October 19, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Note:  We received a lot of new photos from Elder Hill.  You can view them here.

Hi Mom!

One of the boxes got here! The problem is that I’m in a different city until tomorrow waiting for my new companion so I cant even get it. But Renan called me and told me it came. So that’s a relief. At least one has come. What’s in it?

That’s way sweet about Jacob’s call! Wow and February is long time away. I’m surprised they’re making him wait that long. That’s crazy.

This week was weird. Well, just yesterday.  Elder A’s parents came to get him and his mom reminds me SO much of you so I got pretty homesick. It wasn’t too bad though. His mom is a way nice lady. She kept giving me hugs.

I found out I can email video’s through gmail and its pretty fast so Ill email you some videos.

It has been really bad weather here actually. rainy rainy. Today is really hot though. The weather changes here really fast just like there.

We don’t eat that much other than lunch. WE don’t go hungry, we just don’t have time. Renan’s mom usually makes us bread and chocolate milk almost every night so that’s always nice. She’s a way nice lady too. She helps us SO much and she’s not even a member.

WE take pictures of food cause we almost always just eat rice, beans, and chicken. So when it’s different we celebrate. Hahaha

Who were the missionaries that taught you? Just curious. And who baptized you?

Yeah Sister A said she used to cry every night cause she missed him so much. Haha it was sad. I hope you don’t cry.

I love you!

Elder Hill

October 13, 2008 (to Dad from São Leopoldo)

Hi Dad,

Mom told me it snowed. It was really hot here this past week so its weird to think that it snowed there. The whole completely different seasons thing is weird. Haha sounds like the bbq went well. I’m sure that made Chris happy.

If you could get my faceplate and stick it with all my stuff that would be cool. For some reason I keep thinking about it. Not sure why.

Yeah we had two baptisms this Saturday. One was a girl name Nicole, she’s 11. And the other was Murilo and he’s eight. They both went really well. Hopefully they can stay firm throughout their lives and maybe even serve missions too. That would be awesome. I want to baptise a missionary. Haha

We had a way cool experience this week! Yesterday actually. WE got a referral from this member and we hadn’t had time to visit it and we saw her in the street Sunday and she was kinda mad that we hadn’t visited her neighbor so we were like ´yeah well go there for SURE tomorrow. Don’t worry.´ So we went there and the lady asked A TON of questions. Like that’s pretty much all she did. But since our church is perfect, we had answers for all of them At the end she said something like ´what do I have to do to enter your church? Do you guys have to teach me more before I can be baptised? I really like what I have heard and I like how my neighbor lives her life and how much patience she has and I really want to join your church. My husband feels the same way too.´ It was awesome! First visit and she told US she was going to be baptised. We didn’t ask or anything. It was so awesome. Her husband wasn’t there so we weren’t able to talk to him yet but it sounds like they’ll be baptised soon.  They’re already legally married and everything. Which is WAY rare. It’s actually the first couple I’ve met that’s legally married. It was a cool experience.

I think that’s it. I love you!

Elder Hill

October 5, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom,

Conference was strange here. This will answer your question about in what ways I think I’ve changed. It was cool but I felt really bad that I wasn’t able to sustain the prophet and the leaders of the church. Haha may sound like something really small but before the mission, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about it. And I fell weird that I wasn’t able to take the sacrament too. I don’t know. I just feel different. But conference was sweet. We were only able to watch the Sunday morning session which was good. I don’t remember who talked about this (have it in my notes. Oh yeah, I took notes. That’s definitely a change) but he talked about how to answer critics to the church. I really liked his talk. Taught me a lot.

I forgot to ask Renan. Just curious, wanna know how to pronounce his same? Henuh. Different huh?

Thanks for sanding more brownies! I was starting to crave them so I bought some cake mix and tried to make some adjustments to make them more ´brownie like´. Yeah, didn’t work. So thanks.

I’m almost 100 percent positive that Ill be transferred December 2nd. If not I would seriously be so surprised. But I guess we’ll see. Ill know the DAY before, If I’ll be getting transferred. I’m not sure why they do it like that. And then I won’t even know where I’m going until I get there.

