November 26, 2012

Family!!

 

What a wonderful time of year that we are experiencing there is so much to be grateful for. Seriously. And the list just gets bigger and bigger. I love it, everyday I am more grateful that I get another day to go out and share the wonderful message about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, and how the atonement of Jesus Christ can heal all things because we have a loving Heavenly Father who has prepared a way for us to return to live with Him. We had a truly amazing week last week. It was slow as far as the work goes. and we didn't teach much, but I had a whole new wave of appreciation for this knowledge that I have. I have been reading in 3 Nephi 11-25 (best chapters in the whole Book of Mormon) and it just has helped me realize how much the Lord truly does love us. I especially love in chapter 17 where it talks about the people crying because they didn't want the Savior to leave. I can understand why. This is why it is so important to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost, people he will never leave us! I just want to tell everyone that they can find so much happiness in the gospel!

Anyway. But yes I think I am about 15 pounds heavier. whoops I may have gone back for seconds...twice. But whatever, thanksgiving was delicious. It truly wasn't so terrible being away from home. What a wonderful reason to be away huh!

 

Okay so about George. We met George tracting. We do a lot of that in these parts. But anyway we knocked on his door and he answered. They have the nativity scenes up at Kirtland and we have been focusing on that as our contacting. So we did our little spiel and he took the card and said that he was sorry he would love to talk but couldn't stand for too long. Interesting. So we asked him about it. Apparently he was out walking his dog one day and he was attacked by a coyote, it attacked his dog to and trying to get the coyote off it turned on him and pretty much took a nice big chunk out of his calf, it's all infected. This thing looked NASTY! hence he was going to have to have it amputated. He continued to tell us about his life. He is a marine corps, and loved the military. After he got back, his wife left him and then more recently his son stole everything out of his house. Including his car. Poor guy. We talked to him about the atonement of Jesus Christ and talked about faith. He sat there with a big grin on his face and just said there was no coincidence that we were standing on his doorstep. Oh, the Lord is preparing many people to receive His word. He is back in the hospital now and we are waiting until he gets out but we have talked to him on the phone. He keeps us updated about his leg.

I get to go back to Kland tomorrow for mission conference....WOOOT! I am so excited. It's been 9 weeks since I have seen other sisters! It will be a nice change. Elders are great and all but they sometimes don't play nice with sisters. They play a little rough sometimes and Sister Feldt isn't a real sports fan and the only way I can play is if she plays so it's kind of hard.

I'm so pumped for the devotional. I have a feeling that this month is going to go by very quickly. As will these next 8 months.

 

Love,

Sister Hillman

 

November 19, 2012

Dearest Family!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Oh my I can't believe that it is already time for this delicious holiday. Oh I have so much to be thankful for this year. What a year it has been. I'm sad to be missing all of the family celebrations but the fact that we have two families signed up to feed us on Thursday is going to make up for it. Again I am thankful for my overlarge stomach, that keeps expanding. Members here are so amazed at how much I eat, Compliment? Maybe but whatevs.

Oh this has been a good week. The Lord is good to those that serve him.We have found a lot of solid potentials this week. George gets out of the hospital woot woot, and he gets to keep his leg. I told you about George right? We have a return appointment with Cindy, we were able to do a lot of service this week and next week I get to go back to Kirtland! Oh I am so excited. It is just for Zone Conference but I get to go back to the place that I love. Oh how I miss it there! We found two new investigators this week, one is a family who we are meeting with after the holidays, everyone is peacing out for the week. Lame. I got called on to speak in sacrament meeting, any thoughts on the parables taught by Jesus Christ and how they can apply to us today? Oh man I want a topic like missionary work or something :) But it's good, it will teach me a lot about the savior and his teachings. Yesterday we had the opportunity to sb a potential and today we are going to go back and do service for them. We are ready for another busy week.

 

Sorry this is a short letter. It's a short pday today as we have an all day pday Thursday to celebrate turkey day. We have some shopping to do, I need to go get more winter clothes and they have some cute things at Target. Mom for packages just send them to the VC. They will get them to me somehow, and that will ensure that someone is there to pick them up and they wont get stolen. The next transfer is on the 19 of December so even if no one brings it to me I'll be able to pick it up then. I don't think I will stay in Lorain another transfer. But we will see I'm not the one who decides things.

Thanks for everything,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Sister Hillman.

November 12, 2012

Hi Family,

Well we had a beautiful week following a super stormy one. It was about 72 for the majority of the days. It was so nice. I even broke a sweat tracting the other day. It was great! The Kirtland Nativities are up and running so we have been passing out cards for that. It seems so wrong to talk about Christmas when it is so warm outside. I can't believe the holidays are here. It's a busy time of year.

The elections are over. It's been a crazy couple of weeks out here. We are truly glad they are over. We will see what the Lord has planned for us these next few years.

Thanksgiving sounds like it is going to be a big ordeal this year! You really are going to have a full house. Wo is me. We will be going over to a members home for dinner. He came up to us on Sunday and asked us if we had plans to which I replied "Well the gospel is still true so probably missionary work." My companion hates my sarcasm...oh well. He invited us over, he was telling us what he was cooking, stuffing, smoked turkey, cheesecake, pie, and had the nerve to ask us if that was going to be okay! and in my head I was like woah, you had me at stuffing, I mean really he is going up against chicken flavored ramen noodles here. Ha. The members are good to us here. My waist line has grown a little bit. Whoops. Thank goodness for that little elastic band :)

We have had quite the week this week. It's been very strange. First off a van pulled up to us while we were contacting (sounds sketchy right? don't worry we were fine) and asked us if we were JW's. No but we are missionaries for the Church...blah, blah, our little spiel. He drove off and we were like okay, wierd, whatevs! Then we were trying to find a LA, turns out he doesn't live there, he got evicted for drugs, (he must have missed the Word of Wisdom lesson), but we did find a really awesome potential living there. We didn't even ask if she would like to learn more, just asked if we could come back later, she wanted to talk to us about doctrine. Sweet. Then as we were walking out, a lady came up to us and was like new sisters huh? Do you know us lady. Turns out she was a LA who left the church and ended up meeting with the missionaries again, but her boyfriend won't let us come so she said we could stop by anytime between 8:30 and 4. Then not to long after that we ran into a former investigator from years ago, who told us he liked everything about our church except that we go to church too much. We have a return appointment with him on Thursday. Victor Zaborowski! There are some classy people here! You never know what you are going to find in missionary work :)

This is going to be a good transfer. It is very lonely only having one other missionarie around. The Elders usually call us every other day, but we didn't hear from them for about 4 days. Turns out our district got split so there was a little bit of confusion. Oh well. They are preparing for the missionaries coming out. It will be a crazy time for all. They are opening new areas. We are excited for this change!

Well family. I love you! The work is good. Have a great week! Share the message about the restoration with someone new this week! It will change your life!

Love,

Sister Hillman

November 6

Hello Family,

 

The good news is that we all survived the first time in history hurricane off the coast of Lake Erie. It has been a crazy, crazy week. I can't even imagine what the east coast looks like. They are in our prayers as well. We were stuck in our apartment for a couple of days. I thought I was going to die, there was nothing to do. So we shredded a lot of papers, old records. But then we finished that so we made phone calls but no one had power so no one was answering, so we updated the area book. We were out the door so fast when President Vellinga gave us the okay to go to our dinner appointment on Tuesday. I pretty sure there was running involved. We got a call from our mission president Tuesday morning asking if we were close to the Amherst elders. We weren't so he asked us to call a member to go check on them. Apparently no one could get a hold of them. My heart dropped, you could definitely hear the worry in his voice. We called Bro. Brown and he went to check on them.They were fine their phone had just died and they didn't have power to charge it so...whoops. President wasn't happy with them. But we were just glad they were safe:) So the clean up begins. We have been doing a lot of service these last couple of days. We raked an elderly couples yard the other day, they are catholic, but they were so grateful, it was the cutest. It is getting cold here. They are predicating a harsh winter in Northern Ohio this winter, something about lake effect and wooly bears (Sp?) blah blah...I did get my coat it will work fabulous. I got it at zone conference yesterday and the elders all had a good laugh when I put it on. It's big, long, and really warm so it will work! Thanks again. I owe you.

Oh my I can't believe it is time for transfers again. There will be no change and I will be in Lorain for yet another transfer. We were talking about Kirtland at zone conference yesterday and the nativity scenes and my heart longed to be there. But I guess there is something that I have to learn out here first. I just have to trust in the Lord, and Heavenly Father's plan.

I hope you will get feeling better soon. It is definitely that season. You are all in my prayers. Yes I have gotten a flu shot. Our mission strongly encouraged it. I'll try and find you the receipt so you can flex it. You will be in my prayers this week as will the rest of the family. How are grandpa and grandma doing? Still holding on.

Are you all excited for the election. Crazy that after today it will all be over. We are soooo excited for it. I am sooo tired of politics. I just want to teach the gospel. We are not having much success here but there is definitely work to be done. We just need to get the ward on our side. There are a lot of Christmas things coming up though so hopefully there will be some success there.

