WELL THAT'S GOOD

(Letter sent December 28, 2015)

Hi family. 

This week was sooo funnnnn. Every week is fun when you're a missionary, though ;)

Here's what went down this week...

Weekly highlights:

1. Best phone call of my life: okay so on Monday guess who got to call me?????????? Sister Turpin. OH MY WORD. Bless the zl's and the dl's who let this happen. We got to talk about Dennis' baptism and it was the greatest ever.

2. kingsolomonwells: so we were casually  tracting and this lady let us in but then all we talked about was her boyfriend who is in jail for like 10 years! Sketchy.  His name is king solomon wells. imma steal that for my first born. jk.I love missouri people!!!

3. Christmas Eve!!!!!: okay best Christmas Eve of my life. Not even joking. The elders and us went over to the Hargiss' and we got to play apples to apples.  Never play that with missionaries who haven't played board games in a long time. You woulda thought we were at Disneyland or something. I haven't laughed so hard in a looooong time. WE HAVE THE BEST ELDERS. They are my fam out here. Also our fearless DL Elder Peterson told us this story of how they were tracting and a lady opened her door and goes "I don't want anything" and he goes "well that's good!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA so yeah that's our district theme now: WELL THAT'S GOOD. 

4. Christmas: Christmas was sooo funnnn. We "slept in" until 7:30 and opened presents and watched some movies and then went to the Dewaals to skype! I love my family. You guys are the real mvps.

5. Wut: the Moores bought us groceries and TWO QUARTS of lix for christmas. hashtag blessed. hashtag hope I don't grow out of my skirts. hashtag too late. hashtag jk. hashtag I did ten squats this morning. hashtag I'm good til May. 

Teaching Highlights:

1. William: so William is our new investigator. He lives alone which means we get to teach him outside. So naturally it was storming when we went to go see him. I legit thought we were gonna get struck by lightning. Obviously we are doing something right because we didn't YAY! He's pretty old and gets off topic reallyyyyy easily but you know... he is prepared! We taught the restoration and invited him to be baptized. He said yes. #chill

2. Julie K: she still hasn't read the Book of Mormon. We watched the restoration dvd and she totally compared herself to Joseph Smith. I was like hehe you go girl. She told us how the missionaries found her and how she came to know that the church is true. She told us she wanted to feel the spirit again and we were like then read! and pray! then she told us she had never been taught to pray.......... missionary fail. We just assumed she had been taught to because she's been meeting with missionaries for sooo long! So we taught her how to and she was like "you know.. I might actually say the prayer next week!" YESSSS. That is huge for her you guys. I was like wutttt! Julie has such a sincere desire to follow Christ. I love her a lot and am thankful for her because she has forced me to teach by the spirit :) because I never know what is gonna happen before her lessons haha 

3. Tracting: we did a lot of tracting this week and handed out a ton of Christmas pass along cards and we found sooo many potentials! It's amazing who God will place into our path. I know God is aware of me and loves me because everytime we tract, we find someone who is prepared to hear the gospel!

Okay who's pumped for 2K16?!!!!! 

I AM! Because it will be my only full year on a mission :) That's hecka cool.

I've been thinking a lot about goals and the new year. Obviously because it's New Year's this week! Today I read a scripture in 2 nephi 2:25 that says:

"Men are, that they might have JOY."

#truethat. God did not place us here on earth to be miserable. That would make no sense at all. He placed us here to learn and to grow and yes, to face trials,  but to also feel joy. Pure joy and happiness can only be found by living the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the only way. Richard G. Scott said:

"I witness that with faith in the Savior and obedience to His teachings, happiness never ends, but sadness does."

Happiness never ends when we follow the Savior. neeevvveerrrr. idk about you but I want never ending happiness. I know I always say it but being a missionary has brought me SO much joy. And it's because I get to devote all of my time and energy to learning about and teaching others about our Savior. That's why I'm so happy. But you don't have to be a missionary to feel that joy. Anyone can feel it, as long as we are living the gospel. It's that easy :)

My theme for 2016 is JOY. I am going to make this the happiest year of my life.

And I challenge each of you to do the same. I don't know what 2016 has in store for each of you, but I do know that as long as you put the Savior first, no matter what happens, this can be the happiest year of your life, as well.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

sister hill