West Indies Mission Blog for Elder Sonny Hill

6/30

2010-07-01T21:34:00.001-07:00

Letter to the young men in our stake:
Knowing what I know now I wish I had better prepared myself to be a missionary by:

1. Consistent Daily Scripture Study. Even if you do it early in the morning before school or just before you go to bed at night. Even if you are falling asleep on your scriptures every time you try to study, it is so important to set a goal for yourself to finish the book of mormon and to read consistently everyday to be able to reach your goal. If you really don't have time some days, then read at least one page. I know that every single page of the book of mormom is inspired scripture and we can learn from it if we are open to the spirit. If you get into this habit now, it will bring safety for your soul. It will benefit you greatly for your mission and for the rest of your life.

2. Don't Waste Time. Fill your days doing and learning cool new things. Don't ever pass more than 15 minutes just sitting around doing nothing. Don't take hours to just listen to music or go on the internet. Instead of playing Halo for 3 hours straight, you could ask your mom if there's anything you can do around the house or ask your dad to teach you how to do something cool like changing the oil in the car or fixing your bike. I didn't gain anything from all of the pointless hours I spent listening to music or watching too many movies or video games. If you can't think of anything else to do, make sure you get outside and do some sports and exercise everyday. If you learn to use your time wisely right now it will help you for the rest of your life.

Letter 4/20

2010-04-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Dear mom and family,
It's great to hear you had a good time on Hawaii. That reminds me of what my driver said all the time when I did ups. Everyday when people would ask him how he was doing he would say "another day in paradise".
It sounds like you got to do some cool stuff. In the picture I sent I'm eating the pink pancakes that you told me to send a picture of. Martinique is so cool. We have the greatest apartment ever. We get to sleep out on the balcony because it is so big. I have never has so much food from the members as I have this first week. It is like a huge city here. It is way way more developed than in Guadeloupe. I imagine it is a lot like France here. There are lots of white people here too. The work is different. Street contacts were a lot harder and tracting was 0% effective but in the area book there are lots of referrals from members so that is a big difference. The members do more work here to help the missionaries. My companion is from Belgium. He is way cool. He actually speaks Dutch better than his French. I never get sunburned but I've started to have crazy eye problems. I think they are starting to get sensitive to all the sun and dust. Even when I go into the big stores they start to get really sore and dry. It's not allergies it's like when you're really tired and you feel like rubbing your eyes, its that feeling. I might go to the eye doctor but I think I will just start wearing sunglasses more. Sorry if my letter is short running out of time today. I love you guys!
Love
Elder hill

Letter 3/15

2010-03-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom and family,
I am doing great! It brings back some good memories to be back in Capesterre. It's a little hard sometimes because my companion gets a little trunky because it's his last transfer. But I'm having a good time anyway. That's a bummer to be sick. I have been doing some good workouts and I get to run by the beach every morning so I've been feeling great. You just got to eat a ton of oranges.
That's cool Max got to go to youth conference. It sounds like he's kick'n butts. We play soccer almost every p-day out here it's pretty fun. The online classes were a drag. It seems like a long time ago that I did that. I cant wait to get the graduation pics from Hannah's graduation. I didn't know you were going to Hawaii. Is it for Hannah's graduation? I got kind of sunburned at the beginning but its more like nicely baked like you said. I never get any painful burns but sometimes my nose peels. I have been doing really good at having a positive attitude lately actually. It helped a lot to read President Monson's talk, "finding joy in the journey". There is a cool quote from it that says, "The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, “Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.” So thanks for writing me-have a great week this week and do fhe and plenty of good things! love you guys!
love
elder hill

Letter 3/8

2010-03-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

Dear mom and family,
It has been nothing but hot and very hot here. It is the hot season right now that is called the Carem.(not quite sure on that spelling) But it has been uber uber hot lately. I think I've become a bit of a wimp to the cold. I always get freezing in the grocery stores that have AC.
It is great to be back in Capesterre. There are some really cool members here. There is a family called the famille Bonbon and they remind me so much of our family, we are going to their house this evening to have FHE. I hope to baptize this transfer and I know we will reactivate some less actives.
There are english islands that are smaller so it's about the same there. There is an english side in Trinidad and Guyana and it is very successful there as well as in Suriname. It is kind of difficult sometimes but President Gamiette feels that everyone has the possibility to turn in the same numbers. Any more news on the Puerto Rico coming into our mission?
Adjectives about how i feel right now is: tired, pumped up, bloated, sweaty, itchy, content, happy, thoughtful, concerned.
I cant wait to be able to watch Mitchell's play in a year!
I was cracking up at that story about me losing my teeth. Tell Sophie to just say a prayer to not be scared about losing her teeth. I pray all the time to not be scared.

No, we do not go to the dentist here.

A funny story.... the other day there was a drunk 20 year old looking guy, and when we passed by him he stood up really fast and he turned around and he had a kitchen knife sticking out of his pants so we both just starting walking a little faster and then he said something to us and then he yelled "je suis pas mechant"(I am not mean) and he threw his beer bottle at us but it smashed on the ground. We got away safe but that's how a lot of people are like here, drunken.
Sorry if my emails weird we didn't have much time today. love you!
love
elder hill

