This Thanksgiving I don't really know what we're doing. We've got some possible invitations but nothing really for sure. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
So as I told you last week, we were going to go play soccer at a field with a great few of New York City. Anyway, we had a really fun soccer game there with an awesome view of New York City. The field was like right on the Hudson. And this week we are going to have a Turkey Bowl Zone 1 vs Zone 2 at that park on Thursday which should definitely be a blast.
So this week I had the opportunity to do an Exchange with one of the Zone Leaders Elder Guinto, because Elder Yates was on one with Elder Calderoni. But it was a pretty great experience. It was kinda weird to spend the day in the English Program, but it sure is easier for me to express myself in English. So we went to this apartment and we rang the bell but nobody answered. We were about to leave but I looked in Elder Calderoni's planner (which I had for the day) and he had a different apartment number written. So we went and checked that apartment, and it was the wrong person, but the guy let us in to share a message anyway. His name was Kareem I'm pretty sure. He was a really nice guy, and he was baptist. He had talked to missionaries before I believe, but I'm happy he was willing to let us in. We taught him the first lesson and he seems like he has a lot of potential. He really knows his Bible, but he just had a problem with the need for prophets today. He was using scriptures about how the Holy Ghost would be our guide, and that what would the point of the Holy Ghost be if we had prophets. I'll probably never see him again, but I think Elder Guinto and Elder Calderoni will be able to help him understand the need for a prophet.
Later that night we contacted this guy who sorta believed that God is really just made by man, Like an Idea or something like that. Or that God is inside of all of us, and is eternal as he is passed down through posterity. Not really Ideas I had heard of before but he wasn't a bad guy.
We didn't spend a ton of time out and about this week because on wednesday, thursday and friday, we had leadership training with all the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers, and trainees. I was grateful for the opportunity to go and learn more about being a good missionary. While at this training we learned more about Committing people, Planning, and just a whole lot of different stuff. We got to practice by doing roleplays, and I got good feedback and got to give feedback with the different people I worked with. It was a really great experience, and hopefully I can be a better missionary because of it.
I have not had a lot of luck with cars since I've been here. I told you about that car that scraped us last week. Well this week I was walking at night time with Elder Yates and we crossed the cross walk while the car there was stopped. As I was walking I waved to the passenger and all of a sudden the car started pulling forward. First it was like a prank that you're friend would do to just mess with you, but they just went a little farther than a friend would. Then for a second I thought it was like a hate crime against missionaries or something like that, so I kinda got hit, or bumped by a car this week. The car basically just clipped my legs a little bit, but luckily the guy stopped. As I kept walking he opened the door and asked if I was ok, and that he didn't see me. I'm fine though, it's all good.
So we went to Hermana Dolores's this week and we got the opportunity to talk to her grandson Joseph who has been to church quite a few times and has had some baptismal dates I believe, but he never ended up being baptized. We went over and Elder Yates was teaching more about the Book of Mormon. Joseph talked about how he was really happy and felt peace when he found out he was going to get to move on to be a sophmore. Elder Yates used a really awesome analogy. He just said that lets pretent freshmen year is being alive, and then sophmore year is after you die. He then asked Joseph about how he would feel if he died, and realized that he didn't pass. Then he said that that is why we were there. Really to help him pass. Me typing it probably doesn't sound as good as I thought it was, but you can sorta see it I guess. Then Elder Yates invited Joseph to truly read and pray to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. He said that he would. The next day we called him up and Elder Yates talked to him about how he felt after he read and prayed. He said he felt goosebumps, and Elder Yates asked him what that means. Joseph said, "that it's real" (the Book of Mormon), and then he asked him what that means about the church, and he said something like "It's real too", and then he asked him what that means he needs to do, and Joseph said "come to church", and Elder Yates said that that's a start. We were happy to hear that he received an answer to his prayer, and this Sunday he came to church. We'll see how he progresses, and I think we're going to try and commit him to baptism this week.
This week we also met someone really cool named Josepha (I think that's how you spell it). But originally we were just walking and either she waved at us or we waved at her, I don't really remember, but she waved for a little bit longer than usual I guess and Elder Yates asked if we should go over and talk to her. We decided to and she ended up being a really cool lady. She was taught a little bit about the Book of Mormon and a few other things, and we just had a lesson right there in front of her house. We commited her to read from the introduction and then we left. We had a return appointment with her the next day. We went over, and she gave us some snacks and we started teaching her more about the book of mormon cause she wasn't able to read from the introduction. We read some of the paragraphs with her and then we explained a little bit about what they mean. Elder Yates asked her the if she comes to know if these things are true, if she would be baptized. She said Yes, but when we tried setting a date, she said she wasn't ready to set a date at the time. But that's still really exciting and hopefully she continues progressing. Elder Yates was telling me that she was also saying that the Book of Mormon is true, but I don't think she's prayed about it, she just knows it is which is really great.
So this week was pretty great indeed.
The Gospel is True! I love all of you, and I'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Elder Hicks
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