Sassari, Sardinia - 1/25/2012

Caro Famiglia,

Hey. What’s up? I am doing fantastic! As for big news this week we got transfer calls. I am staying in Sassari (no surprise) Anziano Harris is going to Messina in Sicilia. If you remember I have been there before so I know what he's going into. I don't know if he’s quite ready for Sicilia, he still complains when people feed him too much food so he’s really gonna have to learn how to stop being such a baby haha. Funny story real quick. We were at a members house a couple weeks ago and they fed us a lot of food (not more than I had had before but more than Anziano Harris was used to) So when we reached the last plate which was some giant slices of fruit cake =P the members left the room for a sec and Anziano Harris stuffed the fruit cake into his pocket! That dirty little cheater!! I was so mad at him. After we left he threw the fruit cake off the bridge on the way to our house. I told him he won't be able to pull that off in Sicilia so he'll really have to man up. My new companion will be Anziano Lacey. I know him pretty well already because he's coming from Olbia which is 2 hours away so he’s in my district. We were actually together when transfer calls came because there was a baptism in Olbia we attended so when they called Anziano Gatchel (the AP) told me my new companion was probably standing right next to me haha. Anziano Lacey is from Apple Valley CA so not too far from us. Actually our whole district is almost all Californians Anziano Vitali, the zone leader in Olbia, is from around Chino Hills area. The only out cast is Anziano Bradshaw from Orlando FL but he rocks anyways. So that’s what’s going on here.

Funny thing. I heard Mitt Romney lost SC here in Italy. It was in the news weirdly enough. They follow the American politics more than their own I think. I got the package too! WOO!! and a couple letters from Scott, Kristin, Hannah, Eliza, and a couple from you, mom. It’s been a good couple weeks for mail. Keep up the good work.

Something neat this week. If you want to know what I did last Tuesday and Friday read Jacob chapter 5. Sardegna being in the same climate zone as Palestine grows the same kinds of plants. Therefore Olive Orchards and Vineyards are very common. In fact F.llo Carboni in our branch has many Olive trees and this week we pruned, dunged, trenched, grafted, and in the end burnt branches. It was hard work but also very rewarding because if you know me burning things is always a pleasure. I'm not sure how much of the lost house of Israel we gathered but we sure burnt a lot of them haha. As for the literal work we are doing to gather Israel F.llo Marras brought his fiancé to church and she is now a new investigator. That stud knows how to get missionary work done. He met her in some sort of interpretive dance class or something like that. She’s from Cordoba Argentina and way cool. We are gonna have some really good next months I think. There is a lot of potential in some of the people we are teaching. GO MISSIONARY WORK! WOO!!

Well I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week and stay awesome. Remember to be excellent to each other and party on dudes. Mi mancate, Vi voglio bene, e ci sentiamo!

Con Amore, Anziano Hill

Sassari, Sardinia - 1/18/2012

Dear Family,

I have amazing news for all of you. If you look at the attached photo you will see that I received the last puzzle pieces and completed the puzzle. Isn't that great!! I loved it too. You guys are all so wonderful. I've gotten a couple letters from members of the ward too that are fantastico! I'm still waiting on a ward mission leader as awesome as Brother Aina is. The Newhall 1^st ward Missionaries are getting a walk in the park haha just messin, I bet the work has its up and downs everywhere. Speaking of our ward so Bishop Larkins challenged you to read the Book of Mormon in 6 months? Snap. We were challenged here on the mission a while ago to read the Book of Mormon in the time it took for it to be translated. 64 days =P I spent many long days plowing my way through it but I did it so if I can do it in 2 months you guys can do it in 6 easy. And last but not least I want to apologize for my lame attitude last week. I'm much better now but I was very selfish that day and forgot to acknowledge a couple very important days. HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO MOM AND KRISTIN AND AUNT KRISTIN! I hope you guys have another year of wonderfulness and magic and all that jazz haha.

So as for cool things going on here we had a neat experience the other day. We had just gotten home from Cagliari and we called up an inactive member who I have never seen before in all my time being here named Sorella Nurra and she told us to come on over to meet her at a friend’s house. So we ran over there and sure enough we were able to teach a member lesson there and pick up her friend Akim as a new investigator. It was one of the last things we expected, especially because Akim is a Muslim from Morocco but she was very interested in our message and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic (good thing we have a ton of those oddly enough) So that’s what happened there and we will be meeting her later on in the week. Cool huh? And Sorella Nurra, even though she never comes to church was a major help to us. It's interesting how referrals can come through anyone, even the people you least expect.

Well I'll end my letter here for this week. Thanks for all the stuff you guys do for me and all the support and prayers. I miss you all and hope you all have a great week. Mi Mancate, Vi voglio bene e ci sentiamo.

