Poop Scoopers & Rescue Missions

Hi everyone!

Monday

Monday we had a lesson with the Johnson's, and it went really well! We taught them the first discussion and they said they believed everything we taught them. We invited them to be baptized and Connie, the mom, said she wanted to. Jerry and Jeremy said they wanted to go to church and check it out first before they jump into baptism. 

Tuesday

Tuesday we did some service for an older couple in the Ward; the couple that owns like 12 dogs. They needed help cleaning up their backyard and also asked us to clean up their dog poop. So that was enjoyable. Then we played Pinochle and had a couple lessons later with ward members. 

Wednesday

Wednesday we went with Bill on a rescue mission to downtown Portland to save the Johnson's car that was still broken down over there. We pushed the car out of a parking garage down a block and onto a car dolly. The Johnson's were so grateful and appreciative that we all went to help them out, it was awesome. 

Thursday

Thursday we had Zone Conference all day. Our Zone and two other Zones met at the Stake Center and President Ballard and the Zone Leaders gave us counsel and training. President said that last month was the most baptisms in one month the Oregon Portland Mission has seen in 17 years! After Conference we had a lesson with a lady named Becky Joe. She was more curious than interested and she said she believes in "energy". We were born from an energy source, we live on earth, and then we return to that same energy source. We told her about the Plan of Salvation and how we have a Heavenly Father who has given us a plan to be happy. She thought it was interesting, but said she is happy with her beliefs. It was an interesting conversation. 

Friday

Friday there was a Worldwide Missionary Broadcast that our Zone watched at the Stake Center. It was really good. We had FHE with two youth in the Ward who brought their friends. It was hard at first to get them all focused throughout lesson, but then we showed them the video, "Because of Him" and everyone was silent during and after the video. The Spirit was really strong! 

Sunday

Sunday, Connie and Jerry came to church!! And they loved it! It was their first time coming and they said it was so comfortable and peaceful, unlike any other church they have ever been to. They asked us to come over on Tuesday to give them the next lesson! They said they want to start coming every week!! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Pictures of the inside of Tyler's apartment!

View outside Tyler's front door!

Elder Prestgard at the front door of their apartment!

Tyler's Hints & Highlights this Week!

*The sun was out all day on Friday and it was warm. Best. Day. Ever. 

*Found the "Lone Elder Store" out in the middle of nowhere. How ironic. 

 

 *"Faith is a principle of action and power. Faith in Christ is a principle of action. Faith in the Atonement is a principle of power." 

*The work is picking up slowly, but surely!

Blessings, Snow Days & Pinochle Brawls

Hi everyone!

Monday
Monday we went up to Mt. Hood with Bill, he's a member who is coming back to church and getting ready to go through the temple. He loves missionaries and so he took us and another companionship up to the mountain to go sledding and see Timberline Lodge. It was so sweet, there was like three feet of snow! 

Wednesday

Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Shaw, and it was awesome. He's from Mesa, AZ! I went to their area which covers the other half of Canby. We did some tracting and then we had a lesson with Fabian, an investigator. He and his brother used to be in a gang and his brother was killed, but now Fabian has a wife and a family and is planning on getting baptized in February. Pretty cool!!

Thursday

Thursday we had a few lessons and we went on splits in the evening. I went with Cody who is a senior in high school. It was his first time going out with a missionary and we went and had a lesson with a less active guy. We had a really good lesson on the Book of Mormon and when it was over we got in the car and Cody goes, "that was so freaking cool!" Haha he will be a good missionary.

Friday

Friday we did service for most of the day. We went to the Canby adult center and we helped prepare lunch for all the elderly people and then we served it and helped them clean up. It was fun! We had a couple lessons later and one was with a less-active lady named Stephanie. She has been struggling with church and paying her tithing recently so we had a lesson about those things and I told her an experience I had about tithing. The next day we get a call from her and she goes, "Elder Hill! I want you to know something, your story gave me the strength to go pay my tithing in full! Last night I finally paid a full tithe. So thank you so much!!"... So awesome when you get calls like that!

