Brush with Death & Basketball School is in Session

Hi everyone!

Can't believe another week is gone! There are only two weeks left of the transfer holy crap!

Well this week started off with us almost dying...... So we drove to Family Home Evening with our good friend, Ryan Doss, and the activity is pickin' blackberries. To get to the berry pickin' place, you have to turn off a main road onto a smaller road. The smaller road has a small hill you have to drive over to get to the place. So the FHE activity goes great and everything. On our way back home we start driving back down this small road, and then all of a sudden Ryan just floors it to like 60mph (Ryan is known for his crazy driving so it's not a surprise) and as he is flooring it we are about to go over the small hill and I am thinking, "the stop sign and the main road are not too far after this little hill," (something Ryan completely forgot) and so we go flying over this hill and Ryan sees the stop sign but it is too late. He tries slamming on the breaks, but we catch air and land past the stop sign. We bounce/skid through the four lane main road, and THANK GOODNESS there were no cars driving either way or we would have been dead. We go flying over this main road and on the other side there is a huge barley field. We dodge a tree and go flying a good 40 yards into the barley field until we skid to a stop. Thankfully we were in a big Silverado truck so there wasn't really any damage to the car, but holy crap it was INSANE! Talk about lucky to be alive hahaha.  It was a small miracle!! 

In other news, we had lunch with Gilbert this week! He is one of my investigators from my first area! It was super awesome to see him. Hopefully he will be baptized soon; he is working on it! 

So we were walking in the park one night trying to talk to people and we see some guys playing basketball. Elder Argyle and I both love playing basketball so we go over there and we ask these three black guys in their 30's if we can play with them and they say, "pffff you guys ain't ready to ball," and they turn and keep playing. We were like okay fine and so we go ask these five college age looking guys if we can play with them and they say, "yeah sure we will go get those three other guys you talked to and play 5 vs. 5 full court". They go over there and get them and I say to Elder Argyle, "dude, I won't play very well in my church shoes and shirt and tie," and he just turns and says, "Bro, God will help us play good". And he was right! Haha it was probably the best basketball I have played in a long time. Elder Argyle and I were on a team with three of the college age kids and we killed them. It was like those YouTube videos you see of missionaries dunking on people! There were cars driving by yelling, "go Elders!!" Haha Elder Argyle and I did really well and one of black guys said, "I can't imagine what you guys play like in sneakers" haha. Little does he know that we played better in our missionary clothes. It was pretty awesome though! We were able to get one of their numbers and talk to them about what we do as missionaries.  We will hopefully be able to meet up with them again! 

Sunday we had a huge regional (Portland and Vancouver) conference! There were like 1,000 YSA people at this sacrament meeting. It was so cool meeting so many people! And one of the speakers for the meeting was Ryan Doss, the guy that almost killed us in our Ward haha. In his talk he gave us a shoutout! He said, "I love the Elders. Elder Hill and Elder Argyle are some of the most solid individuals I know! They are the best people. I love going out with them."  I wanted to cry haha, that kid is awesome even though he did almost kill us.

Spiritual Thought: I was reading in 2 Nephi 2:4: "And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free." I thought that was really cool, how it is really up to us if we want eternal life. It is free to everyone; there is no person that has lived or ever will live that doesn't have the opportunity to gain salvation. If we want it we can have it, we just have to do the things that will allow us to gain it. Since it was 7/11 last week... It's like getting a free slurpee on 7/11. Slurpees are offered to everyone, and they are free. There is no one that isn't allowed to have a free slurpee. But to actually get that slurpee you have to do your part and go get it yourself. You have to drive to 7/11, walk in the store, grab a cup, fill it up, put a lid on, and straw in it. You can't just sit at home and expect a slurpee to appear in your hand. Salvation is free, but it is up to us whether we get it ourselves. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and want us to gain eternal life and salvation. And I know as we do our part in doing those things to gain that, then They will make up the rest. Christ suffered for everyone, not just a select few, but for everyone. We all have the same opportunity but it is up to us. 

Love you all!! 

Elder Hill

 View overlooking the area where they are serving ...

Tyler with Elder Argyle and Ryan Doss

Temple & Sorority Girls

Hi everyone!

Had another solid week here in the YSA Ward! For the Fourth of July, our Zone walked in a parade with Sister Ballard (mission presidents wife). It was pretty fun. We got to throw candy to people and when we ran out of candy we were throwing out Mormon.org cards hahaha. Then we went to one of our friend's houses in the Ward to light off fireworks and hangout! We were allowed to stay out until 11 so that was sweet. I forgot to mention previously that we share the Ward with Sister missionaries: Sisters Bagshaw and Abplanalp, and so they came with us to do fireworks! We are always with them at activities, dinners, and meetings. It's kinda weird sharing a Ward, but the sisters are awesome and hilarious! 

