Jordan Hill

My Stories! (continued)

January 6, 2025

Happy new year yall

New year, new goals

Yall make a new year goal but spiritually focused. If you listened to that talk i put in my email "Remember Lots wife" by President Holland talks about pushing forward and progressing.

VICTOR WAS BAPTIZED. The Lord is hastening His work. We have baptisms the next 4 weeks (keep praying). Andrea is this week Evelyn the next then Luis and Samuel after. What a great way to start the year with 5 people entering their first covenant with God and discovering the truth of Jesus Christ. 

I have a story for yall. Victor is from cuba. So you might know those cubanos know how to smoke a cigarette pack in like 30 minutes. We taught him the commandments like 2 weeks ago and he had no problem. Then our last lesson with him before his interview we walk out of the members house that hes living in and hes smoking. We were like dude what are you doing. So we sent him a text and said Victor we cant baptize you if you wont follow the commandments. 

Later that night on the 31st of december he had the most revelatory experince. He was guess what, smoking. He had smoked two already and was about to smoke his last one in the box. He said nah im going to save it for tomorrow and i need to stop anyway, he then went to bed. He had a dream of God taking all his smoke from his body from the past 15 years into heaven and him being cleansed by God. He woke up and he flushed his cigarette down the toilet. He called us first thing in the morning to come over to his house. We went over at 9 he told us his story and he said, "It is a sign from God that i need to stop smoking and i dont have the desire to smoke anymore. Ive dropped it and im leaving it. I can be cleansed through the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST." I dont know about you guys but chills ran down my spine when i heard him say that. I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Another Highlight. We have a friend who wants to be baptized but she cant enter the water due to a physical condition, so President Belot sent her information to the first presidency and they are looking at her name right now and recieving revelation from God. How cool is that.

2 Nephi 22:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation."

Listen to this talk https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/tad-r-callister/book-mormon-man-made-god-given/?M=A

Keep yalls prayers up for our friends!

Te quiero mucho, Élder Hill

​

December 30, 2024

Yuh this mission had 75 baptisms this month the most its seen ever. Soon were gonna be baptisms 100s a month. President promised that every companionship will be baptizing monthly. This miracle is only done through the power of the Lord.

Honestly i have not to much to write other then i can basically understand all spanish which is crazy to see the success of where i was at 5 months ago. Sunday i was teaching a friend of ours that was going through a hard time and Heliana our recent convert got a picture of me cooking the lesson. She was also teaching her insanely well to it was awesome. She was saying God put these boys in my path and Hill reminds me so much of my kid as well. Heliana told her that other churches would come to her house and try to testify of Christ but she said the missionaries are the only true representatives of Jesus Christ. She said (reffering to us) "they only talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the commandments." That was cool because now our friend Andrea has a friend whos a recent convert! Yay!

​

Pensamiento Espiritual:

Honestly im loving this work more and more everyday. If you guys have a thought about going on a mission, a slight thought, just go the blessings are glorious.

Te quiero mucho! 

​

December 26, 2024

Yo sorry yall i didnt write last week cause I was SUPER busy on my pday this week has been so busy. Im gonna make my google videos become a photo album so here is the link if you wanna see more flicks.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/x9YxwnzCDgwJ1Zq99

We had a baptism though of our friend Heliana! She was baptized within 3 weeks since we met her. It was cool to see her progress because shes a convert that life was changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole district was there too so thats was class.

Elder Alonso sang in the ward christmas devotional it was awesome. He has the nicest voice ive ever heard. I recorded it so if you guys want it let me know.

We have 3 friends on date for baptism this next month if you guys want to pray for them that would be cool. Victor, samuel, and evelyn.

I just wanna say thank you everyone's whos reaching out to me i promise i read your emails i just cant respond a lot im so busy.

We had transfers last week and this whole zone changed a lot. Its a lot more fun if im gonna be honest the district is way more social. 

We ballin out here though Elder Alonso and I are seeing the Lords hand in His work. We are finding the elect and the Lord is hastening His work.

It doesnt even feel like Christmas over here its warm and theres no snow hahah. Its fun though its kinda a special feeling being a representative of Christ during this season.

We also had an awesome zone conference. Recieved a lot of revelation on what to do with our friends for the next few weeks.

Spiritual thought:

I love Jesus Christ. He is our Lord our God and King. I feel like during this time of year especially as a missionary we are finding really who He is. I invite yall to read luke 2 the story of Christs birth to remind us what Christmas is really all about.

Te quiero, Élder Hill

December 10, 2024

Some dude yelled at us telling we will get shot if we knock these doors 

Élder Alonso is awesome hes helping me learn the language and be a better teacher. In fact im forgetting some words in english.

Did some service for salvation army, yall should donate to them kiddos.

We had our friend Heliana on date for baptism yesterday and she called us at 7:30am and asked to postpone her baptism cause her husband wont let her be baptized. If yall wanna pray for her that would be cool.

I finally gave my talk yesterday! It waa about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. I invite yall to go read Luke chapter 2 and in Helaman when Samuel the Lamanite prophesied of Christs coming. 

