A New Elder & a Homeless Man

Hello!

So this week wasn't as exciting as last week. I really don't remember what happened. I swear each day is such a blur. One moment I wake up and then an hour goes by and I'm back in bed. It's weird how fast time is going. 

So on Tuesday, we were walking down the street in a more ghetto part of town, and we saw a 20-year-old rough looking guy sitting on the sidewalk. We are always looking to find YSAs so we go talk to him. We sat down by him and he was just like, "oh hey, guys what's up?" and we started talking to him and he ended up just venting to us about his life and how he just wants to grow weed but people keep lying to him. He was also talking about how he is homeless but is working on his rap career. He said he is super, super depressed though. We read in Alma 7 with him and gave him a Book of Mormon and he thought that was awesome. He started crying and he said that he would read the BoM and come to church. It was pretty cool!... So we exchange numbers and we texted him that night and asked him how everything is going and if there was anything we could do for him. He was like, "yeah there is actually. Tonight is my last night before I go to rehab... Do you have a gram of meth that you could get to me?" Hahaha we were like, "man I don't think he read the BoM!" We told him that reading the BoM and feeling the Savior's love is far more powerful and enjoyable than any drug he could take. He said "okay," but we haven't heard back from him since. Hopefully things workout for him! 

Another cool thing that happened was when we were on a split with some other Elders. We went tracting with another pair of Elders in another area. I went with Elder Ahlemann; he has only been out two weeks. He is a little shy and doesn't like to talk to people that much. We were knocking doors and no one was interested and he was getting a little discouraged. So we were standing in front of the next door and I stopped Elder Ahlemann from knocking on it. I asked him if he actually had the faith that this person will be interested and he said, "ehh not really." So I told him that if he doesn't have the faith to find people to teach then the lord won't help us find people either. We talked about it for a little bit and he got pumped up to find people, and we then knocked on the door and the person was super interested and became a new investigator! It was sweet. Elder Ahlemann was pumped haha. 

We have zone conferences this week so it will be our Zone and two other zones. We have to give a training on something we don't know about yet so it should be interesting! 

Thanks for all the support! 

Love you all! 

Elder Hill

Tyler holding the "Liahona" with Elders in his Zone

Missionary Leadership Conference at the Mission President's home

Busy, crazy, stressful ... awesome!!!

Hey Everyone! 

This week was probably the craziest, busiest, most stressful, most awesome week of my entire mission! 

So first off we had a baptism!! My good buddy, Logan Martin was baptized on Saturday and it was such an amazing experience. He has completely changed his life around in every way and he says he wants to be a missionary as soon as possible! He asked me if I wanted to baptize him and of course I said yes, absolutely! It was such a humbling experience to be a part of his baptism. After the baptismal ordinance, Logan and I were walking out of the font and he could not stop smiling. I think the happiness that we were both feeling was overwhelming. I was filled with a feeling that I can't really describe. It's hard to put into words but it was the best, most joyful feeling ever. I can't even imagine how Logan was feeling! And it's amazing to think that the feeling that we both had is only a tiny fraction of the happiness that we can feel in eternity. I caught only a small glimpse of the love that God has for all His children. D&C 18:15 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" 

So some other crazy things that happened this week - we now have Facebook and Facebook messenger on our iPads! We are 1 of 15 missions in the world that are piloting the new online proselyting for iPads. On Wednesday, we went to MLC (missionary leadership conference) and received the new training from the missionary department on how to use it. The next day Elder Craft and I had to train our Zone on how to use it and WE had no idea how to use it, but it went pretty well! It's super weird having Facebook on our iPads, but it's really cool cause we are able to teach and talk to a lot more people using group chats and video call-ins. We had a couple video lessons this week and a couple Groupchat lessons! It was sweet! We will see how it goes the rest of the transfer! 

So this week we started teaching this guy named Everett! We found him looking for someone else and he saw us and told us he wanted to take the lessons! He has mild autism so he is pretty norma,l but then he will get really child-like but we have the best lessons with him. We were teaching him how to pray and he couldn't remember and so we kept practicing and he finally said all the words right with the beginning and the end of the prayer and he got so excited! And so we kept going on with our lesson and then when I was in mid-sentence he quickly bowed his head and folded his arms and starts, "dear Heavenly Father..." And he said a prayer and looks up and says, "I did it again!" He kept doing the random prayers throughout the entire lesson. It was great!

