29 Dec 09

Re: RE: hey zac‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/29/09 8:59 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad. i'm sorry i didnt get to talk to you for very long on the phone. i'll make
sure to be more specific next time to avoid confusion. that's really cool about your
gifts. sounds like a lot of fun. so what happened to you having an office? i guess a
kid's game room is equally important. haha. things are going well here in malaysia. we
are working with some really good people. we've been working with this bidayuh lady
who comes to church every week. she's pretty cool. her 11 year old son has been
learning and he's really smart. he's never entered christianity before, and wants to
be baptized, so we're excited for them. we're working on resolving her concerns
right now, but they should set for next year. the work is really picking up here in
kuching and is a lot of fun. well, i gotta skedaddle. take care dad. talk to you next
week.
love, elder hill

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/29/09 8:52 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

Hey mom
I'm glad christmas was so fun for you. it was a blast here. i had a good time talking to you all. after we called, we had a few members who wanted us to visit, and they fed us a lot. so needless to say, i was pretty stuffed pretty much all day. it was pretty crazy, because the people here celebrate christmas for a few days, so when we go to people's houses we often still get food. it's pretty sweet. holidays are pretty rough on missionary work. lots of people went out of town. but we've still been working really hard to help the people here come closer to the gospel. it's really awesome. we are teaching a couple whose children were baptized a few years back, and things are going really well with them. they are always so excited to have us come so they can learn, and it's really cool to complete a part member family. that family shows me that the Lord really does prepare his children. I dont know why they weren't ready before, but it seems like they are now, so we're really excited for them. things are going well and i'm excited for the upcoming week. let everyone at home know that i'm thankful for everything they do. love you mom. talk to you next week.
love, elder hill

12/22/09

Re: hey zac‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/22/09 9:48 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad. it's really good to hear from you. things are going really well here in
malaysia, but i guess i'll tell you more about that when i call you. it is pretty
tough to describe that awesomeness of malaysia in writing. i'm glad to hear you are
doing well. i hope you are having fun with your break from school. haha.
that's funny about erin. how much does she know how to say now? it's crazy how fast
those little kids grow up. i've only been gone 5 months! a.n. sent me a pic of
jameson and he's already getting big. nuts. anyways, have a nice merry christmas.
talk to you in a few :)
love, elder hill

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxxl.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/22/09 9:42 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma
i'm sorry i never got the email that you sent. speaking of pictures, maybe could you snail mail a picture of the entire family to me, laminated if possible? if that's too much trouble, don't worry about it, but the people here really like to see pictures of our families, and i left all my pictures in singapore. take care of yourself and dont work too hard. tell the fam i love them, and i'll talk to them in a few.
love, elder hill

nyssa's got her call!

In case you were interested, Nyssa got her call. See? She wants to open it herself and she'll not be here for 5 and a half more hours. I'll have to post (again with pictures) after she gets home.

edited 15 to midnight: She got her call to Canada Calgary! Here's her link: http://nyssassojournincanadaeh.blogspot.com

Dec 15, 09

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 12/15/09 8:14 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey mom. sorry i didnt email you last week. i didnt get one from you. i guess i
should still email. i just hoped that you would read the one i sent to dad as well.
about that picture with the water tho, it looked so much worse in person. i'm glad
you got my pics. i'll try to send some more to you soon. i guess i should take some
more. i'm pretty bad about that. i never think about the pictures. yeah i get to
call home for christmas. which reminds me, which number do you want me to call? i
should be able to check my email christmas morning so i can see your response. is it
better for me to call later? i can call pretty much any time that morning. i guess
i'll shoot for 8 or 9 am which will be like 4-5pm your time. so i hope everyone that
wants to talk will be there. i'm glad you had fun at the concert. it's good that you
and dad are getting out still. i'm actually kind of short on time, so i guess ill
skedaddle. talk to you on christmas. love you mom.
love, elder hill

Re: hey‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 12/15/09 7:52 PM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad.
it is really crazy to see the conditions these people live in.  i tell you, it really
freaked me out when i first got here. but it has been great to see how different
people's lives can be, and that they are still so happy. it's crazy, because every
time we ask people about their work, they always say they love it, and are confused
that they would have any other feelings about it. they are a satisfied and humble
people, and it is humbling to just be able to serve them. i have learned so much here.
 once when we were doing a service project, the handle to the only shovel we had
broke. in the states, we would just take a trip to home depot and pick up a new one.
the people here just hacked a branch off a tree and made their own! it was hilarious.

it really is great to see the gospel bless people's lives here. people here always
tell me how easy they were to anger and now they enjoy life so much more. it's funny,
because when you ask people about their testimony, most people will start to talk
about the word of wisdom. it's just something that they have seen that has really
blessed their lives. they see first hand how much healthier they are following it.
i really do love the people here.

i'm glad things are going well for you. take it easy dad. any  more news from home?
i'll try to get more pictures sent out  to you as i take them. just know that things
are going really well here. we have so much fun finding and teaching people. i went
on exchanges with a kid from my mtc group and we had a lot of fun contacting. it's
great to just talk to people and get to know them a little bit while testifying
about the truthfulness of the gospel. people always get surprised when we tell them
we've only been in malaysia 3+ months because we "sudah pandai cakap bm" (already
speak malay) but i think they are just not used to white people being able to speak
to them. we've got lots of good families that we've been teaching. there's this one
guy in particular who bakes cakes for a living. he's awesome. the second time we went
 to teach him, he said he already had a testimony of Joseph Smith. he had been taught
 by a few missionaries before, so it showed me that the Lord really does prepare His
children to accept the gospel. but, i gotta go. tell everyone hi for me (especially
grandma & grandpa hill and grandma beesley!) i hope everyone knows that i love them.

love, elder hill

a letter full of pictures!

Zac sent mom and me a whole envelope of pictures. I seems he's having the time of his life.

#1 This is me with the branch president and his family. Pretty good looking bunch of Ibans, eh?

#2 This is the first Buddhist temple I saw in Kuching. They are everywhere.

#3 Ever been this thirsty?

#4 This is a crazy foresty field right in the middle of the city. I was hoping there might be some wild Ibans hiding in the trees.

#5 This is my sweet "Tembikai Garang"carved out of watermelon for Hallowe'en.