Miracle/spiritual thought of the week:

Last transfer Élder Young and I was asked to give a blessing to a member from port saint lucie that is here in orlando for a lung transplant. This past week, we recieved another message from another member (from port saint lucie) to give him a blessing because he literally needed one and we had no idea. The time ticked by until the afternoon and i had a little push from the spirit, we needed to visit him now. It was 4 o clock we arrived at 4:15pm at the hospital we spent 30 minutes outside his room as doctors and nurses were rushing in and out his room. It was definitely the craziest and most hectic experiences ever and i finally told them that wed only need 5 minutes to give the blessing and we will leave. (We overheard them saying that they were gonna take him to the ER to get into surgery)

4:50 they let us in and he told us his situation that he was bleeding very bad and it would not stop. He said the transplant went very well but something was wrong with his blood (i didnt understand completely hes from cuba). We went on with the blessing and the nurse interrupted DURING THE ANOITMENT and I literally told them give us 5 minutes is all that we need. Élder Alonso gave an awesome blessing.

Next day we get a text from his wife saying they were going to rush him into surgery right after we left, but the bleeding stopped immediately. They were all confused and had no reason to give him extra medication anymore or take him to surgery. 

"Los doctores no saben como fue sucedió eso, pero nosotros sí lo sabemos!" 

Basically what that says is: "the doctors have no idea how this happened, but we do!"

I love God and Jesus Christ more and more everyday. The authority we have is real. Preisthood is real. Jesus Christs restored gospel and church is here today, the same gospel and church that He established in Jerusalem.

Yesterday we got asked by a friend in english class: "why do you missionaries look so healthy? The people in your church and you guys look so healthy i want to know why. I go to other churches and the people seem sad and I dont understand everytime I can go to your guys church, you look so healthy and happy." 

Its the little miracles like that happen to me and other missionaries and members of Jesus Christs restored church across world is what makes us healthy.

Te amo! Jesus Cristo amo ustedes! 

Élder Hill

Yall listen to this talk

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/remember-lots-wife/

​

November 28, 2024
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

These past two weeks i have been cooked. Im so tired i get home lay down and then wake up a second later look at the clock and its 6:30. I kinda like the rush of training though and taking on a bigger responsibility.

I shoulda told yall last week but we got a thanksgiving pday.

Thankfully its been getting colder here the other night i could see my own breath outside.

I ate an octopus.

Im kinda missing out on the temple right now cause Orlando is closed for my whole mission. So for anyone thats going to the temple, dont take it for granted. 

My comp is funny hes kinda just stands around doing every move I do. When I go to the bathroom he goes to the bathroom. When i start singing he starts singing. When I get into bed he gets into bed when i write in my journal he writes in his journal its funny.

We had awesome zone conference President Belot is a goat. Also a member smoked 30 turkeys for zone conference lunch that was chill. Shes got that southern accent so you gotta trust anything she cooks.

Pensamiento Espiritual:

Something President Belot shared with us 

D&C 109

"22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them"

Flicks of the week 

1. Sunset

2. Octopus 

3. Owala sophie gave me

4. No one pulled up to english class

5. Scotcheroos my awesome aunt made me and sent to me

6. Lit tree Sister Belot gave us

​

November 19, 2024

Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!!

Gonna be short

This week was so awesome i have a new greenie Elder Alonso!!!! Hes from mexico so lets say im forced to speak as much spanish as possible. I love him though hes amazing. He knows a lot of english as well. Lets just say this training transfer im going to be fluent at the end of it. Hes teaching me so much. 

Elder Young went bye. I miss him i didnt think id get as sad as i did. 

Our friends are lit so thats awesome.

The secretary of the ward asked me to give a talk on sunday the day of my bday. I was up until 12:30am writing in it. Turns out in sacrament meeting I hear whos giving the talks and my name isnt called. Thank you so much hermano rafael. 

Spiritual thought:

Agree with God

Move with God

End with God

Never doubt God

Flicks:

1. Se fue Elder Limpert 

2. Se fue Elder Young

3. Hola Elder Alonso

4. Birthday lunch

5. Hola Elder Gray

​

November 11, 2024

Hola,

Yep i found out about an hour ago im going to be training next transfer in a different language. Well see how it goes. Me and one other Elder are the only spanish speaking Elders that came straight out of training. Pray for me.

This week was amazing we baptized Karla. It was so special and spiritual! She was crying the whole time as she was feeling the spirit. It was something ill never forget. We first were meeting with her older sister who wanted to learn english. We found out Karla wasnt baptized so we were like lets get on top of this. We reactivated her family and next thing we know her dad is baptizing her! We totally had the help from the Lord! There is no way we could of done this by ourselves. Ella tiene mas fe en nuestro Salvador Jesucristo! 

Im kinda sad cause this is my last week with my awesome comp but our time had to end sometime.

Not that much happened this week but my bday is coming up this Saturday so if you guys want to send me golf balls, greatly appreciated. 

Te amo, Élder Hill

Half of the mission 

Karla

Cruise

​

November 5, 2024

1 takeaway this week: Cubans are the hardest to understand. Should they even be allowed to call their language spanish?

