FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

Everything is going pretty great here in New Jersey more or less. It's a little tougher being away from home around this time of year, but this is a great work, and has major importance.

Our calls this week can be up to 45 minutes, but probably preferably between 35 and 40. I really don't know our Christmas day schedule yet. There's a possibility that me and Elder Harringtons first baptism will be this Christmas. We'll see though. I'll be sure to call sometime in between 12:00 and 5:00 your time.

So this week has had it's ups and downs, just like life in general. Last Monday we went and sorta had an FHE with these people named Guille and Asuncion. Both of them are members, but their two kids aren't. The daughter is a maybe for baptism, but the son said no. The reason is, is that his real dad has a different religion, and I heard that he really likes our church but he likes his dads too, and he doesn't really want to dissappoint his dad by joining our church. Really good family though. Later that night we went and taught Fausta about Tithing and the Word of Wisdom. I love how there is such great member support here. We have been able to have a lot more member present lessons here in Dover. There are 2 awesome guys named Lucio, and Jacobo who really help us out with our lessons because me and Elder Harrington still don't have the language down where we can express ourselves the way we would want.

On Tuesday we had a good district meeting about the importance of involving members in our work. And how really the perfect formula for missionary work would be the Members to do the Finding, the Missionaries to do the Teaching, and the Members to do the Baptism. Unfortunately it doesn't always work like that, but member missionary work can be a huge asset to the missionaries.

Wednesday was a pretty great day, although we didn't have a lot of time to work because we had an All Mission Conference that lasted basically the whole day. We heard great talks from the Assistants about really focusing on our purpose. I really liked one analogy that one of them gave about how Jesus Christ told 2 apostles to follow him and he would make them fishers of men. Then they dropped their nets and followed. He then talked about how we still have some nets that we need to drop. It was definitely a great talk for me to hear, because I think there still may be some nets that I'm am having a hard time letting go.

Another one of the things I liked was when Elder Litzenberger shared a quote about worrying about girls back home. It was something like, "Every year we get a new batch of girls, and the new batch is just as good as the old one." That was a pretty good quote that I thought was useful. We heard about being more Charitable from Sister Bahr and then we must both Serve and Be Served.

After that we had an amazing lunch provided by the ward. The gym was set up really nice with little bags of candy at each seat, and some christmas trees up on the stage. After eating we took an all mission picture on the stage. It was definitely difficult to get all set up because of the hundreds of missionaries that were there, but I'll get a copy of the picture sometime and you'll see it I'm sure. We then heard a musical number from a lady and from another guy who plays the part of Hyrum Smith in the Joseph Smith movie at Temple Square. It was an excellent number for sure.

After that we got to hear the testimony and story of Billie Johnson who is an African Pioneer I guess you would call it. It told us of all these amazing experiences he had, and visions he had. It was an excellent talk. Later that night our zones got different christmas songs, and it was our job to come up with new lyrics that applied to the mission. We got "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth." It was pretty tough to work with and our song wasn't super awesome, but some of the other missionaries did really well, and were way funny.

Later that night we went and had a lesson with Albero (the one guy that was almost baptized but had some issues with the temple). It was a pretty good lesson, but Albero is a pretty intelligent guy and he's pretty set on his ways. He likes our church though, and respects what we do, but I guess the temple thing gets a little confusing. On our next lesson we are going to bring a member who is a temple sealer in Manhattan. That should help out a lot.

On Thursday we had an awesome planning session. It was also our walking day too which is always a little tougher, especially since it get really cold here in New Jersey. It must be the humidity, but it can be pretty brutal especially when it's windy. It makes me all the more grateful though that we have a car. So usually I have my coat, beanie, 2 pairs of gloves, and by neck wrap on and covering most of my face. So sometimes I look like a ninja walking around, but you've gotta stay warm somehow right? We had another lesson with Fausta that night about the Plan of Salvation, but only did a part of it. The plan of salvation can definitely be a lot to take in.

Friday was a really rough day for us. Alot of things were falling through, and we had to get our oil changed in the car. We eventually got a lesson in with Edwin that night, but we didn't get much else accomplished.

Saturday was a pretty great day though. We had sorta a finding miracle. We were going to go check out some formers or potentials on a certain road. We went and knocked one house but got no answer. Then we walked back over the street where our car was to talk to a guy setting up his christmas light stuff. Originally we went over just to ask him if any of his neighbors spoke spanish, but to my suprise at least, he told us that he speaks spanish. We found out his name is Patricio. We taught him the first lesson outside and he seemed pretty interested. We both bore our testimonies, and Patricio was telling us how he was a Catholic by birth but that he isn't really happy with his religion. We ended with a prayer and then he went back inside. As we were in the car he came back out and knocked on our car door. He offered us some bread that they had just made. Unfortunately we had to go, but I think that's a good sign. We'll see what happens with him. Later we went to the ward Christmas party and the missionaries were suppose to give a musical number. There were 4 of us, but Elder Holmes was part of some nativity story so then it was just us 3. We sang a spanish hymn acapella style which was definitely something I had never done before. It was alright, but still a good experience.

Yesterday was a really good day as well. We went to our PEC meeting in the morning, and then at church me and Elder Harrington got some gifts from the Young Women's and another family in the ward. I got a pretty cool tie as well. The Branch is really nice here, and hopefully we can make it become a ward pretty soon.

After church we had the opportunity to go to a baptism. It was of an 8 year old, but he was living in a less active family. His dad did the baptism which was awesome. I could really feel the spirit at the baptism and it has been awhile since I've been to a baptism, so I really enjoyed watching it. It just helps you think of your purpose more, and helps you see what your goal is for your investigators. We had one guy who Elder Harrington and Elder Walch (His former comp) used to teach come to Church and come to the baptism which is a really great sign. He lives with members which I think helps. His name is Freddy and he's probably in his 40's. Hopefully we can start teaching him again and help him come unto Christ. We watched the Church Christmas movie and it was pretty great.

