The I-95 Freeway is the Eighth Ring of Hell

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Lots of knocking this week, and a few way awesome people!

 ** Two-Zone initiative went down with a bang, and boy was it fun

 ** We drove to Queens to drop off Elder Pond so he can go to Brazil

 ** We drove to Queens again for a special meeting (#foreshadowing...)

 ** Transfer news....

Knocking is a constant, but the reception is not. Our zone combined with neighboring Westchester Zone to find a total of 125 people this week. This meant we all had to pull our weight, and we all had to really grind for week 6. We crushed our goal, finding almost 140 people, which was exciting in and of itself. The reward for accomplishing this is that our zone will meet up with the Westchester Zone for a combined TWO ZONE PDAY today. I'm writing this before actually going, so it hasn't happened yet, I'm just assuming it'll be epic haha.

On Tuesday night, we got two crazy phone calls. First is that I will be TRAINING this next transfer!! I was kinda expecting this call, but it was exciting all the same.

The second call was from the Portuguese Elders, who live a few floors below us. They told us that Elder Pond, who was about to go to his original assignment in Brazil, needed a ride to Queens, so we were asked to drive them into the city the next day. We agreed, and we made the trip. It consumed basically our entire Wednesday, so that was kind of rough, but it worked out. (Elder Pond is safe and sound in Brasilia, so major kudos to him).

The very next day (Thursday), we went BACK to Queens for the "Train the Trainers" meeting. It was about two hours long with a lunch afterwards. It was super fun, and it made me both more stressed and more excited to be a trainer haha. We actually had time to do a little work afterwards, so that was nice. Traffic to and from Queens is nightmarish, and we spent many many hours total on the road between those two days.

Members meals are kicking in haha. We had a meal every single night this week, and they've been feeding us well. I gained a bit of weight here in Trumbull, and I'm betting I'll gain some more once the holidays are in full swing haha. Maybe I'll just walk everywhere all the time to burn some extra calories 🤣.

Finally, transfer news. Elder Lee is sadly leaving, and he's heading off to Little Neck in Queens. I'm sad to see him go, but I'm sure he'll do good work there too.

I'll be dropping off Elder Lee and Elder Oviatt (the remaining Portuguese elder), and I'll pick up my new comp. And this time it will be all on my lonesome. No senior comp to carry the weight of training. I'm a little nervous, but I'm also super excited. I can't wait to meet whoever my new companion will be, and get to work and serve the Lord with him in Trumbull.

Also I was asked to be district leader as well, so that's fun (the APs called on Sunday evening and popped the question, and I was like "for shizzle man, let's do this" 😂)

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: if you're questioning your faith, before anything else, give your faith the benefit of the doubt. I have spoken.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Pic with DC (dude with his hands up lol)
• Pic with Clements (the baller Asian chef)
• "A-men" hehe
• ...orange flamingo? (A flamingorange? A flaminge?)
• The Wilton Gang (district pic)
• Rap pic from the Westchester ZLs hyping the initiative
• Me and Elder Cahoon at Woodside
• I haven't had Guaraná in a loooong time
• The bois at Howling Hot Chicken
• Elders Lee, Oviatt and me with Bro & Sis Neary (Bro Neary and I get along very well talking about old movies and songs etc haha)

Trees vs. Shrubs

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Lots and lots of knocking

 ** Exchanges bring flipping miracles

Lots of pictures and not a lot of words this week (you're welcome, Chago 😂)

We have been doing a lot of knocking, and it's been a lot of fun. We've met a lot of very different people from super open to super antagonistic or just straight up anti (that was a rough conversation, ngl). We've seen a lot of miracles through it, and I'm looking forward to continuing the grind. An issue that Elder Lee and I are running into now that we've been here a while is that we're running out of places to knock haha. We still have tons of streets left, but they're getting fewer and harder to find. We began mapping out the streets that we've finished so that we'll know where to go next. Our area is not super big geographically, and a lot of the houses are spread out in certain areas, so it's been a fun puzzle trying to figure that out.

Friday into Saturday was our exchanges with the Wilton Elders again. I went with Elder Christensen into his area, and we had an absolute blast. He and his comp Elder Ko had found a street in their area that was super promising, so we knocked the rest of that they hadn't been able to get to before. It was a lot of walking up and down hills haha, but it was great, and we found two people to teach just while knocking! They were super cool, and we made plans to come back some other time and talk with them again. We were going to have two other people found from that street, but they declined giving us contact info or return appointments, which was disappointing, but hopefully they can get back in contact sometime soon.