This week not too much happened. Karla baptism is next week so thats awesome cause we were the ones that taught her everything. So thats awesome. My comp and i set a goal were talking to 500 people a week. Literally everyone we talk to we just picture in our minds them in white walking into the baptismal font. The Lord is hastening His work so we get step up our game and find the people that He has placed in our path. We had zone conference and one of the 70 Elder Chrstensen spoke to us. He talked about the Spirit which was a big highlight of my week this week. Another highlight was we gave 7 blessings this week in spanish. Kinda cool to see how much my spanish is improving little by little.

Nothing else happened but im preparing for next pday for FOM INVITATIONAL GOLF FINALE. Pray that ill win.

Pensamiento Espiritual:

I love the power of the Holy Ghost. After talking to my dad i was inspired to listen to the spirit more. I understood that no thought/promptin in your head is a coincidence. So i excercise my faith and trust in Christ to guide me and live by the spirit. Even to the point where i decide to do little things this week ive been prompted to do. Ive seen great blessings from our teachings as ive trusted the Lord and being guided by the promptings. One blessing this week from my trust in the Lord and His trust in me is the gift of tounges. We had been teaching a couple and the words were coming out of my mouth. Being so confident in what i was saying was amazing and relaxing for me in that moment hahah. Maybe those friends arent gonna progress at all but im glad i made a new friendship with them.

Flicks (ill take more I kinda suck)

1.bird

2. Mossy tree

3.hospital

​

October 29, 2024

We back

​

Mission exchange week. A lot was accomplished it was so fun. Rather then speaking spanish this week i got to speak english it was class. Early this week I got to have the chance to be with Elder Foster who is our DL. Nothing compares to english work. Knockin on doors all day while english speakers bashing and telling you you are not Christians. We are in the south, there are a lot of strong Christians here who are bible scholars. Theyd literally slam door in our faces and try to prove to us that the Book of Mormon isnt the word of God (likely chance theyve read it is near 0). During the day i was thinking to myself how do missionaries do this. Almost every latino is very welcoming to hear a scripture and learn about Jesus Christ so it was a shock for me. The next morning in my study i read Helaman 5:12. It was so comforting to me and then I read Helaman 5:47 "Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world."

I just thought that it was comforting knowing Jesus Christ has all our backs. Hes helping us no matter what. As long as we have faith in Christ God will bless us.

​

October 21, 2024

We back

Email for yall its gonna be short

Started the week off strong with birthday for Anziano Gill everyone wish happy birthday to him. Also with two Elders (Elder Limpert and Bolli) in our district had birthdays this week and they turned 21 and we went to Kobe Japan steakhouse for birthday dinner. That was yum. 

We invited a lot of our friends to be baptized this week and 2 accepted. 1 was literally 45 minutes ago and his words "I want to become a member of the church of Jesus Christ, how can i do that." Can someone get more elect than that. 

Yesterday we invited Karla Ainagas who is 11 year old to be on date for November 10. She is awesome. She is the only person who is not a member in her family. She has a strong testimong on the fall of Adam and Eve and how to excercise faith in Jesus Christ at 11 YEARS OLD. The spirit can teach so much and help friends understand complex doctrine. 

This weekend we had La Hispanidad party. Its where a bunch of different people get food where there from, set up a table and make their tables all fancy it is so awesome. I think i gained 15 pounds from eating so much from the El Salvador and Venezuelan table. About 10 percent of my fat is now plantain. After all the countries have a dance or sing a song from their country. The Elders table was USA. Our food was burgers and hot dogs. Guess what we did for our act, sung America the beautiful. It was awesome. Merica.

I have also gained a testimony of the Gift of tounges and how real it is. Studying the Book of Mormon in spanish and reading it out loud helps so much. My faith in Jesus Christ has strengthened so much during this experience. Helps me trust my Father in Heaven more and know that this is the truest Book on Earth.

Ether12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."

Ciao, Élder Hill

Pray for Elder Bridge to have safe flight to Thailand this week.

1.tree

2.biking

3.kobe

4.sunset

5.apron

6.usa

7.flick from sleepover

8.sunrise

9.plaintane

​

October 14, 2024

This week was one of the weirdest and one of the best/spiritually uplifting weeks of my life. Ill never ever forget this experience I had. It was most definitely one of the most fun times ive had on my mission so far.

​

To start off on tuesday we had zone conference that morning which was awesome. Then later that night we got to the chapel and all the Elders are there. The first thought comes to your mind how crazy and fun it is going to be. Within the first 10 minutes everybody was out of control. Everybody was saying what did we get ourselves into. After a few minutes President Belot told us the plan for the next two days and how lit its going to be. It was like having a sleepover with my boys but instead of it just being 5-6 of us there was 130 of us. It was hilarious. Wednesday we get up at 6:30 after a long, long night of Elders messing around and sleeping on a basketball court floor is not ideal. My back hurt BAD. I was not ready to get up. Then of course President Belot comes into the gym and gets us motivated to get up and go to work. We got up cleared everybodys stuff off the court and played basketball for an hour. We played halfcourt 5v5 and our team was probably the second best team. We played winner stays and on the other side of the court was Elder Johnsons team. (6'8 basketball player commited to the U). Our team was beating everyone we were cooking. We won 12 straight games. Then for the last 10 minutes of our time we played the Elder Johnson's team. We just got destroyed and humbled so bad. He was dunking on my teammates and hitting step back 3's from the volleyball line. He is Mr. Utah. It was fun to actually meet him though and talk to him about my boys from skyline and other stuff like that. After basketball we did morning routines and stuff and I got to meet some of the Elders I didnt know to well. Let me tell you some of the funniest guys are the Elders from Tonga and Samoa. They eat everything. They are some of the most optmistic dudes ive ever met. They taught me some islander songs so if you wanna hear them email me. Then we did our normal studies set up call lessons for later that day. 

