December 27, 2015 - Millidgeville Ga

Hey Guys!

I loved talking to you on Christmas!! If you couldn't tell I was bit nervous because we haven't talked to each other in a little while, but I loved talking with you!! Don't worry I wont be in trouble with anyone it will all work out, It was so worth it:) I'm glad that you enjoyed the pens, it was really fun making them and watching your faces when you opened them! It's amazing how great you feel when you give a gift that you know the person will love, it's probably how Christ felt often after he healed people and saw the joy in the recipients face. I love the Christmas season:) 

This past week was definitely an emotional roller coaster, with the excitement of talking to my beloved family to the sadness of hanging up the call, this past week has just really showed me whats important about Christmas. In all of my past Christmas' the presents that I would recieve was where I found my happiness but now this past week I've realized that my family and the birth of Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. I realized that it doesn't matter what you get on Christmas, but whats more important is what you give and share with others. Not only that but the time spent with your family and how you worship the Lord is probably one the of the moist important things that we can do. Without Christ's birth no one could be saved from sin but because he lived and atoned for the sins of the world, was crucified, and rose again the 3rd day, everyone can live with Heavenly Father again. That is the greatest gift anyone can receive. On Christmas eve we experienced some pretty intense weather and the rain and wind canceled our Christmas eve plans and we were forced to stay in Milledgeville and spend Christmas eve with just us four missionaries. We heared the sound of the rain hit the roof while we played some board games and thought about our Christmas' in the past and how blessed we all are to have amazing families. It was also a cool day because it was my 6 month mark and I've spent 6 months preaching the gospel. Throughout these past 6 months I've truly changed as a person. Before my mission I felt as if my whole life dwelt on if I made or missed a shot in basketball, but now through being humbled and through the mission schedule I was forced to find what the true meaning of happiness is. Which is the gospel and what it teaches people. Even though I still find tremendous joy in playing basketball it's just apart of life but family and the gospel is what is truly important. Don't get me wrong basketball is still a huge part of who I am but thats not the only thing about life that's important. God wants you to expand your talents and use them but he wants you to do other things as well. These past 6 months have truly molded how my life will be when I get off my mission and I know I have alot left but I feel like I have a decent fotthold to what God is trying to teach me while I'm out here and a great thing!

With the new year coming up and wrapping up 2015 it's truly amazing how much has changed since the beginning of 2015. I've changed so much as a person this year and it's definitely for the better. Before my mission I had a hard with adversity and when I was faced with it I couldn't get my mind off of it but in the mission you face adversity everyday and you don't have any other choice than to get over it and just focus on helping people. So for this next year my entire focus is helping people see God in their life and in turn they will want to be like him and be baptized, so  my goal for this next year is to see someone that I've taught come into the waters of baptism. This goal was definitely different than last years goal but it's a different time and I'm in a different place. I'm truly excited for what growths I'll experience this year and how much I'll learn!

I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH and have a great new year!!

Love Elder Mitchell Hill

#Newyear   #Toowarm   

December 20, 2015 - Millidgeville GA

Hey Y'all

The package sounds great! The shoes will be much appreciated and thank you so much! The shoes that I used to wear for church in Colorado are splitting at the sole because of walking in the wet grass so much so it will be nice to have some shoes that dont get my feet wet when I walk through grass haha. 

