Genetics is a Myth

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• Elder Hamilton punched a computer.....again
• Don't go to Texas or Florida. Just....just don't.
• Cookie butter is actually really good (#themoreyouknow)
• "Yeah no, Elder Hamilton wouldn't fit"
• Sister Jensen doesn't want to change her last name much

So this week was fun, and by fun I mean a lot of things went wrong and we got really frustrated a couple of times. BUT, it all worked out in the end, so that's all that really matters. Like I usually say to people, it's always a good day. Sometimes it harder to see why, but it's always a good day.

Cindy decided to go to Florida for two weeks or so, which means she can't get baptized on May 9th, which is super sad. She really wanted to, and she was just about ready, but she needs to come to church in person a couple more times, and she told us she won't be able to do that while in Florida. Also Kyron took a week-long trip to Texas, so that's also really frustrating. We're trying to help him progress, but we're kind of stagnating with him. He is a super cool guy, but he's not sure he wants to commit yet. He also has a lot of janky beliefs, like the aforementioned mythology of human genetics (he attributes most of it to dieting). He did agree to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, so that was a huge tender mercy. Hopefully he likes what he reads, and he wants to come closer to Christ. He really is a cool guy, and I want to keep  working with him (for all of my ATLA friends, think Guru Pathik from season 2, but younger and with dope dreadlocks).

So yeah, prayers for Cindy and Kyron and for Tony and Angie (two other friends who are doing well, but just need some uplift) would be much appreciated.

Yesterday we had an MSA munch and mingle type social before their church meetings. We all met in the basement and ate apple slices dipped in either peanut butter, cookie butter, or Nutella. I had never tried cookie butter before (at least I don't remember it), so I was very happy to discover that it tastes delicious. During the mingle, I got to know some of the members pretty well, and we had some fun conversations. In one with Mary, a recent convert, she was telling us and Bishop Dijkwel ("dike-well") about how she bought a new car and was working as a delivery driver. She was describing her car when she paused, looked up at Elder Hamilton (she's a short Asian lady) and said with a laugh "oh, you wouldn't fit in it." In another conversation, Sister Jensen was telling Fabrizio (another recent convert) that she wants to marry someone with a last name close enough to her own (i.e. "Johnson" instead of "Jensen" so she doesn't have to change her name much. We had a good laugh about that when another member of the ward came over and facetiously remarked that she shouldn't be discussing marriage. After all, we were currently in the Mid-Single Adult Ward. That drew a good laugh as well.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I was listening to some John Bytheway talks this past week (they're real good, y'all should definitely check them out), and something struck me. He was talking about death, and how we as humans are afraid of death and we avoid it/avoid talking about it a lot throughout our lives. Two thoughts that were brought to my remembrance came from conference talks. I don't remember who gave them or when they were, but they are both really good.

First, in order to take the sting out of death, we would have to take the joy and love out of life.

Second, what if we are kept from the "joy of death" so that we will be more able to fully enjoy this life? Death brings a release from all worldly care and sorrow. Perhaps we're taught to be scared of death so that we will choose to be a part of this life and truly enjoy it more.

Once again, I dunno what to tell you about that, so I'll let you all make your own decisions and receive your own inspirations.

God is always good, and His gospel allows us to live again after death. Not only that, but His gospel promises a life that is (in my opinion) actually worth being a part of after death. And that is something worth living for.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

Fun city smog at night.

"Where's the Empire State Building? I know it's close" and then I looked up...

Yup, that entire building is one massive Macy's.

Like, ALL of that building is one Macy's.

I don't think you understand, IT'S ALL ONE MACY'S.

I Got Game

Malo soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• We had a couple super awesome lessons with Cindy, and now she REALLY wants to get baptized! 
• We had a LOT of stake conference this weekend 
• For District P-Day today we went to Roosevelt Island, so that was pretty neat
• Polynesians REALLY like Kolipoki

So we've had a couple of lessons with Cindy this week, and they've all gone incredibly well. She had a spiritual confirmation that baptism is right for her, and she is SUPER excited to get baptized. We began teaching her about the commandments that we are to follow as members of Christ's church and she would just say, "I'm with it!" She instantly agreed to change her habits to follow the Word of Wisdom, and after only a couple of days she made awesome progress! In our lesson on Saturday, a member of our ward, Brother Poon (a 25-ish-year convert himself), bore powerful testimony of the importance and blessings of the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Tithing. Cindy loved it. She acknowledged the challenges that will be there, but she also knows and voiced her desire and willingness to make the change and be baptized. I'm just so happy for her, and I'm excited to keep working with her!!

