First Transfer

10-28-19

yo whats up fam,

hows it goiing. it has been rainy all week and i love it. its cool and we dont get all sweaty and gross so thats nice. 

we got to go out to uta this week, which thats just like in the bush and farms and stuff. we went out there for fafanga one day it was lit. they roasted a pig and had tons of pineapple and bananas and coconuts and talo and manioke, man it was so good. they have this banana called pata its way good. the pineapple in vava'u is the best pineapple in the world i think. anyways yeah that was dope we dont get to go out to uta that often.

been teaching good stuff this week. baptism didnt go through with tapuaki cuz she was busy this week so that blows but i think its fine we'll get it done. we are teaching this old lady nau shes cool. yo we got to teach maka too and taught him most of the first lesson. he hasnt been here very long, fresh deported out of the states so its fun to talk with him cuz hes really ready to recieve the gospel of Christ you know. also got an inactive fam to come to church heck yeah! 

 one day we were just walking around and an appointment canceled so we just chilled and talked to this guy ale under a mango tree while it was raining. hes already baptized but currently weslyan hes really cool though. we were talking though and he asked us, you guys had everything in america, whats the reason why you would leave that to live here. that just kind of hit me. i told him because i have felt God's love for me. and its not able for me to forget that. i said a lot other stuff too but we just had a really good convo. plus he speaks 6 languages so he gave me some language study advice. but yeah like i still dont know what im doing but i know why im here and its good.

ight what else. i was sick on saturday that sucked. i just curled up under my tupenos and suffered all day. but im healed now therefor the work must go on right.

today was my first transfer im just staying gonna chill in my area for a while with Winterton so thats nice, kameli is tight. just been hanging out with Elder Liu, Kinikini, and Naeata all day. those guys are fun. kini is leaving to ha'apai, sad, but he has fam there so its cool. we made a bucket of melon otai today. got some coconuts from paeas house and squeezed the juice out of them. oh yeah by the way coconut water stains hardcore just so you kknow and it doesnt come out.

ight peace fam ofa atu hope you all have a good week in america!

mate ma'a tonga

10-21-2018

yo mom hows it goin this is alex, im here in tonga. whats up. this week has been good im feeling good mostly all the time. getting work done. chilling with my companion. most everyday this week we had dinner dropped off at our house we eat so much fried chicken. thursday night someone gave us fafanga and it was basically panda express twas pretty good. one day we had 4 eatings, 1 at home, one at the weslyan missionaries house, 1 at a falekai and one at amembers house right after that. just got back from getting a haircut in town, town is legit i like it i wish it was my area cuz thats where all the good stuff is. it is partly cloudy, a slight breeze, nice and cool currently, how the weather there? sorry i dont get much good pictures, what should i take more pics of, i never have my camera out when there is a good photo opportunity my bad.

yo fefe hake fam,

doing good. not homesick really, at this point im chill with living in Tonga. started the week, some members cooked us up a dog for pday. sounds bad but bro it was pretty good. i dont feel bad either most of the dogs here are mean as. when im wearing my sandals i just stay out of their way but when im wearing my shoes ill drop kick them if they get close enough

weather has been nice this week, cloudy, windy, rainy, and cool. blessed. we got hungry and soaked in the rain last night so we stopped by paeas and his boys chilled with us and we ate a bunch of bananas and papaya. good time

 we are trying to prep this girl tapuaki for baptism. they are catholic though and she needs permission from her dad, but shes ready to be baptized next saturday hopefully things will turn out. pray for it. we are working with so many people right now. we are teaching this fam from sweden in english, theyre a bunch of weirdos.  tryna teach maka, hes a g hes from oakland, really wants to learn more but hes always working or out drinking kava its hard to get a good time to talk. ha thats the same with everyone though. the main thing though is people just need fellowshippers and people to support them. oh and Book of Mormons, we have been out for a while and the mission office hasnt gotten us anymore so we really need those.

got an indian apple from one of the boys in kameli, its a big spiky green fruit and its pretty good. made some indian apple otai with my trainer friday night.

