Everything Happens for a Reason

 Malo soifua ia outou!!! ("Hello, all you happy people!" - Droopy Dog)

This week went by crazy fast, and so much happened that I probably won't remember all of it, but here we go.

Last Sunday we had a big to'ana'i (big ol' Sunday dinner) with lots of friends and family. We had our family, the Webb family (from our home ward), and my sis Rosalie and four of her young-single-adult friends. At my Dad's request, we had his favorite Ecuadorian food, Arroz con Menestra y bistek, y patacones, which is not Samoan, but still tastes really good (basically rice with lentils, steak, and fried Ecuadorian bananas).

At the beginning of this week, my district received yet more shocking news. Our teacher and class lineup was changing drastically. First off, all of our classes were moving later in the day (first class moved back one hour, second class moved back half an hour). Secondly, we learned that Uso Tepa, one of our favorite teachers (probably THE favorite now that Sister Long left) was leaving the teacher role and becoming more of a tutor. We'll still see him, but nowhere near as much, and we're all suuuper sad about it because he is just awesome and so much fun. However, we did receive some good news. The first came in the form of Uso Tepa playing us a song on his guitar, which was a great time. The other piece was the arrival of our new teacher, Sis Macarilay. Sis Macarilay was born in the Philippines, raised in the US, and served a mission in Samoa. She's super sweet and super awesome, and we're pretty excited to have her as our teacher.

Other big news: I got my flight plans on Friday!!! I'll be flying out of Phoenix the morning of Monday, October 12th. From Phoenix I'll fly to San Francisco, and then catch a connecting flight to JFK Airport in New York. I'm super excited that I finally have a plan of action after so long without knowing quite what to do haha. I'm also finally equipped with all of the winter-type stuff I'll need, so that's pretty dang exciting.

As far as Samoan goes, we've learned some pretty hard grammar this week, including a doozy of a lesson about possessive pronouns. In case any of y'all were wondering, Samoan has eleven regular or emphatic pronouns, eleven more modified pronouns (which I actually like more, not gonna lie), and EIGHTY EIGHT POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS!!! Granted there's a formula to use to figure them out, and they're not too hard to learn/remember, but still, 88. Bleh.

We've also done a lot more SYL practice (Speak Your Language) with lessons and in regular conversation. We'll study a principle or lesson from Preach My Gospel, teach it to each other in English, and then re-study and re-teach it in Samoan. It's been kind of hard, but it works really well, and I've learned a lot about talking and formulating simple sentences/questions to say to people.

All of us elders had another round of TRCs (practice lessons) with Mariah, which went.....okay I guess. I mean, two companionships had really good lessons with her, and basically everything went right. But then the other two companionships, including Elder Brown and me, were unable to actually meet with her because she never joined the Zoom call. We ended up just leaving after about fifteen minutes of waiting, and we reported it as a missed lesson. Hopefully we can actually meet up with her soon.

Sam Fam (Samoa Family) Shenanigans of Week 4:

We began playing a really weird game of "Would You Rather" on our MTC group chat that's gone all over the place, so that's kinda fun. A few of the elders have gotten better on the ukulele, and will play at random times in breakout rooms or right after breaks. Elder Prince managed to yank Uso Gardiner back to the early 2000s by playing the MII Theme on his uke during class, which was really funny.

The crowning jewel, however, was when Elder Brown and I, just yesterday, made a missionary parody to the Pina Colada song called Gospel Discussions, and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm pretty sure our district is planning on making a music video of it, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Mafaufau Fa'aleagaga (spiritual thought):

Once again, I have two quick thoughts to share.

First is about listening. We focused a lot on just listening to people and getting to them because we love them, not just because we want to share a message. I found that the more that I just listen, or ask prompting questions, the more I grow to love someone, even if we're just talking over a video call. When I let them, and the Spirit, do most of the talking, we both learn a lot. In addition to that, when we listen actively and carefully, eventually something they say will lead to a gospel topic that we can teach them about, and a specific invitation that will bring them closer to Christ.

The second thought is about the Gospel of Christ. To quote Uso Gardiner, "the Doctrine of Christ is not a topic for one lesson, it's a lens through which we see every lesson." We've learned, studied, and taught a lot about the Doctrine and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's been incredible. My favorite lesson was when we talked about this being the great and last dispensation of the gospel. Uso Tepa was talking about how much we have here and now, and it took me aback when I really thought about it. In the scriptures (Bible, Book of Mormon, etc.), we read about only a small handful temples, and a couple dozen missionaries, and a few thousands of members/believers in the gospel of Christ. But now look at our world today. We have almost 200 temples, around 60,000 missionaries at ANY given time, and over 16 MILLION members/believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is truly the last dispensation, and fulness of times.

Ou te molimau atu e tatou ola i le aso gata ai, ma ou te molimau atu le moni o le talalelei toefuata'iina a Iesu Keriso. Ou te iloa pe afai ona e tatou fa'amaoni, o le a tatou fa'amanuia mai le Atua. Ou te iloa le moni o le Tusi a Mamona, ma ou te iloa alofa le Atua ia itatou. I le suafa o Iesu Keriso, lo tatou Fa'aola ma Togiola, amene.

I testify that we live in the last dispensation, and I testify of the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that if we are faithful, we will all be blessed from God. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that God loves all of us. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, amen.

Ma lo'u alofa uma lava (with all of my love),

Elder Hill

Photos (I have no idea what order they're in):

• Uso Tepa played us a hymn on his guitar, and we all loved it (even though the audio kept cutting out)
• Every once in a while, we'd all just lean in really close to the camera and just pick someone to stare at randomly. Uso Tepa figured it out eventually and joined in lol
• Our last picture with Sister Long (may she be remembered always), featuring Elder Brown's face added with Photoshop
• The lyrics to our Missionary parody of the Pina Colada Song (If someone wants to make a recording of them singing the parody and send it to me, I wouldn't be opposed to that haha)

NOTE:  Click on an image to bring it up in a larger size, for easier viewing.