It's Game Time

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• After district council, and at the suggestion of the Chinese missionaries, Elder Wall and I got some really nice ice cream (see attached pics)
• We had in-person interviews with Pres Teuscher, and they were suuuuper good
• We had an in-person lesson with a guy, and then accidentally ran into him at Taco Bell 15 minutes later, so that was awkward 😂
• There was a young men's activity at the church, and our buddy Tony came and had a blast
• On Saturday we went on exchanges with the Chinese Elders again. I went with Elder Call and he's a super great guy
• I was asked last minute to give a short talk in sacrament meeting, which honestly went really well (see spiritual thought below)
• Pres Teuscher challenged the mission to baptize 53 people in June to meet our mission goal of 220 by the end of June, and Elder Wall and I are hoping to find someone this week who is ready to be baptized by the end of the month. If you all could fast and pray that we find someone willing to be baptized and make promises with God, I'd mega appreciate it, and I know miracles will happen!

In-person interviews with Pres Teuscher were this past Wednesday, and it was incredible. We had them at the temple; I got to see the temple twice in as many weeks. My interview with Pres was awesome, and he gave me some really good advice. At the end, he gave me a priesthood blessing, and I really felt the Spirit affirm the truth if what he said.

Friday was a fun day. After running into our friend Melvin at Taco Bell after our lesson together, we swing by the young men's activity in the basement of the church building. They just got together for pizza, soda, and Super Mario Bros, but it was a fun time (we watched and chatted for a few minutes before leaving to do some work). Our friend Tony came, and he loved his time there. He's becoming better friends with a lot of members of the ward, and he's super excited to be baptized in a couple of  weeks.

On Saturday we exchanged with the Chinese Elders, and I got to go into the Chinese area with Elder Call, which was an absolute party. At first glance, he's a quiet guy who doesn't emote much, but in reality he's a super funny and honestly super cool guy. We had some great conversations, and a few good games of ping pong in during our time together (along with plenty of work, so don't worry 😂). We closed our exchange by meeting back up at a bubble tea place, getting drinks (without tea), and walking to the station just chatting and enjoying the cold night air.

The beginning of this week was really hot and humid, but by the weekend it had dropped about 40 degrees and rained a bunch, which honestly felt soooo good to me. After feeling hot and sticky for a week or two, it was really nice to feel cold again.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Being in tune with spiritual promptings. In the musical world, notes that are in unison sound the same and sound beautiful. Offset them by just a little, however and they become dissonant, and the notes no longer sound beautiful together. Like a pure tone, Heavenly Father is perfect and in tune, and it is us who are often out of tune. When we read scriptures, pray, go to church, and keep the commandments of God, we spiritually tune ourselves to be in harmony with our Heavenly Father.

I know for myself, and I promise to all of you happy people, that if you tune yourselves to be in tune with God and His Spirit, the windows of Heaven will open and pour out more blessings that you can receive.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• Some really good taiyaki ice cream from Chinatown
• Also a cool arch thingy by the Manhattan Bridge, also in Chinatown
• These two streets look super cool in the evening sun, so we got a few pics
• Pres Teuscher and I at in-person interviews

Lots of Surprises

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• Zone Conference was super good, and we actually got to break off into workshops, which hasn't happened since before covid
• We  had exchanges on both Friday and Saturday with the ZL's and the Chinatown Elders, respectively
• On Saturday, Elder Fawson and I (exchanges) were very surprised by a surprise B-Day party for Elder Fawson put on by the Chinese branch
• The fire alarm went off in church in the MSA ward, so that was exciting
• Also in that same meeting, a recent convert performed a hymn. The surprise was that he's a professional opera singer, and he sang in an operatic style, which I had never heard before during a sacrament meeting (it was really good though)
• Today, since it was Pday, we decided to have some fun, and we accidentally locked our keys in our apartment (we got another key though from our super, so it's all good) 

Zone Conference was absolutely amazing this week. We actually had it at the Lincoln Square chapel....which is also the Manhattan temple, so that was really nice to get to see the temple here for the first time. During the conference, we had a couple of talks by Pres and Sis Teuscher, but then we broke off by zone into smaller worships. We've never done that before, so that was really exciting. We've also never had an in person meeting with that many people before, which was also very exciting. (I'll share some spiritual thoughts at the end). 

