"Sorry We're Late; Elder Checketts Was In a Temple Prep Class"

Malo soifua!!!

First off, the subject line is a real quote, haha. The mission here is having a two-session Temple Prep class for the missionaries who have not yet gone through the temple. Most if not all of the missionaries will be going through the Hartford Connecticut temple in January, which is really awesome.

This week was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of work, which was the best.  Christmas created a lot of opportunities to share messages and invite people to church. We've found a lot of new people this past week through referrals, and a number of them are really awesome. One of my favorite experiences was something of a miracle. We got a referral from a younger woman who requested a Bible study and a Book of Mormon (not knowing what it was). After a few days of being pretty unresponsive, she suddenly messaged us back, said she had been busy, but she really was interested, and that she wanted her boyfriend to join her in the lessons with us. Elder Checketts and I got super excited, and we had great lessons with them. The two of them are new to Christianity, but they have a real desire to learn about and draw closer to God. I have faith in them, and I'm really excited to keep working with them.

Christmas was definitely the highlight of our week. We had a bunch of devotionals, lessons, calls with members, and Christmas messages. The Spirit was pumping through the New York City Mission, and it was great. The best part, though, was our absolutely amazing ward family. Four or five sisters in our ward all reached out to us and asked if they could give us food for Christmas, and we were legitimately given no choice but to accept. Our hearts are full, and our fridge is overflowing haha. Elder Checketts and I finished loading our fridge, looked at each other, and said, "Well, we're not going shopping this week."

The greatest gift I was given this Christmas will be talked about in my Spiritual Thought, but the incredibly close second best was the opportunity to call my family on Christmas evening (with special guests Shirley & Forrest, and Aileen & Trevor, and their families). It was a wonderful call, and I love all of my family dearly.

Elder Checketts has been teaching me how to play the guitar, and I've been picking it up a little bit. I only have four or five chords learned, and my calluses are still forming, but I'm definitely enjoying learning an instrument. (If anyone has good songs to learn, or good music for missionaries, send it my way.)

Today was another "P-Day with the boys". We met up at the Spanish Elders' house, played some games and ate snacks before going to Rab's Bowling lanes and playing a few games. (I got three strikes and won the third and final game, and I ended up with the most total points of all three games). It was a great time, and we had a lot of fun.

Mafaufauga Faaleagaga:

The greatest gift I had this Christmas was the opportunity to spread the gospel ,and teach about Christ, on the day we celebrate His birth. At first I wasn't so excited for working hard on the holiday, but Pres Teuscher converted me to the work. He said: "Do you realize you have, at most, two opportunities in your entire life to share the message of Jesus Christ on the day we celebrate His birth? Not many people get that privilege." It struck a chord with me, and I realized that the greatest gift God gave me this year WAS the opportunity I had and still have to teach others about Christ.

God is good, and He loves all of us more than we can ever imagine. I'd say I love you all just as much, but I can only dream of that much capacity to love, so I try my best.

Alofa tele lave atu ia te outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

We decided to celebrate the Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve lol, so we made Fish n' Chips with honeydew melon.

A night shot of Brooklyn from exchanges this week.

The member who owns the food pantry we work at has a pile of coconuts, so naturally I took a pic haha.

I got a Grogu blanket 😂.

We got a LOT of Christmas food from lots of kind people

I got to talk with my wonderful family on Christmas Day (featuring my adorable niece Olivia, who loves my plush cow)

Some funky ice this morning.

The scoreboard after our final game (my name was translated to "Mauga", or "Hill" in Samoan)

A Rather Underwhelming Snow Storm

 Malo soifua!!!

Also Manuia le Kerisimasi!! (Merry Christmas!!)

Also HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!! I'm so happy you two are in my life, and that I have been blessed to be a part of your amazing family. Alofa TELE lava atu ia oulua!!

So this week was fun. We got snow finally, and everybody was freaking out about it beforehand. Pres Teuscher issued a ban on all driving on Thursday (the day after it was supposed to snow). When it finally came, however, everyone just felt a little underwhelmed. It dropped about four inches of snow, but that was cleared off of the roads pretty quickly, so there was no real concern (by Friday when we were allowed to drive again, the roads were almost entirely clear). I got a few good pictures of the snow, so that was nice. (Pres. Teuscher thought the snowstorm was "kind of underwhelming", even though it dropped more snow then than it had in the last year or two combined).

We had our in-person Zone Conference meeting in Queens this past Friday, so that was a lot of fun. Pres. Teuscher talked about Christ, and the value of understanding who He was BEFORE He was born. Everyone talks about Him when He was born, while He lived, and after He died, but we don't focus a whole lot on who He used to be. Pres. Teuscher talked a bit about the Premortal Existence, and how powerful and important Christ was. It really put in perspective for me how amazing His birth really was. Christ was like unto God, yet He gave up everything to be born as a hapless baby, who would grow up to die for the world.

Sis. Teuscher also talked about Christmas. My favorite thought from her remarks was this quote (somewhat paraphrased): "When God needs something done, a wrong made right, or a truth taught, He sends a baby into the world to do it." I loved that quote, and I think it really captures the beauty of Christmas. So yeah, remember Christ. Remember the wonderful gift that He is. Remember His love for all of you, and show that same love towards everyone else. She also showed us the Nativity video made by the crew of "The Chosen", and it's really good. I recommend you all watch it if you haven't already.

