Dang, I Feel Old....

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Training is fun (RIP Elder Lee)

 ** Being District Leader is also fun

 ** (Doing them at the same time is less fun)

 ** Ward Trunk-or-treat went swimmingly

 ** Knocking on Halloween could be fun...

So this week was honestly the most stressful week of my mission, and possibly of my life. I survived though, and it ended up being pretty good though, so there was definitely a positive net gain haha.

On Tuesday we had transfers as well as the "meet your trainer" meeting. We had to pack two sets of luggage (for Elders Lee & Oviatt), so we ended up getting on the road later than we were supposed to. Combine that with the horrible traffic of the I-95 that I mentioned in last week's letter, and we were about 30 minutes late to the meeting. We made it in time for the actual assignments though, so that was good. Pres Holmes ran it like a game show, and it was really fun. He would read a name and have that new missionary stand up and introduce themselves. He would then say a couple cryptic or funny things like "are you a Yankees fan? You better be...." before reading off where they're going and with whom they're serving. The audience of missionaries would erupt into cheers each time, and it was just a ton of fun.

My trainee's name is Elder Piscitello (Pih-shih-TELL-oh), and he's from Corona, California. He's a quieter soul, but he's a hard worker, and we've already had some good times together. He's honestly already a super good missionary, so I'm not too worried about him. We'll just keep role-playing and knocking until he's comfortable with it all.

(Elder Piscitello is also apparently friends with McAllister Whiting, a guy I knew from the Union Square family ward. They met this past summer at BYU during the summer term. Small world)

I'm also District Leader now, and that's been all kinds of fun, but also pretty stressful. For some reason, everyone that I talked to for advice on being a DL just said "don't worry, you'll figure it out", which was really not helpful at all haha. I've had to do a lot of last minute stuff, and a lot of things without planning. It also doesn't help that my district is currently one of the highest-performing districts in the mission, so there's a lot to wrangle and figure out. I've gotten it down pretty ok this far, so hopefully things continue to improve as time goes on.

Our ward had a trunk-or-treat party on Saturday, and it was super fun. The three wards that meet in our building all came with decorated trunks, chili for the cook-off (the Elders were the judges hehe), and tons of other activities. It was super cool, and we had a good time.

As a note and a warning to other missionaries, don't go knocking on Halloween. We went knocking at about 2:30pm (well before anyone else was on the street), but we still got some funny looks and curious conversations haha. Fun times.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: God is so good, and He is aware of each of us and our struggles. I mentioned at the beginning of my email that training and being DL are fun, but that doing them at the same time is stressful. On Thursday night I basically had a mental breakdown, which was a new experience for me. I usually deal with stress super well, but this time it all just slammed down all at once. I couldn't seem to figure out how to balance running an area (and the work was slow this week, which didn't help), training a new missionary adequately, and looking after a large district full of missionaries with very busy areas. I simply didn't know what to do. I finally just decided that I couldn't do it, and I prayed long and hard for help, for strength, and for relief. I didn't feel tons better, but I was able to go to bed and sleep, so that was a huge help.

The next morning I woke up still feeling stressed. I decided to just get to work, and not think too much about that things I hadn't done or couldn't do yet. Fast forward to that night when I again reflected on my day, and I realized that I hadn't felt that stress and worry the entire day. It was still somewhere in the back of my subconscious, but much smaller and more manageable. I immediately knelt and thanked God for helping me through that day. Now, a few days later, I feel almost back to normal. There's still a lot that weighs on my mind, but I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for me, my trainee, my district, and my friends here. 

And that is all I really need.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• "The Fleet" 😂 ft. Elder Oviatt
• Me with Elder Farr (one of my DLs in Staten), who also went home
• Me with Elder Fili (from Tonga) and Sister Tauelia (from Samoa). Both went home to Utah this transfer 😭
• Honking huge Subway
• White squirrel
• These pumpkins have seen some things...
• A missionary in my district just randomly made this the cover pic for the district chat (I didn't ask her to, but I did ask for the picture afterwards 🤣)
• I'm in the Fairfield Zone, so this message was pretty hype (and funny)