Stuck in the Muck!

   My week was good. We really had some quality lessons this week and we got some new investigators. Our zone is doing really well which I'm happy about. We were at church yesterday and E. Poulson came up to us and said "I just struck gold for you two." He told us a woman named Sister C---- called him this morning and said she has two 11 year old daughters that want to get baptized. So we look at each other and said alright! Haha so we went over after church and met them and they are a less active family and want to start coming back to church. So we will have at least two baptisms this transfer... a little miracle from the Lord resulting from our diligence and obedience!

   A funny thing happened to me on Friday Night. Elder Smith and I were going to an appointment to a boy named C----. He's 14 years old and has been coming to church for the past 5 weeks. He has not been taught by the missionaries before, so he is really excited that we are starting to come over on a regular basis. Before we had the lesson with him we were standing on the street discussing what we were going to cover with him then we called inside. He came out and we talked for a few minutes... now my foot placement is not too good at this moment, because I'm standing on basically a two by four that is keeping me above a nasty trench that smells like decaying bodies. Elder Smith is in front of me and makes it safely over and doesn't look back to see if I make it. Well little did I know I was standing on the edge and my foot slipped off and my foot went straight into the goop about 3 inches. My sock and shoe was full of nasty black water.

   I gained my balance a little and then tried to pull myself up but my foot formed a vacuum and it pulled me back down a foot and a half in the worst smelling mud in the world! Now you don't want to know what happens in those trenches ... I guess you could use your imagination and you'll hit the nail right on the head. haha.... I sent out a pretty loud squeal and said "Elder We're going home." It was about 7pm and I wasn't doing anything smelling like that... so we clicked a few pictures and then left so I could wash off. We went back to talk to C---- for our 8:00 appointment. The bummer is that he has been discouraged by his family and told us that he is too young to get baptized. We were pretty disappointed about that. It's hard when you can see what the potential is of someone and they choose not to accept the gospel. I hope that if he doesn't accept it now he will later in his life. He still comes to church every week...

I love teaching the gospel and sharing what I know. It is the greatest feeling and I would not trade this experience for anything in the world! I love it that much!

I love you all and miss you tons...Love Elder Hill

Capitol of Guyana - Georgetown is HUGE !

Well Hello everyone back home in Murika!!!! :)

I'm doing well here and I am absolutely loving Georgetown and being with E. Smith, which makes missionary work sooo much easier. We are working hard and really getting to know the area good and finding new people to teach.

   I really enjoy my apartment! It it really nice because it has HOT WATER!!! It's pretty small in size but makes up for it in comfort... we live below the Poulsons and they are great by the way!
As zone leaders, we get to deal with the problems of the missionaries in the two districts we are over. It's a really fun job, we get to have a lot of conferences over skype and then this next week or so I will be flying to Trinidad for a Zone Leader conference which will be super fun! It will be about 4 days long so I'm excited to do that!

   There are 400 members but only 100 show up to church. There are two districts and we serve in the biggest district and the biggest area in Guyana... so that means lots of less actives to find and reactivate. I won't get bored here... tons of stuff to do and lots' of people to see! haha

   Something that I love about Guyana ... Everyone is big into sports... mostly Cricket and Football (Futball) but they are always playing on the street! So Elder Smith and I saw some older kids like 16 and 17. We decided to play a game of soccer to 3 goals - if we win they have to come to church and if we loose we give them copies of the Book of Mormon. They agreed! we won! ... against kids that do this everyday. 3-1! haha its funny... the sad thing is they didn't come to church but we did get everyone's phone number and address to go teach them and their families!   So it was a pretty fun finding activity. ☺

 Georgetown - Population 240,000

Baptisms and Transfer Week

  Well everyone, I made it another week! I love it here! I am so freaking tired that my eyes just want to shut right now from exhaustion. We set some pretty freaking hard goals last week and were dead set to reach them all. Well after a week of disappointment after disappointment... the lord carried us through and lifted us... we met all of our goals on Sunday night. It was a tender mercy from the Lord letting us set inspired goals and then helping us all the way through to accomplish them! 

  The baptisms of A---- and Bro C---- was a really cool experience! Because of District Conference on Sunday, we got to confirm them right after the baptism which made it so much less stressful! It was such a tender mercy.

  Well everyone... I am going to be in a new area on Wednesday... With a new companion! At Zone Conference President Mehr called me by name and said, "Elder Hill, you are going to be a Zone Leader with Elder Colby Smith... You have a lot of work to do but I love and trust you!" That was the most peace I have ever felt in my life. It was so Crazy... So I'm going to start my duties as a Zone Leader, with my friend from Grenada, which I'm really excited about! I can't wait! Its going to be a really cool adventure that is for sure.