​

During the middle of the day we did something ill never forget. You know its not often in any mission, that the Elders get a chance alone with the mission President with everyone there and united. President Belot thought it would be a good Idea to have a Q&A with him about anything. Doctrine related, or anything personal to him. It was a bonding moment for me and other Elders as well to feel more connected as a mission. That meeting helped me strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father and what my purpose is. President Belot thought it would be a good idea to have a zoom meeting later that night with one of the most successful mission leaders ever. President Holmes was a mission leader in New York, New York mission and served in the same mission with President Belot. In the New York mission they got to be baptizing 300-400 people a month. We got some tips from him and he talked about being more united as a mission. We are all on one train moving forward. Everything we do impacts the mission. The Conductor of the train is Jesus Christ and He is leading us to those who are elect. Who are ready to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their life.

​

After that we had some good laughs and made more friends with the Elders in the mission. Taught our lessons. We had at least 4 lessons over the phone which is crazy because we havent had a lesson with a return appointment in about 2-3 weeks.

​

God has been answering our prayers. Tuesday it looked like the hurricane was going to hit us at a category 3. But it died down to a 1 when it got to orlando. But still there were tornados 5 miles from us and strong winds and rain. Wednesday night was a wreck. The power went out 3 times and there was a loud bang every single time. We had generators but it was so windy outside I dont know how they got them running but they did. When we got news that we could go home Wednesday, the whole city of Orlando was a ghost town. No one was on the streets. There were trees and branches knocked over. All the bark of trees were off it looked like trees were naked. Little lakes turned into big lakes. Parking lots filled with water. Small businesses and houses boarded up. I never seen anything like it. 3 Million people across all of Orlando had power outages. It was so cloudy and dark. I felt like the missionaries were the only ones that survived. We got back to the apartment and we have a neighboring apartment complex and they had a small reservoir overfilled into their parking lot and all the cars were shifted and moved around. It was wild I wish i got a picture of it. We also had a steeple of one of our chapels fall off in crescent city. 

​

Spiritual thought:

I was praying and thinking why would God want to put a hold to missionary work, making it harder for us to work, making it harder for people to even want to listen us. Why would He cause such a great catastrophe when in my mind he loves us missionaries the most. I think the answer to that is to test our faith. Even if we are going through something we are willing to work 10x harder. When the people of Orlando are at their most humble moment, let them know that we are willing to help them. To spread love of Christ to those people. Let them know they are not alone. To let the people know, who have lost everything, that they are not alone. They have our Brother Jesus Christ here helping us through it all.

Maybe the Lord needed all the Elders in the mission in one spot for two nights and 3 days to be unified together. To work together. Experience a SPIRITUAL FEAST. Love each other and realize that we are all in this together. We are all working hard together. Heavenly Father needs us to be unified in His work.

​

Ive come to realize that this is not my mission. It is the Lords mission. I have tried to stop putting myself over Jesus Christ. Ive stopped trying to think that doing this decision is better for me, then what Jesus Christ really wants me to do. The Lord knows whats best for me. He will guide me to make those decisions. To learn so much about myself these next two years requires gas, obedience, and desire. To my boys or anyone on missions right now, make that change of your mind that this is not your mission, its the Lords mission. 

D&C 84:38 "And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him."

Te amo, Élder Hill

​

(Aye this is for my boys but I cant wait to come back and beat yall in golf)

A lot of flicks I had of the amazing sleepover are on someones digital camera so once i get that ill send em.

Flicks of the week: 

1. Élder Rady

2. Packing up

3. Élder Florindez

4. Tree

5. We drive by this every morning and it never has water in it, probably has 7 feet of water

6. Steeple of Chapel

​

October 7, 2024

AYE ISSA BOY

To be honest the past two weeks i have been super trunky cause the work has been slow. But I got hyped after this past General Conference and President Belots Guidance has been a blessing to me.

With the title yall are probably wondering what happened. We got a referral from our boy Walter. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and learn about our religion. We texted him and he said hed like a visit. We arrive at his house and I have a feeling we should not be there. We knock on the door once and no one answers. Twice we see someone come to the door they walk away. Were like alright knock one more time. We ring "ring camera doorbell" and the circle stays blue so that means they are watching. I just start speaking spanish tp the doorbell saying our purpose and if Walter is here and two seconds later, a white shirtless, fully tattooed arm sleeve runs straight at us with a heavy metal pole and screams two inches from our face "WHO ARE YOU GUYS AND WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE!?" I scream a nice little "ah" im in shock cause he is about to use metal pole on us. Elder Young with the biggest clutch of the century "were missionaries for Jesus Christ!" He sees our name tags and says im so sorry. (We were wearing jackets cause it has been raining the past couple days). I ask do you know a walter and he goes no no walter lives here and ive never met a walter in my life. He then said we have had a lot of people harass us because of our political signs in our yard and we thought you were one of them. He later then expressed how much he respect he has for us and he was apologetic and turns out he is Christian I guess. What a Christ like way to meet someone youve never met in your life. But man you cant tell me that someone does that first contact you meet them. So, Walter why did you lie to us where you live.

