Rejoice in the Power of Agency

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

1. I got a son! We picked up Elder Fanning from the airport on Thursday.
2. We found a couple fine new friends, including one who's been having lessons and church over the internet while in Ghana
3. It's snowed and rained a lot
4. We got roast beef sandwiches at a deli that did not deserve the "Best in New York" title
   

So Basically:

Most of the exciting stuff this weekend happened in the back half of the week. Thursday was the day we were scheduled to pick up our greenie, and it was an absolutely crazy day. We were driving from appointment to appointment, filling the font at the church for a ward baptism, attending a meeting for social media, going to give service and shoveling snow while it was dumping snow, and driving home to get some actual missionary work done only to find out we needed to leave almost immediately to go to the airport. We drove to JFK Airport in Queens, and we waited for probably 30-45 minutes before any other missionaries showed up. We finally met up with the APs and with Pres and Sis Teuscher, and we waited for a little longer, chatting and trying to stay warm while waiting outside (we couldn't wait indoors because of covid restrictions). Finally, after around an hour of waiting, the first missionaries arrived to NYC. Our new companion, Elder Fanning, arrived first with an elder from Hawaii (who had never been so cold haha). Elder Fanning is from Washington state, and his original assignment is for Fukuoka, Japan. We figured a few things out with Pres, and then we finally put everything in our car, defrosted for a little bit, and drove home to get a little bit of work in before the night was out.

Elder Fanning is a pretty good missionary, and we're excited to have him. He's a good worker, and he's humble and teachable, so I've got no doubts that he'll be a great missionary.

We did a bunch of finding this week ,and we saw some awesome miracles. I found an awesome and super sweet friend on Facebook named Renee, and she's the best. She said that she doesn't normally accept stranger's friend requests, but she felt like it was a good idea to accept mine, and to reply to my message. She's never read the Bible, but she loves God and Jesus Christ, and I'm super excited to keep working with her. She came to church online yesterday, and she absolutely loved it!

Our other new friend is named LeBron, and he's also the best (they're both the best. Why? I said so). He was referred from some sisters in Manhattan, and he's super into talking about Christ. He's gone on multiple rants about how we need to put Christ first in our lives haha, and we missionaries just sit back nodding and laughing silently. He also came to church, Zooming in from Ghana to be able to make it. Afterwards he had nothing but glowing words for the service, and he super committed himself to come in person when he gets back from Ghana.

It's been snowing off an on for a while this week. Some days are just cloudy, and some days are sunny. Two or three days this week have dropped light amounts of snow. Today was one of those, but the snow became rain not too long ago haha. It's not quite my favorite to be in freezing rain, but it beats the snow. I'm just hoping that ice doesn't form with the mixture for snow and rain. Whatever the case, the weather has been fun, the driving not so much, and we're all very excited for spring haha.

Today being P-Day, we went out to go shopping and get some food. We celebrated getting out of a three-day quarantine (mandatory after picking up a new missionary) by going to a deli that Elder Kelley had heard good things about. We got some roast beef sandwiches that are apparently "the best in New York" and they were pretty good. The beef wasn't super flavorful, but there was gravy on it, and that was pretty good. All in all it was a good sandwich, but I personally wouldn't give it "best" status, soooooo....sorry not sorry.

Mafaufauga Faaleagaga: So this week we've had some ups and downs. A couple friends of ours either said they needed some space, or they are just not interested in learning more about the gospel. The sad news built up a little bit, and it was kind of frustrating and discouraging. A thought that came to me was a quote of a quote by my zone leader Elder Covey said last week: "rejoice in the power of Agency." I love that quote because it's such a huge part of our life on Earth that we have the ability to make choices. Even when their agency lets them walk away from us and the gospel, it's so important, and so special, that we even have the opportunity to choose, and that we can learn and grow on our own. God loves all of us so much that he let us choose for ourselves, even if that meant not choosing Him. I encourage you all to thank God sometime today for the gift that we have that lets us choose for ourselves, and "rejoice in the power of agency".

Basically, God is good, the people are great, and the work is amazing. I'm super blessed here, and I'm excited to train and to learn with my new companion. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• Some jazzy pics from my apartment window
• "Elder Fanning has joined the game"
• Pics from the deli today. The sandwich was pretty good (but it cost too much, ngl)
• I met a dude who is a Norse Pagan, so that's exciting

40/40/40 - 50/50/50

Malo soifua!!!

