Sunday, March 26, 2017

March 20, 2017 - Alma, GA

Hey Y'all!

This past week was definitely an interesting one with ups and downs. We have been praying and overcoming obstacles that have been put before us but without challenge you'll never grow. I've definitely learned how valuable the gospel is in my life and I'm grateful for how I was brought up. March flew by so fast and I can believe April is right around the corner. By the way you know how I told you about how bad my watch was falling apart and that it was being held together by tape, staples and glue? Well I'll tell the full story when I go through the week, but in short I played basketball with my watch on and I dunked with it on and the band snapped off, but thankfully we went to a pawn shop today and they had a band that fit perfectly with my watch! So even though it doesn't look as rustic, the band works better than the one before! so that is pretty cool.

As for me and my week there were ups and downs but through hard times we are made strong and with Christ on your side, you can do all things! 

On Monday, I had a really growing experience when we went to the church to play basketball. I did this drill where I went to 25 different spots spread out through the gym and the goal was to make all 25 shots without a single miss and if I missed a shot then I would do 10 pushups and restart from the beginning. Before my mission I was very quick to get upset with myself if I messed up and I expected perfection and if I didn't get it I would beat myself up. Through serving a mission I've learned that we aren't all perfect but we are made perfect through Christ. As I did the drill and I would get halfway through the drill and miss, thoughts of discouragement and doubt with come to my head, but I knew this is something I needed to work on. After 1 hour of trying to complete this drill, I probably did close to 500 push-ups. It could have been very easy for me to say no one saw me miss that shot I'll just keep going and I'll "say" I'll made that shot, but even if I did complete it after that shot I'd still remember that one miss. It was important for me to not be quick to anger but to make every shot and trust that if I work through my shortcomings I'll accomplish my goal in the end and wouldn't you know that after 1 hour of the same drill I went 25/25. It was a lot harder to make shots when your body is fatigued but I learned a very valuable lesson that day and I know I became a better man after completing that drill! After P-day was over it was really weird how it got blistering cold for a few days this week and to top it all off it started to drizzle rain. Our plans for that night all fell through and we wound up walking in frigid rain throughout the night. It was nearly 8:00 p.m and almost time to return home but we felt that before we made our way back on the highway we should stop into Dairy Queen to warm up a bit before heading out. Well it turned out that when we walked in it was a slower day for the workers and three of the workers saw how cold and tired we looked and they asked what we did as missionaries. We bore testimony of the Restoration and they took interest in a pamphlet and they asked if they could buy us something. We accepted and we both got a smoothie that they paid for. It made our night and on the way back this lady pulled over and while we were walking on the highway a lady gave us an umbrella to keep and it made us feel like God was looking out for us.

On Tuesday, we had a very spiritual district meeting and following district meeting we did something that was really memorable. The Baxley Elders made "Honk if you love Jesus signs" and "Matthew 22:37" signs. We held them up in a very busy part of Baxley and the small quiet country town of Baxley turned into loud New York city!! So many people were honking their horns and taking pictures of us for Facebook and many people opened up and respected that we were doing that!We then went on exchanges with Baxley and I went with Elder Showers. Alot of our appointments fell through as people said they were too busy too talk and so the scheduled lessons we had planned fell through but in turn we met this man named Tyle who had been going through financial problems/ family problems. He asked many questions about the Book of Mormon and what makes our church different than all the other churches. WE explained the Priesthood and the divinity of the Book of Mormon and he became interested in what we had to say. Following the prayer I had a war feeling come over me and I'm glad we stopped and talked with him. That night we had a great dinner with Brother Taylor who invited a less active friend to the home for dinner and the conversation was great and I really feel like we bonded well with her. We shared a message about David and Goliath and she seemed to really enjoy it and help her give new insight to the story and how we should look at trials.

