More Tuvalu!

Talofa! This week had a lot of surprises to say the least, but it was still good. This week we had two elders from Fiji come so that they could interview our investigators for baptism. They are both from the United States, one from Ephraim, UT and one from Oregon (I forget which city, maybe Portland). It was fun to have them here!

Well, the biggest surprise this week was that I was unable to work for four days. On Tuesday, I had a little bit of diarrhea and because the other elders were there, I stayed home that day. The next day we woke up really early to walk to the skinniest part of the island (the causeway between two islands actually). I didn't feel very good, but I thought I'd be ok. I had a really bad headache when we went back to the flat and I could tell my head was really stuffed up and I had a little cough. When we got back I just laid down and couldn't get up, I had a fever and just rested for like three days. I really only had a chest cold (we called the area doctor just so he could tell me what to do so I could start feeling better). I was really grateful for the 200 tablets of Ibuprofen I brought from america. It helped me feel a lot better and it helped me manage my fever. I feel quite a lot better today and I think I'll be able to work this week. It was good those other two elders were here to help me and my companion.

Well the other surprise this week was that our baptism on Saturday was postponed due to rough and dirty seas and bad weather. We feel confident though that next week will be clear and beautiful. It should be a really beautiful baptism.

I forgot to mention! The elders from Fiji brought me a really nice package from my family! Thank you so much! I was so pleasantly surprised to find lots and lots of christmas candy and nerds and my favorite reese's pieces (It all was my favorite actually!) My companion and many of the tennants in our building shared with me in the delight of that package. I also enjoyed the CDs that were inside! Especially Joseph Smith a Nashville Tribute.

This week we're hoping for sunshine both for my health, the weather, and for our baptism. I even get to baptize one of the boys named Moesi. I didn't expect to baptize any of them!

I got a lot of emails from you this week and it made me really happy! I hope you have a great week!

Only 10 days until I go back to Fiji, and then we're coming back here quickly I think.

Love you,
Elder Hill

Big Storm!

Hello family and friends,

This week was very good! It was fairly uneventful except that we had a big storm yesterday and only 14 people came to church because of it. It was a really good week for finding and teaching investigators though this week. We had a lot more member present lessons this week too, because we're teaching a lot of people who are from part member families and such. So in total we had 23 lessons this week and with the recent convert and less active lessons we had, we taught 27 lessons this week. I'm tired!

I think this week I will tell a little bit about our 12 investigators that are getting baptized this week, so that you can get a feeling for who we're teaching. They didn't get baptized two weeks ago, contrary to what I accidentally wrote. (reasons why I need to proofread my emails number 10) This week is the big week, hopefully. We're hoping the sea will calm down enough for them to get baptized in the sea, otherwise we'll have to postpone it or think of something else. After the big storm this week, the water is very restless both in the lagoon and outside of the lagoon.

So here they are:

The Tekueia family: There are five in the Tekueia family that are old enough to get baptized. The son Teia began coming to church about two years ago. Then the other two sons went to church too. The mom, Patelli, had just started going to church when Elder Key and his last companion Elder Wall got here. They began teaching the family and they were good, brother Tekueia didn't seem very interested. As the teaching went on, however, Brother Tekueia started to change and became interested. Before Key and Wall left, Brother Tekueia came to church and while we were away he quit smoking and the whole family goes every week (they even came yesterday despite the storm.) They are so excited to be baptized and will probably be sealed in the temple in one year's time.

Meli and Jefasei: These are two little girls whose parents are less active members. Their older brother and sister got baptized when Elder Wall and Elder Key were here and now they want to get baptized. Meli is really smart, but Jefasei is really shy. They have younger twin baby sisters that are always walking around naked, it's hilarious.

Moesi, Kalafaga, and Lala: Moesi and Kalafaga just started coming to church because their parents want them to be good kids. They have an older sister whose name is rosemary who really wants to get baptized but had to go back to school on another island before we had time to baptize her (same with Teia Tekueia), but she will be baptized in April hopefully. Lala is their cousin who started coming to church while Kalafaga stayed with her and her family.

Pukeata: Pukeata is interesting. Her baby girl was really sick with heart problems about 2 years ago and she went to every minister and priest from other churches to heal her baby girl. The only ones that helped were our missionaries. They gave her a priesthood blessing and she was healed. Pukeata's husband is a returned missionary but he is always drunk now. She has come faithfully to church for probably 2 years, but has yet to be baptized into the church. Her husband wants to change his life too.