Letter 2/15

2010-02-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom and family,
It sounds like you had a great week. I haven't seen anything about the Olympics or the Super Bowl so I guess I'll have to wait a year.
So this last week my companion left for Martinique to do exchanges and I was with a new elder who is in his first transfer- Elder Helms. He is from Utah and he is cool. On Thursday night after we had a meeting at the church we went outside and it looked like it had been snowing and there were flakes floating down. So the other elders knew about it and told us it was a volcano that exploded on another island. It was predicted that it would explode so no one got hurt but the next day the Collings had everyone stay inside because there was so much ash all over the island. I guess the ash went all the way down to Dominica. Friday we didn't leave the apartment at all. The next day we got to work but we were wearing surgeon masks. There is still lots of ash blowing around but it's not too hindering. My companion now is Elder Kelley, he is really short and he is from Arkansas. Everything is going great and I don't need anything. I've got a lot of clothes that were left behind at the apartment I'm in right now. Love you! Have a good week!
love
elder hill

CHRISTMAS PICS! CLICK ON PIC TO ENLARGE

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Letter 1/25

2010-01-31T21:18:00.000-08:00

Dear mom and family,
It sounds like a crazy week-always remember Ether 12:8-9. Jesus Christ died and was resurrected so we will never get our hopes down-we will see Matt again!
This week was a pretty crazy week for me too. I changed areas to a city called Abymes. My new colleague is one of the AP's so we do lots of good work. This is a cool area because it's one of the oldest. I went to a baptism yesterday and the people seemed like they had been members all of their lives. The lady that got baptized told all of the missionaries in her testimony that all of the work we are doing is worth it and we shouldn't give up. Things are going fine for me. Just keep swimmin' and I'll hear from you next week. I love you a ton!
Elder hill
p.s. I heard there will be a Toy Story 3, is that true?

1/18/2010

2010-01-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom and family,
We felt nothing from the earthquake but there are many Haitians who live here. It is very sad. Our neighbor is Haitian and her mom died so we sang a hymn for her. Everyone on the island is sad about it and there are lots of places to send food and stuff to help them
My week was alright. We ran out of travel money so we could no longer go to the city called Goyave to see some of our best investigators and I think that is why they didn't come to church this week. Greg's mission sounds a lot like mine. It is difficult to make a second rendez vous with people and things like that.
It is great to hear that you have received the pictures. I was getting pretty impatient. There are a lot of photos Iwish I could send now. Today for P-day we went to a big waterfall called the Chutes du Carbet. It was so cool! I was climbing on all the huge rocks and of course we can't go in the water. It's kind of torture but it was still tons of fun.
I think I look the same as well. I weigh a little bit more but I think that's just from morning exercises. The next transfer (transer 7)I am going to be in a city on Guadeloupe called Abymes. There is a member there who takes the missionaries to go work out in the morning if they want. I have heard that everyone throws up from doing his workout- I'm pretty excited for that ha-ha.
My camera is working great. I actually took a really cool hd video of the waterfall today so yeah its still hanging in there.
Thanks for sending a package. I decided I am not going to buy anything for a while since I've used a lot of extra money lately. My shoes are still fine but if they break I will buy some new ones. I don't need any clothes really. My first pants I brought are kind of shredding but I've got some extra pairs that were left by other elders.
Megan and Spencer will have a baby this spring? Does that mean that they didn't tell anyone for like 5 months last year? That's so cool that Brad and Karen are having another boy. It's going to be so bonkos to see all these babies when I get home. I can't wait to see Max's guitar skills and all the kids sports skills. and nunchuck skills. I feel like such a loser because I don't really have many skills. I just kind of started a bunch of things and let them go before I could really get good at it. So make everyone keep going in all of their activities so they can actually say they did something before their mission.
Thanks for writing me! I'm really pumped for the next transfer. Thanks for all of your support and prayers. Love you!
elder hill

Letter 11/17

2009-11-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Mama,
Thanks for writing me. It sounds like it was a good week. Hannah's birthday sounds like it was fun. I hope you still enjoyed your birthday. I am anxious to see what it's like out here for the holidays. I will make sure to put something in the package for you.
That's sweet that Max made it on the basketball team. By the way did he get the email that I wrote to him. I just put it at the end of one of my emails a couple of weeks ago. Anyways that's so cool he is doing guitar and ukalele that will be so cool when he is good. Every time he wants to text just tell him to learn some songs on the guitar and the girls will like him lots more than if he just writes them a text.
I think I might buy a hard drive out here. All the missionaries do it and you can get everyone's pictures and music on it so it's really cool. Also I think I will buy a prepaid box that is $37 or so. It's expensive but its the best way. I will try to do that this week.
I wish I could play tennis. I played some ping pong at zone conference last week. We will definitely have to go play when I get back it will be the spring time. Thanks again for writing me sorry I couldn't write more the time flew today. Love you! Bye!
-elder hill

Letter 11/9

2009-11-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA AND HANNAH AND MITCHELL!!! I wish I could be there for this week. I will put some stuff in my Christmas package for everyone's birthday. I still haven't received the package from you yet but it should come this week. It's easy to send stuff from here. They have prepaid boxes at the post so I will probably do that within the next couple of weeks.
I have never been sick the whole mission. I have allergies probably every day but its not that bad. I did get athletes foot for a little bit but a member told me to walk in the sea water so I did that and it cured it, cool huh. It was on a p-day and we just cant go in the water past our knees.
This week was great. On Saturday we got to do service for a member. We got to chop the bad grass with sabers. I don't know if I've talked about it before but everyone has machetes here for gardening. To clean up their gardens they just hack everything down and burn it. I bought a saber when I was still in Moule and I've done a couple of service activities for people with it. I want to hang it up on my wall when I get home to remind me of lots of service times. I love Capesterre and the work is a little easier than it was in Moule.
I don't need any new shirts or pants, I've just had to do a bit of sewing. There's nothing I want just maybe that cd I wrote about last week.
The hospitals are pretty good here. I don't know why but there's always a million people at the doctors...
Everything is going good; thanks for writing to me and for prayers. love ya! I'm going to try and write my testimony in creole.
an sav Papabondye-la ka viv. i emné nou onpil. i té ban-nou onpil bitan. i té ban-nou fils a-y. an sav livre de mormon i pawol Papabondye. an ka dit sa au nom de Jesikri amen.
-elder hill