On Wednesday, Elder Showers and I walked along the highway to go visit Teresa, but after a long, cold, windy walk there she ended up not being home even though we confirmed with her that morning. I wasn't sure why she didn't answer but please pray that we can talk with her soon. We decided to tract a little bit in the area and we only had one door open. We greeted the man and after we introduced ourselves he says..."I'm Christian soo...leave" I've got that alot of times before but for some reason Elder Showers and I just talked about why a Christian wouldn't want to know about Jesus Christ? We probably know its just first judgement that when we come to the door the automatic answer is no but I just wish everyone would give us 5 minutes to hear what we have to say. We made the long walk back and exchanged back. The Baxley Elders had many miracles that they told us all about and it rejuvenated my Spirits. Later that day we went out teaching with Brother Taylor and had nice visits with some of his home teaching families. One of the goals we had for the week was to have a good youth event for the youth and we haven't really had youth come to mutual until this past week. We played soccer and had really fun activity!

On Thursday, we got a call from Brother Morris who wanted to take us out to eat and show us around his modular company. It was cool to meet a lot of people there and get to know Brother Morris a little bit better. When we came back Elder Irons and I walked toward the South side to have a lesson with our investigator Maria, but when we got there we recognized a stolen bike at their house that is a members bike they had been looking for. Brother Taylor was meeting us in about 10 minutes across town and we asked our investigator that we recognize the bike and that the owner had been looking for it and we asked if we could take it back to him. They agreed but now the problem is there are two Elders and 1 bike and we have to be on the other side of Alma in 5 minutes...What d you do? You put two Elder on one bike! I took both our shoulder bags and pedaled while Elder Irons sat on the handlebars and you bet that we got a lot of looks from the good people of Alma haha. It was a pretty awesome moment! We then had dinner with the Jewells and helped him move one of his cupboards in his trailer and they were grateful.

On Friday,we had been trying to meet with Austin for his last lesson before his baptism but after trying multiple times at his home he wasn't home and we aren't sure where he is and his baptism was supposed to be March 25 and we will now have to move the date back but we are trying to do the right thing and help him fulfill the commandment to be baptized. We planned for a good majority of the day and in the end of the day. Eva (an investigator) and Brother Taylor invited us to go watch the Bacon County high school baseball game. It was a pretty good time and it cleared my mind of all the stressors I had weighed in my mind.

On Saturday, we went and played Bingo at the Nursing Home with the Elderly. The lady I was playing for nearly cried when I told her that she had one and she was so grateful that I played for her. People take Bingo seriously down here haha. We tried seeing Austin multiple times in the day but he wasn't home, so please pray that we can see him sometime soon to talk about his baptism. We had 3-4 appointments cancel that day that were set and we were kind of down in the dumps.. Normally when Im down, the thing that relieves my stress is basketball. Wouldn't you know there were high school kids playing basketball in the area haha! Except this game was a little different than the rest. This game was very physical and the guys we were playing against took it personally when we put them and started to shove us and knock us around. It was kind of dumb cause they were being hypocrites and saying we were doing things that we weren't. We beat them in all three games and many people in nearby projects came to watch this intense game. The game point of the last game I drove down the middle and there were two kids in the way of the hoop and I decided to try to dunk on them. They caught me in the neck and shoulder as I dunked over the top of them. My watch snapped off from the rim and if there was highlight play of my life that would be it. Before y'all get freaked out I'm okay and even though it was a heated game it brought me back to some good times haha.

On Sunday, we had a real spiritual Sunday and we talked a lot about the Atonement and the branch is becoming stronger and stronger. I know the Lord will bless this area. That night we met with the Jewells again and I cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for them. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and after they expressed they wanted to be baptized we were able to set a date for baptism on May 6th for both of them!! It was a great moment!

I LOVE Y'ALL and I KNOW the church is true!
-Elder Hill
#startingtogethumid
 
Ayden, Elder Irons and Elder Hill, oh and there is a bike in there too!  Alma, Ga, March 2017

Elder Irons and Elder Hill chillin', Alma GA, March 2017

Farmer Mitch!  March 2017, Alma GA

Honk if you Love Jesus!  March 2017, Alma, GA


I wish I was a kid again!  Alma Ga, March 2017
 

Sunday, March 19, 2017

March 13, 2017 - Alma, Ga

Hey Y'all!

