Tracting with Gill!

Hi everyone!

This week was good.. We had a lot of lessons, but we also did a lot of tracting. 

Monday

Monday night we had dinner and FHE with the Leders. They are a super fun family and we played spoons with them and people were screaming it was pretty intense. 

Tuesday

Tuesday we had a lesson with our new investigator Kim.  We were planning on reviewing the Restoration, but then she started talking about how her aunt just passed away so Elder Garfield and I felt like we needed to teach the Plan of Salvation. We did an impromptu lesson on the PoS and it was legit. Afterwards she said she really needed that and it was a great lesson! We then went and played Pinochle at the old folks center and I had triple aces around which is "unheard of in this town" so that was exciting. Later we did more service serving food at a Lutheran church. 

Wednesday

Wednesday we tracted forever and we met this one guy who said that he broke both of his legs, both his arms, and 17 ribs in a boating accident and when he was knocked out from surgery he had a vision of the Second Coming, and he said we are very close. But, then he started to talk negatively about the Book of Mormon and told us that serving a mission is a scam and what not.  So he wasn't very interested in learning more.

Friday

Friday we did a lot of tracting again.  We knocked on one door and they let us right in. We were freaking out because no one says come on in without talking to us for a little, but then we found out that they were members that hadn't been to church in a while haha.  It was still cool talking to them...

We had dinner at Sister Newell's house.  She has been less-active for a long time, and we have been working with her for the past couple weeks and she says that we have helped her so much, AND she was at church on Sunday! So that was pretty sweet.  First time in years.  She's awesome.

Saturday

Saturday we were out tracting again it was not successful at all. We got yelled at a bunch and then dogs were chasing us. The only bright spot of tracting was when we taught the Restoration to two mini horses. Committed both of them to baptism..... 

Later in the day we had a member lesson with Brother Newgren.  He is an active member, but recently he was diagnosed with cancer. He has been doing chemo so he hasn't been able to do much. He is awesome though. He says that he is sorry he hasn't been giving us referrals because he has been sick. He is the best missionary out there! He said he gave out 1000 pass along cards last year. That's insane!! The guy is incredible.

Sunday

Sunday was busy we had three lessons and they all went well. We have a few people that are close to baptism but just need a little push!! 

Things are good in Canby!  Have a great week!!!

Elder Hill

Tyler's Hints & Highlights this Week!

* Elder Garfield and I have created our own reality tv show called "Tracting With Gill" (Garfield+Hill=Gill). We use our iPads and record our tracting adventures, Usually when we are out in the boonies walking in between houses to help make tracting more fun.

Crocodile shoes ...

* Watch the video "Because of Him" on LDS.org it is super good especially with Easter coming up!

Coons, Possums & Service

Hi everyone!

This week was okay.  We didn't teach a lot of lessons, but we did do a lot of service. 

We went and helped a member pull out a kiwi tree from their yard.  We had to dig out the entire root so that was fun. Then we went and prepared/served food again at the adult center which was cool because you go with all these other volunteers and prepare food in the kitchen, then you go out and serve it to all the people.  We did another service project with our Zone where we had to pull ivy and blackberry vines at this nature park. The guy in charge was like, "I need three people who are crazy and adventurous, who are they?" Two people raised their hands and then he pointed at me and said you look crazy and adventurous come with me. I was like oh crap (this guy was a little crazy himself). He took us to the top of this big steep hill/cliff thing and then he pointed over the edge and said that he needed the ivy to be pulled off this hillside. It was pretty big and very steep so it was freaky. Elder Carl, who was with us, almost died. He reached for a branch in front of him and it broke off so he was about to tumble down the hill, but Elder Mugleston grabbed him as he was falling! Crazy. But it was pretty fun! 

We were seeing the part member families in the Ward trying to find some of them who haven't been to church in a while, and we knock on this one door in a mobile home park and a lady comes out to talk to us. She said, "my mom is a member but she is busy right now and I am a Pagan.  So yes, I do worship Satan, but I also believe that God is everywhere." She points at the grass and says, "that is God". She points at a plant, "that is God". She points at a post, "that is God" and she continued to tell us how she has learned Japanese and she started speaking Japanese to us. It was kinda funny and then she stopped and said, "I like you guys, come into Frackburger (a burger place in town) and I will hook you up with a burger." Apparently she works there and she can get us free food! She wasn't interested, but we still get lunch! 

