a disturbance in the force

Zachary Royden Hill
to me
show details 7:04 PM (1 hour ago)
hey dad.

that's pretty cool that nyssa gave her farewell talk already. so how do you feel about having two kids out on missions now? i feel sorry for nyss going to a place that's so cold, but i guess that's just because i'm so happy with having been sent to a warm place. she'll do well there. i think i wouldve died if they had tried to tell me i need to speak for the entire time. i remember not even being able to look out into the audience when i gave my talk. i was terrified. but talks arent all that bad. i learned quickly into the mission that there were plenty of things i disliked more than giving a talk in church. like door knocking. it's so unpredictable! but i've pretty much gotten over my fear of that as well. i guess you just get to a point where you just realize there's nothing to be afraid of. i know this message is true, and i know it will help anyone that will listen to me. when Elder Nelson came and talked to us, he gave some advice that really helped me. he told us not to be ashamed of what we teach, and never see ourselves as a burden on these people. we dont have to feel like bad people by inviting them to change certain aspects of their lifestyle. it was a good experience to listen to that man speak.

so i guess i'll talk about a few of last weeks events. last week was pretty good. we had zone conference and we learned about the apostasy and different teaching strategies from the president. unfortunately i forgot note taking materials. another lesson learned. but immediately after zone conference, we had a baptism of two people. i told you about them last week. it was awesome. they both gave their testimonies afterwards. i was impressed. then, the next day, we took the older one to help us with a lesson and he was awesome. he's really good at teaching. so i'm excited for hime and his cousin. in church, we confirmed them and you could tell they really enjoyed it. but there was a disturbance in the force. if i may, i'll tell you about a situation that has been unraveling over the past few weeks. when i first got to sibu jaya, we met this crazy indonesian lady who didnt seem like she wanted to learn at all. she is a member of this church that is called "sidang injil borneo" which is a some sort of evangelical church. we didnt have any plans to go back and see the lady because she seemed so disinterested. anyways, about two weeks after that, she comes to church out of no where. so we went and started teaching her. she seemed to be making improvement. we had her on date for baptism. then she gave us a referral, a friend who also belonged to her church. so we went and taught that lady, and it was terrible. she turned it into a terrible bible bash and talking about how our church was false she even invited the pastor over while we were there and he tried to forbid us from going back to that flat ever again. unfortunately for us, she also talked to that indonesian lady who had become our investigator. she no longer had any desire to join our church. but she still showed up on sunday. during the lesson, she kept trying to interrupt and tell everyone what her church believed. but here's the kind of cool part. our members, and even investigators just turned to here while she was talking and started telling her about how they know this church is true. the guy that just got baptized used to be a member of her church. he was like "i used to be SIB. it's not true. that's why i joined this church because God told me it was true." it was pretty awesome. sometimes even experiences that can seem bad at the time turn out to be pretty cool. another good thing is we went back to that flat and knocked. we got quite a few people to invite us back. i know that nothing can obstruct God in His work. even with some hardships that i have seen, i have seen miracles and am happy to be a part of this work. take care of yourself this week dad, and tell everyone i love them.
love, zac



Zachary Royden Hill
to me
show details 7:22 PM (1 hour ago)
hey mom. thanks for wishing me happy easter. i'm going to guess that easter is this upcoming sunday? none of the malaysian calendars have easter on them, so i've been a little confused lately. but it's good. life is awesome here in malaysia. it's funny that you talk about the healthy diet. i was under the impression that people here would all be skinny and healthy because of what they eat. maybe my expectations were unrealsitic, but was really surprized at how many people here are overweight. i'm sure it's much less than other countries, but it was still surprizing. the whole time i'm thinking "how do you get fat from rice and weeds?" they have some types of vegetables here that smell and taste like i opened the lawn mower bag and starting eating from there. that's why we call them weeds if you were confused. the people here are pretty interesting in the things they eat. they can go out and just pick plants and cook them, and be perfectly happy while eating them. wild mushrooms, leaves, roots even. there's one family that loves to cook us roots. i think when i get back, i'll turn into a mountain man and just live off the environment. i'm learning it on my mission! i'm not gonna lie, i wish you could send me cake and peeps as well. luckily for me, i cant complain too much. the missionary couple here is really good to us when it comes to dessert. even my sweet tooth is happy. but i will be expecting a peep sunflower cake when i get back! haha just kidding. isnt it crazy tho that i've been gone for 9 months? it still feels like the summer i left since we havent had winter or spring, so i keep getting fooled into thinking i've only been out like 2 or 3 months. time has flown by faster than i ever imagined it would. it's so fun here tho. i love the people so much. i really am going to miss it when i have to leave. i'm a little depressed that malaysia is so far away, because it makes it that much harder to go back and visit. so anyways, like i told dad, we had another baptism last friday. we wont have one this week, but we should have another one next week. the works just a rollin! whee! i was going to send pictures this week, but i think i will next week because for p day today we're going to visit this sweet chinese temple. so i'll snap some photos and get them sent off. and i'll get some pics of the baptisms too so you can see what our newest members look like. i'm excited for them because i can see their testimonies getting strong. anyways, i should probably get. i'll talk to you next week and hopefully i'll have pics. love you mom.
love zac