Relief Society President

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL OF OUR FRIENDS THAT ARE PLANNING ON BEING BAPTIZED THIS MONTH (more below)

 ** I'm now in Westchester, and my district is comprised entirely of Sister missionaries (with the exception of my companion and me)

 ** The work here is very different than Queens, and it was honestly pretty tough getting used to it, but it's working out, and we're seeing some success from it

 ** Found a couple cool people this week, and we have a goal to baptize someone this transfer, so hopefully our friends decide that baptism really is a good idea

Our mission had another record-breaking week this past week. We had over 540 friends on baptismal date, about 520 to church, and we found over 3400 new people. Truly an incredible work is being done by the Lord in this mission, and I'm just grateful to have a front row seat and to witness it and be a small part of this great work.

Our goal for this month is 140 baptisms, and we're currently at 60. We have a LOT of people who are preparing for baptism next week, and we need EVERYONE to pray for them that they overcome their roadblocks and are able to be baptized 🙏

In other news, I am now serving in Westchester (just north of the Bronx), and it's great. We live super close to the mission office, so use that address if you wanna send me anything (I can just go over and pick stuff up whenever it comes):

700 White Plains Rd Ste 315

Scarsdale NY 10583

United States

My district has three companionships, two of which are Sisters. They're all fire missionaries and I have no problems with it, but it is a little strange walking into district council and seeing no Elders haha. I'm the District Leader here, and that title carries with it a subtitle of "Relief Society President", which I think is hilarious (my "son" Elder Fanning was DL here, and he told me all about it haha)

I'm going to be completely honest, it's been a struggle to adjust to this area. It's a lot like when I served in Connecticut, but the big difference is that now the vision and expectation is so much higher. That's a very good thing, but it does add some stress to me to try to figure out how to be the most effective. On Rego Park, we could ride the trains or street contact and find tons of people. Where I am doesn't really have public transit, and the streets are pretty quiet comparatively. There are a few good spots, but they're starting to recognize us more and more. We tried knocking as well, and we found a little success in the neighborhoods and more success knocking in the projects. We actually found some way cool people there!

I definitely know that I'm supposed to be here though. This whole zone has been trying to raise the vision for what we can accomplish, and so it's no surprise that Pres Holmes transferred in a few missionaries from popping areas to give a spark of life and energy to this area. We've already seen it pay off, and I'm honestly really excited to see what happens. It'll be hard work, for sure, but it's gonna be epic.

Two highlights for friends that we found this week:

First, Will is this homie I talked to on the street a few days back. The actual street contact was okay, and he seemed pretty interested so I taught him and set up a return appointment. In that return appointment, he became so fire. We read Alma 34:32 and talked about the purpose for life. When we asked him how we can "prepare to meet God" he began listing off parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We flipped over to 3 Nephi 27:16 & 20 and taught him about the GoJC, specifically baptism. He said "I was baptized when I was very young, but I was never really BAPTIZED because I never did of of my own will." We invited him to prepare to meet God by being baptized in a few weeks, and he accepted! We set the expectations for lessons and church, and he said he'll get work off to make sure he can come. He's a fire dude, and I'm excited to keep working with him.

Second, Charlotte & Co. We knocked her door yesterday, and her 10-yr old son Christopher answered. He ran and got his mom, and she came to the door. We invited her to church, and she said she hadn't been in about a decade and would love to! We taught her about how the BoM can bless and strengthen her family, and she was more than willing to take a copy and start reading it. We also promised to bring a kids BoM for Christopher when we come back. They're a super awesome family, and I have so much faith and hope for them.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I was reading 1 Nephi 16 this week and studying Nephi's experience with the Liahina and his broken bow. I spent a while reading it and re-reading it, looking for principles and lessons, and I'm found some cool thoughts that I really liked. Here's a few that I found (there's definitely more in there, but I don't wanna give you all the answers):

 - Being faithful doesn't mean you won't face hardship

 - Take the time to prepare effectively (do it right so you don't have to do it twice)

 - Be ACTIVE in solving your own problems (be patient but NOT complacent)

Remember that Nephi said, "Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth unto the children of men" (1 Nephi 6:6). In addition, Mormon said, "I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people" (WoM 1:5). So if these things are meant to be of worth, and for every story in the BoM there are at least 99 that weren't included, why were these stories chosen? What's in them that makes them "of worth unto the children of men"? 

Read the book and find out. It's that simple.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

 - People here need to fix their street names (there's also Quarropas, Mamaroneck, Dekalb, and Bloomingdale)

 - The crib (my apartment, the "Avalon at White Plains" one, both inside shot and outside)

 - Lots of pretty spring blossoms

 - Great stuff

 - Finally got my wings, and I didn't drink a red bull or hear a bell ring

 - Beautiful cars in this person's driveway

 - super cool building that we were contacting around (there's a bunch of little shops and cafes, and people were just milling around, so we walked over and tried finding some of 'em)

 - I've never seen a coy sewer before (didn't know a sewer could pull off being coy), but there's a first time for everything I guess 😂