People say it’s REALLY hard to learn Spanish after Portuguese because of how similar they are. It makes it hard to think in just one of the languages. I’ll understand a lot of Spanish but Spanish people will have a hard time understanding me. Pronunciation of Portuguese is really weird. But I think Ill try to take Spanish. I think it would be cool.

Another big thing I think I’ve learned is how to adapt. We always have to adapt to situations and change was really hard for me before the mission but it’s not that big of a deal now. I’ve only been out for five months so not that many big things have changed. Just some little things. Even though I speak the language alright, I have a really hard time talking to people and just opening my mouth. That has been harder than I thought. But the language itself is easier than I thought it would be. I don’t really have a personality yet in Portuguese. Kinda weird but I don’t know how to explain it.

I hope I’ll have a Brazilian comp next. I don’t want an American. Ill never learn the language right.

I love you!

Elder Hill

September 29, 2008 (to Dad from São Leopoldo)

Hi Dad,

My birthday was seriously way good. We went to this one families house and they put up balloons and everything. It was really nice of them. Then we went to Renan’s house and his mom made a cake and dinner for us. Then the day after, our lunch appointment gave me a cake too. So I got three cakes! We ate sooo much. I thought I was going to throw up but it was way good. People here cook so good.

That’s cool to hear about your job.

Is this the highest BYU has been ranked in a way long time? How are the Pats doing without Brady? Is he out for the season or just for a while? How’s Favre doing? The BILLS are 4-0? Hahaha never would have seen that coming. IS their QB Losman still? He started picking things up at the end of the season so I’m just wondering if that’s why they’re doing so good. Cause their defense was terrible last season.

Yeah grandma told me Unclue DeMont was planning on getting ordained. That’s way cool.

Our referrals were pretty much all wrong address so it was frustrating. But we could have two baptisms pretty soon. One of our ex investigators came to church Sunday and said that her son is turning eight next sunday and she wants us to baptise him.

I’ve only talked to my mission president three or four times but hes a really nice guy. He reminds me a lot of President Pike. That type of really calm and gentle personality, you know? But we aren’t able to talk to him too much. I like him though.

I think that’s about it this week. I love you!

Elder Hill

September 28, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom!

Thanks for sending more packages! They are always fun to get. My favorite thing in the first package I got here was brownie mix (just in case you’re wondering. hint…hint…) We made them with a family here the day after I got them.

I got the picture book and it was awesome! It turned out really good. I’ve been showing it to everybody here and they like it too. Especially that picture of me and Jordan.

Conference here is going to be different here. We’re only able to watch the Sunday morning session of conference if we have investigators and we’re not able to watch the priesthood session at all. I think we’ll be able to get some investigators there so we’ll be able to watch the Sunday morning session. It’ll be in Portuguese too so that will be interesting. The language is coming still. People say that during months 6-10ish or something like that is when you learn the most and I just started month six. I understand pretty much everything people say to me but speaking is still a little tough. I can communicate perfectly fine but sometimes I get myself in a hole cause I don’t know a word. The verb rules are really complicated but oh well. I like the language a lot. It’s pretty cool. I don’t think I’ll have an accent when I come home but Ill probably mix in some Portuguese or sound weird cause now I have to translate into English instead of the other way around.

It’s almost guaranteed that I’ll be transferred December 2. It will be REALLY hard to leave especially so close to Christmas. There’s a family here that I would really like to spend Christmas with but I won’t be able to. It will be cool to get to know another area though.

Soccer. Hmmm. Yeah I don’t know yet. It’s pretty much my only ´in´ with talking to people. I’m sure by the time I get home I’ll love it.

Thanks again for the package for my birthday! I got it two days after my birthday so it was perfect. I love you!

Elder Hill

September 9, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom,

I’m not going to be transferred. For sure. And I don’t think I will be next transfer either but there is a chance. I guess the Mission President has a pattern that you usually stay in the same area for four transfers. And this is the start of my third.

Brayden is at home again? I wrote him like a month ago and I never got anything from him back. So that’s why I haven’t written anything back to him. Tell him to write me.