Letter 11/2

2009-11-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Mum,(as my new collegue would say)
I'm doing great. The new area is awesome and my new collegue is so cool. His name is Elder West and he is from Chelmsford, Essex, England. He broke his hand jumping off a wall and his foot got caught. He said it's a blessing that he didn't break his back, just his hand. He played rugby before so he is a brut. It's really good I am with him because he makes me work out. He can't do much with his broken arm so he just tells me what to do. It kindof reminds me of Uncle Burke's prom video where Uncle Matt is punching him in the stomach every time he does a sit up. I will send a package around Christmas time and there will be pictures on there of all my collegues.
Capesterre is really beautiful. There's practically no tourists here so I guess you could say it's the true Guadeloupe here, and it rocks! There's tons of banana tree farms and mountains on this side of the island. There is a huge waterfall in the mountains that you can see from down in the city.
We have a baptismal date that we set last week with a young single mom named Auldrey who has five kids. Her life is so rough but her and her kids love the church and we get to help her out a lot. Today we are going to bring some rice and lentils from our food storage to her. Yesterday the gas for her stove ran out so they couldn't cook anything, it's so sad. But, she came to church for the first time last week and I think she loved it. She has a baby named Noah and there's another member in the branch with an infant as well so all the ladies were talking to them and saying 'mignon!'
Halloween sounds like it was awesome. My Halloween was lame-as expected. Here it's called the fete des morts and it was Sunday and Monday. So on Halloween (the 31) everyone was just sleeping and getting ready to party the next day, so the streets were empty and there wasn't much to do. Then on Sunday everyone went to the cemetery and lit a ton of candles and put them on the graves of their ancestors along with flowers and they sort of campout there all day, and the same on Monday. The work didn't slow down too bad.
I've got a feeling this is going to be a kick butt transfer. Thanks for writing to me. Tell Bryce I said hey, that's a bummer. Sometimes I'm scared my knees are going to flare up like they were doing last winter but everytime they start I just pray and pray and until now I've done alright. Hope everything keeps going good! Count your blessings! Thanks for your prayers! Love you bye!
-elder hill

Letter 10/26

2009-10-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

Last week I wrote one of the best letters I've ever written and I wasn't watching the time and it ran out and shut off. Usually it doesn't shut off you just have to pay more but whatever.
I always stress about everything I write.....I think I know how to just write as it comes to me now.
I just came from a barbecue. All of the Guadeloupe missionaries were there and it was really cool.
This transfer was really good with Elder Krause. We worked so hard to get people to church. I walked enough kilometers to go halfway across the states. Elder Krause makes things fun. This one day it was a billion degrees so we went to this chinese shop and bought some cheap umbrellas and we were walking on the big boulevard by the ocean and everytime we saw people Elder Krause would tip up his umbrella and say 'hip hip cheerio' and people were laughing at us. It really was a good transfer for me.
I have my next transfer and I am going to Cappesterre and I will be with Elder West who is from England! He is really buff and he has a broken hand at the moment. That's all I know about him.
Thanks for sending a package! There is a cd I wanted you to look for it's called 'primary worship' maybe for Christmas or something.
That's sweet that Max kicked butts at football. I wish I could be there to cheer him on. I don't think he got the email so I will paste it at the bottom of this one.
That's crazy that dad got the swine flu. I prayed a lot for him to get better. I'm trying to get my night schedule down perfectly so that I can do thirty minute prayers. I read a cool story about Joseph Smith where he prayed almost all night before a general conference.... it made me want to do more sincere and longer prayers.
Things are going great here. I'm absolutely digg'in it. I had a dream that I was in a car and Elder Lish(my MTC companion) was in there too and I just kept saying "this sucks that its over" and it kind of scared me...now I'm realizing how fast this is going to fly by.
I'm so proud of you Brockly man! That's so sweet you got that award. All that matters is that you have fun at the games and with your team! I miss you too man!
Bye family, bye mom love you!

-elder hill

Fuiiiiiii ahakapunaaaa
Hows it going max?! Are you on the Oak Canyon team or the Timpanogos one. I remember when I played football in eighth grade at Oak Canyon and my team made it to the championship. The team we played had way huge guys. I remember we were all crying when we lost. I hope you do good though man. I'm root'in for ya! What number are you?
Read and study the Book of Mormon right now. Just try and read some everyday even if it's just one verse. You have to really know for yourself if its true. Lots of people will tell us that we shouldn't even have a religion or believe in God and it was way hard at first. I've been studying the Book of Mormon so much and praying so hard to know if it is true and now I do know again that it is true. Do all you can to live the things that you learn from the Book of Mormon and you will have great faith. I love you max. Keep doing good and working hard.

