Hill Family Reunion

The Hill family was all in town early, so there were various activities throughout the beginning of the week including: family dinners, ice cream at the BYU Creamery, Imaginaria at Thanksgiving Point, movies, etc. Andrew and Jonathon had work, so we didn’t go to most of the daytime activities, but we were still able to hang out several times. We also invited Nathan and Emily’s family over one night to watch Project Hail Mary. We saw it in the theaters, but they hadn’t yet. I think I liked it even better the second time because I have been listening to the book and understood it way better. 

On Thursday, the actual reunion started. We all headed up to Heber Valley Camp. Our first activity was axe throwing. I was terrible! We got 10 practice shots, and I didn’t get a single axe to stick. Haha! I did much better when we used the ninja stars. We had a family competition to see who could score the highest. Justin, BJ, and Aaron were all really good. Despite my ineptitude, it was really fun!

That night we took a quick picture of everyone that was there. The only people that were missing were Christian (mission), Sam and Amanda (new baby) and Crista and David (new baby). Taking a good picture was easier said than done when there are 36 people (mostly little kids) to wrangle. I took the pictures and then photoshopped them afterward to make sure everyone was looking. I only had to edit 6 people. Haha! I think it turned out really good. 

Jonathon gave an awesome devotional about the light from fireworks on the Fourth of July and compared it to the light of Christ and the Gospel. We read a few scriptures about being a light to the world, sang “This Little Light of Mine”, and then gave everyone little sparkly flashlights that kind of looked like fireworks when turned on. It was really good! We also had a dance party that night where Jonathon and I randomly did some country swing (Andrew was shocked that we knew how to do it!) and Andrew and Grace taught some line dancing. The frivolity and spontaneity of the activity made it one of my favorite things we did.  

It was super hard to sleep that night. There were 16 people in each cabin, and the snoring, talking, and rustling made it so hard to go to sleep. I might have gotten 4 hours of sleep that night, so we were all groggy the next morning. Nathan went to the store and bought ear plugs that day to help with the future snoring. After breakfast, we went to Legacy Lake and played for an hour. Jonathon and I kayaked and canoed, while Andrew and Hyrum battled the other kids on the lake with Super Soakers and got drenched. I know I need to exercise more because my arms were so sore after that.

In the afternoon, we went to the giant swing challenge course. It was easy and safe enough for even the little kids to do it. We have some daredevils in the family, so the line for the swing was long. Jonathon, Hyrum, and Andrew all did it. I was willing, but we ran out of time, and I wasn't super excited to do it anyway. 

After dinner, it was starting to get dark, and we had gathered everyone for a devotional. Cameron and Christa noticed that Macie was missing (she’s 3 years old). They looked for about 10 minutes but still couldn’t find her. At that point, everyone dropped what they were doing and started searching the whole campground for her. People were definitely starting to get worried, especially since she had been playing by a little stream earlier in the day. We searched for another 10 minutes before Audrey heard a little voice in the tall grass. We finally saw her, and Andrew climbed down the embankment to go get her and hand her up to me. She said, “I lost my family. Do you know where they are?” She is adorable, and that really melted my heart. When we arrived back at camp, we found out that Caleb and Ezra had said a little prayer in the cabin just minutes before. We were all so grateful to find her safe. It was wonderful to see cousins looking out for each other.  It was a great faith-building moment for everyone. 

After that we played games (minute-to-win-it) and had a devotional from Grandpa and Grandma before we went on the Faith Walk. I just went last week while at Girl’s Camp, so it wasn’t as interesting for me to do it again, but I hope the other teens and adults enjoyed it. Heber Valley has done such an amazing job on it, and the church has now published all the audio for other wards to copy. People from hundreds of miles away make the journey up there to experience it. 

We got back from the Faith Walk super late (11 pm), and had to wake up really early in the morning to clean up camp and leave to get to the Provo Parade. I slept better than the first night, but it wasn’t long enough. I think everyone was tired all day! We woke up at 5 am, packed up, cleaned the whole camp, and left a little after 7. We got to Center Street just in time to watch the parade. Luckily, Aaron and Nathan left camp early to save us spots. The parade was good, but so long. After 1.5 hours, the sun was beating down on us, and I was pretty much done with it. 

