May 28, 2013

Hello all!

I have been called back to the Visitors' Center. President Vellinga called and told me Wednesday night. He called and asked to talk to me alone...that never means good things. I'll miss it here, but it was a great experience and I learned a lot. He wouldn't tell me where I was going, just back. The other 3 sisters that I live with were all called to train. So while they were at a meeting all day, I got to be with Sister Larson again! It was awesome. It felt good to be back in Cleveland.

We met some really awesome people this week. We went on exchanges this week and it was a really good experience. I learned a lot from Sister Chapman. We found Jeff, who has decided that while the Baptist church has lot of truth, it's not all true. So we asked the simple question of "What if we told you that truth in it's fullness had been restored on the earth once more." He was open to it, so we laid out the restoration for him on his porch. He has a family and believe it or not...a car! That's unusual. We also met Caden and Linda Fisher. Caden is 14 and Linda is his grandma. We found them while stopping by a referral. Linda ordered a Book of Mormon last year while Mitt Romney was running for president, and likes what she has read. She asked about the 3 kingdoms of Glory, and we told her about another book of scripture that contained revelations that would explain in greater detail, what we knew about life after this. She wants it, she's hungry for knowledge. Caden has gone to a christian school his whole life and wants to know about how the indians relate to a "White god." Apparently they covered the Book of Mormon in 5 minutes in class once and it peaked his interest, but left a lot of missing holes. He has also decided that he wants to serve a mission. Come join the ranks. He is awesome. I'm sad I won't gt to see any of them progress but that's okay. The work is still true.

Now there's Tom. Tom has tried twice to give us back the Book of Mormon, he says it's just too much, and he can't afford it if there is even a small chance that this is wrong. We have been praying for his heart to be softened, and when we met with him on Thursday, we could feel/see the spirit working with him. The Lord answered our prayers. He told us he would keep reading, and really try to get his answer.

Life in Ohio is great! I hope you all had a fabulous memorial day! Ours was a little different. We had District Meeting and then did a LOT of paper work. It sounds like you are all keeping busy. It's almost June! The Plan of Salvation is legit! I love that lesson. Especially when you get to the part about the Atonement! The gospel is true.

I love you all!

More next week after transfers!

Love,

Sister Hillman

May 20, 2013

Dearest Family,

Transfers are coming. My last one. :( I don't if I am leaving Massillon for sure, president can't decide. I hate not knowing. It's been a super stressful week, but a really fun one as well. I keep giving the two new sisters a hard time a bout training, they are both scared to death to train. It's pretty humorous. Training isn't half bad. A lot of our appointments fell through this week. But we had a lesson with Tom. He is solid. He read 1 Nephi and stopped because he is having issues with a modern day prophet, he doesn't want to be led astray. He told us to come back in a few years when he was ready, so we said get real, we're not getting off your door step(of course in a very loving way) and we talked a little longer about how we can come to know a living prophet has been called and WHY God would call one on the earth today! We invited him to the missionary musical fireside. The spirit was really strong. The theme was prophets who testify of Jesus Christ. Fitting for him we thought. He knows it's true, he said he would finish reading the Book of Mormon and asked us to pray for him that he could come to know! He asked what else he would have to do to be baptized, I think he thinks we have a secret agenda, so we laid down the law and hit him with the Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithing lessons. He says it only makes sense. He is my new bald best friend. He is just playing hard to get...grrrrr. Thank goodness for the spirit.

 

The Padillas are doing great, we taught them The gospel of Jesus Christ, in the Spanish Pamphlet. I'm getting better :) I can now say Fei en JesuCristo es importante :) I said I could say it not spell it! They have great questions and are getting it, we just are having a struggle getting them to come to church. Sometimes, I'm not patient.

 We too had a Relief society activity that was a Garden Party. We learned all sorts of Gardening tips, and of course the reason I go to these things, we had delicious food. It was at the Kremers. They live in the Country part of our area in Canal Fulton. It's where I want to live. It's delightful!

 

I love you. Got to run!

Love,

Sister Hillman

May 13, 2013

Dear Family,

It was great to see everyone yesterday...well most of you! The kids are so grown up. I hope they remember me when I come home. Our family is getting bigger!

Life is sooo good! I can't believe next time I talk to you it will be in person. Weird, weird, and weird!

I have decided to make these last two months the best of my mission and pretend that it's really the beginning. I'm going to try to give my all. I don't want it to end, but I know that it has to. I'll give my all so I don't have regrets.

The Gospel is true. It changes lives. That is one of the greatest blessings of my missions, seeing people come unto Christ and use the atonement to become his. To see people's lights grow bright. His church is on the Earth once more, it was restored through Joseph Smith, a prophet who translated the Book of Mormon so that we could have the fullness of joy, and have a road map back to Heavenly Father. It testifies of Jesus Christ. It makes so much more sense to me, and I realize now that everything else seems menial. We have a prophet on the Earth today who leads and guides us and will help us to avoid pitfalls that plagues the world today. He testifies of Jesus Christ. I know that Christ lives, he can give us peace, hope and comfort. Our Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and we get a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow and improve daily because of that plan. He is there and he listens. He knows and loves us. The only way to find happiness here and in the life to come is to follow Him. The Gospel IS true!

