Dear Family,
I have a lot of different feelings right now: Excited, Nervous, Unsure, hungry…. Also, it still hasn't really hit me yet that I am going home! I know I am, but it is just weird to me. I can't picture it really happening.
Sorry we didn't email yesterday my companion was down all day throwing up and so we couldn't leave the apartment. I got a lot done for the area and the zone and cleaned the apartment. Sounds like good things are happening back home. I laughed when I read dad’s email about his first day home because I will feel the same! I know I will be waking up at 6:30 to exercise and not knowing what to do next. I am still going to do my studies for sure. So this morning we set a baptismal date with this gangster Gregg that we have been teaching for a while! He finally committed himself to it. We taught about revelation through prayer and we were in the chapel and we invited him right then, and there, to kneel and ask God if he needs to be baptized on the first of February. He did it, and after that he said he has a few things to do to prepare but he is going to do it. He wants me to be there so we will see how soon I come back to visit. So many good things are happening!! Cairey the Chinese girl passed her interview on Sunday and is all ready for her baptism this Saturday. She and her friend at church got the program all ready and she cracks me up because she wants three songs like in sacrament meeting. She didn't want the Elder doing her interview to put her parents’ names on her record because her parents don't want anything to do with the church. This is sad but Cairey is getting baptized! She has a lot of Mormon friends so that is good! We are excited for it this Saturday!
Monday: So after P-day we had an interesting lesson. We taught Gio and her friend but it was at her house. They were doing band worship upstairs with a bunch of people from their church. When they finished they came down and joined us. We didn't want that because they are pretty anti-Mormon. The dad of Gio went off on us. It was a hard for a little bit before we got out of there. Afterward, we had Family home evening and it went well. Everyone has been sick lately. I was still sick and the member chandler that came with us was sick also.
Tuesday: Today was awesome. We ate so much for lunch with Gregg. He took us to Carl's Junior and we had a bunch of coupons and so we used them to buy a bunch of burgers. I ate so much. It was pretty bad, we felt like death afterward. We taught him about the importance of church afterward and he finally committed but we still felt like there was something there that was keeping him from fully committing. Afterward I gave a training in district meeting about Opening your mouth. It was so bad because I had the training all prepared and everything and when I got to District meeting I noticed that I had left my note book in the apartment so I had to wing from memory the whole training. It went well though. I trained on the importance of prayer in helping us open our mouths. It ended up really well and had some good discussion.
We then tried to drop by Estras again but still can't find this boy. He has disappeared. Afterward though we had an awesome lesson with Cheyenne. So some background on Cheyenne, she lives with her grandma that has cancer and Cheyenne is a pretty big drug user/ smoker. She is the greatest girl though. She let us right in and we taught her quickly about the gospel and helping her see, like she says, that right now she can't quite comprehend how what we share will bless her but with time and effort she will see it. The only thing is, is when we got their she opened the door and told us to get inside. She slammed the door behind us and asked if the cops were gone and closed all the blinds. The cops were looking for her! She is on 4 probations and so we don't see her getting baptized anytime soon. I felt so much charity for her though, drugs have just taken over her life. It is sad.
Afterward we had our zone activity that night at the Swisher’s home. It was New Year’s Eve. It was awesome! We watched monster's university (which was the best movie ever) and despicable me 2. I don't know what it is with missionaries but I know it is the sacredness of our calling but about 1/3 of the way through that movie Despicable Me 2) I knew none of us felt comfortable and so I got up and turned it off. Everyone in the zone agreed and we ended the movies and just hung out and played games till 9. It was so much better, but it was a good opportunity for me to stand up for what was right. I knew that the missionaries didn't feel comfortable. I don't know how Despicable Me 2 was approved by the assistants... We enjoyed ourselves. Sister Magnusson is in my zone and so we talked there and it was cool!! Took some great pictures and then gave a blessing to an Elder before we left.
Wednesday: This morning we had a lot of our appointments fall through. We talked to a few people though which was good. We also then went to another district meeting to evaluate it. That went well. Afterward we went to some of our other appointments but they all fell through, people aren't committed! That night we went over to the HErringtons, Taylor and Toni our less actives and their brother Austin who had a baptismal date, to visit them, but when we got there they weren't home. A small miracle was we were with a member that knew them and we asked him to offer the prayer. In the prayer he asked the Lord for a miracle and right when we finished, Taylor and Toni pulled up in their car. It was awesome, our member thought it was the coolest thing! The Lord works in ways to build faith. Miracles don't build faith though but that's another subject. We weren't able to teach them though because they just pulled up from Fresno, Cali and so we just set up an appointment with them and headed.