Elder Craft is a super good missionary and we have been doing well. I'm excited for this transfer!! Thanks for all the support! 

Love you all!! 

Elder Hill

Hanging with missionary friends - Sister Ball, Sister Hulet, Elder Itufia, Tyler, Elder Hintz, Sister Downing

Sweet, matching ties!!

Transfers!

Hi everyone!

So this was the last week of the transfer and we got transfer calls on Saturday. I'm staying here in the YSA Ward, but Elder Argyle is getting transferred:( we were both pretty upset when we heard that but he is going to be the new AP (assistant to the Mission President) which is sweet! I'm getting Elder Craft as my new companion. He is from Lehi, Utah and has been out 17 months! Should be another fun transfer! 

So this coming Saturday we are going to have a baptism for our investigator Logan! He is awesome and super prepared. He said he wants to bring "tons of converts" into the church. He is so solid! It has been so cool to watch him completely change his life around and live the gospel. He is like a whole new person! 

On Wednesday we went with our investigator, Hunter, to the Portland Temple Visitor Center. We went inside and the Visitor Center sisters were showing him around teaching him some things and then we went outside and walked the temple grounds. We stopped at the front and we were just standing there looking at the temple and we asked Hunter how he felt and he was like, "I can't really describe it. It's just........epic. I feel unreal." And it was just so cool to see his reaction and how the spirit was so strong. Sadly he is moving to Eugene in a couple weeks, but he wants to keep in contact and keep taking the lessons! 

On Saturday there was a huge community event in Beaverton called, "Party in the Park". It's where they have a ton of bouncy houses and rock climbing and a ton of games and stuff to do! It's free and so a bunch of people come to it. Our Zone and three other Zones were volunteers for the event and so there was like 80 missionaries volunteering! We just helped out with the bouncy houses and were in charge of making sure things didn't get out control with the games and stuff. It was from 12-6 so it was all day. I got super sunburned which I am actually very excited about cause I'm actually kinda tan now! It was so fun! 

Oh and I hit my 13th month mark today so that's cool. Time is flying! Nothing too crazy happened last week, sorry for the short email. 

Love and miss you all!! Send me a letter or somethin:) Have a good week! 

Here is a super cool poem that we sent to the missionaries in our Zone to help them finish strong: 

"He's Been There Before" 

The alarm rings at 6:30; 

I stumble to my feet

I grab my companion's bedding

and pull off his sheets.

A groan fills the room

is it already time to arise? 

It seems like just a second

I was able to shut my eyes. 

The morning activities follow - 

study, prayer and such.

When it's time to leave the apartment, 

you feel you haven't accomplished much.

"We have a super day planned," my companion says with a grin,

I lowly utter a faithless breath, "Yeah, if anyone lets us in." 

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, 

we ride off in the street

prepared to face another day of humidity and heat.

It's 9:30 in the evening, 

the day is almost through; 

my companion and I are riding home, 

not accomplishing what we thought to do. 

We ride up to the mailbox,

hoping to receive a lot, 

only to look inside 

and hear my echo reverberate "Air box." 

We go up to our apartment, 

the day is now complete,

the only thing to show for our work

is a case of blistery feet.

It's past 10:30 P.M., 

my companion is fast asleep, 

silence engulfs me all about

and I begin to weep. 

In the moist sadness

I kneel down to pray.

I need to talk to Father,

but I'm not sure what to say.

"Oh, Father," I begin, 

"What happened to us today? 

I thought we'd teach somebody,

but everyone was away. 

My hands, aching hands - 

worn, hurt and beat; 

If our area was any smaller, 

we'd have knocked every street." 

"Why on missions are the days so much alike? 

The only difference about today

was the flat tire on my bike. 

Will you send some cooler weather? 

The heat is killing me. 

I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes. It's very hard to see."

"Why do I have to wear a helmet,

isn't your protection enough? 

People always laugh at me

and call me stupid stuff.

Please send us some investigators

so I may give them what they lack;

I want to give them Book of Mormon's,

the weight of them hurts my back."

"And what about my family? 

They don't have much to say, 

I'm sick of not hearing from home, 

day after day after day. 

Oh, Father, Why am I here, am I just wasting time? 

Sometimes I just want to go home, 

I'm sorry, but that's just on my mind." 

"My companion, Heavenly Father,

what are you giving me?

The way he rides his bicycle

I don't think he can see. 

Now you have it, I can't go on,

I don't know what to do; 

That, my Father in Heaven, 

is the prayer I have for you." 

