Hybrid Grind

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• STREET CONTACTING IS BACK!?!?!?
• Our Stake President and his family are literally the best
• A lot of finality about this week, being the end of the transfer and almost the end of the Teuschers' presidency
• Personal revelation is important stuff, but it's also way cool

Biggest news of the week is there were more changes in covid restrictions. In both the family ward and the MSA ward, all mask mandates are gone for vaccinated individuals, and a lot of meetings are back in person. It was so weird seeing everyone's faces (some for the first time ever), but it's been really nice to get some semblance of normalcy back.

Also on the mission front, Pres Teuscher told us that we are now authorized to contact people on the streets and public transit, as well as knock doors, if we need to or have some spare time. With the success that we saw during covid with finding through social media, physical contacting will now take less precedence, but it is now an available alternative or time filler if an appointment falls through or we're traveling somewhere. It's very new ground for me, and I'm not quite confident in my abilities to make conversation with random people on the street, but we're just doing what we can. Most missionaries that even remember street contacting pre-covid are going home in the next transfer or two, so most of us will just have to learn how to do it by trial and error.

We got to have an in-home visit with President Cropper (Manhattan Stake President) and his family, and they're literally that best. We had a long debate with Sis Cropper about whether or not she owed us food or ought to have made dinner for us (she said yes and we said no), and it ended in a stalemate, haha. We shared a message, and we had a really good discussion about it. After our visit, Pres Cropper walked us down to the entry of their luxury apartment building and introduced us to his doorman, Hector. Pres Cropper had promised Hector a while ago that one day he would give him a Book of Mormon, and that day he finally made good on his promise. Hector was so cool, and was genuinely interested, so we talked for a few minutes, gave him our number and a Book of Mormon, and invited him to read it! The Croppers are a great influence on him, and I'm just hoping and praying that I'll still be on this area when he starts getting taught.

This week was week 6 of the transfer period (the last week), and that meant a lot of stuff was happening. We listened to the departing testimonies of the 31 departing missionaries during a few morning devotionals, and that was real sad. Half of our district here is dying this transfer as well, so that makes it all the sadder (though we're all excited for these awesome Elders and Sisters to go home and do great things). Today also marks the beginning of Pres and Sis Teuscher's last week as Mission President and Companion. Pres and Sis Holmes get here on June 28th, and the Teuschers leave the next day. I'm super excited for the Holmeses to get here, but I'm also going to really miss the Teuschers. They have done so much for this mission as a whole and for each missionary personally, myself included. I'm the words of yours truly (probably not originally mine, but I do use them):

"Times do be changin'."

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I was thinking about receiving personal revelation, and two thoughts came to mind. The first is a quote by Elder Renlund in a recent Missionary devotional. He said, "It is arrogant and unhelpful to demand revelation or put a deadline on the Lord." I love that comment, and I think it really is important. We all should ask God questions we may have, or bring to Him concerns that are troubling us. Often, He promises to answer or bless us simply because we asked. But that is not always the case. Sometimes, a little more work is involved, and we have to be willing and humble enough to submit to the Lord's timing and put in our own elbow grease until the blessings come.

The second thought I had is based on the first. Do not force an answer or revelation to come, or you will open yourself up to be misled. When we ask with faith and sincerity, we are promised that we will always receive an answer. If we try to force or expect an answer, we become susceptible to finding wrong answers that will lead us to greater confusion or doubts, and farther away from God. Always ask in faith, and always listen for the answers that will come, but don't try to corner God into coming on your cue. (It's not gonna end well lol)

Guys, God is so good! I can't say it enough, but it's honestly so true. If you don't believe me, please feel free to tell me, and I'd love to talk about it with you.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• UnionChinaSquareTown district pics (Union Square and Chinatown)
• Found a street-ball court
• Bunch of cool stuff at night
• Elder Call & me (AZ gang)
• Had a fun Samoan-language-practice call with Sista Maa (Stone) and Sista Maka (Macarilay)