So we have come to the conclusion that one of our investigators, Trina, was kidnapped or killed. Last week we knocked on the sketchy door with "insane asylum" on it and met Trina who said she was interested and told us to come back. So we go back on Thursday, when she says we could, and we knock on the door. A lady answers and we ask if Trina is there. She says, "no I don't think she lives here." So we explain how we met her and she says nope and closes the door. That was weird. We go back two days later and knock again. A guy answers this time and we ask for Trina and he says that she might be back in a couple of days.... So now we don't know what to think, Elder Garfield says that they are trying to cover up the murder, but their stories don't add up. I'm starting to believe it haha. But the other people that we tracted into last week with the super long driveway, let us in!! We stopped by again and they let us in and we taught the Restoration and it went well! They want us to come back! It's crazy, tracting actually worked for once! So we are excited about that. Our teaching pool is growing! 

Tyler & his companion, Elder Garfield 

Broken window in their apartment from a recent storm!

Members trapped a coon and possum down by the river ... 

gotta love the country life!!! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Ponderize scripture: Ether 12:4 - "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." 

I love how it says that when we have faith in God we hope for a better world and how that faith is an anchor for our lives in which it will always lead us to being steadfast and abounding in good works. It all starts with having a belief in God. He is the source of all truth and happiness. With a belief comes hope, with hope comes faith, and with faith comes a desire to be better and be more like our Father in Heaven. 

Duck + Rooster = Dooster!

Hi everyone!

New transfer! It was my first week with Elder Garfield and it was awesome. Elder Garfield is from Henderson, Nevada and he went to BYU-I for a year before his mission. He is hilarious, and we get along super well! This week was the best we have had in Canby! We taught 18 lessons and found four new investigators. 

Saying goodbye to Elder Prestgard!

Monday

Monday we had FHE with one of the families in our Ward and they invited an investigator and her family over.  It went well and they seemed to really like it. 

Tuesday

Tuesday we did service almost all day. We chopped some more wood, worked at the adult center, and helped a member cut their blackberry vines. Blackberry vines are the worst! They have huge thorns and we came out of their looking like a cat had clawed our arms to death haha. The member was an older guy and she really appreciated it! In the evening, we had a really good lesson with an investigator who has been taking the lessons for four years!  We are trying to figure out what to say or teach that will help her because she is ready to be baptized! She just has to take that next step. 

Wednesday

Wednesday we had some lessons with less-active members and they went really well! We are really trying to help get them to church. We also worked at the food bank again and that's always fun. We go there with the Zone Leaders and sort canned foods. 

Thursday

Thursday, Gilbert came down to Canby to visit! He took us out to lunch, and the first thing he says is,"okay first things first, I'm working on the baptism little bro. I am getting there, it just takes time and God knows what's best." I'm glad he is still thinking about it at least! He says he wants to come down and continue taking lessons down here with me and Elder Garfield haha. We said he has missionaries up there to teach him, but he said he wants to take more lessons down here in Canby. So we will see haha. So good to see him!! We also had five lessons on Thursday! We met with an investigator, a recent convert, and then three less-active members. In one of the lessons, we talked a lot about prayer and we shared part of the Bible Dictionary definition and it was awesome.  The mom (Sister Lombard) said that the lesson really answered her prayers and helped her a lot. 

Lunch with Gilbert!

Friday

Friday we met with a former investigator named Kim.  We met her last week and she told us to come over. We walked in and she had a bunch of little snacks and drinks laid out along with her scriptures, it was awesome! We taught her the Restoration and it was solid. We taught simply and powerfully and the Spirit was strong! We are going back on Thursday to teach her again with a member. Later in the day, we helped a member saw some branches off their tree which was kinda fun. 

Saturday

Saturday we did some more service for a less-active member, helping them clean up their barn. We tracted for a couple hours, and we got nothin. It was the worst. We only handed out one BoM and no one was interested at all!

