April 18, 2016 - Columbus, GA

Hey Y'all!

I'm so glad yall were able to meet the Stevens they are such great people! But yes the weather is heating up and I'm ready to get this Georgia summer on bikes and walking out of the way so I'm just anxiously waiting haha, I'll drink lots of water and keep that sweat rag out and on the ready at all times. This past week was a very interesting and fast paced week and we had so many small details to hit this week with a baptism and exchanges in Auburn. 

On Tuesday I went on exchanges in Auburn with Elder Burgess and we had district meeting before and after the meeting we went to Wendy's to eat and knowing me you'll know that Wendy's is a no go for me haha so Elder Haines and I have started to pack lunches for lunches and we are saving so much money and staying healthy on fruit, veggies and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Elder Burgess and I had a good day on exchanges in Auburn trying to keep our eyes off of the sidewalks of the pretty girls there at Auburn. Hahah gotta keep those thoughts clean ya know haha, we visited less actives and members, and walked a ton. It was a very fun day. Its pretty crazy and I felt like I had jet lag in the morning because there is an hour time difference in Alabama and Georgia so I had to stay up an hour longer and wake up an hour earlier which was kind of funky.

On Wednesday we exchanged back and had our district meeting in Columbus. After the district meeting we were trying to figure out where to eat and we decided to go to the mall eventhough there was a shooting there a few days ago andwe were skeptical but we fdidnt stay too long and just got food and left. Elder Haines and I both brought lunch, we be savin money and lookin good! After that we spent a majority of the day at the hospital trying to not get lost in the thousands of hallways at the St Francis hospital. But we gave a few blessings to members in the hospital and Elder Haines and I are both shocked to how many people in our ward are ill stricken and we are trying to help as much as we can. After the hospital endeavor we met with the Bishop, and the mom of Justin Robinson (the person we baptized on Saturday) about Justin and his desire to be baptized and it was a very good meeting filled with the spirit.

On Thursday, we comeced with Justin Robinsons baptism on Saturday and we went to Phenix City to get the Elders there so that we could interview him. Justin is a very special and funny kid, we were sitting in the living room talking with Sister Johnson and all we hear in the other room is Justin yelling "I want to pay tithing so bad!!!" We sat there and were like YESSS! That scream followed by a concourse of what sounded like drumsticks hitting pillows on his bed, so from this vague experience you can tell he was quite excited to be baptized. Then on the way back to Phenix City we had a learning experience, so we were at the Post office and Elder Cobler was sending his winter clothes home and there was a huge line and so he decided to use the self automated package center. He got all of his packages paid for  but we missed a small detail when we could move the lever to release the packages into the basket. WE then read on the machine that this basket is for packages 7 ounces or less.... and we were like who sends a package less than seven ounces?? So we hope his packages got put in the right basket.We then dropped them off and rushed back for our appointment at 2:00 and shared the Restoration with him. Later in the day we were on the way to our dinner appointment and I saw in the distance 2 10 year old kids playing some basketball.... You probably already know what happened next but I was like... "Elder Haines we gotta play!!! And he said yeah baby lets go!! And we walk up and ask if we can play and they said sure. They then ask"Are you good at basketball and I was like "kinda I havent played much..." Then I could already see the wheels in there head say we are going to slaughter these guys in white shirts. So I was shooting terribly and I acted as if the ball was a forein object , and kicking it everywhere and I said "are we gonna play??" "They were like are you sure you want to?" "I said why not" .... first possession I did a in'n'out crossover and he fell over!! and then the rim was kind of bent and I dunked it and people were watching in the neighborhood and they were screaming and laughing!!! Such a great time!

