Sleepover

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• Nonso is on date!!
• Exchanges took a turn...
• Sometimes you gotta just have a sleepover in Chinatown
• Life lesson: always be on time for utility guys
• Back-to-back Linger Longers for each ward (we ate really good food afterwards, haha)

So our friend Nonso is this super awesome Nigerian guy who came to America as a refugee a few months ago. He met the sisters up in Harlem and they taught him, but he was referred to us in the MSA ward. He's a super sweet and wonderful guy, and he loves coming to church. We were planning on introducing baptism to him one day, but he beat us to the punch by simply texting us and saying he wants to be baptized!! We planned out a lesson to put him on date, but he missed it because of some crazy circumstances. The day before our rescheduled lesson, he messaged us AGAIN and said he really wants to be baptized. So we put him on date over text haha. His date is for August 14th, and I'm super excited for him!!

So here's the story for most of this past week.  Elder Wall and I got an email from the financial secretary of our mission about getting an inspection done on our utility meter. We booked an appointment for the day of our exchanges this week (Friday) with the Chinatown Elders. Elder Boyd and I got back to our apartment for the inspection, but we showed up late, and there was nobody there. We didn't think much of it, and we went about our day. When we got home for the night, our apartment's power was out. The hall light was on, so it wasn't a building problem. We called the super, and he sent over a repair guy, but he couldn't get the power back on.

Basically, we realized that because we missed the inspection (and we were told about it now, even though it was supposed to be done in June somehow), the power company blocked our meter, so we have no power at all. We were able to get another inspection scheduled for this Wednesday, but we had to move out because it's extremely hot in that apartment. We packed our bags and went over to the Chinatown Elders apartment, and we've been there for the past few days. We've still been operating our separate areas, but we've been sleeping and chilling at their apartment, which is blessedly easily big enough for four Elders. We'll definitely be on time and present for the next inspection haha, and hopefully we can get back to our original apartment soon.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Faith and humility. I was reading Ether 12:27 the other day, which is often a verse that's used to talk about humility or weakness. Today, however, I wanted to study it from the lens of faith, and I made a profound discovery. I realized that you HAVE to be humble in order to have faith. The easiest example I can think of is the principle that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. HOWEVER, you can only exercise faith in Christ as your Savior if you believe that you need saving. If you don't think you've done anything wrong, or you don't think you need to change, then how can you act in faith in someone you think you don't need? I love that idea, and I hope you all apply that in every act of faith. Please, be humble. Not self-deprecating, not self-destructive, but humble. Do that, and the Lord can and will work wonders among you.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• A couple of pics of the 87th St Chapel (one of, if not the nicest chapel in the whole flipping church)
• A couple of pics of the One WTC while going to visit a member
• Taking a nap after grinding hard lol
• Played chess with a guy in Union Square Park. I got absolutely destroyed two games in a row, but I had a lot of fun and made a friend in the process (Tyrone, I'll get better and play you again, just you wait)
• Sleepover in Chinatown, chee hoo

Sacrament Talk Commercials

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• The Church has never been truer
• I'm now 3 for 3 on exchange parties haha
• Sacrament commercials are pretty funny, not gonna lie
• Craig got baptized!!!
• I'm still studying faith, and I've had some amazing insights

This week I've seen many tender mercies of all varieties that have just confirmed again and again that the church is true (yayy, another list):

1. We ran into Elder Call (now just "Kaj"), who got released a week ago. He was touring the city with his fam, and we literally just ran into them on a street corner, so that was hype
2. We finally got 24 hour exchanges!!!
3. On our first 24 hours exchange, I got to go to Chinatown, and the ward there was throwing a farewell party for Kaj, so not only did I get to see him AGAIN, but I got to eat a bunch of great Chinese food and dessert for the THIRD time on an exchange here haha. Good times
4. Got passed a dude by the Chinese Elders who claims to have seen visions. We're not sure how to find out if they're legit or he was just hallucinating, so that's fun (on the flip side though, he believes the Joseph Smith story 110%, so that's kinda great.)
5. On Saturday it rained a TON. Hard downpour for most of the day, and it was great
6. We ran into a Hawaiian lady on the street who loves missionaries (not a member though, go figure) and she gave us a hug! I love Polynesian people so much