This weekend was Stake Conference for both of the Stakes that we're in. Elder Hamilton and weren't able to watch either of the Saturday evening meetings, but we did get to watch both the meeting for Manhattan Stake as well as in the New York YSA Stake. In the NYYSA Stake meeting, we were surprised and pleased to hear from Elder and Sister Sikahema (He played BYU football back in the day, and was sustained as a general authority seventy this past general conference). It was a really cool experience, and he shared wonderful insights. 

Today was District P-Day, and we got to visit Roosevelt Island. We saw a couple cool things, and we rode a sky tram to the island (cable car, or whatever you want to call it). We walked around and saw some cool stuff on the river, both on the Manhattan side and the Queens side. While we were walking around, we randomly stumbled across a dance group practicing some dance for some thing. We watched for a couple minutes before getting bored and wandering off to play Spikeball. After a couple hours, we hopped back across to Manhattan and hit up a Japanese Market called Muji. It was a pretty cool place, but nothing really caught my eye, so we ended up leaving emptyhanded.

Mafaufauga faʻaleagaga: kind of a random thought, but I appreciated it. In Elder Sikahema's talk, he gave a shout-out to Sister Teuscher as the daughter of John H. Groberg, or "Kolipoki" (the guy from the "Other Side of Heaven" movies). He talked about how much the Tongan people love Kolipoki, and the whole Groberg family. Elder Sikahema told a story of when he was first sustained as an area authority. He was visiting some friends, and someone asked, "Are you the first Tongan to be a church authority?" Before Elder Sikahema could respond, another Tongan man said, "No, he's the second. Kolipoki is the first." As he told this story, he shed a couple of tears, and the Spirit touched all of our hearts. Elder Sikahema talked about the pure love that comes from bringing the gospel into people's lives, and the power and long lasting effect of that love. What that means for you, I honestly don't know. I just thought I'd share it. 

Guys God is good. Always has been, and always will be. That's really all that needs to be said, so I'll just leave that there. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill 

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Saturday Science Guys, Episode 2: Yeast

Photos:

• Random shot from the set of Saturday Science Guys
• Some Photoshop fun
• Random bunny on a subway (not my pic)
• Screenshot of Elder and Sister Sikahema 
• Lots of pics from Roosevelt Island (including an old smallpox hospital, a giant head of FDR, some pretty blossoms, and lots of cool shots on the waterfront).

Pronounced Dead in 1970

Malo soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

*We put Cindy on baptismal date! 

*My first appearance on Saturday Science Guys was a smashing success. 

*I finally met both the wards that we cover here

*I went to Chinatown

*Repentance is cool

First off (and perhaps the best news) is that our friend Cindy accepted a baptismal invitation, and we put her on date! She's scheduled for May 9th, and she's super excited. There are still some roadblocks that need to be overcome, so any prayers would be very appreciated.

During the week, Elder Hamilton and I filmed and put together another episode of Saturday Science Guys (look on the Church of Jesus Christ in Manhattan Facebook page), and it was my first appearance. We had a lot of fun putting it together, and we got a lot of people to see it when it premiered on Saturday. Hopefully they continue to go well, and hopefully people will see them and find interest in learning more about the church.

Here is our Saturday Science Guys video:

Saturday Science Guys: Soap

Yesterday was the first time that I met both of the wards that we cover here. With last week being General Conference, I hadn't met or talked to almost anyone from either ward, so it was really nice to get to know some people. We attended the sacrament meeting for both the family ward and the MSA ward. The MSA also has an in person second hour class, so we had that right after their sacrament meeting. It was really weird to have an in person elders quorum meeting after over a year of virtual classes, but it was nice to see things a little closer to "normal" (if that word even applies anymore haha).

Today for P-day, we went to Chinatown. I'd been there two Wednesdays before for our district council meeting, but today we actually got to see the sights there. It was a pretty rainy and bleak day, so we didn't do a whole lot of wandering, but we visited some fun shops, and I got a couple of cool things. We got food at a super good dumpling place, and we ate at a nearby park. While we sat there, a bunch of tiny birds began to gather on the ground in front of us. If a piece of food ever fell onto the ground, they would swarm and try and get it. The eventual victor would grab the food in its beak and fly off to eat the spoils in solitude. It was kinda freaky at first haha, but it became kind of fun to mess with the birds. [Later, Elder Hill called this experience "Disney Princess-ing the birds."]