This past week was rather uneventful, to be honest. We did some service and shopping and preparing for Christmas, but that was about it. In some random news, we got to see a Staten Island NYPD motorcade for a Santa trailer around the town. We got stuck at a light where all of the cars were passing, so we watched the dozens of cop cars etc go by.

We also got a guitar, so that was exciting. While we were shoveling snow on Thursday, we saw a guitar next to our neighbor's trash can. We walked over and said hi the guy who was working on his car in that driveway. When we asked about the guitar, he said it was missing a string, but he didn't want it, so we could take it if we wanted to. We thanked him a lot, and took it back to our house. Today (p-day), we went to a music store and bought a set of strings and picks. Elder Checketts, who plays a little guitar, restrung it and tuned it, and he's going to teach me a little guitar before he leaves. I've been wanting to learn guitar for a while, so maybe this is my chance (I've been trying to learn a new skill every transfer or two, so this could be it, folks).

Mafaufauga Faaleagaga: Just go read my two paragraphs about Zone Conference again. 😊

Well folks, Christmas is in a few days, and that's plain wack. It still feels like I left home a few weeks ago, but now it's KERISIMASI already. Wack, bro.  Guys, God is so good. I think I know that fact, and then He shows me just how much He loves me (and all of you), and it blows me away every time. This week I was studying the Atonement and the Sacrament, and my biggest takeaway was "Wow, He loves us a LOT." He loves you, I love all of you wonderful people (and you, Brigham 😂😝), and we should all love everyone else. It's Christmas season, the time of gift giving. Surely we can all give our love.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou

Elder Hill

Photos:

A screenshot of a Messenger call with our DL Elder Van (with the virtual Millennium Falcon background) 

Our ward's virtual Christmas party (with bingo and a gingerbread house competition) 

I made some Hopping John and Patacones (food favorites of my family). The platanos were a little overripe, but they were alright to make patacones with. 

SNOW (a few pics of our car and street, and Great Kills Park down the street)

Our Christmas tree, lights, and presents. Thank you everyone for your kind cards and gifts!

Sis Reyes (our bishop's wife) made us these customized face masks, and they're amazing! 

Cop car procession 

Elder Checketts posing with our new guitar

 

"If It Doesn't Work, I'll Just Quit My Job"

 Malo soifua!!!

This was another great week, and a lot of fun stuff happened. Also Christmas is in like two weeks, so that's absolutely wack. Once again if any of you out there want to contribute in any way to the "Support Your Friendly Neighborhood NYC Missionaries Named Elder Hill" foundation, my address is in my last email. (you totally don't have to haha, I'd just love getting letters  😂.) [Address:  385 Montreal Ave, Staten Island, NY 10306 -- and he's referring to letters, not money]

This Tuesday was exchanges, and we got to have Elder Van in our area. Normally, we would switch elders, but this was a little different because Elder Van is currently in a trio with Elder Baird and Elder Stephens. He joined our area for the day, and we had a great time. Apparently he does historical fencing (different than modern fencing), magic tricks, and he's a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson and the Cosmere. Whenever we had a side conversation on a drive or in between appointments, we would dive off into some random conversation about any number of strange and epic topics that we had in common. We did lots of great work that day, and we had a ton of fun doing it, so it was a win/win.

We met with Ken to try and figure out how to get him to church the upcoming Sunday. To show his faith and dedication, he called his coworker there and asked to switch shifts with him for Sunday (we didn't even ask him to. He just did it himself). Then, later on in the conversation, Ken said, "If I can't come to church this Sunday, I'll just quit my weekend job and get another one. It'll be easy for me to find another one." We were shocked, but we got super excited for him to come. 

AND HE CAME TO CHURCH!!! After working with him for months (longer than I've even been here), we finally got Ken to come to church with his boys. I'm so happy for him, and I'm so excited that he's making progress again. 

Speaking of church, we tried virtually broadcasting the meeting over Zoom, so that was interesting. We had the full church meeting (song, prayer, talks, song, talk, song, prayer), and THEN had the Sacrament after the broadcast ended. It took some figuring out get it to work properly, but this should be a good alternative to in-person church for those who still can't come.

Our friend Goldie finally got a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she's super interested in reading it! At one point she found the Joseph Smith movie and started watching it. Later she asked us, "how could they persecute him for telling the truth?" We had a spiritual conversation about it, but we were also silently fist-pumping that she was so solid in her faith in the prophet. Hopefully we can keep meeting with her and growing that faith. 

Today was district P-Day, and Elder Van got us approved to go to the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn. We had a lot of fun there, and took a bunch of awesome pictures. It was kind of really rainy, but we had a lot of fun in the aquarium and on the beach right next to it. 

