August 26, 2008

(Note: Michael was asked to talk in church on missionary work and asked Kellen for some insights from the mission field

Hi Dad

I think the thing that members can do to help missionaries the most is just reaching out and beings friends with the investigators. There’s nothing more frustrating when we bring an investigator to church and people just say hi and that’s it. Be sincere and actually get to know the investigators. But don’t act like their a project cause its really easy to tell. There’s a pretty fine line. One thing we do here that’s way awesome is we schedule family home evenings with the members. We have a family of investigators and we bring them over to a members house Monday night and have family home evening. Its a way good way to help the investigators make new friends. And its nice because its in a ´normal´ setting, you know? That’s one thing I really like. What more….sometimes we take members to investigators houses for a lesson. Its a good way for them to hear a testimony of somebody else. And also make friends. If you haven’t noticed, investigators having friends in church is HUGE. a lot of times investigators and new converts fall away because they don’t feel welcome. Not because they don’t believe anymore but because they don’t have a friend at church. They don’t have anybody to sit with or to talk with. The missionaries can only help with that a little cause there will always be different missionaries. That’s pretty much all I can think of right now. Its hard to think on demand.

I kinda cut mom off short cause I was worried I wouldn’t have time to write you enough so I guess I’ll write you more. We have a baptism this Saturday! Elder Aranha will baptise her and I might do the confirmation. Not sure yet. I need to study and see if I can do it. Oh, I spoke in church last week. I didn’t tell you guys cause I didn’t want you to worry or anything. It was pretty good. I spoke about Alma the Younger. It was pretty tough to do a full out talk in Portuguese but everything went alright.

We have two missionaries in our district that are going home this next transfer so today we had a huge BBQ. It was soo good. It was a Brazilian style but the Americans made it. me and the two others in the district. It was good. Tons and tons of meat.

Well, that’s about it. Were getting close to having another baptism but I’m not totally sure when it will be. Pretty soon, I think. Bye, love you! Tell Jeff to email me. I emailed him three weeks ago and I haven’t gotten anything back from him.

Elder Hill

August 26, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom,

I have no idea what they put on their pancakes. I haven’t tried Brazilian pancakes yet. More maple extract would be nice. A family here told me to ask you to send extra for them. They like it a lot.

My Ipod seriously would be so nice because I need somewhere to put my photos. I need the white cord for the computer and there should be a charger somewhere. But if you can’t find it then the one cord is fine. I can buy an adapter type thing for it. And if you could, slip it in the next package cause its pretty small. I’m kinda desperate for it cause I seriously don’t have anywhere to put my pictures. From now on, just send packages to the misison home. Renan said the people don’t open packages that get sent to churches. So that package you guys have you can just send it to the mission home. It’ll be alot easier. I still haven’t got the one you sent to Renan’s house so I wouldn’t send another one there.

Transfers will be in two weeks I think its the week of the seventh. My pday will be on monday so make sure you email me before then so I can write back.

Well, I guess Ill write dad now. I’m in a different city than usual and I forgot to bring my cord so I can’t send photos. I’ll try really hard next week.

I love you! Bye!

Elder Hill

Photo

Here is a photo from Elder Chase Cutler’s website. He was in the same district at the CTM as Elder Hill. Click on image for larger version. Kellen is shown at the bottom left part of the photo (2nd Elder in) peeking out from behind the greenery

August 19, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom!

That’s awesome you had the missionaries over. I first hand know how much they appreciate it. Seriously. We don’t have much money so it’s really nice to be able to have at least one big meal a day. The members here are amazing and they feed us so good. I want to buy a house here. I know I need to learn about family history. But I can’t be the messenger yet cause I don’t know a ton of Portuguese. I’ll definitely teach some stuff about it when I’m able to speak better.

Keep me updated on the president stuff. And if Obama wins, buy me the New York Times the next day and save it for me. Maybe would be worth something since he would be the first non-white president.