Love
-elder hill

To Grandma 10/5

2009-10-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Grandma Hill,

Thank you so much for sending me an e-mail. I was so glad to see that I had received and email from my grandmother. I am so glad you were able to figure out how to get it to work and it is so dear to me that you kept trying!
Thank you for your support. Some days are really hard to think if we have had any success but you are right, there are people we influence that we may never even hear or know about.
It is sad to know the carpet is changing in the cabin. Maybe one day I will be able to tell my kids some great stories about the shag carpet and low roofed shower. The cabin is a really amazing place. It will always have a sacred place in my memories. I have many memories of times spent there with family and friends and especially memories of the times spent there with those who have now passed on(Matt). It has really blessed me and my family. I don't have much time to write today but thanks for writing me and I love you Grandma.
Elder Hill

9/28

2009-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Cher Famille,
Sounds like everythings going great back home. That's sad about that monkey. He did always look like he was so tired of living there anyway. I wish I was there to sign Max's cast. That's awesome that Mitch is playing the trumpet. That's the perfect instrument for him. I hope he gets really good before I get back. I'm going to send a package off soon.
Everything is going good here. We've got some investigators that are really good. We have two investigators who love the Book of Mormon and have already read more than the chapter we gave them to read. I really hope they can progress further. There's also a cool family that's been investigators for 8 years or so and the wife is from Brazil and the husband is french and they have one daughter. They have invited us over for dinner for three weeks in a row now and I think they are progressing. They love to ask us how to say stuff in English. I started reading the Portugese Book of Mormon along with the English to try and pick up a tiny bit.
Elder Krause is awesome and way funny. It was pretty hard to see people last week and one of our investigators said he didn't want to discuss anymore so it's been good to be able to laugh and joke about it with Elder Krause.
It has been so incredibly hot this last week. Even the Guadeloupiennes are saying it's hot so that says something.
I'm running out of time, sorry. I will try to write a better email and send a picture next week. Love you ! Bye.
elder hill

9/21 To Family

2009-09-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Dear family,
Next week I will send some pictures for sure.
This week was awesome but pretty weird at the same time. It's my first time ever changing companions and I had to be the one that knows the area now. It seemed like I was forgetting about alot of people or missing appointments but I wasn,t and everything worked out awesome! We went to this new area that I had always seen on the bus and I always wanted to go there but never got the chance. When we started tracting there we got to teach two lessons within 8 houses and we found a couple people that we're going to see this week too. We also have a ton of members really excited to work with us in a city called Saint Francois. You can probably find some great pictures on the internet of a place called Point de Chateaux in Saint Francois. Next week were going to another waterfall so I should have some cool pics.
I would like some music actually! It would be really cool if you could get a cd of classical piano. Try and get a cd of Chopin songs actually. Any motab cds are great.
My companion has been out for one more transfer than me and he is awesome. He is so funny and a good missionary too. His name is elder Krause and he is from San Diego. He is pretty smart and he studied bio chemistry before the mission.
I'm hoping to baptize this family that's been coming to church for 8 years or so but they can't get baptized because the dad doesn't like paying tithing. They're named the Lepennec's and they love having us over for meals and they ask us tons of questions about America and just about us. The mom is actually from Brazil and she speaks Portugese. They have a dog named chance that always tries to eat toads and Sr Lepennec says "c'est pas possible chance! laisse le crapeau!" They're way cool.
I am compeletly legal on october 7. Maybe I will go to french guyana!
Love you fam! I'll send you pics next week, desolée!

A little about Guadaloupe

2009-09-12T11:44:00.001-07:00

Guadeloupe

Facts:

* Population is about 406,000
* This island is owned by France and is part of the European Union. It’s currency is the euro
* French is the official language but many of the inhabitants speak Creole
* Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the pineapple on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 during his 2nd voyage.
* Tourism is its key industry

Church:
There are 6 LDS Church branches in Guadeloupe and about 400 members

* Abymes (church-owned chapel)
* Basse-Terre
* Capesterre
* Gosier
* Lamentin
* Moule

Missionary Work
As of June 2009 there were 14 elders serving in Guadeloupe and one senior couple - Elder and Sister Collings

History:
Among the first converts in Guadeloupe was the Claire Dinane family. Dinane came into contact with the Church because of his duties as a customs officer where he met Latter-day Saints. His family soon moved, but a nucleus of members had joined the Church through contact with Dinane. The Guadeloupe Branch (a small congregation) was organized in June 1982, but was discontinued several months later due to the apostasy of a member of the Church.

In June 1984, West Indies Mission President Kenneth Zabriskie sent French-speaking missionaries to Guadeloupe who had been transferred from French-speaking missions in Europe. Through their efforts the Grande-Terre Branch was organized by Elder Ronald E. Poelman of the Seventy (one of the governing bodies of the Church) in August 1984. The branch was strengthened by Dusan Kolvic, a Yugoslavian refugee who learned of the Church in France, but was not baptized. Kolvic’s work as a policeman for the French government required a transfer to Guadeloupe, and one evening he was dispatched to arrest a drunkard who was attacking two missionaries. Kolvic later joined the Church and served as branch president from 1986 – 1988. Because of Guadeloupe’s connection to France, there have been several members from France who have lived on the island for a few years and brought valuable experience to the Church there.

9/8 To Mom

2009-09-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hi mom,
I am doing great this week! That's great that the Orem house sold. I hope they like my painting job! Hannah's friends sound really cool. Everyone looks so different already! I got the package on Saturday and it was crazy to see all the pictures. It was a really good package and the drawings are the best. I wish I had peaches too. They have peaches here but I don't know about squash or zucchini. I eat pretty good. I do eat alot of fruit that people just give us when its in season. I bought a cutlas so I can cut open my own cocos now. My six month mark is this week. It's also zone conference. Last Saturday I got to do a baptism in the ocean. It was a child of record so it didn't count for us but she picked me to do it. Her name is Ashley and she has a little brother and three other little sisters who are all so crazy but also the coolest. Their mom is a single mom and it's pretty hard for her.
Stan and brandy are the coolest! I loved when they lived down the street from us. You will have to say hello for me and give them hugs. I'm doing great. Thanks for prayers. Love you!
-elder hill

8/23

2009-08-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Dear baby Sophe,
I love you! thanks for writing me! my favorite color is sea green. Your school sounds awesome. You probably look so cute with your haircut and a uniform. I hope you have tons of fun playing with Jier and working out! I love you.