We went home and had a good nap to make up for the rough nights. That night we went to the Provo Temple lawn to watch fireworks from the stadium of fire. We are in such a bad drought that no one was allowed to do fireworks except the professional ones. That meant that everyone and their dog was out there watching them. They didn’t start until 10:45 pm, so when they ended at 11:10 pm, we were so ready to sleep. Unfortunately, the traffic was terrible! We sat in the parking lot for over 30 minutes before we even moved. Then we inched along for another hour. We got home around 1:00 am. I was so grumpy and vowed to never do that again. We will see how long I remember the torture and stick with that threat. Thankfully, I did get a nap the next day to help make up for it. 

On Sunday, we went to Tera and BJ’s to play games and have treats. We played a new game called Quacks of Quendlinburg. We enjoyed it, and I would play it again. It was basically the end of the reunion because everyone already left or would shortly go home. Overall, it was a really good reunion! It was well organized and nothing too crazy happened, so I count that as a win! Tiffany and Mike really did a good job on it! One reunion down... one to go!

YW Camp 2026

I am so relieved that Young Women camp is finally done for the year! It was a lot of work, as usual. We have been planning it for 6 months now, and it is time to move on to new things. A lot of great things happened, but a lot of hard things too. In fact, of the 6 years I have been to camp, this was one of the hardest. It was mostly a Stake Camp where the Stake leaders and YCL's planned everything, but we camped as wards and were able to do a few little activities with our ward girls.

The big drama this year though was that the Stake decided not to go back to Camp Mia Shalom, which we have gone to forever. There were some strong emotions, especially from the girls, who were sad to miss out on our traditions, but it was also exciting to have new adventures. The Stake also shortened camp by one day, which I was thrilled about! 3 full days and 3 nights seemed perfect. The biggest obstacle for the new camp, Aspen Lakes, was that it was TENT CAMPING. We have always enjoyed our cabins at Mia Shalom, and little did we know that our tents would end up being a major trial of this camp. To make up for the tents though, we did have a huge nice kitchen with refrigeration and power. 

The main theme for our Stake was just the Youth theme for the year "Walk with Him". Our ward theme was "Camp Rocks!" We talked all about the duality of rocks with the catch phrase “Transforming Burdens to Blessings." We discussed how rocks can be symbols for burdens (carrying heavy, hard things), but they are also symbols for sturdy, steady, firm foundations. We talked about lots of stories from the scriptures with rocks in them and how they relate to gospel principles: Jacob’s ladder (covenants), Joshua and the stones from the Jordan (Remembrance), David and Goliath (Courage), the Brother of Jared (Faith), Peter as the Rock (Revelation), and the stone being rolled away at Jesus' resurrection. For our big ward activity, we did a relay race with a box of heavy rocks. The girls had to carry a 30 pound bucket of rocks around a course. Some of them were fast, some were slow, and some couldn’t do it without help. We talked about how our burdens are heavy weights, and they drag us down. Sometimes we can’t carry them alone and need our friends and family to help us. We then dumped out the rocks at Jesus’ feet and talked about how sometimes we just need to give our burdens to Him so that He can make them light. We then built a cairn with the gospel principles that help us turn hard things into blessings. Emily made some awesome fake rocks that we stacked up to make the cairn. It was so good! I didn’t explain it very well here, but it made a lot of sense as we did it. The activity was very powerful for the girls. 

During the week, we also threw axes, shot bow and arrows, went swimming and canoeing, did an obstacle course, and went fishing. Those were all fun, good experiences that the leaders and girls loved!

