Farewell and Steady On, My Love

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Week 6 Grind is absolutely real, and I love it

 ** Our friend plays the organ, and she's way good haha

 ** Had some absolutely incredible lessons this week with two of our friends (AGTG)

 ** Transfer News: I'm moving to Westchester! I'm dipping out of the city and heading just north of the Bronx

Sorry if the subject line is melodramatic, I just it was fitting and kinda funny 🤣. 

This week was week 6, and it was a ton of fun. We had some tough days of working hard, but it was so much fun, and we saw a lot of success.

We were referred a super nice Taiwanese lady named Hannah, who graduated from Julliard with a degree in piano performance (which is huge btw). She's played the organ for decades, and she volunteered to play the organ in our church meetings. We don't have a current organ player (we just have the organ play itself each time), so that would be really nice to have her there haha. We're working on building her testimony of the restoration, but she's making progress!

We have another friend that was planning on consecrating herself a saint in the Catholic Church, but after we taught her about the Restoration, she prayed about the BoM and Joseph Smith. After her prayer, she said she believes that the BoM is true and that Joseph was a prophet! She accepted a baptismal date, and we're super excited for her. She may be moving to Florida soon, but we'll make sure she keeps in touch with missionaries there as well.

Our other friend Myriam is absolutely elect. We taught her about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom, and she's willing to live both of them in order to be baptized! She's been to church twice already, and she's enjoying reading in the BoM. I'm sad I won't be around for her baptism (more about that below), but I'm so excited for her. We had her pray about baptism, and when she finished we let the silence rest and the Spirit speak. After a moment we asked her how she felt, and she said she could barely answer because she was crying. The Spirit was so strong, and she agreed to set a date for her baptism this month. God is so good, and He is so good all the time.

So yeah, I'm being transferred to Westchester. I'm sad to leave this ward, but I'm honestly super excited to go there and work hard. There are some amazing missionaries in that zone, and I'm looking forward to it (also my new apartment building has a pool table, so I'm excited 😂).

I made my rounds saying goodbye with members and friends we're teaching. It's always sad to go, but I know I'm going where God wants me.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I was asked to bear my testimony and share a few thoughts in sacrament meeting yesterday, and it was an incredible experience. As I sat there, preparing to go up and speak, I had a small vision of sorts. I suddenly pictured myself standing up to speak in church, but instead of my ward here in Queens it was my ward back home in AZ. It was a strange experience, but it made the moment so much more special. 

I spoke about purpose: God's purpose for us, our purpose for life, and my purpose as a missionary. I didn't have much time to prepare, so I let the Spirit speak for me. It was a powerful moment at the pulpit, far better than if I had tried to put my own words down on paper. I gained anew a testimony of the Spirit and of personal revelation.

I know Heavenly loves all of us, and all that happens in life is part of His plan. To paraphrase Nephi (reversing his statement), I do not know the meaning of all things, but I know that God loves His children.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• Week 6 District Pics
• Leadership meeting with the DLs and ZLs
• No ball playing apparently
• Elder Hughes and me for our exchange pic
• Rodrigo and us
• Elder Blackham with some amazing food that Indira and Patrick made for us
• Random chicken graffiti (these things are EVERYWHERE in Queens. Literally everywhere)
• Farewell pic with Indira and Patrick
• Pic with Sis Sanchez and her daughter
• Last accountability call with the gang 
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