​

This week we recieved notice that there will be another hurricane. Guess where its headingx straight to Orlando.

Theryre putting 130 elders in a chapel for two days. Well be eating canned food and MRE bags cause theyre not letting us use the refrigerator or the stoves at the chapel. I feel like im doing a Young mens campout. When the hurricane hits orlando itll be about a category 3 with 150mph winds. Im so hyped its gonna be a crazy week. 

If you guys want to know if im safe or not after the hurricane, contact my parents! Ill be able to talk to them on Wednesday or Thursday i dont know yet and they can let you know how im doing. Also theres a cool facebook page called Florida Orlando Mission and theyll send updates on that as well.

​

Weve been doing a lot of contacts recently. We dont have too many lessons. The work is slow. But i have seen the blessings from putting in the effort. Especially with members feeding us amazing food. Hermana Whipple makes these papusas and theyre the best thing ive had in my life. We heard a rumor last week of how good they are. Apparently she sold her recipe to a restaurant in new york. So we kinda said to her last sunday, hermana "we heard you make good papusas." Then she said, "what day are you guys free?" We tried them and she made us 20 extra to take home and those rumors are very true. She makes this salsa to go over them as well and oh my it was so good. 

​

We have been trying to get to know the members cause were both staying here for another transfer. Were making really good friends with them so we can have them in our lessons! Ive felt the spirit strong when members are in lessons. Its really nice for them to be there so our friends have people they trust in the ward. 

​

Spiritual thought:

I love Brad Wilcox. He has given one of the best talks ive ever heard called His Grace is sufficient. Yall should listen to it on BYU devotionals. He talked in conference this sunday and he was talking about why the youth are so important and why do we have to be "different." Im not gonna revise his whole talk so you guys should listen to it but ive never been more touched and even though im on a mission, im still one of the Youth i like to say. I loved how much temples were talked about and the saturday night session was a lot about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon which is so powerful to me. 

​

Flicks:

1. Moments before tragedy

2. Some of the district 

3. Beautiful orlando

4. Pic for oma showing i use her umbrella she got me

​

October 1, 2024

Whats up yall how you guys doing? Elder Hill back with the longest email youll ever read in your life.

I accidentally deleted the whole email somehow and I dont really wanna re type everything but the hurricane did Nothing to Orlando. It was only rain for one day and 50 MPH winds. On the coast i heard its like 9 feet of water in the streets and everyone is riding around on their jetskis so thats cool. Making homies with the 5 youth in the ward we have so thats lit. They all play soccer and were playing wednesday thats chill. We got transfers on thursday and Ill probably stay here for another transfer. 

3 Nephi 11:

"10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. 

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning."

Strengthen your testimony in our savior Jesus Christ yall. 

​

September 23, 2024

Another week in the FOM. We ran over a turtle this week and nothing happened to it their shells are so strong. They are quick too we went to check the turtle out and flopped around so fast. 

This week was so tiring and not a lot happened. Spanish is coming along nice I'm able to communicate more and keep conversations going which is nice. We had stake conference this week and Elder Bednar son Elder Eric Bednar who just got ordained as a 70 was the presiding officer this weekend. It was awesome and I got to shake his hand and I told him how I heard Elder Bednar speak at the MTC. We had a 7 minute conversation after about the Book of Mormon and ge gave me some tips. One thing that he told me is that President Nelson, President Oaks and Eyring need help declaring the true Gospel to the world. He told me do you really think the adversary is going to give up on tempting you while your on your mission? He said don't do anything that will offend the spirit. Don't do anything that limits you from experiencing the full happiness and spiritual power that you experience on a mission. That was so powerful to me especially that it came from another special witness of Christ.

We had so many lessons cancel on us this week which sucks. But the blessings this week were we had 3 people come to stake conference and one was Jorge and he was guided by the Spirit to come. We're planning on putting him on date this week. He's been to church almost every Sunday since we got in contact with him. We had our meetings with President Belot this week and he is just incredible. He knows what to say and helps me out so much with adjusting to the mission life.

Were starting a FOM baskeball tourney. Guess who's in the mission. Elder Jaxson Johnson. If you don't know who he is look him up on YouTube he went to Alta and is 6'8 and has baskeball offers from all over the country. He's committed to the U right now. We gave his zone a first round bye week. I feel like our zone will take the W though we have so many ex high-school basketball players and President Belots son. We're cooking. I'm also convinced we have the most athletic mission. We have so many Elders that play soccer and have college offers to play somewhere. We got a couple of Elders that are committed to play football at d1 schools and like BYU etc. We got also a hermana who played college ball for a year. Yeah we're stacked.

On top of that every pday we golf and fish that's so chill. 

Pensamiento Espiritual:

In 2nd Nephi 4 is my favorite story in the Book of Mormon of Nephi repenting. Helps me realize that Nephi and old prophets werent perfect as well.