Dear Brockly,
Dude don't worry about those refs! They probably need glasses anyway. I hope you're hitting hard, but don't get hurt. Your teacher sounds awesome, does she give you candy? Love you Brock! Keep working hard and being good!

Dear Family,
I'm so glad to hear from you and to hear that you had such a good family home evening. Right now I look back on the big spiritual experiences like that that I've had in my life and I am so grateful for them. Those are times when God is letting you know that He is there and that He lives. I can't express how important it is to seek after experiences like that.
Things have been going great this week. I went on an exchange with one of the zone leaders. The whole time I was with him he had hunter like instincts in searching for service opportunities. We helped some people rearrange their shop, we helped a lady clean a cooler and carry out to the a car, and we helped this lady carry a bunch of empty beer cases to a garbage can. It was awesome. I've never felt like that before on my mission so far. His name is Elder Snow and he is a good missionary. He is really funny and can make everyone laugh. I think a lot of your prayers were answered last week. I am doing so much better at talking to everyone and laughing with them. It was a really good week this week.
Greg's letter is hillarious because it's almost exactly like out here. There is only the nasty box milk and no tortillas. It is really really hot right now and I have a tiny little bit of athletes foot on one of my feet but it's going away. Last week a cyclone I guess passed by the island but it didn't hit us. There were the biggest waves I've ever seen in my life, it was so cool.
We have an investigator that is going to be baptized.
We weren't able to set a date with him yet and he didn't come to church yesterday because he had to go tell the priest at his previous church about it... he said. But he is a good person. We met him when he randomly showed up at church one week. He said he talked to missionaries one time. We couldn't find anything in the area book about him but last night I found a pass along card on the ground that was from the missionaries that were here about a year ago and they had written his address and last name on it. So it just goes to show you that maybe one of these days someone that we shared a little message with then never saw again will come to church in a year and want to be baptized.
Thanks for writing me and sending me a package! love you!
-Elder Hill

8/18 To Von

2009-08-20T08:09:00.001-07:00

Papa,

I guess I'm bad at hiding my emotions. I was very, very down last week. But you are exactly right. I read in the first chapter of Preach My Gospel that depression and discouragement come when you don't have faith. Last week was very hard for me. I even began to doubt all that I am doing here and even my testimony a little. I prayed a lot every day. I began to see how much God has blessed me in my life. I began to see all the answers to prayers that I have ever received. And, I had a dream where I saw uncle Matt. He smiled and laughed and we were making jokes and I gave him a big hug. I am totally convinced that God is there and that he hears our prayers. This week at church, we had three investigators attend. My integrity has grown so much here. I am learning more and more each day. I love The Book of Mormon and the scriptures now. Thanks for all that you do for me Dad. I love you a lot.

Elder Hill

8/18 To family

2009-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dear mama,

Last week was pretty depressing but it's all good now. No worries. It's just that everything is so different here and I'm not used to listening to atheist people all day telling me all sorts of things.
I dont think I told you last week but it was a new transfer and I'm in the same area with the same collegue again.
I'm close to reaching the six month mark of my mission. I've grown so close to some of the members here. We watched a bunch of church videos today at the church and we saw one about Zions camp. There were really hard things they had to do and Joseph Smith kept receiving revelation to keep them out there and it was a huge trial for a lot of them and there were even deaths. But everyone of the men that was in the
Zions camp was later called to a position in the seventy or the twelve. and Joseph Smith gave a talk and said that none of them would have been ready to sustain a calling like that unless they had shown God that they were willing to make a sacrifice "even as great as Abrahams" and they were prepared by the hardships they endured. A mission is kind of like that in a way. At least for me. President Hinckley said in a talk that "its a hard thing for the shy diffident young men to serve a mission, but how blessed they are for the tremendous faith they have to do it" I'm not gonna lie a lot of things have been pretty hard for me out here. But as I've continued to do the things I've been asked to, there's no doubt in my mind that the Lord has blessed me and guided me.
Thanks for writing me. Sounds like the normal crazy stuff. I hope Brock's okay. I hope your having really good family home evenings every week. Love you.
-elder hill

8/10

2009-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Cher famille an-mwen,
Yes the computers are always weird here. I try really hard to write good letters but we only have an hour, and for part of that we have to write our president.
The parade sounds like it was awesome. I remember last year when I was driving the jeep through there and I didn't have a shirt on and a lot of the ward was there haha. Also,I was wondering, did you sell the jeep to get the new one?
It's probably really really nice weather there. It doesn't get cooler anywhere here except at night when we turn on our air conditioner. It has never bothered me but it is always super hot. Today we had to buy a bunch of water because there might be another greve uh strike. We were walking back from the store with it and it was so heavy and I was trying all these crazy ways to hold it above my head and stuff but it didn't work. This guy gave us a ride, it was cool because that doesn't happen very much. He was from a religion that always kind of argues with the missionaries so it was cool.
I will try and send some pictures next week.
That's scary that Mitch did that with his little twig body.(He rode a steer) awesome though.
Where is Justin Greer going on his mission? Time is going pretty fast for me. The first transfer was really slow but the last one seemed so fast. I will be legal in a couple months but like I said another strike might happen. But if I get my papers that means I can leave Guadeloupe to go to other french places like French Guyana. That's where I really want to go.
My area is doing fine but I'm getting pretty down because we haven't been able to get our investigators to church for pretty much my whole mission. We have a lot happening we've been fasting and praying for. Also our branch sounded pretty discouraged about doing missionary work at branch council on Sunday. Also I'm starting to finally understand most everyone. I'm also finally starting to not be shy. I'm still really awkward but I'm starting to be able to talk more tranquil with everyone.
That's awesome that Mike MC came over. I thought that carter played soccer in England or something. That's kind of weird actually because I was thinking about when I was friends with him this morning. I remembered that we used to always go to Tori Shemanski's house to hang out. Crazy how life goes by. Il faut faire avec! I love you family. I'm doing great. Thanks for your prayers and letters!