#6 Me and Edler Rajah-Kanagasabai, the day before he was transferred. Taken with the Elders' Quorum President's family. What a silly group.

#7 Me with some Iban girls. The girl in the middle is Ivy. one of the 3 baptized in October.

#8 This is Elder Harbst's Self portrait.

#9 This is four of us missionaries with some Ibans and our Chinese District President, President Kong. We poured some concrete and fixed a drain at his house. That was a fun day.

Dec 8th

Re: letter from home‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxxl.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/08/09 7:55 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad.
hows life going? life here is good. i love malaysia more and more every day. it's so
fun. the people here are just great. we have really good members. it's crazy that you
can tell a difference when someone doesnt show up for a week. we've got a really good
branch here.
i'm not senior companion yet. i probably wont be for a while. my companion now has
been out 13.5 months and this is his first time being senior comp. he and i our
having fun together. yesterday, we contacted all day, and i loved it. it's awesome
just to go out and talk to people about the gospel. and our message is really special.
we talked with this man who had never prayed before, and he had been christian for
years. he was pretty closed minded at first and didnt want to hear our message
because his pastor said our church was bad. he opened up a little at the end, and
i'm glad to have been able to testify to him about prayer. i hope that he remebers
what we talked about, and decides to experiment on god's word like it says in alma.
we didnt get a return appointment with him, but hopefully he'll be able to remember
what we taught him in the future when other missionaries come to talk to him.
i'm glad that you are doing well dad. but with all the falling youve been doing
lately, youre getting almost as bad as mom! haha. take care of yourself dad. but i
too am excited about nyssa's mission call. i hope she gets it soon. anywyas, thanks
so much for the letter dad. i love you too, and i love all the family. i'm grateful
for your prayers and support. talk to you next week.
love, elder hill

thanksgiving 09

Re: sorry‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/01/09 7:22 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad. well as long as youre glad you wont see me, i guess that makes me feel better.
 haha. so how did you fall on your knees while walking the dogs? did they just pull
really hard? are you doing ok? i'm glad to hear you're staying busy. how's school
going? can you believe it's almost christmas? time just flies by. if people ask about
me, tell them the work is going well and the people here are really responsive to the
gospel message. i know this message is true and i'm grateful for the opportunity to
help others understand it more fully. i've seen it's blessings in the lives of others,
 and i cant deny the truth of it. take care and have a good week, dad.
love,
Elder Hill

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 12/01/09 7:14 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma!
yes thanksgiving dinner was good. but i still missed yours. i'm glad i've been out for a few months, so it just felt normal to be away from home. we all got together as a zone and had fun. played games and just talked and got to know each other. thanks so much for the pics mom. they are awesome. i love the one of everyone at thanksgiving. abby is such a goof. can you believe it's december already? where is the time going. is dad going to have a cool french club party? hopefully youll be able to go. how is everything going at home>? are you and dad finding enough things to do to keep yourselves occupied? haha. i'm glad brit and matt are going to be able to make it down for christmas. that sounds like it should be a lot of fun. things here are going well. we havent had anymore baptisms since the ones in october. sometimes things just dont go the way you planned, but we have some in our future. we've got really good investigators. one guy, the second time we met him told us he already knew the message we taught was true, so needless to say we were pretty happy. so was he. nothing but smiles. it's so great to see how much this message can make people's lives better. everyday, i feel like i understand a little bit more, and every day i'm happier. i'm so pleased with my decision to come out. the teaching is going really well. i feel like i improve every day. i remember back to the first day i was out and i couldnt say anything. i feel much better about things now. we had a cool district meeting on really using the scriptures when we teach, so we're working hard on that. the language is going well, too. i feel like i can express myself so much better now, and i find new ways to explain the gospel every day, although i still sound like a white guy. haha. anyways, i'm really glad you sent me this letter. the pictures really are the best. thanks for everything mom. know that i love you.
love, elder hill

before thanksgiving

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 11/24/09 7:54 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma! thanks for the pictures. they are always so fun. how have you been?
thanksgiving is going to start over here in a few hours. we have two retired couples
here in kuching, and about 12 missionaries, and we are all getting together today to
celebrate, i'm really excited. i love my zone here in kuching. it smells so good
already, but i'm gonna miss all you guys back home. i hope you all have fun as well.
nyssa really shouldnt worry about any of that getting ready for the mission. it's
really easy. no sweat. i'm sorry it's been cold. it gets a little chilly here as well
 when we're soaked to the bone, even if it is 80°! it's been raining as much as ever,
 but i love it. there's something so fun about riding through water up to your calves
. especially since people we contact into know us as the crazy guys who ride bikes in
 the rain. that's a good conversation starter. we had one family move away the week
before their baptism date, but the rest of our investigators are doing well. we are
getting new ones all the time and just teaching, teaching, teaching! it's fun. we've
been trying to involve the members a lot more and they've really stepped up. our
members here are awesome, and the lessons really go so much better with a member
there, and when we make sure they are involved in the teaching. we are teaching this
new guy named castro. he's awesome. we were giving him some homework to read before
we came back a second time and we asked if there was something specific he wanted to
read about, and he said "something about my journey to baptism." he's really smart
and speaks really good english as well. he says my malay sounds funny :( hahaha.
tell everyone back home that i love them. i'm gonna try to snail mail some pictures
out to you this week. hopefully all goes well. it's really conbersome and time
consuming to send them over the internet, so never fear! anyways, i love you and
i'll talk to you next week.
love, elder hill

a short one

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 11/16/09 10:39 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey mom and dad. well, the p day got moved up a day because we have zone conference
this week. i guess i'll just have to read your email next week. but this week was a
good week. we put a few people on date for baptism. we have such good investiagators.
i'm so excited for the upcoming weeks. this week we have a man who is going to be
baptized. he's an awesome old guy- the father of a member in the branch. we've still
been doing a lot of contacting. we have been going through our new investigators
pretty fast so our mission president challenged us to work harder to retain them, so
hopefully we'll have more solid investigators in the future. we now have the
sacrament prayer in malay, so things are really looking up! i'm really excited for
the future. i'm sorry i dont have much time to write. i guess i'll talk to you next
week. take care and remember that i love you.
love, Elder Hill

november 10

Re: RE: weekly letter‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 11/10/09 7:51 PM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad. oh man everybody calls me bukit garang. the other missionaries even tell
their new investigators that i'm bukit garang. the members here really get a kick
out of it. especially when we ask who is going to pray. they look over and say
"bukit garang!"