Its cool on a mission how every week is special in its own way and there were lots of memorable moments from this past week! First off the weather here has been pretty crazy like yesterday it was mid 60's and today it plummeted to mid 30's! It was bitter cold walking to the library today and so I'm glad I didn't send home my winter clothing quite yet haha. But yeah Elder Irons and I have worked and tracted out a good portion of Alma at l;east the main city, but there are many houses way out yonder that we are making plans to work on. But we have been staying WAY busy which is always a good thing.Its cool to hear it looks like a past area from Dad's mission, but missions sure are great!

There was so much that happened from this past week and I hope that I can remember everything that happened because there were some pretty awesome memories.

On Monday, we drove up to Douglas, GA for P-day because I was going to get a free teeth cleaning from a member of our mission presidency who owns his own dental practice. It was one of the most memorable P-days I've had on my mission. I got to play basketball in a church that was built back in the 50's and the court felt really rustic and authentic and I loved shooting there. We also had the fun opportunity to go to a junkyard that a member in Douglas owns and he let us destroy cars with baseball bats and sledgehammers!! It was so much fun and it was the first time I destroyed anything with a bat and it got addicting after a while haha. Like the next day we would walk by a parked car and desire a baseball bat to destroy the windows and mirrors. Haha it was quite a good time and Im sure you'll like the pictures we took and hopefully you can see a video we took. But we came back and we were able to play basketball together and it sure brought back a lot of fun memories for me, because our mission is so spread out we cant get together for zone P-days and so I haven't had many times on my mission playing basketball against missionaries but last P-day I was able to and it sure made me happy! Having good fun P-days like that just make your week go a lot better and it takes your mind of the stressors of being a missionary! 

On Tuesday, I had a really memorable study where I read a talk from David E. Sorenson and a quote from the talk says... "The reason our Heavenly Father asks us to pray cannot be that we are able to tell Him something He does not already know. Rather, the reason He asks us to pray is that the process of learning to communicate effectively with Him will shape and change our lives as much as we are changed by learning to communicate as children." I think that quote is really powerful because just like when a son needs something from his dad, more than likely the dad already knows what the son needs but unless the child asks the son may never receive. It is our part to communicate with God so they we can feel of his love in our daily walk of life. One of the highlights of the day was going over to Brother Taylor's home and we had a great visit with him. Sister Taylor has mid evil looking swords that her husband had when he was in the Navy. We took some good pictures with them and they were pretty cool. Brother Taylor also introduced us to his daughter who isn't currently active but we hope to start a youth night going on Wednesdays where we can get the youth involved. I was asked to give a training in ZTM about the importance of investigators coming to church and so I brainstormed what I wanted to do for my training. I love giving training's in ZTM and it didn't used to be that way but now I'm just comfortable being in front people talking about the gospel and I know that it is a blessing that God has helped me with.

On Wednesday, Elder Irons started off the day by tracting an area either of us have never been to before and literally the first door we knocked on was Brother Taylor's brother who isn't a member but it was crazy that we literally had dinner with him the night before and then the next day we knocked into his brothers door. As we kept on knocking we met this lady named Teresa who definitely made our day. The conversation started out in a somewhat normal way and she expressed how proud she was of us sharing our beliefs with so much enthusiasm and she sees us ride our bikes everyday and she really appreciates how much effort we put into the work here. After we got acquainted we offered and explained the Book of Mormon to her and she had always wondered why so many people persecute the book before they have even read it. Elder Irons and I immediately looked at each other and was like "she's awesome" After explaining how the Book of Mormon came to be we testified of it and prayed with her. She promised that she would read it and when we would come back next week we would talk about it which was an amazing way to start off the day. We then went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Douglas. I went with Elder Hansen to Douglas and we had a pretty memorable exchange. We biked up and down sandy dirt roads surrounded by pine trees as tall as skyscrapers. We were out in the boonies and we tried a few potentials and then we tracted a bit out there. We met this man who had met with missionaries before in Atlanta and after sharing the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, people started cussing, screaming and yelling inside of the trailer. There were so many cussing words being screamed that if you had Morse code overplaying the cussing it would bleep out the cuss words haha. But we had a memorable southern dinner with a member in Douglas where we had collard greens, cornbread, ribs, and carrots and it was sooo good! It was fun being with a zone leader again and it brought back a lot of memories.