On Friday, we went ot the hospital to see Brother Foster and he has been battling cancer for a while and he kept on asking How I was and that Elder Haines and I were so tall. Also the missionary that baptized them a few years ago was there and we spent some time with Brother Foster before we left to get something to eat. The conversation went from Taco Bell , to Zaxby's, and then drastically went to Koreana. Koreana is a Korean resturant and in my head I'm thinking okay its probably going to be like Chinese food but Oh boy was I wrong. I ended experimenting a bit and got this dish with squid and octopus in a tangy red sauce.... You could see the tenticles and I was very skeptical and when I ate the squid I was shocked at how chewy it was, the sauce blocked the actual taste of it out but oh boy was it chewy and the texture is like out of this world bumpy! But I tried my best to finish it haha. Then we had a dinner with a family  and had a good chat with the Johnson about the last days and politics and all the mess in the world haha.

On Saturday, we went to the Johnsons place and Elder Haines and I saved Brother Johnsons back and moved some 200 pounds stumps to the back of the house. We PICKED THEM UP LIKE SAMOANS!! Haha we then went to the church and filled the font and got the church ready to go. Now the baptism was scheduled for 2:00 and its a nightmare for missionaries for their investigator to not show up for the baptism and it came true.... At least for a half an hour and then he showed up and it all went swimmingly. It was awesomethe spirit was so strong! We then went to Justins baptism party. So in the south there is no party without some meat on the grill. And we got some great southern slang phrases in that party. So picture this sentence in the most southern voice you can think of..."One of the worst things someone can put sausage is cheese, if Ima put cheeze in my sausage I'm gonna put it on top" Great stuff!We then met with Dennis and Kenya and Kotana and tried to fix her fridge.

On Sunday, our nightmare came true when Justin didnt show up for sacrament meeting to get the Holy Ghost and he will be out of town for 2 weeks and sooo he might need to be baptized again. But yerah... we'll keep you posted. We then went to fort benning and taught the soliders. We met with President Coleman and gave a blessing to a member and had a great Sunday!!

I LOVE YALLL

-Elder Mitchell Hill 

#Ilovedasouth    #yonder #crazyweek  #ILOVEMYFAM

 

BEA-Utiful Georgia!

Before Justin Robinson's Baptism!

 

April 11, 2016 - Columbis GA

Hey Y'all!

Well this week flew by and earlier in my mission I wondered what everyone meant when they said missions go fast and it was this past week where it felt like it was going super fast. But this past week was a great week in terms of helping people come unto Christ more and more.

On Monday I was able to play basketball for 3 hours and it made me so happy! It was definitely needed and shook off those cobwebs and got back in the grind. We also gave a blessing to the little girl from last week letter that punctured her lung and she had a successful surgery and it all went well.

Tuesday we hopped on our bikes and set off to go see some peoples. I came to a conclusion after our bike excursion that when people designed the transportation system in Georgia I think they forgot about biking because Georgia is not meant for bikers. AS we rode alongside semi trucks and cars yelling "move over" or "get off the road" even though we are practically riding on the grass. My favorite thing I've been yelled at is "Go back to Utah!!" I can never get enough of that one and I just chuckle and I'm pretty sure they see me in their mirror as they speed away. But we biked all over Columbus and found a bike path that cuts right through the city and helps the stressful ride tremendously. We met  3 nice guys in an area while we were trying a potential investigator and they haven't heard of the church before and wanted to know more so I'll keep you posted. Later in the day we met with a family we have been working with and we were able to commit her to be baptized for May 28th and we are very excited for that because it was just one of those spiritual lessons you'd dream of as a missionary. 

On Wednesday I had one of the last interviews with President Cottle with him being our mission president and every time I get to visit with President Cottle it is quite the blessing. He is an inspired man and has helped my testimony tremendously. I absolutely loved sharing this time with him. Both Sister Cottle and President Cottle have solid testimonies and they've really helped me solidify mine as a servant of the Lord. But Wednesday we taught lots of lessons and it was a good day. I also finished my training for Zone Training meeting and finalized that.

