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