On Thursday, we had ZTM and interviews with President Grayson all in the same day. ZTM was really powerful and we learned a lot about how to begin teaching and planning. My training went really well as I talked about the importance of investigators coming to church. I shared these videos from Jeffrey R Holland that I wanted to share with ya... https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-10-0002-upon-my-holy-day-honoring-the-sabbath?lang=eng  and this video as well https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-10-0001-upon-my-holy-day-getting-closer-to-god?lang=eng but I talked about how important it is for us to understand how important sacrament meeting is and that we love the Sabbath day before our investigators can love it. I also talked about how important it is for us to prepare for the Sabbath day and help our investigators keep the Sabbath day Holy. It went really well! Later that day after exchanging back Elder Irons and I were riding our bikes by one of our investigators homes and we saw Roger who was a man we met with Sister Wolfe a few weeks back. We got to talk about a wide variety of topics ranging from Faith all the way to temples. They asked lots of questions and I feel we answered them in a really good way. We hope that we can start working with them and that they are able to come to church with us one of these Sundays, but it was a good talk with them. The District is having lots of miracles in all the areas and its really exciting to see all your devotion paying off!

On Friday, we did lots of planning and calling members and setting up appointments for the upcoming week. That night we were trying to find the address to a referral we had but we couldn't find the street. We used that as an opening remark to start talking with people and we ended up meeting a lot of devout Baptists including someone who wants to know more about the church and she had met with missionaries in the past. We ended up finding the referral and the referral was sent out 2 days ago but when we asked Johnie he said he asked to see missionaries a month ago and in that amount of time he had another church. Right before he was about to close the door I asked if we could share a 5 minute message with him and we introduced the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was so strong and we asked him if he recognized it and he said yes and accepted a book and promised to read 3 Nephi 11. LETS GOO BABY! We were walking back to our trailer and we heard this guy yell "Aye,y'all come on in and pray for me."  So we go on in and we offered to give him a blessing, well as Elder Irons was about halfway through the blessing this lady yelled "Y"ALL ARE TAKING TOO DANG LONG!!" She cut him off and gave a quick Hallelujah, praise Jesus pray and so many people were yelling and screaming, it was super weird. I was kind of offended that a lady who interrupt a blessing in which they invited us into their home. But it turned out alright and we talked about it on the walk home. 

On Saturday, Elder Irons had a physically laboring day for sure! We started out by doing the hardest P-90x3 workout that is in the program cause we didn't know how much physical labor we would be doing that day. But after working out and playing basketball we biked over to the nursing home to play bingo with the old folk and they always appreciate when we come by. Elder Irons and I needed some things at the store before going to the apartment for lunch so we stopped by Harvey's and we ended up see Brother Flowers who was having a baby shower for his triplets that are due in three weeks. He invited us to come and we decided that it would be a good way to bond with him and show how much we care for him. We decided to make some brownies and cookies for the event so we got back to the apartment and made cookies and brownies for the baby shower. The Flowers live about 10 miles away so with groceries and cookies on our handlebars we biked to their home and they were really shocked that we biked all the way out there. We talked with Brother Flowers outside because inside there were about 25 women and it was quite intimidating haha. But then they drove us home and Elder Irons and I walked to Sister Mitchell's home and tore up her back porch and she was grateful for the service. We then went to the Jones' home so that they could give us a ride home but they had lots of things around the house needing done and so we helped them make dinner, clean, mop and do laundry. It was definitely a service filled day!! And you bet we slept good that night:)

On Sunday, we had really powerful Sacrament meeting on Fast Sunday and its amazing how much love there is in Alma that every member truly loves each other and we all feel edified before we leave church. Everyone testified of the Saviors love and Jesus Christ and it was very powerful! We talked to lots of people who really appreciated what we do and even though they may not accept everything we teach they are always grateful for a prayer. Serving in the South has really shown me what a belief in Jesus Christ can do and when we are founded upon Christ when those hard times come we will overcome but if we are founded upon other worldly things those storms with probably prevail over the shifty foundation.

