So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the season finale of the Elder Hill Show:

 ** Had a cool finding miracle on Tuesday (exhausting, but good)

 ** Couple quick snippets (American man, parking lot, fire alarm x2, Inwood)

 ** Had my departing interview with Pres 😭

 ** That's all folks.... (See bottom for info on my homecoming talk)

On Tuesday we had set a finding goal of 10, and we had about five or six hours of finding time, so we felt confident we could hit it. But like last week on Saturday, we started slow and couldn't find almost anyone. We had made the promise that we wouldn't go home until we found ten new people, and so we stayed on the streets for hours. We changed finding places a couple hours in, and then we contacted in the second place for hours. All in all almost 8 hours (we had no other appointments that day). When light finally faded and we had to go home for the night, we were frustrated because we only had found 9 people. We got home and started calling some of our friends who previously expressed interest, and the VERY FIRST guy that we called answered his phone, and we ended up teaching him a little over the phone. Cool miracle. And THEN, in reporting and doing a final count of all of our finds, we realized we actually HAD found ten on the street, and the phone find was number 11. Miracles and tender mercies to be sure.

Also we saw this guy in a big ol' jeep with a big American flag on it blasting "God's Country" and I thought it was awesome haha. Definitely made my day.

On Wednesday we went to this really big mall parking lot to go contacting there. We used to go there all the time before they kicked us out. Elder Jensen had never been there before, and it had been a few months, so we gave it another shot. We had some success....right up until we got kicked out again haha. The security guys are chill so there wasn't a problem. We'll just have to find somewhere else to find.

On Thursday very early in the morning our apartment building's fire alarm went off again. That's the third time this transfer. Fun times...

The fire alarm went off AGAIN Thurs night. It was the second time that day, and it was right in the middle of a meeting I had haha.

On Friday we went to Inwood for my interview with Pres (read more below) and we got some epic pizza from a spot a few blocks over. There were tons of Latinos everywhere, loud music, busy streets, fire hydrants spraying water into the street (we counted three), the works. It was a nice little touch of the city for me haha.

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I had my departing interview with Pres Holmes on Friday, and it was such a powerful experience. He said a prayer to begin the meeting, and the Spirit just poured into the room. Not gonna lie, I almost burst into tears at how much love I felt from Pres Holmes and from my Heavenly Father. Pres Holmes share some wise council, and we talked for a little bit. The most touching thing for me was him telling me that he was proud of me, and that the Lord accepted my labor. That may sound self serving or conceited (OK, maybe it is), but it was something I had worried about and really needed to hear. It was an incredible experience that I can't and shouldn't try to put all to words, but it was something I hope I never forget.

Well,  folks, we finally made it. After months and transfers and miracles everyday, this is my last time writing as a full-time missionary.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma mo taimi uma [Much love to you all forever],

Elder Hill

P.S. I'll be reporting on my experiences on Sunday, Aug 28th at 12pm (noon), and I'd love to see you all there!

2740 S Lindsay Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85296

[Zoom link for meeting -- join around 12:20 PM Arizona time] https://zoom.us/j/96024666430

Ata:

 - Week 6 Zone Leadership Call pic

 - Cool pics from around White Plains (2 of cool buildings etc, 2 of cool paintings in the works)

 - Cool wall art of the Cross County Center, a big mall we found at a lot until they kicked us out (politely) a couple times 😬😂 

 - Wall of Pres Holmes' office with some really cool art (the big middle one of Christ looking at Manhattan was made by a returned missionary, a few years ago)

 - Pretty forest drive from Inwood back to Westchester 

 - Departing pic with Ronnie (middle), a great member, and Bossman (right), a friend we're teaching

Link to Elder Hill's Homecoming Meeting 8/28

Elder Hill will speak in church on Sunday, August 28th.  The meeting begins at 12:00 PM (Arizona time, Mountain Standard Time), but the Zoom stream will begin at about 12:15 or 12:20.  We don't know yet if Jacob is the first or last speaker.  Also, the Hill family will sing during the program.

Here's the Zoom link:

https://zoom.us/j/96024666430

Church address:  2740 S Lindsay Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295

The Big One Hundo

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** This is my 100th email....crazy stuff

 ** Learned a lot about humility and miracles this week

 ** Church was absolutely nuts for us, but it all worked out swell 👌

 ** I gave two departing testimonies on Sunday, so that was.....fun (I attached a recording of one of 'em at the bottom)

Holy cow, where does the time go?? This is my 100th email as a missionary, and I only have one more to go. It's so crazy that my last full week as a missionary begins tomorrow. My brain is still in full denial of that reality, so we'll see how this goes haha. 

