Trumbull 15, Part 2

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Le SamFam e faavavau (I love group language calls)

 ** We finally found some people!

 ** People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care

 ** Member meals are the best, and I'm very excited haha

I finally had the time/availability to join the weekly MTC Samoan language call, and it was so much fun. I got to reconnect "in person" with Elder McKrola for the first time since the MTC, and I got to see Elders Kauer and Brown again, which is always nice. We had a good time with Sista Maka (Sis Macarilay), and we all worked on improving our Samoan. Again, I was reminded about all the progress I've made since the MTC, and I'm just super grateful for the Gift of Tongues and all of the goodness I've been shown by God and my teachers. Alofa atu ia outou uma, a'u uo pele.

Two weeks ago we didn't find anybody. Last week we only found one. This week though, this week we found three! We honestly didn't change much about how we were working; we just cared a little more and tried a little harder, and God blessed us for it. One of our new friends, Kaitlin, is a wonderful human being. She's super sweet and kind, but she's had a lot of rough things happen recently, so she's been in a tough spot. During one of our calls with her, Elder Lee and I had the impression (we didn't realize it was an impression at the time, but looking back it must have been) to just express our love for her as a daughter of God, and Heavenly Father's love for her. We explained just how much the gospel can bless her life, and how joining a ward is like joining a family. After we finished talking with her, she started crying and just thanked us over and over again. She wasn't able to come to church this past week, but she really wants to, and we've already got an awesome member who is willing to give her a ride, so I'm excited to see what happens.

Yesterday, two wonderful things happened. First, we had dinner with an awesome family in the ward, and we had a great time. We played a game, ate their delicious lasagna, and shared a fire spiritual message.

The other wonderful thing that happened was arguably even better haha. Today during Sunday school, the "Missionary Meal Calendar" was passed around for the first time since covid. We got it back at the end of church, and we almost cried in joy seeing how many names there were. I'm super excited to meet the members and try and help them a little better, and Elder Lee and I are excited to eat some good food haha.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Sacrifice. I've been thinking a lot about sacrifice. Inspired and invited by Elder Bassett, I've been pondering things that I can fully sacrifice to God to not only show my love and desire to be obedient but also to better focus on the mission. It's been an interesting few days, self-reflecting and pondering what to choose. We'll, I've made a choice, and it's going to be hard, not gonna lie. What it is exactly doesn't matter, but it'll definitely be a sacrifice. One thing I learned, though, is that often the sacrifice you're needing to make is the only thing you don't want to yet ("do that one later/never"). When I first decided on a thing or two, my first thought was "that's not going to work. Pick something else." Taking that as my cue, though, I asked God, and He confirmed that those things that I really didn't want to sacrifice (or think were worth sacrificing) were, in fact, the things I was supposed to sacrifice. I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Guys, God is so good. Not to be rude to anyone, but if you don't believe that, you're not looking at your life hard enough. He's in every aspect, and He loves you more than humanly imaginable.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• 10 dang straight facts to live by
• This member has got a neat house lol
• We do service in a remodeled church, and one guy took us up to see the "attic" where the outer shell of the cathedral is still visible