 "35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

I love you

​

September 17, 2024

"On his head, aint that what they do"

Missionary work is hard, i cant express it enough. Acomplishing goals is tricky too but you gotta just work work work. Right now our goal is to invite our friends on to be baptized first contact and it is kinda interesting to me because I think you got to build that relationship with the person first, but the Lord has provided a way for the Florida Orlando Mission. Espeically right now its hard to meet new people with so many inactive members in the area and we have a car so were using it a ton. Next week we have a goal to use our bikes more to meet new people and im excited for that. But inviting friends to be baptized on first contact, the result is we have had 2 friends that are as elect as you can get and they are ready. We have them on date for the 29th which is really one of the first miracles ive experienced so far in teaching the resturation and reciting Joseph Smiths first vision by memory really invites the spirit. 

We have another friend named Jorge, he is about 50 years old and is awesome. We met him through english class and he loves soccer. He is a Real Madrid fan and i talked to him for about an hour about soccer and how real madrid is doing. It was fun and a blessing because now i know I can talk about something im so passionate about with him or with anyone. He can update with me on La Liga haha. Truly going to be a great friend of mine. HALA MADRID 

Were playing soccer a lot more often with friends and leaving with spiritual thoughts. Its the most BEAUTIFUL GAME in history because of the unity with everyone. It brings together so many people. Were allowed to play Pross ball so we can play on normal days as long as were playing for a purpose and not a waste of time. In Florida they have these little 5v5 fields everywhere. Its awesome. Such a great opportunity to make new friends and invite them to church. I also experienced the most racism ive ever experienced when we play with the latinos. They call us all gringos and whites and chino and other stuff im not gonna repeat but its so funny.

Alma 7:26

"And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works."

To keep y'all updated with my comp Élder Young he's amazing and were working better and better with each other every day.

​

September 9, 2024

Another week of the missionary work grind.

Since Élder booth left i have been able to practice my spanish so much more with teaching lessons and talking with people. Its been a blessing and I feel like ive been connecting with people more. The goal is still to get a lot of inactive members back to being active and its kinda hard. All the inactive members kids have grown up or they dont wanna listen at all to us. 

We also started biking which has been crazy. The first day we biked about 50 miles, then 60 the next day, then 40 miles. Average around that many miles a day. We bike through crazy weather. Tons of rain as well as the weather being 92 degree with 65-80 percent humidity its hard. One of my biggest friends has been how much I love water haha. The area is huge but we gotta find the people ready to recieve the Gospel. Its tough work but we received blessings from biking like meeting new people. We got a few more people to come to church just from street contacting which is awesome.

Golf. We golfed today with some boys in our district and some others in our zone. It was so fun. It was very muddy though we were walking through a swamp the whole time. Ill put some videos in this email.

Also plantanes i had no idea they were a food before but the latinos here can make some class plantanes. 

​

September 2, 2024

Whats up guys!! Èlder Hill back with another email

This week was another amazing week. Im getting used to the humidity and rain everyday which is good and ive already developed a NICE tan watch line its nice. The beggining of the week we have about 108 people we needed to contact so we were very busy. On top of that we still got 6 refferals a day to contact more members so it was crazy. A big goal in this area is to get back a lot of members that went inactive during covid and we have just been grinding. On Sunday we got 6 families to come to church which was awesome. I felt the spirit even stronger cause its someone that I taught that came to church. 

Most importantly the highlights of the week is we baptized two people on Sunday. Guess who spoke at their baptism. ME. Guess who probably pronounced every word wrong. ME. It was so bad but I feel like my spanish is getting better by speaking as much as I can. Their names are Arturo and Mariadelina. I never got the chance to teach Arturo but I taught Mariadelina 3 times which was awesome cause I know her. It was nice to get to know her and she fed us earlier in the week. It was awesome and the spirit was so strong. I had the opportunity to be able to be in the circle confirming them a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. Let me tell you after I felt the spirit so strong cause I was able to Help Mariadelina progress to chose to be baptized. A also cool thing about this is that it was Èlder Booth last day and on his last day he baptized two new members. It was so lit. Bienvenidos a la Iglesia de Jesucristo Arturo Y Mariadelina. (Welcome to the church of Jesus Christ). Alma 26:12

This week has kinda been sad as well cause Èlder Booth is leaving us. He kinda showed us around his favorite places here in this area and we got to do some of the stuff we wanted before he dipped. We got these INSANE tacos at this mexican restaurant. They were so nice and we got them for free cause our server is getting taught right now but she lives far in a different area. It was nice getting to know Èlder Booth and all the wisdom he has being a missionary has helped me out a ton this week and a half. Hes also helping me out by hearing spanish and understanding it by listening to the uplifting and spiritual reggaeton music. Bicicleta by shakira might be my favorite song now.

On P day we got to play basketball and there are some kids that know what theyre doing. Espeically President Belot son hes so good at baskeball. He has a huge afro which is so sick and hes my age hes just a year behind me in school. But his main sport is soccer so us 3 Èlderes have been playing a ton with him when we can in the morning. Hes crazy good at soccer but just really a laid back and nice kid. He gonna go on a mission next year which is awesome as well. We also had dinner with President Belot and his family because it was Èlder Young birthday and the departing of Èlder Booth. It was a nice bonding experience with President Belot to get to know him and his wife more and their son Luke. I dont know what they teach in Haiti but President Belot can cook up some CLASS burgers and brats. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Mosiah 3:12 "But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ"

I have had a question Elder Bednar asked us to think about, what is faith in Jesus Christ and what is faith on the name Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is believing he is the son of God. Faith on the name of Jesus Christ, is about what he chose to do. Which is the atoning sacrifice he made and applying the atonement to our lives. Everyone reading this, apply the atonement in your life and see how much your life will change.

