8/1/2012 - Bitonto, Puglia

Ciao Tutti,

            Well this has been a BUSY last few weeks. Quite a change from what I have been experiencing my last few transfers here. From traveling to appointments, to whatever else random stuff we need to do, I feel like I've been everywhere this last week. But the real hero this week is our branch president, President Panisco. He has given us so many rides to so many random little places for appointments and picking people up. I thought the poor old man was gonna fall asleep at the wheel this Sunday. We had to wake up at 5:30 to get picked up by him to drive out to a city 40 minutes away, to pick up an American member who had just moved in, to get her to church. He slept only 4 hours or so the night before also. Than after a huge lunch in church he drove us out to meet our new huge investigator family out in Palombio (a little town 20 or so minutes away). That guy is such a champ. We owe him something nice. 

            So I guess you're wondering about my companion. He is okay. We went to the Dr. in Roma and he wasn't sure what was up with him so he has to go see a specialist in a couple months. But no worries. Everything should be okay.

            Our trip to Rome was great! I have a ton of pics but I don't want to spend another 20 minutes uploading them all to you guys haha. It was fun. We got on a SUPER FAST AWESOME TRAIN called the "Freccia Argento" or "Silver Arrow" in English. We got to Rome in 4 hours, stopped by the church, ate lunch with the Assistants (who are both really good friends from the beginning of the mission) and then we hit the trams and buses and saw some cool stuff. I know Rome like the back of my hand now. We ran into a couple members on vacation too. It was my first time getting "hey elder'd" as we call it. We saw the Vatican and a couple other things. I ate a sandwich with a bunch of African guys under the obelisk in front of Santa Maria Maggiore. We then went to the Doctor and then to the assistants apt. I slept on the balcony on an air mattress! It was actually really interesting to sleep outside under the Roman night sky. The stars are very clear in Rome surprisingly. Way peaceful. I slept really well. We got a train this morning and here we are now. Sat next to a woman studying to become a prosecutor, she was reading a 1000 page massive text book filled with laws and articles. She had to memorize it all… poor thing.

            Okay, and to answer your questions. The family we are teaching is great. They are coming to church next Sunday. The branch is doing awesome. I’m eating fine. So no ci preoccupate!

I hear Elliot and Carlton come home soon. Give those guys big hugs from me! The mission goes by way to fast. Their farewells feel like yesterday. I'm working on letters to all you guys so hang in there! Have a great trip at Newport and I miss you all so much! VI VOGLIO BENE!!

         Con amore!

                 Anziano Kyle Hill

7/25/2012 - Bitonto, Puglia

Ciao tutti,

 Another week and still kicking! Got all your letters this week too. Thank you so much. I'm gonna have some time to write you all back because I get to take a nice long train ride to Rome this week because my companion has a doctor’s appointment. No worries about him though, he’s a beast so I'm sure he'll be okay. In other news we have had a couple miracles this week. We were able to start teaching a family of 8 this Monday! 8! A contact gave us a call last week because his father died and he wanted to know if we could come help him and his family. We went to their house Monday night with our branch president and taught a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. The only thing was that after an hour and a half we still hadn't covered the Pre-existence! They had so many questions about everything we taught! But they were good questions and to the subject matter. They really were curious about our pre-mortal life and the nature of the soul and just wanted to understand. It was really amazing and our branch president was a huge help. Beyond that things with Piero are still going forward. He just has a lot of difficulties in his life and a lot of trials to overcome before he's ready for baptism and things. We just gotta work "piano piano" and really help him understand the atonement. We are preparing also for our English course. We are going to take a break during August because everyone is going out of town on vacation and then we will pick it up back in September. We have started sticking publicity up EVERYWHERE. We'll see how that works out; English course is always a good way to find new investigators. 

            Well that about finishes this email. I hope you all have a great week and be excellent to each other! I hope Batman was enjoyable. Guess I still gotta wait 8 more months =P oh well, missionary work is better than batman right? Make sure you keep those families in Colorado in your prayers. We heard about what happened Friday night all the way here in Italy so it’s a big deal. I love and miss you all more than anything!

           Con amore

                Anziano Kyle Hill

7/18/2012 - Bitonto, Puglia

Cari tutti,

             Holy cow.  So many emails this week! Got all the pictures and everything =) and loved them all. You guys are all so great. Got the emails from Mike and dad too. I had no idea there were so many new roller coasters at six flags. I guess they started making some money again. This week has been pretty normal again. Nothing too crazy. Last week we went to a coastal city for P-day, but the pictures I got just aren't very good. It was amazing but I suggest you google image searching it. It’s called Polignano A Mare and it's amazing. The beach there was beautiful too. There are so many beautiful beaches here in Italy. It’s such a shame that as a missionary the beaches are a NO GO ZONE! Haha Just shows how much I have to come back here one day. Maybe if we are lucky Dad will take us all to Brazil =) haha but that is a long shot. You know Italy is the only 2nd to Brazil in world cup wins! 5-4! So dad is right when he says they may or may not like Soccer more than us. But in 2014 we'll see about that. 