 

We were able to go to the temple this week! It was the first time in over four months, and it was awesome. I love going to the temple and being able to feel the Spirit and receive inspiration and answers to questions. The bishop in my last area said, "the temple is the only place on earth that Satan cannot get into." I thought that was pretty cool knowing that I was in the only place where Satan can't be. And I saw Brother Smith, my old Ward mission leader from my last area, at the temple!!! It was so great being able to see him.  We were able to catch up and talk for a little bit. He's one of my favorite people I have met on my mission. 

So to explain the second half of the email title.... Sunday night we were sitting in dinner and we get a call from a random number and I didn't answer it. But then they call three more times and so I finally just excuse myself and answer it. I answer it and there is this girl on the other line and I start talking to her and she started telling me the craziest story of how she got our number! Her name is Elaina. So Elaina's family just moved to Oregon, but she was going to college in Georgia and she was in a sorority and was living with a few girls. She became best friends with them, and then a few months ago two of them died in a car accident while they were up at school. That completely devastated her. She dropped out of school and didn't know what to do with her life. She started just traveling around and was really into hiking. She made it to Utah at some point and while she was hiking she ran into two return missionaries who started talking to her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She didn't really think too much of it and she just kept traveling around doing her thing.  However, she said she loved the BoM and read Alma 36 over and over.. She then went backpacking up to Yellowstone. While she was up there hiking she ran into a lady who was looking for service on her cellphone. They started talking and Elaina reached into her backpack to get something and her Book of Mormon fell out. The lady was like, "oh are you LDS?" And Elaina was just like, "no some people gave me this book." And this lady says, "my husband is an LDS bishop! We would love to talk to you!" So Elaina talks to this family about the church and the BoM and the Bishop finds our number online and gives it to her. She decides to come back to Oregon to live with her parents for a while and that's when she called us. SO CRAZY!! LIKE THE GUY WAS A BISHOP! That's insane. Talk about divine intervention!!.. I told her on the phone that it is not a coincidence that all these things happened to her. God has His hand in her life and He is watching over her because He loves her. Now we are meeting with her again this week!! So cool. 

Everything is going great here in Oregon! Everyone is playing this new Pokemon Go game and so there are lots of people out and about that we can talk to! The Lord is hastening His work with Pokemon Go hahaha. 

Thanks for all the emails and support! 

Love and miss you all!! 

Elder Hill

One Year Down & Happy 4th of July!!

Hi everyone!

On Friday it was my one year mark!!🎉🎉🎈🎈🎉🎉🎈🎊🎊 I can't believe it has been a year already, it feels like I was just in the MTC, it's goin' by so fast! And I'm scared this year is going to go by even faster. I am so grateful for this past year that I have had to serve the Lord! I have learned and grown more in this past year than I have in like the past 10 years! I know that I am here in Portland for a reason. I am thankful that I have this time to not only serve and teach the people in Portland, but to increase my own faith and testimony as well. I know that God lives and that He loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that because of Him we can find peace, direction, and happiness in this life. I am grateful to be one of His servants and to bear His name on my chest. One year to go!

Well, we had another solid week in the YSA Ward! The members here are awesome!  Going to dinners and activities is like hanging out with your group of friends back home. Everyone is so social and friendly, it's the best!  

On Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the AP's (assistants to the mission president). They have to do exchanges with all the ZLs and we were first this transfer. I went to their area and it was interesting! They are in a wealthier part of the city and so when we went tracting everyone was Indian or Asian and worked for Intel haha. They didn't really believe in God in the sense that we do so it was kinda hard to teach them. One of them told us we could come back so that was cool! 

On Thursday, there were so many miracles! We had three lessons cancel at the start of the day so that sucked, but then out of nowhere we had two investigators that we haven't been able to get a hold of text us and say they wanted to meet up! One of them was the random guy we called out of the areabook last week who hadn't met with missionaries in 2 years, and so we met with him and we had the best lesson. The Spirit was strong and we committed him to be baptized on July 30th! He was so pumped and when we showed him the font in the church, he got really excited. The other girl that we met up with was someone missionaries have been trying to get to church for forever and she has never come. But this time we were super bold with her and told her that the only way she can find the peace and answers she is looking for is by coming to church. And she came!! Hallelujah!! 

