I'm Older

Elder A. and me!

Hey y'all! The end of Winter is nigh up here! We were driving around (because we have a car) and I noticed that there are actually a ton of lakes in our area. They're everywhere! It's just hard to see them with all the snow that happened. Also, I get my licence this week! We drive a RAV4, but Elder J. is the only one of us allowed to drive right now.  It turns out that International Driving Permits don't actually mean anything up here anymore, so all of us trainees have to wait until the end of the week to get our licenses.

I ate something called "Donair". It's a kind of meat thing that they put in a pita with a special sweet garlic sauce and some lettuce, onions, and such. It was super good. You should look it up. I'm not sure exactly what meat it is, but it's good.

Also, the people who do the steak challenge really want me to try it. I probably won't--I don't think my stomach would ever be able to survive it. But Elder J. did it, so maybe I'll be able to.

We have a service thing that we do every Wednesday. Pretty much we go to a retirement home and help out with the games and serving food and just hanging out with the members there. It's pretty great.  We just get to hang out with a bunch of old people for a couple of hours. We've also helped some people move furniture quite a bit. We tried to help some people with shoveling their snow, but they turned us down.

Also, I did get to do something for my birthday! We went to our dinner that night and they had an ice cream cake with my name on it! They also gave us an air freshener thing as an inside joke. It was awesome. I'll probably get the birthday package today, too.

St. Patrick's Day wasn't really a big thing here, but we did have a St. Patty's day party on Wednesday at the retirement home. We got to wear a bunch of stupid hats and play bingo and such. I got to call out the bingo cards.

I also went on another exchange with an elder. He's actually one of the Mandarin Chinese-speaking missionaries, so we got to do language study in the morning. I'm bad at Chinese.  We mostly went knocking on doors all day but we didn't have a ton of success until after dinner. We decided to do a little more tracting at around 7:30, and at the second door we knocked on, the guy was super interested!  We had a super good lesson with him. He didn't have a ton of time to talk with us, but he said he'd love to have us back later. I won't be there, but I'm excited for him to hear of the awesomeness that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

All of our investigators cancelled at the last minute this last week, so we didn't have any more lessons. But, we did a ton of tracting and studying. Here's hoping for a lesson filled week!

Love y'all! I'll talk to you next week!

Putting the Shoulder to the Wheel

I'd like to take a moment and appreciate all of those loving comments about how great the weather is in Utah. Thanks. 😄 Although, the "winter wonderland" theme is kind of growing on me. In fact, it hasn't actually been that cold, especially today. It was about 4 degrees Celsius this morning! Also, I haven't bought a coat because I haven't needed one yet. As odd as that sounds, it's actually been pretty nice up here. There's a ton of snow, sure, but it's the wind you've got to deal with, I've found.

I did actually meet one of our investigators that I hadn't met before, and he's awesome. He's also a huge Nintendo fan, so we got along pretty great. But the coolest part of it was when we set up a baptism date for him! April 8th! Now all we need to do is help him feel the Spirit in his life, even when we aren't there, so he'll be able to keep that commitment.

Also, a funny story about that one lady we taught while tracting. Right when we were done with the lesson and were walking back to the car, we remembered that we didn't actually get her name! We did get her phone number, though, and later got her name. We haven't met with her again yet, but she seems super open to learning more. One thing she said during the lesson that surprised me was her story about when she asked the pastor/priest of the church that she goes to, why doesn't she know a lot about Jesus? His response was that the reason why she doesn't know was because she goes to that particular church... Does that sound like a red flag to anyone else? Yeah, me too.

One cool thing that happened recently was that we had exchanges! Exchanges are fun, and I got to do two this last week! Pretty much what happens is we drive out to some McDonald's out in the middle of our areas, and either I or Elder J. will switch cars and go with one of them for the day, and the companion that stays gets the other companion. The first time (Wednesday), I stayed in Leduc where I was with Elder A. He was really fun. We got to teach a bit more about the restoration, and he also made me a pancake surprise in the morning! It was a very spicy surprise. Don't put hot sauce in pancakes. Just don't...