On Thursday we had our Zone Training meeting that both Elder Haines and I led. All the missionaries seemed to love it! We have a portion of the meeting dedicated to introductions and the missionaries would say their name, where their from, and if your favorite band made a cover of a hymn what hymn and band would it be? It was funny because President Mccoy and a few Senior couples all said old time bands and all the missioanries said bands that I didn't even know existed, but it was really funny. Elder Haines and I both gave 2 15 minute training's. I gave a training on Joy and used some stories from home and Alma 29:1-10 to help base my training on. I though it went very well. Then my second training was on integrity and doing the right thing when no one is watching. It all went pretty well. I was very pleased with my training's! After ZTM we went on exchanges and I was with Elder Packard for the day and we had a blast together seeing people and loving life.

On Friday most of our day was driving to Americus and planning for the day. Americus is an awesome little town, one of the pictures I'm sending is a picture of a hotel from the civil war and its super retro! Also on the way back Elder Haines taught me how to use Cruise control in the car and boy cruise control saves lives!! I'll tell you what!!I thought it was the coolest thing ever haha.

Saturday was an awesome day!We had service in the morning where we helped unpackage bread again and this time we did another 8 tons and it still blows my mind. Stay tuned cause next week we are going to be slaughtering a pig on his farm and we are about to have a great mission story I can feel it. It was Elder Haines birthday so the AP's came by and said hi to us and gave Elder Haines a hug and some muddy buddies cause hey everyone loves muddy buddies:) Later that night we had a ward luau and it was sooo cool! It was an awesome turnout and so many people fellow shipped. They had a legit Samoan haka and dancers it was super cool. I took lots of videos!!

Sunday! We had church and our investigators came and it was awesome! I bore my testimony on scriptures and the power of prayer. Mom and Dad would be proud! Later in the day we had a fireside with the youth and had a panel of people of answering the questions of our day and it was really good! We have awesome youth here:)

I love you guys!!! Always know that!!

I LOVE YOU, Oh and I LOVE YOU

Civil War Hotel in Americus!

Samoans are Awesome!

April 4, 2016 - Columbus, GA

Hey Y'all!

I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did, haha I thought it was interesting that before the mission I somewhat dreaded conference because of how long it was and whatnot but now conference is something I look forward to all year and I cant wait for the next one!  Thats pretty crazy! Its been really hard being away from basketball and especially around this time of the year, but Im glad to see an update on it:) I'm glad that you are looking into the next challenge of getting a house in Utah. I've met a lot of missionaries here that would be more than willing to help us out too with knowing how to build and how to save costs. But I hope that, thats going well and keep me updated with it please:)

This past week has been another busy one here in Columbus and I love it:) Being the senior companion definitely has its challenges and you definitely learn how to use your time effectively and plan well. This week I definitely realized the power of planning and making sure you and your companion are on the same page.

On Tuesday, Elder Haines and I crossed the Chattahoochee river again and went on exchanges in Phenix City. Elder Cobler and I went on exchanges after the district meeting and Elder Cobler and I talked about our plans after the mission and he told me that he plans on going to Utah State and be on the cross country and track team. We also did service for the Johnsons here, and we were asked to help them move mouse poop covered wood, crawling with cockroaches the size of your pinky and the wood pile was about 8 feet tall and being somewhat inexperienced with stacking wood, we didnt think it mattered of what size of the wood went on the bottom, so being inexperienced we pout the small pieces on the bottom and the big pieces on top... and welll you can already see what is happening here and we got a call from her later in the day saying that the wood pile fell and so we went back and now I know how to stack wood:) We also met with the Maldonados and talked to them about faith and why its important.

On Wednesday we switched back and had district meeting with our district, then Elder Haines and I went over to a members haircut salon and got our hairs cut:) She did a pretty good job but I'll let you guys decide that from the pictures. Later that night we had a Just Serve webinar with some members of the high council in the stake and we talked about how Just Serve will help strengthen the communities and bind members together.