Being in the YSA Ward, we get to go to institute! So we just go with all of the members and their friends to the church on Thursday and they have like a seminary class where the teacher just teaches about Christ. It's pretty sweet. 

Friday, for my one year mark, we went over to one of the member's houses that we are good friends with and I burned a shirt (it's a tradition). We put a bunch of sparklers and fireworks inside the shirt and threw it in the fire haha it was crazy! And some of the sisters, Sister Jones and Sister Clemence, bought me a toy giraffe because they didn't have any camels at the dollar store haha! They are awesome! 

For the Fourth of July we are walking in a parade and then going to a barbecue and shooting off fireworks with some of the YSAs!!! Hope you all have a great 4th!! 

Miss and love you all!! 

Elder Hill

The YSA Life

Hi everyone!

I don't really know where to begin.... But I LOVE my new area and my new companion!! It is incredible! The Young Single Adult Ward is so fun it's ridiculous. We go to all of the activities and we literally just talk to and teach people that the members bring, and everyone is our age. It's so easy to relate to them and it feels like I'm back at college in Idaho just talking to people my age at FHE, church, and activities. The YSA life is the best! 

Elder Argyle is awesome too. He is from Randolph, Utah and we are very similar! He loves basketball, we get along super well, and he is a hard worker. This transfer will be so sweet. This week we went around visiting a lot of people and just getting me introduced. 

We also saw a few miracles. One of them happened when we were doing weekly planning. We were going through former investigators in our areabook, and I looked at one and felt prompted that we should call him. So we call him and he answers, and he says that he hasn't met with missionaries for two years. He said he was just down in Utah and he told his friend down there, who is a member, that if he gets an opportunity to meet with the missionaries again that he will do it, and then we called a couple days later. It was super cool. We had a great lesson with him and then he came to church!! He said he wants to work towards baptism! This week was also filled with lots of meetings. 

On Friday, we had a meeting all day with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. We had breakfast at Presidents house and then we had a training and talked about the work going on in the mission and how we can move it forward. It was pretty cool! It's fun being a ZL but it's also stressful, Elder Argyle is helping me a lot though! We have to do lots of call-ins with companionships, go to leadership meetings, and other stuff. 

Spiritual Thought ... it's a good one this week!

On my mission I have thought a lot about faith and what the point is in having faith. There is something that I have struggled with in particular and that is... "What is the point of having faith if Gods Will is ultimately what will happen?" I have thought about this quite a bit, not only in missionary work but in my personal life as well..... When someone receives a priesthood blessing they are expecting and have faith that they will be healed, but a lot of the time that doesn't happen, the Will of God is otherwise and they are not healed. So what is the point in having faith? If God is going to do something whether we want it or not then what is the point? As I have contemplated and studied this, I have come to the conclusion that it is not necessarily the faith that Heavenly Father will heal them but that He could heal them is what truly matters. We need to have faith that God can make miracles happen, but it is up to Him whether or not they do. No matter what happens, we need to trust Him that it will be for our benefit, and we need to submit to His will. It is the focused faith in Christ, and the submission to His will that allows us to access the enabling power of the Atonement. We find greater strength, peace, comfort, and guidance as we have faith and trust in God, knowing that no matter what happens Heavenly Father knows best. Because if we don't have that faith, then we won't have access to that power. We won't be able to have that divine strength to carry us through those challenges. And those challenges will eventually cripple us if we don't have that divine strength produced from faith. 

"Many of the lessons we are to learn in mortality can only be received through the things we experience and sometimes suffer. And God expects and trusts us to face temporary mortal adversity with His help so we can learn what we need to learn and ultimately become what we are to become in eternity." -Elder Bednar 

I know as we have faith in Christ and do everything we can to increase that faith, then we can overcome any trials life throws at us :) 

I couldn't be happier than I am right now! Life is fantastic! I'm grateful to be a missionary!! Have a good week!! Love you all!! 

Love, Elder Hill

 Elder Hill found his very first home!

 He also found a sweet pair of sunglasses ... haha!

Elder Hill & Elder Argyle ...

Transfers & Zone Leaders

Well everyone this week there was a lot of big news!! 

First off I am being transferred! After being in Sandy River for three months I am being transferred to the Tanasbourne YSA (young single adult) Ward, and will be serving with Elder Argyle!! This YSA Ward covers 3 Stakes. It covers the Cedar Mill, Beaverton, and Hillsboro Stakes. Cedar Mill is just north of Beaverton.... 