After deep contemplation, and many dedicated in-shower thought sessions, I've decided to begin including a preview section of my email for those who either don't have the time or don't love me enough to read the whole email, haha.

Today, on The Elder Hill Show:

1. We put our friend Qeonna on baptismal date!! We set it more as a goal to help her begin keeping commitments, but I'm super excited to keep working with her.
2. "Member Madness" - Our latest zone initiative to help us work more with the members
3. "Prayer group" rooms on Facebook are a great way to randomly meet people haha.
4. Elder Kelley and I are training this transfer!! We're going to pick up our new companion this upcoming Thursday.
5. Our mission set a goal to have 270 baptisms in the next six months. It's a big goal, but we've all got the faith. (See my last paragraph down below).  

Alright, now for the full scoop.

After having a couple lessons with Qeonna, and introducing her to the Book of Mormon, we finally put her on baptismal date! This was done primarily to give her an awesome goal and desire to work towards. She has a strong desire to be baptized, so we are helping her learn to keep commitments that will help her come closer to Christ.

This past week our zone (the Brooklyn South Zone) and our neighboring Brooklyn North Zone put together an initiative to help us work more with the members in our respective areas. It's called "Member Madness" (think "March Madness"). Every day, the zone leaders give us certain tasks to do during the day, and point values assigned to each respective task. Our goal is to then score as many points as we can each day by working a bunch with members. Each morning, Elders Koster and Wood would drop a video recap of the previous day (Sports Center style), telling us how we did against North Brooklyn. It's been a lot of fun, and we've all done a LOT of working with members, haha.

At the suggestion of our old Social Media Specialist, Elder Kelley and I teamed up with the Sisters here in Staten, and we had a couple of "prayer room" group calls on Facebook. Basically, Elder Kelley creates a group, and all of us four missionaries join on our own devices (so we don't look like teams of weirdos, just individual weirdos haha).We then just start cold-calling a bunch of people to join our group and pray with us. What's super cool is that people will either just not respond, or they'll join and chat for at least a second or two. Some people aren't super interested, but some will stay on and just chat with us for a few minutes before saying a prayer together. It's awesome to just meet random people here in Staten and just connect through prayer. Hopefully it pays off, and we can strengthen our friends that join, and maybe even meet new people to teach because of it.

On Wednesday, Elder Kelley and I got a call from the APs, asking us if our apartment could hold three missionaries. We said it can, and they said cool. Elder Kelley mentioned to me after the call that he had gotten a similar call a few transfers earlier, right before he trained his last companion. We waited for the fated call from Pres Teuscher, and on Friday it finally came. He called us and asked us if we would be willing to train a new missionary. We answered in the emphatic affirmative. Pres then asked me specifically if I felt ready to train, and I answered honestly and said that I did. So this next Thursday, Elder Kelley and I will be driving to JFK airport to pick up a new elder fresh off the plane.

Also on Friday, Pres Teuscher had an "emergency meeting" in person with the Brooklyn Zones (he had been visiting all of the zones in person, and we were scheduled for Friday). He talked a lot about plans, goals, and unity, and how they are crucial for a mission to have to be successful in bringing people closer to Christ. He also introduced our major mission goal for the next six months. He called it "40/40/40" and then "50/50/50". Basically, our goal as a whole collective mission is to have 40 baptisms in the month of February, 40 in March, and 40 in April. Our goal then expands to 50 baptisms in May, 50 in June, and 50 in July. This will combine for a total of 270 people baptized in the next six months. It seems like a big goal, and it is, but, in the words of Pres himself, "in a mission with over 13 million people, I am confident that God has prepared at LEAST 270 people to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."

I would like to ask all of you to join us in our mission-wide prayer for all those that are being prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray with us that we as the missionaries may be best able to find those that are ready. Pray for the members to be in positions to help both their friends and the missionaries. Pray for those who are learning, or who have not yet heard, that they may be touched and feel the Spirit, that they may be prepared to make covenants with God. I invite all of you who read this email to join me in this prayer, and I know that as we join forces in praying to God, and unifying in our collective goal, even impossible things will become possible through the God  who made us all.