it looks like the french club is fun. i miss cheese. i havent had cheese for a few
months. haha. so all the missionaries looked over as i pulled the picture up and
thought that the girl in the pic was writing me. they make so much fun of me, but
it's hilarious. i love all the guys that are in my apartment. we have so much fun
together and get work done while doing it. the work is coming along pretty well, and
we expect to have a good number of baptisms before the year is up.

i can't believe mom fell. i'm glad she's not hurt. typical mom to start laughing
after a fall tho. she's so funny.

thanks for the letter dad. i really appreciate that you think of me. but i have to
go. take care and have fun. i love you.

love, elder hill

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 11/10/09 7:42 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey mom
i am having so much fun here. the time is sure flying by. i can't believe you fell! you need to take care of yourself ma! haha. i hope you are feeling all right. i got a pic of the watermelon. i'll try to get it sent off to you sometime soon. the "stinky" fruit is a "durian" i dont think it smells too bad, but there are times when i'm not sure if a smell is durian or garbage. i still have yet to try it. i share an apartment with another elder from my mtc group, and he tried durian for the first time yesterday. he said he almost threw up, so i dont know when i'll try it. haha.
the language is coming pretty well. i love to just talk to the people. they like to joke around a lot, so we have a lot of fun. i'm kind of worried i might come back less mature than i went out! haha just kidding.

so we've still been doing lots of contacting. we are meeting some good people. we met a family of five and they are pretty good. the wife only speaks iban and a little bit of malay, so it's kind of tough to communicate with her. but the husband was really excited to get a copy of the book of mormon. he seems to be able to understand most of it, so it's really exciting. hopefully they'll be baptized soon.

so before i talk about this next couple, i need to explain that many people here in kuching dont have transport and the public transport system leaves a lot to be desired, so the church has a van that goes around to pick people up. so we had these investigators who were going to go to church for the first time. we walked with them to an area where the van could pick them up. we saw the van approach, and then keep going by at full speed. that was a little saddening because needless to say, those investigators didnt come to church that sunday. but it was a cool experience because they were still so happy and said they still really wanted to go to church. we had taught them about trials in this life, and the husband was just like "i guess this is just another trial of our faith.' they are really awesome. so next week they will be coming. they are progressing well and they are just a fun couple to be around.
thanks for the picture of abby's party. i forgot to tell you there is a girl that we baptized back in october that really reminds me of abby. it's fun to be around that family as well. the people here are just really really great.
anyways, i'm sorry but i gotta go. thanks for the letter. i really appreciate all you do for me mom. take care of yourself and remember i love you.
love, elder hill

a candiless halloween

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 11/03/09 7:51 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey mom. thanks for the letter. it's good to hear about the news from home. so we didnt
 get any pumpkins here, but we did carve some watermelons. it was pretty sweet.
hopefully soon i'll be able to send you a pic of mine. we accidently left our pumpkins
outside for like a week and there was a swarm of insects flying around in there. pretty
 scary! i couldnt find any candy tho, so unfortunately i had a healthy candiless
halloween. for shame, for shame! we are doing quite a bit of teaching. we also do a lot
 of finding. finding new people every day. we have a mission goal for 10 new
investigators each week, which is 10 people who will accept a return appointment. so
we normally have plenty of people to teach. we have a good amount of appointments
fall through, but you know it will be pretty good when the people actually let you
come back. i love teaching so much. it's so fun just talking and getting to know
people. we just help them to understand about the message and answer their questions.
 nothing better than that. i can't believe i used to be shy, because it's so easy to
 go contacting now. i dont even get butterflies in my tummy. the language is going
pretty well. people are frequently surprised when i tell them i've only been in
malaysia for 2 months. but i know i'm still not that great. the are times when i
still struglle to understand what people are saying, but for the most part, i can
get in. i can even joke and have fun with the people now. it's so cool. the people
here are really funny. we have an investigator who jokes with us so much. he's
awesome. we've been working with him to get him to stop smoking. hopefully he and
his wife will be baptized at the end of this month. also, we've gotten a few other
families who are excited. they've expressed a willingness to come to church, which
is always good. i guess we'll see how it goes this sunday. there are a lot of people
that we are going to try to put on date for baptism this week. our mission president
tells us people should be put on date for baptism by the second lesson. it's really
cool to have mission wide goals because it pushed us to work really hard. it's hard,
 but it's so fun, even when we get rained on all day. last week i told you it was
pretty dry, but it has rained every day after that. haha. it's fun to go through
huge puddles sometimes. the bugs here aren't too bad. there are lots of little tiny
jumpy spiders, but nothing too bad. the locals say the spiders here arent poisonous
like they are in america, so im not too worried. the biggest thing is mosquitos. i
get bitten every day. but i hardly notice it now. i think my blood is getting less
sweet. i havent really seen any cool fabric, but it's because the missionaries i
stay with like to stay at the apartment and watch movies on p day. sometime, i'll go
looking for you. we've watched narnia and herculese every week since ive been here.
it's nuts. but anyways, tell nyss and abby happy birth day for me. i'll talk to you
next week!
love, elder hill

Re: RE: weekly letter‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 11/03/09 7:59 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad.
i shouldve known you would carve a cylon in your pumpkin. so what do you tell the people when they ask about not using elder? i guess it's kind of like when everyone thought i was going to china, i mustve told people a hundred times that i wasnt going to china. haha. good times. how is everyone at church? my branch here is really cool. we have some memebers that are always so willing to help us and it's awesome. it really helps to get people to church when they have a friend. i telly you, missionary work is so fun. i love just going to everyone and talking to them. oh, also, the people in my branch started to call me "bukit garang" which means "fierce hill." garang can mean either fierce or quickly angered. they always tell me that i look "garang.' it's pretty funny. we all have nicknames since most people here cant pronounce our names. even mine they have trouble with. that's funny about your story with mom. they sure dont have panda express here, but they do have kfc. just thinking about it is making me hungry. there's not much on a chicken that's really too bad for me to eat anymore, although i'm not to fond of really any of the chickens organs. they just dont taste that good. how is school doing? how are the students? i hope all is well back home. know that i love you. talk to you next week.
love, elder hill