Sunday

Sunday our Ward had a regional conference broadcasted to our building and Elder Renlund spoke so that was pretty cool! We had a really good lesson with an investigator at a member's house about the BoM. She says it is just a matter of time until she is baptized. So many people are so close, they just need an extra little push!! So we had an hour of finding to do before dinner time and we drove out to the boonies to where dinner was and we decided we were going to tract the whole next street. Keep in mind, tracting has not been successful at all since I have been on my mission, so we were not expecting a lot. We took three BoM's and two pamphlets and set a goal to give them out before dinner. And it was crazy! The first two doors we knocked on we taught both of them a lesson about the BoM.  They took the Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, and said they would read it and that we could come back in a week after they had read some of it. TWO DOORS IN A ROW. We were walking off the porch and Elder Garfield was like, "what the heck is going on, this is insane." The funny thing is that we were going to skip both of those doors. One of them had a really long driveway that took forever to walk down, but we said let's just do it anyway, and then the other door was super, super sketchy. It was an old tiny little house that had a sign that said, "Insane Asylum".  We were debating whether to knock or not but we just went for it. We knocked on the door and we heard a like a weird laughing noise, and we thought we were going to be kidnapped... Saratov Approach all over again, but a lady opened the door and she was really interested. Never has that happened before with two doors in a row, but the Lord knows who is prepared. Then the next door after that took a BoM, but they weren't too interested. We ran out of supplies after our first three doors! It was incredible and such a blessing! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Tyler's Highlights & Hints this Week!

-Happy Valentine's Day!! 

-When we were tracting there were some weird rooster-duck things on this ladies porch. They looked so weird so we took a pic by them! Haha 

Duck + Rooster = Dooster

-Thank you for all of the emails! I really appreciate them and they mean a lot and receiving letters is like Christmas so don't be afraid to send them:) My address is still the same!! You guys are the best!

-Scriptural thought:  Mormon 5:23 "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power." Sometimes we tend to forget Who is guiding our lives. I really like this scripture because it is a good reminder that God is in charge and that He has a specific plan for each of us. He knows us perfectly and has power to bless us more than we can imagine. He can help us more than we could ever help ourselves. We just have to trust and believe.

Transfers & Divine Intervention

Hi everyone!

So P-Days have been super busy with sports and activities lately so I'm sorry if I haven't emailed you back, but I promise I will! I love getting emails no matter how long or short so keep sending them please! I really appreciate it:) 

Tuesday

Tuesday we went and chopped wood for an older non-member lady, and the craziest thing happened. We were using a log splitter and usually the logs split very easily, but the log this time had some knots in it so when the splitter went down it didn't split right away. It was going down on the log and causing a ton of tension and we were just thinking "uh oh". Elder Prestgard and I were both only a foot away from the splitter and finally the log split and one of the pieces went flying from under the machine and it went shooting right in between us!  It was literally the only place that the log could have gone without hitting us (and it was a pretty huge/dense piece of wood). It was a miracle that one of us didn't get drilled by the log, thank goodness for divine intervention!

Tuesday night we had a lesson with the Johnson's on the Plan of Salvation. We used some cutouts as visual aids to teach it, but I also wanted them to have a written out copy that they could keep. So I drew it out on a piece of paper beforehand and gave it to them at the end of the lesson. We went back over a few days later to see how they were doing and they had framed the drawing I gave them and hung it on the wall! It was awesome!! They said they felt like they should frame it.  We were so happy to see it hanging up! 

Wednesday

Wednesday we did some service at the food bank and in the evening we had a couple lessons with less-active members that were good. 

