felt the saviors love though as I look at them and sincerely try to love them. It’s scary but I know the Lord is on our side. We are a little worried about what will happen when it gets even closer to elections. The people here are getting so angry and defensive when we even say hi to them. The elections have ruffled their feathers.
English classes so far are a fail. We had our first class, and not a single person showed up. We are going to show up one last time on Wednesday but if no one else comes again we’ll stop them.
I love everyone! thank you! I did get a letter from Holly which was awesome! but yes mom I love your letters even more :) Everything is good though don’t need anything and my heart is good. I have been so busy this week. I have been trying to do everything i can. I spend every minute I have doing teaching records or something. I hate wasting time. My companion told me that he has never seen a more hard working missionary and that when I finally get and learn the skills I will be unstoppable. I just laughed at him. I have so much to learn. One thing I have learned this week is that resemblance of missionary work and marriage. One: There isn’t anymore me or I, it’s us and ours. Planning can be tough with two heads. I am learning to be patient and to think as one. We learned this week something important. I felt bad because one of my finding ideas didn’t really workout but my companion said, "hey were a companionship, when one us falls we both fall." Two: Teaching investigators is like teaching kids also. I am glad I am getting 2 years of practice...haha
Thanks everyone! I love you.
talk to you soon this Saturday actually!
Bye! Elder Hills
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