Sister Famanatu: Her story is tragic. Her son died and she needed to have the funeral somewhere. She knows the Branch President so she asked if they could have the funeral at the chapel (we don't have a real chapel, just a building we rent.) She then started coming to church and she really loves the gospel. We gave her an english book of mormon but she didn't really understand it. So she went to the chapel and got her own Samoan book of mormon (the Book of Mormon is not yet in Tuvaluan). She loves the gospel and she's really nervous about her interview, but she'll pass it really well. She's afraid she'll forget something.

Tilia: Tilia is 10 years old and her Father is the 1st counsellor to president Niko. She just wasn't baptized when she was eight. She already knows what we teach her and she's really smart. Her family always gives us iceblocks and ice cream when we go there. It's really fun!

That's our twelve that are getting baptized. I'm really excited for them. We'll get pictures with them, no worries.

Today I went to our Indian Friend Kris and he cut my hair. He's a really good barber and it only cost 4 dollars. What?!

Good week! No worries here!

Love you,
Elder Paul Hill

Toku palangi tena

Talofa! It's been another really great week in Tuvalu! I will admit we had a few desperate days last week where we didn't eat anything but crackers and water until dinner, but the people here in Tuvalu won't let us starve. Then our support finally came in, so it all worked out in the end.

We are still looking forward to the 13 baptisms that we have coming on the 29th of this month and almost all of them have finished the missionary lessons and are ready to be interviewed. Some missionaries were supposed to come from Fiji this week, but it looks like they will have to wait until next week on the 25th. I don't know why but it always seems hard to get a flight to Tuvalu...

This week we had a really good teaching week. We had 29 total lessons for the whole week, which is the highest I've had so far in my mission. We hope to keep it up so that we can really light up this area with the gospel. There's a lot of people that are really prepared. I wish I could share all of the people that we are teaching here in Tuvalu with you, but there is simply isn't time and you would get bored after reading about 5 or 6 of them but I will tell you about a few.

One funny story from this week is we were walking and I heard a little girl call out "Toku palangi tena." I didn't really understand, but Elder Key just started laughing. He said did you know what she said? I said something like there's that white guy or something. He said, "No she said There's my palangi (palangi is what they call white people.)" I just laughed. It was really funny!

There's one really good family that we teach called the Tanendoa family. They have probably 5 or six children that are older, my age or older mostly, and they all still live together. A lot of them are married, so needless to say, there are a lot of people at their house. Well we have been teaching them for two weeks maybe now and they are great. They invited us to a birthday party last week and so of course we went. There was so much food! And I surprised myself by eating a lot (remember we were very poor last week). Then before we left they had cake and ice cream. Well we all got a little piece of cake and then we were supposed to wait. Well me and my companion didn't know so we just started chowing down. Then I noticed that no one else was eating so I stopped, and I looked and Elder Key had eaten some cake too. I was way embarrassed! Then we said something like "Manuia te tausaga." which means like bless this year or something like that. I'm still kind of lost in Tuvaluan. Then the Father of the family ole Tanendoa himself said, "Shove it in!" We all laughed and then I finished my cake. It was really fun!

One really cool person we found this week is a girl named Hsiu. She is 19 years old like me and we were playing four square with some kids one day when her and her friend Precious came and started talking to us. We chatted with them and they told us all about how they were in Assemblies of God members and they really wanted us to study the scriptures with them some time. Then they went to go play volleyball with the youth of their church. We were on that side of the island again another day and we saw them. Hsiu said she wanted to ask a question but she wasn't really sure if she should. WE were worried. Then her question was, "What's the difference between your church and other churches?" What an excellent question!! That's our favorite question actually (ps we got asked that question like 4 times this week. That shows you how prepared Tuvalu and its people are.) So we share with her about prophets and the restoration of Christ's church through Joseph Smith. She really liked it and we're going to see her again this Wednesday.

I can't express how grateful I am to be here. It's surreal to see how the Lord has prepared these people! They are all so hungry for the truth.

Well I love you and I can't express how nice it is to receive your emails, even if they're only a line or two long.

Elder Paul Hill

Tuvalu

Talofa! Ea Koutou? This week has been a whirlwind of activity and it really feels more like a month, just because we have done so much! It is still super hot here in Tuvalu! I think the only time I've been hotter than I am here was when I was at Masada in Israel by the Dead Sea. That was drier too... so at least it's a little cooler than that. The sun is hot and maybe my skin is a little tanner I don't know... The ocean is beautiful though, and we get to walk by it every single day. Yesterday when we were taking a break we just sat by the ocean and rested for a little bit, because one of our investigators lives a long way from our house. This week coming is going to be interesting because total assets, Me and Elder Key have about 30 dollars Australian. So it will be an opportunity for us to rely on the Lord and on the members here. Food is pretty expensive here, because everything is imported, so that is where our money got sucked into.

