Elder Benjamin Hill: Elder Beelzebub

Family and friends,

This week was very good. On Tuesday, I hit the 666th day of my mission, which was funny to me, especially because I met my new companion that day. Dad said he'd be named Elder Beelzebub. Luckily, Elder Stout is actually amazing, and he is a hard worker! Funnily, he is nearly an exact copy-paste of Elder Ericksen, a previous companion of mine in Argentina, which is a compliment because he and I had a great time together and we worked hard. Elder Stout just finished his training, and he still has a wonderful amount of greenie fire, which is exactly what I will need as I approach the end of my time serving here. He is a good support.

Also, he is the only companion I've had in Nebraska that is older than I am! He was born just one month before I was. That's a good thing, because he's very mature already, so I have high hopes for him; but it's also a bit sad, because until he joined me I had a perfect record of having 100% older companions in Argentina and 100% younger companions in Nebraska. *sigh* C'est la vie.

My favorite quippy quote from Elder Stout so far is, "Be quiet, I'm trying to listen to the music of my favorite video game: Silent Hill." I respected that pun immensely.

Another thing Elder Stout has done this week: he may very well have simply traipsed right in and fixed an enormous mental-block problem of someone I was meeting with in Lincoln. Marcus, whom I might have mentioned before, has been asking me for help even since I left Lincoln, and nothing religious I managed to tell him seemed to help. That was always the case, even while I was still in Lincoln: he just can't be helped much more by only teaching him doctrine. Then, Elder Stout agreed to join me on a meeting with him yesterday, and they each found out the other loves skateboarding and they just went off! Marcus suddenly lit up, and I found out something that astounded me: it seems like a huge stumbling block for Marcus all this time was his thought that skateboarding was somehow bad, and that he shouldn't do it anymore now that he is a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ. So, obviously, he was shocked and overjoyed to find out that it's perfectly fine to like skateboarding! I very literally never would have suspected that to be the problem, but there we were, the problem already solved! I hope that becomes the first step for him into a brighter world.

Yesterday, we were given dinner by a member, and we didn't get a good look at it when we received it but we got a huge surprise when we opened the containers: we uncovered an entire marine biome in that soup. It was pretty good, in my opinion, but it was extremely difficult to eat. See attached pictures.

I have been reading in the book Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, and this week I read chapter 34, which discusses the Prophet's teachings on forgiveness. It left a deep impression on me, and I am more driven now than ever before to forgive everyone thoroughly, and to love others as God has loved me - constantly and consistently giving me second chances, whether or not I deserve it. Now, I simply have to be patient while that desire works in my soul, and I will wait all the time necessary to receive the sanctification I yearn for. I'll continue faithful until I receive it. God is good to me.

Love,

Elder Hill the Elder

P.S. There are only going to be four more emails for now that any of you will read from me that will be signed like that, so enjoy it while you can. I certainly will.

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