On Thursday, we were running low on miles and so we biked pretty much all day, but our first stop was at the church and we planned and waited for our lesson with Jazmin Henderson, but she ended up not being able to come because of some conflicts. So we started to bike back home and it was around this time where I knew it was gonna rain and in Georgia when it rains....it rains!! And we were on the way to go home for lunch and we saw Sister Johnson putting rocks on her new RV parking spot and we stopped by and gave her a hand. It was pretty funny because Sister Johnson's house is the first house by a busier road and people were constantly giving us strange looks because we were two white boys, in white shirts and ties, shoveling rock into a driveway in the rain. But right as the rain started to get bad we finished it for her and realized that we had to go home in it. We waited at the Johnsons til it cleared up a bit and headed back home. But you know every time you ride in the rain your wife is going to that much more attractive:) haha. But later in the day we stopped by recent converts house and visited with her because she fell and hurt her ankle and needed someone to talk to.

Friday was a pretty interesting day... We had MLC in Macon and it was raining throughout the whole night and it was in the morning. But we decided to take the back roads because the drivers in Georgia are bad when the sun is shining and I didn't want the headache of driving in the rain on highways so we took the side roads and boy was it a good decision. All the creeks that we passed through were overflowing and it was quite the sight to see. We got to Macon safely and received training from President Cottle and the leadership here. Throughout the entire MLC meeting the thunder shook the room and the meeting saved us from being soaking wet that day. But I learned a lot about integrity and doing the right thing even if no one is watching. As well as the difference between joy and happiness. And that joy is a full feeling while happiness is fleeting. I also had the crazy experience of me and Elder Duran, my 2nd half trainer and I were zone leaders together! It was a pretty crazy experience!! After MLC we drove back and met with Chris Stevens and read the book of Enos with him.

Saturday/Sunday was General Conference and we watched the first session at a members house. It was really a good way to start off conference! There was a lot of good insight I received from conference but because of the lack of time I'll share my highlight for Saturday and Sunday. I learned that Jesus Christ was the best leader because he was the best follower and that applies directly to us that if we are in a leading position that we should be humble enough to also be a follower of Jesus Christ. I also enjoyed Elder Hollands talk at the end where he talked about how we need to keep trying and even though we may come off those spiritual mountain tops we need to remember those spiritual moments and use them to keep moving forward. I actually had to miss the first session on Sunday because I was at Ft Benning with the soldiers, but I was able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to them and it went very well. We also got a call from president Cottle and he told us of a solider who needed a blessing so we went over to the Ft Martin Army hospital and gave him a blessing. This whole week seemed very filled with injuries and accidents from everyone and as we went in for the day, we got a call at 10:00 last night where someone was playing and fell onto a pointy object and it pierced her lung and so we got dressed and rushed over there and missed her by five minutes but we gave a blessing to her mom and I really felt the love she had for her. But we are going to go over today and give the daughter a blessing too.

But I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

-Elder Mitchell Hill

 

My Second Half Trainer and now ZL's!

I Promise it is Raining!

I Spotted this Gator!

 

March 28, 2016 - Columbus GA

Hey Y'all!

Happy Easter!! Thank you so much for the package that you sent:) Gotta love the "sweet" things in life sometimes. I loved the note you sent and it made my day! We had transfers this past week and I got a new companion and his name is Elder Joshua Haines. He's from Sandy, Utah and he is quite the guy. He has a lot of bright ideas and makes the work fun too which is always a plus! He likes playing the guitar and saying "yeah dude" a lot haha.I'm glad to hear that Uncle Richard is doing well, and that spring break was fun! I'm doing pretty well and there isn't anything that I really NEED right now but there are always things that you may want, but no I'm doing great. This week had some events in it that really was not expected and I'm sure you will be shocked at and possibly laugh at one of them.

On Tuesday we had transfers and we figured out a ride to get to Macon for the transfer meeting and we got there and I saw alot of old friends that I haven't seen in a while and it was fun to see them again. I said hi to Elder Godwin, Elder Showers, Elder Taggart, and many others that was fun. I also met Elder Haines for the first time and I just knew he was gonna be a great guy! But we got back to Columbus and Elder Haines and I really got the spring cleaning fire going on and we cleaned out the compilation of missionary "junk" over the course of 5-10 years. We found food in the fridge that expired in 2009 that I didn't even know was there last transfer. We cleaned up the dust bunnies in our house, and made in look spic and span:) It's like I'm living in a whole new apartment. I introduced Elder Haines to alot of the people we are teaching and had dinner with the missionaries that serve here. It was pretty great.