The second exchange was with Elder N. He is pretty much the "Sherlock Holmes" of figuring out people. I swear, he knows more about me now than I do.

Every single moment out here seems like a spiritual one, unless you count us going to McDonald's that one time. I guess one thing that stood out was when we were asked by some returned missionaries to go to lunch with them and a recent convert. So we did! They ended up taking us to a small burger joint named Ryan's, which was apparently their favorite place to eat while in Leduc.

But it wasn't the food that was the coolest part (Licorice shake excluded.) Rather, it was listening to the stories of people that had already been here and gone back home again. We learned a ton from them. But, the coolest thing that I saw was how strong their testimonies still were, even though both of them had already been home from a few months to a year.

So, testimonies that we grow can be eternal. I keep hearing about how this is the most spiritual time of my life, and so far that has been right. But, I don't want this to be the peak. I heard a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley. I don't remember exactly how it went, but he talked about how the stronger his testimony grows, the quieter the Holy Ghost gets. So, even the president of the Church at the time had to be continually striving to listen to the prompting of the Spirit.

No matter what happens here, I know that I can always have these spiritual moments in my life. I know that the Book of Mormon is the most true book on the Earth, and that if we continue to read it and invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, then we can all have these spiritual moments throughout our entire lives.

Canada is Awesome!

I made it, and man, is it awesome around here!  Canada is awesome, even though I was a little surprised to see the Canadian maple leaf on almost everything, from the golden arches of McDonald's to the O in IHOP.  It's freakin' everywhere.

My first area here is a town called Leduc (pronounced like Le-Duke) but we also have a few other towns around us that we oversee.  My companion's name is Elder J. and he's awesome.  He is the most stereotypical missionary you'll ever see, but he's been a great trainer.  He's from Rigby, Idaho, has been out almost a year, and he's also the district leader.  The best thing I've learned from Elder J. so far is faith. He has a truck full of the stuff.

Elder J., Elder Hill, and President and Sister Pattison

We live in a "cozy" apartment by ourselves and we mostly knock on people's doors, trying to find investigators.  We have a few investigators, but only one of them is progressing.  I haven't met any of them yet because everyone is getting sick and it's been snowing.  It's pretty freakin' cold.  It's nothing I can't handle, but it still feels like a new ice age around here.  I guess it's called the Great White North for a reason, eh?

We did have a cool experience yesterday.  We were tracting (knocking on doors) and, after about house number 300 of the week, we were getting kind of discouraged.  But, we kept on keeping on and knocked on one last door.  A lady opened the door and we told her about how she can live with her family forever.  She just kind of looked at us and said, "Okay.  Come on in, then."  We couldn't believe it!  So, shaking off our stupor, we gratefully left the freezing outside and taught her and her two babies about the Plan of Salvation.  It was a welcome miracle after our slightly depressing morning.

We also have the best members up here.  One couple, Brother and Sister F. (the ones that most definitely sent my mom a Facebook friend request and some pictures) have helped us out by feeding us a ton of food.  Like a ton!  They are awesome though.  Brother F. has a fun sense of humor.  They gave us some "Kinder" eggs (big chocolate eggs with prizes in them).  Of course Brother F. thought it would be funny to get the pink ones, hoping for a girly prize.  So, sure enough, we've got some Barbies on our desks now.  We also met Brother and Sister T.  Brother T. is the best story teller ever.  He told us many "pearls of wisdom" as he calls them.

The coolest thing I've seen in Canada so far is probably the members of our ward. We've been fed pretty much every day and it's been great to meet so many awesome people.  Also, there are a ton of other Hills here. I haven't met any of them, but everyone keeps asking me if I'm related to like 20 other people.

"Life is too funny to take seriously, unless communing with God." - Brother T.