yo this week was wild. very happy time in tonga. this is my first time being here when mate ma'a tonga (tongas rugby team) has had a game. they had a match against the australia, the world champs, this saturday and it was big. all week everybody getting ready for mate ma'a tonga. they put flags and streamers and stuff all over their houses, cars, fences. the hospital had like 90 flags up. everybody wears red, some dye their hair, paint their faces red. guys drive around all day in their vans blasting mate ma'a tonga songs from speakers mounted on the top. they do floats and parades with cars and kids on bikes carrying flags sceaming mate ma'a tonga all friday and saturday, its pretty fun. the whole country gets hyped. tongans have very big heart. one of the guys at rugby on sat morning told us if they lose, nobodys going to go to church, but if they win... still nobodys going to church because theyll be out in the streets celebrating all day ha. couple guys invited us over to watch the game but the zones told everybody to be in by 630, when the game started, gotta be obedient. that morning i went hard at rugby and we started a fast so i was pretty tired by 630. i tried to study and accidently passed out from 7 to 7 the next morning, woke up a few times to people cheering loud as. they ended up losing. it happens. still die 4 tonga though

this sunday was both wards primary programs haha twas the best. brings back good memories. they sing all the primary songs in english and they sing so freaking loud even when they forget the words. their message is true. and dont ever forget, God is always there for you. whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. pray, he is there, he is listening. 

ive been waiting all week to hear how pv did at state xc... im so happy right now, shout out to my bro Julien the state champ, and David Holt congrats on the state title boys. thats what i like to hear

just got back from town, we went and got some haircuts and bought me a dictionary. no district pday today just gonna do whateva. peace

General Conference and Otai

10-14-18

yo famili,

it is still a good time here, Tonga is so fun. i dont want to mislead you to think its always good. sometimes it sucks. very blessed this week to be able to listen to the Prophet and Apostles of Jesus speak. also very blessed every day. this week we walked around everday from appoinment to appointment, everything cancels so that blows. its so hot and humid. 

elder van beuren and elder save showed up on friday from houma for general conference, they were going to leave today but their boat doesnt come till tomorrow so theyre coming to pday with us. its nice being 4 elders. they went around with us on friday and saturday and sunday. earlier in the week we were walking home from a canceled teaching and this weslyan fam we are trying to teach picked us up gave us a ride, and also a watermelon, 2 pineapples and a ton of bananas. love those guys theyre way cool. walked too much that day, taught nobody, it was wet and rainy and i got some bad blisters. we stopped by palisiteni pongis gas station because van beuren heard they had mnt dew. they gave us mnt dew, doritos, and mnms. blessed. american stuff is so good. 

on saturday we went to conference at our stake center watched a session, went and ate at pisope langaois and then came back for the next session. lots of the other elders and sisters watch at our stake center too its nice getting to see people. the saturday sessions were beast. we went to some teachings that didnt work out. but after that we went home. made a couple gallons of otai out of the watermelon and pineapples. otai is wayy good, drank a ton with the boys, gave some to our neighbors, played cards, twas a good night.

sunday conference was great. many great talks. love to hear the Apostles. after the first session went to a eating. watched the next session and hung out with the other missionaries until they all left. went from there to fafanga at palisiteni manufetoas. we ate and then we talked to them about conference. sunday was the second time ive heard a prophet seer and revelator speak about the importance of the name of the church. The Church of Jesus Christ is the Church of Jesus Christ. the name is a testament of where it came from and who established it. I was sharing to them that this is His church, and we are the people of Jesus Christ. they are a big family and while i did they were all paying attention and understanding my Tongan and my heart just burned with pride in God and Jesus. There are many things I felt during conference but mostly i felt the truth. Pres Nelson is a prophet of God. The Church of Jesus Christ is Jesus's restored church on the earth today.

shoutout to my boys and my sister for getting it done at region xc so proud yall are beast.

ight bouta go kill a dog and take it to pday for lunch in vaipua. i wish i was joking but im not. ok ofa lahi atu kimoutolu, bye

Zone Conference and Massive Centipedes

10-7-18

yo pdays mondays from now on.

started the week with my first zone conference. twas fun. elder van beuren and save stayed over at my and elder wintertons mq because they had to come in from motu for zc. its pretty fun with 4 elders, we had a big dinner that night at the paea's house. zone conference was legit. so fun to see some of the homies. also pres tuione spoke to us some very good spiritual encouragement. told me keep trying at the language, best advice ive ever got tbh

this week has been good for the work. God is blessing us. this lady, kitiola, shes way smart in the Bible on another level. shes weslyan and her big thing is that she will only believe in the Bible, we were trying to testify about the Book of Mormon without getting in an argument and out of nowhere her heart just chilled and she said yeah i will read this and pray about it. met with a guy, Tonga, he was high as fuss trippin balls but we had a good conversation with him. his son is in the Church, and served a mission (i think) so he just saw us walking around and wanted to tell us he loves and respects the missionaries so much. he also said dont try to convert him though cuz him and his brother are just having a good time. haha that guy was so funny. after that taught a family the restoration. nailed it. placed some book of mormons. on the way to fafanga that night talk with a guy on the street. we talked with him and man the spirit was so strong. hes not a member or anything but he just started tearing up because idek why, but the people just see, we are representatives of Jesus, and they know we are doing His work.  went around with the ward 3 leaders to some less actives. taught guy named maka, hes cool, lived in oakland, knows good english. he wanted to know about the book of mormon, i was able to feel the spirit, find scrips withought using my english, and testify hard. and i know he felt it. i know God really has prepared the people here to recieve the truth.