So Long Elder Hardy...Keep Up The Good Work!

  I encourage everyone to read 3rd Nephi and feel the spirit that is found in those inspired words. I just finished reading that book and had a very powerful experience with the spirit and I know that you can too if you commit yourself and just do it! I love the Book of Mormon so much and don't know what I would ever do if I didn't have it. I don't know how people live life without scripture.

Well I love you all and I'm excited to hear about some of your stories back home. Remember to study the scriptures everyday and Preach My Gospel along with it! I love you all!

Love Elder Hill

Blessings and Baptisms

Hey everyone! 

    I had a pretty good week! I loved it. For the 4th of July, the Poulsons (senior couple) invited us over to their house and we ate Hawaiian haystacks. YUM! and then they had an American flag cake.. haha Ah Merica! It was really fun.     

Diamond Branch

Missionary work here is a lot more laid back than the islands and Trinidad... which is not good... You can tell in the missionaries that they feel like they don't have to be as obedient to mission rules.. but man not me... We're baptizing, so rules are blessings. I wish the other missionaries could catch the fire of the work and start working like a busy little bee, because I'm working my bum off!   

Which reminds me.. I haven't really told you but we have been working with a young 15 year old boy named W----. He is great and has a strong desire to get baptized. He has a very sweet spirit about him...I can feel he will do great things in the future of the church. He lives in a little shack right by the rum distillery, but ya dude! I love him a lot! He is going to have Bro. Boyce (branch mission leader) baptize him on Saturday. 

   We had 8 investigators at church on Sunday!!! with 82 at sacrament! That's a lot! I thought that was really sweet! These people are just so prepared.  Hopefully we will have 2 more baptisms on the 26th. I think it is so cool being down here! 

   I never thought that I would love being on a mission so much.. but I really do! I thank Heavenly Father every night for letting me have all of these wonderful opportunities! I'm so grateful for all the blessings I'm receiving in my life and all of the blessings I can see happening in your lives back home! I know for a fact that if we listen to the prophet's voice and keep our covenants we will be blessed beyond reason! I love this gospel so much and I love these wonderful countries in the West Indies!

I love you all,
Elder Hill

Great Diamond Area

    Well everyone! This week went by blazing fast! E. Hardy had to leave me with a French missionary for a day and a half so that he could go renew his visa in Suriname so that he can stay legal in Guyana for a little longer. It was interesting being with a dude that can barely speak English for that long.. I had to speak by doing charades.. haha. But it was good. La Grange which is across the Demerara River is super bush... I saw a few gators in the trenches. :) I got packed away by mosquitos that night because my fan broke in the middle of the night and I had nothing to keep them off!

    Looks like you found Diamond! (thanks to Google Earth) The streets are layed out in a grid pattern and there are fields and fields of rice farms. It's actually pretty cool! I've only seen people harvesting once. They lay it on the side of the road to dry... so cars and trucks drive over it... then they put it in bags... so it just gives a really good excuse to wash your rice before you eat it... haha But yes you found it!   There is a lot of Sugar Cane too but mostly rice.

   My area is actually pretty sweet! I love the people hear already! The people are definitely more prepared to hear the Gospel! Very humble, humble homes and lots of people seeking for the true church. Reactivation is actually a huge deal here there are lots of members that don't come, so we focus a lot on finding them and reactivating them! It is sweet though... Lots of part member families to work with which in my opinion is like the best way to go! But The work is just going Mad here! the People are just so amazing! They are going to make me fat with their generosity... haha. They always offer you something to eat! I'm learning how to make curry and roti so you can try some when I return haha... it's soo good!

    This week is we started teaching a Family of 5!!! They are simply amazing! They are referrals from our Branch President Sobers. The entire family is of Baptism age from 10, 15, 19 and the mom and dad. Yesterday night we taught them the Restoration. It was so, so amazing that it was the most intense spirit I've felt in my mission so far teaching about Joseph Smith. It was so strong that I got the world renown Hill-bottom lip quiver and I started to cry.. haha First time for everything! I just love when the people you are teaching let you speak to them with out cutting you and just listen to what is being taught... not only by you but more importantly by what the Spirit is teaching them! It was simply amazing! I invited them to be baptized last night, and they replied "but we were already baptized.. So I told them we will discuss why I would ask that when we meet next! We left them to pray and ponder about what was shared. It was so so rich! I have always found it quite interesting that you can just tell if someone will enter the waters that first time you meet them! Well This family had that feeling! I love teaching Families... I wish I would have had the chance my entire mission... but sadly Families are hard to come by... that was the 2nd family I've taught.. 1st that were legally married!