No real crazy fun plans for pday. We are going to the church to play volleyball and 4 square. Some of the Elders are getting transferred so that is sad. They really do become like your little brothers. Slightly immature but we still love them.

Whelp family. I hope all is well, please get feeling better. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Hillman

October 29

Hi Family,

 

There is a storm brewing in the Ohio and the weather man says it will hit us hard but not near as bad as the east coast so keep them in your prayers. Lake Erie is crazy beautiful in this storm we are going up to take a picture today so I'll get that sent ASAP. Don't worry they are keeping us safe, and making sure we are prepared for whatever hits. Ewwwww you had snow? bleh, we don't have that yet but it's only a matter of time. Looks like you sent me the coat in just the right time. I still haven't gotten it, it is still at the mission office. I'll get it on Thursday when we go to our meeting. It's been a crazy adventure here the last week or so. We went tracting on Friday for about 4 hours and were completely drenched, I wish I would have gotten a picture. It looked like we went swimming in the lake fully clothed :) That was probably the most fun tracting experience ever. I had fun even though we were freezing and no one was talking to us! Oh the life of missionaries. We have been doing a lot of comparing the storm to the gospel. We must be prepared. We can't stop it but we can prepare. That's the gist of it. Apply it how you will. We would rather hear about the storm than the election. Holy smokes. There is one thing that matters in the world and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything else is dumb!

It's okay mom I'm fine, tears are just side effects of missions. Missions are just emotional roller coasters , and this transfer has just been kind of a struggle for me. I do miss my VC sisters but I'll see them really soon and there is something here that the Lord needs me to learn. And like I said before I just cry a lot more than I used to. I'm not sure the elders know what to do about me crying all the time...just kidding they have only seen me cry once. But they are being super patient with me, and helping me become the missionary the Lord needs me to be. I never thought younger boys could be so wise. Transfers is next week. Holy smokes. WHAT!?!?

Happy B-day Grandpa! Oh I love them so much. In my district there is a senior couple. Elder and Sister Howell. I have adopted them as my grandparents so it's all good for now. You tell them to hold on until I get home though okay.

Happy Halloween. We are not allowed to go out trick-or-treating. or proselyting. We have a meeting that night and then we will be doing weekly planning. Happy are we. We are stuck in our apartments both tonight and tomorrow because of the storm. Hopefully we will at least be out sometime tomorrow. It's boring when all you do is make phone calls and organize dead pool (former investigators). We live the LIFE!!!!

Home sounds as busy as ever. Woah I can't believe it is almost the end of the year. That went fast. Any big plans for Christmas. Skyping again? I vote yes! I don't know where I will be but most everyone has a computer so it should work out. I can't think of anything I need, pictures of the kiddos. For Christmas I wouldn't mind some homemade bread or goodies. I'm good on the black skirt. I could use another dressy jacket but not necessary unless you find it really cheap. Could you maybe wrap up my blue polk-a-dot skirt and send it to me? That can be one of my gifts, it's free and I'll like it :)

That is interesting about dad and His Jewish client. Dad needs to tell him about a book of scripture that talks about a Jewish Family, and their dealings with Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon was written for them as well!

Life is good in the Ohio. We found a legit less active family, that is part member. We are hoping to work with them. The dad is the member and the wife is an absolute doll. Joseph the dad is long time in active and was a little surprise when we showed up on the door step and said hello We've been looking for you! Not in a creepy way though!

Keep those that are getting hit with the storm in your prayers. I love you. I hope all is well!

Love,

Sister Hillman

 

October 15

Hello Dearest Family,

First off. Mom send my coat to the mission office. We are not home often enough to get UPS packages at our apartment. They will see that I get it if you send it to the office :) Thanks for getting that for me. It's going to be a nice thing to have here in a couple of weeks. It is starting to get CHILLY!!!!!!

Second. It sounds like you had a really fun stay in St. George there is a lot to do there, sounds like everyone had fun. Oh my I can't believe Gracie is talking that much. Oh I miss the kiddos so much. They are all going to be so grown up when I get home. It's interesting to watch the babies here grow up too. I bet the Magleby's are a tired bunch. They have been doing a lot of traveling these last few weeks!

It sounds like you are getting pretty busy. I expect these next few months will start to speed up as the holidays always do. Mom, how do I make time slow down? I am officially half way through and it makes me sick. And time is just speeding up. There is so much work that needs to be done. I am excited to see what the lord can make of me in these next few months. What are your plans for Christmas? Are you staying at home. We will be able to skype again, so just make sure you are in an area that you have access to a computer. If not a phone call will work too

I'm glad you had a great week. Ours was interesting. We tracted for 14 hours this week...holy cow. All of our appointments fell through, it was crazy. Satan is definitely working hard against us in this area. We found one new person to teach this week. Her name is Ernestein Williams but she goes by Pee Wee. She is amazing! Thursday night we went and helped at the relief society gathering, they had a class on extreme couponing, it was crazy. A lot of stuff she got for free. It is very time consuming though. Anyway. The reason they invited us was because there were some non-members there. Talk about a golden family. We were talking the the girl Amanda, she is 22. She was explaining that her family was looking for a church. They were methodist and moved here about 4 years ago, since then they hadn't found a church that they felt comfortable in. We jumped on that, and quickly moved into teaching mode. We invited them to church and they said they would try to make it. We got their address and phone number. We have high hopes for this family. There are 3 children still at home. A mother and father, plus older ones who have children of their own.

Something that I learned this week. God does love us and is very aware of us. We went tracting ALL DAY on Friday, with no success. I think we talked to like 5 people, all of whom were not interested! but on our way home from dinner, we got a call from our District Leader saying he had a referral for us. We were like saweet! She seems awesome too. So the Lord blesses those that serve him.

Ha. So funny story. We were out tracting the other day, we had like 5 minutes before dinner. We saw this older couple outside and asked if we could share a message with them. They asked what church we were from and the lady (Doris) got all excited and said "You're Mormons!!!" the next thing I know she gives us a big hug and is telling us how much she loves mormons. I can assure you this never happens. We kept talking and then all of the sudden she turns to Sister Feldt and plants a big kiss on her cheek and then does the same thing to me...whoa that definitely has never happened. It was funny. Sister Feldt didn't know what to do so we just kind of laughed it off. She loves mormons. We are taking her a Book of Mormon next week :) I love this place. It's soooo awesome:)

So Sis. Feldt has been out 6 months, and as for the driver it is always the senior companion, so I get to drive again! I am getting really comfortable with driving in big cities that's for sure! We normally do pday with the elders. we are cleaning our apartment today though so it's more work than play. Yes we go to the library to email :)

Thanks for everything. I hope you are all seeing the love that God has for each of you in your daily lives. If not take a step backwards, breath a little bit, slow down and open your eyes! It's there. The gospel is still true:)

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Hillman

Oct 8, 2012

Here is Chelsey’s new address:

3900 Seneca Ave. # H-4

Lorain, OH 44055

 

 

Hello Family,

Life in Lorain is good. Sister Feldt is not a VC sister so that has been an interesting change as well. We tract a lot because we are in finding mode. Happy are we. There are people to be found here, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. We are trying to find a family to teach! There are 10 of us in the district. 2 sisters and 8 elders. They are all great. We are the only sisters in the Zone so they take good care of us!

Sorry this is going to be a short email. There is just not enough time in the day! I did get a letter written to Grandpa and Grandma so they should be getting that shortly. I'm not a very good letter writer so this has been a challenge for me. There are some people I have yet to reply too. Whoops!

Yes Sister Nelson stayed in Mayfield. She is going to do great things for the area. She is a great missionary. Her companion is Sister Arnesen. Who is one of the best, so I have no worries that Mayfield is in great hands! I haven't heard from the Marx but I am sure they are doing fine. John, is john, his happy, loving the gospel self. I love this work.

Conference was amazing. I can't believe they changed the age. I'm jealous I had to wait until I was 21. But then again I definitely wouldn't have been ready to serve at that time. It was definitely inspired. It is true what they say the youth of the church are getting stronger and stronger. I am excited to see how this will affect missionary work. I think it will open the door to a lot more people being able to serve.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all! Thanks for everything.

Love,

Sister Hillman

October 1

Hi Mom,

And 8 months later!

I'm glad that you are inspired to email on Monday's now! Yes my Pday has changed, and I was really hoping I would have a letter waiting for me when I got on here :) Well, I got shipped out full-proselyting! It broke my heart to leave Mayfield and Kirtland behind but I'm excited for this challenge. I'm still in recovery mode. I was called to serve in the area of Lorain. What a wonderful place! It is a very quaint town, and has a lot of potential, my favorite is a little town called Avon! My companions name is Sister Feldt. I'll get pictures and send you a letter for my new address! Not all of the sisters get a chance to go out full-pros, but a fair few do. It wasn't a huge transfer, just enough to shake up the mission a little bit. I serve right on Lake Erie it is so beautiful! I am in Cleveland Zone!

