It takes 3 hours to fill the baptismal font!?!

Hi everyone!

Another great week! We had Alex's baptism on Friday and it was awesome! Throughout the week we were meeting with him and getting him all prepared and ready to go for his baptism. It has been awesome to see his knowledge and testimony grow over these past couple of months of teaching him. He is such a great individual and has a magnetic spirit about him.

Friday was such a hectic day! So first off, I don't know what happened or what I ate but I woke up Friday morning with the stomach flu, and it was not fun. I was so upset because we had a jam packed day and Alex asked me to baptize him and I was just like there is no way I am going to let this ruin the day! Before the baptism we had lunch with a member and I just sat on the couch the whole time and rested and prayed that it would go away until the baptism was over. Thankfully I started to feel a little better. Lunch went a little long and we ended up getting to the church an hour and a half early to fill up the baptismal font, but we didn't realize that it takes 3 HOURS to fill up the font. Elder Brian and I looked at each other and were just like oh no. We turned on the water and then we found a hose in the bathroom next to the font and we were running water from that into the font as well. It wasn't filling fast enough! So we improvised and went to the kitchen and started filling up buckets of water and throwing them into the baptismal font! We were running back and forth from the kitchen like mad men trying to fill it in time! It was crazy! But we got it filled just in time! The baptism went great, and it was an amazing experience being able to baptize Alex! He was so happy and giddy afterwards it was incredible haha. You could feel the love of Heavenly Father so strong as he was baptized..... and then right after the baptism was over my stomach started killing me again (but Heavenly Father answered my prayer!) and I just went home and slept it off and I was fine the next day.

The rest of the week was solid. We had Zone Conference on Thursday and Elder Brian and I presented our Zone vision to everyone. President said our vision was the best one out of all the zones! And then we and the other Zone Leaders had to act out the first 5 chapters of the Book of Mormon in front of all the missionaries in the zone conference. It was hilarious! I played Laban haha.

 Mission Leadership Conference

We have been teaching a few other people too. We met this one guy at GNC named Austen. He works the register there and we taught him the whole first lesson at GNC, it was sweet! He is interested in learning more and we are going back there on Wednesday!

I am so thankful for all the experiences I have had and the people I have met here on my mission.  Just in these past 8 weeks of being in the YSA Ward, my testimony has grown so much. The Lord is blessing us and we are seeing so much success! We are going to be having another baptism this Saturday for Handfull Morris! It will be another great day! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hill

 Elder Miller at transfers ...

Elders Brian & Rockwood at transfers ...

Happy Easter!

Hi everyone!

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had an awesome Easter Sunday and thought about the reason why we celebrate Easter!

This week was super busy! It was the first week of the transfer so we had all of the logistical stuff that we needed to do, and a bunch of meetings to attend, but it was awesome!

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to PCC and set up our booth and talked to people about the new Easter video that came out. We were actually able to talk to quite a few people so that was good.

On Friday we had Mission Leadership Conference all day and then afterward we were invited to a Family Home Evening that was going on in a family ward! We thought it was just going to be a couple people, but we showed up and there ended up being 12 people there and 4 non-members, it was sweet! We shared the Easter video with everyone and then we gave them all Book of Mormons! Two of them were YSA age and so we set-up return appointments to visit with them again. One of them is from Iraq and the other is from Persia! They were excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn more about it.

Saturday we went downtown again to go whiteboarding! There was a Saturday market going on and so we were able to go around talking to so many people. There were lots of people who wanted to write on the board so it was awesome! We handed out like 75 pass along cards to people with our number on the back! After that we had a lesson over the phone with our investigator, Alex. We hadn't been able to contact him for about a week so we were a little worried. But we called him and he was like, "what's up guys! So I'm still getting baptized this weekend right!? Can we move it to Friday instead of Saturday?" And we were just like heck yeah we can! So Alex is getting baptized this Friday which will be sweet! He is an awesome guy and he has made so many awesome changes in his life.

Sitting on top of the Institute building in downtown Portland

Then on Sunday we had a lesson with Handful. She was about to get called into work but she told them that she couldn't come in because she had to go to church! So she went to church and then we had a lesson with her after. During the lesson she looked at us with tears in her eyes and said that she read the Book of Mormon this week and that she felt very strongly in her heart that God wants her to join this church and get baptized. She said she is ready right now to be baptized and that she knows she needs to do it to follow God. She wanted to move her baptism date up to this weekend but she still needs to be taught some of the lessons so it's still on for the 29th! The work is going great here; the Lord is blessing us!!

Hope you have a great week!

Elder Hill

I guess you need Sisters ...

