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)