The highlight of the week for many was the Heber Valley Faith Walk. The 1.3-mile walk was divided into nine checkpoints and started with all the girls receiving noise-canceling headphones. We left in groups of 20 to 30 to hike a lighted trail while listening to recorded audio with dialogue, Church leaders’ quotes, and inspirational music. Along the path, there were large images and television screens depicting scenes from the Savior’s life. According to the creators, "The messages, music and images are designed to help individuals navigate life’s trials and have sacred, personal experiences with Jesus Christ." I felt like they succeeded in their goals because even though there were thousands of people that night, it felt like a very personal, very private experience with Jesus. 

I had three favorite parts of the Faith Walk. First, before you begin the walk, you get your picture taken. We didn't know what it was for, but we soon found out. A few minutes into the walk, we came to a spot where everyone sat down on tree stumps in front of a bunch of screens. Pictures of all of us started to pop up on the screens with dialogue about how we are each beloved children of Heavenly Father, followed by songs from the youth album. As I watched each of my Young Women pop up on the screen, I realized how much I loved them all. I was overcome with thoughts and feelings of how much Heavenly Father and Jesus loved them too. 

Second, we were asked to write down a burden that we were facing at the time. We wrote it on a paper in invisible ink and turned it in to the missionaries that were staffing the Faith Walk. About halfway through our hike, we came to a tunnel of black lights that were illuminating all the papers with burdens. They were all anonymous, but it was humbling to see all the things that others were struggling with. I figured that these were a previous groups papers, but then I looked up and saw my paper. That was powerful to see my struggle hanging there alongside so many others. 

Third, Toward the end of the walk, we came to pictures of Jesus on the path. During this checkpoint, they were playing the song "Reaching Out," which just happened to be our ward camp song. That made it particularly powerful. The audio asked us to look at the picture of Christ and listen for the words that Jesus would say to you to help you with your burden. Imagining what Jesus would say was a great change in perspective and made everything very personal. We were then asked to write that message on another paper. A similar tunnel of messages displayed these messages from Jesus. It was really beautiful and poignant.

We also had a bunch of hard things that were extra challenging. We had a leader and girls get lost on the way to the Faith Walk and finally arrived 45 minutes late (limited reception made this particularly stressful), a tent’s zipper broke so we had to set up a new one at 12:30 am, 2 girls that aren’t in our ward that came with us caused some drama and threw many temper tantrums that stretched the patience of the leaders, and a tent completely flooded in a freak rainstorm. After the whole tent and everything in it was soaked, we made the decision to go home early (Wednesday night instead of Thursday morning). I felt really bad about leaving early, but it would have been miserable and not worth it. I will forever remember the leaders and girls packing up in the pouring rain and hiking up and down the hill to put the bear minimum that they would need to take home that night. Us leaders were dripping wet as we unloaded at the church and waited for parents to arrive. We just had to laugh at the situation because it was so crazy. It was actually a super great bonding moment for the leaders. 

The leaders went up the next morning early to help take down camp and load up the rest of the supplies. We considered taking the girls too, but it was easier to just do it ourselves and save the effort of getting everyone together again. It took some work, but our awesome Stake YCL's helped us, and we were able to finish it all in about an hour. The tents and gear were covered in mud, and cleaning them out that afternoon was an act of sheer grit, but we got it done. We were all so tired and dirty and just wanted a long nap, but I realized how much I love and appreciate these awesome women that I get to work with!

After all was said and done, I hope these hard things helped the girls really understand the ideas we were trying to teach that week of "Transforming Burdens to Blessings." Throughout all of our struggles, we tried to point out the good that came out of the problems. We had a bunch of girls give talks in Sacrament meeting afterward, and they all bore powerful testimonies and talked about how great camp was, so I guess they learned the lesson well. This was likely my last year at camp as YW president (I’m approaching 3 years in this calling and had 3 previous years in the Stake), and I will be happy for a little break. {Knock on Wood} Every year has had its own challenges and high points, and I feel blessed to have had all these amazing opportunities with my incredible girls.

Mediterranean Cruise Video

 

Foz de Iguaçu, YM Camp, and Aunt Ann's Funeral (Via letters to Christian)

Christian!