During sacrament meeting in the MSA ward, a sister was giving a farewell talk (she's getting married, and thus leaving the Single Adult ward). In her talk, she spoke about all the things she loves about the MSA ward. As she began speaking about service in all its forms, she stopped herself, said "sorry, quick commercial", and then reminded everyone about a book drive that the YSA is putting on soon. Immediately after, she continued on with her talk, leaving me floored by the reality of "commercials" during sacrament meeting haha. Good times.

Also y'all remember our friend Craig? The guy from a few months ago with the crazy life stories? So we had taught him for a bit, and he progressed really well, but he ended up moving to the Provo, UT area. We passed him off to the Elders there, and they kept teaching him. This Saturday evening, we got to Zoom in to watch his baptism!! It was so awesome to see such a good guy get to make that promise with God. One of the biggest highlights of the week for sure.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Plot twist of the day, I'm actually NOT going to be sharing a spiritual thought in this email. Instead, y'all will just have to tune in this week to my next "Let's Get Personal" live. I dunno when it'll be yet, but it will be a fire episode, trust me. I had a few mind-blowing experiences during personal studies, and I'm excited to share them with y'all.

[Note:  See video link below, above the picture from Craig's baptism]

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

Only got one pic, but it's a good one. Craig is the best! (ft. Not Elder Wall and me lol)

Elder Hill video: Thoughts on Faith

Songful Gospel video: "Come, Ye Children of the Lord"

 "Come, Ye Children of the Lord"

Match the Message

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

• Pres Holmes is an absolute legend
• Full-length, in-person Zone Conference is the best
• We're kicking it old school with this missionary work thing
• RIP Elder Call (he goes home today)
• Pres Holmes is an absolute legend

On Tuesday we had Zone Conference, and this was the first time since the start of covid that we were able to have the entire meeting all together and in-person with no restrictions. It was about five hours long, with a lunch break in the middle, and it was absolutely amazing. Pres Holmes has such a passion for the work, and it is super infectious. He got fired up talking about our purpose as missionaries and disciples of Christ (banged the pulpit once or twice lol), and it got the rest of us fired up too. When Sister Holmes was talking, she pulled out a whiteboard on wheels and set up a Jeopardy game to get to know the Holmeses, and that was so much fun. They are actually a really funny couple, so it was fun to see them kinda joke around with us for a bit. We were competing against the other zones that were there, and my zone won! As our prize, today (Monday) will be a pizza party for the South Manhattan Zone at Central Park, so that's pretty exciting haha.

Later that night on Tuesday, my phone screen broke. It slipped off the counter and the screen cracked a little, but the display got entirely disabled. I sent it in today to get it fixed by Samsung (a local shop said they can't do it because the phone was shipped internationally, so that's unfortunate). It's been really different not having my phone on hand, and it does make some aspects of missionary work more difficult, but it also has been kind of nice. I've decided that in the times that I would just spend time on my phone outside of missionary hours, I'll just read the Bible instead. I'm already about halfway through the Gospels, and I'm going to start the Old Testament when I finish Acts. Good times.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I had my interview with Pres Holmes yesterday, and he is so awesome. In our discussion, he shared some of his thoughts on missionary work (kind of a continuation of his words in ZC). One of the things that he said to me in our interview is just how important it is for me as a missionary to "match the message." As a representative of Jesus Christ and His church, I (along with thousands of other Elders and Sisters) am responsible for sharing the message of the Restoration. That only works, though, if I actually live the message that I share. It was a really good conversation, and I wish I could have recorded it to listen to again later.

This one's a little shorter, but that doesn't mean the work is any less good!

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Fancy dinner we had (made from a meal kit a member gave us)
• Fancy flower wall near our apartment (they're fake, but they look pretty cool)

It's a New Day

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Got to meet President and Sister Holmes, and they're fantastic!

