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:
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
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