Our week went pretty well. We were pretty behind on our finding goal by the time the weekend rolled around, so we set a daily finding goal on Friday of about 10. We had some reliable spots picked out and roughly 6 hours of finding time, so we weren't too concerned. Well as fate (God) would have it, finding went poorly for the first bit. The first area we picked had been good before at a similar time, but that day it was dead. We went to our backup area and there were lots of people, but no one wanted to come to church or talk with us. 

By 4:30 or so, we'd only found 3. And by "we" I mean Elder Jensen found three. I was getting a little discouraged, but I decided to just start praying and asking for help. We're told to expect miracles, and I decided to give it a shot. I prayed that despite the grueling heat (Friday was a brutal day with the weather), people would want to talk to us. I made the resolve that I would not stop talking to people until one of three things happened: 1. I found one person, 2. Elder Jensen found 10 people, or 3. The clock hits 7:30 and we have to stop for a lesson at that time. Well as time passed my comp found two more, putting us at 5 total. By 5pm we regrouped and redoubled our efforts. My prayer changed to "Heavenly Father, I'm not having any success right now, but Elder Jensen is. Please help him find more people to teach." 

By the time 6:30 rolled around, we were both incredibly tired. Elder Jensen walked over to me and told me that he'd found a total of ELEVEN people (including 7 in about 30 minutes). It was an a amazing miracle, and it taught me a lot about faith and humility. As soon as I let go and let God do His thing, everything fell into place. 

In other news, Church was wild for us. We had a lot of people confirm that they were coming on Friday and Saturday. But as these things tend to go, most of them either didn't answer or cancelled on Sunday morning. A few said they would try, so we kept our hopes up, but we didn't see any of our friends show up. A couple times during the meeting, we got texts or calls from our friends regarding church, so we were in and out if the chapel sporadically, calling and texting and waiting to see if anyone else would come. After sacrament meeting ended, we discovered that not one but TWO of our friends had come in during the meeting and sat in the back! We talked with them and got them situated for the second hour. 

During Sunday school we again kept checking our phone and texting with another friend who told us she was on her way (very late) but was currently lost. We ended up walking down the street two bus stops to get her and walking back to the church with her. She was able to sit in the back of the Spanish branch's sacrament service, so that worked out. My comp and I were very tired physically and mentally, but we hit our goal and had three friends come to church, so that was epic. Miracles indeed.

Also on Sunday I gave two departing testimonies. The first was in sacrament meeting. I was guessing I'd be asked to speak at some point anyway, so I jumped the gun and gave my departing testimony a week early haha.

Sunday night was our weekly zoom with the whole mission, and I was the first one picked to share my departing testimony with the whole mission. I had a lot of emotions going during both, and it was so surreal. I felt so much love for others (and from God to myself) and gratitude for all the amazing blessings I've been given. I won't say too much because I'm saving some of that for my homecoming on Aug 28th hehe (spoiler alert)

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: I'll just attach my departing testimony I gave to the mission at the end for y'all to listen to.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

 - A few pics from our trip to Manhattan last pday

 - Cool flower wall thing in White Plains

 - Sick matte black Maserati

 - Elder Jensen personal studying 😂

 - Elder Jensen with a spoon on his face

 - Wore masks for the first time in a while and I absolutely hated it 😭😂

 - Still frame of a funny video we made of me figuring out I'm going home

 - Amazing hot dog restaurant called Dog Den with FANTASTIC hot dogs (and punny signs hehe)

Click Here for Elder Hill's Departing Testimony

Go Big Or Go Home (....Why Not Both?)

Malo Soifua!!!

Today on the Elder Hill Show:

 ** JEAN GOT BAPTIZED!!! (#allgod)

 ** Also our mission set a new record for baptisms with 148!!!! (#alsoallgod)

 ** Went on exchanges and it was super good (might be my last exchange ever 😭)

 ** Got free pizza twice this week so that was hype (literally the best cheese pizza I've ever had in my entire life)

 ** Going to Manhattan for P-Day les goooooo (again for one of the last times)

 ** God is good. It's really that simple, yet so profound

JEAN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! It was touch and go for a little bit in the middle of the week, but it all worked out right at the end. Literally so many miracles happened this week, and I know for a fact that God was involved in it. She didn't text us back at all on Thursday, which was incredibly stressful. On Friday morning she finally got back to us and we were able to set up her baptismal interview. She passed it on Friday night, and from there we had a mad scramble to finalize the details of the baptism for the very next day. A few brothers from the ward came, and it was a small, cozy service. I got the privilege of baptizing her, and it was a great experience. She came to our sacrament meeting today, and Elder Jensen confirmed her. All in all a very irregular and hectic week, but it all worked out alright in the end.

