THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

Helloooo Fam!

This week was such a weird week hahahaha I mean if I'm being honest, none of you can even comprehend what I experience on a daily basis until you come to Potosi yourself. We had some super awesome moments with investigators doused with some wannabe Utah mom action. Let me explain...

Weekly highlights:

1. President Interviews: we got to meet with President Morgan on Wednesday! What a guy! He's pretty awesome. Nothing too funny happened but it was a highlight! He asked us where we thought we should live... we told him that where we are right now is a good location or moving us closer to Farmington would be good as well. The new ward is great! All the people are super nice and there are a lot of younger families. 

2. What Coulda Been: sooo we picked up this cute family as investigators on Friday. We were pumped. I could just picture them all in white and I had the whole baptism planned out in my head lol anyways fast forward to Saturday... the mom texts us and said "What christianity are you?" and we're like, wait what? We don't even know what that means but we said "We're Christian. We're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" Mom: "You're not morman?" (yes she spelled it with an a.... more man) Us: "Well yeah that's just a nickname"  Mom: "Oh no! Not Mormon! I found a different chuch, thanks!" Okay bye. Maybe they'll come around...

3. Channel Your Inner Utah Mom: our ward had super Saturday on you guessed it...Saturday! I learned 2 things: 1. I could modge podge all day every day. Give me a picture and a block of wood and I can modge podge that baby. 2. I cannot make cinnamon ornaments all day every day. It was a #struggle. I had cinnamon all over me and all I wanted to do was make a DANG HEART ORNAMENT!!! I made one but it looks like a child did it but it's cool.

4. The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music: remember how Sister T, Elder Quinn, Elder Stoddard and I did a musical number last week at Zone Leader Training? Guess what? We did it again in good ole sacrament meeting! Everyone was like "it sounded so good!" and inside I'm thinking "you're lying" hahahaha nah it was good. I said I would never ever ever ever do a musical number in church. Missions do crazy things to you, and Sister Ray would be so proud of me ;) hahahaha

Investigator highlights:

1. Rose and Steve: we finally saw Rose and Steve last week. They don't hate us, but Rose is still thinking about if this is something she wants to do. She feels like she can't give up her Catholic ways and has realized she's more Catholic than she thought. I don't know what will happen with that...we're trying our best!

2. Hayden: I have never written about Hayden because I met him for the first time on Tuesday! He has been an investigator for a while and we finally got to meet with him. He is basically a member already we just have to finish teaching him the lessons! We also reset him a baptism date for January 8th!

3. Andrea: WE SET A BAPTISM DATE. NOVEMBER 28th BABY. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said it all made sense. Then we talked about how baptism is one of those things we need to do on earth so we can make it back to Heavenly Father. Then we invited her to be baptized on Novemeber 28th. She was kind of taken back because it is so soon but we assured her that she can and will be ready. And she said okay! Then she prayed and asked if that was a good date :) Then... at church yesterday we had a munch n mingle hahaha and she brought a cobbler! How sweet. Elder Quinn (not knowing she was our investigator) asked her "how long have you been a member for?" and she goes "well I'm not a member...YET!" That's right girl but you're gonna be come November 28th eeeeep!

4. DD: say hello to our newest investigator! Her husband is a member and just moved here from Ohio. Sister Turpin and Sister Reed tracted into DD's sister which is how we found DD. She didn't want to be taught without her husband there so we waited until he got here! DD has a little girl in kindergarter who is super cute. #partmemberfamiliesforthewin anyway... we taught her the Restoration and watched the Restoration dvd. We invited DD to be baptized and she said yes, once she knows these things are true! 

5. Julie K: We got to give Julie her big print Book of Mormon finally! She was pumped... as she should be! She ripped it open and was all "you have to sign it! I mean, I've liked all the missionaries, but you two are my favorite!" mmhmmm thats right Julie... Hill and Turpin for life! We read a chapter with her and commited her to read the whole thing by her baptism date...next year. Divorce update: none. This is actually taking over our lives. (Not really but kinda) We are calling a lawyer who gives free consultations today so hopefully he can help us!!!

Man oh man. What a great time to be a missionary! Everyday I'm like "is this real life or...." and it is. Potosi is crazy but that's why I was sent here because I need humor in my life! And Potosi definitely gives me that! 

I hope you all have a great week and make some time each day to read your Book of Mormon! The BoM is the BoMb! My testimony of the Book of Mormon has definitely grown since being out here. I never used to make scripture study a priority, but now I can't imagine going a day without reading my scriptures! They are sooo awesome and we need to take advantage of them :)

I love you all!

with SwAg,

sista hill

MOVE THAT BOULDER

Hi! Happy NOVEMBER. What in the world?! Wasn't it like July two days ago? Time is just flying! 