So I was able to watch the Broadcast. I think it was written just for me. I know everyone else thinks that too, and they are right! That's what I love about the gospel. Everyone can hear the exact same message and get completely different things out of it. And yes we attend all of the Block meetings every week! It's before and after church that our "fun" meetings are held. Sunday's are long days :)

Oh Mom, I love being out full proselyting, but it also scares me to death. Our schedules are wide open! We do A LOT of tracting and contacting, Lorain is slow in business, right now if you know what I mean. But I have plans to change that very soon :) Heavenly Father wants His children back!

 

It sounds like you are having a great week! I have 9.5 months left, CRAZY!!!!!!!!

What else is new? Hopefully bishop gets feeling better! Tell everyone to send me pics of their cute little ones!

I love you!

Love,

Sister Hillman

September 25

Dearest Family,

It sounds like life back home is super exciting and busy. Life gets that way :) Life is good. I can't believe Christmas is already in the air. Weird. It needs to stay away as long as possible.

 

What a week! It started out same as normal, but then it got crazy busy. So pioneer school is where we go and volunteer at Lake county historical society, we teach school children how they made candles on the frontier in the 1800's. They have a fun little program and they do other fun things but the Sisters are over candles. We get to dress up and everything. We had that on Wednesday and then had to go and finish our shift at the VC. Thursday we had Mission Conference, which was one of the most amazing experiences ever. It was Elder Perkins of the Seventy (an office that was established in Kirtland) that came to speak with us, we heard from president Vellinga as well. I wish you all could have been there, I learned so much about becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. At lunch he came and sat at our table and he told us all about the things that went in to calling missionaries to their missions. He also had some good stories about the 12 and the first presidency, no big deal, he just gets to see them every other day. I just can't believe how lucky we are to be able to listen to a prophet of God, and sit and listen to General Authorities. So amazing. After that we went back to our area, taught John and Joan Shuster, and then headed to Kirtland to a stake dinner held at the Kiwanis club. It was a thank you for helping out with Strawberry days! Friday was the big day. We went over to a LA's house to visit her and talked to her about the love that god has for her. It turns out a lot of people don't believe that He loves them. But I KNOW He does. Then we headed over to the Church to clean and prep the church. JOHN IS BAPTIZED!!!!!!! It was us that planned it with the help of the WML, and everything wrong that could have gone wrong, did. It was so sad, Satan really didn't want this baptism to happen, but lo and behold it did. It was so amazing, there is something so amazing about seeing someone change and be baptized, it is the greatest. John smacked his head on the tile going down, that was tragic, whoops. Bro. Jensen baptized him. Don't worry I have pictures of all these people. But he was too happy to care. Saturday we officially moved out of our apartment. So our lease is up so they moved us to a house near the VC, it is such a nice house, it's nice and cozy :) But the Zone Leaders along with the office staff came and helped us move our things out, and then all of our furniture is going to the Kent sisters. Then we went to the VC and finished our shift. Sunday was invite a friend to church day and John's confirmation day, he was so excited for the Holy Ghost, so we prepped for that and then had a linger longer. Then we went over to Pres. Stacey's house and had a transition lesson, we handed our recent converts over to the ward to teach. Monday was sites and now it's Pday again! Woo, sorry I just like vomited all of that info on you, but that was my week! Good news though....Moses is back from Africa!

It has turned fall here in the ohio, the leaves are starting to change and it is going to be a beautiful fall. The weather is perfect, we are all wearing cardigans and scarves and boots, and its just the perfect crispness that reminds me of harvest, and football games :) Amy you are in for a treat! Hopefully it stays this way.

So I am officially leaving Mayfield, not only that but I am being out zoned, I am leaving Kirtland. When my district leader told me I was shocked, and just started to cry. I love Mayfield, I know that the Lord needs me elsewhere but still it makes me so sad to leave. The Marx are taking it pretty hard but they will be fine. I'll be fine, change is just rough sometimes. I am so scared of not being in Kirtland, there is a couple of areas I can go, a couple of them are still VC sisters, just not as often, and then some are full prose. It's crazy. Transfers are tomorrow so I'll find out where I am going at 11:30 tomorrow.

Sorry we have to run. I hope all is well! I love you all so much! I think of you often and you are always in my prayers.

Love,

Sister Hillman

September 18

Hello Family,

Oh how lovely this week has been, and this week is not getting any slower. Time is speeding up and there is just not time to teach everyone that I would like to. Transfers is coming up and so everyone here is getting anxious for the changes. I will most likely stay in a VC area. There are no Full Pros areas open. But we will see. I will find out Sunday what happens to me, at least if I am leaving or staying Mayfield, I won't find out where I go until Wednesday. Transfers are fun, scary, and exciting all at the same time.

 

Oh hey mom guess who came into the VC last Thursday? Vickie (sp?) Furnace (sp?), she asked me if I knew who Laroy Hillman was and I said that's my dad. And then she went off about how great of Visiting Teacher you were. Everyone thinks you are the best including me! It was fun to see. There were a lot of people from Idaho that day that we got to take on tour. There was one family that worked for Dome Technology. Small world. I love all the connections we can make on tour. I can't wait until Amy gets to come and visit these wonderful places, hopefully I am still here to take her on tour. Magleby Family you may want to bring rain boots and rain coats. It gets wet here! I am getting a package out today of all of the sites you can come visit. I hope you love it as much as I do!

This week is crazy busy. We have Pioneer school tomorrow. Mission Conference on Thursday. Baptism Friday/ Weekly Planning. Saturday we are moving out of out apartment and we work sites. Sunday is an area day, but we are having a Stake wide invite a friend to church day so we are gearing up for that. There will be a lot of people to talk to. We are excited to see how this helps to build up Kirtland. The work is exploding here. It has been so amazing to see. Miracles are everywhere on missions. Heavenly Father really does love us.

It sounds like things are just as crazy at home as they are here. That's a good thing. I was talking to an Elder that is going home next week, and he was talking about how he doesn't know what he is going to do when he doesn't have his whole day planned out. What will he do? He is slightly freaking out, but we assured him that he will be just as busy, just a different kind. 

The Brigham City temple gets dedicated this week! Woohoooo!!! That will be so nice for Brittany and Jon to be able to go more often. I miss the temple. Good thing we have the School of the Prophets to compensate for that.

Sorry this letter is lame, but I have to run. Just a lot of mission stuff going on this week. Hopefully there will be more to tell next week. I love you all so much. Have a great week everyone. Pray for missionary opportunities and you will get them. Much happiness comes from sharing you testimony. There are people out there looking for what we have.

Love,

Sister Hillman

p.s. I went back to bangs. I love the story about Andy that is cool, hopefully I will get to see them. I have 10 months left today :(

September 11, 2012

Well Hello There,

Hello from the beautiful, fall looking Ohio. It is starting to be absolutely gorgeous, fall is on it's way, we had to wear long sleeve cardigans the other day. The weather is absolutely perfect.

What a week! It was packed full of appointments, meetings, and VC work! I am still talking in my sleep, yes, but no more arguments with the toilet, so that is progress! Sister Nelson seems to be doing really well. I am about 87.6% positive that I am getting transferred from Mayfield. That hurts my heart. I love this area. I can't believe Sis. Nelson is almost done training. Transfers are in 2 weeks. Hopefully I stay in a VC area, but I could definitely get sent full pros as well. Sister Nelson will be happy to have a companion that will teach her something, hopefully she learned something in training :). We don't lose any sisters this transfer so that will be nice, but we are loosing 2 senior couples, that makes my heart hurt, we said good by to one couple this morning. I shed a little tear. 

We are stoked for John's baptism, as is he. He has his baptismal interview this week so hopefully all goes well. Racquel is doing amazing, she gets out of the hospital on Friday so it will be a lot easier to teach her and she will be able to come to church. We have been down to Cleveland 3 times to see her so it's killed us on miles. East Cleveland is in our zone, that is where our district leader serve. I love downtown, we really are not down there too often. That's the most I have been since I got here. We do go down to the institute building when we have Pday with the elders though so that is fun. There is a lot to do there.

Normally on chat we just talk to them once. We can set up return appointments but normally they are not interested in learning more or agree to meet with missionaries, we have taught a couple of people online that weren't quite ready to meet with "real missionaries" ( people don't think we are real missionaries on line, little do they know). Our little Icons even have badges. We talked to a sweet girl last night who wants to be baptized so that was fun, her name is Cat, she is 17 and is from Texas. She was hilarious, and is definitely prepared for the gospel. There is so much work in our area right now, we are finding like crazy and the Lord is definitely blessing us. 

And no I don't punch elders in the arm. We are only allowed to shake hands. Except when president gives us permission to hold hands...oh my this story is funny! Remind me about it when I get home!


Oh my. I can't believe that about the accident. I know Keely. That is soo sad. How are the other girls doing? Hopefully all goes well with Bishop Anhder, they will definitely all be in my prayers. The power of prayer is amazing.

It was good of you to go and help grandma, I am sure she really appreciates it! I love them. How is aunt Kathy doing? I need to be better about writing everyone. There is just not enough time. Pday goes a little too fast for my liking. 

