Week 51

This week was pretty good :)  Nothing too exciting happened this week other than everyday missionary work :)  Saturday was great though because we had an opportunity to do some unplanned service for some people that were moving.  I think that that was probably my first time having the people accept the help that we offered.  That normally doesn't happen so it made me super excited and super happy!

This week was also my 1 YEAR MARK!  Super crazy!  We went and got some super good cake pops from Starbucks a couple days after to celebrate :)

Friday, we also were able to go back to the park and help out again :)  Super fun!  I got a little sunburned but it was great regardless :)

Sunday, I gave my first talk at church while being on my mission!  It was on the Power of the Atonement to change lives.  It went really well :)  I spoke with a missionary who just returned from Argentina about 2 weeks ago :)  We also were able to have a Missionary Devotional that night.  It was super good!! I was so happy and felt so privileged to be able to sing in the choir for the devotional!  I really felt the Spirit and definitely was glad that I was there.  Heavenly Father truly made some beautiful truths known to me there.  This week has had some tough moments and it was amazing to know that I was going to receive everything I needed according to Heavenly Father's time, even if it wasn't how I was expecting it to come.  I know that Heavenly Father is there for me and that He loves me so much!  I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve a mission and for all the things that I have learned and will continue to learn!

Mom, to answer your questions:

1) Sister Swapp's first name is Cassandra, she has been out for 4 months, she thinks her uncle made a blog for her but she doesn't know what it's called.

2) I love the ward! It's such a great ward to work in!  Lots of stuff to do and the members are great to work with.

3) We are super busy!  We have a baptism on May 10th that we are super excited for!  We are actually trying to do quite a bit of reactivation as well.  It's definitely a nice change from how Graham was :)

4) Our address is (edited)

5) There are actually quite a few stores around our area that we can shop at.  We have Kohl's and definitely more places.  Somewhere there is kind of like a mall that we can go to as well.  Haven't done that yet though because the Elders take our car on P-day so they can get their things done

6) I can't see the Glass Museum from my area but it really isn't very far from my area though so there might be places where I could see it in the Zone.

Pictures: One of all the candy we got on Easter, one of us at the park, and one of a Hard Rock Cafe glass that we found in our cupboard (thought you would enjoy this Dad)

Love you all so much! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

Week 50... one year already?!?!

Hey Everyone!

This week was great!  It was super busy but I love when it is like that :)

This week we were able to meet with Shelia.  We were able to figure out some of her concerns and worked to resolve them.  We also gave her a talk from one of the General Authorities about receiving personal revelation and she was super excited to read it!  We also told her where she could get more articles and she was excited about that too!  

We also met with Jennifer this week and had a great lesson with her.  We really see some potential with her and can't wait to continue to meet with her.  

This week we also met with Rob again.  He now is taking action to stop drinking coffee by throwing out the coffee that is at his work!  We are so excited for him!  His is committed to baptism on May 10th!  He is super excited and really wants to be baptized!

This week we also had the opportunity to do a lot of service!  Service is the best!  It makes my day and week feel so much more productive :) We were able to go to Steel Lake Park on Friday with all of the missionaries in the Federal Way Stake!  That was super fun! :)  We were shoveling dirt and gravel and hauling wheelbarrows everywhere for 4 hours!  It was fun to have the opportunity to give service and be able to talk with other missionaries that we don't see all the time.  We have the opportunity to go back in about 2 weeks to do it all again!  I was super sore afterwards, but nothing that a little ibuprofen and IcyHot couldn't fix :)  I will send some pictures next week of the service project :)

It was great to be able to celebrate Easter this week too!  I am so thankful for the Savior and His life and Resurrection.  I am so thankful for this gospel and the precious blessing it is in my life.  I am so thankful for the opportunity and privilege that I have to share that with the world.  All I'm going to say is God is good! :)

Love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

P.S. Mom, I did get your package!  Thanks a bunch! :)

Week 49

Hey!

This week was great!  Nothing too exciting happened but we were super busy contacting a lot of people.   We weren't able to have a ton of lessons this week but I still felt like we were being productive regardless.  We are still really working with Rob.  He is amazing!  He quit drinking coffee cold turkey so that he can be ready for his baptism on May 3rd!  I am so excited for him!  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to meet with Jennifer this week so she is no longer committed to baptism on the 19th.  We are going to continue to work with her, it's just getting in contact with her that is the struggle right now.

