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