I love you all. Thanks for all you do! Life is great!

Love,

Sister Hillman

May 6, 2013

Hola! From the Great State of Ohio!
I am working on my Spanish that we may more fully help Leticia and Lazaro make the commitment and covenant of baptism. It's been an interesting journey. We talked to them on Friday about the importance of coming to church. They accepted to come. When we asked her if there was anything that we could do for them, she responded with "pray for me that I may stay active in the church and make it to my baptism date." We can do that! They are solid. President Vellinga told us he was impressed with the progress they are making despite the language barrier. Thank goodness for the spirit and it's many gifts. This week in Ohio has been a hot one and we are keeping busy. We have set really high goals this week, and we are exercising faith that we can meet them. We want to give everything to the Lord, his time is precious, and I feel as if I have been wasting it. I can't believe we are half way through the transfer. Time is messed up.

 I am excited to talk to some of you on Sunday. Yes 4:00 MDT is still the plan. We are eating dinner at our Bishops house and we will be done around 6:00 our time so be ready. I don't know an exact time. But sometime around there. I'm excited to see all of my little babies, who don't seem to be babies any more.

  We have zone conference this week so we are prepping for that. A lot of lessons to practice. President has this thing that he likes to make a companionship go up and practice it in front of everyone. It's awful. I mean I don't mind talking in front of people, or talking to a group of people on the street. But doing a lesson presentation in front of other missionaries makes me want to pee my pants. I get so nervous and then I can't remember what I'm teaching and then we slaughter it. But it will be fine. I'll just pray for the spirit!

 This week was a good one. It had it's ups and downs but it ended on a high note with Stake conference. It was sooo good! Especially the adult session on Saturday night! Whelp! Have to run! Love you all!

Love,Sister Hillman

April 29, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends,

A week goes by really fast. We saw a lot of miracles so that was lovely. We have kept fairly busy. I'm still just trying to figure out why I am in Massillon. Sister O'Driscoll has only been out one transfer, so I'm training her. No sister has ever gone out full-proselyting twice so there has to be a reason right? It's been kind of a struggle living with another set of sisters, and sharing the ward. Especially when you are trying to lose yourself in the work. I would say that there was a minor digression in my love for the work this week. I seemed to be a little less focused than normal. I just need to get over this feeling and remember it's not about me. Don't get me wrong I still LOVE it here, and I'm not thinking of home, but Satan works in many ways to tear us down. Thank goodness for that enabling power of the Atonement. It's been a blessing out here. 

Sorry this is going to be short. We've been working hard and are starting to get to know the ward and area a little better. That makes it a little less overwhelming to open a new area. Sometimes I just expect Heavenly Father to give us people to teach, everyone should want to hear this message right? Ha. Just kidding. It takes work, and a lot of prayer. It's pretty easy to find people. It's just a matter of helping them to progress to the waters of baptism. We are teaching the Padilla family. They are from Cuba and speak very little English. Woe is me. Our teaching involves a lot of hand motions to help them understand what we are saying. We will say something, and it is a completely blank stare. Dang language barrier. They do speak a little so we just have to piece together what they are saying. It's a challenge. Maybe I was suppose to come and learn Spanish in Massillon? Sometimes I pretend I know Spanish and will randomly throw out a Spanish gospel term, and then continue in English. "El Libro de Mormon, es Verdad." :) It makes missionary work exciting. They feel the gospel changing them and Leticia (the mom) loves the Book of Mormon. They have a baptismal date of June 1! So pumped.

Love,

Sister Hillman

April 22

Dearest Family and Friends,

Where do I begin? This week has been crazy but at least it's been warm. I'm doing well. Massillon is amazing. It's completely different than all of the wards I have served in. The people are awesome and they love having sisters in the ward. There is one other set of sisters besides us. It is a pretty big ward. Geographically at least anyway. There are a lot of Less Actives. A common theme in Ohio. It's an interesting area. I love the people and the people we have found are all really awesome. They all have dogs, and have no teeth (the people not the dogs), which seems strange. Maybe it's the water. My companion is Sister O'Driscoll. From Utah. She's awesome. She likes to work. So we are opening a new area and that has been kind of rough, neither of us know anyone in the ward so it's starting fresh. We have found a couple of people this week, that hopefully will be solid. I'm excited to really get to work and leave it better than I found it. I only have six weeks so that's a little scary. 5 now. It's kind of hard to get to used to the schedule of proselyting all of the time and not having the break of the Visitors' Center. But I LOVE it. You meet a lot of interesting people. We were craving a Hot Dog the other day, we stopped at speedway and there is where we met Anthony. Turns out he just got out of jail and is trying to find God, so we committed him to baptism. I knew that one day my appetite would pay off. I love spiritual food promptings. Also we ate at the Kremers home the other day. He is from Firth. Does that name ring a bell, he knows uncle Dennis? Side note: Matt and Jason guess what? The Football hall of fame is in Canton, OH, that's in the area that I am serving in. We are going next week for Pday. Do they have multiple hall's of fame or is there only one?  