Oh and yeah I can’t believe you even brought up the adoption thing to dad. Hahaha

We have to walk everywhere but the area is small so its not too big of a deal. Zone conferences are once every transfer. So we have one every six weeks. There are a lot of white people here. Probably 30 percent of the people in my city are white. Maybe more. They could EASILY pass for American. So most of the time people don’t even know I’m American until I tell them.

Its kind of hard to answer the how many people are we teaching question. But its about 12. But we have a lot of people we visit and we share small lessons with them. I don’t know how to explain it.

We have two baptisms scheduled. One should be in the next two weeks and the other shortly after that. She just needs to stop drinking coffee. Then we have other people that just need to get married.

I made French toast for my comp and he loved it. Then we went to a members house and the mom made pancakes and I shared the syrup with them. They liked it too. Send more! The maple extract is a lot smaller so maybe it would be easier just to send that.

My box arrived perfect. Nothing was wrong with it. I still haven’t gotten the one to sent to Renan´s house yet. I think he’s going to send you guys a postcard. He asked me to help him write a letter to you in English.

P days we usually go to the church and play soccer. Nothing too exciting. Laundry, email, stuff like that.

Yeah Ill send some pictures to you. I think I might be able to do it next week.

I don’t really know what I would buy if you added money to my account. Maybe a pen drive? I don’t really know. Could you send my ipod? It would be REALLY nice to be able to use it for an external storage. My memory card is already full and I have nowhere to put my photos. So my ipod would be pretty nice to have. Were allowed to have them just so you know. Its not against the rules or anything.

Well, that’s about it. I love you!

Elder Hill

August 19, 2008

Hi Dad!

That’s ok you didn’t write. Mom wrote a really long letter so it was kind of good. This week was good. I don’t have too much to write about because I wrote mom a pretty long email. I showed your picture to some of the families here and they all said you look Brazilian Haha! Pretty cool.

But my time is running out, I love you!

Elder Hill

August 11, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom!

I got the package! Thank you so much! When I opened it I was a little scared because I didn’t see the camera but then I found it in the oatmeal box. Ha ha! Thanks for the syrup too. I’m going to make French toast today after I email. My companion has never tried maple syrup before.

The zone conference was good. We talked a lot about study and those types of things. It’s all in Portuguese though so I don’t always understand everything but almost. The language is coming pretty fast now. Its nice.

What types of things do you want to know? Write me a list of questions and Ill answer them in a letter.

Yeah it doesn’t surprise me that people are asking for deodorant here. Its so bad. For normal deodorant its almost 15,00 too so its either really cheap bad stuff or really expensive slightly ok stuff. So deodorant would be really nice. I shouldn’t move to another city for a little while but I’m not sure. The worst part is I’ll only know one day in advanced when or if I’m leaving the area. It’s pretty crazy. But the next transfer is the second week in September so maybe wait on the next package until then. Cause if I stay, Ill for sure be in the area for the next six weeks after that. And that’s enough time to get the package.

What exactly is that missionary site that has the list? I think I’ve heard about it before but I don’t really know what it is.

I really have no idea about family history. I know our stake center has a family history lab but I don’t know if people use it.

I still haven’t got the line of authority. I completely forgot about it. Kind of weird it hasn’t come yet. What address did you give them?

This week was good. We taught a lot of lessons but we need to get some new investigators so we’re working hard on that. Ask more questions!

We have a baptism the Saturday after this one I think. Maybe two people on that day but I’m not sure. One drinks coffee so we need to help her stop that first.

I love you! Thanks again for the package!

Elder Hill

August 11, 2008 (São Leopoldo)

Hi Dad!

Ill try writing Jeff again and hopefully he will write me back a little more this time. I kind of just stopped cause I get just one sentence back.

I have no idea if Alex would remember you. I’m pretty sire he would at least remember me cause I was over at their house a few months before I left. I don’t know though.

Favre seriously went to the Jets? Wow I never would have seen that coming. They actually could have an all right team this year. They changed their Oline up quite a bit and I think they got a new fullback that’s way good. I don’t really remember though. But yeah, I think he could actually help them quite a bit. They’re defense is terrible though. Ah but I wish favre would have gone to the Bucs. That would have been sweet. How’s the US doing in the Olympics. Whenever I ask the members they just say. One of the leaders, like always. Haha they don’t really say anything else other than that.