I LOVE Y"ALL and the church is TRUE!!!

-Elder Hill
#Keeponworkin' 
 
Removing Sister Mitchell's Porch!  March 2017, Alma, GA






Ripping up Sister Mitchell's Porch!  March 2017, Alma GA
Elder Hill Relaxing!  March 2017, Alma Ga


Demolition Crew!  March 2017, Alma GA


We Won!  Alma GA, March 2017

ZTM - March 2017, Alma GA
 

Saturday, March 11, 2017

March 6, 2017 - Alma, GA

Hey Y'all! 

As for me and my week it was a pretty good week!

On Monday. we had a really fun P-day where we went fishing with Chico Juarez underneath a bridge. WE didn't catch anything but ALOT of mosquito bites. Elder Irons put his camera in his short pocket and reached down to catch a bobber that was floating away and his camera fell out his pocket into the water... He grabbed it as fast as he could but there wasn't much we could do about it until we got back to the apartment to put it in rice. Once we got back to the apartment we put it in rice and before we left we said a prayer and it we asked that Elder Irons camera would be able to work again and when we came back at the end of the day his camera was working better than it did before it fell in the water! Holy Cow!! We aren't sure if it was just the rice that made it work again but it is pretty weird that his pictures are clearer now than they were before his camera fell in the water. So is it odd or is it God?? haha

On Tuesday, we had district meeting and it was really good to see all the new missionaries in the district. We have 3 new missionaries that are now in this district and all them really want to be here and do the right thing. We took some time to get to know each other by getting to know their families. Its cool hearing about each person and get to know more about them. I really enjoyed all the fun stories and special moments that they had with their family before their mission. We talked a lot about simplifying our teaching and focusing on teaching our investigators on where they are at in the gospel and really working with them so that they understand the importance of coming to church. But after district meeting Elder Irons and I biked to go see Henry and when we biked to his house Henry was walking out with his Book of Mormon and pamphlet and said. "Fellas, I appreciate all that you do and I appreciate the things I have learned from y'all but this just isn't for me." So we found out that Henry just isn't ready to make the steps in his life to make the change, he just said he had a lot going on and didn't want the family he was living with to disown him because he became Mormon. So it was hard to hear but you never know the Lord is just preparing him to one day accept the message and make covenants with God. That night we stopped by to see Austin and he wanted to watch 17 miracles with us. It was my first time watching it and it was a really spiritual moment for him to really see true accounts of what happened as the Saints moved west. Some of the miracles he said were hard to believe but they were all true stories. The Saints went through so much as they traveled west. The Lord truly did protect them and watch over them. One of the most spiritual miracles was one of the daughters of this family died from the cold and starvation. The ground was so cold and hard that the parents could dig a hole for her and just had to put blankets over her and leave her there for the wolves. Before they left for Zion the family was promised that if they went to Zion that ALL  her family would make it to Zion. Well after they laid the daughter under the blankets the mom ran back and they warmed water up and poured it over the girls toes and she came back to life and made it to Zion. It was a really cool story but whats crazy is it actually happened.

On Wednesday, we got our church information into the the newspaper and also into the yearly Alma magazine which was really cool and hopefully good things come from it. Elder Irons walked around and tried to talk with as many people as we could. Its really cool in the south that so many people know and believe in Jesus Christ. Looking down the road and seeing there are 4 different churches on that same street is pretty crazy and you can see why Joseph Smith had that question of what church do I go to. Elder Irons was biking and his time stem got a hole in it and he had to bike on a lat tire back to our trailer and we are getting a new tire tube today so it will get fixed.