 ** Don't ever be a book collector. Just.... don't.

 ** A guy gave us $100, and we got some of the most expensive sandwiches in Manhattan

WARNING! LONG EMAIL BELOW

So Tuesday was the Mission Tour with the Holmes'. We got to meet Pres and Sis Holmes as well as their son Patrick, who got home from his mission like three weeks ago. They each shared powerful insight and testimony about the work of the Lord, and about the nature of Pres Holmes' call to be president here in NYC. By the end of Pres Holmes' talk, we were all super fired up and ready to get back to the grind haha. We also got to sing for the first time in a large missionary meeting, which was great (we stood to sing "Called to Serve", something I've never done with other Missionaries before, and it was incredible). After the meeting, we got pictures with them, grabbed some snacks, and went back to our areas.

(Also, Quote of the Mission award goes to Pres Holmes with his greenie fire: "It's a new day. Let's get to work". Love that man already.)

On Wednesday, Elder Wall and I went to help our member friend Darryl pack some boxes into a U-Haul can and move them to his new apartment a few streets away. We loaded his van without mich issue, and we brought everything over to his new apartment. The catch? He lives on the FIFTH FLOOR, with NO elevator, and he had a couple dozen boxes of books, comic books, and records (vinyls). Needless to say, it was not enjoyable. The humidity added about 10 degrees of temperature to the air, putting it well over 100, and we were all getting kinda dehydrated. By the end of two hours ish, we had finally gotten all of the boxes upstairs and into his apartment. Elder Wall and I went home, took cold showers, and got dressed for some meetings that we were running late to. So yeah, sooooo much fun.

Thursday, however. Thursday was fun.

We had exchanges with the Chinese Elders, and I went into their area with Elders Call and Frank. We had plans to go street contacting, but it was raining hard, so that didn't happen. As we were walking home, a guy stopped us on the street. We said hi, and we learned that he's Tongan, he has a bunch of family that are members of the church, and he has mad respect for missionaries. He's also the head of security for Tyler the Creator (a famous rapper), so that's kinda dope. I mentioned that I speak Samoan, and I spoke a little, and he lit up. After our fun conversation, he stopped us as we were leaving, pulled a $100 bill out of his pocket and said "here, go get a good dinner." We tried refusing, but he insisted (Polys and their darn charity 😆😂).

After some thought, Elder Frank suggested Katz Delicatessen, a world famous sandwich place right here in Manhattan. We walked over there, and after waiting in line for a bit we each ordered their famous pastrami sandwich. Lame just say, it was flipping good. First off, it was HUGE. Like I was struggling to keep it all in the sandwich. Second, pastrami is really good, so that sandwich was BOMB. Our total came out to about $87, so that was wild 😂 (it was about $27-ish per sandwich). Definitely the most money I've ever spent on food, but definitely was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I thought I'd share an interesting analogy about faith that I once heard:

Faith is like flipping on a light switch. Before you flip the switch, you don't KNOW that the light will turn on, but you hope it will. Because you hope it will, you act without knowledge, and you flip the light switch. When the light comes on, you now have a knowledge that the light does work, not because you can see all the intricacies of the electricity and wiring, but because you can see the light, an evidence of your faith. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, hope is a noun, and faith is a verb. Faith is acting on things that you're not sure about. It's about making choices and taking chances that you have hope will work out. We are never actually expected to know anything about the gospel for sure before we go back to Heaven. We are just expected to hope that it's true, and act like we believe/know it's true. When we do that, the windows of Heaven will be opened, and we'll receive more blessings than we could ever imagine.

Long email, sorry folks. God is just so good sometimes.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Pastrami sandwich at Katz Delicatessen (ft. Elders Boyd & Frank from Chinatown)
• Me with Pres & Sis Holmes
• Selfie of me literally dying in the heat/humidity
• Some cool pics from our apartment rooftop on Sunday evening (no fireworks though 😭) (including the ESB, the Google building, Hudson Yards, and the skyline in front of the Hudson river)
• Cool video of lightning