We have had rainstorms like crazy, especially with the hurricane. I have a video of it. I'll be sending my SD card home soon. But we had a stake service project on Saturday, nearly 1000 people showed up with their helping hands shirts. It was awesome. The park service was overwhelmed, they said the largest group they had up to this point was 50. I think we surprised them a little bit. It was a lot of fun, but it was a very wet job, we were all soaked and caked with mud.

Life is good! Thanks for everything. I can't think of anything I need at this time. I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Hillman

September 5

Dear Family,
Sorry, our week has been a little crazy. So originally we thought we would be able to email on Monday  but we ran out of time. We had what is called "Zoned Out" it is where 3 of the 6 zones get together for a pday and take a tour of the Johnson Farm/ Home and play games all day. It was a lot of fun, but I am now so tired. All zones are suppose to have their own shirts but we did shirts for our district. The zones we were with were, Findlay, Akron, and Kirtland (that's us). The other 3 zones will go on the 10. Which is so sad, all the missionaries I know are in those zones (Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo). But yeah it was a lot of fun, and very spiritual. Ah! I have the best mission ever. Just so you know in a battle of lightning, I got out both of the Assistants and our Zone leaders, I'm still a champion!! What a great way to start the week. So sorry I didn't get the email out on said day.

It sounds like you are all keeping extremely busy. That's good. Like you said the Holidays will be here before you know it, and yes they have a Nativities exhibit, they are from all over the world and it is an exhibit for a lot of non-members to come through. can you say REFERRALS!??!!! We spend a lot of time in the chat room and call center at the VC these days. It seems to be slowing down immensely. It is kind of monotonous to be in there but we are having a lot of success spreading the gospel via technology. I am currently teaching 2 ladies who are just the best things ever. They both have accepted missionaries, and the one in Florida (Bev) is actually being taught by and Elder in my MTC district, you can imagine the shock I had when he answered the phone and said this is Elder Lee. He still sounds the same, but it's weird talking to people you know on the phone. Yes, I am probably a very awkward person now, but it's whatevs! The other one is Jane she is from Iowa, we had a delightful lesson for about 40 minutes last night about why eternal families are important and why the Book of Mormon is so central what we believe. They will both be baptize, Bev wants to marry a mormon man because she likes what she sees in Mitt Romney, everyone here loves him. Seriously we get into a lot of doors because of him. So I told her the steps she would have to take in order to find one of them :) She is a crack up!!

Mayfield is exploding with work right now. We have John's baptism on the 21, we taught him the Word of Wisdom, which he committed to live, and now we have a coffee maker in our trunk, oh joy, try explaining that to our mission president. He is so awesome, talk about a prepared soul. He asked for a calling the other day and so they are going to let him teach a gospel essentials class, and then possibly make him into a teacher after he is baptized.  We had a really cool experience the other day, and can I just say I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD. The powers of godliness are simply powerful and amazing. A few weeks ago one of our LA's brought a friend to church, who was pregnant, her name is Racquel, we asked how she liked church, said she loved it....yada yada. We set up an appointment which she flamed. We let it go, whatevs. Well on Saturday we get a call from Jeanettea (the LA) and asked if we could find someone to come and give Racquels baby a blessing. So apparently she had her baby and that's why she flamed us, definitely excusable. It was born early and had an infection. So we called the Elders in our ward and they went to give her a blessing. They asked if we could come back and talk to her on Sunday. Which we did. Note: She is in the Cleveland Clinic, downtown Cleveland, just so you know those roads are sooooooo confusing. Thank goodness for Winston (my GPS). Long story short, she felt the spirit so strongly during the blessing, and now we are meeting with her whole family. Her mom and brothers and sisters. All of which have committed to baptism. I will tell you more of this story at Christmas so remind me. The elders said it was one of the coolest experiences ever. She is such a cute little baby. The lord is blessing us here in Mayfield. Sadly I think this is my last transfer here! Sadly Margaret is not in our area, so we haven't seen her. And yes the Marx are planning on coming next year for conference.

Transfers are on the 26, so I won't know my schedule until after that. Hopefully I will still be at sites and not sent out full proselyting until after the new year. I hope I get to see the girls. There are 8 full proselyting Sisters. I knew some of the ones that left. Elder Green and Sister Lee are the ones I was the closest too. 3 more of our senior couples leave next week, transfers is rough.

Oh my. Sorry I just rambled on about Ohio. How is everyone back home?  Wow I feel like everyone is having babies or getting married! Did I tell you that Mal Foster is having a baby, a boy I believe! So fun. I'm not going to have friends when I get home. I just found out that my trainer is getting married too. What Sophie started 1st grade? Weird. Everyone is growing up so fast. I am glad it has cooled down a bit back home, I was afraid I was going to come home to a pile of ash. Which we could sell to the Ashery! :)

I love this place. I love everyone at home. I miss you all. Can't wait to talk to you in 111 days! The gospel is still true!

Love you!

Love,
Sister Hillman

August 28

Hello,
Sorry this will be a short email this week. Pday's so much to do so little time. We are headed out to Middlefield with the Marx today so we have to meet them at the church at 11. This week has been crazy busy. Which I love and hate at the same time. We don't get a lot of time to slow down and enjoy these limited days but that means that there is a lot of work for us.

To answer your questions mom. Sister Marx is doing great. No, they were going to try and come out, but since they both are unemployed as of right now they don't have the money. I'm hoping next year, so I can go with them. They want to go to a session at the Salt Lake Temple. I offered them a place to stay at your house. I hope that is alright? 

John is still super excited about his baptism, he gave his coffee maker away! Woot woot! The Elders in our ward had a dinner with him and taught him about 2 Nephi 31, that is one of the best chapters. He loved it, and said it made more sense to know the Why of what he was doing. Elders are amazing, they work wonders with those we teach when we don't have time to meet with them every week. So we are at the VC the same amount of time, 3 days a week. That may change closer to Christmas but probably not. We have A LOT of referrals to call,  and we also have chat, they are both amazing resources. There are 14 Areas that serve at the VC, there are only sisters, the zone leaders and a district leader in our Zone. It is getting a little cooler here and the leaves are changing, it's so beautiful. We had a much needed rainstorm this week. Oh how I love Ohio rain, it is sooo cool!  I think I am good with clothing. I will need a coat and they are starting to appear in the stores so I will look into getting one.

Temples are the best, and it all started in Kirtland! I am excited to see the Magleby family soon! It will be a much needed treat! I miss all of the kiddos and it sounds like I have very talented nieces and nephews!  It sounds like you are very busy! Keep up the good work!

I think of you all often and you are always in my prayers! I think you are all amazing, and thank you so much for your support! Love you.

August 21

What a crazy, CRAZY week it has been. Sister Marx's baptism was amazing. I am so grateful I was able to be apart of it! Elder Hicks had to baptize her twice because her foot came up but she didn't mind being dunked twice. She looked really happy. She always reminds me. In one year from today, it really will be the happiest day of my life. I can't wait for you all to meet them. They said they will be coming out for conference, I hope it works out. They are still both out of a job. Pray for them. She was confirmed on Sunday it is so fun to see the powers of godliness manifesting themselves. 

There are a lot of things happening in our area. John is doing awesome. He came to church and went to the missionary fireside, his baptism is scheduled for the 14 of September. There is a good chance that we will be moving it up however. He gave up coffee without us even asking him, this included giving his coffee maker away to his neighbor, and he gives us referrals all the time! He is GOLDEN, even more Golden than Moses, who is still in Kenya but will hopefully be back before I get kicked out of Mayfield at the end of this transfer!

Sounds like life back home is no less busy, can you believe it is already time for school to start again. Yes, all of my guy friends have returned home from their missions, the last one I believe got home last month. I'm glad you were able to see Jordan, I miss her. I don't hear from many of them, you kind of get lost on your missions but whatevs I get letters from my old companions who have gone home :)

That makes me sad that Uncle Dean passed away. He was getting up there in age, so atleast he can rest now and I am sure he is happy! What a great plan Heavenly Father has provided for us. He really does love us. I know that to be true. 

We went to the Temple to take a tour today for Preparation Day it was fun. Bill was our tour guide. 

I hope all is well at home. I love and pray for you often! 

Love,

Sister Hillman

August 14

Hello Once Again,

As I am writing this, there is an incredible rainstorm outside the window. The Ohio has definitely cooled down a bit! I love the rain here, because we are so close to Lake Erie we get some deliciously heavy rain, and that is something Ohio is in desperate need of, it is starting to look brown, kind of like Idaho. The leaves are already changing and can I just say it is going to be a beautiful fall! 

 I think you are right though. I think that as we put Jesus Christ as a priority in our life that everything else just seems to have a place. I see evidences of that everyday! He does magnify our time when we use His time wisely. 