On Friday we had exchanges with Elders Beach and Payne, the ZLs here in South Manhattan. They actually both just came into our area, and we split off to grind out the finding here, and it was an absolute party. We got a lot of work done, and saw a few awesome miracles, but we also had a great time together, and overall it was just a ton of fun. 

On Saturday we had exchanges again, this time with the Chinatown Elders. Elder Call came into our area, and I went with Elder Fawson to the Chinese pool. The first thing we did was head to a member's house and pick up some food. We were expecting a lunch or two for us or maybe the sisters, but she ended up giving us three instant pots full of food as well as a few other large dishes, about six in total. She loaded them into a Bronx cart (see pic below) and we took it to the church, in confused shock the whole way. When we got there, we set it up in the eating area, and a couple members walked in. We were confused why they came, but the answer became more clear when two more women came in, each carrying more food dishes and a cake. The surprise was out, and we gathered around to celebrate Elder Fawson's birthday (which was on Friday). We ate some really good Chinese food, including a chicken liver (which was actually really good), and a suuuper good cake (see attached pic). All in all, a good time. 

In sacrament meeting in the MSA ward, the bishop's wife was giving a talk. She shared her conversion story, and she was just beginning her testimony when the fire alarm went off. She jumped in surprise, and bishop quickly asked everyone to leave the building. We all filed downstairs and outside, only to find that the ASL sisters had accidentally set off the alarm when they were trying to cook something in the kitchen in the basement. We went back in to finish the meeting shortly after that. 

In the meeting, our friend Fabrizio, a recent convert and professional opera singer, performed a musical number. I'm not sure what it was called, but it was really good. It was also operatic, and I realized I've never heard operatic music during sacrament meeting, so that was pretty neat. 

Today Elder Wall and I were bored and unsure of what we wanted to do today, so we locked our keys in our apartment (ya know for...scientific research). Luckily, our super's office was only a few minutes walk away, so we just went over there, and they have us another key to get in. Good times (though I kind of miss the idea we had to have Elder Wall climb the fire escape and open the window and get in on the third story 😂).

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: There was something terribly profound that I was hoping to share, but it's slipped my mind, and I can't remember what it was, haha. I guess just think of Heavenly things, and that should suffice. 

I will add briefly part of Sis Teuscher's workshop. She focused entirely on how everything we do in the gospel is founded in the doctrine, and every question can be answered if you only look at the doctrine. In addition, she shared an interesting story about an inquiry a missionary made in Florida. He asked a local Institute teacher about where some Bible verses were that explained some of the more unique beliefs that our church has. In response, the teacher simply said, "Has it ever occurred to you that there was a reason that we needed a restoration?" Take from that what you will, but I love the simple testimony hidden there of the truth of this gospel and the church that carries it forward. 

Guys, not gonna lie, God is just too good. Every time I think I understand just how good He is, He always surprises me again. 

Life is good, God is good, and that's good enough for me. 

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill (Elda Mauga) 

Photos:

• Food for Elder Fawson's birthday party (ft. the Elder himself)
• (it was really good food) 
• A "thousand layer cake" that they brought. It's literally a huge stack of crepes with whipped cream and mangoes between the layers. Elder Fawson and I got instantly addicted haha
• They also had a strange bean soup/drink/thingy that was kind of sweet, and it was really disorienting to drink
• Also just.....Bronx cart
• A few pics of the Manhattan temple
• Me and Elder Payne (one of my ZLs) from our exchange 
• A hugely massive building we saw (it may not look big, but that's at least one whole city block, which is big) 

Straight Up Apostasy

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• I picked up Elder Wall, and we've been hitting that grind to find more people
• We put Tony on Baptismal date!! He's a great young man, and I'm super excited for him
• I got Instagram for proselyting work, and I don't like it.
• Today for P-Day we went to the Financial District of NYC, including Wall Street, so that was pretty neat.

So transfers were this past Tuesday, and it was the same bittersweet experience that it has been every time that I've gone. I got to see a few of my past companions as well as a few other friends from past districts, and I said goodbye to friends who were either transferring out, or going home. On the flip side, I got to meet my new companion,  Elder Wall, and he's an absolute beast. He just came from Jamaica Queens, which is a hype area, and it creates hype missionaries. Our respective pools here have been kind of slow recently, and he's determined to change that. He's also our district leader, which means he has a bunch of additional responsibilities, and I get to be a part of most of it. We're already doing some good things out here, and I'm so excited for our time together.