My prayer finished I stand up, 

then jump right into bed. 

Sleep starts to overtake me, 

I start to drift away. 

Then it seems a vision 

takes me to another time

in another day. 

I'm standing alone on the hill, 

the view is very nice; 

A man walks towards me and says, 

"my name is Jesus Christ." 

Tears of joy well up inside,

I fall down to His feet. 

"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. 

You and I need to speak." 

My attention's towards my Savior, 

total and complete. 

He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me, 

I understand how you feel, 

I know what you're going through;

In fact, it would be fair to say

I've felt the same as you."

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you,

At times I felt not quite sure what else that I could do. 

I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, 

for you a car would be sweet; 

just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds."

"I understand you don't like sweating,

in fact it's something you hate;

I remember when I sweat blood from every pore,

oh the agony was great!

I see you don't like your companion - 

you'd rather have someone else,

I once had a companion named Judas,

who sold my life for wealth.

"It's hard to wear a helmet

and have people make fun of you,

I remember when they put thorns on my head

and called me king of the Jews. 

So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack,

I recall how heavy the cross

was when they slammed it on my back."

"You're hands hurt from tracting

and knocking doors all day,

I guess when they pounded nails into mine,

I ached in a similar way.

It's hard not to hear from home

when your families not there to see;

I lost communication on the cross and cried,

"Father, Why hast thou forsaken me?" 

"We have a lot in common, 

but there's a difference between us you see,

I endured to the end and finished my mission

so follow and do like me." 

He embraced me with his arms, 

his light filled me with his love, 

with tears in my eyes

I watched as He went back to the Father above.

I stood in awe and wonder

when a beep rang in my head.

I listened and heard the alarm, 

then realized I was in bed. 

My companion let out a groan,

"6:30 already, No Way!"

I sat up and said, "Come on. 

I'll even carry your scriptures today!" 

No matter what we go through, 

when we feel we can't take more, 

just stop and think about Jesus Christ, 

He's Been There Before. 

#bapsquad #finishstrong 

Love,

Elder Hill

 Some of the Districts in Tyler's Zone

 Moustache party!

Smoothie party???

Ice Blocking the AZ Way!

Hi everyone!

Another week!! This is already the last week of the transfer, crazy! 

So this past week was a little slower and we had a lot of meetings. On Monday, we had Family Home Evening with our Ward and it was awesome. We went ice blocking! It's where you ride a block of ice down a grassy hill.  Everyone in AZ does it, but no one had ever heard of it in Oregon haha. It was so fun!  I love being in the YSA Ward cause people bring their non- member friends to the activities and we just get to have fun and talk to them! There are some pretty funny videos of us going down the hill! 

Throughout the whole week we had so many meetings to go to. We had a Zone Conference and our Zone joined the Beaverton Zone for training and stuff.  The Zone Leaders always have to give some kind of training at Zone Conferences so me and Elder Argyle were asked to train on teaching in unity with your companion. I have never been a very good public speaker; it's always been a weakness of mine, but the calling as Zone Leader has helped me get over that really fast haha cause we always have to do training in front of groups of missionaries and this one was in front of 50 missionaries and the mission presidency. It was pretty scary, but I'm getting used to it! Our training went well and everyone said it was good!:) 

This week was slower with lessons. but we did have a lesson with this less-active girl who hadn't been to church since she was a kid. She has gone through some hard things in her life, and we went over and shared a message with her and her siblings! After the lesson was over, we were outside walking to our car and she came running outside and said, "guys, how do you know God is actually there?" Elder argyle and I looked at each other and we both bore testimony on how we know that God is there. She was almost in tears and she said that she needs to go to church and she did! She came on Sunday! We have also started teaching this an investigator who got referred to us. His name is Ryan and he is awesome. He has the most sincere desire to know if the BoM is true and he wants to receive an answer. We are going to the temple visitor center with him this week! 

So our Ward just got so much bigger because BYUi just got out of spring semester and a lot kids are back for the summer. One of my friends from BYUi, Hannah Murphy, is in this Ward! It was so funny seeing her on Sunday cause she runs up and says, "Tyler!!.... I mean Elder Hill!" Haha It's fun to talk to all the people in the Ward about BYUi, it makes me miss it! 

Thanks for all of the emails and the support! Love and miss you all!! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

Scripture of the week: Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I know, with faith in Christ, there is nothing that we cannot overcome or accomplish. With His help we can endure anything!

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