The God Squad

Malo soifua!!!

This week has been pretty busy, but we have had a lot of great experiences, and some success. We have a large pool right now (pool means the group of people we're teaching), and our schedule fills up pretty quickly with all of our scheduled lessons.

On average, we've had scheduled about 4 or five lessons per day. That's a whole lot, and we're pretty busy planning for each lesson and teaching. In reality, however, at least one lesson a day falls through for any number of reasons. It's been a little frustrating because we have been trying to get each person we're teaching to set a time or two each week that they're open to meet with us. They always say they're good at a given time each week, then tell us a few days later that they're busy so they can't make it, but they want to meet with us next time! (This goes one one or two or three times before we actually meet with them.) Some lessons are great and life is peachy, but some lessons are more difficult. Haha we had one lady who asked for a Bible study with us, and she just dove into Revelation and started asking us weird and crazy questions based on very weird and different sources. It's been fun. 

It's gotten a bit cooler here, and it's remained gray and drizzly most days. Hopefully it clears up soon (Dad, I'm sure you could tell me what the real forecast is, haha). 

My ward here is kinda small, but it's really good. A lot of people here, members or not, are just really busy all the time. That's the vibe of NYC: everyone's busy all the time. Our ward is meeting in person as of about two weeks ago, so we're trying to re-fellowship members to bring church attendance back up. This past Saturday was a ward Halloween drive-in movie. A decent group showed up, including some people we're teaching. We elders helped set up, got some food as thanks, and then went home for the night. 

I've gotten along really along with my companions this past week. We play a lot of basketball to get in our exercise, plus some Monopoly and Exploding Kittens (some games that are in our house lol), so we have tons of fun. A couple nights we'll have free time from about 9pm onward, so we'll just chill and talk about whatever. Sometimes we feel kinda like college roommates when we're just sitting around a Monopoly board talking about something random. It's been great. Understand, however, we do lots of work, don't get me wrong. We are often really busy, so we don't lie around or play games a ton. We'll just have nights where a lesson falls through or we're exhausted, so we'll relax a bit in the evening after proselytizing time is over. 

(Note for Mom and anyone else concerned for my welfare while living away from home: Elder Siu is teaching us how to live away from home, and we take turns cooking foods for the companionship. I made a dope pizza with my family recipe, and it got wide approval). [In case anyone is wondering, "dope", in this context, means "exceedingly wonderful and delicious."  😁]

Finally, I'll explain the subject line. We had a lesson with an awesome guy named Ben. At one point in our call he asked us what we do during Covid, and we told him about all the work we're doing virtually and in person, just spreading the love of God. He then responded, "You guys are like the God Squad," and we all just looked at each other, got big grins on our faces, and we're just like "yeah Ben, you're exactly right." It was a kinda cool experience, and we dubbed our companionship the God Squad, and I love it. Hopefully we can keep living up to the name as we teach.

Well this week has been fun, and next week will be wild (I get to lead out in ALL the lessons and contacts starting tomorrow), but I feel blessed. God is good, and He's got a plan for us. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill 

Photos :

We saw some turkeys just chillin' on the side of the road 

I made a bomb pizza

Some pics of the city (two streets, one street at night, and a foggy Verrazano bridge)

No Cop, No Stop

Malo soifua!!!

This week was absolutely wild, and I loved it a ton. I left home on Monday morning, Oct 12th, and I flew to NYC for basically the entire day. I was with Elders Lee and Wood on the plane (both going from AZ to NYC), so that was a lot of fun. Our flight landed in JFK Airport a little early, and we just kinda waited around until some other elders came and found us and took us to the meet up spot. All in all, 20 missionaries arrived in New York Monday night. We met with Pres and Sis Teuscher, talked a little bit, and then left in our companionships for the night.

I'm currently in Staten Island, which has one bridge connecting to the rest of the city that we can use. The bridge has a $20 toll fee per crossing (luckily the church covers that), so we usually don't leave the island haha. 

The next day was transfers, however, so I drove with Elders Checketts and Hwang into the city to drop off Elder Hwang and pick up Elder Siu. Here's the rundown of our current trio:

Elder Hill

Languages: 2 (English/Samoan) 

Experience: less than a week

Elder Checketts

Languages: 2 (English/Italian) 

Experience : three months

Elder Siu

Languages: 3.5 (English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and a little of another Chinese dialect as well as some Japanese) 

Experience: 13 months 

The best part of our arrangement? We're the English elders for Staten Island, yet we speak more languages than the sisters and the Spanish elders COMBINED. Good times. 