saturday played some malimali again in the morning. still suck though im working on it. one of the counselors in the 5th ward, brother shoe maker, hes awesome i love that guy because he talks english to me hes a g. hes half samoan, played football for dixie state and his fam owns honolulu grill in stg what do you know. he married into a tongan family though thats why he lives here.

had another fafanga at paea's house down the street. they feed us so good. i need to take some pics, their house overlooks the ocean and a little bay its dope. his wife teaches seminary, his kids all know english really good, and they just always have loved having the missionaries around and we love them.

i couldnt focus in sunday school there was a massive centipede like 4 feet from me i didnt take my eyes off it the whole time. heard general conference was dope that they changed the church service to only 2 hours starting next year. best news ive heard in my life.

missionary work is hard. only thing i can lean on really though is on God and Jesus and that is enough. the people here are the biggest blessing. sometimes a member will see us walking and give us a ride. they give us everything we need. this is God's work and he provides a way for it to be done. just tryna get some ocean baptisms. ight peace bye 

Cutting up some kava

9-30-18

malei toks

pday is switched to monday this week because of zone conference is tomorrow i think.

pdays are fun we mostly just get the stuff done we need, do some laundry, and then get a ride with the zones to pday and go play volleyball with the district. tongans love to spike and they are way good at it. also i recieved a tupeno from my boy elder kinikini. he ran track for hurricane so thats cool hes in my district.

we met a weslyian missionary his name is monti, and talked with him a little and then he invited us in for some food. we met his family and talked for a while. hes been a missionary for 15 years, grew up in vava'u, really nice guy. it was surprising he invited us in though that was pretty uncommon i dont think lds missionaries have ever been able to talk with them.

one of the nights hung out with some of the priesthood right down our street at taki's house and helped to prepare some kava. cutting up roots and piling them up under a flood light in his yard. hes got a way nice view of the ocean too im jealous. i learned those guys names, selu, tuimoana, christian, and etu and his dad paea. tuimoana is a beast hes planning on serving a mission,used to be the rugby at saineha, weve ate at his house a few times. christian is from hawaii so he knows pretty good english and helped me to practice alot. that was good to actually get to know some of the members and young men, ate some bananas, practiced tongan, helped out when they needed.

actually most of the kids here do pretty good english and some of the adults but not the old people. because alot of the schools here are english emersion schools. saineha high, lds church school is where most of the kids i know go to. its close to our chapel. some of the guys play touch rugby there every saturday morning, we went and i learned a little how to play, twas pretty fun.

we are teaching a quite a few people, it is hard to tell who is progressing and what people need especially because i dont understand most of the time. church is basically 5 hours of listening to people speak tongan. sometimes i try hard to listen and othertimes I space out hard. but it is good, i can see myself progressing and i know God will bless me in my efforts.

im pretty sure general conference is this week so i invite you all to watch and listen. i dont think i ever appreciated conference as much as i shouldve, but it is a great opportunity to hear the Apostles of Jesus speak. 

lifes good out here in the pacific. eating alot, meeting alot of new people, tons of studying, and preaching some Gospel of Christ. coming closer to Him. i like it. bouta drop some cash on a decent tauvala. aight peace, ofa lahi atu kimoutolu, bye.

uike uluaki i TONGA

9-25-18
yo whats up family!

wow this last week has been crazy so ill try to just hit the highlights. internet blows out here so i might not always be able to email.

first off shoutout to all my toks from the mtc. love you all. you are all my brothers for real. good luck to everyone whos out in the field rn. also love to hoku faiakos i he mtc, sister lotulelei, pinnock, and hoku toko schaap. best teachers there are. also shoutout to gladys from the cafeteria for always giving us full plates.

made it to tonga!! my area is in kameli, vava'u, about a 45 minute plane ride from the main island. it is wild being here i love it though. my area pretty much right outside of town close to the ocean. its dope. 

left on last tuesday from the mtc. the last few days were really chill. said goodbye to a few homies then to slc to san fran to new zealand to tonga. we all made it through the flights pretty much (lost sister lotulelei in salt lake but joined back in new zealand) but we all made it to Tonga so thats beast. the islands are beautiful.when we arrived the tuiones (mission president) and the aps were waiting at the airport and we all got in a bus and drove to the mission office. president tuione is great. so is pres makai hes cool.