    Well that was my week! haha That is all I have time for today... But just know That I'm doing well and that I'm loving it here serving on basically the equator.. haha in the country of Guyana in South America!!!

I love you all!
Elder Hill

Guyana - Land of Many Waters

 

    Well everyone I have landed on the Continent of South America! I live in a village called Great Diamond. It is about 30 minutes south of Georgetown (Capital).We cover the small and close areas on bike and then anything that is more than a 20 min ride we catch a bus that is hustling the roads. The buses are crazy... more so than the ones in Grenada... which I thought couldn't be worse. They smell like monkey cages says Elder Hardy... haha which I feel is a pretty close guess of what it's like... Horse drawn wagons flood the highway as well pulling people and giving them rides to places because they can't afford the normal fair for a bus. Normal fair is $160 per person Guyanese... so like 80 cents U.S. People are very poor where I am living. I live in a pretty nice apartment compared to some. Straight cold water out of the tap and shower, so glacier freeze in the mornings... although we do have an a/c unit... which is nice!

      Elder Hardy was with one of the missionaries I came out with, who I enjoyed being around in the MTC. One downside of this past week... he is sick.. so we haven't been able to do as much work as I would have liked but... ya know me... I work crazy hard. Missionaries say I'm the work horse of the mission... which is pretty crazy! I have lived up to one of my goals, so that's cool!

      We had 74 people at church and 7 were investigators brought by the members... It is crazy how humble and prepared and understanding these people are about the Gospel of Jesus Christ... It makes me very, very happy knowing that this place is very well off for the future of the church... lots of RM's and lots of strong youth! It is a simply Amazing place to serve in and I'm grateful (except for the stench of Rum waste from a local distiller down the road a ways.. it's gross... we'll put it that way!)

I love you all and Have a good week!

Love Elder Hill

Snapshot of Guyana

Guyana is unique–it is the only South American country whose official language is English! Much of the population speaks Guyanese Creole (an English-based creole), and many indigenous languages are also present. Guyana is religiously diverse – a little over 55% of the population is Christian, while about 28% is Hindu and another 7% is Muslim. Guyana’s culture represents several diverse influences, including African, Indian, Amerindian, and British cultures. The south of the country also has strong Brazilian cultural influences. American pop, reggae, calypso, and even Brazilian music are all popular within Guyana. Cricket and soccer are the most popular sports. The One Pot Meal–a meal using a mixture of whatever meat, peas, beans, or other ingredients are available– is common in the country. Pepperpot (a stew using beef, pork, or mutton and flavored with peppers and cinnamon), curry, Guyanese chow mein, and several seafood dishes are also quite popular. Fresh fruit is often used to make juices. Chinese and fried chicken restaurants are also popular among the locals.

More about Guyana in the West Indies Mission

...and More

Goodbye Grenada ....

I will be transferring to Guyana, South America! I'm going to an area called Diamond... It's a village pretty close to Georgetown. I've heard there is a possibility I'll be on bike... so it will be my first area on bike. I will still be district leader for one transfer, and will be serving with Elder Hardy. Elder Strong will also be going to Guyana.  I will miss my friends in Grenada...

Last Baptism in Grenada

     Baptisms are the BEST! I have been super stoked for this one! 

K----- knows the church is true and he knows Heavenly Father is leading him down a path that is true. He has told us he wants the spirit to be with him all the time so he can make good decisions. He is just an all around awesome guy!

Grand E'tang

Funny story....

     Today we went up to the Grand E'tang Lake. [a crater lake in an extinct volcano, surrounded by rainforest] We hiked to a place called Mt. Qua Qua. Well halfway through, it starts to just down pour... and so the trail is just getting super slippery. I'm sliding all over the place, and so is everybody else! The ground was like clay so it was like stepping on a million banana peels over dey. We (E. Strong, E. Smith jr., and I) have a brilliant idea to run down this hill.. more like slide down.. so we get a nice running start.. and here we go. I start sliding down and then BAM! My foot gets stuck on a wood plank sending me over my feet in front of me... Haha! And then I go sprawling headfirst into a massive patch of Razor Grass! So this grass has little edges on it like razor blades, and my face and neck got all scratched up and my arms and legs. Now i'm just looking like I got into a fight with a huge cat. I probably won't ever do that again! I would say that it was worth it though! haha because I was laughing and so was everybody else!

Elder and Sister Smith

Smith, Hill, Ramdhanie, Wilson, Loewen, Strong, Grigg, Smith