Faafetai mo lo tou alofa, fesoasoani, ma o tou tatalo!!

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou!!

Elder Hill

Photos:

• I made this picture post on Facebook based on D&C 121:7-8, and I just love it
• Our last district council of the transfer (RIP Sister Yan)
• Elder Van and I decided to have our accountability call on the floor this week, so that was fun.  We're using slippers as head-rests.
• Picture from our first Facebook prayer group.

WE GOT A LAUNDRY MACHINE

** Elder Hill's street address has been updated.  8 Navy Pier Ct, not 7 Navy Pier Ct, as originally posted **

Malo Soifua!!!

So this week was super busy. First off, it snowed a LOT. It started on Sunday of last week, and it ended this past Tuesday. Then just yesterday, another few inches fell from the sky to ice in the first dumping. I'm the designated driver, so I got to drive around this week in the snow and ice, so that was very exciting.  The roads were cleared and salted pretty quickly, so there really hasn't been much of the "icy road" driving that I had worried about.

On Wednesday morning, we woke up and were getting ready for a normal day when the Office Elders texted us and said, "Hey, we are picking up the key to your new apartment today. Be ready to move in about four hours." Elder Kelley and I frantically packed our bags and boxes (luckily we had begun basic packing a few days before), and did some last-minute cleaning. The Office Elders showed up in the mission van, and we loaded it to take to our new apartment. Throughout the process of parking their van, loading it, and driving to our new apartment, we had to shovel out and push their van at least three times, and our own car once. The snow on the road was fairly deep, and it had gotten super slushy and slippery, so the tires kept spinning out. We got her unstuck, and we transported everything to our new apartment. The next day we went back to our old apartment one last time to remove the remaining stuff we couldn't get on Wednesday. We dropped a bunch of stuff at the church building (which has lowkey become our storage unit for some stuff), and we brought the rest home to put away.

Our new apartment is pretty nice, and I'm really excited to live here. It's part of an apartment complex (think really big, really fancy hotel), and it is much smaller than our last apartment, but the trade-offs are nice. For one, it has much better and much more heating and hot water. Also, IT HAS A WASHER AND DRYER. I never realized just how nice it could be to have your own laundry machines until I had to use a laundromat for a few months. Machines are so much nicer, and they make our lives so much easier, haha.

For those who care (and even for those who don't care), my new address is:

8 Navy Pier Ct, Staten Island, NY 10306, Apt 4011

We had a really wack experience the other day that I thought I'd share. We were calling some less actives in our ward to see how they're doing, and to see if they're interested in coming back to church at all. We called this one sister's number, and a woman picked up. We asked "Hello is this Sister so-and-so?" She said "No, sorry, no one lives here by that name". We apologized, and we were about to hang up when she said "I  used to talk with you guys." Elder Kelley and I looked at each other, and asked her what she meant by that. She explained that she wasn't the less active we were trying to reach, but she was a woman some previous sister missionaries had taught a little while ago! She mentioned that she wasn't super interested in being baptized, but she agreed to meet with us again and discuss her beliefs and her experiences with the sisters from before. I've got no idea how it'll turn out, but hey, it was weird but really cool.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Interference beats.

Elder Van, my district leader, suggested a really cool BYU devotional for me to listen to by a woman named Rebecca Schroeder. She talks about musical "interference beats" and how different sounds have different wavelengths. When two notes have the same wavelength, they are in perfect unison. She tied it into our relationship with God. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are in perfect unison with each other, but we're usually a little out of tune with them. As we try to repent and be better in our own lives, we can spiritually tune ourselves to be in perfect harmony with our Father, and we can become more like Him. In addition, as we try to be more like Him, we will feel of His love and His blessings in our own lives.

God is good, and He loves all of us. It's my privilege to be able to travel, meet new people, and share God's endless love with them. It's pretty good stuff, not gonna lie.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• Today was "P-day with the Boys" so we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan and back, and we got some cool pics of Lady Liberty, another ferry, the water and sun, and Manhattan.
• So much snow
• Snow at our new apartment
• More snow
• Yep, still snow
• Sigh.....
• ......snow
• My new study desk at our new apartment, complete with fourth floor people-watching capabilities 😂😂

What Lack I Yet?

 Malo soifua!!!