Even though it's 4 days til Christmas it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Like I've worn short sleeve shirts the past few days and I've never experienced a Christmas where the streets aren't covered in snow. There's something magical with snow and Georgia doesn't know what it's missing. This past week was a week that had this sense of peace and comfort knowing that I would see my family in the upcoming week, as well as knowing that we are celebrating Christ's birth in the upcoming week. On Monday we went to the lake sinclair dam where we took pictures and though about going for a quick swim haha don't worry mom I wouldn't do it. On Tuesday Elder Godwin and Elder Davis went to transfer meeting where Elder Godwin would get a new companion. Elder Davis has meant alot to me in my mission and I'm not sure if I'll see him again til I go home but it was hard saying bye to him. Elder Godwin got a new companion and his name is Elder Taggart. He's 3 months out and he's a really cool guy! He like to repel and do rock climbing in Colorado. Also on Tuesday Elder Godwin gave me a package of letters from the transfer meeting and it was full of letters from the Mckay lake ward!! It was really mind blowing because I remember when I wrote letters to missionaries when we were there and now I'm getting letters from them so it was really cool to get letters from them! On Wednesday, we biked in the rain the whole day and it reminded me of my days in Waynesboro and it was quite fun, but at the same time alot of our appointments fell through that day and the rain kind of added to the depression , but hey what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger :) Also on that day, we helped an elderly member in our ward decorate their Christmas tree, it was really cool to see how the small things in life matter and even decorating a tree for someone brings the spirit of Christmas into their life. On friday, we were biking from our appointment to go home and on the way there my front tire was all of a sudden flat and I ran over a pin that punctured my tube so I had to use the patch kit and tire pump that you gave me and I patched it right there on a busy road with tons of people watching us and honking at us and yelling "Yeah Mormons!!" Then get this on Saturday Elder Showers ran over a pin at the exact same spot where my tire got popped so we had to repair his tire the next day! So it was just crazy how I had my tire pop and he had his pop the next day at the exact same place. 

I've really enjoyed proclaiming the gospel here in Georgia especially in this Christmas season! I can't wait to talk to you on friday! We are allowed to email on Christmas Eve to set up skype so be ready on Thursday! I can't wait and I hope y'all have a good Christmas season!!

I LOVE YALL

love Elder Mitchell HIll 

#Santaiscomin   #nosnow   #IHEART YA

DJ and Renjari!

Lake Sinclair Dam

Gonna Miss This Guy!

 

December 13, 2015 - Milledgeville Ga

Hey Fam!!

Everything is going great!! I got my NEW BIKE! It's AWESOME, its like the yellow trek bike I had at home except it's not a mountain bike but its more of a road bike but now bike is 10x easier and more enjoyable. I also have lights on my bike now which is nice to be able to see in the dark at night. My shoe size is a 12. So if you could get me those that would be great:) The shoes I used at home for church are getting pretty tattered to say the least. The skype information sounds great and I just heard that we are able to email our families on December 24th to set up a time for the call so we can finalize everything else then. I'm happy that everyone is doing well and tell Kristy good luck with tryouts and not worry but just do your thing:)

This week had lots of traveling for me on Monday night we slept in Cochran, Georgia at the Zone Leaders place because we had to be in Tifton at 8:30 which is 4 hours from Millidgeville. We had our Christmas conference on Tuesday and it was awesome. We heard many musical numbers and training's. We also were able to watch Ephraims Rescue for the movie! I dont think I ever saw that movie at home and if y'all haven't seen it I definitely recommend it! It really grew my testimony about how true this church is because those pioneers went through terror to get to Zion and they wouldn't do something like that if they didn't know it was true. On Wednesday I drove down to Macon Georgia with Elder Showers for our Trainer/ Trainee meeting. It was fun to see all the missionaries who would be going home and say bye to them. I got really close to a few of them and it was hard to say bye. On Saturday we were invited to go to Bishops house for his family reunion and we shared "A Savior is Born" video with all of his family and Elder Davis plays the viola so he played a medley of Christmas songs for them and it was a pretty touching moment about how good uplifting music can touch the hearts of men. Not only that but earlier in the day Elder Godwin and Elder Davis baptized 3 new people in to the Millidgeville ward! The ward is growing pretty rapidly and should be able to baptize 2 people this next transfer so I'm really excited for whats to come. On Sunday Elder Holdaway, a missionary from Gray, came down to Millidgeville because his companion went home today so we are in a trio til Tuesday. 

Because I'm training I've really had to know my stuff and know how to be an example to Elder Showers because new missionaries literally follow everything you do and even if you slip up just a little bit  they are the first ones to notice. Elder Showers asks lots of questions and I'm trying to answer them the best that I can, but I didn't get transferred so I'll be in Millidgeville til at least early February. Elder Davis is being transferred so Elder Godwin will be getting a new companion so hopefully it will be a good one!

I hope y'all are doing well and that you enjoy the Star Wars movie this week... Let me know how it is:) haha (jealous)

I LOVE YOU GUYS AND ILL SEE YOU VIRTUALLY IN 10 DAYS!

love,

Elder Mitchell Hill

#wanttoseestarwars    #missmyfam  #missthesnow  

Santa gave Elder Hill an early Christmas Present!!