Where to start? I'll start with me learning Tuvaluan. It is coming... very slowly though. Actually, I think I'm quicker than I give myself credit for. I am able to teach principles of the lessons now, very painfully. I think it was easier with Fijian because I didn't know what the real Fijians sounded like so I thought I was better than I really was. Now I am very self conscious because I don't know the grammar or the vocabulary of this language. The Lord is helping me though. It's actually a relatively simple language compared to French and English and all that. Even compared to Fijian, but there is always something hard about a language and this one it is hard to know what all the little words mean in the middle of the words I know. I am reading from the Tuvaluan Bible though and the people here are very helpful with the language so slowly by slowly I am learning.

Our investigators here are really good. There's one woman who I think is in here mid forties or something that we teach who doesn't really know english. Well the only Book of Mormon we have is in English so that's what we gave to her. She decided though that she would understand Samoan better though, so she went and got a samoan Book of Mormon from the church. Then when we came back we were so excited that she had shown such a great desire to read the Book of Mormon and found her own way to do it.

We have twelve investigators that are going to get baptized this week, which is amazing! Believe me, it's not because we're amazing, we try our best, but it is because this Area is just on fire! These people are ready for the gospel. Many feel dissatisfied with their church so they really like the things we teach.

One cool investigator we picked up this week is Kris. We go and eat at this Indian Curry Restaurant every day pretty much because it is cheap and the food is good. The lady who runs it is really nice and she says that we are like her sons because we always come. She really likes when I try to speak Hindi too, even though I hardly know anything. Anyways, her son is Kris. One day we came into the Curry Restaurant to eat and Curry mom asked us if we could teach Kris the Bible, because he's really interested in learning about it. We told her of course we can! So we came back and started teaching Kris about God and Jesus Christ, and he didn't really know any of it! By the end, though he understood pretty well. Well we came back the next time, and he had told his mom that everything was very clear. She said that he talks to Jehovah's witnesses all the time but the things they say don't really make sense, but the things we taught were really clear. I'm excited to keep teaching him.

Today marks one month until we return to Fiji. I'm not really looking forward to going back to Fiji, just because I love this place so much. I am kind of excited though to see other missionaries and to hear a language that I know again. I'm pretty sure I will be coming back to Tuvalu though shortly after our brief visit to Fiji, and it's possible I'll have a new companion. I hope not because I really like my companion now, mostly. Plus, he still needs to teach me Tuvaluan. I need to be fluent!!!

Yesterday we spoke in church and sang. It went really well except the first song. We sang Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy, but I could not remember the tune for the life of me. I also started it too low! Man it was a disaster but then I talked. A little in Tuvaluan but mostly in English and then we sang I'll go where you want me to go. That song went really well! Then my companion talked mixing Tuvaluan and Samoan, and it was really good!

Well I love all of you, and I hope that you'll pray for me to learn this language, because I will need every prayer and every ounce of faith. I know the Lord can help me do it though!

Alofa atu,

Elder Hill

Almost to Tuvalu

Ta Lofa Family,

In 8 more days, I will be saying that a lot! I'm so excited to go to Tuvalu! I can't even express how excited I am for my companion and for the people there and the food (whatever it is like). It's not that I don't love it here in Suva, but this is kind of the gossip zone and the worldly zone of the mission and I can't wait to feel a little more separate from the world, (not that Fiji has that many worldly things, but you'd actually be surprised at what they have here.)

Well this week was amazing because we had our Christmas Party. But a lot of amazing things happened before that. We found a really great new investigator named Vusaia Olki. We found him through our DVD referrals, and I thought when we first met him, I don't think he's that interested. When we talked about the Book of Mormon with him this week, however, he seemed super excited. It wasn't the strength of my words that helped him, it was the lord. My fijian is really poor, so I know that the Lord really helped me with that one. We're going back to see him tomorrow and then we'll really see how interested he is.

We went to see another family from DVD referrals and found out they had talked to the missionaries before. Unfortunately, and much to my chagrin, the missionaries before didn't keep a record of the family so we have to start again with them. They seem really interested and the fact that they called in for the DVD so we could come over shows quite a bit of interest. They're really nice and they really need the gospel in their lives. Both of their parents have already passed away and it's just five of the children that live there. So they really need the gospel! The church is kind of far away from them though, but I think if they have a hard time going to church, we'll send someone to get them.

That's basically it for the people we saw this week who show real promise. We also have three kids we're teaching from part member families that are for sure going to get baptized. So that's really exciting!

