29 June 2025
VOLUME 13 – NUMBER 615
London and Keaton at Hill grandparents
This week, London and I had the chance to visit Arnold and Arlene Hill. They shared experiences from their many missions over the years and talked about their current weekly trips to the Logan Temple with Arlene's sisters. Both were so happy to share these life experiences with us.
I was thoroughly impressed by their willingness to follow what the Lord asks of them. They specifically mentioned how serving in the Conference Center led to more teaching opportunities than serving a proselyting mission. This showed me that simply serving a mission—in any capacity—is a great blessing and can help bring the gospel to more people.
Visiting them was so much fun, and I hope many others get a chance to visit them too. Both sets of my grandparents have been gone for many years, and visiting the Hills really made me wish I had the chance to visit my own grandparents more often.
Arlene also made some mean chicken noodle soup and taco soup—I’m a little jealous that this is the kind of food Arkin probably got routinely growing up! It was very delicious and well worth the drive to Malad.
Arnold also shared his flight simulator with us and showed us his pilot’s license and flight log.
Monte with other missionaries
I know it hasn’t been a full week yet, but there’s a good reason for that. With the start of this week and the huge number of missionaries arriving, our schedule changed. Our preparation day is now on Tuesday for the rest of our time here at the CCM.
We had our final classes with Hermano Pérez and Hermana Castillo. It was a pretty special day because it was also Elder Lemon’s 19th birthday on Saturday, which happened to be our last day with our teachers. We celebrated in both classes and then took a group photo with Hermano Pérez and Hermana Castillo.
Now, a little bit about our new teachers—they’re actually really great. They’re still pretty fun and are also solid teachers. The not-so-fun part is that we’re now in what we call “Solo Español.” In our classes, we can only speak Spanish. It completely drains your brain. By the end of the second class, I was done.
It’s a hard feeling, but it’s a good one. Knowing you’re exhausted beyond comprehension for a purpose so divine brings joy to my heart.
Mexico CCM (MTC) food
Today was our first P-Day where we didn’t attend the temple. That just meant we had the whole day to clean our rooms, exercise, plan, study, and call home. Let’s just say—I really needed this P-Day, and I count it as a small tender mercy from God.
Now to go into a little more detail, because today was so fun. To start the day, I cut Elder Lemon’s hair with the haircutting kit he brought. I only trimmed his sides, and it wasn’t even that much, but it actually turned out pretty good.
After that, we did about an hour of scripture study and then went to the gym. I’m actually so glad there’s a gym here with good equipment. Afterward, we played some Ultimate Frisbee. It’s such a fun game, and I had a super sick catch in the end zone.
Monte’s CCM classroom
Then we played some beach volleyball for a bit. This time, we actually did 6 v. 6 while rotating in, instead of the usual 10 v. 10. After all that, I just chilled at our casa and called home.
We would’ve gone to the devotional tonight, but my companion has—how do I put this delicately—problems at the moment. Actually, he just got out of the bathroom and said, “You know how frequent flyers are a thing? If there were frequent poopers, I’d have so many free gifts right now!”
On that note, hope y’all have a great rest of your week. Love you all!
Gloria and Ginger doing nails
This week, the Hawaii Hills came and visited for a couple of hours. They made dinner, and it was really good. Ginger and I spent most of the time together talking—mostly about boys. I also did her makeup and eyebrows, and we did our nails together.
This week I’ve been pretty busy with work. I worked about 30-ish hours. Most of the time at work has been kind of rough because the residents are getting more confused, and we have to redirect them every couple of minutes.
On Monday, I went shopping and got some new work shoes. I went to Jordan Landing and bought shoes from Famous Footwear.
On Friday, I set up a dinner and hangout with my aunts and my mom. We went to South Towne Mall and walked around for a bit. Most of our time was spent at Bath & Body Works since pretty much the whole mall was on sale.
Gloria with her mom and aunts
Then we stopped and grabbed some dinner. My mom and I had Greek Cupbop. I had never had it before, and it tasted really good. After eating and chatting, we did some more shopping.
After stopping at a few stores, we went to Salt Lake where I saw my grandma, my cousins, and my aunt and uncle—for the first time in seven years. After about 30 minutes of chatting, I had to be home by nine.
Later that night, we played Fugitive with the Kemps boys and Gideon. We played three rounds, and Nash and Eisley joined for the last round.
On Saturday, I went bowling with Riley, his aunt and uncle, Josh and Cheyenne. We played two rounds, and afterward, we went and got some pizza for dinner.
Gloria visiting with relatives
A couple of weeks ago, Brooke and I finally ran the half-marathon we had been training for over the last few months. We were pretty nervous after our 12-mile training run but were ready for the challenge nonetheless.
Ashton and Caleb spent the night at our place since they were also running. We all woke up at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning to catch the shuttles and make it to the starting line by around 5 a.m. An hour later, we were off!
I’m so proud of how everyone ran! Brooke’s goal was to run the whole thing without walking, and she ended up getting her best pace per mile out of all her training runs. My goal was to run it in under two hours, and I finished in 1:57. Ashton and Caleb both killed it too!
It was so fun to have a shared goal and pursuit with Brooke. We did most of our training runs on the same days, and it was incredibly satisfying to cross the finish line and cheer her on as she finished. I think I’d run this specific half-marathon every year—it was such a blast!
James eating spaghetti
This week, we played Fugitive for the first time in a while! We didn’t get a ton of people, but it was still pretty fun. From the house, we had Gloria, Troy, Kai, and me.
I invited a handful of people, but a lot of them weren’t available. The ones who said they could come were Kody and Teagan Kemp, and Gideon Grappendorf. We had a ton of fun and are planning to play again next Thursday—hopefully with a few more people.
