MTC - WEEK 6

Buona Pascua everyone!

To start I’d like to apologize for the confusion yesterday over not receiving an email from me. We had a sudden and unexpected schedule change and now my P-day is on Wednesday. This schedule change took place over the whole MTC. They are reorganizing many things regarding the schedule and what missionaries do at certain times. Our Branch presidency went to meeting where the leaders over the whole church missionary program and the MTC presidency explained that some "MAJOR CHANGES" are about to take place and they are reorganizing many aspects of the whole entire mission program. They shared a few of these changes with our branch presidency leaders and then told them not to share anything other than to expect major changes and that this schedule change is just preparation for something much much bigger. From what our leaders told us they said that these changes are "Bigger than the introduction of Preach my Gospel" to the mission program and that the church will fully implement and make an official statement on August 1st regarding these extreme changes to the church missionary program. Our leaders can’t tell us anything other than that but even they are amazed about what the church is doing, apparently this is very big and will affect the mission program everywhere and missionaries everywhere. So they are keeping us in the dark pretty much. It’s kinda like Christmas where you know you’re getting something big but can’t find out til Christmas. So as of now all we can do is wait and see what happens.

Other than having a new schedule some very interesting things happened this past week. We had Elder Richard G. Scott speak to us last Tuesday. He shared one of the most powerful testimonies of the divinity of Christ I have ever seen. Also we had Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak to us yesterday. He talked wonderfully about what our purpose is as missionaries and how to be successful missionary. I stood 5 feet from him. The closest I’ve ever been to an apostle. I waved and said hi but I don't know if he saw me.

I had to sit out of gym a couple of days last week because I sprained my ankle and I’m pretty sure my middle finger is broken, Did it all playing basket ball but I’m fine now. My finger just bends funny now. I'll show it to you when I get home in 2 years it looks kinda cool.

We got 16 new Italian elders today. I haven't met any of them yet but at 8 I and my companion have to introduce ourselves as zone leaders and show them around. I can’t wait to see them because it will show me exactly what I was like on my first day. I can't believe I’ll be in Italy in just 3 weeks. When I get my travel plans I’ll let you guys know when I have lay-over’s and can call home. The last group that left had almost 8 hrs worth of lay-over’s so a lot of time to talk on the phone. I should get my plans in a week or so. =) And the Wal-Mart picture thing works fine mom. I just get a little envelope from Wal-Mart with the pics in it.

I love everyone’s letters. I hope you all had a Happy Easter. I miss you all so much and all my little cousins. I'm bummed I missed the Easter choir program but if grandma and Aunt Kristin were singing in it, it had to have been wonderful. I sing in the MTC choir every Sunday and Tuesday. Nel boca di lupo.

Vi amo

Anziano Hill

MTC - WEEK 5

Ciao!

Another stressful yet successful week. I got the Easter package yesterday =) I opened it already because I didn’t know what it was so sorry if I was supposed to wait til Sunday to do that. Well this week has been pretty crazy. We've memorized Doctrine & Covenants 4 in Italian and have moved into speaking only Italian in the classroom. We also have to teach in Italian now too which I quickly found out how easy it is to mess up a couple words and you change the whole context of your statement and end up with a very very confused investigator. We were role playing the other day and our investigator was reading the Book of Mormon and was confused about the part where Nephi has to kill Laban because God told us not to kill. Well I had her read the verse before it and here’s where I messed up; after she read it I apparently said "When the spirits tell us to do something break the commandments than we need to kill each other" HAHA - A couple misplaced pronouns and wrong letters can change a harmless statement into something that’s gonna freak somebody out. My companion couldn't stop laughing. So keep me in your prayers that I can learn proper grammar so when I'm teaching real Italians I won’t say something like that. Other than that though I’m surprised how well we can teach the first lesson in Italian already. I pretty much have it down and we taught it yesterday without any problems. So I guess that’s kinda awesome. =)

There are quite a few missionaries in our zone that are struggling quite a bit whether it be with depression, companionships, or health and being a zone leader I get the privilege to address all of it. It’s very stressful and makes me quite sad sometimes. I honestly pray everynight for maybe 10 to 20 minutes for the members of my zone who are struggling. No one has gone home yet but we have one elder whose health is deteriorating quite a bit and he has to get a couple MRI's because he is getting migraines and they keep getting worse and worse. He expressed to us the other day how much he doesn’t want to go home; but I don’t know how much longer he can go. He’s really struggling and has missed alot of class. So I'd just like to ask all of you to just keep not only me but my fellow missionaries in your prayers because faith is really all we have going for us right now. But miracles happen everyday so we can only wait and see.