7/28

2009-07-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,
That's so awesome that Liz came. I miss those guys! It sounds like pioneer day was tubular though.
We had appointments for those two investigators at church for Saturday but they both crapped out on us. Yesterday something pretty cool happened. This whole week has been one of the best weeks so far on my mission. On Friday it was zone conference. President Gamiette is so cool! He is way funny and his discourse was amazing. Then yesterday we were walking on the boulevard where we usually walk every night and I was about to sit on some steps to take a little rest and then Elder Silvester was like 'hey lets go rest over there' and there was a huge roller skating party on the boulevard so there was a ton of people that we had to walk through. Then when we were walking I heard someone saying 'excuse me' trying to get our attention. Then we talked to the lady and she said she wanted to join our church. She had a couple other times in her life that she had seen the missionaries (like christmas caroling) that she was really impressed with. I felt the strongest prompting I've ever felt on my entire mission to testify to her about the truthfulness of the church and I did it and i said a bunch of other stuff. I was kind of shaking after it was incredible.
I got the package and it was great. The candy is great. The recipe is great.
Yes, I play the piano at church every week. Sometimes its weird because the branch doesn't know the hymns very well and the singing is off from my playing but its fine. I don't have much time to write today but love you and thanks for your prayers, letters; and support! love ya!

Letter 6/28

2009-07-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom and Family,
I just got back from a chute! A waterfall I mean!
It was amazing! It seemed like something from a movie.
There was a huge round pool at the bottom and the river
that flowed out of it was so deep! And ofcourse all the
water was crystal clear. It was a zone activity so we
had an awesome thought from the zone leaders and then
one of the zone leaders (Elder Snow) ripped his shirt
like captain Moroni and then he duct taped it on a
stick. It was so hilarious. Next week me and Elder
Silvester are going to help some guy build some crab
catching cages for service! I am doing great. Francine,
the investigator that's going to be baptized this
weekend told me she could recognize me from a dream
she had a long time ago and I was so glad because I
thought I wasn't that big of a help because I still
don't understand alot so I didn't think I had a big
influence during our lessons but she told us that we
helped her so much and she loved having us over.  Elder
Silvester has told me a bunch of stories about people
who got baptized because of dreams they had. I'm loving
it out here! I'm working hard! I pass out every night!
I am cassé! The language is coming fine. It's still
pretty hard to understand people sometimes but I feel
like I can say most of the things I want to. Love you
family! Thanks for your prayers! I pray for everything
to go good for you too!
-elder hill

Sonny and his cousin Greg at MTC

2009-06-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

2009-06-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sister Colling and I will have a new address as of June 17th, 2009. All mail and packages should now be directed to this new address as things take at least three weeks or more to arrive here in Guadeloupe.

Elder et Soeur Colling
Elder Sonny Hill
Chez Gamiette
1601 Res Bel air des Rosières
97170 Petit Bourg
Guadeloupe

Please advise all people who send your son mail and packages about the change.

2009-06-10T21:11:00.001-07:00

Letter 6/21

2009-06-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Dear mama,
There are so many holidays here its like every week.
I need to get a calendar that has all the important
dates at home on it, maybe you could send me one!
Also theres a trick to sending packages. Just buy
the prepaid usps padded envelopes and they treat it
like a normal letter and you can just shove as much
stuff as you can in it and send it. That's a huge
bumma you cant swim. It kills me staring at the ocean
everyday. This week was good. A member Marseil Passap
got a friend to take the lessons from us and now she's
going to be baptized on the 4th of July, hopefully that
will keep my mind off everyone doing fireworks back home.
Everything else is progressing at the normal caribbean
speed.  The people are nice. Sometimes there are some
kind of mean hobos or chiggers. Everyone tells me I am
shy because I don't talk that much. I'm not having a hard
time speaking at all. I just cant understand anyone that
good still. But I can understand my companion just fine.
Also there are alot of drugs here and I see guys everyday
just walking around with a dooby in their mouth. That's
why there's so many crazy hobos here. There's too much
alchohol and drugs.  I'm doing fine. Whatever candy you
send would be great; thank you! love you!
-elder hill