We are finally at home! Our trip to Brazil and Foz de Iguaçu was amazing! The hotel we stayed at was so fancy. They had breakfast and dinner buffets every day that had so so much good food. I’m sure we all gained 5 pounds in 5 days. The desserts were particularly delicious and had their own buffet! It also had 3 pools, a game room, a rock wall, volleyball, etc. Such a fun place to stay!

On the first day, we went to the Brazil side of the falls. That side is known for Panoramic views where you can see falls for miles. First, we took a speedboat down the river to see the main waterfall. It was so fun to speed down the river with incredible sights on all sides. When we got close to the main falls, the boat went straight into them. We were wearing ponchos, but we still got soaked. We were all screaming and laughing. It was really one of the coolest things we have ever done… think Amazon River Boat and Niagara Falls all in one! There were tons of waterfalls, and we got to walk down a path to see all of them. It was truly a remarkable place that I wish everyone could experience. Words definitely don't do Iguaçu Falls justice!

After we finished with the falls, we went to Parque das Aves where we saw so many cool birds. The enclosed aviaries were gigantic, and it was cooler than I expected. The Macaws were definitely the coolest birds there.

The next day, we went to the Argentina side of the falls. We had to get up really early because the border crossing gets busy if you wait until later in the morning. On that side, you are directly above the falls, so it is a very different view. Both sides were cool, but if I had to choose one, I would definitely do the Brazil side. After that we went to a fancy Argentinian restaurant where we had barbecue. They brought us the steak and chicken on a charcoal grill that they left at the table. It was delicious and pretty legit. Our last stop in Argentina was Tres Fronteiras, the border of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. There was a monument there, and we bought a magnet for our travel board. We were so tired after that, so we went back to the hotel and took a nap and hung out for the rest of the day. 

 

On Saturday, we toured the largest hydroelectric dam in South America and second largest in the world. Then we crossed the border into Paraguay. It was insane. There were tons of people, cars, and motorcycles. It took quite a while to get through the traffic. When we finally got into Paraguay, we went to two malls. That city, Ciudad del Este, is famous for its duty-free shopping. They were selling all the fancy American brands at discounted prices for other countries. We ate some empanadas in Paraguay so that we could count it toward our country count. To be honest, Paraguay was completely overwhelming to me with all the people and traffic. I was ready to get out of there as soon as lunch was over. We spent the rest of the day swimming and hot tubbing before eating more food at the dinner buffet. Haha!

On Sunday, we had to check out of our rooms at noon, so we watched our Sacrament meeting over zoom, played some games, and hung out in the lobby until we went to the airport for our flight. Everything went smoothly for our flights, but it still took 25+ hours to get home. We were so happy to be home, sleep in our own beds, and wash our clothes. Marshy greeted us at the door and was so happy. He came right up to us without hesitation. He was much better this time compared to when we were gone for 3 months. Max Hammon must have done a good job taking care of him. 

We got one day to clean and repack the clothes before Hyrum and Andrew left for YM camp, and then 24 hours more before Dad and I left for Idaho to attend Aunt Ann’s funeral. We were super tired, but it was so good that we went. Judy was so happy when she saw me and thanked me time and time again for helping with Aunt Ann’s book. Aunt Ann collected tea cups, and they were used to decorate all of the tables at the funeral before they were given to her grandkids. Judy told me to pick one out to take home first. I was honored to receive that special memento. I was glad that we made the effort to be there. The funeral was like a big family reunion, and I loved seeing all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. 

Our trip was pretty short, but it was nice to spend some time with my Mom and Dad. Grandpa’s hip replacement is healing, but he was still using a walker. I tried to spend a lot of time entertaining him with games or crosswords or movies. I think he has 2 more weeks with the walker and then several months before he is healed. We came home last night. Everything went well, but we are exhausted and ready for a break. We have two days before school starts, so I hope we can get well rested by then.

Christian, I hope your week has been a good one. I am excited to hear about your life in Sao Lorenço. Keep working hard and doing your best. We are praying for you every day. You can call us any time tomorrow after about 8:30 am our time. Love you lots!