Good news! Sister Nelson and I are staying together at least one more transfer, which is good, I don't want to leave her and I am not ready to leave Mayfield. I love the people here. More than I ever thought possible. Sister Marx is getting pumped for her baptism. Don't worry I have made the promise to come back, I will make sure I save enough money for the plane ticket. Or just as for an extension of my mission :) But we found out this morning that the person who is baptizing her is being transferred, we have to make different arrangements. He was really bummed. We serve with 3 sets of missionaries in our ward. So the reason you thought that it was just one of us was because it was that way in the Mayfield ward and then we merged with Shaker Heights. Make sense? Probably not. But anyway we all get to know each others investigators really well and Sis. Marx just became really attached to Elder Ingersoll. So we will see how this goes, there are many other options. Hopefully pictures and more news on Tuesday after! I am sooo excited for her. I didn't realize how much work went into making a baptism happen, but it is much easier round 2! 

So cool story. We started teaching a man named John Dahlen. He lives in the apartment complex that we are always at to visit some of members, and he always walks by and waves so one day we asked if he would be interested to learn more. He said most definitely! He came to church on Sunday, he rode the bus and then because it didn't go all the way to the church building he started walking. It's about a 3 mile walk, luckily our Assistant WML picked him up on his way. But he was so excited to come to church. He was even wearing a suit! We committed him to be baptized on September 25, he said that was to far away so we changed it to Sept14!!! Sooooooooooooo Coooooooollll, and definitely prepared! There is so much work going on here in Mayfield! The Lord does bless those who serve him! 

The VC has slowed down immensely. We probably only average about 1 tour a day, so we are in the call room a lot! We have chat once a week. Hopefully they give us more time this next transfer! It's fun. Oh did I ever tell you...Charles AND his son were baptized! So cool. I am teaching a lady right now over the phone who wants to be baptized but wont until her mom dies...so it's sad, hopefully the spirit will be able to change that!  

I love you!

Sister Hillman

August 7

August already? Wo, wo, is me! This week just flew by. I can't believe it is already transfers next week. I think they will probably keep us together this transfer. We have a lot going on in our area and rarely do they take someone away from training, but I'll find out Sunday night what our fate is :)

It has actually been a really great week out here. It hasn't been too beastie hot. We went and did some service for a member the other day with the other Elders and Sisters in our ward. It was fun, but it was like 90's and it was only 10 a.m. we were all sweating pretty bad! It was lovely. Then we went and mowed Margaret Douglas's meadow for her. Do you remember her! I like doing service, especially in our nice yellow shirts. Stylin.

Sis. Marx is still way stoked about her baptism, hopefully we can keep her on the right path, we made her a countdown chain with something to do everyday that will help her prepare for it. She has her interview tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have more of a report tomorrow. So we got a interesting/hilarious phone call from Brother Marx the other day. They didn't make it to church because they had to take their dog to the emergency vet, so they called us and talked to us a little after. But anyway this is our conversation:

 Bro. M: Sister Hillman you will be so proud of me!

Me: Why? What did you do!?

Bro. M: Are you sitting down?

Me: Yes!

Bro. M: I blessed the Sacrament (before you get excited, remember he didn't go to church Sunday).

Me: What do you mean?

Bro. M: Well I felt bad that we didn't get to take it today, and I was like "hey wait I have the priesthood, I'll just bless it in my kitchen." So I just said the prayer in the Doctrine and Covenants and use the priesthood. 

I didn't really know how to respond. They totally tried to do their own sacrament. It was such a sweet gesture and their hearts are definitely in the right place. It is something we never even thought to explain to him. So funny. We explained that it had to be authorized and everything done in order and it seemed to make sense to him after we explained it.  I love them soo much!

The picnic last night was fun. All of the sisters got a game of Volleyball going with the CofC volunteers so that was fun. They are such a great group. I don't know how many members they have here. They only have one church building and it's not very big, so I would guess not a lot. They have missionaries that they send out as well. But I don't know much about what they believe. I am learning though. I really serve in the best, and most fun mission ever.

We went on a hike for pday today. I have a large list of things we need to do when we come back. We might need a few weeks :) 

Love,

Sister Hillman

July 31

Wo is Me! Where does time go, I feel like I was just sitting at the computer typing my email to you last week and here I am again. What a busy week it was, but a very fun one. The biggest event is that Sister Marx accepted baptism, she has a date for August 18, it was the 17th but she got a little anxious and drank some coffee so we had to put it back one day. She is sooo excited, she has wanted to be sealed to Bro. Marx since we started teaching them but would never commit to a date. This is huge. So if we do have a family reunion out here we should plan it around the later part of August so I can come and see them be sealed in the temple. Bro. Marx went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on Saturday and loved it. He said he had never felt the spirit so strong. He is doing awesome, he is still learning so that is good! 

Pioneer Day was a fun event. It was Pday so all we did was run errands and get groceries. We had a little party out at the Morley Farm, about a mile from the VC, with President and Sister Vellinga and all of the senior couples. We had a BBQ and played some flag football, and the Kirtland Game, it's where you act out different people that were here. It was really cool. Elder Edman gave a little spiel on the pioneers of the past and how, by serving in Kirtland we are part of the legacy, he then explained that we are also pioneers building up the Kingdom once again. We ended by singing Come, Come Ye Saints. What a beautiful song. It was a good night. Next Monday we are having a picnic with the Community of Christ  up at the temple so that will be fun. There is work that goes on here I promise! 

I will send you a brochure of Kirtland on Thursday that is the next time I am there. The farms that they work at are not working no. They are just open for tours. The John Johnson Home is very cool. It is down in Hiram, that's where Joseph Smith was tarred and Feathered, which isn't cool but it is still a very wonderful place. We are suppose to have a training meeting down there soon so it will be nice to get all of the sisters down there. 

I can't believe Brittany knows Elder Anderson, that is crazy! Oh man I feel like you are getting all of the really awesome pictures of me. Speaking of pictures, can I just tell you how much I love being a missionary at a Historic Site, we get to go places and take pictures of things that no one else does. We went on a mock tour to help Sis. Nelson learn the rooms better and ended up taking some fun pictures, I doubt anyone else has ones like these, and you'll only get them if you have the badge :) LOVE IT!!!!

I keep hearing about all of the fires. You are all definitely in my prayers. We get some pretty legit storms out here with Lake Erie being so close. I have never seen rain like this and the lightening storms are beautiful! I love this place! It is still nice and toasty however. So in training meeting this morning they talked about dress and grooming standards and how the still applied in this lovely weather we are having, it's hard but definitely possible. I will probably be sending some clothes home that are not mission approved. A lot of the sisters have to get rid of their skirts and shirts. So sad. I wear my black and grey skirt A LOT!!!


I love you,

Sister Hillman

July 24

Hello,
Happy Pioneer day! Well I am still alive, fortunately I didn't melt in this delicious heat and humidity, I'm just sweaty 24/7. Does life ever seem to slow down. It seems like you all are keeping yourselves busy, it's the best way to be! 

Life is good! I think it is so funny when people on tour take pictures of us and then ask us if they can send them home to you. So good! I'm glad you enjoy them. I am sorry you got to see what I look like when it is hot and humid and my hair is frizzy, it is soooo not attractive! I had to buy a new straightener so hopefully it keeps my hair calm. That was a fun tour, I really enjoyed both of them! 

Sister Nelson is very easy to train, she loves to work and so it's been nice not having to drag her everywhere. She is adjusting but the first few weeks are a little overwhelming but in a few weeks she'll be ready to go! It's been a very humbling calling, I'm definitely learning patience and to trust in the Lord. How am I suppose to teach someone something I don't even know half of the time. It's nice that we get to learn together! She says she loves it, which I don't blame her, it's the best mission ever! We get a long pretty well! No major fights yet. We are pretty opposite in personality but we fit really well together, we go on some fun adventures! 

The work in Mayfield is picking up! So Moses went back to Kenya for awhile we will start teaching him when he gets back again. He has a friend back home that is also investigating the church so hopefully it will be good to have someone else to talk to! we have high hopes for him! We picked up a former on Sunday who says he wants to be baptized but wont set a date because he wants his whole family to be baptized with him but his wife won't commit! We are still on the find for another golden investigator. All in good time :) There are plenty of streets to tract!  We are still at the VC just 3 days a week. It got crazy busy there for about 3 weeks but we think it will start to slow down again now that the pageants are over! I'm excited to bring everyone back! So much to see!

This week was a really good one! We had training meeting at the mission office, this is for all the new missionaries and the trainers, we had some workshops and then we got to go contacting in downtown Cleveland. I love this city! So many people to talk to. Sister Nelson had a lot of fun. It's been super busy so we haven't had many opportunities to go contacting so it was good for her. We talked to some really awesome people, and got their information so that missionaries can drop by and teach them more! I wish I could do that everyday! That night we went to Book of Mormon club, all of the missionaries and their investigators a long with some less actives come and discuss certain chapters in the  Book of Mormon. It was really good. The Elders created a game called who wants to be a celestial heir, it was a lot of fun. Especially because I get super competitive, yes it is still there! 

Thanks for everything! Love you so much! I pray for you all often.