We also have a few investigators that are kind of at a dead end and that stinks for them! They will get through though, it's just nothing that we can do. One needs to get married before he can get baptized, and the other one needs to overcome family opposition. Both difficult problems! The lord will help them though, and it will happen in his time.

So this week we had our missionary Christmas Party which was three days long. On the first day we had zone conference, and President just laid it out there what we need to do better. They had a lot of really great ideas for us to improve. One that I really liked is to keep a spiritual journal, so I started one and I haven't really had much to write yet, but soon hopefully. We also talked about the fundamentals of Preach My Gospel that we have been focusing on a lot lately. It's kind of hard to do it the way that we've been talking about and a lot of missionaries complain and just don't try, but the Assistants made a good point. It is a lot like when we give the book of mormon to investigators and tell them to read and know if it's true. If we want to know if this will make us more effective missionaries, we have to try it.

On Saturday we had a Sports and Games day. It was super fun! We played touch rugby, which is super fun! We also played some Fijian games that are really fun and that I'll have to teach you all when I get home. President and some of the missionaries faced off in Chess and we also played basketball and volleyball. Man it was fun! Then that night we had a talent show and we watched a video that I will be sending home soon (we all get copies) of the summary of our mission this year. You'll get to see some of the beauty of Fiji and feel the spirit of this incredible mission.

Then on Sunday we gave a musical fireside where all the missionaries sang (accompanied by yours truly!). We also shared some stories about angels on earth and about Christmas time. I love the story about Wallace Purling. How he was the inn keeper in the Christmas Pageant but gave his room up so that Mary and Joseph would have a room. It's amazing to hear and feel of the spirit of Christmas! One story that I really liked is about a teacher who went to Russia. Shortly after the iron curtain fell and all that stuff, the Russian government wanted someone to come and teach children in Russia about Christian values. So this teacher went and taught the children in an orphanage about the Savior and about the bible.

When he taught about the Christmas story, the children and the orphanage workers absolutely loved it and listened intently. Then the teacher gave them some cardboard, a little bit of felt, some yellow napkins, and a little bit of flannel for each of them to make a crude manger. Those were all this teacher had, because there was no colored paper to be found anywhere. The children began making mangers and cutting out babies from the brown felt and making straw from the napkins. All went well until the teacher noticed that one of the children had two babies in the manger. He quickly called a translator over and asked the boy why there were two babies.

The boy, whose name was Misha, folded his arms and carefully explained the christmas story. Quite accurately too, until he came to the part about the Mary laying the baby Jesus in the manger. He then said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger Jesus looked at me and said have you come to see me too? I said I don't have a gift to give like these other people. Jesus said that's ok. I said If I keep you warm will that be a good enough gift. Jesus said that's the best gift that anyone has ever given me. So I climbed in the manger and Jesus told me I could stay with him forever." This little orphan boy who had no parents had found someone who never would abuse him or hurt him. Someone who could always help him.

I love that story! I had never heard it before this and I absolutely love it. The Area Seventy Elder Wakolo came last night to talk to the missionaries too and He told us when we go home from Fiji just to thank our parents for sacrificing their sons and daughters for two years to come and save his people.

Merry Christmas! It is so strange that it is christmas and I am still burning up! I like it though, and I will miss it someday when I come home. I love the Savior so much. Someone in church yesterday said that everyday should be Christmas in our lives, in that we always remember the birth and life of the savior. I can't even express the wonder and gratitude I feel to be in this place to know my savior. Somedays I feel like being here is like pulling my handcart across the plains, and sometimes the handcart starts pushing me, but I never once regret the price that I am paying to truly become acquainted with my Savior.

I love you! Share your love of the Savior in this beautiful Christmas time!

May the Lord bless you and keep you in this season,

Elder Paul Leland Hill

Fiji Suva Mission

Hot and Humid Christmas!

Bula Vinaka!

Man I am going to miss Fiji when I go to Tuvalu, but I'm sure it will be the other way around when I come back to Fiji. And I always miss my Mother Country of America, but I feel like I will have many good years ahead of me with her. It is really hot, really rainy and really great around here in Fiji. It's funny to see Christmas decorations and have it be steaming hot, sometimes you literally can see the humidity! It is so great here though, this week I have learned so much about the gospel and I really feel like the work in this area is headed in a good direction.

I had companion exchanges one of the days this week and my companion is a red headed elder from South Jordan UT. He almost looks like someone from our family! His name is Elder Benjamin Strong and I learned a lot from him. He is super smart at the language and he even went to University of Utah before the mission, so of course we got along great! It was really scary though, because we have both been in the Nasinu area for only two weeks and I really didn't think I knew where I was going. With a lot of prayers and using a map, we never actually got lost and we got a lot of work done. I was amazed, but I know that it was only through the help of the Lord.

