"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 3 Nephi 5:13

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Snapshot of Grenada

The official language of the island nation Grenada is English, however the main spoken language is Grenadian Creole English, which also includes African, Indian, and French influences. Grenada’s population is primarily Christian, with the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches being the largest denominations. Calypso, soca, reggae, and rap are all popular music styles, though traditional folk music is also used in different events. Carnival is the country’s biggest celebration. Storytelling is another popular folk tradition. Cricket is the most popular sport in Grenada. The most popular dish in Grenada is Oil Down, which uses coconut milk, a variety of salted meats, dumplings, and several types of fruits and vegetables. Fish cakes and other seafood dishes are also commonly eaten.






Monday, February 17, 2014

Grenada!

    Well everyone I arrived! haha i was freaking out about my baggage... it was a good thing that mom sent the little weight scale so that I didn't have to guess! I flew from Tobago to Trinidad on Wednesday morning, so that I could catch a connecting flight to Grenada. I didn't have my passport on me because the office keeps it, so I called the Assistants about the matter and they said they would get it to me somehow... so I was also freaking out about getting that so I could pass through immigration. My flight left T-dad around 11:00am and I arrived at 11:40 so it was a little longer of a flight than flying to Tobago. Oh man the air strip was beautiful!  It's on a really long jetty and was super cool to land on! But I arrived and Kent and Lynne Smith (senior couple) picked me up! We went to the church and had lunch and then I went with Elder Larson to our area up in Gouyave! It takes about 40 minutes to drive there and all they would tell me is I'm going to the bush of Grenada! haha so immediately I think "suck...tons of mosquito's!"....I was right!

    It's hotter here and we do a lot of walking and hiking. But man this island is beautiful. I have been in utter amazement the past few days because of how amazing Gods creations are. IT's breathtaking! But also the poverty is very, very humbling. Being in Trinidad and Tobago my entire mission so far was great but I didn't see all the poverty. I have come to realize that people just do enough for them to survive. They live in shacks and barely have enough to eat. I'm very humbled to the fact that these wonderful people offer so much when they themselves are basically starving. I know that they are sacrificing food for us so that they can receive blessings...and oh man I hope they get those blessings...it makes me sad but at the same time I know that the Lord has placed me here to realize how others live by just the bare minimum. It has been quite the past few days getting to know the area and the different people.

   The area I'm in is really small. Everybody knows the missionaries. It's great because there is lot of success! E. Larson and I had 29 lessons the past few days so it was great! We had 3 investigators at church! 27 people in all... The church is our apartment and so it's pretty fun! I had to give a talk yesterday... I gave it on the Atonement! But man the missionaries are in charge of everything! It is pretty cool but pretty tiring as well!

   Well Friday... Friday was something the Locals call fish Friday! It's so EPIC! The people here are pretty much all farmers and so they sell everything they catch. So they get together downtown Gouyave and have a massive selling party! It's quite the tourist attraction so we saw lot's of White people and they were from California and NY and Oklahoma... so it was quite interesting seeing Americans. It was a fun atmosphere and the food was boss! I tried a Lobster for the very first time and it was pretty good! But It has been a very interesting and fun past few days!

Well that was the highlights of my half week in Grenada! I love you all and hope you're staying busy because I sure am! haha

Love Elder Hill












Monday, February 10, 2014

Fat Tie Goodbye!

Hey Everyone!
So today I have been officially out on my mission for 10 months! I just want to let everyone know that I'm BEING TRANSFERRED TO GRENADA!!! haha!!! I got a phone call from the Assistants on Friday around 4:00 pm and they say "Elder Hill, are you ready to go explore the jungles of Grenada? I'm like ahh Heck Ya!" They started laughing at me and then expressed how awesome Grenada is and how its pretty similar to Tobago... but more population, and the member work is going good! I'm grateful for the chance I had to be in Tobago... I was blessed to have 4 baptisms in 4 transfers. I've had some great experiences here and made some true friends. Now I go to my third area. I'm so excited I can't even stand it!


















Tying the Hulk...     
every departing Elder from Tobago has to sign it and try to tie the fattest knot




  



Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Teach And Testify

   Well Everyone... I have been super busy this past week! I really don't know where the time went. It feels like I was just sitting at this computer and trying to think of what to write. It's hard to know what to write because it feels like the week is just ONE MASSIVE DAY with naps every now and then. I do enjoy emailing and hearing from you all! I really do love and appreciate everyone of you! Just FYI, transfers are on the 12th - I will get a transfer call this friday so we'll see what happens.