Well it sounds like everyone is getting married. Lame. I'm not going to have any friends when I get home. That's okay I'll just go hang out with grandma and grandpa. Go finish my education and then do something else. As for mother's day. How about we plan on skyping around 4 your time? Will that work? I'll give you a call before I skype you just to make sure you are online and all goes well. It sounds busy at home. It's busy here too! It's going by a little too fast. 

My new address is 2040 Tennyson Ave NE # 7 Massillon, OH 44646. After the 29th of may it will go back to the VC address. Life is good. The gospel is true. 

I love you all.

Love,Sister Hillman

April 15

Dearest Family and Friends,
How are you all doing? Life in the Ohio is crazy madness, all the time and it's 100% fun. Things have started to heat up. After two weeks of rain we have 70 degree weather and blue skies. Not to rub it in for those of you who have snow!
We are getting a lot of tours, some from Idaho and it's been really fun to talk to them. I hope you are all doing great, and that you are keeping busy. We should figure out how to make more time in the day. I can't believe a new semester is starting at school. Ugh I don't even want to think about going back to school. I think I may just travel the world. Just kidding, I love learning, and studying the gospel has given me a thirst to study as much as I can, both spiritual and secular, but still the thought of going back to school is a little daunting. They should have missionary college. Tell me all about the stories from home!

As for the Northern part of Ohio. First Kenia and Ernest are baptized and confirmed. Kenia kept kicking as they were baptizing her so she was washed really clean by the fourth round. Ernest was baptized by one of the youth in the ward, Kody, he was nervous, but his went flawlessly. The baptism flowed really well. Huge blessing, we didn't have a lot of time to plan it this week. Thank goodness for tender mercies. On Saturday after they were confirmed Ernest sat down and said" That felt good." Yes it does my friend, yes it does! It is the coolest thing to see someone make the progress to baptism. I love it. I love missions. Miracles are the norm out here. There was a lot of support from the ward, and the Young men, love having a 3rd priest! Also Sandy committed to baptism for the 31st of May. Woot.

We got transfer info this week, as tomorrow are transfers. They have been really messed up for the last few transfers. I know isn't it weird that I am getting released on a Saturday, they have had to change it a couple of times! But I was released as a training sister, broke my heart. I love the sisters, and I am being sent back to full-proselyting in Masillon, OH. It is down near Akron. I will only be there one transfer, but I was called to train one of the Full Proselyting sisters. I can't believe it. No Kirtland sister has ever been called full-pros twice, Salt Lake has given P. Vellinga directions about site sisters going full pros. I will still spend my last transfer at the VC. I am sooo pumped. But it's going to make the time go by even faster! Mother's day is coming up. We will want to start planning our skype session! Weird! They are splitting zones this transfer and they are also getting Sister Training Leaders, the new leadership position from SLC to accommodate the amount of sisters in the field. This is essentially what we were doing as training sisters, but now there is 6 of us instead of just two of us, so the work load goes down. WOOT! So many wonderful things are happening in missionary work and most of it is a little chaotic, but we are still surviving. Sister Crabtree leaves tomorrow. So sad. i love her. But we have made a lot of plans post mission. Good thing we are all from Idaho or Utah.

Well I have to run. We don't get a pday today because we are covering for the all of the sisters at sites today, and there are a lot of tours! I love you all. I hope you are doing well!

Love,
Sister Hillman

April 7

Dearest Family and Friends!

 

What a glorious week it was here in the Ohio. My week consisted of exchanges like crazy. Training, Meetings, The VC, and prepping Kenia and Ernest for baptism. They are doing excellent. We taught both the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity this week, double whammy! They both agreed to live it! We are so excited for their baptism this weekend. We still have a lot of calls to make to get the ward involved but they have a really great support system so I think it should go smoothly! We took them to Book of Mormon club on Friday and the elders got a little taste of what it was like to teach with Jordan being as crazy as he is! They loved conference. Kenia loves that we have a world wide church. She got her confirmation that Joseph Smith restored the gospel this week! We just need to get her to read the Book of Mormon consistently! Mostly I don't know where this week went. I can't believe it has already been a week since I was writing you!

The weather has decided to warm up here! Which is just lovely! I haven't had to have a jacket for the last 3 days! Woot woot. It amazes me that 40 degree weather feels warm to me. This week it is suppose to get up in the 50's! Boo ya! I got your package! Thank you so much.

So sorry not much time today! I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well and keeping busy! You are always in my prayers! I love you!

Also. No I should be good with my journal. I haven't been as diligent as I should have! Whoops!

Love,

Sister Hillman