On a happier note, I was able to get a picture with all the missionaries from our stake last Sunday. Elders Scott and Norris left yesterday to the field, what lucky guys, and Sister Elliot came in on Wednesday so we all met after the fireside Sunday and got some pictures. I will send them probably next week. Please do not send me anymore food. I have more than I know what to do with. I honestly have enough candy and cookies to survive a nuclear fallout. I love letters though, and love to hear what’s going on with you guys. I realize Scott’s birthday was 2 weeks ago and I forget to say anything. =P we were learning how to talk about our family and I said I have a 14 year old brother and than I realized oh wait! He’s 15 now! holy cow. Well Happy late birthday Scott, and note to mom (in his last letter he asked me if I would tell him how to make a certain kind of bomb. If you see him or any of his friends with 2 liter soda bottles, aluminum foil and toilet bowl cleaner stop him at all costs because I know he’s not going to do anything responsible with it.)

Well I love you guys and miss you all. I’m the only Lakers fan in my whole district and everytime they lose it gets rubbed in my face but they will only get what’s coming to them. Haha. Keep sending letters and pictures too =)

vi amo,

Anziano Hill

MTC - Week 4

Boungiorno Everyone,

Another callenging yet excellent week. We lost the older districts last Tuesday so we are now very lonely in our residence halls. We don't get new Italians for another 2 weeks so we have a bit of solo time. So we have some russian and finnish elders on our floor and well all i can say is that I am soooooooo happy im learing italian and not one of those languages! other than the fact that they are almost as ugly sounding as english they also have new grammer rules and a different alphabet. Italian has a 22 letter alphabet so there are actually less letters to worry about than in english. If you havn't noticed my english is kinda suffering from all the Italian ive been speaking and writing. I guess thats a good thing though. The gift of tounges rocks and i can bear testimony that it work, well.

We have had quite a tough last few days as a district. We have an Elder who is getting horrible migranes and may have to go home =( the dr. keeps giving him pain meds and not really doing anything about it. He was bed ridden all day yesterday and i traded with his companion on watching him. He expressed to me how much he loved his mission and how the last thing he wants is to go home. I felt really bad but i told him that if he does go home to think of all the amazing things weve learned already only being here 4 weeks, and how it has strengthend our testimonies amazingly. I told that these few weeks will still be a memory he will have for the rest of his life and the things he learned here are irreplacible. That helped him feel alot better, we all still pray long and hard for him everyday.

You asked a few questions last week mom but i didn't get your letter til tuesday night =P so it was to late. i write these early in the morning tuesday during my laundry time so if there are any questions send your "dear elders" saturday or sunday night so i get them monday afternoon and can address them in my email. So, to answer a few from last week: My whole zone is Italian but we are not divided into Milano and Roma Districts. Every district has a couple companionships go to either. and yes, those are the only two Italian missions. My companion is going to roma con mi but many of my friends here are going to milano and i will miss them. There are many more Milano missionaries than roma in our zone; it's the larger mission population wise. I have not found Elder Jones yet or "brother seth jones" because there is no time to do anything here =P im either always studding or working or something. I hope to find the time soon to see him thought because i miss him tons. I met two elders going to The SanFernando Mission yesterday. I told them that they are gonna love it and that they couldn't be going anywhere better (other than Italia of course). I have found CJ also. I saw him on his first day haha the kid looked so lost it was pretty funny. His companion is almost the exact opposite of him so we'll see how that goes.

So i asked a few questions last week but never got answers! Supposedly the federal gov't cant agree on a budget? Its shutting down this week? And we are now at war with Lybia? and the power plant in japan went into meltdown? Somebody help me with these questions because we dont hear anything inside the MTC bubble. Maybe aunt Kristin or Grandma can be my world events coordinator or something to keep me updated on whats going on outside the walls of the MTC haha =)

Well i love you guys tons and enjoy the letters and the little pictures from my cousins =) they make my day. And thanks for the letter from mike yesterday I loved it, and the pakage was awesome. Il send more pics soon.

Ci amo,

Anziano Hill

MTC - WEEK 3

Come state everyone? sono benissimo!! Me piace il MTC. Que pensate sulla conferenca generale? pienso era muolto bello. Ahlora, sono moulto stanco. devo alezzare a 3:30 perche il distrecto majore hanno partito.

Well that’s some Italian for you. Hope you can figure it out. Italian isn’t easy at all =P but somehow I’m managing. I actually taught part of the first lezione in it just yesterday, pero, I’ve still got a long way to go before I’m ready to talk to anyone. I'm super blessed I got Anziano Andersen as my colega because he is so diligente, he spends every moment studying something or scribbling all over his predicare mio vangelo. Hes quite an example to me and makes me work a lot harder than if a may of had a companion how was not quite as diligente as him.

So how about that shoutout by President Monson to the Rome Temple Sunday morning? Me and Anziano Andersen almost jumped out of our seats and cheered.

Well I'm running low on time. Thanks for the letters everyone they are very encouraging =) I love to hear how everyone’s doing and what’s going on in the outside world. 2 Questions though: I'd like to know how it’s going in Japan and if it’s still pretty bad or if things are getting better. 2: my teacher said the UN went to war with Libya? Is that a rumor or legit? Well I hope you’re all having fun in the sun back home, and I hope you're having fun on your cruise mom and dad!

Love your guts!!

Anziano Hill