Hi everyone!

Transfers happened this week... Elder DeVries is getting transferred to Oregon City and I am staying in the YSA Ward! My new companion is Elder Brian, he's a cool guy. It's his first transfer as a Zone Leader so it will be fun! I'm super pumped to be able to stay in the YSA Ward!

So nothing too crazy happened this week.  We had to push Cameron's baptism back because he is still working on the Word of Wisdom, but we did have an awesome lesson with our investigator, Handful Morris.  She is from Libya and we have been teaching her for a couple weeks now. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said that she is ready to commit to following God and wants to be baptized! So we set her date for April 29th! 

This week we went to Portland Community College and set up our booth for the new Easter video. We went with the Sister Missionaries serving in the other YSA Ward and so many more people came up and talked to us! It was crazy we found two new people to teach and so did the Sisters. People would come up and start asking questions and then we would show them the new Easter video, give them a Book of Mormon, and setup a return appointment to teach them. It was so sweet! I guess you need Sisters if you want people to talk to you.

 Portland Community College booth with Sister missionaries ...

Lunch with Sister Mercado & Sister Gutierrez

The YSA Ward is awesome, I love this area! Time is flying by, I only have 11 weeks left! So crazy!

I hope everyone has had a chance to watch the new Easter video. If you haven't, it's on Mormon.org and you should go check it out! The video talks all about peace and it makes me think of the scripture John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

In this verse, the Savior is talking to His apostles and He is telling them that the peace He offers is far different than the peace of the world. We think that we can find peace in money or worldly possessions, but lasting peace can only come through Jesus Christ. His love can bring peace to our soul, which is far better than any temporary pleasure. And how do we access this peace? By following Him. If we live His teachings, and put our trust in Him through prayer and faith, then we can receive a peace that is beyond anything ourselves or the world can create.

Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Hill

#PrinceOfPeace

Hi everyone!

What a party this week was! General Conference was so awesome! I loved all of the talks especially Elder Rasband and Elder Uchtdorf. I loved when Elder Rasband was talking about the Holy Ghost and how that the FIRST prompting we receive in any situation is pure inspiration from heaven. We should never postpone a prompting, which is something I have been trying to work on.

This week was sweet. The new Easter video called #PrinceOfPeace came out and so we have been going crazy with it. We have been handing out the pass along cards like candy. We went downtown Thursday and Friday with a whiteboard with the question, "what brings you peace?" We had people write down what brought them peace. It was cool to see the different things that brought everyone peace and then while talking we were able to transition into talking about what we do as missionaries. We were able to handout a couple Book of Mormons and dozens of pass along cards, it was awesome. There are definitely some strange people in downtown Portland, but everyone needs the gospel!

On Wednesday, we went to downtown Portland to do service with a Christian church. We made dozens of sandwiches with the members of their church. Then we took the sandwiches, hygiene kits, and clothing and walked around downtown handing them out to all the homeless people. It was a really cool experience being able to see the reactions of others and to do a small act of service for them!

The past couple of days have been crazy with our investigators. So first off cool story that happened.. Elder Joaquin Costa spoke in Sunday session of Conference about his conversion story and getting baptized. It was the perfect talk for one of our investigators, Cameron, but he wasn't able to watch conference. So after the session we called him up and tell him that we have to show him something. Cameron was almost baptized a couple months ago, but it didn't happen because he was trying to quit smoking but couldn't do it quite yet. So we met up with him and show him this talk. After the talk we asked him what he thought. He said he really liked it and he felt really happy. We asked him if he still wanted to be baptized. He said yes I do, but I am still struggling with smoking cigarettes.. He has been trying really hard to quit for a couple months now and it is the only thing holding him back from being baptized. He was saying how he really needed to quit, and then I had a prompting (and I knew I needed to act on the FIRST prompting). I felt prompted to say, "Cameron, as personal representatives of Jesus Christ we can promise you that if you give up smoking right now and go this whole week without smoking a cigarette, and then get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost on Saturday you will never have the urge to smoke again."..... the Spirit was there working on him. He replied, "Yes! I want that! I can do it!" And so we are now hoping and praying with all of our might that he will not smoke and he will be able to get baptized on Saturday! So awesome!

And then Chad (the investigator who met Elder Ballard) should be getting baptized in two weeks! He's doing great working with the Sister Missionaries.

We had another lesson with our investigator Alex who is doing awesome. He is getting baptized on the 22nd! He is super prepared and ready! And then we have Handful Morris who came and watched Conference with us and people from the Ward, and as she was riding home with a member she told the member that she loved Conference and that she isn't scared to join the church anymore and wants to be baptized!!