The baptism was pretty cool. It for sure felt weird to think that I was able to do that. We have given a ton of blessings and everytime we do its pretty cool. I have spiritual experiences on a daily basis but since I cant speak the language too much yet they aren’t huge or anything. But sometimes its crazy cause I can speak soo good. The promise about the spirit bringing all things to remembrance is so true. There have been times that the language just seems to flow. I’m not fluent or anything but it feels like I have a perfect recollection of what I’ve learned. Its awesome.

The zone conference was cool. It was mostly about study and how we need to plan for our investigators. I got to see some of my buddies from the CTM too so that was nice. Oh and I got the package! I’m making French toast right after I email everybody. Haha I’m pretty excited.

This last week we had splits with another area. And an Elder that has been in the field for only a week came to my area with me and my comp went to his area with his comp. So I was pretty much the senior companion for the day. It was pretty crazy. Even though he was Brazilian he didn’t know how to do things so I had to do a lot of the talking. It was such a confidence builder cause I was able to do everything I had to.

We didn’t have another baptism this week but I think we will have two next week. I’m not totally sure yet though. I’m almost positive well have one.

I better go though! I love you! How is work going? How’s Brayden? I hope everything is good at home!

Elder Hill

August 5, 2008 (to Mom from the CTM)

Hi Mom!

Thanks for the packages! Really, I’m so excited to get them. My zone conference is next Monday so hopefully I get it. It’ll be nice to have a camera.

This is going to be a kind of short email cause the keyboard I’m typing on is terrible and it takes forever to type. So I want to make sure I get to everybody.

The baptism Sunday went awesome. I was kinda nervous because the girl was pretty tall and she had a baby a year ago. But everything was perfect. She tells her mom that she has ´soldades´ of me. Which is kind of like missing somebody but a little more. Members get really attached to the missionaries that baptize them. It’s pretty cool.

The members feed us and the food is sooo good. They feed us a lot.

I didn’t get an email from Brother Moore. Hmmm… maybe he sent it to the wrong email address? It would be cool to hear from him.

Amanda is going to the singles ward so that’s why you haven’t seen her. She left for Florida today. She’s visiting family for a while.

I’ll send some photos of the baptism when I get them developed.

Ring size? Seriously I have no idea. Haha and I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for a ring shop here. We live in a REALLY small area. The busiest road is like Ranches Parkway. Its tiny.

Money in the account would be nice if you guys can. I think I only have a round 40 in there.

I don’t need the rest of my coat. But some of my shirts would be nice. I have a green shirt that I wouldn’t mind having here, I don’t like wearing the same shirt every pday.

My garment size is small We don’t have access to buying garments. We’re about two hours away by train to the Temple so we can never go there.

Well, I better go. I love you!

Elder Hill

August 5, 2008 (São Leopoldo)

Hi!

Yeah the summer really is going by way fast. I can’t believe it. Its already been the end of one transfer in the field. Just 15 more to go.

Mom said Brother Moore sent me an eamail too but I never got it. What do you guys do at the FHE thing?

That’s awesome you passed your test! I knew youd pass.

The baptism was awesome! Everything was prefect. I wish I had more time to write about it cause I have a lot of things to say. After her interview saturday the spirit was so strong. She came out of the room and opened her hand and she had her tongue ring and nose ring in it. It might sound kind of weird cause Im talking about it fast but it was awesome. She refused for such a long time to take them out. Other than when I was set apart to be a missionary it was the strongest Ive ever felt the spirit.

How are Grandma, Grandpa, and Jeff? I have heard from Grandma and Grandpa in while so I was just wondering. And I email Jeff almost every week but he just writes back one sentence. So I don’t really know what’s going on. Next time you talk to him ask him why he doesn’t write me more. I even ask him a bunch of questions and he doesn’t answer them. It’s pretty weird. But oh well. Love you!

I better go now though. Let me know what Sheila says about Jeff. I’m looking forward to getting the packages! I love you!

Elder Hill