Another week gone by, there's only one week left of the transfer. I've already been in Sandy for almost three months! This week was a little slower than last week with the work. The first couple of days we did a lot of service and let's just say that I am definitely living the country boy life. In the past week and a half, I have bucked hay 3 times, chopped or stacked wood 3 different times, planted and weeded corn, and have seen and played with almost any farm animal you can think of haha. It's been awesome but I still like the city better!
Elder Kirk was really sick for a lot of the week with the flu so we
weren't able to go out and do much. I had to stay in the apartment
with him and so I was able to do a lot of studying and reflecting. I'm
almost at my halfway point and it was interesting to look back and see
the growth and development I've had from just one year! I was also
able to study my patriarchal blessing more in depth, and it really is
true how those blessings are literally scriptures for our own lives
and can help us to know what paths to follow.
On Saturday, we had a pretty memorable experience. We got a text from
our Bishop saying that he had received a call from a man and he said
that he needed missionaries to come by to talk to. So we get his
address and go over there and this man, probably in his 60's, opens the
door and was just so happy to see us he was in tears. He said that he
saw some missionaries on the street a couple days ago (the Young Single Adult missionaries) and he got our Bishop's number from them. So we go in and
start getting to know him and it turns out he is a convert of about
three years. He was living in Missouri and his friend convinced him to
move out here to Oregon. So he moves out here with his friend and they
are living with a bunch of random people in this house, and then his
friend abandoned him. He doesn't know where his friend went and now he
has been living in this house for 8 months with 4 people who are
addicted to meth (but he is clean and sober). He has disabilities so
he doesn't have a job. All he has were the clothes he was wearing and a
backpack. He doesn't have a bedroom, he sleeps in a recliner in the
corner. It was the saddest thing in the world. He is the most humble
man I have ever met and all he wanted was someone to help him feel
safe. There is only one other person in the house who doesn't do
drugs, and he said all the other people are terrifying. We gave him a
blessing of comfort and safety and I had the opportunity to give him
the blessing. The Spirit was so strong and he started crying through
the whole thing which made Elder Kirk and I start crying. We then read
Alma 7 with him and talked about the Atonement and how Christ knows
everything he is going through. It was a really humbling experience. Any worries or problems that I thought I had were completely gone. It
helped me realize how blessed I really am, and it helped magnify my
perspective of why I am actually out here... And the cool thing is
that he came to church with us yesterday and he loved it!
Thank you for all the emails and support!! I really appreciate it, it
makes a difference:)
Have a great week!!
Elder Hill
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