Oct 27, 09

Re: RE: weekly letter‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 10/27/09 8:18 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

Hey dad!
thanks for the letter. i'm happy everything is going well. i miss helping you with the
french club, but its not like i did that very much. maybe i can wehn i get back. here
in malaysia, there is nothing going on for halloween. not even candy! i'm pretty bummed.
 i'm still here in kuching tho, so everything is all good. i love it here. our
investigators are so awesome. we have this old man named elih that is so good. all
the things we teach him, he instantly starts following. it really is a good example
for me. he should be baptized next week. so we're pretty excited. we also have this
investigator named amstrong. he knows so much. he gets so excited to have us over.
it really is fun teaching these people. i finally feel like i can communicate and
understand these people. it still is a little tough to understand on the phone, but
i'm getting there. malay is such a fun language. some of the tribal languages here
sound so hilarious. i wish you could here all of them. i really am loving my time
here. the people are so fun to be around. we've been going contacting a lot to fill
up our pool, and its been really fun. i dont know how anyone can be shy after a
mission. its starting to be so easy to just go up to someone and talk to them. but i
think part of it is because i know this message is true and i know that Heavenly
Father will witness to them that it is true. we've been getting some good
investigators, so hopefully we'll have many more baptisms coming up soon! anyways, i
have to go.

i love you dad. take care of yourself.
love, elder hill

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 10/27/09 8:24 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey mom! the pics are so good. thanks for sending them too me. thanks for the information on what's going on too. i'm glad to hear you are having a good time. unfortunately, there's nothing going on for halloween here. but i tell you you dont need cold temps to drink hot chocolate. we get hot chocolate here when i feel like i'm gonna die from the heat, and i still love it! so go ahead and drink it all year round!

anyways, we have some fun investigators. we have a husband and wife who have been coming to church regularly. we are helping the husband to stop smoking and he's coming along, so we should have a baptsim before too long. they really are a fun family. we're teaching this kid whos about 20 and he lives in this dorm type thing with like 20 other students. it's so fun to teach him because everyone is so interested because we are american that when we teach there are like 10 people that gather around to listen to what we say. it's a fun time. im sorry i dont have time to say more. know that i love you and take care of yourself.
love, elder hill

a letter to mom

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 10/20/09 10:52 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

Hey ma!
I hope you know that it is impossible to not get "too wet" here mom, but I'm glad you
care about me. haha. it actually has been fairly dry this week, but I still have gotten
 pretty soaked. speaking of that, it just started raining. darn. we eat lots of curries
 and different foods, but nothing to disgusting. to be honest, we dont ever have like
dinner appointments with people here. we just eat if people give us food. there are
lots of vegetables, but nothing too bad. i'll talk to the missionary couple and see
if they can send some pictures, but it'll be like just a few per week, because i dont
 want to use up too much of their time. Thanks so much for all the letters you sent
me. I really cant believe that max actually caught a mouse. he's the laziest cat
i've ever seen. pretty nutty. and i can't believe nano and dawn are engaged. i
thought it was never going to happen! haha. i'm glad that you got to see the family.
that sounds like a lot of fun. but i guess i do have some news from over here. I'm
still in kuching, but my trainer got transferred to west malaysia so i have a new
companion now. he got here two days ago. His name is elder pulver. he's pretty cool.
we've been working really hard this week. We've been having a hard time because our
teaching pool is kind of low, so we've been doing a lot of contacting and having
some good success. With found this 20 year old student and we taught him the first
lesson. When we taught him about the Book of Mormon, he was like "where can I get
one of those? i've been really curious about why there are so many churches" so it
was really cool to see someone excited about the message we have to share. we brought
 a member to help us out, and you could really feel the spirit there. i don't know
how things are going to go, but i know he could recognize the truth of what we were
 saying. it was a really cool experience. about nyssa going on a mission, i would be
really excited if she does. i think it would be a really cool experience for her. I
know it has helped me to learn a lot, and i know it would help her too.
anyways, i love you mom.
it's great to hear from you every week. if you ever think of something you want to
say, dont hesitate to email me :) but i'll talk to you next week.
love, Elder Hill

Oct 14, 2009

Re: weekly letter‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 10/13/09 10:30 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey dad! how are things going for you? how are classes at school. slowly by slowly
my french is dying, but i'm not too worried about it. so why the change to the 15
year olds? it's funny that you picked nick, because he prides himself on being lazy.
that crazy kid. tell him if he plans on going on a mission, he can't be lazy there
either. especially if he's in a biking area. so are you enjoying your sunday school
class? how is the ward doing? tell everyone i say hi and that i love them and that
i'm having a great time.

That would be pretty crazy if nyss went on a mission. an unexpected third missionary
huh? I'm glad you are there for her. thanks for everything you do for us dad.

anyways, i have to go. take care of yourself. stay healthy. sampai jumpa lagi! saya
mengasihi kamu!

love zac

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Tue 10/13/09 10:50 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma! it's good to hear from you. i'm sorry about the working so hard. make sure you
take care of yourself and dont work too hard. but yeah about the rain, we get smashed
so often here. it's rained every day for the past week. but we've been lucky at being
inside when it rains. the rain comes and leaves so suddenly, but while it's raining,
it's crazy. we get pretty soaked. it really is so very different from anything ive
ever experienced. it's a special opportunity. i totally know how you feel about
finding it hard to believe it's cold anywhere. it's pretty hot here all the time. but
i really love it. i like the heat way more than cold, so i'm pretty thankful im here
and not russia or something. that's really cool you get to bless jameson soon. good
luck with the barbeque.