Meanwhile back in my own area, Elder Lee and Elder Ko were busy finding three people of their own! We've had some great lessons with those people since then, and I'm excited to work with them. For one exchange, we found a total of five people for two areas, which I would call a smashing success. Miracles are to be found on exchanges in CT, folks.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: There's a fire BYU devo called "Stand Forever" (can't remember who it's by, but it's the second most viewed devo on their site). He talks about resolving concerns and having faith to find answers to hard questions. He centers his remarks on the "primary questions". If these questions are true, you can either ignore or confidently find an answer to the "secondary questions". The primary questions include these four:

 - Is God our living Heavenly Father?

 - Is Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind?

 - Is Joseph Smith a true prophet of God?

 - Is the Book of Mormon the word of God?

If you have a testimony of the truth of those four things, very little will be able to sway you. Any other question fits into the secondary category, and they are all off-shoots of these four primary questions (there are probably also some other primary questions out there that I don't know off the top of my head lol).

Always remember, if any of you ever have any questions or want to talk about anything at all, please let me know. I would love to talk with you.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata (photo dump time):

• Doing service is the best 
• GIANT squash we found at service [Ed. note:  cucuzza squash, pronounced kookootsa; an Italian squash used like zucchini]
• Pretty fall colors
• Really good drawing of me 😂
• Pretty leaves and water in Wilton
• Elder Christensen and me
• Squirrel
• Puppies

The A Team

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** I freaking love Pres Holmes (I also love free food hehe)

 ** Sometimes you just gotta get a heat check (to the layman, that's a sports reference)

 ** And the Elder Hill mission-long record for worst knocking experience goes to.....

 ** Stake Conference was pretty fire, not gonna lie (also I met a guy who is absolutely LOADED. More below)

Interviews with Pres Holmes were suuuper good. In my talk with him, I reported on the change and the growth that I had made/experienced in the previous transfer (believe me, there was a lot), and he commented on how proud he was that I had made those changes. He also talked about needing me to be a leader in the mission, whether or not I had a leadership position. I won't go into every detail, but it suffices me to say that it was a tender and wonderful conversation. I grow to love Pres Holmes more and more with every passing day, and my testimony grows exponentially that he is called of God to be here at this time as the president of this mission.

On the way home from interviews, we visited a McDonald's that is spoke of in legend. A member owns this one random McDonald's in a truck stop, and if you walk up in a shirt and tie and name tag (dressed like a missionary) the cashier moves to a different register, and you get your food for free. We went, and it's true. Elder Lee and I got some food, and the lady behind the counter zeroed out our order, and it was glorious haha. We made an agreement not to abuse this gift, but we're also definitely gonna use it haha.

This week was kinda rough, ngl. There wasn't anything particularly bad about it, but there weren't a ton of headline experiences either (not regarding missionary work, anyway). We had found two people by Wednesday, and we were looking good to find a few more and carry our energy over into a second week in a row, but we ended up not finding anyone else for the rest of the week. That's alright though. We're here for people, not numbers. We'll just hit the ground running next week and continue to refine our strategies.

So we did a bunch of knocking this week, with the standard mixture of results. We found some people who were super friendly and nice, even if they weren't interested. We also met some people who were apathetic or impartial, and just didn't really care. We also met a few (not terribly many actually) who are more antagonistic or cranky about us knocking on their door. The pinnacle was hands down this one old lady who came to the door. She immediately told us off, and even though we were already walking back to the street she continued to follow up with a string of insults and profanity that were (in hindsight) quite thought out. Elder Lee and I just shrugged our shoulders and kept walking, but looking back o that experience, I only feel sadness. I'm not sad that she didn't immediately jump up and ask to be baptized. I'm just a little sad that she either doesn't understand enough about our church, or she has such passionate views that she deems it worth such an odious response. I really hope she finds happiness in her life, and I hope missionaries who knock her door in the future get a more encouraging interaction.

On a much different and much more upbeat note, Stake Conference was super good. One if the highlights was that Pres and Sis Checketts, a couple who live in New Canaan, I think, came home from serving as the Mission President and Companion for the England London Mission. They had some really cool experiences and testimony to share and it was epic.

After the meeting, Elder Lee and I talked with Pres and Sis Checketts for a few minutes, and we came to learn that he is insanely rich. He didn't explicitly say that, but during the course of our conversation he talked about some of the things he's done in life (at different times) including buying/owning two NBA teams, a WNBA team, two separate NHL teams, an MLB team, and an MSL team that he helped create. Oh, and he was also the owner of Madison Square Garden. If you're sports fan, you know that this guy is not playing around. Elder Lee and I realized we were standing in the presence of greatness haha. He's also an incredibly kind and humble guy, so I absolutely loved talking with him and his wife and getting to know them both a little bit.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: At Stake Conference they talked all about Light, the Light of Christ, and how to reflect that light. One super cool story was told by a guy from my ward here. He talked about how mirrors are cool because they can make light go places it could never normally go (down holes, into cracks, into dark places). He said that Christ is the light, and we are all pieces of a mirror. We need to do our part so that Christ's light can affect to other people it might not reach otherwise. It was a very simple idea, but I found it very profound, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.