On Wednesday, we helped Elder and Sister Stevens pack up their Uhaul to make their voyage out to Utah. It was really hard to see them go but I know since they are in our same stake that I'll see them again. It's good cause she can make some good food that I'm going to partake of when we have stake get togethers in Logan. We taught alot of lessons and found some really solid new investigators that day. We were passing out the easter initiative cards and people were really receptive to our message after they saw that video and it made for a great finding opportunity. We also met with a family who is  going through a pretty rough time and we gave them council and helped them out the best we could. It was one of those meeting where you had a lesson plan, but once you heard the things going on in their life, the plan changed and you just listened and comforted them. They came to church on Sunday and we are excited to help them in any way we can.

On Thursday, we taught alot of lessons and by using the Hallelujah pass along cards it created a good way to talk to people and we taught 5 other lessons on that day as well as 3 new investigators. I'm not a big numbers guy but I care about working hard and teaching people but its nice to look and see how much you've done that day and numbers help you do that. 

On friday, we had the opportunity to go to a funeral for an elderly lady. Nonmembers and members came to the church and remembered the life of Genia. You could definitely feel the spirit as we sang songs such as God be with you til we meet again. It was pretty sad, but its been a while since I've been to a funeral. But it was definitely an experience. After the funeral we went and had apartment inspections and you know the spring cleaning bug got into us and we made sure there wasnt anything Elder and Sister Paey could say besides Good Job. Mom you'd be very proud. I mean how could you live knowing that there was food in the fridge that existed back in 2009 haha. But after that we went over to Eric's place and helped him with his trees, and use machetes to cut the vines. THere hasnt been one time that I havent walked away from Erics place and not had scrapes and scratches from the thorny vines hahha. We had dinner with the Mackies on Fort Benning and they told us about their mission and their stories. 

Saturday was quite the day and boy you'll never guess what we did... So we got invited to go and help out some members on their farm. And we are on the way out there and they told us we would be helping with feed the cows bread... so we were all expecting to like poor grain or something into feeders for the cows, but oh boy were we wrong. So when we get there they showed us what they meant by that and they brought us to a trailer filled with 8 tons of expired bread in packages that we had to take out of packaging and put into another truck so that the bread can be taken to the mill and be processed for cow grain. It was so shocking to see how much bread was being thrown away from the stores cause it goes bad. And you'll see in the picture of how much bread it was but it was pretty crazy! Like we are standing on mounds of bread and it was a very interesting service project. Not only that but on his farm he sells fresh pork and fresh milk and we had to try them both:) Boy fresh cow milk is something else... soooo good!!! He loved us helping out on his farm and next week he wants us to help skin some pigs and learn how to milk cows and such so I'll keep you posted on my adventures with that.

Sunday was a very spiritual day because it was Easter and I've been reading Jesus the Christ and it just so happened that on Easter Sunday I read the events in the last week of Christs mortal ministry and we had a very spiritual sacrament meeting. We had investiagtors at church that really felt the spirit and you could tell they were starting to build their testimony of the church. I felt the spirit so strongly when a member bore her testimony about Jesus Christ and an experience she had in her life. Its amazing to experience Easter on your mission and I loved it. Elder Haines and I went out to Fort Benning and taught some soldiers about the Plan of Salvation. I love every time I go to that place because of their humbleness and their willingness to know more.

I hope ya'll had a great week and your always in my prayers:)

I LOVE Y"ALL

-Elder Hill

#Mountainofbread   #Aintnomountainhighenough   #Easterisawesome

 

Tons of Bread Food Storage!

Limited Sight Distance!