Also, a quick appreciation plug for Elder Siu. He was called to Hong Kong, but was reassigned to NYC for a transfer because of civil unrest. Finally he got to go to Hong Kong for a few transfers before being sent back to NYC again, this time because of Covid. Despite some rough circumstances, he's been a great trainer, and we have a lot of fun on top of working really hard. 

With two new elders in Staten, we've been doing a lot of getting to know members, resetting expectations and schedules with those we're teaching, and just all around re-vamping the Staten Island area. We've also been working the Facebook find grind, just making tons of new friends and trying to find people to talk to. It's been hard work, but it's yielded some good results so far, so I'm hopeful for the future. 

Now, to explain the subject line. Traffic here in Staten is actually the worst. The roads are all narrow and wind randomly, street lights are designed all weird and annoying, and there's a whole new set of "driving rules" to follow. For example: no cop, no stop. If there's a red light, or a stop sign, but you have places to be, and there's no cop nearby, just run straight through. I've already seen this happen a half dozen times, and it's a little freaky. We missionaries follow all legit traffic laws, but others don't, so we have to be careful.

Another great "traffic law" is the concept of the "park anywhere" lights. Normally, they're called your emergency lights or some other nonsense, but here in Staten we know the true use of the red triangle button. You can literally park ANYWHERE you want, flip those bad boys on, and then just walk away. It's insane. I've seen cars parked two rows deep on the side of a street, and they just have their park anywhere's on, so nobody cares. It's so grippy, and it makes some really stressful situations.

Finally are the bus lanes. Basically, almost every main street has bus lanes, which would be great except for two things: 1) busses don't really even use the bus lanes a whole ton, which makes traffic worse; 2) other cars will just use it because the busses don't. 

Mafaufauga faaleagaga:

We were teaching (in person) a guy named Ben Dugbe, who moved here from Liberia (and has some very interesting views of blacks in the US that he loved talking about, but I digress), and he was talking about prayer, and he compared it to a phone call, which wasn't new to me, but his next insight was something I'd never really considered much. He talked about how when you call someone, they can respond directly and communicate quickly, but you have to know their private number. It's the same with God. He's always ready and willing to respond and communicate with you, but you need to know the private number. With the God, the private number is prayer. When you pray, you can talk to God, and you can hear Him talking to you. Like a phone call, you need to make sure you have a good, strong connection, otherwise the call won't go through. But if you put in that effort, and talk to God regularly, you will receive blessings beyond comprehension.

Alofa lava atu outou uma lava,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• Elder Lee (far right), me, Wood (2nd from left), another elder I met for about  5 seconds, and Bro Mālolo, who used his airline job as an excuse to come and visit us in the airport and get us some food for the flight.
• Me, Elder Siu (middle) , and Elder Checketts (right) with our quality Chinese food
• Clouds
• Street near our house (Staten Island is very green and foresty)
• This is Bambi. He lives by the church building, and he's been hit by a few cars so his antler is janky and he has a limp (he literally just runs in the middle of the road)
• "Yeah, we don't get ice cream here" - Elder Checketts

Faafetai I Le Atua

Malo soifua!!!

"And thus ended my sojourn in the Home MTC (in my room most of the time, so there really wasn't much sojourning, tbh)" - The Book of Mauga 6:37

[Notes from Jacob's mother:  1). "Mauga" is Samoan for "mountain/hill".  2)  Elder Hill flies out tomorrow for the mission field. He was notified this weekend that his first area in the New York City Mission will be Staten Island.]

It's kinda weird to think that I'm just done with the MTC. It feels like yesterday that we started, all bright and eager and innocent of the pains of Samoan grammar. Now us eight elders are a little older, a little wiser, still bright and eager, but now tired and weary of the pains of Samoan grammar. Truly a great tale to be told.

This week we did a lot of SYL and roleplaying, both in faaPalagi (English) and faaSamoa (Samoan). Elder Brown and I did a few TRCs this week as well. Two were with Katie, who we had begun teaching last week, and one with Mariah in Samoan. Unfortunately, Mariah did not join the lesson, possibly again because of her health issues during her pregnancy (nothing serious, she just gets sick sometimes). I wish them both the best. This week we also got the opportunity to take turns singing or playing for the opening song in each of Sis Macarilay's classes (I was picked for last Tuesday). I got to sing a Samoan hymn called "Aua E Te Maliu Ese (Do Not Pass Me By)" which is a truly beautiful hymn. I sang a capella, and all of the elders were absolutely swooning 😂.