   This week was really great! L-- CAME TO CHURCH! She told us after the regular block that she really enjoyed it, and that she was going to bring her little girl next week with her. She is super amazing. She has been doing a great job at keeping all of her commitments and praying to know if what we teach is true. She has come to the knowledge that the Book of Mormon is true, and that she knows she will live with her family again. I really hope she can get baptized and bring the rest of her family into the church as well. I was so happy yesterday I just couldn't express into words how happy I was. I love when investigators make it to church after a long time of teaching. It just makes me feel so blessed to be in the presence of a child of God that he trusts us with their teaching. It is truly an amazing feeling. I love being able to feel Gods love for his children as I teach them. It has really taught me to be sensitive to the spirit. I love being a missionary...never thought I would... but I know now that the Lord loves me and is watching over me. 

    I know for a fact that The Book of Mormon is True and that Joseph Smith Restored the Church of Jesus Christ back onto the Earth. I know That Christ Lives and through our trials we will become stronger. I know that the words in Ether 12:6 and Ether 12:27 are direct words unto us all. Weak things will become strong and we won't recieve a witness of truth until after the trial of our faith! I know that we can repent 70x7 and that God will always forgive us! I have used the Atonement in my life and have reaped the benefits that come along with it! I'm again grateful for this time to be serving and I love every minute of it... Sometimes I feel like I can't do it, but then I remember I've made it this far and look at me now! I love the talk by Edward Dube... never look back! only look forward... then when you finish you can look back and say "look how far I have come" I know that missions are hard and that it's excruciating at times but my faith and spirit have grown so much I can't believe it! I truly am being taught from on high and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!










As you can tell, Aaron is experiencing tremendous spiritual growth as a missionary.  As he teaches the people about the gospel and testifies of its truthfulness, his own testimony is strengthened.  He loves the people and knows that he is in the right place at the right time.  



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Loving The People


 No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.  
























Thursday, January 16, 2014

Zone Conference With Area President

Well Monday was zone conference! We had to be at the Airport at 6:00 am so we woke up at 4:30 and had to leave our apartment at 5:30. I will tell you that jumping on an airplane to go to zone conf. is like the best thing ever! Area President Elder Anderson and his wife Kathy were in attendance. He took up the whole time and answered our questions. They were super awesome. The Spirit was very strong and I learned a lot about myself and how to be a better missionary. I have really come to learn how to listen to the spirt and how he is my best friend. It makes all the diference in the world when you can communicate with God and learn the things what we can do better in our life to become more like him! Not a day goes by that I don't pray for him to speak to me through my thoughts and help me understand what he needs me to know. I love My heavenly Father so much.

One Thing I did learn was That Jesus Christ is our Eternal Father. In the Scriptures it always talks about Jesus Christ being our father... I asked how can this be? So Elder Anderson answered my question! He told us that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ because of his crucifixion and his suffering for our sins which is eternal he becomes our Father becuase of the re-birth that happens at baptism. He said that he is so so so much more than our brother he is also our father! It was amazing!

I had to teach district meeting to President and Sister Mehr and Elder and Sister Anderson yesterday... it was so crazy! I was pretty much pooping my pants because I was first in the presence of a general authority and the mission pres. and second I had to teach them about the gospel! My lesson was on Fear and Faith. I read the definition of fear in the Bible dictionary and then compared it to Alma 58:9-12. How Helaman, Gid, and Teomner were scared for the well being of their soldiers as they went to take the city Manti. They recieved assurances of faith comfort and love. They pressed forward even though they knew they might die! It was a sweet comparison, and Elder Anderson had a ton of cool insight that really helped us understand more about fear and faith. They all came up to me after and said that I'll do great things in the mission... so will see what happens!

We went teaching with Elder Anderson after District Meeting. We went to the hospital to find L--, but we couldn't find her so we decided to see W---, a 14 year old girl that is S--'s sister. She is in critical condidtion because of child neglect from the Mother. She is believed to have a staff infection of the lungs and has been in this condidtion for like 4 months, without medication. So E. Anderson and E. Chiristensen and I went in to the Isolation Ward (we had to wear masks and wash our hands) We were given the opportunity to give her a blessing. It was so powerful. I was in awe how special it was to do that. I will never again have that chance to do that. Give a blessing with a member of the seventy. It was super cool.. He spoke to her on a level that she would understand. It was in simple words and is hard to descirbe....AMAZING!!!

We saw L--n as well with him. He testified of being a seventy and holding the same authority as Phillip. It was again so so powerful. This man you can tell has been called of God and is fulfilling his calling and magnifying it.