God. Is. Good. All. The. Time. That is a fact, not an opinion. God is good. Life is good. And that's good enough for me.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Zone pic from last pday (minus the four Spanish-speaking sisters)
• Video clip:  The Chevy Equinox is the standard missionary vehicle here....
• Free food at McDonald's boisss
• Scoob the Dino (a gift from a member we visited)
• Bomb.com tater tot casserole that we made Sunday night (complete with homemade fry sauce)

Dang Straight

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Exchanges bring all kinds of miracles

 ** I think one of our new friends saw me in a vision?

 ** I'm basically an MTC tutor now lol (also the AZ bois reunion was epic)

 ** We found six new people to teach! (Literally the most I've ever found in a week)

 ** Conference was literally the best (and you BETTA BELIEVE WE BEAT OUR ZONE GOALS)

!!!LONG EMAIL ALERT!!! (sorry, it's just been a good week haha)

We went on exchanges with Elders Christensen and Ko, and it was fun. I went with Elder Ko up into the Wilton area, and we had lots of fun. I was a little bummed because Elders Lee and Christensen would get to go to a member meal and I wouldn't, but Elder Ko and I ended up ALSO going to a member meal for their ward, and they made us ribs that were soooooo good. Miracles abounding.

One of the many people we found (more on that further down) was our friend Lumia (I think that's how it's spelled?). She's a super nice lady who we knocked into on Monday, then went back and visited on Thursday. When we visited her the second time, she invited us in and we talked for a bit. During the conversation, she said that she'd seen us both in a dream before. She said she'd seen Elder Lee, but she made a big point of saying she'd seen me specifically before we ever showed up. We were a little weirded out at first, but it was actually kind of a cool experience. Hopefully she's right in thinking it means that "we're supposed to be friends". We'll see what happens haha.

On Fridays we usually have a group Samoan-language call with a tutor from the Missionary Training Center. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago Sister Macarilay (the tutor at the time) switched positions at the MTC, so she can't run the group call anymore. For a week or two we just didn't have a group call, but I really wanted one so I volunteered to just host a call. I set it up and got the word out, and got a few other Elders to join the call, and we had fun. The first two to join were none other than Elder Kauer and Elder Brown, so we had a super sweet and fun little reunion (first time we'd been all together since the MTC). Another Elder or two joined soon after, and we had a good conversation, swapping stories i le faʻasamoa, and asking questions etc. I somehow became the unofficial tutor, and they all kept asking me random Samoan questions. Maybe I'll just have to go and get a job at the MTC haha.

As of yesterday morning, we found SIX new people this week. That's more people than I've EVER found in a week on the mission. And if that don't give you a testimony that every area can find, I don't know what will. Three of them were through knocking, and one was through street contacting while knocking, so that was pretty epic all things considered. Our big challenge now will be sitting through them all and figuring out who's elect.

Remember last week how I said that our zone set a goal for getting 50 people to watch conference? Well we got OVER A HUNDRED TO WATCH CONFERENCE!!! Big time miracles came in clutch, and a whole lotta people got blessed with the Spirit.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: General Conference man. Where do I even start? Here are some highlights:

 - Pres Oaks' talk (just go to church, guys)

 - "Christ's love is unfailing, even when we fail" (Bonnie H Cordon)

 - "Come unto Christ, come now, but don't come alone" (Bonnie H Cordon)

 - When you understand how loved you are as a child of God, it changes everything (Susan H Porter)

- Not having clear answers should NOT stop you from moving forward (Susan H Porter)

 - "God loves us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us this way" (Brad Wilcox)

 - Really all of Brad Wilcox's talk

 - Contention disappears when you put your discipleship to Jesus Christ above all else (Dale G Renlund)

 - There is a sequential order to every aspect of life and the gospel (Vaiangina Sikahema)

 - "Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures" (Russell M Nelson)

 - "Muster the mustard-seed mentality" (Michael A Dunn)

 - "Doubt is the enemy of faith and joy...when we doubt, we choose to be acted upon" (Sean Douglas)

 - "The name of the Church is not negotiable" (Neil L Anderson)

 - 13 new temples!!! (Russell M Nelson)

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Cool cicada husk
• Dope house we saw while knocking
• Dope car we saw while visiting a friend
• The AZ SamFam Bois are all together for the first time in a year
• Portuguese Elders "working" lol 😝😂
• A sister in our ward got us SO MUCH FOOD
• Accountability call while making some pizza