I'm Running Out of Ideas for Subject Lines

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Got to stay the night in Inwood (Manhattan) on Tues, so that was fun

 ** The Mission Tour with Elder Douglas was absolutely AMAZING. He's so cool

 ** New transfer means new district and new zone, which is always hype (except that our district got smaller by one)

 ** Records on records, both in our area and in the mission (#126)

We had the in-person Mission Tour with Elder Sean A Douglas and his wife this past week. To make sure nobody was late to the meeting, Pres Holmes had us missionaries who live farther from the city spend the night before in Manhattan with another set of missionaries. Elder Earl and I stayed with Elder White (he was my ZL in Queens) and his new trainee Elder Moser. We got some food in Inwood and did some contacting before settling in for the night.

The tour itself was absolutely amazing! Elder and Sister Douglas have such strong spirits, and they taught with so much power it felt like the room shook. They currently live in Texas, and Elder Douglas definitely had that high energy, Texas fire to him. They spoke a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it applies to us and to our friends. He dropped a lot of knowledge and gospel fire, and I took a loottttttt of notes haha.

One thing I loved was show much he focused on desire. He listed a bunch of reasons, both good and bad, that we might have chosen to serve a mission. Afterwards he said "I really don't care why you chose to come out because you're here. I care about why you choose to serve NOW". Or as I've often said it, "it doesn't matter why you came. It matters why you stay". Elder Douglas hit home just how vital it is to have our number one desire be Jesus Christ. To serve Him, to love Him, and to follow Him. As we give EVERYTHING else up to do that, as we sacrifice EVERY other desire we have, the blessings will flow.

Another part that kinda stuck with me was when he talked about being a lifelong convert to the church. Our goal is not to help our friends get to "Baptism White". Our goal is to help them get to "Temple White". That's the goal, to help them become lifelong converts of both this church and Jesus Christ who leads it. As he spoke, he contrasted it with how we as missionaries have a goal to make ourselves become lifelong converts of this church. Ours is also the responsibility to make sure WE never leave the church, not just our friends. That really hit home for me, having less than two transfers left. Later when we were asked what we had learned from the tour, a few of the older missionaries (including myself) stood and shared our thoughts on what we'd learned and how we want to apply to our lives for the close of our missions as well as the rest of our lives. It was sobering to think about how little time I have left, but it was also very encouraging to hear and feel the Spirit teach about becoming and staying a convert to Jesus Christ.

Finally, we broke some epic records, one in our companionship and one in the mission. This area, the Westchester Elders area, has never gotten very many people to church. Yesterday however, we broke the record by getting three of our friends to come! To some of you, that may seem insignificant (I know basically every missionary everywhere knows how hard it is to help your friends come to church haha), but to us that was huge. It was a big miracle, and we felt very blessed. Elder Earl looked at me with big eyes and said "Elder, we broke the record!" I just grinned ear to ear and replied, " Elder, we're just getting started." Big things do be comin to the Chester that's West.

Speaking of big things, out mission broke our record of baptisms in a month AGAIN, this time with a total of 126 baptisms in the month of May! We saw so many miracles across the mission, and I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us so much. With excitement, faith, and hopes high, we're setting our sights on June, and yessir we are hyped for June. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: Since I've already shared some spiritual stuff, I'll just attach my two favorite quotes from Elder Douglas during the mission tour:

"If (when) you fail, just repent tonight, and do better tomorrow"

"Every day is the first day of the rest of your life"

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

 - Cool shot of part of White Plains from an apartment window

 - District pic from last transfer (finally got it)

 - Elder Earl and me in an elevator

 - A meme of sorts that I made to roast my district for not being on time to District Council

 - Burned out car in Inwood

 - "Church"