Thursday

Thursday we had exchanges with the Canyon Creek Elders. Elder Miller came to Canby with me and my companion went with Elder Garver to Mollala. Elder Miller and I had some solid lessons during the day and since Elder Miller was going to be here with me and the Zone Leaders wanted to pull a little prank on him (the ZLs cover the other half of Canby so we see them all the time). So Elder Miller is a pretty confident guy and there is a member in the ZLs Ward that loves to mess with missionaries, his name is Carlos. He is Hispanic and you wouldn't think he is a member by the way he looks, but he is a solid member, and he has a brother-in-law that lives with them who also goes along with the pranks, he goes by Chunky. Anyways, so Carlos tells me to bring Elder Miller over at 7 (I have already met Carlos and Chunky a couple times) and he is going to pretend he is an investigator. So I make a story about how we tracted into Carlos and that he told us to come back tonight at 7. We go and knock on his door and Chunky answers and let's us in. We go in and we sit on the couch, and then we hear someone in the bathroom saying, "who was at the door babe!?" and Carlos comes out in just his boxers!  He is a big hairy dude, talking in a feminine voice and he says, "oh it's those cute church guys". He starts talking to us and he comes and sits down right next to Elder Miller and starts flirting with him and asking him questions. Keep in mind he is literally in just his boxers. I had to try so hard not to laugh, and every time I look at Chunky he just smiles at me and tries not to laugh. Elder Miller was getting so uncomfortable, his expressions were priceless. Eventually Carlos just starts busting up laughing and says, "I can't do this anymore!" The ZLs come out from the back room and are dying laughing. Elder Miller goes, "you're members aren't you!?" Hahaha it was so funny but terrible at the same time. Gotta love missionary pranks. 

Tyler, Elder Prestgard & Zone Leaders at BWW's 

Friday

Friday I had to go down and do a baptismal interview in Mollala for a 10-year-old girl who was getting baptized so that was cool.  She was very excited to be baptized. 

Saturday

Saturday we went and cut blackberry vines for a member and those things are the worst! They cut you up so bad!! Saturday we also had our last District meeting and so we kinda all brought some goofy things to wear to take a picture with. 

Sunday

Sunday was transfer calls!! So I will be staying in Canby as the District Leader, but Elder Prestgard is leaving:( and I am getting Elder Garfield! He has been out four months. I have been around him before, and he is pretty cool so I am excited. Now I have to take over the area and I feel like I still just got here and don't know the people very well, but it should fun. I have to say that I have really enjoyed being District Leader because of the opportunities that you get to help and serve others especially doing baptismal interviews. Being able to see the people and talk to them about their baptism is the best. Seeing their excitement for their baptism and how the Gospel has changed their lives is so awesome. 

It's starting to warm up here, thank goodness! 

Have a good week! 

Elder Hill

It's All True People!!!

Hello everyone!

Nothing super exciting happened this week ...

We had some lessons throughout the week, but nothing that really stood out.  We had plans and other things fall through. We did some service serving food one evening and there was one night when we were planning with our Ward Mission Leader.  He was talking about how we have to have the faith to call down miracles from heaven because as missionaries we are entitled to that. So Elder Prestgard and I thought about it and the next day we got in the car, and we prayed to have a miracle that we would be led to someone's house that is prepared. So we went and drove to one of the potential investigators we had and they weren't home so we started driving to a street to go tracting and as we were driving I had the impression to take a left down this dirt road. So I did!  It led to an old house just by itself in the middle of nowhere so we go and knock on it and a lady answers. She said that she is Christian and she loves Jesus Christ and that she wants us to share our message with her whole family. So we are going back to her house on Tuesday to teach them! 

On Thursday night, we were driving home at 9:15pm and we get a call from the Sisters. We answer the phone and they just start yelling and screaming and freaking out. They had gotten home and went to unlock their apartment and it was already opened and all the lights were on. They look inside and there was just a single bucket sitting in the middle of the floor so they ran to their car, locked the doors and called us. We called the Zone Leaders and went over there and no one was in the apartment. It was apparently just the Office Elders dropping off cleaning supplies earlier in the day hahaha. Poor sisters were scared to death haha. 

We had Stake Conference this weekend and Elder Hansen from the Seventy came and spoke. It was really good. He got up and said, "I was going to share some things with you today, but since the meeting started the Spirit has led me in a totally different direction." He didn't look down once at any notes or anything. He went on to give a really good talk on repentance for 45 min. I wish I could do that. It was so cool. 

Last p-day we went and played disc golf with a member and now we are going to play real golf today so I don't have a lot of time. That's why this is so short, sorry! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Tyler's Hints and Highlights this Week!

*It was Elder Prestgard's birthday on Saturday! A member made him a cake and I may or may not have shoved his face in it! Haha

*Jesus Christ is either the Son of God or He is not. Joseph Smith either saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ or he did not. The Book of Mormon is true or it is not and if it is not, then the Church and everything else goes with it. It is all black and white. We have to find out for ourselves." It's all true people!!