we do have a few people we are teaching. we have a few people on date for baptism,
but sometimes people here are so tough! haha. we have a good amount of sit down
appointments every night and we go contacting a lot so i get to talk to a lot of
people. i tell you, by now i've eaten pretty much every part of a chicken! i swear,
i will never be picky with your cooking again! haha. i havent been out very long,
but there's starting to be not much that i can't eat. hopefully i'll get a letter
mailed off to grandma soon, but i'm having a little trouble finding stamps at the
moment. tell her not to worry tho. i'm doing really well and love being here. i'll
get pictures to you when i can. i'm not sure when i will be able to. it's kind of
tough because we only get an hour on the computer and it takes a while to send
pictures.. so i'll try to figure something out. never fear tho mom. you will get
pictures soon. anyways, i gotta go. take care and know that i love you!
love, zac

a letter home

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 10/06/09 8:57 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey ma! things are going really well over here. we teach quite a bit, but our teaching
pool is a bit low right now, so we spend a good amount of time contacting too. i feel
like the language is getting so much better. i can actually get involved in
conversations and talk to people. i can almost understand them too! haha. my
comprehension is getting a lot better, but there are still a lot of things i can't
understand. teen agers are really tough for me to understand as well. we were teaching
this group of college aged students and i could barely understand anything! but it's
so fun out here. i never really thought a mission would be this fun. i feel like i
can communicate well for te most part, except when it comes to contacting. i'm still
struggling with that. but i've been working really hard with my language skills, so
hopefully contacting will come pretty soon. the baptism was so cool. my companion did
the actual baptisms, but it was a really cool experience to see people you've been
teaching become members. there were three of them. oh yeah, i got to confer the holy
ghost upon them. that was pretty sweet. i was able to do it in malay and everything.
giving my first blessing in malay was pretty scary, but i really enjoy it. people
here have so much faith. they just come up and ask for blessing because they know it
can help them. sometimes i wonder if i have that much faith. since i'm new, they
pick me quite frequently, so i've had a good amount of experiences with helping
people already. it's ok if jake doesn't have time to talk to me. i trust you'll tell
me if anything comes up with any of the kids. wish them luck for me. i'm glad to hear
it's cooling down for you. it's been pretty cool here as well, but that would be
because it's been raining a good amount. i hear we're getting into monsoon season,
so it's pretty exciting. i've come home soaked for te past couple of days. i can
already tell i'm not going to be bringing any of my clothes home with me. i didnt
get a chance to hear conference yet, but tey put it on dvd and send it to us so i'll
be able to in a few weeks. i'm sorry  you had to work through it. dont work yourself
too hard mom. about the earth quake, i didnt even feel it. we dont read the news or
anything, so i had no idea anything went on lol. i'm completely safe. no need to
worry mom. things here are so great. i can't believe i've already been ere over a
month. it feels so normal already. to be honest, the humidity wasn't too bad to get
used to. i'm pretty sure i dont sweat that much more than i did when i was riding my
bike in the las vegas heat. only my mouth doesnt get so dry here, so it's nice. i'm
kind of afraid i'll turn to dust when i get home tho. it's cool that they were able
to come over for dinner. that sounds really fun. your halloween decorations are so
cool here. we dont have any at my house. nobody here celebrates halloween, so we dont
have anything going on. but it should be fun. hopefully i'll be able to find some
good candy at a store to stock up on for halloween night. i miss candy. but we get
ice cream like every week, so it's all good. they have a touristy area that's close
to our house that we go to on p days and buy ice cream and our groceries. it's nice.
i guess i'll just send one letter to you and dad this week since he didnt send me
one. anyways, i have to let you go. i love you mom. take care and have fun. tell
jared happy b day for me. talk to you next week.
love, zac

sept 29, 09

Re: RE: singapore‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/29/09 9:11 PM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

haha that was a silly french story. did you make that up on the spot? did you use that
for your classes? how are the classes coming? mom says your french club is doing well.
i'm glad to hear that. wish i could be there to help you out, but maybe i'll be able
to sometime later. hopefully my french sticks. haha. i cant believe they sent elder
tyler's letter to you! haha. when we got to singapore for the first time, my mission
president thought i was elder tyler. it's funny to see that they mixed it up again!
i dont really know how much i told you about when we went to singapore, but there
were 16 of us newbies from the mtc, which is the biggest group the mission has ever
gotten at one time. anyways, so the mission president had all of our trainers come
and meet us and we had some training with them. that was really cool being together
with so many missionaries and learning about how to teach the gospel better. those
are some of the best times i have. but it's definitely the best while teaching
someone where you can tell what you are saying is changing their life. that is the
coolest experience i have ever had. the people here are really amazing. i wish you
could meet them dad. they are so funny. i really like the experience of seeing how
the church works in a different part of the world, especially since the church here
is so young. it is a really interesting experience. the other day we ran into a
white guy while tracting, and i remember thinking how weird it was to see a white
person. haha. everyone who sees me tho is like "orang putih!" which means white
person. it's funny. also, they call english "white person language. oh man i love it
here. is georgia realy that jungly? i am still amazed every day at the amount of
plant life there is here. about the blow gun, i may get one later in the mission.
you can get pretty cheaply made ones for like 20 ringgit, or really nice ones for
like 300. i dont really know what to do about souvenirs. i'm not thinking i'll get
much. do you have any suggestions about things like that? i'm so inexperienced i
just don't know what to do haha. thanks for the words of support dad. i really
appreciate everything you and mom do for me. know that you are always in my prayers.
i love you all.

love zac

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/29/09 8:59 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma! yeah i am doing really well. i'm getting used to everything here pretty well now. i'm even starting to be able to understand people on the phone now, which is nice. it's still a little tough to understand people sometimes, but i feel like it's getting much better. as for investigators, we're kind of low at the moment. we have 3 people getting baptized this saturday tho. that is really exciting. the family is really awesome. i love meeting with them and teaching them. i accidently stored my baptismal pants in singapore, so i'll have to wait til i go back to singapore til i can get them. that'll be anywhere from 2-4 months. but what can you do. i think the other missionaries would let me borrow them if i needed them. but on saturday my companion will be doing the actual baptisms. i'm excited dad has a sizeable french club. i wish i had helped him out more with it. maybe when i get back i'll be able to some time. about the souvenirs, i'm not exactly sure how many i'll get. stuff is fairly cheap, but i don't know what exactly is worth getting and all that, you know? i think i'm going to wait a while before i get anything for myself at least, so i can figure things out a little better. i'm still trying to adjust to everything. but you're pretty lucky it'll get to 70's. it never cools down here. lol. but i like it. even when they serve me piping hot chocolate i enjoy it. we had zone conference last week and it was really good. they taught us about the steps to receive revelation, and told us that we need to work with revelation or we will never be as effective as we could be, so this week we've been working pretty hard. we're working with the members to try to get referrals. i never really realized how important referrals were to the work until i came out on the mission. i really like to teach people and testify to them. it feels so good to have that witness that what you are saying is true. i'm sorry about all the working you've been doing mom. how are you feeling? i hope you are taking care of yourself. i pray fro you and dad every night. i trust everything is well with you. have you been doing anything together lately besides all the movies? i'm glad to hear you're taking a class at jo anns. that sounds really fun for you. tell jared and amber congrats for me, and tell brittanie and matt to keep trying! haha. how is jake doing by the way? i've asked a couple people and no one tells me. but it's ok. well, i gotta let you go mom. i love you and hope you are doing well. talk to you next week.
love zac

