Catania, Sicily - 9/21/11

Hello

Another week and so another email for you guys. Got email from mom, dad and mike this week. I got the awesome little package this Sunday and that’s about it for this week. You still never sent me the addresses I asked for so I'm still waiting on that because if anybody wants letters I need addresses so its kinda important =P The wedding pictures look great.

Funny story haha. One of those. only on a foreign mission stories. I don't know how it was in Brazil for dad but were their certain drinks members drank that maybe shouldn't be drunken? haha last night we were having a little dinner with a member named Maira. She’s a great member and is subbing in as our Mission leader in our ward while we wait for the ward to call someone else. We were drinking this apple stuff and after a couple cups I noticed a peculiar scent. I asked her for the bottle and written on the bottom sure enough was exactly what I thought it would say. Totally alcoholic. Bene. Not a lot but enough. We had no idea. Not to mention there’s alcohol in like every flavor of gelato here too. Italians are crazy and I gotta be more careful before I start drinking things members give me.

My companion leaves back to San Diego today so I will be picking up my new companion tomorrow. Guess who? Anziano Andersen my old companion from the MTC!!! Crazy huh? I will be the district leader here too. I’m up for the challenge, just way stressed out. Anyways, I'm still just totally psych’d to be with Anziano Andersen again and we are gonna DO WORK here. I’m sad to say good bye to Anziano Medina but that’s how the mission works. I told him to hit you guys up when he gets home so we'll see if he does =)

I don’t have much time today and i gotta go so I wish you all the best. Thanks for the package and all the little letters. I miss you all. E vi voglio bene!

Con amore, Anziano Kyle Hill

Reggio di Colabria - 9/14/11

Dear Tutti,

I'm sorry but this is gonna be a relatively quick e-mail. Today I am in Reggio di Colabria. It is in fact the very same Reggio that Paul stayed in on his journey to Rome. This is by far the most beautiful city I have seen so far on my mission. Anziano Medina served here for 8 months and since he goes back home next week our President approved a super P-day here with some of Anziano Medina's old member friends and tomorrow we will do an exchange with the anziani here.

As for letters this week: I got a package from Dani and my friends this Sunday which was awesome, a wonderful letter from grandma Carolyn and I didn’t know you wanted me to mention emails too. I got one last week from Aunt April and about 3 or 4 weeks before that from Ashley. This week I got the 2 from you and 1 from Dad. Dad’s e-mails are the best things ever. I print them out and save them. And when you send me pics from your phone it works just fine don’t worry about it, actually send them more often. Hey and also I need Addresses of like EVERYONE. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandmas, All of them. I got a ton of awesome postcards but I need addresses before I can send them off. So if you could send me all that stuff next week that would ROCK.

Hey if there’s any cool Italian phrases you guys want to know or anything you want to be able to say in the most beautiful language in the world just let me know. Italian is the language of love. If Mike and Scott are interested in flattering the ladies I can help them out a little bit, haha just kidding, but really if there’s anything you want to know, let me know. I miss you all and wish mike HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BRO!! He is all grown up now! 17 MUCA SACRA!! That’s not an Italian phrase just a translation of an English phrase. Have a great week everyone and I will talk to you all later =) Ci Sentiamo

Con amore, Anziano Hill

Catania, Sicily - 9/8/11

HEY everyone!

I'm so sorry about not emailing yesterday. We sat down to do email but I only had time to send my email to president because we received a call from our new friend brother Wolfgang from Germany. He’s a member from the Munich Stake in Germany and he came to Italy to try and by an old fiat 500 to restore it because you can buy then cheaper here than in Germany. He is a mechanic and loves restoring old cars. The problem is he doesn't speak Italian haha. So that’s where we come in. We went around with him yesterday from dealership to dealership translating for him to try and buy a quality car. He is way cool, but that is why you guys did not get an email yesterday. I am sorry.

I'm happy to hear I am getting my glasses =) It’s very hard having to keep my contacts in until the very second I go to bed. Soccer fever has taken over Italy now. You guys realize you are all Catania fans now haha. I bought a jersey for them just the other day, along with an Italia FIFA World Cup jersey even though we have a couple of years till that starts again. So yes FORZA CATANIA!! My favorite player is David Suazo.