We went to the Church after and he gave a beautiful devotional! It was about the Restoration.. hopefuly he sparked a fire under some of the members.

We were able to pick up and drop off the Mehrs from the Airport and then we went back to the apartment to sleep! It feels like yesterday was a dream! We woke up today with a spiritual Hangover... ahaha it felt so good but i'm dead tired!

Well that's all I have today but I love you all have a good week and make sure to pray with faith and you shall recieve!

Love Elder Aaron Hill

I'm going to memorize the book of Enos... maybe you can too?



Elders Hill, Reyes, Christensen



Sister and Elder Anderson, Elder Hill, Elder and Sister Mehr


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Awesome Week!

Well everyone! It was a super awesome week! 

On Sunday we had 54 at church!!! That is a new record for the Tobago Branch! We had two investigators show up... a couple that are looking for more in their life. We are seeing them tonight. It should be a really great lesson, we are planning on teaching them the Restoration and introducing the Book of Mormon. We have been so blessed with the people we are starting to teach. The work here is starting to boom. I love teaching new people. The hardest part is trying to get the members involved. But it is slowly getting better and Elder Christensen and I have about 6 progressing investigators that we want to see get baptized. We set a goal for 2 baptisms this transfer so it's getting tight because we don't have anyone with dates, but we hope to commit someone tonight!

Last Sunday, we went to E--'s house. He is a cabinet maker. We heard him using the router. He was like "Ya my bruh-gers" and so he was happy to see us! He stopped the router immediatly and came over to talk to us. He was like "Man, I have been wait'n for you guys to come by but I never saw you... we told him we tried calling. He told us he left his phone in a taxi and now the taxi is in Trinidad! haha He also said that he was really busy and had to get a bunch of cabinets made for delivery the next day but he had a friend for us to teach. He was like, "Do you fellas have time to teach him about the plan of salvation? He really needs it in his life." The next thing you know he runs off and tells us he'll be back. He comes back 5 mintues later with a really gruff man that looked like he could have been on America's most wanted. He comes up to us and says, "Hi my names K---!" We then sat down and talked to him. He was the most humble man that I have ever met on my mission. He has been through a lot of crap in his life. He told us that when he was 10 he had to sell peanuts on the streets to survive, he then told us that as he and his brother and sister walked down the street one day, a crazy car accident happened and two cars collided head on then spinning out of control into him and his brother and sister. His hip was busted on impact and his brother died Instantly. His sister has scars to this day on her face from the windshield breaking on her face. He is 35 so this happened 25 years ago. He told us he has been looking for the truth ever since and also told us that after we taught him the Plan, it gave him a lot of comfort knowing he'll see his brother again. He also said that he really desires to know if what we taught him was true. We told him to pray about it. He replied, "I don't know if God will answer me." We assured him he would and then we invited him to pray after we were done, and to listen for the Gifts of the Spirit. He said the prayer...which was so humble and sincere. He prayed like he had been a member for his whole life, and after he closed his prayer he looked up and his eyes were huge. I asked him what he was feeling. He then said I feel so light and I feel that my heavenly father Loves me! It was an amazing day and we can't wait to teach him again.







Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!

12/30/13
Hey everyone it was great to see you all on Christmas over skype! It was so much fun and it was pretty crazy seeing all of the growth spurts! It was super fun seeing the little kids faces when they first saw me! I laughed!

Well, our week was really pretty great. Last week when we weekly planned we forgot that it was Christmas. We set really high goals and so we were actually scared we wouldn't reach them. We were going to change them but we decided not to because we were both getting trunked out with the holidays and all, so long story short, we reached our goals by working our butts off!
We were told by president Mehr to spend Christmas with the members. So that is what we did! We went by to pretty much everyone in the branch and shared the nativity or a scripture about Christ and then we left.

Sorry this week is going to be short, but we talked a lot on Wednesday... We really went contacting this week and tracted into some lessons but really nobody to brag about! By Friday, we got kinda loopy and had some good laughs. I think it was lack of sleep and hard work! haha
Well, I love you all and have a happy new years! 2014 wahoo!
Bang some pans for me!

Elder Hill



Elder Christensen, Elder Hill, Elder and Sister Linton, Sister Reddy, Sister Joseph


Saturday, December 28, 2013

Christmas in the Caribbean!
























12/24/13
Sorry today's email is going to be short I don't have a whole lot of time to talk... because we will be talking tomorrow when we SKYPE!!!! BOO-YAA!      I got your package... but i'm not opening it until tomorrow because i have to open a present for christmas morning!