GA sunsets + Mitchell = good picture! :)

December 6, 2015 - Millidgeville GA

Hey Fam!!

I'm so glad that everything worked out with Sister Weltz!! I'm glad you were able to talk to her and meet her! She's AWESOME! It sound like everyone is doing great!! I'm super jealous of Kevins bike! My job as a missionary would be so much easier if I could ride a dirt bike instead of biking haha:) But my companion is really jealous! He rode motocross back home and he wants to ride it really bad! So the only thing I might need for Christmas is some good durable shoes because my shoes now are kind of tearing at the soles from all the water we walk through in the grass and such so if your able to get those I'd love that but that should be it! I did get your package and I loved it! I used Grandmas scarf that she made yesterday and I'm wearing the sweater you got for me today! It looks really good! I've become really good friends with Elder Davis and Elder Godwin and for my birthday they got me about 4-7 presents!. I got about 3 ties, a sweater and another pair of pants! I almost cried because they didn't have to do that but because of how well I'm doing and how much I've gone through they wanted to reward me with something so I was pretty touched!

This past week was pretty awesome, in the beginning of the week I was able to play basketball with some investigators of mine and my patriarchal blessings says how the Lord will help use my talents to bring people to Christ and if I couldn't play basketball I'm not sure our investigator would be interested in the gospel! I had so much fun playing with them and it was a testimony builder that God puts you in places where you are needed. Then on my birthday, we had lunch with a member at the church and then in the afternoon, we went mountain biking with 5-7 investigators and it was a blast! I went down hills close to 70 degrees slant and going off jumps!! It was awesome!!! Then later that day we rode to one of the Union campsites where the Union stayed at when they were fighting the confederates in Millidgeville. It was Awesome! Then later that night we went to Buffington, which is a restaurant that serves really good panini's and it was awesome! I got it for free since it was my birthday and after that we went to Elder Davis and Elder Godwins apartment and we opened presents and they gave me those clothes and we ate cake:) and ice cream haha! Also we went to the Gray wards Christmas party and they decked out in decorations. They did a "whoville" theme and everyone dressed up like people would dress up in Whoville! THey even had a Grinch how cool is that!! Then yesterday at church we thought church was just going to be like any other Sunday but then we saw President and Sister Cottle walk down the hall. They showed up unexpectedly and went to church with us! It was pretty cool and nerve racking haha.

 This week we have a zone conference in Tifton Georgia, close to 4 hours from here so we are going to be sleeping over at the zone leaders apartment in Cochran Georgia, then this Wednesday we have a trainers/trainee meeting since the transfer is coming to a close! It's crazy how fast time is going. I'm already almost 6 months out and it is kind of scary how fast time is going. I can't wait to see y'all on Christmas and if you'd like to you can open the presents I gave you when we skype. 

I hope everything is going well and I loved the pictures of y'all in the cabin it looked like a blast!

I LOVE YOU and I hope y'all have a great week!

love,

Elder Mitchell Hill

#jealousofkevinsbike    #dontwreck   #mountainbikingwasawesome   #!'m19  #stillakidatheart   

 

Going for a ride!

Crossing a creek mountain biking

Christmas Party at Grays

 

[Quoted text hidden]

November 29, 2015 - Milledgeville GA

Hey Fam!

THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES AND THE PICTURES! You guys look so great and the cabin looks so much fun! It's been a long time since I was at the cabin when it snowed! The lake looks fun and even though we aren't allowed to swim as a missionary I'd probably jump in if I was there haha. I had Thanksgiving with the Weltz's.  This past week was pretty crazy I guess, I don't really know how to describe it...