MOM

-----------------------------------------

Hi Christian, how’s it going? We went to young men’s camp this week right after getting home, and it was so fun. On the first day, we went to the temple, played capture the flag, and played on a big blow up obstacle course with a slide. My swimsuit got stained because some people were so intense that they were bleeding on the slide. We also did some real-life angry birds, and Andrew was a pig. After, we had games for the deacons. The first one was a game where you have pool noodles and you stand on a bucket and push people off. The second one was a game where you fill you mouth with water and slap each other with a tortilla. But the person I was against cheated by dodging. The third game, which I won, was a pie eating contest. I think Andrew will send that video on messenger tomorrow. Then we went to bed. The next day was the hike, which was like the Y, I think. After that Noah dared me to take an ice bath in one of the igloo coolers and it became a meme after that. The next day we went to a park and played basketball, soccer, etc. Then we used our rafts that we made the day before and raced at the lake in Hyrum State Park. And we got second/third. Than we got back and did a testimony meeting and ate s’mores. The next morning we woke up, packed up, and left. That’s basically it. I hope you are having a good time and are successful. luv ya. (:

Hyrum

-----------------------------------------

What is up my brother from the same mother?

That was a stupid one liner, I know. This week has maybe been the most tiring week of my entire life. We went to the airport to go home at 5 PM. After a 2 hour flight, we arrived in São Paulo, where we had to run to the terminal and just barely made it to our boarding group. Then we went on a 9 and a half hour flight to New York where we didn’t sleep that much. And then, we flew 5-ish hours to Salt Lake before traveling home. We had 24 hours on Tuesday to settle in and pack for Young Mens Camp, then we left at 9:45 on Wednesday. We went to the Syracuse temple beforehand. It was the fastest temple trip I’ve ever done. We walked in and were immediately put in the font and then immediately confirmed. It was Brother Vigue, Brother Morris, Hyrum, Cole, Max, Noah, James, and I were the youth to go. The Buskers were out of town, Henry randomly bailed, and McCoy was in Montana, so James and I spent most of the camp together, being the oldest. It was really fun. We had plenty of pranks and goofs just like always when you get a lot of young men together in a small space. We stuck people in coolers, played real life angry birds like we did when we were kids, and went on a 4.2 mile hike that Hyrum somehow made. God must’ve been carrying him up that hill :). We had awesome food the whole time, prepared by some w people, and constant gatorade. And yet, we were still dehydrated. They set up a bounce house, we built and raced rafts in a reservoir, and went to a park and played sports and lawn games. When we weren’t goofing around, we were playing card games or chilling under the awning. The stars and moon were awesome, and we had a great testimony meeting on Friday night. We came home Saturday, and I unpacked, watched a movie, then cleaned the kitchen and made dinner for mom and dad when they came home. On Sunday, I had to teach the lesson and go to the beehive home. Apparently they really missed me because I have to give a talk in two weeks. I took a FAT nap after that and woke up just in time for Grandmas house.

Young Men's camp really helped me see the love of Christ in all people, and I think it’s really amazing to help people and serve them on your mission, even if it’s not going how you thought. I’m really proud to have such a stalwart follower of Christ as my older brother. Love you!

Andrew

-----------------------------------------

Hi Christian,

Well, we got to sleep in our own beds a couple of nights this week. The trip home went smoothly, but it was still long. We came home and basically collapsed. Then, the next day, the boys headed to camp, and the day after that, Mom and I woke up at 5 am (which wasn’t that hard since we hadn’t adapted to the time zone yet) and drove to Idaho. Mom was nervous about driving completely alone, given how tired she was, and I was overwhelmed with the backlog at work, so we compromised. I drove her up, but I took a full computer setup and worked while I was there. It worked out well. Grandpa Christensen was recovering from hip surgery, so Mom mostly sat and talked with him. I worked during the day, and then we played games, etc., at night. I also didn’t get interrupted by students or other employees, so I was able to complete some important analyses. We can now tell vaccine manufacturers a whole bunch about their mRNA samples. Aunt Ann’s funeral on Saturday was wonderful and had a lot of family that we hadn’t seen in a long time. 