So many awesome miracles happening. The Church is true people. Jesus Christ lives. He is the Savior. He has been with me every step of the way these past 21 months and has brought me more joy than I have ever felt. If you follow Him you will be happy. Have a good week!

Elder Hill

 Park in Portland asking people what brings them peace ...

 With members of their YSA Ward ...

 Downtown Portland ...

This sign speaks for itself :)

Always follow promptings ....

Hey!

So this week wasn't as eventful as last week but it was still pretty solid! We had Zone Conference and Elder DeVries and I trained on what we learned from Elder Callister a couple weeks ago. It went well! 

On Saturday, we were asked by our apartment complex managers to help a tenant named Kate, an older lady, move apartments from the upstairs to the downstairs. We said sure! So we go over there and meet this lady and start moving all of her stuff. She was so grateful for the help and couldn't believe that we did this voluntarily. When Elder DeVries and I were downstairs by ourselves I told him that I really felt like we should give her a Book of Mormon. He said, "yeah do it!". So I go to the car and grab one and walk up there and told her that we had a gift for her! I gave her the book, told her what it was all about, testified of its truthfulness, and told her how it has blessed my life. She said that she has been looking for a new church to join and that she thought the Book of Mormon sounded wonderful! (Keep in mind that people in Portland are never that interested in religion or Mormons at all). So I told her all about church and about what we do as missionaries. She said that she was going to read the Book of Mormon and that she wanted to learn more! I then ran downstairs and told DeVries everything that happened and he was like no way we gotta call the family ward Elders. So we called up the missionaries that cover the area and told them to come help us move the rest of Kate's stuff. They came over and we got them to set up a time to meet with Kate during the week and for her to come to church. It was pretty cool. Another example to me to always follow promptings!

Nothing else too crazy happened this week. We had a few lessons and a lot of trying to find people to teach. Chad, our investigator we gave to the Sister missionaries, is still doing great and planning on getting baptized in two weeks! Super exciting!

With General Conference coming up, I wanted to share one of the scriptures we have been sharing with our members. 

Jacob 4:6

"Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea."

We have the opportunity to hear from a living prophet and apostles this week! And through their words and witness we can obtain a hope and an unshakable faith that will be a strength in our lives. In Conference we can receive personal revelation for ourselves in any situation we are at in our lives. I can promise that something of what they say in Conference will help you personally in your life. So invite a friend to watch with you and they can have the same experience!

Elder Hill

PS - These are a few pictures from their Mt. Hood hike on Monday!

Yes, Spiritual Exhaustion is a thing ...

Hi everyone!

You know when people say they are spiritually exhausted? Well it's a real thing. This week was the most spiritually exhausting week of my life, and it was so sweet!

So first off on Tuesday we went on an exchange with some of the Elders in the Zone. I went to their area which is a bike area. I haven't been on bike in 15 months (since my greenie area), and let's just say this was a humbling experience for me. It was pouring that day and we biked all over the place talking to everyone. Some streets were flooded and we both got completely soaked, but we had a good day and some solid conversations with people. I have so much more respect for biking Elders now, I forgot how lucky I am to have a car.

On Wednesday, we had a lesson with a guy who was a referral from some other missionaries. His name is Alex and he is so solid! He is getting baptized on April 22nd! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he said, "giving up tea will require all my will power but I know I can do it!" He is so awesome and he came to church on Sunday with us.

Thursday, we went downtown to OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University) to try and contact some people. We couldn't find anyone, but we did run into a lady who said she was just baptized in Vancouver a couple months ago and she had been having a terrible day. She said she prayed that everything would be okay and then she saw us and she took that as a sign from God. It was cool to see this woman's faith and to be a part of an answer to a prayer.....

 Views of Portland from the OHSU aerial tram ...

Now the awesome part of the week........

In a matter of 24 hours, Friday to Saturday, Elder DeVries and I were able to hear Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak three different times! The first time was with all of the missionaries in the Mission and I was able to shake his hand again! This was my fourth time shaking his hand on my mission so we are best friends now. It was such an awesome meeting and the Spirit was so strong especially as he testified of the Savior. And then he had a youth/YSA fireside Friday night with half of the Stakes in the Mission, and the other half on Saturday night. We were able to go to both nights and it's all because of the coolest miracle that happened this week...

Selfie with a YSA member at Elder Ballard's fireside ...