So on Tuesday we had district meeting in Gray, Georgia and after district meeting we did a service project for members in the ward. We went to this lady's house who had tons of leaves and we raked them into one HUGE pile and then I learned how people handle leaves in the south. (We should've done this in Colorado!) So we put them all in a pile and lit them on FIRE with a blowtorch! It was sooo cool! Then on Wednesday we taught Renata Butts. We have taught her for 5 weeks and committed her to be baptized and she was really interested, but had to ask her husband about it. She is a very busy lady with 2 kids who is in school to be a nurse. We testified of how true this church is and she was crying during the prayer. The spirit was sooo strong and it was as if the Holy Ghost was just poking her the entire lesson:) Then on Thursday it was Thanksgiving!! We rode 20 miles on our bikes before lunch to stay fit and then went to the Weltz house where we had an awesome meal! They made funeral potatoes, turkey, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, veggies, and pie! It was awesome! Then yesterday was a pretty crazy day...

So we were teaching this less active in our ward in her garage. We were teaching her about tithing and all of a sudden this black SUV pulls up and the lady we were teaching runs inside the house and locks the door so we are just like.. what?.. So this lady runs out of the car and tells us to get off the property cause it's her property. So I'm putting away my scriptures and she comes over and tries to hurry me up by hitting me on the head with her magazine that was rolled up in her hand. I was pretty tired and sore from biking and I wasn't in the best mood and I stood up and looked down at her. (She was like 5,1) Anyway I stared at her and was like "Jeez calm down, we have a right to visit her cause she is a member of our church and then she said "you better get off the property right now or I'll call 911 and have you arrested for soliciting. So I put away my chair and  started to walk away and I said "Thats good cause we are proselyting, we aren't trying to sell Jesus." She started to come closer to us and she said I'm her guardian and now she won't come out the door. So we hopped on our bikes and left and she yelled "I'LL SUE THE MORMON CHURCH IF YOU COME BACK!!" So we left and visited some more investigators throughout the day. We stopped by a catholic church and asked when their services are and they said 5:00 and at the time it was like 4:30 so we decided to go. They had communion and the way they instituted the sacrament was interesting they used wine and people all drank out of the same cup, they at hardtack for the bread, and praised Jesus. After we talked to this lady who knew who we were and talked about differences. Then we talked to the Deacon who gave the sermons and such and he had alot of questions about our church and he was surprised at our answers and said "I had thought you Mormons just had more than one wife and worshiped Joesph Smith..." So we cleared that up and he said he might attend a service on Sunday!!

I LOVE YOU GUYS SOO MUCH!! I always pray for you and I hope you have an awesome week!

-Elder Hill aka Mitch

#almost19   #missinthesnow    #misstherec   #servintheLord

 

Mitch in Georgia!

Milledgeville District 2015

 

November 22, 2015 - Milledgeville, GA

Hey Hill Family!

Thats really funny about the Northside Baptist Church! They had these prayer request slips in the church and I thought it would be "cute" to put our address on it:) Haha but yes we are getting around. We haven't converted him yet haha but it's all about planting seeds so who knows:) I didn't know that dad got hit by two cars too! I guess we are just father like son:) Elder Schiers should be able to get his bike to me because we have a Christmas zone conference in Tifton, Georgia on December 8th and I'll be able to switch bikes with him then so it should work out! 

I've come to know that every week in the mission just teaches you or molds you in some sort of way and this week testified of that. On Tuesday I was on exchanges with the District Leader and I had all these plans set and while we were biking to see our first appointment Elder Holdaway's bike chain busted and the other elders had to come pick us up in the car to drop it off at the bike shop. So we were with them for the majority of the day and around the end of the day we had a pretty important appointment to go to but we had no other way to get there than by walking so we started off on the 7 mile one way walk. You could definitely say that there was less tread on my shoes after that experience. Then later in the week in Thursday Elder Showers' tonsils were hurting and we found out he was allergic to something here and he had to get medicine for the inflammation so we had to bike about 25 miles in multiple directions to get all our appointments and help Elder Showers out. Not to mention it was raining like CRAZZY! On Saturday we had a fun ward get together where we had this paintball obstacle course which was so much fun! Then later in the day we helped out one of our investigators will a non-profit event where she fed homeless children at a park! It was pretty cool to see:) Then yesterday Elder Showers woke up and told me that he was sick and he felt like he was going to throw up so we had to stay home from church and stay inside the whole day... Members from our ward came by and dropped off some soups and crackers for him, but other than that my day consisted of reading Genesis through Exodus and reading up to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. And it had to be Sunday that he got sick because I couldn't work out cause it was the Sabbath but I definitely learned lots but at the same time yesterday was very SLOW! He slept about 16 hours yesterday and was still tired. But yeah this week was just another day of being a trainer I guess haha:)