Saturday

Saturday morning our whole Zone and another Zone (so like 40 missionaries) did service cleaning up a park, It was fun seeing all the other missionaries. After that, we tracted for like three straight hours and we got nothin! That is the worst..... but after that we received a call from our investigator family, the Johnsons. They asked us to come over because they had been going through some really hard things and they felt like they should call us. So we go over there and we find out that Connie, the mom, found out a couple days ago that she has cancer in her lymph nodes (lymphoma) and on the way home from her doctor's appointment their car broke down in Portland. They had been trying to find someone to help them tow the car back down to Canby because they couldn't afford to pay someone to tow it or fix it. They had tried everything and Connie was overwhelmed and broke down. We had talked to them about priesthood blessings before and she asked, "could you guys give me one of those blessings that you do?" We said of course. So Elder Prestgard anointed and I gave the blessing. The Spirit was really strong and Connie and Jerry (the dad) were very emotional through the whole thing. At the end of the blessing, Connie was crying and through her tears says, "that was the most incredible feeling I have ever experienced before in my life. I have never felt like this before. It feels like something was literally lifted off of me." We told her that everything would workout. It's pretty awesome when you can be an instrument in the Lord's hands like that! It was a really cool experience!

Thanks for all the support! I really appreciate it!

Elder Hill

Tyler's highlights this week!

*During Pinochle this week, two old ladies started yelling at each other and getting into it because they thought the other one was cheating haha. It was pretty funny, Elder Prestgard and I were trying not to laugh.

*A lady in the Ward asked us to be in the choir so now we are in the choir I guess haha. Should be interesting!

Country Life & Care Centers

Hi everyone!

Monday

Monday for p-day our whole Zone went to the Stake Center and played 
basketball and volleyball so that was fun. Some of the Sisters are 
pretty good! In the evening, we had dinner with the Bishop and they 
live in the woods in the middle of nowhere. It took us like thirty 
minutes to get there ... country life! 

Tuesday
Tuesday we went and did our weekly service at the adult center playing 
Pinochle. Those old folks get competitive hahaha. We had FHE with the 
Knowlden Family and we had a lesson on the Book of Mormon and then played Apples 
to Apples. 

Wednesday
Wednesday we had a lesson with a less-active named Stephanie who is a 
dog breeder. She owns like 12 dogs and they run all around her yard 
and house. We also had interviews with the Mission President. We talked 
about our area and the things we are doing and he said we are doing 
everything right we just have to keep sowing and eventually we will 
harvest in the Lord's time. Wednesday night we had a lesson with our 
investigator, Shelly Rump. She has been meeting with missionaries for 
years.  Her husband is a member and she said she wants a sign she 
should get baptized. We had a good lesson and we are meeting with her 
again next week. 

Thursday
Thursday we met with Margo and Bruce who are both less-actives living 
in a care center. Bruce is like 85 and he loves telling stories haha. 
We went tracting all day and everyone in this town has either talked 
to missionaries or is not interested at all. But something cool 
happened ... during personal study, I was reading about how God will place 
people in your path and we are put in certain places for a reason. So 
we went to go see a former investigator and they weren't home and I 
told Elder Prestgard about what I studied and that there was someone 
around here for us to find so that's why we are here. We went a couple 
houses down and knocked on a door and we talked to a guy named Mark 
and we got a return appointment! And then we saw a girl walking on the 
street by the house and we started talking to her and she was actually 
a member. She said she hadn't been visited by anyone in a long time 
and we got her number. So that was a pretty cool experience. We had a 
couple of lessons with less-active members in the evening. 

Friday
Friday we went down to Mollala and I had to do four baptismal 
interviews. Since there was a family getting baptized the next day, we 
had to get them all done in time and it took about 2.5 hours to get 
through all of them. It was long morning, but they all went great. And 
they were baptized the next day! 

Saturday
Saturday was just full of meetings. We had a Stake meeting, District 
meeting, then went to that family's baptism. And then Sunday was 
church meetings and tracting. 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Tyler's Highlights this week!

*Our Mission had 35 baptisms in the month of December which is the 
most in a month for our mission in seven years. 