We went and visited a less-active member Jabari that we are working with and that went well. He got into some anti-Mormon literature too and we can tell by the things he says. We can't do too much because they just argue and the spirit is gone. I just opened up to Helaman 5:12 and read about "remembering." I asked him to remember the first visit with the missionaries, the first time he prayed, the first time he read form the book of Mormon, his first answer, his baptism etc. When he shared with us these memories and experiences we found out his concern when he said that he never really received an answer about joseph Smith he just bluffed it in the interview. He wants to know but hasn't received the answer. I don't know how much of that is real because I knew at some point he knew but also the anti-Mormon literature isn't nice. We ended it though on a good note.
Thursday: We had weekly planning and zone planning and what not today. Afterward though we taught Diwon. He is a recent convert but he is less-active. He asked us to come back and begin to teach him again about everything because he has forgotten. We had a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon and how to study it and about the Restoration. I love it when people are humble and want to learn and gain a testimony. I can see how the Lord gives us some sour experience but then with sweet ones. Afterward we taught Cheyenne again in her backyard. She wanted to smoke straight tobacco but I told her it wasn't good for her so she didn't, (while we were there at least.) We read in the Book of Mormon together and had a good lesson. She is starting to feel the spirit but she is just so affected by all the drugs that it’s so hard! That night we taught another awesome less-active lesson to a member who wants to gain a testimony. He read a lot in the Book of Mormon and so we were able to teach him how to study it and by applying it he can know if it is true or not. We had missionary coordination meeting that night and we taught 2 lessons on splits. I went with Chandler and Emily to visit an investigator named Jaime. It was a great lesson on the plan of salvation and Emily and Chandler gave such great testimonies. Jaime has had it pretty rough and we are trying to help her see that she has purpose and that God loves her.
Friday: Today we got up at 5:30 and got to Mission Leadership Council. Getting up that early kills me but it is fun! We talked to some people in the street as we waited for the assistants to show up. Then the assistants asked us to give my training that I gave in zone conference again to all of the zone leaders and sister trainer leaders again that day. So I had to hurry and review my notes. MLC went awesome! There are so many new changes coming in the mission. They are changing a lot of the Administering and Ministering details of the mission such as leadership calls and meetings. NO MROE PROGRESSING CALLS! Too bad I will be gone when they implement it. I used to do progressing calls every single night for a year until now. No more. It’s going to be a lot better this way. I was able to add in a lot of things in the conversion in improving the new system and what not. President was talking about goals and asked if anyone had been there in lasts years MLC when they discussed goals. I was the only one besides Elder Fajardo to raise my hand. President just laughed. He makes old jokes to me a lot I love it. We gave our training again and it went really well!! After MLC we went to the mission office and sat down with our sister training leaders sister Healey and Sister Dykes and talked about the zone meeting and what we wanted to train on. that was good. That night we dropped by Cairey and gave her a reading to do and then looked for referrals to visit but couldn't find anyone. We started exchanges that night with the Brentwood Elders. I was with Elder Willis in my area.
Saturday: We had a great exchange today! We ate again with Gregg at round table today and then went over to the church and taught him. It was a good lesson, he opened up a lot to us about why he hasn't wanted to commit to baptism and why he hasn't been coming to church. We taught him the doctrine of Christ and focused on repentance and then talked about church. He opened up a lot and told us why he hasn't been coming and using the book of Mormon the spirit was able to resolve the concern and he committed to come to church. It was great! We then had some slow hours where we couldn't find anyone. After dinner we went and picked up chandler and went to teach Cariey at her house in Pittsburg, so far. It was an awesome lesson. Her house smelled like china. We taught her about following the prophet and then did a practice interview and she did awesome. She accepted everything and believes it. She really wants this for herself and her life. She is so excited and happy. We also taught Scott really shortly that night because he was smoking and was pretty out of it and high. We then ended our exchange.
Sunday: We dropped by Cheynne and Estras that morning but couldn't find them... Ward council went well and talked a lot about what to do when teaching anti-Mormons. The bishop and Brother Mason began to make the trunky jokes to me. Church went really well. Scott and Cariey came. They announced her baptism and I bore my testimony for fast and testimony meeting. One of the members sitting in the front, Tina freaked out when I got up there because she thought I was leaving that week. It was funny. I testified about the Book of Mormon and the need to renew our testimonies often. After church we had the break the fast dinner which was breakfast food. Then it was Cairy's interview. She did awesome!
That night we met up with the sisters again to go over some final details about zone meeting. Even at the end of my mission and 2 ½ years after graduation, I find that being in Mr. Haymond’s class and at American Heritage School has trained me to be more creative when I am in a council! I love to discuss things. I think better because of what I was taught at that school. When we were all discussing it was awesome. We came up with some really good ideas and we are really excited for this zone training meeting this Wednesday. Not much happened that night.
Things are going well. I sent a package home with some books and what not in it so look out for that. You can open it if you want it just has books. I love you all!
Talk to you next week!
Love Elder Hill
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