Please wish Èlder Young happy birthday.

Also pray for Èlder Booth cause his dawg died last week. He is very sad. 

Love yall, Èlder Hill

Flicks:

1. Baptism of Mariadelina and Arturo

2. Rip Èlder Booth dawg

3. Massive Horchata

4. Yummy taco

5. Soccer (Luke has a bedtime)

6. Èlderes at work

7. Class sunset

8. Bdubs 

9. Facetime Dylan after him giving me big beso

​

August 26, 2024

Ill start off on the plane ride over here sucked. Not being able to watch movies was hard cause im a movie fein. Also we almost didnt land in Orlando and almost landed in Tampa cause of the rain. During while we were waiting for the runway to clear we did 45 minutes of loopty loops in the air. I dont get motion sick but I was feeling it. If we did one more I wouldve definitely visited the restroom. As soon as we landed I was greeted by President and Sister Belot. They are awesome and the best and President Belot is one of the nicest person ive met and is so smart.

Also a cool story one I met hermana Scott in the MTC she is going to the Lisbon Portugal mission and didnt get her visa until the day before we left. But she got reassigned to orlando mission and I was like no way. She talked in Portuguese and I talked in spanish with her it was awesome to see how close the two languages are. 

Let me tell yall, mission work be HARD sometimes. Imma tell yall the day we got here we started the grind. First night we slept in a hotel and the next day I met my comps. I am in a trio with Elder Young and Booth. Elder Young been here for a year and Elder Booth is leaving in a week to go back home. They are so lit and the best trainers I couldve gotten. They both love soccer as well so we have been bonding over that. Our area is called Valencia but the City were in is called Goldenrod. It is so beautiful in the downtown part of the city. It reminds me a lot of Balboa Island in newport in california. So many cool shops and gallerys. The apartment is so nice as well so my expectations are high for the next apartments im in. We are also really close to the UCF campus. There are ton of college kids everywhere haha. There are a lot of latinos here from everywhere. The best gift of that is that they ALL have different ways of speaking spanish. Thats awesome. Especially the Venezuelans and Cubanos. The cubanos sound like they are speaking gibberish. One hermano we was teaching said his name and all of us elders looked at each other like what did he just say it was funny. 

This is also a funny story. We knocked on this door my second day and there was this Hermano. Elder Young forgot something in the car so him and Elder Booth went to the car and im staying at the door. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence I said "de donde es" (where are you from) and he replied "soy de beniuela" (Im from beniuela). I looked at him with a lot of puzzlement and I said "repitilo por favor" (repeat please). He said "Beniuela." Sorry one more time couldnt hear you. Once again "beniuela." I thought I lost my hearing and looked around and was like okay sweet. Just sat there until my comps came back. After we taught him about our Gospel I asked my comps, that dude said hes from somthing like benihana. They looked at me like they immediately knew where he was from and started laughing and they said in unison "VENEZUELA!" I started to die laughing it was so funny. This brings a time back when one of my teachers at the MTC said as long as you laugh at the end of your mistakes with the language, thats what makes learning spanish the best. 

We also do these english classes during the week and we get to teach people english and give a little message. Its one lit way to get them to come to church and has shown a lot of promise for baptism and conversion. Its also a great time getting to know them individually as well and how humble latinos are and how they got here. 

Anyways the teaching is a little scary but having the Lord by your side is the best gift we can ever have. Especially when your in your first sacrament meeting and the first counselor in the Bishopbric says your giving a 15 minute talk. In spanish. I looked at him and said my spanish is not good and he looks at you and goes 15 minute talk. During the sacrament I was praying that he was joking and to have the gift of tounges cause I was in desperate need. To my relief, he said to the congregation that im new and just to share my testimony which was such a great experience. The members are so nice too they told me theyre excited for me to be there and we also get meals from them every night. They also call utah the "fabrica" which means factory because thats where all the missionaries are from so thats funny. I included that in my testimony and everyone laughed it was awesome.

GOLF. As some of yall know I love golf. President Belot allows us to golf on our pday and will come golf with us as well. On Sunday Bishop invited us to have dinner with him. His wife made the best meal ive had. They also speak english so thats awesome as well. Bishop Perez is wealthy, he has a huge house and big backyard. I told him I love golf and he said lets see about that. He brought me to his back yard and he has these foam golf balls he practices with and he said take a couple swings. I was swinging and my first couple of swings were HORRIBLE. Sliced so bad. I havent played in 3 months and I was like this guy thinks I suck after how much I was talking about myself. I hit one slice so bad he said good connection and I KNOW HE WAS LYING. He also has a million chickens. I was hitting my last couple and they were going straight and so far. I was feeling really good about this last one. Perfect backswing and I connect with the ball perfectly and I nail this chicken so hard. Elder Young also got it on film. They didnt even notice I hit the chicken. The little fella walked off like nothing happened then just collapsed on the ground. I thought I killed the thing. I walked over praying its alive. The Chicken got up and ran away. Thats another one of Gods Miracles I guess. Ill put the video below.