From: Janice Hill 
To: Zac Hill 
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:12:36 -0700


Zac,
Just have to tell you in case you're still on. Ashley Blevins is getting married in
December. Just found out today. Thought you'd like to know.
Love Mom

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/29/09 9:23 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

wow i didnt really think i'd find out about someone getting married while i was out
here. i thought i didn't really know anyone. that's funny. thanks for thinking of me
mom :) take care!

          

letters home 23 sept. 09

Re: RE: singapore‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@xxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Wed 9/23/09 8:53 PM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad
it's good to hear from you. i'm glad you like your french classes this year. i really
wish i had a chance to speak more french. i talk to myself in french sometimes when we
are riding in between appointments, but it's tough sometimes because malay words just
come out in a french accent every so often. it's gonna be pretty silly when i try to
speak when i get home. i feel like i still remember a good amount but it's only been
a few months. i can really see why people hold their mission experiences so close to
them tho. this is the hardest but funnest thing i've ever done. i tell you, it's
such an experience! i never wouldve dreamed it would be like this. i cant even
really describe everything that happens. i wish i had more to tell you, but it's
hard to remember at times. when i get back and i get talking about it i'm sure ill
have good stories. we've been listening to a bunch of christmas tunes at the house,
and everyone really likes the grinch song. we hear it at least 3 times a day. haha.
everyone just cant wait til christmas. they tell me that all the members feed you
beyond belief then. when we go to peoples houses, they wont let you leave til youve
eaten all the food theyve prepared. it's pretty nuts to be honest. this family
always makes a whole loaf of jelly sandwiches for us and makes us eat them all so
needless to say i can eat jelly now. tell mom to take it easy. she needs to take
care of herself. but i really appreciate the french story you sent me. i love to
test out my french. thanks for everything you do for me dad. sorry this letter is so
short, but it's zone conference day today and there's not much time to email.
anyways, i'll be able to talk to you next week.
i love you dad
zac

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Wed 9/23/09 8:46 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@xxxxxxx.xxx

hey ma
our area is a little slow at the moment so we're going out tracting a lot to try to pick up some new investigators. we have one family scheduled for baptism the first saturday in october, and they are keeping all there commitments so it looks really good. they are such a cool family. they love having us over. the mom was telling us that when she saw my companion and his previous comp going around their neighborhood she knew she wanted to listen to them and here she is about to get baptized! i tell you the mission has some of the best spiritual experiences ever. testifying to people is so great. you can just feel within yourself that what you are saying is true, and that the people you are teaching will recognize it, whether they choose to follow or not. it's a really special experience. i'm starting to understand why everyone talks about their missions like they do. about the bugs, theyre everywhere! i get bitten so many times a day by crazy mosquitos. i have a few on my face too! but im getting used to it. hopefully soon i wont even notice anymore. the spider arent too bad here. there's lots of little ones, but not too many big ones. they have some pretty big scorpions which is crazy. i ran one over on my bike the other day. haha. i hope you and dad are having fun without all of us there. have you watched anything cool lately? oh and i havent gotten any letters yet. if i start getting too many emails i really might not be able to respond to them all. i only get 1 hour talking to everybody, so i'd have to keep everything really short. that's really cool that adrienne is coming tho. that should be fun. jameson is gonna be so old when i get back. haha. but time is really flying here. can you believe i've almost been gone for three months? hopefully late october ill finish my training. the people here dont really celebrate halloween so i'll probably just buy myself a ton of candy. mmmm! how is work going by the way? are you feeling ok? dont be too hard on yourself. it's funny because sometimes i think about the time back home and dad starts work like right as i'm preparing for bed. i dont really even feel that far away tho. malaysia is realy cool. have you gotten any pics from me yet? i put some pictures on our retired couples pc and they said they'd send some. let me know how that goes. the retired couple, the youngs, are so good to us. they really take care of us. i'm glad to have them here. anyways, i dont have much time so i'll talk to you later ma!
i love you so much and take care!
love, zac

letter from the missionaries downstairs

I am not really senile - Read this one first.‏

From:	Nancy Young (nancycyoung44@xxxxxxx.xxx)
Sent:	Wed 9/23/09 3:48 AM
To:	wodenowl@xxxxxxx.xxx

Dear Br. and Sister Hill,

I am so embarrassed!!

I was writing Elder Tyler's parents and at the wrong address and sent it to you.

Please delete all three of those and read this one about your son.

We are the senior couple that are working in Kuching with Elder Hill. No we are not infirm and senile. I was just trying to get these off to the parents of the two new Elders before it got any later and looked at the wrong email address. We are so pleased to have the opportunity to work with your son Elder Hill. His enthusiasm for the work, even riding his bike, is very contagious. He is really doing well and working so hard. He brings a maturity to the group that is very helpful, yet is very teachable. He has great imput at district meetings and is very focused on the work. The elders live in an apartment just upstairs from us and it is so nice to see them each day as they go out or come home. Elder Hill is so polite and appreciative of all that we do, which isn't very much. You have raised a young man who will be a great missionary.

He was going to send you some pictures, but they don't have alot of time when emailing so I told him I would be happy to do that for him. He downloaded some on to the computer and said just send a few at a time. I picked what I thought was a good represetation for you. I will have to send them in two or three emails as they take up alot of room.

The first one is of the apartment we all live in. As you can see it is very nice and comfortable. His apartment is on the top floor on the right. It starts at the far end of the brown and goes all the way over and back. His bedroom is the back two windows. It is very safe here.

