What a week!

Hello everyone!

 

It's been quite the week! I am worn out because we've been working like crazy, but here we go for another week. Gotta love missionary work!

 

On Tuesday, we went on DePauw campus for the first time. We spent about an hour on campus and we found 3 people who gave us their number and told us they would be interested in learning more. That would have been a good day's worth in Fishers! The students are very receptive and I think that there is some good potential with them.

 

We already taught one of the students whose name is Henry. He was very open minded and had all sorts of good questions. We haven't been able to contact him since then, though, so hopefully we can soon. I answered one of his questions very poorly, so hopefully that didn't mess things up.... I'm sure it didn't though. That is the nice thing about missionary work. We are so imperfect! But this is the Lord's work, so even though we are imperfect it still rolls on.

 

We were able to meet more of the members throughout the week. They are so great! With lack of a better term, there are a lot of rednecks out here (this Saturday we will hopefully be slaughtering chickens with one of the members), but I love them. There are some really great members here. Even though they are stretched so thin because of it being a small branch, they are all willing to serve.

 

General Conference was amazing! I hope everyone learned some good things. I want everyone who gets this to reply with something they learned from General Conference. I was definitely uplifted by all of the talks and received some personal answers to questions I have been seeking. Also, to follow-up on Elder Ballard's talk, if any of you are studying from PMG I would love to hear what you have been studying.

 

Continue to be missionaries wherever you are. I know there are great things happening in the Lord's work!

 

Have a great week! :)

 

Love,

Elder Tom Hill

Hello from Fishers for one more time

Hey Everyone!

If you couldn't figure out from the subject yet, it is official that I am leaving Fishers. Wow. I can't believe 3 months has gone by here. It's hard to believe how much I have grown the last 3 months. This has been a hard area, but I really have loved it and it's hard to leave. Things have started to pick up, and now it's time for me to pick up and leave. Seems like a pattern for my mission so far.

This last week was packed with stuff, I hope I can talk about all of it! On Tuesday we had a lesson with Steve, our less-active we've been working with. I'll probably miss him most out of everyone. We met with him consistently for 12 weeks. And now he's  gone to church 3 times in a row and started to break some of his addictions. I believe that we are sent to every area for a specific reason, and usually for a specific person. I know we were sent here to help Steve. I look forward to the future when he can be completely sober and fully active in the church and temple. After Steve, we had a lesson with Melvin, who is 76 years old. He's a funny old man, and in some ways he reminds me of Brother Garber in Brazil haha. We could tell he had some major concerns, so we just kept digging the whole lesson. It was pretty fun. Finally, we got it out of him that he had some books of anti. He brought them out to us, and we boldy testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I told him, "Melvin, I looked through this book for 5 seconds, and I already found something that was false. I've also looked through the Book of Mormon for my whole life, and I've found nothing but truth. It's done nothing, but bless my life."

On Tuesday night, we had a really cool experience. In Fishers, there are all sorts of cultures. It's really a melting pot. The other Elders knocked on a door of a Muslim guy. He told them that if they came to his mosque, he would listen to them and come to church with them. Well, we had nothing to do on Tuesday night, so we went with them. What an experience! They went through their prayer, and after that we sat in a room with some of their leaders who told us about Islam and we told them about our church. It was super educational, and also very effective. They said they would all come to our church sometime, hopefully next week. They were super nice to us and very respectful; I gained a lot of respect for their religion.

On Wednesday, we taught a guy named Jordan who had a really cool beard. He listened and was respectful, but at the end of the lesson went off about how the Bible is a closed canon of scripture and the last verses in Revelation. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I love how the opposition against us and against the truth is so complicated, and how the answer is so simple. It definitely adds to my testimony. People are really smart out here, and they also really know/love the Bible. It's made me stretch and grow in my knowledge of the gospel and of the scriptures. It's also really strengthened my testimony.