Love,

Sister Hillman

July 18

Sorry about the lack of letter yesterday. They had to move our p-day for this week because we had president's interviews yesterday. They were good and I passed another one. phew..I love President Vellinga he is not quite as stern as Pres. Sorenson was so his interviews are a little less intimidating. Don't get me wrong I love Pres. Sorenson too.

What a crazy week. In one year from today you will be seeing me walk off the plane. Weird. After today I don't repeat anything. No second July 19th. It feels weird like I just got here. Where does 5.5 months go? Sister Nelson arrived safe and sound and is a great companion. Already trained which makes my job a whole lot easier, I put her to work as soon as we got back into our area. We need to find those prepared souls so we have someone to teach. Getting behind the wheel again was an interesting experience, I'm a little rusty and so sometimes I push on the gas or break to hard. Whoops. But it hasn't been too bad. We have to drive downtown Cleveland so that will be interesting.  I will work on getting pictures from transfers asap. I miss sister hatch but she is coming out in August to visit with her family so that will be nice. It's been weird being the senior companion, I feel like I should know more than I do, but well I kept her a live this long right, a whole week with only a few minor issues. She is catching on really fast. It has been another hot week. Woe is me. Humidity is not my favorite, my hair is starting to get out of control. 

The VC is starting to get crazy. We have a lot of tour buses coming through on their way to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, so it's been fun. I met Glen Rawson (sp?) woot wooot!!! Yesterday we had a tour bus come through and it was a lot of old people who were on the american heritage tour. It was such a fun group. One man told me I had a good sense of humor, so I guess I'm still doing good. We had an emeritus General Authority on our tour, it was cool. He was 91 and had a lot of stories to tell, such a strong testimony. Tours are fun.

Sorry this is super short. Have to run. You will do great in your lesson. Just remember your purpose as a member missionary and that is to strengthen other's faith in Christ. Ask questions and make it applicable. Alma 32 is my favorite. 

Love ya,

Sister Hillman 

July 10

Hello,

Well I survived the record high heat we had in the great Ohio. It was near death. Oh my. I hate humidity, and that is being positive. No but it really wasn't that bad. We were at sites both days that they had a heat advisory out and luckily all of the buildings have modern conveniences such as air conditioner. 

 I find myself missing the Burg and just being a part of campus. I miss school. Jury Duty? Lame sauce. Tell them I am doing something far more important like saving souls.

The work here continues. We met with Moses this week. Devona seems to have walked off the face of the earth. We are meeting with Moses again tomorrow night. Sister Nelson's first lesson. I am going to have her invite him to be baptized. It will be good for her to just jump right in! Sis. Marx is getting closer to baptism. The elders in our ward had dinner with her on Friday and taught her the doctrine of Christ. She doesn't know who God is, but she says as soon as she finds out she will be baptized. Yes. Please put them on the Prayer roll. That's another thing I miss. Going to the temple. So cool story. This non-member showed up at church on Sunday. Apparently she had a falling out with her pastor and she is now looking for another church. Her brother who is a member looked up the closest one to her and told her to go. It just happened to be our ward. She is awesome. Her name is Margaret Douglas. We had dinner with a member that night and we asked if we could invite her over and they said yes. It was great. Just one of those tender mercies from the Lord. 

We have transfers tomorrow. Sister Hatch leaves then, I will get Sister Nelson and then we will go to our area after transfer lunch. She is on the plane here right now.....AHHHHHHHHH! I'm still freaking out. I don't know anything about being a missionary. So Akron is about 45 minutes away. We serve in kind of a special mission. With the call to be a VC sister our first priority is sites so there has to be at least 3 sets of sisters there everyday along with the senior couples. When our zone has Zone conference or in last weeks case Mission tours we are suppose to stay within our zone, but it's not possible for all sister's to attend so we go to the next zone meeting. The closest zone to us is the Akron or Youngstown zone (they were combined for the mission tour). We have special permission to go to these meetings. Normally our zone (Kirtland) is paired up with Cleveland zone. Make sense? Probably not. Ask me when I get home :)

I haven't driven yet. I am slightly scared I have lost all skills. 

Well. Hopefully I will have more next week. Lots of changes.


Love you,

Sister Hillman


p.s. Amish country was awesome. I'll send pics asap

July 5

I hope you have all had a wonderful week! Isn't the 4th of July the best! I love it. It was a hot one this year! 100 degrees plus humidity. We went contacting at the firework show until about 9 o'clock and then we had to rush home so that we could make curfew! There was a beautiful storm last night. Ohio really does have the best storms. It was like Heavenly Father was trying to show us how He makes fireworks. His are much prettier!

Where to begin with what has happened this week. It is such a blur. We met our new mission president Saturday at the Mission Tour down in Akron. He brought with him is wife, and 16 year old daughter! They are so sweet, completely opposite than president Sorensen, but in a good way. I think they will be good for this mission. I got the call on Sunday and that's where the week went crazy. My new companions name is Sister Nelson from Nibley Utah, and she is beautiful! I'll send pictures as soon as she gets here! I am so excited to meet her! I don't know how it happens but I love her so much already. Normally we don't know who we are getting, but she is the only sister coming out so I know who I get to train. It is nice that way, I get to ask Heavenly Father specific questions on best how to help her. I feel sooooo inadequate for this calling. The tears have pretty much been endless, it's a lot of different emotions in one. It's a very humbling thing and I am excited to see what the Lord needs me to learn. Our meeting was awesome, I was the only sister with a whole lot of elders. It was nice not to have drama for a time! We learned a lot about what it meant to be a successful trainer. Don't worry I wrote all of this stuff down in my journal, I don't have time to tell you the whole story.

We are going out to Middlefield today with one of the senior couples. It is a Amish area. There are a lot around Kirtland. I am going to eat some delicious Amish food!  

As for the work. Moses and Devona seem to have walked off the face of the earth. We are going over to Devona's today to talk with her. Moses just works all of the time so it's been hard to find a time to teach him. We do a lot of teaching over the phone with him. We are hoping next time that we meet with him. Which will probably be next Wednesday to commit him to the 12 of August! I know and feel that he will come around. It is just all in the Lord's time! We continue to knock doors, contact in the park and find people to teach! Mission life is so great. The only thing we have to worry about is teaching the gospel! That makes it sound a lot easier than it is! But I really do love it. I am learning so much, and there is still a ton more!!!!!!!


Well I have to run! Love ya lots!

Sister Hillman

June 27

Hello,

Oh my lanta. I can't believe Dallin is home, that seems so crazy to me, but yeah he left in June so he would definitely be home by now. I think Bo, Jase, and Tanner are all home too. Weird. I got a letter from Carson the other day that said he only had 43 days left, which means Braden, Dillon, and Derrick will all be home by the end of next month as well. Next time you see Dallin tell him I said hello! How was Africa? 

I honestly don't know where this week went, it is all kind of a blur. It was crazy busy and we only had about 13 hours in our area but somehow the Lord magnified our time. We found two potential investigators contacting down in Cain Park, which is Cleveland Heights. Dennis is my favorite person ever. He kept raising his hands in the air, much like a baptist preacher, and  yelling "I love God." He was really excited about the Book of Mormon, so we are hoping to go back to his house and teach him. We went down to a social media fireside in Canton and it was really good. It was all about how we can share the gospel using the internet and different things the Church is doing to prevent anti-getting out. It really is amazing the resources that they have developed. We took brother and sister Marx down, they really liked it. Sister Marx still refuses to be baptized, so we are giving her a break, focusing our work elsewhere for the time being. Pray for them! 

The VC is getting crazy busy, we have hundreds come through everyday, and I'm like WO IS ME!!! We took a non-member family out yesterday, they were the cutest thing ever. The children were so well behaved. These people need to be Mormon's. They were a local family that just thought they would drop by after being at the Holden Arboretum all day. The spirit guides, it really does. There was also a couple that were converts. I love converts, they really just have such amazing life stories, they really understand the atonement a whole lot better than I. 

Transfers is in 2 weeks. Scary. None of us can figure out what will happen with the new president, no one knows his style. I will probably stay in Mayfield for at least one more transfer. Next transfer is only 5 weeks since this one was 7. Can you believe I have already been out for 5 months. Seriously? I feel like I just got here. I will have 1 year left on July 16. :(  The weeks are starting to become blurry, I am trying to keep my journal up, but to be completely honest,  it's the last thing I want to do when we get home at night, so it needs some attention today now that it is P day. I have a lot of letters to catch up on. Mal Foster/Monson is expecting a baby in December. I was super stoked to get that letter! I have heard from Sister Scott yes. She writes me every week. I miss her so much. But whatevs. All of my companions are great! It will be interesting to see who comes to Mayfield with me. 

We went to the missionary fireside with the Marx on Sunday, they have one at the VC every 3 weeks. But Pres. Sorensen spoke and it was SOOO good. All about making covenants and what not. Afterward he was talking to Sis. Marx and told her not to procrastinate the day of her baptism, it was really bold, but so awesome. So maybe that softened her heart. People think I am really animated when I talk. I use my hands a lot to tell stories and everyone thinks it's funny. I thought it was completely normal. That's normal right? 