On Thursday, we went all over Alma this day!!! We started off the day by walking and we ran into a lady who we tracted into a few weeks back. She had asked that we pray for her and that she would like us to come by this upcoming Thursday and visit with her which was really cool. What was even cooler was when we stopped by Sister Mitchells home she knew Abby and Abby (new investigator) stopped by to sit at her home at the same tiem we were reading the Book of Mormon with Sister Mitchell and Abby accepted to read Alma 34 and pray about it. It was really cool how Abby ran into us and then literally ran into us again 15 minutes later and we got to visit and talk about the Book of Mormon.  This is the part where our day got hectic. Elder Irons and I walked back to our trailer and we rearranged some plans and we planned to walk to Brother Jones' home to get a ride to see Brother Dawson but Brother Jones didn't have his truck and it changed our plans because we remembered that we forgot to bake Brownies for a church we were invited to go to that night. So we walked over to the store at 4:30 the church event started at 6:00 and its about a 45 minute walk back to our trailer from the store but we made it back in 25 minutes... you could say we were movin' haha. We threw the brownies in the oven and they cooked and at 5:50 we left our trailer with freshly made brownie trays hanging off our bike handlebars as we rode to the church which was on the other side of Alma. It normally takes about 20 minutes but we got there in about 10 on a bike it was pretty crazy. Then when we got there, Brother Taylor called us and asked if we could come help him give a blessing to a member. So we had enough time to give them the brownies and race over to the house and give the blessing. After the blessing we went over to the church and had a great meal with them. We talked to the pastor about his church and our church and he was really intrigued at how we knew so much for being as young as we are. He was really impressed and it was fun being there with them. We biked home and we finally sat down we probably traveled a span of 30 miles in a day and it was pretty intense!

On Friday, we had a memorable day. Sister Taylor invited us to go and watch Lettie (their foreign exchange student) at her soccer game and we also got invited by a few high school kids to go to their soccer game too. So that night we went to the Bacon County High school soccer game. It was amazing how the Lord works because these police officers came up to us and one of them who was a member asked us about where we were from and we talked about what church he goes to. Come to find out he was going to be a missionary but wanted so bad to go foreign and because he was called to Mississippi he didn't want to go. Well he tells us that he ends up being stationed by the air force in Mississippi where he was called to serve his mission for a year and then his dad passed away in that same place where his mission was too. So that place was where the Lord needed him but he just chose another path in life. It was really neat talking with him. It dropped 30 degrees at the game and we were only wearing a a short sleeve white shirt and we were freezing when we left. Since Elder Irons bike tire popped we had to fit two bikes in Austins car and we put my bike frame and two of our tires in the truck and Elder Irons bike frame went in the back seat. Well his sister sat squeezed in the back while Elder Irons and I sat squished in the passenger seat. Talk about comp unity haha! But we made it back and it made for a good memorable night.

On Saturday and Sunday, we had Stake Conference in Tifton,GA and it was such an amazing conference talking about missions, reactivation, and enduring to the end in the gospel. There were so many testimonies borne about Jesus Christ and the spirit was so strong. Austin came with us and he really enjoyed the Spirit there. He told us that he really wants to be apart of this and he loves this church. We are looking forward to his baptism in the coming weeks and he is really excited about it. We talked with Brother Roberson a lot as we traveled to and from Tifton and he is a really amazing man with so much faith. He has gone through a lot but he really has been a leader and has taught me a lot in my time in Alma. There was powerful statement made by the speaker in stake conference where he said Jesus Christ didn't just talk about the Atonement but he went and performed it, would the Atonement been the Atonement if he just talked about it? So for ourselves we cant just talk the talk but we have to walk the walk and mean it.

I love Y'all and the church is true!! Keep on being awesome and I sure do miss and love ya!

-Elder Hill
#Almaisontheupandup
 
Best District Around!

Elder Irons and Elder Hill, Alma, GA

Fishin' in Alma, GA
 

Sunday, March 5, 2017

February 27, 2017 - Alma, GA

Hey Y'all

We had a pretty memorable week this past week!