So this week was absolutely crazy, and it was pretty rough, not gonna lie. We had a lot of ups, and a ton of downs that made it a bit frustrating, BUT we pushed through, and we've been rewarded with an answer to Pres Teuscher's prayers. His prayer was for snow, and by golly, he got some. Stay tuned. 

Wednesday was in-person Zone Conference, which was really good. The drive to Woodside, Queens was not so great, but we survived, so I'll take it. As usual, both President and Sister Teuscher spoke, and they gave amazing remarks. I summarized Sis Teuscher's talk with my recent Facebook post, so give that a look see if you haven't already (the story about the boy with diabetes). Pres Teuscher's were just as good, but I'll save them for the spiritual thought. Sufficeth to say, it was a great time, and I loved it. 

At in person meetings, we usually get our mail or packages from the mission office. Right after the meeting, I checked the mail area, and I was delighted to find that the two name tags that I ordered had arrived. The first was just a magnetic name tag in English (now I have a full set for while I'm here). The second was another Samoan tag, but it was a special request. I asked for my name to be translated into Samoan (Hill being a word that has a literal translation). My request was granted, and I received a tag that says "Elder Mauga" on it. I don't know if I'll ever be allowed to wear it, but I now have it to keep forever and ever haha.

The rest of the week was not so amazatastic fantabalishous. We started the week with six or seven "green dots" (people we're teaching, marked on Area Book with a green dot). By Sunday evening, we were down to just two. We went through a sort of purge, dropping the people who were not keeping commitments or who were not interested or ready to make changes to be baptized. Our friend Carolyn, who was on baptismal date but then got cold feet about the idea, blocked our number when we tried checking up on her. We decided to just give her some time, and we've been praying that she chooses to come back and talk with us again.

On a funnier note, but still kind of frustrating, a guy on Facebook messaged our page, and after talking for a bit, we had set up a time to call him and (hopefully) begin teaching him. He then asked if we were the "Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints" (note that he used "and Latter-day" instead of "of Latter-day"). We said yes, and he immediately said he didn't want to meet with us. He said he only believes in Christ, and that he doesn't believe in worshipping Mary, or the saints, or people. We quickly replied that we, in fact, do none of those things and that we only worship God. He hasn't responded yet, so that's rather unfortunate.

Finally, at noon on Sunday, snow began falling from the sky. 'Twas the beginning of a massive snow storm that is expected to last until Tuesday. I'm currently writing this email at 6pm on Monday, and the snow has not stopped coming down since it started. Pres Teuscher issued a no-driving regulation, so Elder Kelley and I got to walk a total of about 1.4 miles in the snow and wind to get our groceries. I got a couple of fun pictures, and it was overall exhausting but good. 

Actually finally, we were given the news that we are, in fact, moving on Tuesday or Wednesday, but more likely Wednesday or Thursday. Today was our "deep clean P-day" anyways, so Elder Kelley and I have been cleaning our apartment just about all day, and packing away the things we don't need. As soon as the APs can figure one or two things out, and be able to drive down here to help us, we'll be moving. So chee hoo to that. 

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Pres Teuscher talked about the story from the New Testament when Jesus talks with the Rich Young Ruler. He made a really interesting point. He said that the first thing that Christ did when making constructive criticism was to start by acknowledging the good in the person. Christ began teaching the young man by giving him an opportunity to state his obedience and the commandments. The ruler asks what he needs to do to attain eternal life, and Christ lists five commandments that he should follow. The young man replies that he had kept all of those commandments from youth up. Pres Teuscher talked about how Christ could probably already see what the young ruler needed to improve on, but He started by listing the five commandments that the man had been keeping perfectly. Only then, after acknowledging and edifying the good did Christ suggest an improvement that wou help him grow closer to God.

Simply put, always look to see and acknowledge the good in people, including yourself, First before noticing any criticisms or problems. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou, 

Elder Hill 

Photos:

A couple pics of our cleaning efforts earlier in the week (lots of pots and pans, and a few trash bags to take out). 

My dope new name tag 🤙🇼🇸

A fun Bernie meme I saw, set at Rab's Bowling, where we went recently with our district

Some super good Taro milk Boba

A screenshot to show y'all that the wind here is no joke 

Snow (lots n lots n lots of snow).