The next is of the four elders that live together in a district. The first, Elder Rajah, is from Australia and is of Sri Lankan decent and is your son's companion. He is a fine elder and will be a great trainer for elder Hill. The next is Elder Herbst, and is the district leader. He is from Salmon, Idaho. The next, I believe you know. and the last is Elder Tyler who came out with your son from the MTC. He is from Jackson Hole, Wyo. They are a great foursome. All very hard workers and obedient.

The next picture is of the jungle behind our apartment that we get to look out on everyday from our living room windows.

We are so greatful for the opportunity to work with Elder Hill. Thanks for helping him prepare for his mission. He is going to be a great missionary and leader, I am sure.We have had 5 sons serve missions, and though it didn't happen very often or with all of them, anytime I got word from someone who had been with them, it made me very happy. Please rest assured, Elder Hill is doing well and is happy in the work.

We are from Fillmore, Utah and have been here almost 14 months now. We love it here. These people are very humble and teachable, the natives that is, which is who he will be working with.

Thanks for sharing your son with us,

Elder and Sister Young

Nancy Young

three letters in one day

Re: RE: singapore‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/15/09 8:55 PM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad! it's so good to talk to you! haha yeah its funny you mention blow guns because
the trainers i live with both have them and shoot them around the house, so i feel
like indiana jones when i'm getting up in the morning! haha i'm glad nyssa made it. of
course jake would say that road is cursed haha. jakes crazy. how is he by the way? are
his kidneys doing better? i havent really heard much from or about him. but anyways,
yeah i really do need to use the sun block. i havent been because it has been mostly
cloudy, but i got burned the other day and it's not fun. the sun isnt nearly as
intense here as it feels in vegas tho. my skin was red but it didnt hurt. im planning
on getting some sun screen today tho. i need some insect repellant as well because
i'm getting eaten alive! haha i have two bites on my palm, which makes it fun to ride
my bike. oh man, the mission is so fun tho. testifying to people is the best. i
really wish i did it more before my mission. i feel like going on the mission is
making me better in so many ways. i can actually talk on the phone now, which is
pretty nice. my comp makes me call the people in malay, which is pretty scary because
sometimes i have no idea what people are saying, but it is fun. also, im getting
exposed to unusual foods, so i think when i get back ill be able to eat pretty much
anything. i can handle vegetable with almost no problem now! yeah i kind of feel
like my trainer's puppy sometimes as weel like you did. my companion is still fairly
young for a missionary tho. i kind of feel like you, because there are some
differences between malay and indonesian, so sometimes its hard to understand the
people. i think yours was worse tho, because malay is still really intelligible to
me. just wording difference. although, they have tribal languages that i dont
understand at all. sometimes people will just be talking in iban and i get so lost.
i can only say how are you and good bye in iban so far. also, it's funny beacuse
almost all the members call me elder bukit, which is the malay word for hill. did
the people in quebec ever do that to you? it's so funny, and the members get a good
laugh out of it. they laugh all the time. i love it. im pretty glad we dont have the
discussions memorized out here. it's much easier to be able to say things in your
own words. i feel like i can teach most things, but my comp does take over a lot
because he thinks i mess a lot of things up. oh well. i'm still getting experience.
also, im in a training period, where i have to pass off all the lessons to my
district leader and i have to read the book of mormon and preach my gospel and
memorize a list of missionary scripture masteries. i'm about 60% done with the
scriptures, but ihavent started passing off the lessons yet. i'm going to do my first
one this friday. i guess what i mean by this is that i feel like my training is
going well. it's fun. i have like 10 more weeks to finish, and i guess by then i'll
be a full fledged missionary! i have so much fun tho. the investigators are great.
it's so great to see people keeping commitments and changing because of the gospel.
we've been in a bit of a slump this past week, but we're working really hard to
strengthen the branch we're in. just hard work every day. i get so sweaty, but i've
never loved working so much in my life! oh yeah, so i read the message you wrote in
the journal for me that you gave me for my birthday and i just want to thank you for
it. it's really helpful. i'm sorry i never was really grateful before the mission,
but i can see how much you and mom have done for me the longer i'm out on the mission.
thanks so much for everything. i love you and mom very much. but anyways, i have to
get going, so i'll talk to you next week. let me know how your classes are doing and
how the fam is. :)

love, zac

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/15/09 8:33 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey mom! its so good to hear from you. yeah i heard that manticore died. thats a shame but we knew it was coming. its funny that you mention the blow gun because the two trainers already have one. haha i just bought this sweet tribal mask. it was only like 6 bucks! stuff here is so cheap. i may get a blow gun some time later. they have some pretty sweet fabrics here tho. they have things called sarungs that people wear around kind of like lava lavas that most missionaries get here. maybe ill send one home for you. what kind of fabric are you looking for anyway? ill see what i can find. it's still pretty hot here. its not yet into the rainy season, but it rains every week still. elder herbst said he's seen it where it rains for 10+ hours straight, so i guess i have that to look forward to. about the investigators, we have some good ones. a mother father and daughter are really making good progress and are slated to be baptized on the 3rd. its so sweet! i love teaching people. this is really the coolest thing ive ever done. i just feel so great when i testify to people that i dont even really mind if they dont accept. i know im planting seeds. also, the best part about being a missionary is just being nice to people all the time. i dont think ive ever smiled so much in my life and its so fun! i wish i would have learned that early. life would have been much better. thanks about the pumpkin. i dont think they really celebrate halloween here, so ill have to do without for a while. it's good tho. i'm having so much fun. oh yeah, about the language, i feel better about it now than i did last week. im starting to understand people more and i can say more things. just improve every day. it's so fun to learn. when i was young and imagining a mission, i never wouldve thought it would be like this, but i wouldnt give it up for the world! also, ive eaten yam and corn ice cream, they have this crazy corn and a rose flavored drink, and also i ate one of those fish that they just cook whole! the people here just wont let you get by without eating, so i have to eat! haha. i'm thinking that ill be able to eat anything when i get back. anywyas, i hope all of you are doing really well. take care of yourself mom. i love you and appreciate everything you do for me. oh yeah, next week i wont be emailing til thursday, so ill talk to you then.
love, zac

first letters from the field

Re: ‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/08/09 8:58 PM
To:	quiltingqueen57@hotmail.com