*We had 28 baptisms in November and 35 in December and President said 
if we keep this up we will be the top baptizing mission in the 
northwest next month. Great things are happening!!!

The Canby Ward!!!

Hi everyone! 

So here's a little bit of information about my new area:

The Canby 2nd Ward is huge. They have 250 active members, 80 primary kids, 20ish young men and 20ish young women. It's crazy!! Compared to the 60 active members, 7 primary kids, and 5 youth total that was in Moreland. The town of Canby is pretty small. We cover the south half of the town and then all of the country for like 8 miles south of it. Canby 1st Ward covers the north. It's definitely a culture shock being out here. We will go visit people and drive like 20 minutes. But having a car is pretty sweet. The work in the area has been a little slow and there was only one baptism in the Ward the past calendar year. The members are awesome though, and very nice. 

Cows ...

Out in the country ...

Mt. Hood in the background ...

And, my new companion:

Elder Prestgard! He is awesome. We came out at the same time, but he was in a different district in the MTC. He is 18 and from Orem, Utah. He loves sports and likes to play basketball. He is a little shy and nervous, but is one of the nicest people I know! He has been in this area for three months. We get along well! This week we spent a lot of time going around and trying to get me acquainted with different members and other people that we are teaching. The people here are awesome. When it snowed Sunday, the Stake President called the Bishops and said that church was cancelled. But it was already 9am (which is when church starts) so we only had sacrament meeting. However, we had two investigators come to church. We were the only area in the entire mission that had investigators at church... because we are the only area that actually had church haha. And I did get up and bear my testimony! 

Highlights from the week: 

*New Year's Eve! We went over to the Reeds, from the Canby 1st Ward and played games with their family and all the other missionaries.

With the Sister missionaries at the Reed's house on New Year's Eve ...

Check out the "photo-bombers" in the window :)

*New Year's Day was my 6 month mark! I'm already 1/4 done which is nuts. Elder Prestgard and I burned ties in our backyard. (You burn a tie when you're 1/4 done, a white shirt 1/2, a pair of slacks 3/4, and a suit 4/4 at the end of each quarter of your mission)

*It SNOWED Sunday morning!! They say it usually doesn't snow, but it snowed quite a bit in the morning and they grounded all the cars in the mission. They cancelled church everywhere in our mission because of it haha.

SNOW!!!

*For service we go to a care center and we play Pinochle with some people. That game is so hard, but they are teaching me and it's pretty fun. 

*People here are so nice when we go tracting. Unlike Moreland, they don't slam the door and yell at you. It's weird.

My New Address: 

240 SE 3rd Ave. 

Canby, Oregon  97013

Happy New Year!! Go check out the Mormon message, "Look Not Behind Thee" it's pretty cool! Great opportunity for us to set goals and make plans to better ourselves for this coming year.

Have a great week!!!

Elder Hill 

Transfer Calls & Christmas!

Hi everyone!

So after serving six months in the Moreland Ward, I am finally getting transferred to the Canby 2nd Ward! (Canby is about 40 miles south of Portland) I am going to be serving with Elder Prestgard, who came out the same time I did. I didn't know him in the MTC, but we've played basketball a couple of times together and he is a cool guy so I'm excited to serve with him. I will also be the District Leader over there AND we get a car!!! Hallelujah!! I'm super excited to be able to go meet and teach new people!!

At church on Sunday, Bishop was conducting in sacrament meeting and somehow he knew I was getting transferred so he called me up and asked me to bear my testimony. It was kinda scary, but it was nice to thank everyone for their love and support and to bear my testimony to them one last time. It has been awesome serving here in the Moreland Ward and I am so grateful for all the experiences I have had and the people I have met. Couldn't have had a better first six months on my mission!

So before I talk about Christmas, I have to talk about how on Wednesday I ran into Spencer and Cam (two of my best friends from college)!! We got some lunch and they had time to kill so we took them to go see our investigator, Gilbert. We had a great discussion with him and Gilbert loved them. Gilbert will be getting baptized very soon. He says, he is "waiting for God to tell him when". It was cool being able to see them and show them the area. Shoutout to both of them!!