Just another week here in good ol' Alma GA

On Monday, Elder Showers was with us til Tuesday waiting for transfers so he could get his new companion. We went to Brother Flowers home and played some basketball at his place which was pretty fun and that night we visited a lot of people. One of them was this lady named Maria who definitely has a love for Jesus Christ and the Bible. She was going through a rough time at work where she felt like management was giving her a hard time and so the Spirit told me to read Matthew 5 with her. As all three of us shared insights to helping her be of light to those around her she seemed to feel really happy and you could tell that the Spirit was putting ideas in her mind of how she could be happier in the workplace. Its amazing how the gospel can change our perspective or attitude to the situation through reading the scriptures. We were going to see Sister Joyner and her family, in the south there are tons of red ant hills and if you careful when stomping on them they can be really fun to watch how many ants come out of the mound. There was one that was at least a foot tall and  I stomped on it and so many ants cam out but to top it all off, Elder Irons decides to kick the hill as hard as he could and ends up slipping and falling into the ants which were now all over his back. No one was hurt but it was just funny how he slipped in all the ants haha.

On Tuesday, Elder Irons and I took some time to update the branch map and get all the less active members and members on the map it took a good time but we ended up getting it done. Its going to really help the branch organize visits and help put more of a concerted effort in visiting all the members in the branch. That night we went to the Mexicans ladies' house who invited us to come back and help her with some service in her garden. Because I'm not fluent in Spanish we brought Brother Torres who went on his mission to Phoenix,AZ speaking Spanish and he did a really good job inviting her to read the Book of Mormon. We then helped her put a lot of plastic bottles into his truck so we could take them to a recycling plant. She was very appreciative and she even gave us two flowers to put in front of out trailer, so we are beautifying our trailer haha! We then got a call to help this man put a drier into his trailer and it went pretty well except when we got it in and hooked up it was too long for the area it was put in so we ended up taking it right back out onto his trailer, but at least we tried haha.

On Wednesday, I've been having really spiritual studies this past week as I've been using this book called "Search Ye these things diligently". Its a really insightful book, it is a Book of Mormon study guide and for every verse in the Book of Mormon it asks a common question and then they answer it through a verse of scripture or a quote fro ma modern day prophet or apostle! I read this "parable of the bicycle" that was really insightful ...

After I had come home one day, I was sitting in a chair reading the newspaper. My daughter Sarah, who was seven years old, came in and said, “Dad, can I have a bike? I’m the only kid on the block who doesn’t have a bike.”Well, I didn’t think I could afford to buy her a bike, so I tried to stall her by saying, “Sure, Sarah.”She asked, “How? When?”I said, “You save all your pennies, and pretty soon you’ll have enough for a bike.” And she went away.A couple of weeks later as I was sitting in the same chair, I was aware that Sarah was doing something for her mother and getting paid. She went into the other room, and I heard “Clink, clink.” I asked, “Sarah, what are you doing?”She came out and showed me a little jar all cleaned up with a slit cut in the lid and a bunch of pennies in the bottom. She looked at me and said, “You promised me that if I saved all my pennies, pretty soon I’d have enough for a bike. And, Daddy, I’ve saved every single one of them.”My heart was filled with love for her. She was doing everything in her power to follow my instructions. I hadn’t actually lied to her. If she saved all of her pennies, she eventually would have enough for a bike, but by then she would want a car! Her needs weren’t being met. So I said, “Let’s go downtown and look at bikes.”We went to every store in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Finally we found it—the perfect bicycle. She got up on that bike, and she was thrilled. But when she saw how much the bicycle cost, her face fell, and she started to cry. She said, “Oh, Dad, I’ll never have enough for a bicycle.”So I said, “Sarah, how much do you have?”She answered, “Sixty-one cents.”“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “You give me everything you’ve got and a hug and a kiss, and the bike is yours.” She gave me a hug, a kiss—and the sixty-one cents. I paid for the bicycle. Then I had to drive home very slowly because she wouldn’t get off the bike; she rode home on the sidewalk. And as I drove along slowly beside her, it occurred to me that this was a parable for the Atonement of Christ.
We all want something desperately—something far more than a bicycle. We want the celestial kingdom. We want to be with our Father in Heaven. And no matter how hard we try, we come up short. At some point we realize, “I can’t do this!” . . . At that point, we taste the sweetness of the gospel covenant as the Savior proposes, “All right, you’re not perfect. Give me all you have, and I’ll pay the rest. Give me a hug and a kiss—that is, enter into a personal relationship with me—and I will do what remains undone.”