I hope you guys have an awesome time up at the cabin! Take lots of pictures and send them! Thanks for all that you do and just think in a month I get to skype you and see you! BTW let me know how we are going to work that out. Make sure that someone has the Skype app and let me know the phone number. I LOVE YOU GUYS and have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Mitchell Hill

#Turkeyweek   #Tryingnottogetfat     #bikingfordays    #mylegsaresore    #TheDenalidoesn'tgiveup

Smiling Missionaries

Paintballin'

 

November 15, 2015 - Milledgeville, GA

Hey Fam!!

The mission stories just keep adding up! Being a trainer is definitely an experience that has helped me focus on the work and has helped me strive to be the most obedient missionary I can be. Being a senior companion and being out for more time than your companion is kind of crazy because he expects that you know what your doing even though I'm still a fairly young missionary and I'm still learning. I've just really had to grow up and take control of this situation and even though it's not easy when have I backed down from a challenge. My new companions' name is Elder Connor Showers and he's fresh out of the MTC. He's from Sacramento, California, but he's been living in Heriman, Utah for the past 3 years. He asks lots of questions, but hey that's alright cause I have lots of answers:) So about my bike, so on transfer day Elder Schiers was able to repair his bike and his bike it literally a brand new trek bike and it's so nice! He told me that he'd give me a call at the end of this transfer (Dec 15th) to figure out how I can get it. Boy do I need a new bike... 

So I don't mean to scare mom or anyone, but after transfer meeting and we came back to Millidgeville and we headed out on our bikes. We visited alot of people and on the way to see our last investigator I had another car to bike incident :) Don't worry guys I wasn't hurt, but my bike has definitely had it. So this one definitely wasn't my fault, so we crossed this busy street and we were in this government housing neighborhood and all of a sudden this car stopped in the road. We were probably going like 5 mph  and I started to slow down to see what the car would do. There was a parking spot by the road and thinking he was trying to find a house I tried to pass him, but he started to back into the spot and I swerved out of the way and hopped onto the curb but he clipped my back tire and I didn't fall but my tire bent a little bit. I didn't know that until I bike away though. So all in all I'm okay and I just need to make it to Dec 12th for my new bike. It's just whenever I bike my back tire rubs against my brake pads so it makes  it a bit harder, but I can stride it out.

So if your still planning on a birthday/ Christmas package I was thinking about it and I'm almost out of pages in my 2nd journal so if your able to send me a new journal that would be awesome! the fit bit would be pretty cool to have to but that's up to you guys. I'm not sure how our money is right now but I hope we are doing better. I've been praying for you guys! Thanksgiving sounds so much fun in Montana make sure to tell Grandma and Grandpa I love them and tell everyone hi for me!

Besides my little car incident this week has been quite amazing! There is a 12 year old that is really close to a member of the church and we began to teach him this past week and invited him to be baptized! He accepted and he is excited to be baptized on December 12th! I'm so excited for him!! As well as getting someone on date Elder Showers and I are really good at acting on service and missionary opportunities to serve and for me basketball is a great way for missionary experiences. We played H-O-R-S-E with 5-6 guys in the government housing and after the game of horse I played 1-on-1 with a guy that played in college and beat him 21-16! We also taught him a lesson after that! Haha! I wished I could've got a picture with them but when we finished it was pretty late and dark and I didn't want to pull out my camera in front of all those guys that late at night. So instead we played HORSE with some kids later in the week and I got a few pictures of that:)

Also this week it was crazy to hear about the attacks in Paris. We went to Brother Fraleys house on Thursday and we heard about the attacks in Paris and that is just crazy. The more time I'm down here the more I see the world turning away from the Lord and following the natural man and it's just a downward spiral. But I keep on trying to be that light in the world and hopefully peiople will notice:) 

I Love you guys so much and I pray for you everyday! Send some snow down, it will be weird having a green Christmas haha:)

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Mitch

#hotcocoaseason   #almosttimeforChristmas   #Almost19

Doing Missionary Work playing ball!!

Two Missionaries in Georgia!