hey mom! how are you! things are going so well here it's crazy! i love it here so much.
 it's pretty weird to get used to at first. there's so much going on. i got to
singapore just fine. it was nuts because oure group of 16 was the biggest single group
that has ever come to the mission at once. our mission president had all of our
trainers come to meet us in singapore and we all had an orientation on how the mission
works and all that. it was really cool being in such a huge group of missionaries.
we walked around the city a bit and did some contacting on buses and all that. it was
 some much fun. then after two days they flew us all out to our areas. everyone in
the mtc group went to malaysia. i'm here in kuching, which is pretty much the best
area ever. it covers so much area tho. holy moly there was one day where we rode over
 40 miles in the day i think. lots and lots of riding. but it's so awesome. i meant
to get a picture of my bike, but we've been really busy with the work so i havent
had much time to get pictures for you. don't worry, i'll try to get pictures of all
the sweet stuff. there's an area we travel to where we cross this huge river and it's
 really amazing to see. i can't believe the area here. i've never seen anything like
it. i live in a 3 story building on the top, and our backyard has a pond with fish
in it, and then it's just jungle! we share our apartment with two other missionaries
working in the same branch as us. my comp's name is elder rajah-kaganasabai. lol he's
 pretty cool. he's from australia of sri lankan descent. the other elders in the
house are elder herbst and elder tyler. elder tyler was in the mtc with me, but he
was in the other district. it's pretty cool to have another newbie with us. we have
a lot of fun teaching. it's been pretty hard trying to understand people these past
few days. the first day i was here was so intense. i couldn't understand anything!
it's getting much better bu t i still have a lots of trouble. i can speak a little
but i still just gotta work at it. i can take part in lessons, but i still don't
teach much because it's kind of hard to think of what to say, but i say more and
more every day. basically, since ive been here we've been meeting some of the
members and investigators. we've also been contacting. we've gotten like 7 new
investigators so far. the work here is going great. we're working on trying to
split our branch. we have about 130 people coming to church every week and we need
about 170, so we're really busy all the time finding and teaching. teaching is so
fun! the people here are great. they always give us drinks. they have crazy drinks
here, like rose flavored and lots of fruit flavored drinks. they also have this type
of hot chocolate stuff called milo that they serve piping hot even tho it's really
hot here all the time. oh man, it's so humid here. i dont think ive ever sweat more
in my life! and we all have to hang our clothes up to dry. haha. food wise, i havent
really had anything to crazy to eat. we dont really eat at members houses.
investigators will put out some bread or something to eat, but that's about it.
elder tyler also says his investigators give them tons to eat, but not ours. lol.
we had some chicken the other day (which was pretty much the only meal ive eaten
from someone) it still had all the bones and skin and all that. there was the neck
heart and kidney as well. it's a little weird to get used to, but that's what the
people eat. besides that, we've just been teaching a lot. there were about two
investigators on date for baptism when i got here. we havent gotten any more yet,
but we're working hard on it. oh yeah, it's kind of funny. there's this little
gravel road that leads to our house when we come home at night that has no lights
or anything, so we have to kind of ride it blind, and the missionaries here call it
"jalan beriman" which means "have faith way" or something close to that. i'm sorry
it's been a while since i've written. know that i love you all and that i love it
here in malaysia! my p days are on wednesdays, so i'll be writing to you then. oh
yeah, as well, we dont wear our name tags in malaysia, but we can in singapore. we
found out that the church is cleared in malaysia with the national government, but
the local government still hastles us so we oblige them. as well, by law we can't
teach muslims, bbut there are lots of tribal people here that we can teach. they are
the coolest people ever. mostly here they have ibans and another tribe that i cant
remember lol. the ibans used to be head hunters back in the day. my comp has a
picture of some skulls from wwII. but they are the nicest people ever. so friendly
and just a people with great faith. i'm truly blessed to be working here, especially
at this time. anyways, i gotta go. talk to you all later!

love, elder Hill

Re: RE: singapore‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 9/08/09 10:23 PM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad. yeah the island of borneo is pretty crazy. it's so jungly here. there are lots of little shacks here, but in kuching there's also some nice developed areas. i'm surprized, because i've seen some of the biggest houses here! but almost everyone we teach lives in a little shack. it's so humbling. these people have some much faith. some of them cant even really read, and they are converted on our words and prayer. it's so amazing! it's been such a wonderful experience for my first week and i cant wait for the weeks to come. i've been pretty eaten alive by mosquitos tho. but i'm having so much fun. the people here are great. the tribal people are so awesome. they have the coolest decorations. sometime i hope to get a sweet blow gun here. they used to use them back when they were head hunters. but they are the nicest smallest people. i would never expect them to have been head hunters. also, when it comes to muslims, it's really easy to tell because they almost all wear traditional clothing and they have kind of a certain look about them. plus, when we contact we just ask what people they're from and if they say "malayu" we thank them and walk away. pretty much anyone else we can teach, so it's really good. the work is going really well here. we've been getting new investigators every day. we're working at splitting the branch we're in, so we have a big goal to keep us busy. i'll keep you informed on anything else sweet that happens. i'm sure ive forgotten a lot, since this wekk has been pretty busy and kind of overwhelming. but take care. i love you and i'll talk to you next week.
love, elder hill

Zac lands in Singapore and gets new assignment

singapore‏

From:	Zachary Hill (zrhill@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Wed 9/02/09 4:00 AM
To:	wodenowl@hotmail.com

hey dad and mom. so i didnt have time to call you in hong kong and they told me to just
 email you here in singapore, so i'm just letting you know that i'm all right and i got
 here safely. life is going great and everything is so awesome here. the humidity is
 pretty powerful, but it's all good. i found out my first area is going to be kuching,
 which is in east malaysia. i'll leave singapore friday. my trainer is from austrailia
 i guess. i'm really excited. kuching is a really awesome sounding area. anyways, i
 have to go. i'll write more to you sometime later. also tell nyss i'm sorry i didn't
 get to talk to her long. i love you all. take care.

elder hill

Snail mail letter received 29 Aug 2009

last pix before we leave

1. Me with Elders Harvey & Klemm. They're pretty intense

2. This is my district with our teacher, Brother Merrill, and the lady teacher my district wanted for him to date. Brother Merrill is a champ.

3. Elder Jefferies and Elder Thomas. They look pretty sweet, huh?

4. Just some of the differences between me and my companion.