But I love how it talks about how grace and works work, and how the Atonement is central to our salvation and conversion.We spent a lot of the day walking as usual and we went to go see Sister Mitchell and we helped her put a window in her window frame as well as move some logs and a dresser to the road. She was really grateful that we could help her with that. Its amazing what serving someone can do for not only those that are serving but for those who are on the receiving end. Its a win win situation for both people. We had a lot of experiences with service this past week.

On Thursday, we contacted a few potentials that day and talked with this man named James and Spud and they seemed pretty interested in knowing more about the church and they said they'd read the Book of Mormon and they were excited to read it! Later that day Elder Irons and I walked past a few kids playing basketball and we had sometime before our next appointment and we played with them. They both were on the varsity team on the Bacon County high school team and you could tell they thought they had this game in the bag, but we were playing on a 9 foot hoop and the first possession I got the ball I drove right and this kid was bodying me pretty hard and I jumped and threw it down on him haha! All the kids watching were going crazy haha, I wish I would've got it on video, but I didn't know if my camera would be safe in the area we were in. But we ended up winning but it was fun getting those old basketball competitive fires out haha. Its always fun playing in situations like that cause everyone there doesn't expect you to be able to play basketball but then you come out and play and everyone freaks out, its pretty fun!! We then went to the Jewells where we read with them 2 Nephi 31 and talked to them about baptism and Sister Jewell loved how it talked about Christs baptism and how we(the world) should look at baptism and it was a powerful lesson!

On Friday, we saw quite a few people before we had weekly planning but the lessons went really well. We saw Brother Dawson that afternoon and he loved out visit. He had a lot of southern paintings and lots of dogs in his home. The dogs looked like each one of them could eat you but they were really nice when they got all settled down. We talked to him about coming back to church and he was just apprehensive cause he doesn't like that the church believes they are the only true church on the earth and we explained to him that every church has truth but we just believe we have the fullness of the gospel. We read in the Book of Mormon with him and he said even though I have my doubts I know the Book of Mormon is true! That was pretty powerful!

On Saturday, we went to the nursing home and played bingo with the old folk and they were all surprised when Elder Irons or I didn't win... But they all said that they cursed my cards and I was like Oh that's why I'm not winning. haha crazy people haha. But that day we tried visiting alot of people in the farming areas in town and there sure are a lot of them, we didn't have anyone open up the door but we tried. That night Elder Irons and I spontaneously made brownies for Brother Jones and gave them to him and his wife who is going through cancer and it sure did brighten their day! They were really appreciative!

On Sunday, we had some really good speakers who talked about the potential that this area has and the man gave examples of various places in the world that were once branches but became stakes. We read a talk by President Eyring who talked about how his home stake in Pennsylvania was once a branch but now there are two large wards and a temple. There is so much potential for this area and all the branch is trying to reactivate and find people to come back to church.  Throughout this past week I have really studied a lot in the Book of Mormon and I just hope and pray that everyone can read it sincerely and have the same spiritual moments that I had, its cool as you start recognizing the Spirit and how it works with you, you're able to really feel the connection with God, I know this church is true and I know that Jesus Christ really is the only way and the truth and the light. 

I LOVE Y'ALL and keep on smiling!
-Elder Hill
 
 
Alma GA Missionaries!

Cotton Field, Alma GA

Elder Hill, Alma GA

Teamwork in Alma GA

Walking in Alma GA