The rain here is crazy too. There is so much rain and it is all warm its awesome. It rains for like 30 minutes non stop. You go out for a few seconds and are drenched. Humidity is insane as well. I step outside and im drenched in sweat. We played pickleball this morning around 9 im thinking thats a perfect time to play. Its 80 degrees out perfect weather. Then you look at the humidity and its 80 percent humidity and one game in you are SWEATING bullets. How do people live out here. I tried playing soccer too nah thats not gonna happen. I leaned over on the bench and I look down it is a puddle of sweat. Ive never experienced this before. My DL came up to me and said welcome to Florida. 

But other than all the funny stories im doing amazing and thriving here. Im learning more spanish everyday with teaching so many people. We get 6 refferals a day and so many lessons. It is awesome.

Email me id love to hear from yall! 

August 14, 2024

This week was a lot of funny and crazy experiences. First I just wanna tell yall this is my last email at the MTC. Its crazy that this day has finally come. Im kinda sad to leave such a great district but were all ready to leave. I cant tell you how excited I am for the cafe rio airport meal. I leave for Orlando next Tuesday which is so surreal to me I finally get to spread Christs love to the people of Orlando. 

Ill start with last week. We had a sub and all the teachers do "teacher check ins." Theyre only supposed to be like 10 minutes long. Its to check up on each companionship to see how we are doing mentally and physically. Well this sub she was a talker. She would talk about the most random stuff and it was kinda funny. The first check in she had was around 30 minutes. So each companionship just tried to stall to see how long we could to get her to talk for. Well before Elder Perschon and I teacher check in, the record was 50 minutes. We were also the last companionship for the teacher check in she was going to have. So we were like no way we can make her talk for longer then 50 minutes. My comp is also not really a talker so we was doubting we could make it longer. Little did I know Persch turned into Lebron in the 2016 nba finals. He was just non going conversating with her it was so funny. We beat the record by about 5 minutes but it was just funny we got her to talk for an hour about random stuff.

This week we started "Hablar su Idioma." (Speak your language). This means we just talk as much spanish as we can to each other everywhere even outside of class. Its really fun getting to talk in our language and being able to conversate with each other. I do know the Lord loves effort and will bless us all because of our efforts. 

This week we have another sub for the other teacher. Im gonna rant a little bit but this guy is not good at all. Ive never had an experience like that with one of my teachers that ive hated at skyline. He kinda just tells us and doesnt teach. Its very hard to feel the spirit when he is arguing with one of the elders. He is so weird but luckily, the district Christ attribute for the week is patience. How perfect is that. So i just gotta be patient and try to understand what hes trying to teach to us.

Im also surprised that people are starting school today. Its crazy my sister told me that and I couldnt believe how fast times flown by since I started at the beggining of July. Also a lot of the skyline boys got here last wednesday and today. Its cool to have Anziano Gill here too who is one of my dawgs from back home. I See him a lot and 

its awesome to see some of the boys here. Also shoutout to everyone back home starting college thats gonna be great for yall and cant wait to hear your experiences. John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Earlier this week, I was talking to my comp about where I gain my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I was telling him for me, it really comes down to the restoration and Joseph Smith and what he did through the Power of God. I told him I finished reading Joseph Smith History and read Oliver Cowdery's account of what happened when they recieved the Aaronic Preisthood. Ive never felt the spirit stronger and confirming that the Book of Mormon is true. But I felt like there was still a little more confirmation that I needed to experience. 

Last night, Elder Bednar one of the Apostles of the church gave a devotional. It was crazy that I was within a couple hundred feet from him. He was speaking directly to us. The spirit as Elder and Sister Bednar walked in, was so strong. He started talking about the Book of Mormon and how true it is. He started with talking about Joseph Smith. When he started talking about Joseph Smith, I started to tear up a little bit because of what I experienced earlier in the week that I felt there was more confirmation. I felt the spirit even stronger. He shared, there was no way Joseph Smith should have been able to translate the Book of Mormon. His wife Emma smith said many times, he couldnt even write a letter if he tried. He showed us a journal entry Joseph Smith wrote, and even after he translated the Book of Mormon, he had horrible grammar. The amount of Biblical grammar in the Book of Mormon, the fact that the Book of Mormon is all about our savior Jesus Christ. Joseph had no idea what some words even meant as he was translating. Thats evidence that he had the power of God with him translating the Book of Mormon. Elder Bednar expressed as well, that its a lifelong commitment to strenghthen our testimony of the Book of Mormon and read it everyday. Elder Bednar also shared something that stuck out to me. Faith in Jesus Christ is about Him being the son of God. But faith on the name of Jesus Christ, is the atoning sacrifice and what he did for us and applying the atonement of Jesus Christ to our lives. 

Sincerely, Elder Hill

Flicks of the week:

1. Elder Craner

2. Stargazers

3. Volleyball

4. Elder Craig and I matching

5. District facetime

6. Elder Hill Elder Chandler

7. Long day as missionary

Moroni 10:32

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your heart, might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfected in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.