I got caught a couple of times, but I think I made it back for the first time without ever getting tagged! There were a couple of really fun rounds. In one of them, I almost escaped and made it home, but I got tagged while trying to run.
It was a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to play again!
Veidi and Emma working
This week, I stayed over at Natalie’s to help her out with the puppies, her house, and the kids. One of our chores—me and Emma—was to clean out the old chicken coop. It was a lot of work, and we were out there the whole day, but it was fun. We're planning to paint it sometime next week, which will be really fun too.
We also go on evening walks, which are really nice. It feels so good to get outside and enjoy the cool breeze after a long day of work. Natalie tells us we have to take the bats with us, just in case the sheepdogs come after us.
Whelping Gigi’s puppies
One evening, the neighbor saw us carrying the bats and asked if we were planning to chase down boys with them. Emma and I looked at each other and just started laughing—we couldn’t stop. It was so funny.
That night, we went home and ate Melona bars. It was my first time having one, and they were delicious! We also watched Beauty and the Beast before going to bed.
The boys went camping—it was just Mac, Nate, and Brigham. Later, we found some small cliffs to jump off, so we all jumped in the water and went paddleboarding. We ate good food and even brought home a tiny bird. It was the cutest thing ever!
Veidi and children working in yard
Veidi is gone this week because she went to help Natalie with her puppies.
I also 25 Top-Dog days, so I will be getting paid big time, which is good because I want to buy some stuff, but I accidentally locked myself out of my bank account by trying too many different passwords after forgetting the correct one. So now I can’t buy anything until my account is unlocked.
I went to dinner with Mom and Dad because I cleaned out the window well. We went to Popeyes, which was only the second time I’ve ever been there. The sandwich was so good!
Before my account got locked, I bought a basketball and a football. This time, I got a men’s basketball since we had been using a women’s one—it was actually Veidi’s.
Children helping Mom/Grandma in yard
This week has been quite the adjustment since Cougar started his internship. Owen is still learning how to be a big brother, and he is loving having Emmett around! He runs to him every time he hears him cry.
One of my favorite moments was when Emmett started crying in his crib, and Owen came running full speed into the room with a binky in each hand. He launched both of them into the crib in an attempt to help his little brother!
I also love how Owen wants to snuggle me whenever I’m feeding Emmett. He’ll find his own sippy cup—full or empty—and come snuggle up with us for however long Emmett eats. Then, when he’s done, he gets back down and goes off to play.
Quinn and Joanna
I’m still very tired and low on energy. I’ve had two different infections since having Emmett, which has made recovering difficult.
An unexpected blessing came this week in the form of a talk I was asked to give at church. I definitely felt overwhelmed trying to prepare. I wasn’t able to write things out like I prefer, due to juggling two kiddos and not getting enough sleep. Because I couldn’t write out my talk, I just played it through in my head over and over again.
My talk was about relying on Christ in our weakness and our trials. So all week, as I was feeling overwhelmed and weak, I kept thinking about how Christ is there for me. Even if I can’t do everything I wish I could, even when I feel inadequate and things are hard, He is there for me and my family. He blesses every effort.
Gloria bought Costa Vida for family
I started working 40 hours at the MTC this week. I work from 8:00am to 11:30am, then again from 5:30pm to 9:00pm. I’ve got two districts right now, and both are awesome groups of disciples.
On Wednesday night, we had a movie night at Braden’s! That was really fun. We watched Ford v Ferrari, and it was a very good, original show. I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend it.
Besides that, I’ve been going to the gym with Cougar, playing volleyball, and playing a little kickball. I’ve also been listening to books, taking naps, making and eating food, and went to the movies with a friend to watch another race car movie.
Today, my mission president and his wife, the Jorgensens, gave their homecoming talks. It was really awesome to see them. They are both amazing examples to me.
I love how they are always focused on continual progress and constant effort, never letting up. I can feel that they genuinely care about helping all of us— their missionaries—continue to grow spiritually and draw closer to Christ. I can feel their love every time I’m around them.
Itzel and Yaretzie
This week was pretty fun. The temperature on some of the days was really nice—overcast with a slight breeze.
On Thursday, Isaac and I went to London and Keaton’s place to have dinner and play some games. Dinner was amazing! We had chicken curry with rice. After dinner, we played a board game similar to Overcooked, except it’s set in a hospital and it’s a board game.
On Friday night, Isaac set up a time to play Fugitive with some friends. We had a fun time hiding throughout the neighborhood. At the end, we were talking about how to make it harder for the runners. Isaac had the idea of having two cars searching—now that would be fun!
Dad, Quinn, and Mckay
Braden and I are playing in a basketball rec league in Midvale and had our first game on Monday. Pretty early into the game, I messed up my finger when someone slapped it as I was saving the ball from going out of bounds. I get finger injuries pretty frequently, so I wasn’t super surprised—but it’s always a bummer.
I got it checked out once. The doctor didn’t do an X-ray but said it was probably broken and that I should just treat it as such. Turns out, what has probably been happening is a tendon injury. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse in the long run, but it seems like it heals faster.
Unfortunately, this week I’ve had to skip a lot of sports to rest my finger. I’m hoping it will be good for our game on Monday.
Caleb and I went shopping yesterday and had a pretty big spree. I bought a lot of new clothes in preparation for summer. It was fun going around the mall and a few other stores. I feel like I’ve got a good collection so far.
On Wednesday, we re-watched Ford v Ferrari with some of the boys, and that was fun. GREAT movie if you’ve never seen it before.
Gloria, Armando, Christian, and cousin