Go On One, Then Become One

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** For the first time in the history of the Trumbull area (and the history of my mission) we found more than ten people this last week!!

 ** Also for the first time basically ever in the Trumbull area, we actually got friends of ours to come to church with us! haha

Honestly, this week wasn't super outstanding with crazy stuff. It was an amazing week to be sure, but most of the amazingness can't really be expressed well in a weekly email haha. Just know that life here in CT is good, and the weather is perfect right now, and the people are amazing. We found eleven new people this past week, which was way more than I've ever found before. The previous record for both this area and me during my whole mission was seven new people, and we set that record the week before haha. The hand of the Lord is definitely with us here.

Perhaps one of the best parts of this week was our two new friends here Helena and Nylee. I had actually taught Helena months ago when I first came to the Trumbull area. Unfortunately, through a very strange series of misunderstood texts and whatnot (it's a long story), she became angry with us and cut all communication. Well this past week we were calling through the list if all the people we used to teach, and we got to her name, and I said "hey, why not?" so we called her haha. She answered and was genuinely happy to hear from us! She remembered the confusion from a few months ago, but we were able to quickly resolve that over the phone, and all was right with the world.

Helena  agreed to meet with us again, and we had a great lesson with her and with her 18 year old daughter Nylee (who's lowkey a super fire person). They loved the lesson and the verses we read from the Book of Mormon with them, and they agreed to come to church! They didn't have a way to get there themselves, so we quickly called up one of our most exceptional and trusted members, and she readily agreed to help out! She set everything up herself (which was epic), and they were able to come to church and they loved it! They said that they definitely want to keep coming and learning more, which was super cool! (Helena even handled it well when someone brought up and discussed polygamy in the Adult Sunday School class haha). Good times and miracles all around.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: In a recent interview with Pres Holmes, we talked about the difference between going out and serving a mission and going out and becoming a missionary. I'm willing to bet that all my missionary friends know what I'm talking about haha. This applies to every aspect of life. There is a very big difference between doing something because you have to or you feel you should, and doing something because you want to or it's just a part of who you are. I wish I had learned this sooner as a missionary. Another quote by Pres Holmes goes "you want your mission to last forever [and be awful]? Don't get lost in the work. You want it to go quickly [and be an amazing experience]? Get lost in the work. Put the Lord first, and forget everything else for the time being." I can testify that this works. These past few weeks have been some of the fastest and best of my mission, and I largely attribute those feelings to the fact that I've been really working on losing myself in the work and only focusing on what God wants, not what I want. The results have been incredible.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Pretty fall leaves 
• Cool shot of Shelton (w/ & w/o the Book of Mormon)
• Nighttime pic of Shelton skyline (and the Derby skyline in the background)
• Dope car we saw (also literally everyone in Shelton drives a Subaru Outback, and it's so weird)
• Mom, what kind of plant is this? Is it a squash or something?  [Yes, exactly]
• Cookies from the Cookie Lady herself, shipped all the way from the Salt Lake Valley!  [The Cookie Lady is Elder Hill's sister, Shirley Bushman]