tongatapu was pretty legit, most everybody say motu is better though, more chill on the other islands. we stayed by the mission office that night, right across from the temple and also liahona high, church school. went to the temple. after that went to a chapel and all the trainers read out their callings. me, fiso, hansen, van moose, ikafanga, and jacobson all got called to motu off of tongatapu so we flew out the next day (except for hansen took a boat to eua). got some ice cream that night with president tuione, how dope.

friday we flew out of tongatapu around 10 arrived at vava'u, the zls picked us up from the airport and took us to our areas. got to see a little of the islands, great views to be honest.as soon as i got settled in we went to work. my trainer is very diligent and obedient so im lucky to have him. we cover two wards, its a pretty big area i havent even been to all of it yet but we walk around a ton, pretty hot, a little sweaty. it rains alot and when its not im getting sunburned but its fine. our mq is in makave. the towns we go around to are kameli, masilamea, makave and faam.

 the food here is great the members feed us every night, they believe the more we eat the more they will be blessed so thats nice. they eat a ton of meat. chicken, pigs, cows, horse, dog. i had some luhoosi (horse) its pretty good. some houses are pretty nice and some others are very poor. there are animals all over the places, tons of dogs and pigs and chickens, our neighbors puppies are cute as im trying not to get attached though. i still havent got a tupeno yet ill probably get it soon.

 the members and people here are awesome. they love the missionaries and they love Christ and they believe that anything that they can do to help us God will bless them for it. and theyre not wrong. they are very easy going nice people i like it. the kids are wild and friendly and all over the place. i talk to the kids alot because my tongan is basically child level rn. they are way cute too, american kids are ugly. in my short time here so far  ive really been able to see how much God loves all His children. the Tongan people have great faith. His gospel truly does bless all people over the world.

its been a crazy week but good. its hard not being able speak the language and communicate but im sure everthing will be fine. press forward in faith and know that God will always be with you. oiaue i miss stg

ofa lahi atu! Elder Mo'unga

President and Sister Tuione and Elder Hill

Arrival at Vava'u (1st area)

Made it to Tonga!

9-18-18

fefe hake mama. i have made it to the island safely and feeling great.

love you it is great here the flights were great and the mission president is great and i will email more sometime. ofa atu. nofo a e

tell everybody else malei from Tonga

Last Week in the MTC

9-14-18

Malei fam,

this week has been just fine. super chill as always. im gonna miss all the people though. i wont be able to see them all the time anymore how sad. im very excited to get out of here and get to work in Tonga.

 had a great devotional on tuesday. forgot who spoke but before he went to the mike in front of a couple thousand people he ripped up his notes and gave a completely different talk. that takes faith honestly and if you do that you better be sure the Lord is bouta deliver you haha. He spoke what he felt, and what i got out of it most is to give up what you want, do what you know God wants and go hard. finish with no regrets. Shout out to my bro nicholas for being that example to me. 

saw a few guys i know arrive this week. nice to see them. we like to hang out on the grass by the stairs while the new missionaries arrive to check out the new crowd its fun. thursday did another skype trc to a family in tonga. the lady was so nice, at first she was just tryna talk to us in english because she didnt think we could speak tongan haha. bunch of little kids running around, i asked how big the family was she said there is 17 in the fam. what a fun household. we remembered to pray and i was able to testify with the spirit and listen and understand better. twas good. class after was fun. did grammer (my very favorite) talked with schaap about tonga. played fitu ki olunga.

  i love all my poly tokos. and my palangi boys. theyr so fun to be around. thursday night was the shiz. last pday eve in the mtc. talking, working out, messing around, eating out of the vending machines. our floor is the best.

 i have loved my experience at the MTC. I've progressed faster here than I ever did at home.NEXT WEEK ILL BE IN TONGA. cant wait. Tau alu tokos bout time to get to work. ima miss spiking hardcore on my toks and balling out everday at gym time. and cutting the cafeteria lines with the district. and just in general the massive parties we threw (jk scripture study sessions). The Tongan and Samoan districts have been the best I love these guys. we the big dogs around the mtc, i mean at least the polys are haha. 

sorry i havent been able to send pictures. i picked up a sd card reader but the computers here block the app so ill try to send some once i get out of here if I can. we check out monday at 12, fly out of salt lake at 5 to san fran, from there an 8 hour flight to new zealand, and from there to Tonga. hopefully all goes well and we dont miss our flights or anything. im excited though flying is so fun to me.

