So I decided last week that my letters were pretty boring that I sent home. I basically just gave you the run down of every day and thats probably a waste of time for all of us, so I mainly will just point out the interesting parts of the week. Well last Monday was a pretty busy p-day trying to fit in choir practice and basketball and all. Me and Elder Yates were stuck in Union city outside of the apartment of some other Elder's for awhile, but thankfully Elder Guinto and Calderoni came.
We had a great zone meeting this week and have a bunch of great goals set. As of now we are going to start doing 20 contacts a day talking about the Book of Mormon. This has definitely been a little challenging for me because of my shyness and all. It's just really awkward for me to like stop people and start talking to them. So I always get a little shaky and say um alot, but I'm sure I'll build up more and more confidence. Our zone goal is to have 4,019 lives impacted through contacts by the end of the month. You may ask... why 4019 and not just 4000. Well the 19 is there because we also want this contacting to be an impact on us as 19 missionaries in the zone.
So later we went out contacting and we met this big guy named Frank James Dupree. He said he had talked to missionaries before and seemed interested in hearing more, but when we gave our referral to the English missionaries and they went to check him out the Address and the Phone number were fake. As Julia would say... "Why I Oughta" After that we had another cool experience. I saw this guy just sitting there and we were about to cross the street but we decided to go back and talk to him. We taught him about the Gospel a little bit and what we do and how the Book of Mormon can help him change. As we got to the end of the contact he was like "You know guys, I'm not going to lie (And I was thinking he was gonna shaft us) but then he said something like, "I really think this is the time for me to change and I think this is it." We were way happy to hear it and I guess we'll just see what happens when the English missionaries get in touch with him again.
We also had some basic training in Morristown this week with all the trainers and trainees. It was awesome to see my Old MTC district again. It felt like it had been awhile since we had seen them, but really it had only been 2 weeks. At the meeting we learned the importance of planning and heard a bunch of different things from the assistants and President and Sister Bahr. Also President and Sister Bahr told us more about their family and showed us family pictures. 15 kids, that's definitely a lot of people in that family.
Later we went contacting again, and we talked to this homeless guy named Melvin. He seemed like a good guy but we weren't able to bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon because he doesn't really have a specific dwelling place. Later I went and tried contacting this guy, and with my nervousness, I just kept talking and talking and then his bus came and I wasn't able to leave him anything. I just gotta keep practicing I guess. That night we had a great lesson with Moises and he said he was gonna start coming to church again which was awesome to hear. Unfortunately he didn't make it yesterday but we'll keep working with him. We also contacted this one guy from Ireland that was pretty interesting. He was trying to give us tips and stuff, but he was a pretty nice guy, I don't think he'll have much interest at the moment.
We weren't able to see Jonathen this week but we did visit and teach his mom about the importance of sharing the Gospel. It's really hard to get appointments to not fall through. Alot of people just aren't there. We also went and visited Hermana Arranda again and while we were waiting there was this old lady that was talking to us and asked Elder Yates if he was married. Of course he said no, but then she said, "I want to marry you." It was pretty funny and Elder Yates was just like "Let's do it".
Also a new commandment for the mission is to get 20 minutes of cardio outside 6 days a week. So we've been playing basketball and some soccer and I think today we're going to go play soccer on a turf field. Supposedly it has a really good view of New York so I'll be sure to get some good pictures.
Anyway to finish out the week, we went out contacting again and there was one guy that when I started walking towards him was yelling "No, No" and then he just said a bunch of stuff but said that he respects what we do. As we were contacting into the night we came up to these two hispanic guys and one of them saw us and he was like "The police", and he got on his bike and rode away. Then we ended up having a pretty good contact with his friend. A few minutes later we were walking down the block and there was this guy chillin on the stoop with his hood on. First he asked if we had some change, and then he started talking about how he wanted to make a change in his life. We talked to him for a good while and he talked to us about some pretty crazy stuff that's happened to him. His girlfriend was also out there with him. Later that night we had a lesson with Raul, and I had the opportunity to lead the lesson. My spanish is starting to get a little better but there is still a ton that I need to work on.
On Saturday as we were leaving the park for the morning we backed up to pull out of our spot, and then all of a sudden we got side swiped by another car. It wasn't that bad of a crash, but car crashes are never fun. None of us got hurt and I think it was hard for the other people to really see us because of the way the sun was. Later that day we went on a blitz in Bayonne. Which is where all of us in the zone go to one area and just contact and knock. My first house where I was to contact went pretty well. I didn't know till after the contact that the guy was Jewish. Which is interesting because when I pulled out a pass a long card to give him I meant to give him a Book of Mormon card, but I accidentally pulled out a card about receiving the "Finding Faith in Jesus Christ" card which I guess in this situation was really the best card for him. Elder Yates had to go do a baptismal interview so I was on an exchange with Elder De Leon Blanco. All of a sudden it was like I was the Senior Companion because we were working in mine and Elder Yates area. It was a good experience for me to decide on where to go, and and one apartment I had a good Spanish contact with a little help of course. It's cool how I'm starting to be able to understand native a little bit better.
Yesterday was a great day at church and I had the opportunity to give my first Sacrament talk of the mission. I don't really know if the people understood me, but it seemed like reading was a lot harder than just talking and bearing testimony. My talk was on the importance of prayer and repentance in my life. Later we did some more contacting and it's interesting the diversity of the people. We contacted this teenager and his brother and sister from Egypt. And we hear people speaking Arabic sometimes too. We have also contacted a guy or two that only speak Vietnamese. And last night we had another contact with a guy from the Phillipines. They come from all over here and it's just pretty cool to hear where different people are from.
Well that's basically my week, and this week should go really well. I have an exchange with Elder Guinto tomorrow and that will be cool to see his missionaries insights and everything. There is also a lot of leadership trainings this week that the trainees are going to as well so I'm sure I'll learn a lot.
Thanks again for all the support and it's good to hear from all you. As the saying I've heard goes, "The Church is True, and the Book is Blue" and I won't finish the rest of it. But that's really what it's all about. The Gospel is true and I'm glad I get to try and bring the happiness that the gospel has given me, and share it with others. I also know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and we can receive so much counsel and comfort in reading it. I know that we can all become better people through the Atonement and that each day we can start new to try and be more and more perfect. Although missionary work gets hard I'm glad to be here and I'm learning a lot. I still have a lot to learn to become a really good missionary, but I'm learning and it will come through time. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love all of you!
Sincerely, Elder Hicks
You are amazing Elder! Keep up the good work. The people of New Jersey are blessed to have you there. I love you.
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