[Elder Hill forgot to write about what the subject line means, but he explained later.  While Elders Hill and Hamilton were in Chinatown, an older man came up and began talking to them.  His comments were strange and rambling.  One thing he said was sort of like this:  "I was pronounced dead in 1970, but then I moved to many other places, and because of time zones, I wasn't actually dead."]

I also got my second dose of the covid vaccine today, so that's pretty exciting. At this point, I'm just really hoping that Samoa will open up to allow vaccinated people to travel, but we'll just see what the future holds. 

Mafaufauga faʻaleagaga: This past week I've done a lot of study and given a lot of thought to the topic of repentance. Things have been weighing on my mind, and I opened up to whatever guidance or inspiration might be found. In the course of my studies, I came across two essential aspects of repentance. 

First, repentance means change. It does not mean simply feeling bad, apologizing, and promising never to do it again. It means to make a physical and serious change in your life, mind, body, thoughts, etc so that you simply won't be in a situation where you could make the same mistake again. 

Second, when you've worked and struggled through repentance, and you've forsaken your past sins or trials, simply let them go. To quote the prophet Alma, "I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance." (Alma 42:29). And finally, to quote one of the favorite maxims of the NYNYC mission:

"Repentance is cool." 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill 

Photos:

Some fun pics of spring and rain

More pics of the city in the rain

Just Like the Movies

Malo soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• I'm in Manhattan now! Elder Hamilton and I walk a lot and ride lots of subways. 
• This part of NYC has almost all of the touristy or scenic parts of the city that you see in every movie or picture or trip, so that's real exciting. 
• We have some awesome new friends here, and a couple are really close to being put on baptismal date! 
• General Conference was absolutely amazing!! #Oaksforpresident2024

This week was absolutely incredible. We had exchanges on Tuesday, which was a party. I ran into Elder Baird (an elder from my first few transfers here) and Elder Checketts (my trainer/dad), and we had a happy little reunion and some good pictures. I said goodbye to Elders Kelley and Fanning, and I met up with my new companion Elder Hamilton. He's a super nice guy, and he's actually dying (going home) this transfer, so that's pretty exciting. 

Our area here is really big (not as big as Staten, but still big), and it's entirely "big city" style. Everywhere we walk, there are buildings at least four stories high on either side of the street. I constantly feel swallowed up in the bowels of a giant behemoth of a city, and I love it. The subways are really tricky to figure out here, but they're a lot of fun. Elder Hamilton knows his way around pretty well, so that's really nice. I attached a picture below of a map of Manhattan. Everything in Manhattan in that picture is in my zone, so that's fun. 

I got to meet a bunch of our friends here in Union Square (my area). A couple of them are really really close to being baptized. Two of them, Cindy and Tony, watched almost all of General Conference, and they loved it!! Tony said he felt Jesus so strongly, and he wants to follow Christ's example. Cindy said she loved the music, and the peace the messages brought. We also got to watch a session of conference with our friend Kyron, who is also kind of close to being baptized. The work is going well here, and I'm excited and blessed be a part of this area. 

Today for P-Day, Elder Hamilton did our errands, and we visited the 9/11 Memorial and I took a few pictures. We were only there for a few minutes, but I really liked it. I've been there before, but it's still one of my favorite memorials. (see attached pics)

Mafaufauga faʻaleagaga: GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Where do I even start? I absolutely loved how so many of the talks on Saturday were focused on kindness and love towards others. I loved the diversity and music of the Sunday morning session, and its HEAVY focus on the Savior, Easter, the Atonement/Resurrection, and the Plan of Salvation. I also just loved how there were multiple talks where apostles and general authorities just slammed down the doctrine and stance of the church on many of the pressing issues of the world today (just go watch Pres Oaks' talk on the Constitution again if you don't believe me). Each session just confirmed again and again that this church is true, and that these prophets and apostles are 100% called of God. I already can't wait to hear what they have to say in October haha. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou, 

Elder Hill 

Photos: (tourist photo dump here we go)

• Elder Baird, Checketts, and myself at transfers
• The Google building
• The "CVS Pantheon"
• Lots of random buildings and streets
• The One World Trade Center (day and night) as well as one of the reflection pools and the Oculus
• An entrance to Central Park (I'll probably visit that sometime soon haha) 
• Map of Manhattan subway system (chee hoo)
• Beautiful cherry blossoms (just for you, Mom)