And secondly, President Ballard assigned me to be a Zone Leader. Elder Argyle and I will be the Zone Leaders in the Cedar Mill Zone! There are 9 zones in the Mission and roughly 30 missionaries in each one (w/ 2 Zone Leaders to cover each zone), so there are around 250 missionaries in our Mission. Zone Leaders are responsible for the Zone and the 30ish missionaries that serve there, and are supposed to do exchanges, trainings, go to leadership meetings, and basically just help as much as they can. I'm nervous because it's a lot to handle, but I'm also super excited because I will be able to learn a ton! 

So this week I can't really remember all of what happened, but on Friday the Head of the Missionary Department, Elder Brent Nielson, came and spoke to us all day. It was awesome. He said and taught some really cool things. He said that a lot of the time when the apostles assign missionaries they are inspired to assign them to a mission president, not a mission. I didn't know this! I thought that was pretty interesting because I have been assigned to the Ballards for a reason, and he told us to find out that reason. Another really cool thing he talked about was the enabling power of the Atonement or Grace. For the longest time I didn't really understand what Grace was and now after studying and listening to Elder Nielson, I have a better understanding of what an amazing principle it really is. Grace is the divine means of help or strength given to us through the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace is the power that allows us to change, to become better. It gives us the strength to endure through the hardest of trials, it enables us to fulfill our potential and become the person God wants us to become. For me I have often found myself trying to overcome a challenge by simply relying on my own strength and willpower, but I have learned how much better life can be and how much happier I am as I rely on the Grace of our Savior. But how can we access this enabling power? The answer is in Mosiah 24:15: "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."..... If we submit to the will of the Lord, if we endure trials with patience and willingness, understanding that God knows best, then we can access the enabling power or grace of Jesus Christ. Matthew 11:28-30 says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I know that as we put our trust in the Savior and rely on His Grace, our burdens can be made light. We don't have to endure things on our own through sheer grit. We can yoke ourselves to Christ and bear up our burdens with ease. 

I am grateful to have served in Sandy and I'm excited for this opportunity to serve in Cedar Mill! Hope you all have a great week and thanks for all the emails and support!! 

Love, Elder Hill

 Sister Torrie with Elder Hill

 Doing service with the Sister Missionaries

 Skibowl with the Elders

 Elders with Tristen & Ruth

 Elder Hill & the Stevens' Family

Elder Hill & the Smith Family

Elder Hill & Bro. Shaffer

I'm a little bit country ...

Hello everyone! 

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 

11 Months Down!!!

Hi everyone!

We had a pretty good week this week!  We had three of our investigators come to church yesterday so that was sweet. So there is a crazy story with one of our new investigators.  Her name is Denice Brown and she was taking the lessons about a half-year ago and was coming to church frequently. She was just about to get baptized, but her husband was really against it so she stopped coming to church but kept taking the lessons and working towards baptism.  Well, just four days before her baptism her husband had enough and said, "you have to choose between me or the church". We never want to breakup a marriage or family so she was counseled to stay with her husband and she decided to not be baptized.  But the crazy part is that just two days after he said that to her, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.  He was a vibrant, healthy man and then out of nowhere right after he said that he got cancer.  A couple months later (a week ago) he passed away. It was so sudden and devastating, but now she wants to start taking the lessons again and she came to church yesterday.  I just thought that was crazy because God doesn't make any mistakes and everything happens for a reason. It made me think of the scripture Alma 24:27: "thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." God's purpose is to bring about the eternal life of His children and He will do whatever it takes to do that.  I know that her husband will have an opportunity to accept the gospel in the next life so that they can be together for eternity and the amazing thing is that Denice already understands that. 

We taught and met with a lot of awesome people this week! One of the coolest and humblest people we taught was a less-active man named Paul. He is a Vietnam veteran and was the gunman in a helicopter.  He has done and seen some crazy stuff.  He hasn't forgiven himself for some of the things he had to do and so that's why he doesn't come to church.  He started crying talking about it.   We talked about the Atonement and how it is infinite and covers everything.  He said nobody believed some of the stuff he had to do.  He said that Sylvester Stallone interviewed him for a movie once trying to get as much info as possible about the war for a movie and Stallone couldn't even believe the things he had to do.  But he came to church on Sunday with us. He is an awesome guy! 

This Sunday we got a new bishop and he is amazing! One of the best I have ever seen. Super excited for the ward!! 

This past week, I hit 11 months! Almost halfway there, it is flying by!! 

Thanks for all the love and support! Have a great week! 

Elder Hill 

 Tyler & Sister Torrie

Tyler & Elder Katieli 

 Tyler & Elder Hintz

Tyler & Elder Deer (haha!!)