July 5, 2016 - Columbus, GA

Hey Y'all!

Happy 4th of July!! I cant believe this time last year I was in the MTC not knowing what I was about to get into:) Since that time I sure have been through alot as we all have I'm sure. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTINA!! I hear you're turning 15 congratulations!! Haha jk but I hope its a good one. Sorry that you had a rough week at work, and I cant believe he hit you... Just tell him the next time that happens that you have a brother in Georgia and people in the south dont mess around. But I'm sure that Dad has it under control:) The cruise in Logan sounds like a lot of fun and it sounds like y'all will have a fun 4th of July like I had!. 4th of July in the south brings on a whole new meaning and celebrating our country has always been one of my favorite holidays, but being here in the south experiencing the patriotism on a military base surrounded by soldiers makes it a little more meaningful. They sure aren't the same with your family though, but just think the next one we will all be together:) This past week has been one of the busiest and fast moving weeks of my mission. There was probably one or two times throughout the entire week where we had 10 minutes of rest. Just what I like...

On Tuesday, But anyway we went on exchanges and hurried and I had to just put my frustration behind me and go see some investigators and at 5:00 we helped someone moved. It was a really great service and it was definitely needed to get my mind of the ticket. Later in the night while tracting we met a man who grew Carolina reapers and Ghost peppers in the back yard and its crazy how they grow them and that you need goggles just to pluck off the peppers cause the dust is so hot.

On Wednesday, we switched back early in the morning and we went to district meeting in Columbus. Following that we had to rush over to Fort Mitchell where I would stay in Fort Mitchell and Elder Memmott would stay in Columbus. I was with Elder Munn for the day and while we visited people there we say soldiers in airborne school jump out of Apache helicopters and float down to the ground. It was quite the experience. We met a member who had a son who loved playing brio train and you know me and my childhood that was life. So I had a fun time building "tracks" with him and playing trains. STILL so much fun:) We had an awesome lesson with one of their investigators about the Book of Mormon and at the end of the lesson she accepted to be baptized into the church and while she has some things to go through I could see the faith she had in the gospel to change her life around. She told me"I wish you could stay here in Fort Mitchell... I like you" which made me feel really good. It was an awesome exchange and Elder Munn is an awesome missionary.

On Thursday, driving back from Fort Mitchell we decided to go take pictures on the Chattahoochee river to get our mind of some stress and I'm sure you'll enjoy them:) we had quite a memorable "southern" lesson with one of our investigators. The sky as we started the lesson told us it was probably going to rain pretty soon but as we got about halfway through the Plan of Salvation it started to really come down and Willie was underneath his awning and invited us to come sit by him. It was raining CATS and DOGS!! It was coming down so hard that in a matter of 15 minutes the streets were flooded. We had to yell to each other just to hear each other through the noise of the rain. Regardless of the noise you could still hear the quiet whisperings of the Spirit which he knows to be true. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon everyday for a month and he said" You know I don't back down from a challenge" And I replied" That's my kind of answer!" We had a really spiritual lesson later in the day when we watched the Bible videos when Christ brought Lazarus back to life. The part that always sticks out to me was when Christ prays to Heavenly Father because he is that humble where he knows he can bring him back to life but he is still submissive and obedient to his father. POWERFUL! 

On Friday, Elder Memmott and I had a really neat service project where we weeded some flower beds for Sister Meadows and layed mulch down for her husband for a surprise! It was great to talk to her about my ticket and later on in the week she even gave me a quad because I told her that I have been looking around for one! It was such a blessing to provide service and save a turtle:) Later in the night we met with one of our investigators , Barron. Who introduced us to his friend that he goes to church with. The other day I watched a video on protecting the faith and the best way to do it and Elder Memmott and I definitely protected the faith. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and we both bore powerful testimony as they questioned how we believe the in three degrees of glory and as we directed them to 1 Peter 4:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:40-43 they still tired our faith, but as were backed up doctrine and scripture with the spirit you could see that it made sense to them that God doesn't just want to save a few of us. The Plan of Salvation is simple and covers every question people have in life thats why its my favorite lesson to teach. Difficult but my favorite!

On Saturday, we went to finish Brother Sootqueas trailer (The guy who had a yucky trailer) we helped them tear out floor boards, flea infested carpet, and ceilings. I felt like I was on Extreme makeover home edition and taking crowbars and destroying things!! It was pretty nasty but don't worry we didn't get too eaten up. We treated them well and recovering from the bites. The whole time I was just in awe of how some people can live the way they do, but you just gotta love 'em and serve.

On Sunday, the spirit as we sang "America the Beautiful" and other patriotic songs took a whole new meaning to me as I saw soldiers in the congregation risking their lives and sacrificing their time to serve the country. The testimonies given were so profound and powerful it really made for a great meeting. I went to Fort Benning and taught the soldiers there and if only you could see the sight as I saw when the soldiers sang "Star Spangled banner" and looking around at the tears in their eyes really impressed upon me the Spirit of America. Elder Memmott and I got back together and visited lots of less actives and tried to find more people willing to hear the gospel in the sweltering heat.

On Monday, I didn't slow down one second the whole day... We got up and did a 2 mile run in 12 minutes! We went disc golfing, and had a great time with Brother Harrison! Its really quite the fun game! We shopped for shoes and food, we then went to a barbecue that the Harrells put on and it really through back to home with the family setting and playing football in the yard. We decided to celebrate the holiday by playing some whiffle ball so hurried and ran home, gave some missionaries our spare tire cause theirs popped. We jump someones car and made it it to the field! Had a blast playing and then drove the National Infantry museum which was really awesome to see on the 4th of July! There was lots of foods vendors and people there to celebrate the country! I LOVE 'MURICA!

Thanks y'all and I hope y'all are doing well!` I LOVE Y"ALL and KEEP ON KEEPING ON!

-Elder Hill!

Demo Crew!

The Sandlot!

Tried to play baseball with two bats!  Nice follow through tho!! :)

Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee!!