We also are really trying to work more with the less-active members of the ward and so far have found some really receptive members who are wanting to hear the missionary lessons again.  There are a couple of them that are part-member families too so that makes me even more excited! :)

This week, the Elders had a baptism for their investigator Fred.  We were able to go because we were helping with the program.  That was a cool experience.  Fred is an Islander so it was cool to see all of his family there to support him.

This week there was also a child-of-record baptism and we were asked to participate in the program as well.  It was so great to just be able to feel the Spirit so strongly.

So another random thought, but the Church is doing an Easter campaign and they put out a video that is titled "Because of Him."  It is such a great one!  It talks all about the Savior's life and about the true meaning of Easter.  I would invite all of you to watch it! Hope you enjoy it!

easter.mormon.org

Pictures: so our area goes all the way up to Puget Sound (Poverty Bay and Dumas Bay to be more exact) and by the bay there are TONS of huge houses :)  I got some really good pictures of the bay while we were up there!

Love you all! Happy Easter!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

Week 48... Week one in Lakota Creek!

Hey!

This week has been great! :)  I am so thankful for this opportunity that I have to serve here in the Lakota Creek ward!  I have already enjoyed my first week here!  I have already learned a lot and am excited to continue to learn the area better!  This week I have really been working on trying to learn the area and figure out ways that we can better help the ward.  So we have Elders in the ward as well and Elder Dawson (from my MTC district) is serving in the ward with us! :)  His companion is from Vietnam and both of them are great to work with!  Our ward mission leader is great too!  He is black (he prefers to be called 'chocolate') and is so fun!  He is also teaching us self defense!  He is going to be great to work with as well!

Sister Swapp is a great companion!  She is such a sweetheart and is a hard worker.  She is from St. George, Utah.  It's super fun because we get along great and really enjoy a lot of the same things!  This is going to be a great transfer with her!

This week were we able to have a lesson with our investigator Shelia.  It was a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.   We also told her about General Conference and while we were there, she set the TV so that it would record the sessions so she could watch them!  It was so cool to see how excited she was to be able to watch them!  

We also had a lesson with our investigator Rob.  He was really nice and understood the gospel of Jesus Christ when we taught it!  I am so excited for him and his willingness to be baptized on the 3rd of May.  He is struggling with trying to get off coffee right now but he is doing pretty well.  Hopefully he can break that habit.

Conference Weekend was great!  Like I always say, the best two weekends of the year!  I love conference!  I learned so much from this conference as well! I loved President Uchtdorf, Quinton L. Cook, and Elder Bednar's talks!  I actually just loved it all.  I am so thankful for all the things that I was able to learn from conference and for the things I can implement into my life. 

That's about it for this first week in Lakota Creek.  Thank you for your love and prayers!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

"Gratitude is a catalyst to ALL Christlike Attributes" -- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Sister Parry and Sister Hills
Graham
Elk Plain Ward
Transfer Day

Sister Swapp and Sister Hills
Federal Way
Lakota Creek Ward

Week 47.... Transfer Calls!

This week was pretty good :)  It was kind of a blur so I don't really remember what happened. All I really remember about this week was that we went on exchanges and I learned so much from Sister Taylor, especially on how to better implement the training that we have received. I received quite a few ideas for how to better work with members and am excited to try them out! :)

This week is also Transfers!  I am leaving the Elk Plain Ward after being here for 7 months and will be serving in the Lakota Creek ward in Federal Way.  My new companion is Sister Cassandra Swapp (I have never met her before) and I'm excited!  This is going to be a great transfer!  I can't wait to see what happens up there!

I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had to serve here in the Elk Plain ward.  I have really enjoyed my time here and I can't wait to serve in my next area!  I am so thankful for the opportunity serve the Lord and the people in the Washington Federal Way mission.  I have learned so much and know that I will continue to learn the things that Heavenly Father needs me to know.  I am so excited for General Conference!  It's going to be such a great weekend!

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

2 Pictures: I was messing around with my camera settings again and one of all four of us at exchanges.