I made a video of my house and I’m thinking about sending it to you guys. I sound really sad in it though. Because my brain gets confused when I talk English so I have to talk really slow and my sentences don’t always make sense. So if I send it and I sound depressed, that’s why. I’m very, very happy so don’t worry.

If you guys write me a letter first with a bunch of questions then Ill write you back. Just send me a letter, not an email.

I’ll try to find out about my ring. I don’t know the exact dates of anything. Just that transfers are every six weeks and we have a zone conference one every transfer. But you could figure out when the next transfer is. Six weeks from today. It will be the Tuesday of that week.

That’s nice you guys are going to the temple. I miss the temple a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve gone.

Everything is good here. We’re working hard with some families to help them get married. We have three families that need to. It’s really rare to find families that are already married.

Well, I better go. I love you! Thanks for the jump drive! That will be really nice to have. Love you!

Elder Hill

September 9, 2008

Hi Dad,

That job sounds like a really good opportunity. Mom said you’ll take the test next week so tell me hope you do in the next email.

Brady is already out?! Wow, that was fast. Is Chad Johnson playing or did he sit out? You’re seriously finding golf balls in the yard? That’s crazy. That would be pretty hard to hit a ball into our yard.

I’m pretty sure I could have done the confirmation but I just kind of wussed out. I didn’t study enough. I kind of regret it cause it would have been really cool if I could have done it. Next time I’ll make sure I’m prepared.

We should have another baptism kind of soon. Not sure when but it should be this transfer. She’s been ready forever but ever time we set a goal it falls through. We need to talk to her some more. I get a new companion tomorrow so I really hope we don’t lose some of our investigators. I hope he’s a good missionary and Brazilian. I don’t want an American comp. I’d never learn the language cause we’d always talk English.

I think I’m going to send some more pictures so I’m going to go. I love you! Good luck on your test!

Elder Hill

September 2, 2008

Hi Dad,

Another test? What’s this one for? That’s good you’re keeping busy though. When is this one going to be?

What type of stuff did you read that I wrote to you? Mom said your talk went really well. That’s good to hear. Grandma said Jeff’s Internet is down so that’s why he hasn’t been emailing me.

The baptism was soooo good. I didn’t do the confirmation though. I wish I would have been able to but I didn’t feel like I had the vocabulary to do it, you know? But everything went awesome. This girl was so ready too which made it even better. She bore her testimony during the meeting and she started to cry. She said how grateful she was that the missionaries gave her the pass along card and that we were able to teach her. The spirit was really strong. I have a ton of pictures on my camera but I brought the wrong cord! I’m kinda mad. But my companion has a Kodak too so maybe his cord will work with mine. Hopefully it will. I didn’t know I had to have the stand.

I think we should have another baptism pretty soon. We were helping to stop drinking coffee and she stopped. So we should be baptizing her pretty soon. Not totally sure when though.

Have you heard anything about Tiger Woods lately?

The cord works with my camera so I’m going to send some pictures to mom now. I love you!

Elder Hill

September 2, 2008 (to Mom from São Leopoldo)

Hi Mom!

I got the package you sent to Renans! Thank you! I’m almost for sure NOT being transferred. We found out that my comp probably will be so I’ll stay here so I can teach the area to my new comp. If that made sense….

The weather here is pretty good. It’s starting to get hot though but it’s ok. The time is going by sooo fast. It’s weird. I’ve already been out for almost five months. Whoa.

Next week is our stake conference too. It’ll be interesting to see how many people are there. It will probably look like a regular Sunday in our ward before it split.

I have some bad news. I brought the wrong cord for my camera. Apparently I have to use the little stand. I can’t just plug the little cord into my camera. Kinda stupid.

We had a baptism! I don’t know if I told you we were going to have one. It was Saturday. It went so good.

Well, I think that’s about it. I love you!

Elder Hill

Photos from July and August 2008

Finally some photos from Elder Hill! Here are the descriptions he sent along with the email of the photos.

The one of me with the family is at a Father’s Day party. They’re the ones that want the maple.

The one of the meat is a BBQ we had. It was a brasillian BBQ but the americans made it.

There’s one of the baptism and of the church.

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