And yeah our mission went absolutely bonkers and baptized a total of 148 people in the month of July. It was absolutely incredible, and we really saw the hand of the Lord in all our work. Of special note for me was the fact that the Westchester zone has been infamous for only having 5 baptisms a month (the "famous five"). Well this month our DISTRICT had SIX and the zone had THIRTEEN. Truly a marvelous work and a wonder. I'm honestly just in awe if the incredible things God has done here in our mission, and even now we're still just getting going. Pres Holmes is convinced we can break 200, and I'm inclined to agree. 

I got to go on an exchange with Elder Pack, the District Leader in the New Rochelle district. Normally two DLs don't go on an exchange together (not illegal, just uncommon), but we made an exception of sorts. This is Elder Pack's second transfer as a DL, so I shared some tips, tricks, and advice about the assignment. We did some good work that day, and we had a great time together. We had a good pillow-talk with laughs and some heart to heart. It was a great experience for both of us, and it's a huge help for us DLs to feel more unified and together in all that we do in supporting our zone together. Good stuff. I did this same thing two transfers ago with Elder Carter when he was a new DL is New Rochelle, do we just repeated the process again, and the results were again quite superb I would say.

In other news, Elder Jensen and I got free pizza twice this week. We're tight with Arianno, the owner of Via Garibaldi's near our apartment, and he keeps giving us free pizzas, and they're sooooo good haha. Easily the best cheese pizza I've ever had.

Today for P-Day we're going to Manhattan as a district. Sister Holmes reserves "Manhattan P-days" for social occasions and big achievements, and we finally have a doozy. Reaching our district baptism goal for the month was one, and we hit SIX (again, all God). We also crushed all the rest of our district goals for the month, so that was hype. To ice that cake, I'm going home soon, and Sister Thomas in our district is going to her original assignment in the Netherlands at the end of the transfer, so neither of us will ever get to go to Manhattan again (as missionaries, anyway). Needless to say, Sister Holmes had to say yes, haha. We're taking the Metro North railroad to get down there, which I've never done before, so that'll be fun. I'll share some pics of our shenanigans next email (which will be my next-to-last one, btw)

Mafaufauga faaleagaga: During my exchange with Elder Pack, he asked me to describe my mission in three words. I hmm'ed and hawed, and I complained that it was impossible to contain two years worth of incredible and extraordinary experiences into three words haha. I finally received a small burst of inspiration, and I said, "Three words: God is good." He asked me to explain it, and I did. To make a long story short, God is just so good to me. I never thought I would be here in NYC, but I would never prefer anywhere else. I've grown in so many amazing and uncomfortable ways, and I've honestly loved almost every bit of it. I've experienced miracles in my life, and I've witnessed miracles in the lives of others. God is just so good. I can't really say it any better than that. My testimony of this church and this truth has grown stronger, and, perhaps more importantly, my conviction to God and to Jesus Christ has grown and strengthened. I love this church, and I love my Savior. I really, really do. With less than 20 days left to wear His name on my chest, I've been overcome with gratitude for the amazing things that I got to experience and be a part of.

It's really that simple. God is good.

Alofa tele lava atu ia outou uma,

Elder Hill

Ata:

 - Jean doesn't like pictures taken of her, so we just took a selfie by the baptismal font and pretended she was there lol

 - Dope collage of the Manhattan temple made of the names of the 148 people who were baptized 

 - There was a rock concert on the street on Tuesday that absolutely wrecked our finding time 😂 (good music though)

 - Our homie Arianno (owner of Via Garibaldi's in White Plains) hooked us up with the best cheese pizza I've ever had in my entire life

 - It's hard to see, but this Audi is absolutely COVERED in glitter and glam and it's atrocious

 - "Color the Dale"

 - Me 'n my new lion homie 

 - We made a temple out of raisin boxes and hand sanitizers while at service 

 - Cool old murals in Port Chester