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