Letter 6/6

2009-06-10T20:40:00.001-07:00

Sorry I know I've been writing pretty crappy
emails since I've been out here. P-days are
craaazy! We just got back from the prefecture.
That is where you go to become legal. There's
all these crazy people there from other islands
and they do everything wrong so they can't get
in and then they start getting mad. Everytime
I've gone there there's been some crazy yelling
guy.  I'm going to try and write about a normal
day in the life out here. Everyday we wake up
and sometimes I do excersize but sometimes I
just sit in the kitchen and stare into space
because I'm so tired. I usually eat bread and
jam for breakfast or nutella. Also they have
cereal but its not that good with the box milk
they have here.  Our apartment is really cool.
There is a kitchen and one other room. The
bathroom is in our bedroom and it's just this
little room in the corner. The toilet is in
there and theres a drain in the floor because
the shower is in there too. It's the coolest
bathroom ever! A couple weeks ago I opened the
door and this huge centipede started crawling
in then elder silvester grabbed his shoe and
totally annhialated it. Then we left it out
there and all these ants started eating it.
I havent seen anymore so the other centipedes
must have seen the rotting carcas and stayed
away. There's so many insects! We have
cockroaches and frogs and lizards all the
time, and there's a mouse.  There's a holiday
like every other week here and it's really hard
to go out working. Yesterday was fete de mamans,
mothers day, and I bore my testimony at church.
I dont think anyone understood me but I was
trying to say how grateful I was for my mom.
We eat alot of grilled cheese sandwiches and
pb and j sandwiches for lunch. They have all
of the french food here so I eat that alot
too. Alot of pasta and alot of rice. There's
these things called lardons that dad can
probably tell you about but thats what we
eat alot in pasta. Also every fruit and
vegetable out here tastes so much better!
We get stuff every once and a while from our
neighbors. There's this thing called a bread
fruit and it kinda tastes like potatoes. we
ate that the other day it was pretty good. A
drink thats really popular here is malt drinks.
It's just non alcoholic beer and i tried one
the other day and it was so gross, but everyone
loves it here. I drink alot of juice because
its so amazing here. My favorite is the local
pineapple juice. I think I already told you
about bokits. There's bokit stands everywhere.
It's just a scone cut open on one side and they
put eggs and ham in it, they're alright. There's
so many crazy drinks out here. Ask dad if they
had a drink in france called l'ordinaire. It's
really popular out here,it's pretty much black
licorice flavored soda, its kind of good.  We
have only a few investigators since we started
with nothing in this area. Yesterday we had an
investigator tell us she wants to be baptized.
It was the best thing ever when she told us she
knew joseph smith was a prophet. She kept saying
'c'est la verite' it was awesome. I dont know
how long it will be till shes baptized though
cuz she has to get married. She is awesome though.
There house is pretty close to the church.
They have a couple of young kids. There's a
bunch of chickens running around and they always
come on the porch while were teaching and she
shoos them away then she tells us 'ils font caca'
it's hilarious. And they have a huge pig and one
time I was sitting in my chair and I looked over
and there was a pot of pig slop sitting there it
was so nasty there was all these maggots crawling
in it. I love it there though! She's awesome and
her kids are funny.  There's also a recent convert
we see often who has a bunch of really crazy kids
who attack us all the time and pull our ties and
punch us in the crotch.  We can never fix appointments
for the evening so we always have to go the boulevard.
The boulevard is about a mile long stretch of
sidewalk next to the ocean. It's a coral beach
so theres not a bunch of people out there cuz
there's no sand, but a lot of people take walks
there so we pass out cards and invite people to
church alot there. I dont really like it out there
though because no one ever wants to talk to us out
there because they're prominading with their
girlfriends. but on one end there is a small beach
where theres always surfers its so cool. And they
turn on these huge stadium lights at night and
there's sometimes some guys night surfing.  Everyone
drives really crazy and they always yell 'mormons'
at us its hilarious. They dont yell it angry like
but they have french accents so its really funny.
Alot of people will yell creole at us and then my
companion yells creole back and they all start
cracking up. The people are really nice but we
dont get very many people who want to listen at
all. Most people just talk to us about our mission
they're just curious what were doing but they dont
want to hear anything about the church. We also get
a lot of people who try to bible bash its so dumb.
We usually just say we have an appointment to go
to and leave. Also there's these gangster guys
here but theyre just kind of wanna be gangsters.
They all ride around on loud motor scooters and
they also wear fanny packs hanging around their
necks. They really dont look as tough as they
think they do its kind of funny.
I'll write some more next week but I gotta go
for now. I'll try and write you next week han ban!
I love you! I  miss you guys but I'm loving it! bye!
-elder sonny hill

Letter 5/25

2009-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, everyone in the fam can email me. so tell em too! the pink bananas tasted the same. i forgot my camera this time so i will send some pictures next week and my companion has his camera so ill send a few off his. i can speak alright but its still pretty hard to get what people are even saying because of the accent and the speed when they talk. the address to send letters to is:

Elder Hill c/o Elder and Sister Collings, Chez M. Govindin Frank,
Plaissance 97122 Baie-Mahault, Guadeloupe.

So everyone in the family can email me but all my friends have to write. I remembered brocks birthday was coming up! happy birthday dude! i love you so much brocky dude! guess what theres these kids your age here in the ward and they remind me so much of you. and theyre surfer dudes. and yesterday we were karate fighting them! happy birthday dude and dont shoot yr eye out with that airsoft gun! the weather is fine im totally used to it. it is pretty hot some days but i hardly notice. we have one of the biggest areas in the zone but we dont have a car or bikes so we walk all day. it doesnt bother me but i am out in the sun all day. the work is alright here, its pretty hard to get people to come to church though. thats so cool about griffin! tell him congrats from me. thats way funny about the birds, we always have a story like that at our house. what is the update on the houses. tell grandma and grandpa that they can email me. ill be prayin for grandpas surgery to go well. love you! ill try to send some pics in another email. bye!