this is my last email from the mtc so i just want to share some words about my boy Jesus. I testify though email that Jesus is alive. The only way to salvation is though is Him and His atonement. He gave himself as a sacrifice to redeem mankind. The people could not kill him, He very literally gave his own life up for us. And he took it back because He is the Son of God in the flesh. He suffered more than we will ever know for the redemption of Gods children. He did this because he loves us. He loves us as God loves us. He is my friend. He is the chosen one, the savior of all worlds and people who have ever and will ever live. He is perfect and an example for everyone. He gives us hope. Dont ever forget Him because that isnt what He deserves. This is His church. This is His work. Thats why i'm out here. i say that i he huafa o Sisu Kalaisi, emeni.

elder leki mo'unga

sike got it, didnt pull up all my pics but here are a few

Week 5

9-7-18

malo e lelei famili!

what up tokos, started out the week with a couple great trc's. they actually had some members this time and we were able to teach and spit some tongan. ill tell you guys the same thing i told them, reading the Book of Mormon every day is key dont ever forget it.

lol funny story after teaching we were hanging out waiting for everyone to get done and elder tueller was talking to some teacher. the teacher never heard tongan so he asked him if he could bear his testimony in tongan. and so elder tueller starts saying his memorized prayer in tongan and hes saying it as fast as he can to show off you know because this guy cant tell the difference. anyways i walked up late to the conversation and just heard tueller praying at this guy in rapid fire tongan and i said "dude what are you praying to him for? lol he was so mad and it was totally an accident too but i embarrassed him hardcore. i had to tell the rest of the district  though because it was so funny. idk i guess its probably funnier if youve heard him pray before. we were all laughing so hard i shed some tears.

been making some serious progress on the language. i mean i still suck but me and elder anderson taught the entire first lesson in tongan to sister lotulelei so that was dope as.

cool experience with prayer. so elder hansen lost his wallet and hes been walking around with about 200$ in it along with id so he was hardcore stressing about it. we searched the whole room and he went to the gym, the front office, nothing. i told him not to worry. but next day every 2 hours he would ask if anybody had seen it. we all prayed for it to turn up and you already know hansen was praying for it. he would say to me " hey bro you think God will answer? and just kept saying of course man. i looked around the whole room again, under the beds, still nothing. later on all the sudden he runs out of the room yelling LETS GOOO and holding his wallet up, ive never seen so much joy. we were all celebrating and singing praises. i asked where he found it and he said under the bed. where we had checked multiple times. we dont know what happened. but he was the happiest guy alive that night. anyways prayer is real.

fast sunday was hardcore we had like 6 hours of meetings it was rough. but later we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration and gave me flashbacks to watching it in the visitor center back in the day with the fam. that is the best restoration movie i think.

caught up with Elder Miraglia sunday night and took a pic and said see you later and goodluck. he left monday to go to the phillipines mtc. said goodbye to the zls from when we arrived they were cool. good luck to those guys as they leave to the mission field.

the new elder we got, elder moleni, is way cool. he went to hillcrest, played football for them, played rugby for west valley. he knew a couple of the guys at Pine View from football, hes a g. we went on splits with me and anderson because we didnt want to sing in the choir. hes way funny and cool im glad hes in the district. 

with the language there are good days and there are bad days. we did another trc yesterday over skype with a member in Tonga named Ruita. it was so hard. we prepared well but it just was difficult and the internet was bad we disconnected 2 times.. we did the lesson but it was tough to feel the spirit because we were struggling so bad. afterwards i figured out what was wrong. we forgot to pray to begin the lesson. no freaking wonder the spirit wasnt felt. i was telling brother schaup and he was like awe dude come on, it wasnt the internet connection that was bad, you forgot to turn on the spiritual wifi! i knew it. so yeah dont forget to pray ever. prayer is key. still though it was a good experience. she knew english well and after the lesson we just talked to her about Tonga and stuff, im so excited to go over there. Schaup actually knew her and had had dinner at her house. she lives right across the street from the mission president. 

today on the way back from the temple we started walking across the street and we made a car stop for us. i told elder ikafaanga to look first before he walks out into the street but he said back to me, nah man thats faith, cross the crosswalk with your eyes closed. so true. we all need to be crossing the crosswalks with our eyes closed having faith.