Christmas Eve we went over to the McDonald's and they had a ton of family over and did a white elephant gift exchange that we participated in. I ended up with a beanie and Elder Giles ended up with some suppositories hahahaha. 

Christmas morning we were able to Skype home!! It was great, but weird seeing everyone. It was also bittersweet, cause now I can't Skype home until Mother's Day. But it was awesome nonetheless. The rest of the morning the entire Zone went to breakfast at a member's house so that was fun. Then Elder Giles and I had dinner and played games at the Kohler Family's house. It was a different Christmas, but I enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, letters, emails, and packages!! I appreciate it so much! Thank you!!

Saturday and Sunday were spent having last minute lessons and saying goodbye to everyone. Lots of pictures! 

Jack, nicest homeless guy ever ...

Bro. Stokes, the Ward Mission Leader ...  he says he's smiling in this picture :)

 Gilbert at his record store ...

The McDonalds ...

The Tupou Family gave Tyler a lei at his goodbye ceremony ...

Tyler will miss his monthly trip to Costco for hot dogs with Bro. Christiansen! 

Tyler posing with his friend, Joseph Yeates for one last picture ... 

Tyler, Cam & Spencer at Gilbert's record store ...

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Merry Christmas!!!

Hi everyone!

This week was different than most weeks. It was full of service and Christmas events.

Tuesday
Tuesday we helped Sister Scott move from one apartment to another and we did that for most of the day. We also went with a lot of other missionaries to go caroling at a care center so that was fun.

Wednesday
Wednesday we were walking down the street and there was a homeless guy sitting on the fence and he started yelling at us to come over. So we go over there, and we started talking to him. His name was Hathaway and he began telling us a story of how he had a samurai sword fight in our church parking lot the other night, and how he carries his swords in his cello case. It was definitely interesting haha, but then he started asking us about why we don't smoke or drink and we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he said that's good advice so at least it ended well. Wednesday we also had a lesson with Gilbert, getting him ready for his baptismal interview Thursday. He was getting cold feet and said he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it, but we had a good lesson with him on baptism and he said he wanted to do it. 

Thursday

Thursday we had a few lessons and did some more caroling with the Ward. If only I could actually sing haha. Gilbert had his interview in the evening and we went over right before he had it and we walked in and he said, "are you ready, cause I was born ready.".. and it went great!! Now he just has to pick a date to be baptized and he said he might want to do it on Christmas haha so that will be exciting.

Friday

Friday was the Mission Christmas party! It was awesome seeing friends from other Zones and from the MTC. Our Mission is very very small geographically so you get to know a lot of other missionaries and the entire Mission came to the party. There were musical numbers and skits that people put on, it was so much fun. In the evening we had dinner with Ron and Gloria Jean McDonald and they took us out to a really nice seafood place as a Christmas present. It was delicious and we got a huge dessert. I ate so much I could barely move, it was a Christmas miracle that I could walk. 

Cakes our recent convert, Carissa made for the Mission Christmas party!! 

Huge dessert served at the Mission party ...

Tyler's Zone at the party ...

Saturday

Saturday we did a lot more service helping the Stake move some stuff from the nativity, and then we helped a family in our Ward move a bunch of furniture. It was nice to do service for different people. We had our Ward Christmas party in the evening! It was super fun talking and mingling with everyone, and there were a lot of non-members there too so that was good. I'm gonna miss this Ward, seeing as I will probably get transferred after this week. I have been here for six months and have made a lot of strong friendships, so it'll be hard saying goodbye.

Sunday

Sunday we had dinner with the Francis'. I think they are my favorite family in the Ward ...them or the McDonald's! They had us over for dinner and they told us to stay to help them put up/decorate their tree and play pinball with them. It was a lot of fun! I'm gonna miss them! 

The Francis Family (Blair, Sis. Francis, Bro. Francis, Tyler, Ian and his wife)

Tyler & Sis. Gillette

Merry Christmas!! Thank you a bunch for the cards and packages!!