New pasty white missionaries fresh from Provo, Utah

2009-05-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Elder Hill with Pres. Robison and Sis. Robison

2009-05-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

5/11 Arrival in Trinidad

2009-05-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

We received an email from the mission president that they have arrived safely and if you check out the blog at www.westindiesmission.blogspot.com you will see that he is being well taken care of. He called from the airport and he sounded very happy to be on his way. He was feeling a bit nervous about starting his mission. He said the humidity in Atlanta was so weird to him and that it would be even more humid where he will be(concern, concern) and I said well, "no more chapped lips"! He expressed his love for the MTC and that is was hard to say goodbye to his cousin Greg. We had an undercover ward member get him a last minute package(mesquito net & watch) to the MTC and he was laughing about that. It is a miracle he was walking by the parking lot when they came to deliver it or he probably wouldn't have gotten it. The MTC cops were involved and it was a little crazy but it was meant to be. He talked to Sophie and said "hey, baby Sophe!" and she started acting really silly. When she got off I said, "what did he say"? and she said I couldn't understand him, I think he was speaking Spanish.

Letter 5/9

2009-05-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,
Yesterday we got our flight plans. I have a 3.40 hour flight to Atlanta and then a 6 hour flight to Trinidad. I'm so excited! I'm not nervous at all. I got an email from one of the Elders who already left to the field and he said everyone starts out in Guadeloupe because it is easier to become legal there. He also said that the food is really good. Sometimes everything at the MTC looks unappetizing and I make myselft a peanut butter and banana sandwich. It sounds like French Guyana is really cool I hope I get to go there-it is in the jungle. I have loved the MTC and I have learned so much but I am ready to go! I miss being able to see the boys play baseball-it sounds like everyone is doing great. I love you family, and thanks for the snacks!

Sonny at MTC and Elder Lish

2009-04-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

Click on letters to enlarge

2009-04-28T14:00:00.001-07:00

2009-04-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

2009-04-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

2009-04-28T08:17:00.001-07:00

Cher famille,
Sorry I didn't get this letter off on P-day. Max's poem is awesome! I am doing great! I have 20 days left and alot more to learn. I am so glad to hear about Uncle Rich. I stood up in my chair when I read that and punched the air and yelled, "yes"! I prayed everyday for him. I am so excited to see Greg this Wednesday. Thanks for the food and for your prayers. I love you!

2009-04-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for the package! Everyone makes fun of me and calls me waterboy because you sent gallon jugs, but I love it because I can just sit on my bed and eat and drink water! The trailmix is way good. That is the funniest story about Max's boil, but sucky too-haha! That is so good for Hannah going to hair school. Robby Carter's sister works in the MTC salon. Hannah will be great because she will make people laugh the whole time. I am having a great time and learning alot and coming closer to Christ. Thanks again for everything. Love you!

2009-04-20T07:58:00.001-07:00

Sonny will be in the MTC until May 11 so the MTC address is the same until then. We will post his new address when we know it. He would love to get letters!

2009-04-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the change in the blog..I totally messed up and couldn't get anything back the way it was. I am learning!

Letter 3/27

2009-03-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Salut,
Desolee, je ne peut pas ecrire letters very good. J'ai beaucoup de studying. Mon Collegue (companion... si nous dissons "companion" en francais, les gens penserai que nous sommes "married/gay" hehe) Mon Collegue et moi nous sommes les derigants de zone. We were called last Sunday but we arent going to be put in til the old ones leave next monday. Mon collegue vien de Twin Falls. J'aime mes instructeurs. Ils s'appellent Frere Emery et Soeur Betteridge. Ils sont tres cool. Mes etudies vont bien. Je parle le francais toujours. I know its really broken french but my instructors told me to say everything i can say in french. the gift of tongues is real! i am learning things so quick! The MTC has been great!There is a cool elder from france named elder olivier, i talk to him all the time. and there is this sister from french guinea who is awesome. THere is also this teacher here who served at my mission and he speaks three different creoles! The elders that leave on monday that are going to my mission are awesome, one of the elders named elder butler is from australia and he's way cool. bonne chance avec les maisons! Je t'aime!
--------------------------------TRANSLATION-----------------------------
Sorry, I can't write letters very good. I have lots of studying to do. My colleague(companion) if we say companion in french people will think we are married/gay-haha! My colleague and I are zone leaders. We were called last Sunday but we aren't going to be put in till the old ones leave next monday. My companion is from Twin Falls, ID. I love my instructors their names are Brother Emery and Sister Betteridge. They are way cool. My studies are going well. I speak french all the time. I know it is really broken french but my instructors told me to say everything I can say in french. The gift of tongues is real! I am learning things so quickly. The MTC has been great! There is a cool elder from france named Elder Olivier, I talk to him all of the time, and their is a sister from French Guinea who is awesome. There is also this teacher here who served at my mission and speaks 3 different creole's. The elders that leave on monday that are going to my mission are awesome, one of the elder's is Elder Butler from Austrailia and he is way cool. I love you!

Letter from MTC

2009-03-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

We received a letter! 3/18-His companion is Elder Lish from Twin Falls, Idaho. They are getting along great. He said the food is ok-but he needs more fiber....Elder L. Tom Perry spoke for the last devotional and he said it was awesome. He loves getting food and letters. He closed with "I know God is helping me and that I am in the yoke of Gods work."

To see what is happening in west indies:

2009-03-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

www.westindiesmission.blogspot.com

2009-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

We are anxiously waiting to hear from Elder Hill! It has been 2 1/2 days since he left! Max is taking over his clothes and Brock got his room and we seem to have more food in the house......things are definately different around here. If anyone wants to post news on here or letters of encouragement I can print it out and send it through the mail but I don't think Sonny will be able to check it. We will try to keep you updated on what is going on with him as we get news. Thanks loved ones!
The Hill Gang

2009-03-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone wanting to send mail to Sonny while he is in the MTC this is his address:

ELDER VON SHUMWAY HILL

MTC Mailbox #320

WST IND 0511

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT. 84604-1793