One of this week's highlights is our friend Tony! We had extended a baptismal invitation to him a few weeks ago, but he said he just wasn't sure. This past week however, after coming to church a few times, meeting a bunch of awesome members, and really feeling the Spirit, he accepted our invitation to be baptized on June 12th! He told us after our video call with him that before he had felt stressed about it and nervous because he's not perfect, but after our last few lessons, he has felt a lot more calm about it, and he really wants to be baptized. Our last foreseeable roadblock is simply making sure his parents are okay with it. They should be, but they're really busy so it's hard to get in contact with them. Hopefully we'll be able to get their approval soon.

Another highlight of the week was that I got Instagram for missionary work. Apparently, all missionaries serving in the YSA stake areas (including ours) will be getting access to Instagram for our proselyting work. We found out super last minute, and it was a bit of a shock. President Teuscher unlocked a part of my phone so that I could download the app, and we "baptized" it this past weekend (made it missionary appropriate). So yeah, if you see my Insta account is suddenly active again, that's me. (Also go follow and like @comeuntochristnyc and @believersofny. Thanks!)

(Instagram feels weird to use, and I feel apostate using more social media while a missionary, thus the subject line).

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I don't have much today other than my testimony that the priesthood is real. It truly is the power of God on earth, and I feel so blessed each and every day to be considered worthy to hold such matchless power.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hiill

Photos:

• Grand Central Station
• A bunch of pics of our walk home from a friend's apartment (the bus was late, so we walked a few blocks and saw the sights (including the Empire State Building and Flatiron)
• A pretty skyline pic taken from the top of our church building
• Elder Wall 😎
• Some fun pictures from our adventures today around Wall Street
• We also found the set for an episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime, so that was pretty neat

"It Is Far, It Is A Rock, And He Is Away"

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• We hit up a bunch of food places and shops over the weekend and on P-Day to celebrate Elder Hamilton's impending death and departure back to Utah.
• Chinese people are really fun (exchanges and all that jazz)
• A bunch of our friends came to church!!
• Transfers are tomorrow. My new companion will be an Elder Wall from Jamaica Queens.

This week was pretty fun. With it being Elder Hamilton's last as a missionary, we began hitting up his favorite food joints for last meals (see attached pics below).

We had exchanges twice this week with the Chinese Elders, and that was super fun. On Wednesday night, we joined an English call group where a bunch of missionaries meet a bunch of Chinese people who are learning English. Basically we would go into breakout rooms with them and just get to know them while speaking in English. It was a little awkward at first, but it was actually really fun. Some of the people in the group were really weird and really funny, so we had a good time haha.

Yesterday at church, we had a few friends come to church, and it was awesome. Our friends Kyron and Tony came, which was great. In addition, Kyron brought his friend Lily, as well, so  that was a happy surprise. I'm not sure how interested she is, but ya never know. A guy named Dany also came to church for part of it, so that was cool. He's living in Brooklyn, but he really wanted to come to our church service. Not sure why, but he did, so that's cool. Tony in particular really liked church (he's come twice in a row now), and he wants to keep coming, so that's super awesome.

So tomorrow is transfers, which is fun. Elder Hamilton is obviously leaving (he's old and dying), and I'll be picking up an Elder Wall. He's coming from Jamaica Queens, which is a pretty hype area to be in. I've also been told that he's a super fun guy, so I'm pretty excited. He's also going to be the district leader this next transfer, which is kind of exciting (it was either him or me that would be called, and I'm lowkey glad it was him haha). This is going to be a fun transfer.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: A sister spoke in church yesterday for Mother's Day, and it was a really good talk. She talked about how we as humans gain attributes and characteristics from our earthly parents, but we also gain attributes and characteristics from our Heavenly parents. This opened my eyes to more significance in being a child of God. I realized that Heavenly Father does not only want us to go back to live with Him again, He wants us to be happy here on Earth until we do. 