Life is soo good. I hope you all have a fun filled week. Mine is going to be AWESOME. We are committing (hopefully if the spirit says so) 2 more people to baptism. Moses, (love him) and Devonna, their date is July 25! 

Well gotta run. Love you.

Sister Hillman

June 19-Where did the week go???

Hello,
Just a few items of business.

First HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADIO!! We sang to all our Kirtland Dad's (more like Grandpa's) on Saturday night, which are all of the Senior Elders. We even did a little dance :)


Wow, it gets REALLY hot and humid here. I think my hair is going to be perma frizzy :(  Time definitely goes faster that way, that's the way it seems here as well. I can't believe I have almost been out 5 months. Weird.  To answer your question, I get the mail out on Wednesday, we write it on Tuesday and then send it out the next day, so that might be why it takes longer.

Moses is coming along well. We had a lesson with him the other day, we planned on teaching him the Plan of Salvation, but he had questions about the Book of Mormon so we answered them and by the time we were done we only had about 5 minutes to teach the POfS so we hit 3 points. Pre-earth life, Our purpose on Earth, and Celestial Kingdom. His response to it, "It's a perfect plan!" Well duh! Wait until we teach him the whole thing, it will make so much more sense! He is so funny he loves to learn about everything, and loves the Book of Mormon! We have been trying to take members teaching with us, but right now we are just teaching him at the park, and we haven't needed to go on splits yet, but I think we might start. There is soo much work to do with just 2 of us! There is a boy who is preparing to go on a mission so we are going to start taking him with us to lessons, he is nervous about teaching. So the ghetto just refers to a lot of really, REALLY poor people, and yes there are some members down there. That is where a lot of the Resident students live. We have a couple of people who are life long members, but most of the Cleveland-ites are converts. Everyone here has such a cool story.I LOVE it. As far as tracting goes we get in maybe two hours a week, if we are lucky, sometimes more if appointments fall through. 

I was so sad about not being able to see Pam. They told me the next day that they came. I had to go to a mission tour in Cleveland to say good bye to President and Sister Sorensen! So sad! They are speaking on July 15, in Sandy, you can go and meet them. They will change your life, I am sure of it. They have taught me soo much about my purpose as a missionary and who I am in relation to Heavenly Father. I'm excited to meet President Vallinga, we have his mission tour next week. It has been a month of meetings!!! But anyway yeah Sister Southwick said they came, she said she was hesitant to tell me because she didn't want to make me sad. I hope they liked their visit here. So many amazing things happened here! 

We were out contacting in the park the other day and we found an awesome family to teach. They attend one of the Baptist churches in Cleveland Heights but we are hoping to change. We read them Alma 27:18 and taught them about the Book of Mormon and if they were on their search for happiness that the BofM would help them find it! We have a return appointment tomorrow! The work continues to roll forth, and I have SOOOOOOO much more to learn! 

So on Friday night we had the opportunity to help out with Strawberry Festival, it is a fundraiser held by the Kiwanis club which some of the Elders are apart of! I am now an expert at applying whipped cream to strawberry shortcakes! This is also something we should try to attend when we come to visit! It was a lot of fun! 

Somethings to know about Sister Hillman at this time, I love days when I get to sleep in until 6:30, Mosiah is one of my new favorite books, my last name has been changed to Mountainwoman, (not quite sure how that happened), letters are my favorite, I have 23 new best friends, I have become part vegetarian (not really I just eat salads all the time because it is way too hot to cook meat), Teaching the gospel is the best thing ever, all of my friends are getting married or having babies, hence why the 23 new friends are so important, I eat more ice cream than 57 people combined, I cry from laughing so hard, oh yeah and I'm a Mormon!!! 

I love you and miss you all! Love life!!!

Sister Hillman

June 12

Hi!!

The VC is really starting to pick up here, we have a plethora of tour buses everyday, sometimes announced and others not so much, each day we wake up not knowing how the day is going to pan out. I love it, I meet people from all over the world, and hopefully strengthen their testimony so they have an increased desire to share the gospel back home. Do you remember Lindsay Taylor from my track team? Her cousins came in the other day and we had a nice little chat about Rigby, I see a lot more people that I know then I thought I would. The other day we took a tour with a group of people from Pittsburgh, PA they knew my friend Carson! We had a nice chat about him as well! Most of the boys from high school are home now, that's weird. 

Sister Hatch is super anxious about leaving, but I am just as anxious for her to leave! I still have things to learn! It's hard to say what will happen with transfers. Seeing how we have a new mission president, none of us know his style at doing things, with President Sorensen it was easy to tell what his game plan was. We meet President Vallinga on Jun 28. So soon. President Sorensen leaves the 27. We have mission tours on Thursday, down in Cleveland. I'm so excited to go back to the city. 

Back to the work. So the other sisters in my district were teaching this girl named Alice (pronounced Alyse). She is so amazing, totally prepared to hear the gospel. Someone referred her when they came into the VC. Anyway, they started teaching her and it turns out she was suffering from Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She is 17. Everyone loves her, seriously a best friend the moment I started talking to her. She is in one of the pictures from the Luau, sitting next to me. Blonde, short hair. She committed to baptism on June 9. This last Saturday. The reason why I am telling you this story starts on Friday night. We had to work sites both Friday and Saturday so we just stayed the night at the Edman's to save on miles. No one was home when we got there, so we just got ready for bed and family prayer. Still no one was home. I was up laying on my bed reading the Book of Mormon, and Sister Hatch on the floor. Sister Edman came up and had tears in her eyes and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. "Alice passed away this morning." We went downstairs to talk to the training sisters, and discuss what needed to be done with things regarding her baptism, it wouldn't be happening. We sat there and talked about this and how we were all so grateful for the plan that Heavenly Father has prepared for us! The center of that plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which covers not only our sins, but sorrows and disappointments as well.  I love this gospel so much. It never ceases to amaze me how true it actually is. Everyday I feel like it just makes more and more sense. Why wouldn't I want everyone to have that same happiness and peace? "Perfect love casteth out all fear." I love the people I serve everyday. I want them to know it. It's been hard for a lot of the missionaries here. We all loved her so much, but we still go on. Realizing now more than ever how important it is that we keep the work moving along. 

We are making progress with Sister Marx. Brother Marx received the priesthood this past week and so we along with sister Marx went and sat in on the ordination in priesthood. I felt out of place, but Sister Marx didn't want to sit by herself. After it was over she had the biggest grin on her face. I'm telling you, the powers of Godliness are manifesting themselves, and through ordinances in the gospel people will be converted. Her saying is now "WHEN I get baptized, not IF..." Boo yah. Moses is still doing awesome. We met with him in the park on Sunday night to teach him the restoration. This is how our conversation went (imagine his part in a cool Kenyan accent):

Moses: Can I be honest with you?

Us: Yes!!

Moses: I wasn't going to open the door for you. I saw you coming down the road and had decided not to open the door.

Sis. Hatch: Why did you?

Moses: I was weirded out that you were going door to door. But for some reason I found myself opening the door, AND talking to you. Then you guys mentioned Jesus Christ  and the Mormon Bible and I gave you my phone number and told you, you could come back.

Sis Hillman:What were you thinking when we were talking about the Book of Mormon?

Moses: That ya'll were crazy. After you left I was like, oh man those girls have all of my info, and I just prayed in front of them. But I still wanted you to come back. What was I feeling anyway?

Sis Hatch: That Moses would be the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost.


Oh man this boy is solid. He really has the best questions.


But really life is good. Sorry I ran out of time. Hopefully more questions answered next week! Love ya!


Love,

Sister Hillma

June 5

Hi ,
So just to forewarn you this email will probably be a little short. Anyway, wow I can't believe it another week has gone by. We are in finding mode, and the Lord is providing! A couple of our appointments flamed us so we tracted down Felton Rd. (yes I picked that one because of Tom Felton plays Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter) oh and also it just felt like the right street to tract. We tracted the whole street in 2 hours and we found 1 GOLDEN investigator. He is Presbyterian, his name is Moses Wambui and he is from Kenya, he has one of the coolest accents ever, we made him do all of the reading in the intro to The Book of Mormon just so we could listen to it.  But seriously, we tracted this whole street just to find him, I know it, he is so excited to meet with us again, he had so many questions, they were perfect. We also have 2 member referrals, and we took a lady on tour the other day who referred herself and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. We are having a movie night at our church building, we will be watching the Joseph Smith movie so we can show non-members the "reel" story about the restoration! The work continues to roll forth, there are so many people out here that need to hear the gospel, with need a hundred more missionaries in our area to find them all!!!! Oh well we will try to make a dent :)