             So this morning we played soccer, ate here in Bari with some other missionaries and now I’m here at this little internet point. This week went well. Piero was at church this Sunday when Sorella Defeo gave a talk on the proclamation of the family. He seemed okay at the end of church. We will meet with him again tomorrow, so wish us luck. There’s not really anything other than that. A less active member named Albert, an African from Sierra Leone, has been living on the streets here in Bari for the last couple weeks but our prayers were answered when an English course student and the Anziani of Bari were able to get him into a shelter so he doesn't have to sleep on the streets anymore. 

              That about clears up my week. I hope everything’s going well back home. Say happy birthday to all the Lindsays for me. And no worries, I'm still getting your letters and loving all of them. Have a great week and I love and miss all of you. Ci sentiamo e vi voglio bene!

                

                Con amore

                      Anziano Kyle Hill 

7/11/2012 - Bitonto, Puglia

Cari tutti,

       Well, survived another transfer call. Me and Bradshaw will do another one here in Bitonto together. This is big for Bradshaw because he's a city jumper so he's pretty excited to finally be sitting in a city for a while. This week I got both your package and a letter from Kristin written in Carp. I would like to thank her for her improved hand writing. Speaking another language, I forget a bit of English and reading is not as easy as it used to be. I find myself pronouncing English words wrong all the time. You guys are going to have some fun making fun of me when I get home because it may take a while to get back into the "groove" of American society again =P Did you go through the same thing when you got home dad? Also while you served in Brazil were you already serving in wards or was there branches you served in? Little ones like mine? Just curious. 

      So as for missionary stuff this week, well, all just pretty normal and the same. Piero is progressing and came to church again this Sunday. He does however have some personal trials that he will need to overcome before baptism so it may actually be a while with him. We'll see how it goes. As for others though there are none so we are just working for people to teach. We have been helping this kid named Pietro learn English because he sings in a band and last Monday while at his house we were able to talk a while with his family and they are very promising, so we'll see how that goes when we see them next time.

      I really wish I had more I could write you guys. It's hard now thinking of stuff. We are going somewhere supposedly very awesome for P-day today so expect to get pictures next week. Have a great week everyone and I miss you all and love you all. Keep up the good work. Tell Mike to keep up the good work at Six Flags. I still have dreams about when I worked there haha. So it really is an experience that he'll never forget. Statemi bene!

         Con amore,

                   Anziano Kyle Hill

7/4/2012 - Bitonto, Puglia

Sup ya'll (thought to start this one with an American greeting)
                 What a wonderful day to celebrate how awesome America is and has always been, being the promised land for the gathering of Israel, the land of endless green hills and rivers, the land of freedom where the saints of God will build Zion and live in peace forever. CHOICE ABOVE ALL OTHER LANDS! So we really do have reason to celebrate today. I hope you all are having fun today. Oh how I miss going to those good old parades in Ojai as a kid. I may take my kids there one day even if Grandma Nancy doesn't live there anymore. So today we came here to Bari (where we still are) and met up with a ton of other missionaries. We all played soccer and ate some good old BBQ hamburgers and stuff. It's been way fun but I’m exhausted because it’s like a 36 degrees here and the humidity is outta the roof so it feels like 100000000000000000 degrees.
                 A miracle this week is that we found a new investigator that is awesome. We had a helping hands activity this Saturday that was wayyyyyyy fun. We went to an institute and spent the day with special needs people. We had a little party with them and really made their day. It was super nice. A member brought a friend to the activity named Piero; he wanted to help out and enjoys serving others. He really loved the activity and the member also invited him to church the following Sunday. He came to church and we did a lesson with him and during fast a testimony meeting he really felt the presence of the spirit and told everyone he felt something good there. The members got really excited about it all haha. We left him the Book of Mormon and all the invites and everything. We saw him at English course yesterday and during the spiritual thought some the students were having a discussion and Piero came in and told them that he was a member of our church and kind of explained the Book of Mormon. WHAT!?!? That blew me away a little when he said that. I guess we gotta tell him he's gotta be baptized next before he can go around telling people he’s a member of our church but still that was a really neat thing. I'm quite excited for him. Hope it continues to go well like this.
          We have done quite a bit of service activities this week too, working at the old people home and at an alzheimers place. Old people rock! We usually get all dressed up and feed them! It's funny because a lot of them are just like little kids again and scream the whole time telling you "I’M NOT HUNGRY" or "STOP, I WANT THE BANANAS!!" but the nurses say you gotta feed them anyways no matter how hard they scream for help so it’s a bit of a battle.

Also there were the soccer games this week. I sent you the video of the one against Germany. WE DESTROYED THEM. However this Sunday Spain put us right back into our place in the championship with a 4-0 loss =( ouch. They had the advantage though because one of our players got injured and wasn't allowed a replacement so we were down a player the last half of the game. We can say Spain got lucky. The Italians returned to normal and no craziness. I can only imagine what would of happened if we had one. 
          I love you all and miss you. Got some emails from many members of the family this week. I'm glad everyone’s thinking of me =) I’m always thinking of you guys. State mi bene! Vi voglio bene e ci sentiamo!
                      Con amore
                                Anziano Kyle Hill