This week Sister Turpin and I worked harder than Dad worked to find me an acceptable camera for my mission!!!!! (which was hard.... ps dad the camera works great!;)) Unfortunately, our numbers don't show it, but to quote one of the greatest movies aka The Best Two Years, "Numbers just don't matter." We worked and worked and that's all that matters :)

Alright email fans, IT'S TIME!  (By the way...I'm gonna miss BYU basketball but it's OK... mission lyfe>basketball) This week's highlights:

1. Sign me up for biggest loser: listen up..are you ready for this? This is super embarassing but I'm gonna tell you anyway.... this week I had to CUT MYSELF OUT OF A SKIRT. I repeat. I had to cut myself out of a skirt. In my defense, the zipper broke so that was also why I had to cut myself out of it. It was my cute black and white polka dot one! It was a little tight from the day I got it so I don't feel too bad about myself but still. Embarassing! 

2. Extreme coupon-er life is the life for me: we met this lady and she said, "I don't want to learn about religion but you can see my extreme couponing stockpile" and I'm all "EEEP YESSSSS" because Alex and I used to be diligent watchers of that show. So yes, I got to see an extreme coupon-ers stockpile in REAL LIFE. It was legit. #tendermercy #tearsofjoy

3. #no: okay so we had ZLT (meeting with our zone) on Friday and on Tuesday the zone leaders called and said "can you Sisters do a musical number?" and we said "we're not very musical but if we have to" but we told them Elder Quinn and Elder Stoddard were musical (hehe) so we all decided to do a musical number together. I played the piano and the other three sang Nearer My God to Thee. My piano talent comin in clutch. I'm so glad I perfected that ONE song in the hymnbook! LOL

4. My least favorite holiday: so halloween is not my favorite but it was actually pretty fun this year. We had to have our cars parked by 5:00 but could be out with a member until 9:30! Extended curfew yes! Anyway we hung out with Audre and went to Steak and Shake with the Elders then we watched the Joseph Smith movie with Audre. It was a fun Halloween for a missionary;)

5. Farmington WARD: the merge is official. Yesterday was our first Sunday as Farmington ward. It was weird! We went from 50 people to 190! It will be so good though! I am excited! Also we found out that we are staying here but Pres. Morgan might move us to a different apartment so we can be closer to Farmington. We will see him on Wednesday to talk about it. I'm excited to work with Elder Quinn and Stoddard! They're pretty cool so it will be fun!

Now about our investigators we saw this week:

1. Julie K: WE SET A BAPTISM DATE WITH JULIE!!!  Wait for it. Wait for it. OCTOBER 29, 2016. Are you guys pumped like I am?!!! Hahaha okay you might be saying "wait that is a year away." And that's right it is but keep in mind she's has to get a divorce, get married, and quit smoking before she can be baptized. But it's cool. We just needed a goal to work towards. Hopefully we can move that date up :) Poor Julie. She is so frustrated with this divorce that we have all dubbed THE BOULDER. But we talked about goals and how they show God that we desire something and promised her that even this boulder would be moved because God is a God of miracles. She wants to get baptized so bad. I just love her. 

2. Andrea: Andrea is the greatest. List all the qualities of the perfect investigator and I can pretty much guarantee that she has most of them. Last week when we taught her, we taught the Restoration. We didn't want to move on to the Plan of Salvation without making sure she understood the Restoration. So we talked more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we watched the Restoration DVD with her and she loved it and even compared herself to Joseph Smith :) We invited her to be baptized and she said YES!!! No date yet, but she wants to be baptized. Also she has already read to 1 Nephi 11. Who does that? Andrea does. She is my favorite and I can tell that once she knows for herself that everything is true, it won't take long for her to be baptized! 

This week I wanted to give some universal advice to all my people out there making big life decisions/trying to figure out what the next step in their life is... LISTEN UP because I know there's a lot of you :) Recently, I've been studying personal revelation and I've come across some scriptures that are soooooo good. Real quick, pull out your scriptures and turn to Doctrine and Covenants section 9. Okay side note- Joseph Smith is the man. Way too pumped to meet him on the other side. Anyway... verses 8 and 9 are where we are at. These scriptures talk about how we need to study things out in our minds first, then ask if it is right. I once heard a quote that said something like "it's easier for God to answer a yes or no question." It's sooo true! Very rarely is He going to answer questions like "tell me which school to go to" but rather "is this school right?" and then these scriptures tell us that if this thing is not right, you will have a stupor of thought, but if it is right, you will feel peace. I CAN TESTIFY THAT THIS IS TRUE! You know how I thought that going to another semester of school was right for me? Well I prayed and said "is this right?" and you know what? I had a stupor of thought! I was confused for such a long time but was too scared to admit that going to school wasn't what God needed me to be doing. It wasn't until I humbled myself and prayed about a mission that I finally felt peaceful. Sometimes doing God's will is terrifying. Sometimes you don't want to do it. But I know that doing God's will for us is the only way to find peace and true joy. So my invitation to all of you who are making decisions at this time... go read D &C 9:8-9 and follow the counsel it gives. And then act on the answer you receive and do Heavenly Father's will for you. It may not be easy but it will be worth it!!!

Coming out here is the best decision I have ever made. It's such a great thing to know that I am exactly where Heavenly Father needs me to be at this time. With that knowledge, nothing else matters. I am completely at peace with my life right now. 

I hope you all have the best week and try your hardest to hasten the work of salvation :) Ask the missionaries how you can help! Go and teach with them! Help them magnify their calling and in return they will help you!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

xoxo

sister hill