I really like the MTC but i am so ready to get out of here. not neccesarily prepared to get out of here yet, but definitely ready to leave if you know what i mean. we get our travel plans today so thats exciting. I am going to miss being with all the other missionaries though.

it has been a good week. let me know if there is anything you want to hear about cuz i only have 1 more week and im outa here

peace, Elder Hill

Big Happy Birthday & Uike Fa

8-31-18

i actually wasnt sure when your birthday was so i was going to ask you guys when your birthdays were so i didnt forget them but dad reminded me as well so. I just want to say happy birthday and i hope you have a good one. i dont even know how old you are, like 49 right? doesnt matter cuz i was only alive for 18 of them. I know i tell you every week but mom i love you so much i will never be able to show it enough. you are the best mom in the world i hope you know that. the best part of my life right now is being able to email you. im so sorry for all the times i have made your life more difficult. also sorry because i still dont know how to upload my pictures to my missionary email and that sucks :( i appreciate all that you have done for me and i love and miss going on trips and paddle boarding and hikes and just being with you and the family. ofa atu fa'e. i wish i could give you a hug in person but just imagine one from me ok. Happy birthday i hope you have a good day and week


8-31-18

sup famili. good week this week

last weekend was cool. friday me and eleta anderson taught our first trc in the evening. idk what that stands for but basically you prepare and teach a lesson to a member, for us completely in tongan. it was so bad but i think its fine. we taught about the importance of reading ko e tohi a molomona every day. even though our tongan sucked we got the message to him and afterwards he said that it was exactly the message and commitment that he needed to hear. it was brother pritt that we taught and he teaches the other tongan district (they didnt have enough members show up) so idk he mightve just been playing a part but i felt the spirit and so did elder anderson so idc it was beast. saturday the district was hit with a bit of trials. a few of the polys got in trouble for getting haircuts from another elder in r5, at night, without their comps. they all got interrogated by brother goold tryna make them snitch on each other.and he was making it seem like a huge deal that they might get sent home and stuff but everything turned out all right president clark just talked to them and said like hey stop this foolishness and dont do it again and everything turned out fine. on sunday was leadership changes. elder tueller is the new dl and elder fiso is a zl lol. another great devotional, this one from mtc pres martino. i forgot what it was about but it was good. after that we went and watched the testiments. it was really good but i dont like the guy that plays jesus in it he bothers me. hes just not the guy to me you know

monday was average. elder hansen got a burrito in the mail saturday but he couldnt pick it up until today. he asked all of us if we think its still ok to eat and i told him if it tastes good i think its fine dont even worry about it. he ate the whole thing and it was good he said. played some beast sand volleyball. we only do that when we have excersize time later though because it gets hot during the day. usually we go play 3 on 3 in the gym or indoor volleyball

tuesday there was a big rumor(that we started) that the prophet was going to speak to us today but he didnt, that was a bummer. there was decent evidence that it was going to be someone big though. we all sang in the choir though and it was really good. i didnt participate in the district discussion afterwards, im working on my listening skills. pres clark was with us and he had a ton of good insights. he told us stories and really showed us how beast the church of Jesus Christ is and it is because most of the members are truly converted and actively live the gospel voluntarily which really sets us apart from a lot of other churches. like our missionary efforts are so huge and all these 18 and 19 year olds pay to  just because we want to share the restored gospel. decent day, tuesdays kind of feel like a pday because we only have 3 hours of class i like it

wednesday we got to host new missionaries it was pretty lit. we just show them to their residence and get them started on stuff it was fun i met a bunch of new guys. it was sad though, taking missionaries from their families in the parking garage because its like i was there just a few weeks ago giving my last hugs to the fam too. it was good though i got to hang with elder mccarthur a bit and talk with him. i love seeing my school and track  friends in here. played some more sand volleyball later. did some good study and went over to r5 before bed to haze and greet the new missionaries in our zone haha if i can ill send a video it was a fun loud time. im up to at least 300 pushups a day.

yesterday was kind of sad. we got new new missionary in our district, a tongan guy from salt lake elder moleni hes serving in oakland, tongan speaking, and he got put in a triple with simmons and tueller. but that isnt the sad part. that meant me and anderson got kicked out of palangi town and they moved us down the hall with hansen and ikafaanga. it was kind of depressing moving out i really liked that room. but its lit in the new room with hansen and ikafaanga they are so funny.  we call the new room diversity town because there is equal poly and white. class was waay dope last night too. we taught the whole first lesson in english and then bro schaup had us do it in tongan. it is crazy to see how much we have progressed in just a few weeks. brother schaup also shared some good testimony about repentance and being worthy of the gifts that our father in heaven will give us. he shared a bit about his mission experience and it just really was good i felt the spirit very strong and related to everything he said. i have always done my best to repent of my sins but i feel like i just learned how to repent better here in the mtc. and its because of how much my relationship with my father in heaven has grown. because now when i repent it is with a truly broken heart because i know how much he loves me and how it makes him feel when we forget him. and also because of my respect and love for Christ and his atonement. we need to use it every day. bro schaup is a great teacher i really appreciate him