Final Push to the North

We're at the final push! The final advance! The "final destination"! The final.... something else that sounds final, I guess. Anyway, this is my last P-day before Canada happens. And I can't be more excited. I've been learning a ton, working a ton, eating a ton, sleeping a little, and having way more fun  than I ever thought I would. (And they told me it'd be a sacrifice.) Well, it's been a pretty awesome adventure so far.

Tuesday we had a devotional and we got to see the newest Church message for Easter. It's like that thing they did for Christmas, but we are almost the only ones, other than the apostles, that have seen it. It's awesome. I think it's called #PrinceOfPeace, but don't quote me on that. I guess you'll see it when it's released.

Elder K. from New Zealand prayed for snow... and then it snowed... a lot... but we did get to go to the temple again today. That's always fun.

In case you were wondering:

• All of the guys in my district are going to Canada, except for Elder P. who is going to Florida with the Sisters.
• My MTC companion is from Syracuse, Utah.
• I have consumed more chocolate milk than I am willing to admit.
• It has been awesome to go to the temple together with my district.  We've done endowment sessions twice now, and it's been really fun. There's also a cafeteria in the basement of the temple with really good food. 
• There are four Sisters in our district: Sister S. is the loud one of the group, her companion Sister C. is really excitable and quiet.  Sister C2 (aka Sister Savage--she's so savage) is always late for everything and she's really good at sports and beating people up, apparently.  Her companion is Sister J., the sweetest and most patient person here.

I love y'all and can't wait to get to Canada! See you then.

"A Giant Among Men"

In Training

Family moment while entering MTC

My adventure has been awesome so far.  I have never been in a place with so many like minded people.  My companion is Elder M. He is a really cool guy, and he lived in Utah too, but we are so very different from each other. He just came from doing some stuff in the Air Force, so he's really dedicated to tasks. He's really smart, and he's actually taller than me. In fact, I am only the third tallest in our district, which is super weird. We then have Elder K.  He is the best.  He's from New Zealand, is also taller than me, and he has an awesome personality. It's really fun to see him interact with stuff that is super American, like Twinkies, or the super sugary doughnuts in the MTC (which are amazingly unhealthy and I can't seem to ever finish one.)

We then have our district leader, Elder C., who is probably the smartest of the group. He's a lot more outspoken than he looks at first, but he's also an awesome person. And we have Elder P. who is companions with Elders K. and C.  He's kind of the sports guy of the group, but he always is a good sport about pretty much everything.

I'm really happy with my district and our progress in the first few days.  It's been a blast working with such awesome people. I couldn't have picked a better group I'd like to serve with.

I have learned a ton of amazing and not so amazing stuff here. One of the first things I've learned here is: medicine works.  Not really a fun lesson to learn, but I'd rather learn it now than later right? I got really sick the third day in and was struggling physically and mentally. But after medicine happened, it was like I finally found the cure for world hunger, or something not as dramatic, but just as applicable.

Another thing is: the food here is kinda like the weather. Sometimes it's super! And sometimes it's... not.  You never really know until it happens. Though I do have to say that I'm a huge fan of their fries here. I also had a really good Canadian cheese soup.

This lesson I learned was kind of hard for me. I'm not going to go too in depth, but I have been so blind to the Gospel!  Everything just makes way more sense now!  It's awesome!  We learned that the Holy Ghost can help us learn faster in the MTC, and it's so very true. Just practicing on each other has shown me just how far I've come in such a relatively short amount of time. And I am super excited about going even farther in preparing to serve in the "Great White North".

We taught our first practice investigator. Her name is Yui, and she is awesome. The whole time the Spirit was super strong, and Elder M. and I felt super awesome afterwards. We got her to the point where she said she will pray at the next lesson and pray about faith when reading Alma 32.

On Valentine's Day, we did service cleaning bathrooms, I got a moose and a ton of chocolate, I got to sing in a choir that was broadcast to every single other MTC in the world, and we got to hear a talk from M. Russell Ballard. All in all, it was an awesome day.

