Week 60

Hey!

This week was an interesting one.  It was pretty rough, filled with some disappointment, but we did have some good things happen still.   A couple of our investigators dropped us this week and told us that they didn't want to be taught anymore... Shelia was a big blow to us.  Shelia had committed to come to church a week ago Sunday but she never showed up.  When we went to see why she didn't come, she went off about the lady who was excommunicated recently.  Shelia is very passionate about women having equal opportunities to do things and that totally rubbed her the wrong way.  My heart sunk when she told us that but I am trying to not let it bug me.  Our other investigator, Terri, was sad too but not as sad as Shelia.  We found that Terri responded really well to music and so we had decided to sing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and teach the Restoration.  The lesson started out really well... until we started to use the pamphlet to teach the Restoration.  We had left a pamphlet with Terri on a previous lesson and after we sang, Terri started to nit-pick everything in the pamphlet, wording and all.  Terri wasn't willing to listen or learn about anything new.  It's always sad when that happens but it happens on a mission, unfortunately. 

On the plus side, we had our Community BBQ and it was a big success :)  There were lots of people there and we managed to run out of food in an hour and a half, with 1 1/2 hours still to go.  There were a lot of nice people there and we were able to talk with some people who seemed pretty interested :)

I think that's about it for the week.  Can't believe that it's already the end of June!  Time is flying!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

Week 59

Hey!

This week was great! Some exciting things happened! 

Transfers..... I am STAYING in Lakota Creek with Sister Swapp!  This is going to be a great transfer! :)  I can't wait! Elder Dawson is staying but Elder Nguyen is leaving.... sad day but he will do great wherever Heavenly Father needs him!

We met with our investigator Shelia and she committed to come to church on Sunday (which is huge for her)! Unfortunately, she didn't show for some reason, but she was really committed to come so we will help her get there this Sunday! Courtney is committed to baptism on July 19th! We ended up pushing her baptism back because her In-laws want to come and that is the earliest they are able to come. We received some direction today from the First Presidency to teach lesson 5 before baptism as well as after (normally we teach it after baptism).  I thought it was really cool how Heavenly Father really does have a plan for our lives and He prepares us, and the people that we work with, in ways that will bless us for eternity!

We were able to do service on Friday for Steel Lake Park and then we did an entire zone service yesterday pulling weeds at a baseball diamond! :)  It was super fun!  I got super sunburned yesterday but it was great anyway!  I just am really sore now so hopefully it won't last too long!

That's about it for the week!  Hope everyone has a great one and finds many opportunities to serve Heavenly Father this week!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

Week 58

Hey hey!

So this email is going to pretty short because I don't have a lot of time.  This week was pretty good :)  I was exhausted all week from not sleeping super well but it still was good :)

Life still continues with talking with everyone.... I am continuing to work really hard at it and I am slowly growing but I am going to work even harder at talking with everyone this week.  I have seen some cool blessings and experiences from doing it, I just have to make it a habit now :)

Our investigator, Courtney, is still committed to baptism on July 5th and she is doing SO good! :)  We taught the Word of Wisdom to her this week and was totally fine with not drinking coffee anymore :) I really feel like she knows that the church is true and she knows how much just meeting with us has changed her life and influenced her family! :)  I love her and her family so much and am so happy for them! :)

We had zone meeting this past week and it was so good!  We talked about families and how we can connect that to the gospel and help others realize how the family is central to the gospel and the Plan of Salvation.  I learned so much!

Mom, Sister Russell (the one you texted for a few hours) is moving to Utah this weekend and she said she is willing to take a package of stuff for me.  I am sending all my winter stuff home since I won't need it, and a bunch of other stuff that I am just lugging around/not using.  She probably won't get it to you until next week but it will be coming :)

Dad (and everyone else out there), I hope you had a happy Father's Day :)  

Well, hope all is well at home or wherever you are :)  Keep up the great work with everything you are doing :)  Love you all!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

Week 57

Hey!