so yeah this week has been good. except today somebody stole my laundry bag while i was drying my clothes so that sucks i had to go buy a new one. whoever it is i hope they know they are going straight to hell unless they return it. the long lines here in the cafeteria used to really bother me but i figured out the trick is to start at the front instead of the back. another fun things we discovered is opening the doors in the elevator while its moving. i dont do this but every time someone does it stops the elevator and i swear one of these times its going to break. i dont encourage it. they make us do role-plays for class all the time and so me and elder anderson always choose someone from the office to be. so far creed is the hardest to teach. me and fiso and anderson have all seen the office multiple times so sometimes one of us will say a quote and nobody else gets it but we are all laughing our heads off. michael g scott is a legend. we try to lea fakatonga as much as we can and its crazy to see how much we have all improved in the few weeks weve been here. i kind of wish i could be speaking spanish because it seems so easy now but i think its fine tongan is dope as. it is a stuggle to email once a week because i feel like i leave alot out, but this email is sufficiently long i bet. sai, ofa atu katoa. nofo a e

week 2 1/2

8-24-18

fefe hake fam. im doing good. life at the mtc is alright. every day i get up at 543am, go work out with my comp, we go to class, learn some doctrine, learn some tongan, eat some good food, play basketball and some volleyball with the homies, more class, then probably study the word of god and language for a few hours, then hang out for a bit and lights out at 1030. its actually tight you know, i enjoy it. ive got good homies here

last weekend was pretty basic. sundays are really long it feels like, but good. we got really good seats along the back for the devotional so we all took a nice sleep on accident. one of our fav things to do is people watch from the 6th floor. honestly its such a fun time, we play imaginary football with the people walking below, laugh at people when they try to wave at us, lol the things that will entertain us.

monday was beast. we went outside for class and did a roleplay chillin on the grass. its just a scenario but the spirit was way strong and it was good. we have some good discussions. lol good story, that night elder palepoi's fam sent sweet rolls and cookies for everybody and we were all laughing and being loud as one of the elders told a story about getting beat as a child and the branch president walked in and we were like shoot cuz it was after quiet hour. but it was fine president clark is just a funny and chill old guy. we said a prayer with him and talked a bit then he left. we got to remember that he comes and checks in on mondays though lol.

 on tuesday night the Apostle D Todd Christoferson spoke to us. the message he shared with us was that we need to use the correct name of The Church. We are not the mormon church, we are not the lds church. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We covenant each week to take upon us the name of Christ. The Lord is displeased in us that we have let other names take that place. The name of The Church was given to us by God and we have mislead thousands about who we are because we dont be calling it the right name sometimes. Mormon was a great man and prophet and we should honor and respect him, but i think he himself is probably offended when we call The Church after him. it is Jesus Christ's Church. and it is His gospel. i believe that He personally leads this his restored Church. He loves every one of us and invites all to come unto him. so yeah that is a bad mistake that we have fallen into but you know repent and improve thats name of the game and i do it every day. that was my first time seeing an apostle of God in person it was awesome.

wednesday one of my teachers sisita pinnock left for byu hawaii that was sad. she was a really good teacher and i will miss her. it rained hardcore and me and anderson, hansen and ikafaanga got absolutely soaked while we were going to study in t4. the views are great you can look over all of provo. byu campus is right there, we are just up the road from the track, you can see the stadium and stuff. we chilled with elder needham and erikson for a while they are bros. they like to look at my drivers license it really makes them laugh.

thursday was just a chill basic day. had alot of class and stuff, we dont really have free time ever except for pdays. for pday eve we all hugn out in our room and chilled and talked about the office and other funny shows. its good to have bros that are into the same stuff.

today went to the temple and did an endowment sesh with the boys. twas good. walking back a car honked at us and it was rachel prior and her mom and i waved it was really cool to see someone outside of the bubble of the mtc.

ight peace

elder hill

Provo MTC

Provo MTC

sup

8-17-18

what up famili. i miss you all but not really. provo is lit. actually the first couple days here sucked so bad but it is fun now. my teachers are way nice and chill i love them. my comp is chill. my district is super tight. there is one other tongan district here they are great guys. yeah we all just have a big loud fun time together and tell stories and joke around. haha its gonna be so fun when we all leave to tonga together.