This area is huge! So naturally I am exhausted from walking! We walk and walk and walk and rarely use taxis and yet somehow we are kind of running low on mission funds... I think it's because we go to KFC too often and it has kind of exhausted our funds. I don't like to go to KFC because the food there is super greasy and it is too expensive for our meager budget. If we had this budget in America, we would starve. In Fiji though, everything is cheap except KFC and McDonalds. So the secret... stop going to KFC and McDonalds.

Wow we found some really cool people this week that I am so excited to meet with again. One family is the Varua family. They are five siblings that all live together but their parents have both passed away. We went there to deliver a Christmas DVD and when we went there, the family who lives down below their flat asked for a DVD too. So we will be going back to visit with both families on Thursday. I am so excited to go and see them! They both seemed so nice and so friendly and they weren't super set in their church, which doesn't mean anything for certain, but it certainly makes it easier for us to teach.

We also have three kids that we are teaching right now. Unfortunately, I think I'll be gone by the time they get baptized, but I love teaching kids. They are so fun to teach because you can sing songs and show pictures. Actually, you can do that with adults too but I always feel uncomfortable to. Their names are Filomena, Jack, and Beni. They are all really smart! Jack and Filomena just started staying with their grandparents because their parents got divorced, and so their grandma asked us to come teach them so they can be baptized. Beni hasn't been baptized yet because his Father is Iraq with the Fiji Army or something like that. His dad comes back soon though and we will finish up the lessons so he can get baptized by his dad. I actually prefer it that way, for someone they know and love and that will be here to help them to baptized them. The missionaries just come and go so fast that if someone is really attached to them it can be bad. It is also really good but I like it when someone else they know can baptize them.

We're just preparing for a Christmas Fireside that we have on Sunday with the whole mission. I'm playing the piano, which should be interesting because I literally haven't touched a piano for about 3 or 4 weeks (don't tell Lenora!). I just have no time and the piano in this ward doesn't work. We have a lot of really fun things to do for Christmas this week and I'm super excited. Isa, last Christmas was really emotional for me because I knew it would be my last Christmas in the United States for two years. I think the Christmas will still be hard for that reason, but I think my next one will be sad because it will be my last Christmas in Fiji, probably for my whole life. Christmas is going to be wonderful too because about a million families from the ward have invited us to come and eat with them! I found out most missionaries call from the internet shop here in Suva, so I'll probably do that too. I don't know if it will take phone cards or not, but probably. If not, I have plenty of cash from my bank account.

I don't know what else to say! I love the work here! It is hard, but when I get down on myself or I worry about home I just put my shoulder to the wheel and try to lift my area or my companion. It is beautiful here and the people are so loving. They're not perfect, but they are so lovable! I love them so much!

I hope everyone has a good Christmas! I don't know when I'll be emailing next because our Preparation Days are a little bit crazy after this one so if I don't email next week, just know I will call on Christmas... actually maybe it will be Christmas eve. I don't know!!! I'll try not to call in the middle of the night!

Love you,

Elder Hill

Pictures for Christmas!

Elder Baba sent pictures! Here they are, with his captions on the back. (Notice how he's wearing a sulu. It is NOT a skirt. Ya right Paul...)

Okotova 2010 Elder Hill and Elder Forbes, Mission Office
August 2010

My MTC district

From top left: Elder Cooper, Elder Keenan

2nd row: Pre. Connors, Elder Jardine, Elder Nelson, Elder Ford, Elder Duncan, Brother Adamson

Bottom: Sister Tuisavura, Elder Ethingington, Elder McCombs, Sister Kilifi, Brother Muir
August 31

President and Sister Ostler and me. My second day in Fiji. I just found out I'm going to Suva 3rd. I wasn't really excited to go there, but I loved it more than I could ever have imagined.
August 2010

Friends at the MTC

From top left: Elder McCombs, Elder Vandygriff, Elder Nelson, Elder Ford, Elder Rehak (NZ tongan speaking), Elder Rybin (FL, Haitian creole speaking) Elder Jardine

Bottom: Elder Duncan, Elder Bunker (San Jose Tongan Speaking), Elder Ethington, Elder Hill, Elder Keenan, Elder Christianson.
Octova 2010

My first babtism I performed

Sister Naryam, Esther Naryan, Niccole Fong, Ammron Khan, Elder Hill
November 2010

From left: Elder Forbes, Elder Reddy, Elder Hill, Elder Key