This week was full of lasts, and even a couple firsts. I played basketball with some elders in my stake for the last time on Thursday. My last class with Uso Gardiner was actually on Thursday (I'll talk about that later). My last class with the district was yesterday (Friday), with many a heartfelt goodbye. My last prank on teachers was yesterday, and it was a doozy (also more on that later). I got to vote for the first time on Friday as well, so that was kinda fun. My district also made a "pass the tag" video, which I'll add below. I also began packing my life for the first time this weekend, so that's both exciting and sad, but oh well.

And finally, I got to go to the temple for the first time last night!!! It was absolutely incredible, and I'm so grateful that so many of my friends and family were able to come as well.

In our last class all together, Uso Tepa repeatedly said the phrase "faafetai i le Atua," or "thanks to God." I really love that, and I think it embodies my life, my time in the MTC, this last week in particular, and my hopes for my mission. If nothing else, I want to always be able to stop and think about my blessings and say with a smile "faafetai i le Atua." I'm really gonna miss all of my friends from the district, both elders and teachers, but I'm more than excited to hop on that plane in two days and fly off to the next phase of my life. My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, and I hope I do that everyday, but I also hope that I remember to thank God every day for each and every blessing that He gives me. Faafetai i le Atua.

Sam Fam Shenanigans: This week was an absolute party on top of everything else. Elder Kauer introduced our district to the concept of editing text in a Chrome browser (I'll omit specific details here), and some happy chaos ensued. Nothing illegal, rude, or dangerous, just wholesome and hilarious fun. Of particular note, I began writing a chronicle of my time in the MTC titled the Book of Mauga (I'll attach a couple screenshots for your enjoyment).

Before our last class of the MTC with Sis Macarilay, we all threw on hoodies over our shirts and ties. We joined the call, and she got super confused. We were all just sayin "it's Casual Friday, didn't you hear?" This got her even more confused until we all whipped off our hoodies and revealed our prank. She laughed a lot, and we continued to have an awesome lesson.

Finally, the best one yet. So my whole district has access to a video of me just sitting at my desk reading. Occasionally someone will change their name to Elder Hill during class, set that video as their virtual background, and watch the teachers get confused at the two or three or four Elder Hills on screen. Well, we did this during a workshop lesson with missionaries and teachers from other districts, and it worked too well! The other missionaries didn't notice for about half an hour (and the teachers never did). Eventually, however, one elder asked why there were three Elder Hills in the meeting. Another elder replied "they're probably bots or something, I dunno." Before any of us could reply, all three of us (Elders Brown, Kauer, and myself) were booted from the meeting!! We all started laughing so hard at the crazy and sudden reaction to it. What made it almost funnier was that since we had been booted, we physically could not rejoin the meeting, so we had to just call it a day.

I just wanna take a moment and restate yet again that our district is full of hard working, responsible elders. We just had a lot of fun sometimes haha.

Mafaufauga Fa'aleagaga: My thought today is just an experience and a quote. The experience was the temple. I was blessed with the opportunity to receive my endowment in the temple last night, and I was blessed further by having my parents, some siblings and some extended family, and some dear friends go thorough with me. It was truly a special experience, one that I will never forget.

And lastly, I'll just leave this quote, spoken by Elder Mckrola, here for you to consider:

"Pray like it all depends on God, and work like it all depends on you."

Alofa tele lava lo'u itu ma o'u faia'oga. Alofa tele lave fo'i ia outou uma. (I love my district and my teachers, and I love all of you).

Faafetai i le Atua.

Elder Hill

Photos (In whatever order they're in):

• Two pictures in front of the Gilbert Temple (one just me, one with the whole group)
• The workshop with three Elder Hills (we were booted not long after this)
• Sam Fam name tags
• "Casual Friday" in our hoodies (ft. Sis Macarilay's confusion)
• Me being a responsible adult and voting, sticker and all
• A playing card for the Tarako Pa'epa'e, the White Dragon (a big white Samoan grammar book)
• The introduction to the Book of Mauga
• Elders Tenney, Brown, and myself enjoying the new updated filters and features on Zoom
• Video:  Sam Fam District, "Pass the Tag" 
• Elders Kauer and Hill, after church meetings today.  Elder Kauer leaves Wednesday for Minneapolis.
• An image of the house where Elder Hill will live in Staten Island, NY
• Video:  Elder Hill singing "Aua E Te Maliu Ese".  The general meaning of this verse is, "Beloved Savior, stay with me and help me."

A New Comfortable

Malo soifua!!!