Once again, Happy Mothers Day to all of the wonderful women in my life. Whether or not we're related, you're family, and I love you dearly.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• A bunch of pics from exchanges and district council
• Farewell pics of Elder Hamilton with David (older guy) and Tony (younger with the fro)
• Last selfie with the ASLders Locke and Kerby (love those guys)
• Pic from one of our food runs this past weekend to Krispy Kreme and Sticky's Chicken Fingers

Tне Maинаттаи Дppяоасн

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• This is a long one, but a good one (trust me)
• We had in-person Zone Conference this week, and it was super awesome.
• We're coming to a close on our Saturday Science Guys series, and we decided to go out with a bang (stay tuned)
• We got two friends to come to in-person church!! Definitely a miracle.  
  
• We met a guy who might legitimately be on the run from the US government, so that's cool

So this week was Zone Conference, and ours was held up in Harlem, so we got to take the metro up there. And let me tell ya, it's a different world up in Harlem. Lot's of interesting people there, and a very different vibe about the place. The conference itself was good as always. Sis Teuscher talked about faith, and Pres Teuscher talked about obedience. I'll touch on my takeaways in  my spiritual thought below. After the meeting, a brand new senior missionary couple got us all empanadas and brownies, so that was real nice of them haha.

In case you haven't been on Facebook recently, Elder Hamilton and I release a weekly video called Saturday Science Guys to the "Church of Jesus Christ in Manhattan" Facebook page. We've had a couple of good videos and a couple of good seasons now, but alas, its time is coming to an end. With Elder Hamilton's impending return home on May 12th, we decided to end the show here (though he's planning on continuing it at home with a little rebranding). We have two more videos planned, one for this Saturday and one for the following Saturday. Make sure you all go like the page, like the video, and maybe give it a share or two. Anything to get the word out, haha.

Yesterday we got to of our friends to come to church!! The first was Craig, a guy we met this past week (more on him in the next paragraph), and we were pretty excited to see him there. The other was our friend Tony, and that was a huge miracle! He had wanted to come for a while, but he still hadn't officially talked to his parents about meeting with the missionaries and coming to church, so he hadn't yet. He showed up this week, however, and he had an amazing time! We have a few awesome members of the ward fellowshipping him, and they went to talk to him after church. And before we missionaries could even say anything, another young man and a few other adults came over and said hi and got to know him a little bit. He told us he loved it, and he's definitely coming next week ,so that was just the best. 

Finally, that moment you've all been waiting for...

Tне Maинаттаи Дppяоасн

We met Craig this past week when HE rang the bell of our church building. We opened up and talked to him for a bit. He said he was looking for a bishop or someone who could tell him how to join our church because he wants  to convert. With a start, we said that we were the right guys to talk to. We invited him in, and we had a long conversation about him and his experiences. Basically, he developed a new program that combines engineering, business, and philosophy to make capitalist markets more even and more mutually beneficial. Unfortunately, his creation was stolen by people from Wall Street, and for the past six years they, and the NSA, have been trying to sink him under to keep him quiet. The stories he told were pretty wild, but he seemed sincere, and he also really did express interest in converting to our church. I gave him a Book of Mormon, and we scheduled a follow-up for the next day.

The next day, we reviewed some of the BoM, and he shared some more thoughts and stories. He really resonated with the BoM, and he drew a lot of personal connections from the books of 1 Nephi and Alma. We talked a good bit, set up another time to meet a few days later, and he left. Right after, I did a bit of internet snooping about him and some of his claims...and they kind of check out. His whole bio checks out and exists, and I found other, independent articles about some of the things he mentioned (like psychological warfare and Direct-Energy Weapons, and oh, so much more). The more we talked about it and looked into it, the more real and legit it seemed, so that's pretty crazy. Also Craig never asked anything of us, other than suggestions for where a good spot in Utah might be that he can move to.

So yeah, that was pretty fun week. Elder Hamilton wanted to find ways to keep engaged during his last couple of weeks as a missionary, and he definitely got it haha.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Sister Teuscher made a really cool point about faith from the Bible where it says that faith is an evidence of things that are true. She made the point that faith is not to blindly believe in things that we can't see but we're told are true. Faith, like the analogy in Alma 32, has evidences and signs of its verity. As you exercise faith, you will see the signs of the truth of what you believe, all the way until you become like the Brother of Jared, who had a knowledge of the things of God.

Week 6 of this transfer is next week, and I'm super excited. Week 6 always brings miracles, so stay tuned for some good stuff.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Photos:

• I finally met Sister Kiri!! (the fafine here in NYC who is teaching me Samoan)
• A worthy meme that I found
• A fun edited pic of me that Elder Hamilton made