The boys also showed me how to track my streaks on the gospel library app, so now I am ready to leave all of your Duolingo streaks in the dust with my scripture streaks! I was happy to read that your area is excited about missionary work. Working in a branch trying to become a ward can be tough, since opposition seems to increase, but it can be rewarding, too. Best of luck as you seek the Lord’s guidance on how to move the work forward. 

Love you,
Dad

Brazil 2.0 Week 4

In July of 2023, we were able to visit the construction site of the Salvador, Brazil temple. We had a nice tour with the missionaries and got to hold the golden shovels that were used at the groundbreaking. We never expected to have the privilege to return, but yesterday almost 2 years to the day of our last visit, we were able to attend the now dedicated temple and do baptisms with our family. It is an absolutely beautiful house of God. What a blessing for our family, and what a blessing for the Saints of Salvador!

It was particularly special that Andrew and Jonathon both got to participate in performing the ordinances. There was a large group there that needed some extra help, so Andrew did a whole bunch of baptisms in Portuguese and Jonathon helped out with confirmations. It was so cool to see them get to use that skill for good. One of the members of the ward we attended in Salvador was there acting as the recorder, so it was also fun to see a familiar face. We love Salvador and the people here, so being in the temple with them felt especially holy. 

Brazil 2.0 Week 3

We have been in Salvador, Brazil for 3 weeks now and are over halfway through our trip. It has been an incredible adventure, and time is flying by too quickly! Jonathon is working hard teaching his sequencing class and helping his students assemble genomes, but the rest of us are enjoying a nice vacation. Here are my top 5 favorite things so far!

5. The Food: pão de queijo, coxinhas, romeu e julieta tapiocas, real Brazilian churrasco, and the best acai. The list goes on and on. Yum!

Jonathon perfected his stroganoff

Churros at the beach

Moqueca

Tapioca Crusted Shrimp

Emilio invited us over for a real Brazilian churrasco. Delish!

4. Exploring the town: Our friend, Luzimar, took us to Igresia de Bonfim, a beautiful old Catholic cathedral. It is known for the colorful ribbons that everyone ties on the gates. Tradition has it that If you tie 3 knots, you will be granted 3 wishes. After we finished at the cathedral, we stopped for delicious ice cream at the famous Sorveteria da Ribeira. (See previous post for more)

3. The Beach: I don't know if I will ever get tired of it. The salty ocean breeze, beautiful scenery, and warm water does my soul good. It is only steps from our rental, and it was definitely worth the extra cost to get a place close to the beach. The boys and I go over to collect shells or play in the water whenever we want.

2. A Brazilian football game (aka soccer): Our good friend, Emilio, helped us get tickets and took us to watch Bahia play Atletico-MG in a match at Fonte Nova Arena. It was everything I imagined... crazy fans, tons of flopping players, and a low-scoring suspenseful match. Bahia won in stoppage time making the whole crowd go wild. It was such a fun experience, and for once, I'm glad I don't speak much Portuguese because I could just enjoy it without knowing any of the curse words. (See previous post for more)

1. Whale watching from our apartment! We chose an Airbnb that looked out over the ocean because we thought the view would be beautiful. Little did we know we would also see humpback whales. I am obsessed and find myself looking out the window all day long! Emilio and Fernanda were nice enough to let us borrow binoculars so we could see them even better. We have seen dozens, and I love it!

Hyrum got to celebrate another birthday in Brazil! I can't believe he is already 12. He didn't get a friend party, so we wanted to make sure it was special for him. We gave him a $100 shopping spree at the mall. He got to choose whatever he wanted. He chose a rodizio pizza dinner, a new book, a colored pencil set, and lots of treats that he could take home and share with his friends. He also got his favorite meal of mac and cheese, coxinhas, and pão de queijo with a brigadeiro cake that I made. I think he enjoyed his special day. He's a pretty cool kid, and it was fun to celebrate him!