Etna Blew Its Cap Today!! We woke up looked outside and everything was all chill and then half an hour later we go outside and there’s a pillar of fire shooting miles into the sky blocking out the rising sun over the ocean. It was crazy! I hear that its natural disaster madness around the world right now. Thought I’d tell you about Etna just to add to the chaos. Signs of the times my friends. Signs of the times. I hope everyone is okay though.

We have a way awesome investigator for the American branch named Samuel, a refugee from Libya but originally from Ghana. Him and his wife Rose got here from Libya 2 weeks ago and found our church while waking by. They recognized the LDS church because they had seen it in Ghana. Living in Libya they have not been able to practice Christianity for the last 5 years because of the Muslim population there. They are so humble and have been through so many trials. Especially with this war in Libya and losing everything there. Rose is 5 months pregnant too so life is very difficult for them here in Italy not having work, but Samuel says God will always help him. He is incredibly faithful. He has a contrite spirit and sincere heart and is full of humility. The gospel is for EVERYONE =)

Well vi voglio tanto bene. You guys are all awesome and I miss you all. Thank you for the glasses mom you rock. And I'll talk to you all next week.

Con Amore, Anziano Hill

Messina, Sicily - 8/31/2011

Hello,

I am in Messina again. This time though instead of being with a native Italian speaker I am with a greenie. We didn't do too bad yesterday though. I understood pretty well what people here were saying and was able to teach them. The problem is Anziano Davis doesn't really know the people we met very well because he has no idea what’s going on so it was kind of a toss up when we visited them because being from a different city I don't know anything. But we managed and we met some way awesome people. Something quite unexpected and amazing happened yesterday actually. We had an appointment fall through that we were supposed to do with a member. This member was about to go when Anziano Davis attempted to ask her for referrals. After helping her understand, Sorella Amata was about to call an inactive member that she’s friends with. As she picked up the phone to dial that number her friend actually called her at that exact moment. Coincidence? I think NOT! We went straight to this inactive member’s home. She was an older lady and was in a wheel chair. She had a lot of medical problems and trials. We taught her a little bit about faith and how when we do the things to grow our faith we get enough power to overcome the trials because we put our faith in the Lord. Then right before we left she asked us for a blessing. She told us that she’s very sick and she’s about to go into surgery. It’s quite amazing how the spirit creates these little promptings that lead us to places where someone is in need. Sono grato per il dono dello spirito santo. Mi guida, Me monstra la via e che cosa devo fare.

You asked a lot of questions in your email mom haha. I know you are way curios about stuff but please not so many questions haha. I have to write them all down and go back and forth from your email to this one and it takes a bit of time. I'll try and answer them all this time but next time ease up a little haha. I've got plenty of time to email because the sisters take about 2 hours anyways but if you have questions just stick them at the end of your email in a nice little list so I don't have to traverse the letter for them. haha thanks =)

(following, are answers to all of my questions)

So first, this week I did get a package from grandma =) It was awesome!! I'm actually wearing the cool green tie right now. And the wedding invitation is awesome! I feel like part of the family again haha.

Silvio is doing excellent!! He gets baptized next Saturday on the 10th! He met with the bishop for a whole HOUR last Sunday! It was crazy and when they came out they were like old friends, best buds. Silvio comes to church, reads the Book of Mormon and does it all. He is Awesome. Ben and Carlo are doing great too. Coming to church every Sunday and all that other stuff =) it rocks.

Local vendor friends? Haha I don’t know other than fratello giardino our fruit guy friend who’s a member we aren’t really buddy buddy with any other fruit guys haha. I've grown to know the ward pretty well though. We have some way awesome members here.

General Conference- I have no idea what I'll do. My companion didn’t even get to see the last one. But we get the Liahona here every month and can read them.

As for my birthday, I was thinking about that too and here’s the thing. My glasses were lost on the way to Italia from the MTC. I've looked everywhere and we even contacted the MTC in case I left them there but they don’t have them there either. So all I want for my birthday would be a pair of glasses. The same frames I had last time too. That’s all I want because I’m tired of having to wait for the last minute to take on and off my contacts because in all honesty I am blind without them haha.

Well I miss all of you =) I’m doing great and everything. I hope you all stay safe and have fun and choose the right and all that good stuff =) Just know I'm fine and I'm happy. I was gonna send you guys a bunch of pictures but the computers here at Messina are lame so you guys gotta wait a week. Vi Voglio Bene! Vi amo e Ci Sentiamo

-Con amore

Anziano Kyle Hill