this week has been good. elder peters and elder kauvaka left early monday morning for hawai'i. they are nice guys, elder peters really helped us out for the first while. and he was way fun to play basketball with. yeah so sunday night they came over to the residence and said goodbyes to everybody. im learning pretty good i think but its pretty hard. they make us pray and testify and teach in tongan already but its aight you just have to study a ton. the first thing elder peters told all the new guys in class was "the gift of tounges is real but it aint THat real you know what im saying. like the holy spirit can testify to people through you but it aint magic its hard work and holiness. he gave us lots of good advice. elder anderson and me work pretty good together for a couple palangi brothers. elder hansen and elder ikafanga are true homies. elder hansen is going to play football for usu when he gets back and elder ikafanga is so funny he sometimes just swears like in the middle of class because they just use d*mn as like darn it in australia lol. elder simmons worked as like a ball boy for the utah jazz so he like has all the free gear and got to hang around the players im jealous. elder tueller is so funny we make fun of him all the time, but in a loving way you know. the sisters in my district are nice and chill. it has been so nice to see some pv guys in here. me and elder miraglia and elder mcarthur got to hang out a bit on tuesday i love it, it feels a bit like im at home. or a community college. every day we just study and pray and ball. devoting all my time to learning doctrine and stuff has really brought me so much closer to Christ. 

honestly leaving for a mission was a bit harder than i thought. i have abandoned my fam, my friends, my home, my language, soon my country, i mean just everything. sometimes i would be getting like a feeling of unsureness about the mission so all the time i would pray that i would could have faith that im doing the right thing. but yesterday while i was doing personal study i was reading in alma 40 41 and 42 and alma was teaching his son helaman about the plan of salvation. it was really good and at the end of chapter 42 verse 31 my perspective switched out of nowhere and the spirit hit me before i even started to read it. as i read the last verses it was no longer alma speaking to helaman, i felt God speaking to me as his son. I felt the spirit so deep i was humbled straight away and it confirmed to me that it is right that i should be out here serving a mission. we pray to speak to God, but he speaks to us through his servants and his scripture. and i believe that he spoke to me. so yeah dont worry about me i am where i belong. but im not perfect so ill be really busy the next month or so. alu ngaue thats the motto. go to work. 

anyways love you guys. if you ever get the chance then get some in n out and throw it in some plastic wrap and send it to me lol. the mtc food is good but it aint THat good you know what im saying. its great here but im already excited to leave. oh and yeah i am only here for 6 weeks so i peace out of slc airport on september 18th i think. also one more thing, i would love to be sending everybody emails but i dont have them so if you write to me then i will write to you back. aight thats it

nofo a e

malo e lelei fam

8-10-2018

whats up family. p-day for me is on friday so that's when i'll be doing emailing. I already miss you guys a little its weird I feel like i have been here a week already. I didnt figure out how to use the alpha smart yet but i might try to use it next week. also dont be disappointed I havent taken any pictures its only my 3rd day out here I am just tryna survive. 

day one after yall dropped me off they sent me through a big assembly line of workers getting stuff to the new missionaries it was crazy. they said nearly 500 missionaries arrived wednesday. after that I went to class straight away and the teacher would only speak to me in tongan lol. i met my companion elder anderson hes cool he played basketball and ran track for davis. We went to a bunch of other meetings and orientation stuff. people think they are cool saying "welcome to the mtc" like 100 people said that to us it was kind of annoying so me and elder anderson took the orange dots off our tag so nobody knew that it was our first day.  took a quick tour and then we unpacked and went to bed. the other elders in my room are elder simmons and elder tueller they nice. also the other elders in my district are elder ikafanga and elder hansen, theyre both big poly guys. elder ikafanga is from melbourne he talks with a cool accent mate. elder hansen is from salt lake and he is our district leader. also there are some sisters in our district but i didnt learn their names.

yesterday was kind of like the first day just instead of starting at 1pm we were going at 630. lots of language class, 30 minute lines trying to pick up our materials, super crowded cafeteria, getting lost and being late to class you know the basics. the islanders classrooms are all on the 6th floor so we have beast views over utah lake and mt timpanogos and provo (except for all the smoke). I saw elder miraglia and elder Tudor, that was dope but only got to say hi briefly you already know I was running late. met the branch presidency and we all had a 3 hour meeting last night. 

so yeah im doing alright I hope you guys are doing well. I feel like a different person almost. my purpose here is changed. my only focus is to learn the language and serve the lord and be able to teach faith, repentance, and baptize some people eventually. it has been pretty crazy here but I can feel the spirit quite strong. anyway bye ima going play basketball with the samoa missionaries in a bit.

elder hill