For the First Time in Forever

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Zone Conference was absolutely wild

 ** The "find grind" was in overdrive this week

 ** Found out that you can, in fact, invite someone to be baptized within two minutes of meeting them and have them say yes (it does actually work)

 ** Hey we actually hit our weekly goals (that hasn't happened in a while...

 ** The Lord moves in mysterious ways

Zone Conference this week was absolutely wild. We had a great meeting, with some incredible trainings and messages (some of which will covered later in this weekly). Pres Holmes put a huge emphasis on the BoM, which I actually talked a little about last week. We had some great times all around. 

After the regular meeting ended, we went into the gym and had some fun times to celebrate smashing our previous baptism record as a mission. We had some "minute-to-win-it" type games, and we competed zone versus zone (see pic below). The prize is breakfast catered by Sis Holmes, so it got pretty intense haha. My favorite game was one where you had to balance pencils on the back of your hand, toss them into the air, and catch them all. After each successful catch, two more pencils were added. The goal was to be the first to catch 12. I played for my team, and I ended up breaking/setting the record by tossing and catching 28, which was literally all the pencils on the table. It was really funny because literally everyone (Pres Holmes included) stopped to watch me go bigger and bigger, and every time I caught them all the crowd went nuts. I ended up dropping one pencil when I tried to catch all 28, which ended the streak, but I went back later and successfully did it (see video below). It doesn't mean anything for my eternal progression, but it was fun haha (and no one ever broke the record, so I get that bragging right for the rest of my mission).

Finding this week was so much fun (except for the parts when it was absolutely terrible haha). With Zone Conference basically all day, we had less time overall to find new people to teach, so we had to kick it into high gear. The weather was also really bad for a couple days, so that didn't help. We spent a lot of time street and train contacting, and it was an absolute grind lemme tell ya. We found lots of awesome people though, and there's a lot of fire potential in our area.

One practice that we learned from Zone Conference was inviting people to be baptized on the first street contact. It's a huge act of faith (both for the missionary and the friend) but the promised blessings are incredible. I tried it this week, and it actually works! We were on a train platform, and this guy named Tony was walking by. Elder Blackham stopped him and invited him to church, and he immediately said yes! We got his info and shared a brief message from the BoM. I read from 3 Nephi 27 and talked about how through repentance and baptism we can be held guiltless and spotless before God. I asked if that's something he wanted, and he said absolutely. I then asked if he would like to be baptized to receive those blessings, and he said absolutely! We put Tony on date for April 9th, and he's excited to work towards it with us!

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: My thought today is based on an experience I had while we were street contacting. Elder Blackham has a big emphasis on "feeling the vibe" while contacting (basically feeling the fruits of the Spirit's presence), and the other day I was absolutely NOT feeling the vibe. I got rejected a bunch all back to back, and one wonderful lady used some very choice vocabulary with me (that wasn't a problem except that it just added to my growing frustration and exhaustion). In that moment, I thought to pray and just give it to God. I realized I had been trying to find success through my own efforts, but I hadn't asked God for any help at all. I offered up a silent prayer and simply said "I literally can't do this right now. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm frustrated. I don't have the right mindset to get this done. Please help me." I didn't feel any significant change, but I kept plowing ahead, trusting in the Lord and His timing. In the next 30 minutes, Elder Blackham and I found about five new people to teach, which was insane. I offered up another prayer, this time one of absolute gratitude. I know that the change in our work was God's will, not mine. I also recognized that if I hadn't slogged through that rough patch of contacting, we never would have been in that right spot on the street corner to find those five new friends. The Lord truly does move in mysterious ways, and I'm just happy to be that instrument in His hands.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Zone Conference festivities
• APs playing games 😂
• Elder Blackham's nifty Chinese Plan of Salvation wood puzzle thingy
• Cool pic of Woodside
• Birthday celebrations (Olive Garden pic, pic with Elder Fanning, pic with recent converts et al. at the church)
• Found the ZLs train contacting
• Big crowd in the subway station
• Some epic KIs (key indicators) for yous (not to flex but also to flex 😂)
• A pinnacle of my life, throwing and catching 28 pencils with one hand to break/hold the record (video)