Mafaufauga faaleagaga:

I was thinking a bit about prayer, and how we don't often do it in public. One thing that's struck me out here is that we need to be proud of our faith (not overbearing, but confident and assured). There have been a few times when I've prayed with other elders in a mall or on a sidewalk of a busy street. At first it feels a little awkward to stand in a small circle and pray aloud in public. As I've done it more and more, however, I've loved the idea more and more. We have the resorted gospel of Jesus Christ. We know who we are as children of God. We know He hears our prayers. So why not do it in public? Why not just give no thought to what the world thinks? Prayer is about talking to God, and we should never stop talking to Him just because we're in a restaurant or on a street corner. Prayer is a form a praise, and I will praise Him all day and all night, wherever I may be.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou, ma Manuia le Kerisimasi!! I love all of you, and Merry Christmas!!

Elder Hill 

Photos:

We dropped off a Book of Mormon at a friend's house in the snow, so that was fun

Also it snowed for all of half of a day this week, so that was fun

Also also, our mission got Light The World beanies and hats (Pres Teuscher is modeling for us), so that was really fun

Also also also, Elder Checketts got a Christmas present in the form of a model Colosseum that we put together this week, so that was way fun

Also also also also, we went to the New York Aquarium by Coney Island in Brooklyn, so that was SUPER FUN (see some of the many pictures that I took there) 

"Eternity: Not a Through Street" (That's a Joke, BTW)

Malo Soifua!!!

Quick note: With Christmas coming up, I think it's only fitting that I leave my address here so that you all can send me appropriate homage or festive cards for Christmas (You don't have to, lol, I'm just lonely 😂). So yeah, if you want to feel more of the joy of giving this Christmas season, my address is 385 Montreal Ave, Staten Island, NY 10306.

Anyways, this week was pretty good, and lots of stuff happened I'm sure, but I'll just focus on this past weekend because it was just wack.

We had two lessons with friends that were interested in our church, but both ended up going south this time around. One of the guys we're teaching said that he doesn't want to join our church because we worship "another Jesus" (I didn't know there was more than one, so I was as confused as he was at that point). We are still on friendly terms with him personally, we're just trying to get him interested again in meeting with us to discuss the Bible or the Gospel. Our other friend, another guy we found pretty recently, stumbled upon some anti-Mormon websites in the past week. He was fine about a week ago, but this weekend he began asking questions that people don't even know to ask unless they've found anti-Mormon materials ("was God a man?" "Is Satan Christ's brother?" "Do Mormons reject the trinity?"). We did our best to answer his questions, but he is no longer interested in the Book of Mormon, which is rather unfortunate. He still wants to meet for Bible studies, so we're not letting him get away from us just yet haha.

After these two lessons, I got kind of frustrated with the lack of understanding people, myself included, have about the Bible. I began making a document that supports some of our church's more unique claims with "nothing but the KJV Bible, and some logical reasoning." It's been interesting to read about Biblical prophets who taught some of the things that people judge us for believing. My only concern is that most people I meet here who want to dispute the Bible are not interested in logical reasoning or discussion. Many people I meet in lessons or on Facebook have set beliefs based on specific verses, and nothing but their conviction that their one specific verse is all they need to believe to get to Heaven. I do my best to be civil and teach with the Spirit, so hopefully I'll see some better results on that front someday. (Note: this week's subject line comes from a video call I had with Ben today and we were talking about how blind obedience in faith is like putting a cap on salvation or exaltation. Fun times.)

We had a fast on Saturday for our friends Ken and Ibrahim. Both of them want to come to church, but they can't because of work conflicts. We scheduled a fast with them from Saturday morning until Sunday morning right before church. Elder Checketts and I fasted, and we went about doing our work on Saturday and Sunday, and we saw blessings for ourselves, but our hope was in vain for our friends. Ken wasn't able to come (for reasons we're not quite sure of yet), but we should be closer to coming to church. Ibrahim expressed concern about the fast, and he VERY reluctantly agreed, but we haven't heard from him since Friday evening, and his phone has been off recently, so I'm a little worried. We keep pressing forward, however, and I hope that they will both one day be able to come to church and receive the blessings of the sacrament with their families.

Finally, yesterday was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, or "Christmas Conference" in my family. It was a wonderful devotional, and I loved each one of the talks. I highly recommend each of you go and watch it if you haven't already. The spirit was there in force, and I gained a new love for the Savior and for the Christmas season.

Mafaufauga Faaleagaga:

With my fast on Saturday, and our recent lessons about Sacrament with Ken and his boys, I've learned a lot about the importance of the Sacrament, and I've grown to love the opportunity I have to take it each week. It's such an important reminder of Christ's sacrifice for each of us. It's been sad for me trying to help so many of our friends here come to church and learn of the Atonement, only to see them not be able to come, but I still feel the love and the blessings that come from every time that I get to take part in the Sacrament here.

God is good, and He loves all of us. Hopefully we can all show some of that love to each other this Christmas season.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• Elder Checketts posing 😎😂
• I love me some apple pie with ice cream and caramel syrup
• Saturday Service, Santa-hat Style
• Our Christmas Devotional setup
• We finally saw some ice today!! It wasn't a whole lot, but hopefully more will come soon (I say that now, but I'll be begging for summer pretty soon 😂)
• The most not-NYC part of NYC you'll ever see (it kinda reminds me of home)