Elder Hill


Tyler's highlights this week!

*Transfers calls are this Saturday and I think I will be leaving:(

*I know I talk about the rain a lot, but they said that it might break the record for most consecutive days with rain. It's rained every single day this month. *I get to Skype the fam on Christmas!! So exciting!!!

O Little Town of Bethlehem ....

Hi everyone!

Here's what happened in the OPM this past week ...

Tuesday
Tuesday was our P-day and we went downtown with some of the Sisters and another companionship of Elders and played glow in the dark mini golf! It was awesome. Downtown Portland is crazy. In the evening we had dinner with Dennis and Jackie McDonald and two of Gayle's daughters, Tamra and Shannon! If you remember, Gayle was the new convert who recently passed away, and now two of her daughters are starting to look into the Church and learn more. We taught the Plan of Salvation to them and talked about eternal families. One of them said that they want to start taking the lessons, but the other is moving soon so she is busy with that. BUT, she is moving to our Ward so we will be helping her with the move and can make that connection!

Wednesday

Wednesday we had lessons with a couple of our new investigators! We are taking it slow with them and just shared a Christmas message with each of them, but we did get return appointments! The huge "Joy to the World" event for our Stake started! They decked out the entire gym to make it look like the streets of Bethlehem, and everyone is welcome to come look at it! They have choirs and groups doing musical performances throughout the day, it's awesome. So we go there and show people around and help set-up or talk to people. That was Wednesday, Thursday, and some of Friday. We also took some sweet pics at the photo booths haha. 

Nativity photo booth with Elder Davies 

Stake Center - Joy to the World

Stake Center - Streets of Bethlehem

Stake Center ...

Stake Center ...

Photo booth with Elder Giles and Sisters Staley & Russell

Tyler with the Sisters, Elder Giles and Sister Scott

Photo booth - Tyler is Mary :) 

Nativity ...

Friday

Friday I went on an exchange with our Zone Leader, Elder Bishop, and I went to their area. Elder Bishop is 27 and he played baseball in college so it was cool talking to him about that. We tracted and taught a couple lessons in his area, but nothing too exciting. We got along pretty well!

Tyler & Elder Bishop

Saturday
Saturday I was back in Moreland and Elder Giles and I went over to Tamra's house to help her put up Christmas lights. While we were doing that, it started pouring rain but we finished anyway since we had to go somewhere soon. After we finished, it looked like we had gone swimming haha. From there, we went to a lesson with our new investigator, Gwendilynn! We knocked on her door a couple weeks ago, she told us to come back, but we hadn't been able to catch her at home until now. We went over there with a member and she let us in. So it was our first sit down lesson with her and it went really well! She's an older black woman with dreads and she's from downtown LA. She works at a perfume shop at a club in downtown Portland. She is such a nice lady, with an incredibly strong testimony in Jesus Christ. So we focused on how we are Christians and believe in Christ as well. We didn't want to push the Restoration or Joseph Smith on her because we planned to just make our discussion Christ-centered, but the entire time I kept getting the prompting to give her a Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, I finally pulled one out of my bag and I asked her if she has ever heard of or read from the Book of Mormon. She said no but that she has wanted to! I gave it to her and she said that she is going to read it and that we can come back on Saturday and see how she liked it. It was an awesome first lesson! Spirit was strong!

Sunday
Nothing too exciting happened Sunday other than church meetings and then in the evening we had a lesson with Gilbert! And guess what?! He is having his baptismal interview on Thursday!!!! We had a great lesson with him and at the end he said, "let's schedule the interview."  He has to get a special interview for certain circumstances, but we hope all will go well and we are praying that it will work out! Beyond excited!!

Miss you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Hill


Tyler's Hints & Highlights this Week!

* Haven't seen the sun in a week and a half. It has rained every day for like 2 weeks:(

* Scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 7:6-8:

6 I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 

7 For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

8 And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth. 

This is one of my favorites because it tells us to be humble but to always stand for what we believe in and to never compromise, and the Lord will help us do that.

*We took Christmas card pictures with Jeff