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).