Want to hear a sad story? It's not really that sad but at 2a.m. it is. So I woke up the other day around 1:45a.m. to a text message from one of our less actives asking what time church started. Anyway, still half-dead I wandered into the bathroom, when I went to flush the toilet it wasn't working. I was soo confused, and frustrated because I was tired and I just wanted to go back to bed, the last thing I wanted to do was fix the toilet (it wasn't the first time this had happened). So not worrying about it that's what I did, back to sleep I went. At 6:30 my companion asked me if I was okay, I responded, "yep!" "are you sure?" "Yeah why?" "Because you were yelling at the toilet in your sleep last night." Whoops.
So to get to your questions...There are 12 sets of sisters, and about 4-5 work a day depending if it's weekend or weekday. Member to Non-member ratio is about 80-20, however we have seen more and more non-members coming in who have driven past so many times and felt inspired to come and learn more. Coincidence? I think not, that would be them being prepared to receive the good word. Lives are changed here in Kirtland. Most members that have come through, it is their second or third time coming, however it usually was like 20 years ago, so everything has been changed! The Edmans have been here almost 18 months, they serve a 2 year mission, so they will leave in January. President Sorensen leaves in 4 weeks and we will meet President Vallinga (sp?) the day after he leaves! So I will live through a president and director change! There are about 12 senior couples as well! Except they serve at the farms as well as the VC so we don't see all of them all the time. Jenna told me about aunt Susan, that is saweet! Jenna is now companion's with Shalyse's older sister Lacey! I refuse to let Sister Hatch get trunky, We will work until the last hour she is a missionary, she is getting a little anxious and has started to worry about things like school, I tell her to chill out! The Lord will help figure it out! I have not yet had a chance to drive, I got a call from the fleet coordinator asking how I felt about driving in the snow, apparently none of the sisters like it here. I mean it's not my favorite, but heck the gospel still has to be taught in 6 feet of snow. I am hoping next transfer is my transfer to drive, Cleveland traffic is CRAZZZZY! There are cars everywhere! Yes the Mission office is on the East Side of downtown. So as for the sisters who were in the MTC with me, 2 are training other missionaries (crazy, but they are rock solid, such good little missionaries) and then all of the other missionaries stayed in their area but got new companions! I still see them all the time! Which is good. They keep me sane, our DL however got transferred and so did one of our ZL's so sad. They were out zoned, so we really never get to see them:(

Also...we have a mission blog, www.kws-ohiocleveland.blogspot.com. You can check out what the mission is up to, pictures from our festivities and what not. I don't know what is on there as I have yet to be able to check it out. It's sadly against the rules.

So cool experience for the week and then I have to go. The church has recently acquired the Joseph Smith Jr. Home here in Kirtland, Ohio. It was the home longer than anywhere else they lived. A few revelations were given there and some significant events as well, such as the organization of the first stake (which is Kirtland) and the first high priest meeting, along with the display of mummies and papyrus! Anyway we had our training meeting there this morning, all of the missionaries we up there, it is completely empty so some of us were sitting on the floor, but the spirit was so strong. We started out by singing 'Praise to the Man' and then they did a little narrative of things that happened there, and then a few of the sisters sang 'Joseph Smith's First Prayer' everyone was crying, it was the sudden realization just how true the gospel is and how lucky and fortunate we are to know about the restored church! So wonderful. One of the Brethren are coming to talk with Karl Anderson so they can start on the restoration of the home this week, perhaps just maybe it will be done in a year, but probably not! I am coming back for the dedication though! I get to walk where the prophet walked everyday! OH yeah, I serve in the coolest mission ever!
Whelp Gotta run,

love,
Sister Hillman

May 29

Oh Hi there,

I am officially NOT a greenie anymore:) I pass. I am done with 12 weeks of training! Happy are we! I actually got done with the program about 4 weeks ago, but now it's official! I get my TIWI card really soon which is my license to drive a mission vehicle. I don't even know if I know how to drive a car anymore, but I a getting really good at backing the driver, no accidents yet :)

It is sooo HOT and HUMID here. Oh my I felt like I was going to melt the other day...I don't think I have been properly dry since last Tuesday! It makes tracting really fun, we don't see a lot of success on those days, turns out people don't like to talk to sweaty missionaries who look like they just got done running a marathon, but whatever we still try!

This week has been a crazy one! Meetings like crazy, and the VC is getting busier everyday, we gave 4 tours yesterday, keep in mind they are about 2 hours long, and we closed at 6 because of the holiday! Our largest group was 18 people, but we are starting to get the tour buses coming! Hello Summer! We gave a tour to a non member family, who accepted the invitation to meet with missionaries, at the end the mom was asking us questions about things we said through out the tour, and how the Book of Mormon came to be. After we explained she said that it really did make sense to her and she liked the scriptures that she read from it!  The Book of Mormon is true, and it changes lives, yes it does!

Last night we had a memorial day celebration for the Sorensen's, we had a little skit and ate some delicious food, then we presented our gift to them. We each signed a square for a quilt and then the senior sisters sewed it together! It turned out beautiful! It will be so sad to see them go, but we pray for the new mission president and he will lead us with the same dedication as President Sorenson!

Our area is blossoming, there is soo much work to do. I have a feeling they are going to keep me in Mayfield for a while, they like to keep missionaries there for more than 6 months, turns out you have to have some thick skin, or a stubborn attitude to serve in Mayfield,we get the door slammed in our face a lot, it can sometimes be a damper on your day, but we know that our message is true and we are merely planting seeds, there will always be next time! The other day we were out contacting in a Jewish neighborhood, and we stopped and talked to this grandma that was watching her grandkids play in the sprinkler. At first she wouldn't take anything from us, she asked if we were Jehovah Witnesses, which we're not. We told her we were Mormons, to which she replied "Oh ya'll know Romney? He is my man!" (all said with a nice southern accent). Turns out she is baptist, we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she told us she was going to learn what Mitt Romney believed because she LOVED him, and was going to read the book every night! It is so funny to see how people are reacting to the campaign, we got her number so we could follow up with her!

 Brother Marx is doing well, he gets the priesthood soon, so that will be good he can baptize sister Marx when she finally realizes this is what she wants to do! She knows the gospel is true, just lacks her self assurance and faith. She loves reading the Book of Mormon and loves coming to church. Right now we are teachign a family of five and 2 other individually, we are hoping to pick up a family of 2(mother and daughter) and then 1 former. We were teaching a family of 9 and a part member family, but with the dissolving of the Mayfield ward are area got cut in half, and we had to transfer those investigators over to the Willowick Sisters!


Love ya lots,

Sister Hillman

May 22

Hello again,
Sounds like home life is going well. That is good to hear. Tell Idaho hello for me, I miss my mountains! I love the trees here but it seems that we are always lost because everywhere you look there are more trees!  I don't know what is going to happen after transfers. I do know that Sister Hatch and I are staying in Mayfield (which is now Shaker Heights North) together for another transfer until she goes home in July! That will be nice. We have a lot of work to do so it's nice that we don't have to worry about changing things up just yet!! Check Rigby out, keeping the legacy going!!!! I really can't believe it has been 3 years! Wo is me. I'm an old fart! Seriously I feel older everyday, not more mature just older.

This week was a crazy one! There is simply not enough time to accomplish all that I want! I'll start with the crowning event! The Luau! It was such a success! So Sister Tokunaga, one of the training sisters, is from Hawaii and she helped us put it all together. I am now fluent in Hula. But the real entertainment came when our mission president decided that he could Hula as well! Oh my gosh I almost died, like seriously lost it on stage...soooo funny, I may have even peed a little :) Don't worry I have plenty of pictures :) and video. President Sorensen is one of the sternest people I know, so to see him hula it up in front of non members was priceless! One of our members has been trying to invite one of their neighbors to meet with us and they didn't really know how so we told them to invite them to the luau.They came and this family is one that has truly been prepared for the gospel, We are really excited to get to know them. We took everyone on a church tour after the show and it was cool to watch all of the faces of the investigators! There are so many different ways to find people!
This morning we did service at sites! We planted all of the flowers at the VC, thousands...ohh my poor elbows are sore but it looks sooo beautiful! It is starting to pick up now that summer has found it's way. I am sooo not prepared for the heat, I think I nearly melted the other day, 90 and humid. Not my thing. Giving tours is the best. I love taking people into the school of the prophets and just seeing their faces and countenances change  due to the things that happened there! Kirtland is truly an amazing place. I didn't even realize the impact that it had on the church today, but woah, talk about faith. The Kirtland saints definitely had it!

We have missionary firesides every 3rd Sunday, and this week the fireside was all about the Holy Ghost and they had 7 Recent Converts come up and share their testimonies. Sometimes I wish I was a convert! The light in their eyes is so amazing and you can just tell how much they love the gospel and how much it has changed their lives!
We found 2 more potential investigators this week! Just get out and talk to everyone, that's how to do it. Working through members really is the most effective way but sometimes not possible, so we have been trying to talk to everyone we see (sometimes that involves running across the street waving a restoration pamphlet to talk to someone, jk I would never  do that) but it really does pay off and Heavenly Father is putting prepared people in our path.


Sorry this is short. Got to run. Hope you have a good week! Keep your chin up, you are all in my prayers! The Gospel is SOOOO true!
Love ya,
Sister Hillman!