Speaking of people being smart and opposing our beliefs, we met with a guy named Daniel Friday morning at a deli shop. He seemed nice at first, but then he went off about how there's so much evidence for the Bible, but not very much for the Book of Mormon. He asked us why we say we're Christians, when Joseph Smith said all of the other churches were wrong. He just kept talking, and didn't give us much time to talk, but we bore testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We told him that if he actually reads and prays about the Book of Mormon, he will see the evidences of its divinity and gain a testimony of it. I asked him if he was just meeting with us to prove us wrong or if he actually wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He said he would like to know if it's true, but we'll see if it goes anywhere.

Friday evening, we also had a lesson with Mark and Anita. They are way deep thinkers. They really stretch our knowledge of the scriptures and ask tough questions, but we feel like it's moving in the right direction. The power of the Book of Mormon is amazing, and it is starting to resolve their concerns.

I've just written highlights of the week to spare you from boredom, but investigators are starting to come out of the woodwork and the teaching pool here is really building up. Like I said, just in time for me to leave. :) Haha

Well, I'm excited for the new adventures that lie ahead. I hope everyone has a great week and I love all of you a bunch!!! :)

Love,

Elder Tom Hill

Another week in Fishers

First of all, I am so sorry that this has not been up to date. I took on way too much this semester and unfortunately this was low on my priority list, but I will try to be better, because I know that you all love to hear about Tom and I love posting his emails. Please write him!! ~ Paul Hill

Hey everyone!

First of all, I have to say that I am wearing a short sleeve shirt today! It's almost 50 degrees, so I decided to wear one. It's warming up slowly, but surely.

Another week has flown by, I feel like I was just barely emailing home.... We had some successes this week. Tuesday we had a lesson with our Less-Active member, Steve, that we've been consistently working with. He's doing well, and he even came to church yesterday! First time since we've been here, and he even did it the Sunday of daylight savings time. Tuesday night, we also had a dinner with him and met his non-member girlfriend. They made us some really good food and we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration while we ate. They loved it! He's doing super good, it's exciting.

We had a Zone Meeting this week that I learned a lot from. Our Zone Leaders are awesome! I always learn a bunch from them. Elder Smith taught me the importance of consistency in obedience and dilligence, and ways to be a more Christ-like leader.  I've had great examples through my mission and my life of great Christ-like leaders and I always just hope I can be that kind of example.

On Saturday, we helped the Sisters do a church tour with one of their investigators, and he ended up just wanting to argue and bash with us. I told him that all he needs to do is find out for himself if the Book of Mormon is true by studying it and praying about it. I don't understand why some people make it so complicated. I've really learned that the Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion. and is convincing evidence that Jesus Christ's gospel has been restored.

We had a lesson with Mark this weekend, and he's started to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's been really cool to watch. When we give him a reading assignment he reads it a few times over, and Saturday we committed him to start at the beginning and just read the Book of Mormon. He was really excited about that.

Yesterday we saw some miracles. Well... I didn't because I was really sick and wasn't able to go to church. Mom, do you remember that time I got sick after Foot Locker my Junior year when I called you at work and told you I thought I was going to die? I felt about like that.... haha, but the good news is that I feel a lot better today. Like I said, Steve was able to go to church which was great. Elder Havertz went with Elder Sabin, one of the 2nd ward elders to church and were able to see Steve there. Elder Sabin had like 6 hours of church yesterday, poor guy. And then at night there was a fireside with Steven Covey's brother, that we invited Mark to. He went and I guess he had a great time. Elder Havertz went with Elder Esplin to that, the other Elder in our apartment.

I've now been in Fishers over 2 months, it's crazy how fast the time flies. I've learned a lot in this area. It's probably been the most unproductive time on my mission so far just because of the weather and the way the ward is, but it's made me stretch to try to still have success. Like Elder Smith, our Zone Leader says, we have success through our character, not our circumstances. We can rise above our circumstances. Especially when we use the enabling power of the Atonement in our lives. My testimony of the Atonement, and what Christ did for us has grown this week. I can't even comprehend that He understands and knows me, and knows all of us!

Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hill