This week went by in a blur. I honestly have no idea how it went so fast, but it did, and now I've only got one more week of the MTC. Oioue.

This week was fairly standard as far as classes and whatnot. I played basketball with my stake district a couple of times, and we had a stake elder lunch on Wednesday.

The biggest highlight of the week was actually in regards to Elder Wilson, the elder in my district called to Auckland, New Zealand. He was the only one in our district who had not gotten a reassignment, and he has citizenship in New Zealand, so we were hoping that maybe he'd get the chance to go to his actual mission. Well this week he got his wish...just not quite how he was expecting. We were in class on Tuesday, the 29th, when Elder Wilson told us he had just gotten an email from the missionary travel department. He was going to fly to Auckland!! The only catch? HE WAS SCHEDULED TO FLY OUT TWO DAYS LATER ON OCTOBER FIRST!!! We were all reeling in shock, but we all gave him emphatic congratulations. He ended up skipping a few classes to pack, and then flew to New Zealand this past Thursday. He got there safely, and he'll still be in our district to finish up the MTC there while in his mandatory two-week quarantine. So yeah, that was the most exciting part of this week, by far. But the rest was pretty good too.

Our doctrinal studies have been really good this past week. We finished our doctrinal study review of Lesson One (The Restoration) in Preach My Gospel, and we started studying and teaching Lesson Two (The Plan of Salvation). We've also focused a lot on listening to others and asking inspired questions to get to know others better as well as teach more effectively.

I had two TRC lessons this week. The first was in English with a young married woman from Utah named Katie. She seemed really interested and engaged in our message, and we had an amazing lesson with her. Our other lesson was a Samoan TRC with Mariah, which I was a little worried about. Elder Brown's and my focus for this lesson was to get to know her better, and establish a more personal connection with her (ask questions, answer questions, etc.). I was nervous because this meant we'd have to do a lot of listening and understanding as well as a lot of spur-of-the-moment responding, which is really hard in a new language. To our delight (and small surprise), the lesson actually went super well! We talked with her for almost 40 min (which is over the limit, but we were having a great time so it's all good). We talked about her and her young family (husband and girl on the way), and just about anything else we knew how to ask in Samoan. By the end we were laughing a lot, and we left a really good message and invitation. My soa and I have one more lesson with her, so hopefully that goes just as well.

Sam Fam Shenanigans: The award for this week's edition of Sam Fam Shenanigans goes to Elder Tenney. In a class with Uso Gardiner, Gardiner's computer unexpectedly died, and he was kicked from the meeting. We didn't know what to do, so we just talked and waited. Elder Wilson was made the host, and he made Elder Tenney co-host, and they were goofing off and having fun with their new powers. Finally, Uso G got his computer back up and running, and he rejoined the meeting and became the host again. The fun began when we realized that Uso G had no idea that Elder Tenney was still a co-host. Elder Tenney began changing people's names, turning people's cameras off, and just kinda making a small nuisance of himself. He was very subtle so Gardiner wouldn't notice, but the rest of us elders were struggling to keep from laughing loudly during class. It was a ton of fun.

We also spent an afternoon in our sam fam group chat listing off all of the amazing things Elder Prince has ever done (imagine Chuck Norris jokes, but even better). Some of the highlights are listed below.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Uso Gardiner and Elder Mckrola shared powerful insights that really struck me this week. We were talking about how we as missionaries need to open our mouths and talk to everyone we meet. While he was sharing his thoughts, Elder Mckrola said that we need to step out of our comfort zone and make "a new comfortable" where we want to and feel comfortable sharing the gospel. To further illustrate this point, Uso G had us read in Moses about the prophet Enoch. Enoch asked God why he had been called as a prophet because he wasn't well liked and had trouble speaking. God answered by telling him to go and open his mouth and the Spirit would fill with the words of God. Later on we read about how Enoch's words became so powerful that every nation feared him and the earth itself shook when he spoke with the power of God. Gardiner said to us, "you're gonna be scared. Open you mouth anyway." When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you will have the words to speak given to you in the very moment you need them, and people will feel of their truth. Of this I want to bear my testimony as a missionary of Jesus Christ.

Alofa tele lava atu

Elder Hill

Photos: (In whatever order they're in)

Elder Wilson Appreciation Post (the guy with the pencil behind his year)

Elder Prince (both to show how hard we were trying not to laugh, and also to give reference for all of our "facts 'bout Prince") (I promise he's not actually that red. The light was just really wack).

A few snippets of our "facts 'bout Prince" (the three hangouts screenshots)

One of my favorite scriptures on one of my favorite pictures