MTC District at Provo Temple

Looking back on how few days we've been here, it's crazy how close our district has gotten in just eight days. I got super buff at the gym on Wednesday, and also was super excited to go to the temple on Thursday.

Not counting the first Friday, this whole experience feels more like two days or less. And it's all been pretty much amazing. Thursday we finally got to go inside the temple and do an endowment session. And of course I learned some new stuff. But I think the really cool part is that we ate breakfast afterwards at the temple. Like inside the temple! Who even knew that was a thing? But hey I'm not complaining; it was some of the best bacon I've ever had.

I just want to let y'all know that this has been one of the best experiences of my life. I can hardly wait to get to Canada. YUKON HO!!!

Super Day

Super Smack Down

Saturday, 28 January 2017 - For one of my last days to play with my family before I go, I went with my dad and brother to Thanksgiving Point for their Superhero Day.  My sister was working at the event and we went down to see what she's been working on.  It was designed for younger kids, but we had fun dressing up (I'm the Nuclear Ninja for you Studio C fans) and it was fun seeing the little kids dressed up.  My sister was dressed as Kara/Supergirl, and a little girl thought she looked pretty real.  She followed Lia around for a while until her mom told Lia that Supergirl was her favorite and asked if she could take a picture with her.  It was very cute.

I also made up a super power for myself (I can fly--but only North), a superhero name (Compass Man), and drew a little comic strip about it.  (The bad guys flying a ship ahead of me got away by turning around.)

A Different Kind of Superhero

Last week I gave my farewell talk at church, and an open house reception the day before.  At the open house, we had a french fry bar with toppings for Canadian Poutine, Chilean Corrillana, Chili-Cheese fries, and loaded baked potatoes.  We made Canadian desserts of Butter Tarts and Beaver Tails, and my grandma brought cherry bars and Buckeye candies.  It was super good and we had a super turn out.  Thank you, everyone, who came to celebrate with me and wish me luck!

My sacrament meeting talk was about service, and especially missionary service.  A man who spoke with me quoted James 1:27 which essentially says that pure religion is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, which I think means to help and be with those who are lonely, distressed, or variously afflicted.   I'm glad that, as a missionary, not only will I be able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I will also be able to love and serve the Canadian people--to give blessings, to clean or mend or build or feed, or even just give a hug or pat on the back to let a person know that someone cares about them.

Family Heritage

Zempter Grandparents

I started out the new year visiting with family in St. George, Utah.  As I look back on the year just completed, I remember the summer trip we took to San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, western Nevada, and northern California.  With mountain passes, an alpine lake, vineyards, a magic show, the Golden Gate bridge, Chinatown and Star Trek locations, that was one of my favorite activities of the year.

For our New Year activities, we played lots of board games with the Zempters and watched some videos.  My family likes to celebrate low key, and we like to do all kinds of things together.

I began 2017 by attending church with my Hill grandparents.  The speakers were two sister missionaries, one from England who was in her thirties and had joined the church fairly recently.  She talked about how challenging experiences in her life brought her to where she was.  The other sister was from South Carolina, and she was very bubbly and talkative.  She was younger and very anxious to serve others.  They both were close to ending their missions and going home, and I think both were grateful for the chance they've had to serve.

Hill Grandparents

Also on the first day of the year, I watched some of "The District" episodes that are available on the Mormon Channel.  They give a lot of insight into the lives of missionaries and the people they teach and serve.  They are helping me be prepared for the adventure to come.

My goals for the new year (as you would probably expect) are to better learn the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be successful as a missionary, to draw closer to God through the Holy Ghost, and to love and serve others.

This week I'm planning to go to the temple and receive my "endowment".  If you are not already aware, the endowment ordinance is much like baptism or the sacrament in that it uses symbolism, wherein the participant demonstrates that they are making a covenant with God to keep His commandments and receive blessings associated with obedience to their principles.  (Baptism symbolizes death, cleansing, and rebirth.  The sacrament uses symbols of bread and water that we receive as reminders of the bodily sacrifice of Jesus Christ.)