One story I had this week...
On Friday before our branch Christmas party we taught Liz. We had a lesson planned for her. We were going to read the Story of Enos. And focus on receiving answers to her prayers... and really how to pray. Then we were going to watch 'My Soul Hungered'... It is an amazing clip that i want you all to watch sometime. At the beginning of the lesson we asked some follow up questions about the Book of Mormon and how her prayers have been going. She told us that she feels so good whenever we come by and that the things in her life that were before so stressful, she has found more peace and love in her life. We taught the lesson and then after the clip, we asked some inspired questions... really listening to the spirit. We asked if she feels this message is true, and then if she wants more peace in her life... and to live with her family forever. We invited her to be baptized... because we already knew in our hearts that she was going to say yes! She accepted a date for the 25th of January. It was a really cool experience for the both of us and we are seeing her again in an hour so that is why I have to go! But I love you all and I am super excited to see you all tomorrow! I only get about 40-45 minutes so it's not very long... about like last time. But again I am very excited to see you! I love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!




 






Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Obedience and Diligence

Elder Hill has been experiencing many teaching miracles on Tobago.  The people whose hearts are prepared to hear the Gospel are ready to be taught by faithful, obedient missionaries.


11/25/2013 --- We received a call Wednesday night from some missionaries in Trinidad! We received a woman's number and we were told to call her! We did immediately and it was amazing! This woman's name is S------, she is married and has a daughter. They set up an appointment on the phone for Saturday and told us they will be waiting. We both could not wait! Saturday finally rolled around and it was a half hour before the lesson and I received a phone call and it was J---- her husband. He was calling to make sure we were coming and then gave us directions, to where he lived. We traveled there immediately! We arrived and they were waiting for us on their front steps! We walked up and introduced ourselves, and we just felt like this family was going to be amazing! We went in and got to know them a little bit and talked about the weather and how beautiful the day was then we started. I said the opening prayer and then we started to teach by the bullet points in Preach my gospel. It was a miracle that happened. Stephanie just started to cry. The spirit was so strong. I had to hold back because it was soo thick. We asked them what they wanted to achieve from having us over. They told us "we have always wanted to be converted to something and this is where we think we need to start." We had planned to teach the restoration, but I felt like we needed to teach the plan. So we did! I pulled out those flash cards that Tyson gave me and taught them! The entire lesson was amazing and super spiritual. I have never taught a family before! I can truly say that family's are ordained of God because of the spirit that we felt there! We backed up the Plan with scriptures from the Book of Mormon and then after the lesson, S----, T----(16 yr old daughter) and J---- all asked for their own copy of the Book of Mormon. It was a miracle! I can honestly say that we were blessed with this family because E. Christensen and I have been strictly obedient to mission rules and our diligence! It was such an amazing experience I just feel Heavenly Fathers Love for me as I talk about this wonderful blessing!

12/02/2013 --- We went with the Linton's to visit the J---- family. We arrived a few minutes late because the traffic getting to their house was horrendous, and it was super crazy. So we arrive at and S---- is out waiting on the street for us. We get out and she says "Oh good, I was thinking you weren't coming!" We then went into the house and on the walk to the doorway, their neighbors were just saying nasty things and persecuting them and us until we walked into the house. It was crazy. We could tell she was bothered by it, So I told her not to study them and just try to enjoy the night. So the first 20 minutes of the lesson or so we just mingled and let them get to know the Lintons a little bit better. They loved them both and they were a huge help to the lesson with answering questions and ting...But we then taught them the Restoration. We did our best to focus on prophets and dispensations. They understood everything and it was really neat again to see people that have been prepared from the Lord and placed in our path to find. They really loved the part about the True church falling and was it quite interesting to see J---- thinking on an infinite level and not with a carnal finite mind. We are seeing them again tonight and showing them the Restoration movie for a visual aid and so they can receive a new understanding. We are also going to invite them to be baptized. I love this family so much! They are amazing. They are truly a blessing from heaven and I feel so so blessed to be serving with E. Christensen and having so much success. OBEDIENCE AND DILIGENCE!

12/16/2013 --- We stopped by the J---- family just to say Hi and see how things were going. They (J---, and T----) let us sit down and teach them. We just answered their questions and invited them to the Christmas party. Then J--- asked suddenly, "How do I get baptized in your guys's church?" We told him, and then invited him to be baptized. He said yes and so did T---!. Just need to talk to S-----. The end of last week we had 3 investigators with baptismal dates and by the end of this week we hope to have 5 or 6. It is really awesome the way things are happening out here on this island!