Cool Miracle story:

So we got a referral from someone in the Westlake YSA Ward on Monday. We went over to see this person on Wednesday, his name is Chad, thinking that we were just going to give him a blessing because that's all he asked for. We went over there and we ended up having this awesome conversation about his spiritual progression throughout life. He is actually a Christian Hip Hop artist. He has such a deep faith in Jesus Christ, but he recently has been through some trials. We didn't have a lot of time, but we taught him a brief lesson on the Restoration and we invited him to come to the Elder Ballard fireside with us on Friday, and he accepted. A member from our Ward picked him up Friday night, and we all sat together at the fireside.  He absolutely loved it, and he was soaking it all in. When it was over, Chad and I were chatting in the aisle and Elder Ballard walks by and stops to talk to the person behind us. Chad sees Elder Ballard and then reaches over to shake his hand. He says, "hey I'm Chad! and this is my first time at the Mormon Church!" Elder Ballard shakes his hand and replies, "aah so you have heard the truth tonight then! Go do something about it now!"... and of course I'm flipping out because an Apostle just talked to our investigator. Chad and I talked a little bit more about what just happened and he was so excited. The Spirit was so strong!  Well we get a call later that night from the member that drove Chad home. The member said that Chad opened up in the car and said that he has been searching for truth his entire life and he felt that tonight God revealed to him that this is the truth he has been looking for and this is the Church he should be baptized into!!! (Me and DeVries were freaking out on the phone).... But sadly Chad is too old for the YSA Ward. So we had a pass off lesson the next day with the Summerlake Ward sisters who cover his area. We had the lesson at the Temple Visitor Center. The lesson went amazing. Chad bore his testimony that he knew that this is the path God wants him to go down and that he knows this is the Church he needs to join. Chad said the closing prayer and broke down crying and was thanking the Lord for leading him to this opportunity. We set his baptismal date for April 8th. After the lesson, Chad wanted to go see Elder Ballard again so we drove to Tualatin to the fireside. Chad was eating it all up and then he went to church the next day. Miracles have not ceased!

And the week isn't even over! Sunday, I gave a 25 minute talk in Sacrament Meeting on the Plan of Salvation which went well for the most part, and then we spoke at an Aaronic Priesthood fireside that evening too... spiritually exhausted I tell ya. But it was such an incredible week and just over the past three days I have learned so much.

I love the Savior and I know He lives! This is His kingdom on the earth. Here is a promise Elder Ballard said in one of his firesides:

"If you keep the commandments, and you cultivate your Spirit through prayer and reading the scriptures.. I testify that the temptations of Satan will roll off of you like water rolling off of a duck's back." 

Elder Hill

PCC & Mountain Dew ...

Hello everyone!

So this week was pretty solid! The work is a little slow with investigators right now so we have been trying to visit members and less-actives to get referrals since it's tough to find YSAs. So we were super busy having lessons with all the members and getting to know them. I love being in the young single adult ward and being able to relate with people so easily. You can make gospel analogies with sports, Harry Potter, video games, anything! It's awesome. One of our commitments to a member (who loves Mountain Dew) was to invite all his non-members friends over to drink Mountain Dew with us, that about sums up the YSA life haha.

To try and find people to teach, we go to Portland Community College and they let us set up a booth in the commons area. We put up a whiteboard with a question or a drawing on it and there will be people that come up to us and ask us questions. We had some really good conversations with some students and gave them Plan of Salvation pamphlets!

 Elder DeVries & Tyler at their Portland Community College booth ...

We had a couple lessons at the temple visitor center with a less-active girl and then a recent convert. They both went really well and we were able to teach about the Atonement. The Spirit was strong and one of the girls said she hadn't felt the Spirit like that in a long time! The temple is awesome! Don't take it for granted..

Earlier in the week we had a lesson with a girl that was inactive. The Spirit was super strong in the lesson and the girl came to church on Sunday! After church she gave us an envelope and in it she wrote a letter to us about how she is very grateful for us visiting her and that we changed her life. It was awesome!

We also had a Zone Meeting this week that me and Elder DeVries put on for our Zone. It went well! Our Zone is gonna kill it this transfer....

On Saturday, Bro. Tad R. Callister, the General Sunday School President, came and spoke to our mission! He is the one that wrote the book, The Infinite Atonement, and boy he knows his stuff. He taught us about the Plan of Salvation and really expanded on it. AND, Elder Ballard is coming to the mission again on Friday! We are spoiled.

I am grateful for all the experiences I am having out here. I know that we are children of God. We are His literal children and He wants us to be happy. He has a plan for us that is far better than any plan that we can conjure up for ourselves. Trust Him and don't be afraid! One of my favorite scriptures is D&C 6:36: "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

Have a good week!

Elder Hill