Con amore, Anziano Kyle Hill

Sassari, Sardinia - 1/11/2012

Caro Famiglia

This email will be short this week because I am pretty sick. I'm pretty sure I caught the stomach flu from another elder who had it on Monday, bad Anziano Lacey getting me sick. I am feeling well enough though to get out here and e-mail you guys. I'm still missing puzzle pieces. The same ones as last week =( oh well. I can't believe Mike got to do the marching band stuff at Disneyland. That’s nuts. Sounds like you had fun in the desert burning stuff. Wish I could have been there. My thoughts are pretty scattered right now and I can't really think strait. So just know that I'm fine (I should be better tomorrow) The work here is going great and I'm loving it all =) Miss you all and hope you all have a great week. Ciao Ciao

Con amore, Anziano Hill

Sassari, Sardinia - 1/4/2012

Hello family,

Well how ya'll doin. It’s been a great week here in Sassari. Just cold wind and rain and explosions and stuff. You know just the normal. Haha =) but seriously, new years here is kinda nuts. Our mission president told us we had to be home by 6, no exceptions, because people die here. Well maybe not in Sassari but in places like Napoli and Palermo people blow up cars and throw televisions and refrigerators out the windows so... yeah. So we had a great new years just sitting in our apartment and going to bed at 10:30 like every other good missionary haha. That was about it for new years.

The work is picking up again though! Yay! These holiday weekends have been rough because everyone has been busy or away. We have been teaching this lady named Maddalena, which being translated is Magdalene. She is awesome. She is a friend of the Mastino family. She lives at their house actually I think. The Mastinos are way great, F.llo Mastino is a big shot lawyer here in Sardegna, and also a registered communist but I won't hold it against him haha. Communists can be strong members of the church too right? Well... she's probably our #1 investigator right now. Especially thanks to her friendship with members of the church. I think the most success in bringing people to the church is when work is done by the members, not through the missionaries. Over my mission I have become a firm believer in the ideal that the purpose of missionaries is much less to find but to teach and the finding should be done by the members. I believe this is the most efficient way because me and Anziano Harris can go around knocking on doors all stinkin’ day long and talk to NO ONE but when a member brings a friend to church or something like that it sparks actual interest in the church and they have fellowship in the church already to help support them though their new journey into to a new life style.

I hear you let Dani stay at our house to watch my siblings again. She's great isn't she? She has probably written me more letters here on the mission than maybe all of you combined. So shame on you all haha just kidding again. =) I hope you all have fun burning stuff in the desert too. I want pictures because that's probably the thing I miss most about new years back home. Also pictures from Christmas too. All the cousins puzzle pieces are still not here. I get about a letter every day or so though so it’s not all lost yet. I am missing Eliza, Matt, Brian, and Nicole. Without all the pieces though I can't ever really start to get the puzzle organized so I am praying that the rest gets here soon.

Oh I have a serious question. We were at a member’s house and they had the news on. I heard something along the lines that the Nation of Iran is declaring war on the US? Pretty courageous move for them if you ask me. Also how’s our good buddy Mitt doing in the primaries? And once again absentee ballot, don't forget it. I want an I voted sticker too haha. And way to go Aunt Becky on the stick it to the man email/post/blog thing that grandma sent me. I hope it really helps some people get a little better idea of who we are as Mormons and that we are actual normal people. Here in Italy for some reason everyone thinks we are Amish people. An educational video here in Italy that everyone watches in school talks about the Mormons but it talks about us 180 years ago when we all had beards and 10 wives and pushed handcarts and the video presented it so badly that all the Italians think we all still live that way haha. It’s quite funny sometimes many people ask where our beards are or if I will offer them one of my daughters.

So that’s about it I guess. Buon Anno! E Vi voglio bene! Alla prossima!

Con amore, Anziano Kyle Hill

Sassari, Sardinia - 12/29/2011

Caro Famiglia,

Well I really don't have anything to say to this week because I talked to you all on the phone =) so I'll send a quick little e-mail with a couple photos I guess. That's about it though from me. I have not really done anything since I last spoke to you other than we helped a guy move about all day yesterday. It was pretty much a disaster too because they weren't ready to be moved at all. We had to box and move everything. Nothing was organized and we were just throwing everything into boxes. It was crazy. Today we are going to go shopping for a new microwave, a new stove/oven, a fridge, and new sheets and blankets for our apartment. All our appliances are old and falling apart and the office made it clear that we should buy new stuff.

The pictures are of what Santa wrote on the floor when he came by Christmas night. (Anziano Hill- I brought you a gift because you’ve been a very good boy! From, Santa Claus p.s. Yes, I heard all of those nasty things you said about me, but I’m going to give you a second chance.) He got me a chocolate bar and brought my companion some tuna and an orange. He knows how to take care of us missionaries’ haha. The other picture is a picture of one of the pizzas we made. We make the dough from scratch and cook them in our oven. They are pretty stinkin' good.

Well it was nice to see everyone. (on Skype) I’m glad you guys are all doing great and stuff. I forgot to ask to see the new Honda civic that replaced the murdered Subaru Forrester. I'm bummed that my grandmas couldn't be there but it was nice to see everyone else. When it comes to mail I've received I've gotten a lot from almost everyone. I'm still missing a couple cousins in the puzzle. I hope all the pieces arrive. If I'm missing anyone I'll let you know so you can re-mail it.

Thanks again for the package you are sending me. I'm sorry for being such a baby about my hygiene but the stuff here really stinks, haha. So just some body wash (the Irish Spring stuff is my favorite), shampoo, deodorant, and also toothpaste because after seeing the general state of the Italian teeth (which is nothing pretty to look at) I have lost all trust in Italian toothpaste. That’s about it though. Thank you! =)

I love and miss you all. Have a great New Years. I'll talk to you all later =)

Con Amore, Anziano Kyle Hill