This week was great!  Honestly, I don't remember too much of what happened... just busy and quick.  We had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon with Courtney last Monday and she is progressing well!  She is still coming to church and has been reading the Book of Mormon too!  We were also able to have a lot of opportunities for service this week :)  I loved being out in the sun and helping others :) This next week should be great as well!  We have a lot going on, which is awesome!

I am still working hard at talking with everyone but it is slowly getting better :)  I was able to have 1 conversation a day with someone which is better than what it has been :)  I will definitely continue to work up to 10 conversations a day as I replace my fear with faith :)

This morning was interesting..... It started off with me waking up at 4:00am, wide awake and ready to start the day.  I fell asleep until 6:30 and the day continued as normal.  10:00 rolls around and we are waiting for the Federal Way Sisters to come pick us up.  We text them and get no response from them... so we text our District Leader because we start to worry that something happened to them.  Finally at 12:00pm, the Zone Leaders call and ask, "What would it take for us to be forgiven? We rearranged P-day rides and sort of forgot about the two of you."  Such a funny experience.... This week is going to be interesting if it's starting out like this....

Thanks for everything!  Love you all!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

P.S. Mom, the camera cards are fine to be sent whenever you can :)  I should be fine if it's not for a couple weeks :)  Another question, in the next package you send, could you send my graduation dress, cream shoes, and cream belt?  The belt should be in one of the drawers of my dresser.  I don't know why I didn't bring them with me but if you can get them to fit that would be great!  If not, don't worry about it :) Love you!

Week 56

Hey everyone!

This week was great!  We saw so many miracles as we really made the effort of talking with everyone! :)  We had some great lessons with investigators and less-active members this week but I really saw the miracles start on Friday while we were on exchanges with Sister Wolfe!  It was so great!  While we were on exchanges, I noticed that I was compelled to go and talk with everyone, which I haven't been super great at (as far as transitioning to a gospel message).  When we were talking with someone and other people passed by, I was thinking to myself "wow, there's tons of people to talk with and some of them we don't get to because we are in other conversations."  It was amazing to see how the Lord really places people in our path or He places us in their path.  We were able to find a bunch a great potential investigators and even set up some appointments with them for this week!  I am so excited to continue to talk with everyone now! :)

On Friday, we were pulling into an apartment complex and noticed a girl sitting on the curb and she looked like she was or had been crying.  As we drove past, Sister Swapp and I both felt like we needed to go talk to her.  We parked the car and then walked back to where she was sitting.  Her name is Holly, she's 20, and she is having a tough life right now.  Her boyfriend just passed away, she's homeless, and she has a rough family situation.  We just started to talk to her and testified to her about how the Savior truly knows how she felt and about the Plan of Salvation.  It was cool to see how her countenance changed while we were talking to her.  By the time we finished talking to her, she looked happier and was excited to read the Book of Mormon.  I hope we will be able to meet up with her again so we can keep teaching her.  I think this made more of an impact on me because of seeing the miracles that come from talking with everyone on exchanges.  I think if this had happened before exchanges, i don't know if I would have gone up and talked to her about the gospel.

Other big news this week..... COURTNEY IS COMMITTED TO BAPTISM ON JULY 5th! :)  We had a fantastic lesson with her on Friday.  We taught the Restoration and all of us could feel the Spirit so strongly!  She had no hesitation when she said that she would get baptized which was awesome!  She's been to church 3 times, occasionally drinks coffee (don't know when her last cup was) and is reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it and Joseph Smith!  She is GOLDEN!  Sister Swapp and I are super excited and so is Courtney.  Miracle!

That's about it for the week! :)  I can't wait to see what miracles come to us this week!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Megan Hills

P.S. Look up Genesis 49:22-- Elder Dawson found this during the week.  It's a prophecy about the Book of Mormon :)  Apparently, a long time ago, people would call the ocean a "wall" because they couldn't cross it.  Such a cool thing to think about!