Two Dinosaurs

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** A girl tried hitting on me, so that was fun (a strange experience as a missionary, to be sure)

 ** Another girl asked to me convince her to go to church, so I just bore one of the most powerful testimonies that I ever have, and she agreed to come to church!

 ** It's like the old joke you've never heard, "two dinosaurs went on an exchange....." (Elder Parks & me)

 ** Our friend Yris is way cool, but she needs some prayers y'all 🙏🏼

 ** Alma 32:26-28 is kinda too strong, as my trainer would say

First and foremost, our friend Yris ("Iris") is planning on being baptized this Saturday! She's super cool, and she's so excited! She's been feeling a little under the weather, so please pray for her that she'll be able to make it to the baptism and make that covenant with Heavenly Father. It'll be so good for her, and I'm so excited for it.

So yeah, I had some strange experiences with girls this week. Not what you'd expect a missionary to say, haha. Elder Earl and I were street contacting and I noticed these two girls out of the corner of my eye but paid them very little attention (they were across the way and not dressed modestly). A few minutes later they happened to be beside us waiting to cross a street. I was turned to talk with my comp when one of them turns to me and says "hi!" I had three thoughts within milliseconds of hearing her greet me (I could tell why she wanted to).

First, "wait seriously? This is happening?"

Second, "I do NOT want to be dealing with this right now"

Third, "I'm not even gonna play around. Just straight to the point"

I turned and said hi back and immediately invited them to church! They both instantly agreed, which set off more alarm bells (almost nobody agrees that fast and actually means it). They were a little flirty as we talked about church, so I simply gave them directions and an open invitation, said goodbye, and walked away as fast as I could. Weird stuff.

The other experience with girls came a day or two later, while I was in my exchange with Elder Parks (more on that later). We were walking together and he invited these two YSA aged girls to church. They stopped and one of them said in an almost coy tone, "convince me". I immediately had some flashbacks to the aforementioned encounter, and so I just said with a small laugh, "you should want to go to church!" She asked why, and we discussed it. She said she didn't believe in God and Christ, and she saw no reason to. I offered a counterclaim that there's no reason not to, which she conceded. I then bore a simple yet powerful testimony of the reality of Christ, of His Atonement, and of what it means to me. I testified that it had changed my life, and I loved going to church because I get to remember and still feel that change in me. After I finished, the girl smiled and said "well, you've convinced me". I gave her a card with the info for the church, and she said she'll check it out. Fun times all around.

Back to the exchange with Elder Parks. Nothing really crazy happened except that we talked about being really old missionaries, and we both felt like really old missionaries haha. We both go home at the end of next transfer, and so we did a little reminiscing and reflecting, as well as some reluctant thoughts of the future. Wack stuff, that.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I had a cool experience where I read something on Friday morning during my studies and it became exactly what I needed to use in teaching a friend later that same day. The principle is more important than the circumstances. In Alma 32, verses 26-28, Alma teaches about the seed and about gaining a witness of our faith. In verse 28, he gives four different ways we can assess how good or true the seed is:

1. "Swell within [my breast]" - Feeling the Spirit. This could be a burning in the bosom, chills, feelings of peace or of clarity, happiness and calm.

2. "Enlarge my soul" - it has made you a better person. Ask "are you a better person now because of what you have learned and what you have read?"

3. "Enlighten my understanding" - it has given you more knowledge and understanding. Ask "have you learned anything from the BoM?" (Personal, general, spiritual, etc)

4. "Be delicious to me" - It just sounds right when you hear it. Gospel truths often just sound so good or nice, which is an indication that they're true

Many people think they haven't received a witness of the Spirit because they're not looking in the right place. Look again at those four things and use them to see if you've gotten a witness about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, this church, or anything else you want to receive a divine witness about. Trust me, it really works, and you will realize that God ALWAYS answers our prayers, just perhaps not in the way we think or are expecting.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

• I found a store that actually has good values
• Beautiful sunset pics
• Found a entrance to a dungeon (gamers know what I'm talking about haha)
• Found a hidden world beside a house we knocked
• My firstborn son, Elder Fanning, flew to Japan this week to finish his mission (Alofa atu, loʻu atalii)
• The Ronald
• Meme I copied