Later we went to go see Carlos who was a referral that lived really far away. Suprisingly, he was already a member that got baptized in August. He was a way nice guy though, and we are going to try and help him be more active. The problem I think with retention around here, is that lot's of people have to work on Sundays.

After seeing Carlos we went and saw Fausta again and reviewed Joseph Smith with her. She had her baptism set for the 26th of this month, but we got bad news. She has to work next Sunday, even though her boss told her that she could have Sundays off after christmas. I guess Satan works to keep people from getting baptized. We learned that Fausta's co-worker is in the hospital and so they need Fausta's help and that's why she has to work. But... Hopefully we can still have the baptism this week. When she found out that we could do the baptism a different day this week, and even on Christmas when she didn't have work, she seemed pretty happy. It's not exactly set for Christmas day, but we're hoping that we can do it then. That would be a pretty great Christmas, to have our first baptism, and to change someone's life. We were going to have Christmas Dinner with the branch president that night.

Tonight we have a FHE planned which should be pretty great and this week will be a good week. We are probably going to go to the temple on Wednesday, but that takes from our next P-day, so I don't know when the next time is that I'll be writing.

I'm excited to hear from you all, but it will be hard after the call to have 6 months before I call again. It's ok though because this is the place to be. I'm learning how to make decisions, how to plan, how to help people. how to truly love people, how to listen to people (which I definitely have had a problem with in the past), how to take care of myself and not call home everyday. I'm continually trying to put down my nets and get both feet in the mission field. I've noticed that as I'm doing that, I'm a lot happier. It gets hard for me to not think about home or life after or before my mission. But I know that I can be happier here as I truly focus on the work and serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

Our zone goal has been about becoming a more consecrated missionary, and I think the things I'm learning in studies and stuff are helping me do that. There is a lot more of myself that I need to put on the Alter of Sacrifice to truly become a consecrated missionary. I'm working towards staying more focused, and not letting myself think of home and family. It's been tough, but I know with the Lord I can do it. One talk we were reading said that we need to be as thoroughbred horses with blinders where all we see is track and the finish. I know I have weaknesses as a missionary, but as Ether 12:27 talks about, with the Lord our weaknesses can be made strong.

I love the Gospel, and I love all the new things and insights I gain during personal study. I love this holiday when we can truly focus on the life of Jesus Christ. Just think how happy we would be all year, if we took our focus of Jesus Christ during the Holiday Season, into the other 11 months. Christmas doesn't have to be 1 day of the year, but can, and probably should be 365 days a year. When we continually think of Christ and the example he set for us. When we think about the impact his gospel has had on our lives and the happiness we receive from the knowledge of the plan of salvation, and the knowledge of the atonement and repentence. I know this is an important work and can truly bless those I serve, and can make me into the person I am to become. I just have to do what's necessary to let this mission make that transformation in me. The Gospel is true and I'm thankful for all of you and your support.

Have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!
Love all of you!!!

Talk to you on Saturday!

I've been transferred to . .

Alright, so now I'm working in Dover New Jersey. It's so different from Jersey City. It's a lot more residential, sorta like a place in between Lehi and Provo. So it reminds me a little more of home and is a little more normal which is pretty great. My new companions name is Elder Harrington, and we are one of the youngest companionships in the mission. Our New Address is 309 Washington Ave O - 10, Dover, NJ, 07801.

They did something pretty crazy this last transfer. They made 3 companionships utilizing people from our zone in the MTC, so we are all really close in age. There is me and Elder Harrington who is just 1 transfer ahead of me. Then Elder Buess and Elder Stuki. Elder Buess is one transfer ahead and Elder Stuki came with me, and then there is Elder Maughn and Elder Boyes who were companions in the MTC and now they are back together. It's pretty crazy, but this is a really great learning opportunity. Neither of us have our trainers to rely on anymore, so now we have to really push our Spanish and everything. It should be a pretty great transfer.

So on Tuesday I said goodbye to Elder Yates and took some cool pics by graffitti, and then we went off to transfer conference. I was called as the Junior companion and the "Driver". Yep, we are in a driving area, and I got chosen to be the driver. I was pretty scared when I heard that because I haven't driven in awhile and I didn't know what Dover was gonna be like, but it's not that hard to drive around here. I'm just happy we have a car, because it has been really cold lately.

On Wednesday we had our first zone meeting here which was awesome. One of our goals is to really consecrate ourselves to the work, and so now we are reading different things for personal study to really better consecrate ourselves. After that we went to fudruckers which was pretty good, but also pretty pricy. We talked to some pretty cool people, and we have this nice guy named Edwin that comes out with us as well.

On Thursday was our car fast and also weekly planning. After planning for the week, we had to go hike this big hill like over logs and leaves and everything because Elder Harrington said it would take like 20 minutes off our walking time. It was pretty cold out there but we talked to one guy on the street who said he was really close to getting baptized but then he got offended when he couldn't go through the temple with his son, so we'll have to try and meet with him and help him solve some problems.

It's really different here. It's a lot easier to find hispanics, and it's a lot easier to knock doors. And the people are a lot nicer too.

On Friday we went and did service for a man named Uruguay, who was actually from... Uruguay. After we did some service he had us come in and we shared a message and ate this way good hot chocolate with a bunch of cookies. We taught a pretty good amount of lessons, and went to one of our investigators named Fausta. We taught her about the 10 commandments and had Jacobo (a member) there with us to help us out. We had to change her baptismal date to the 26th of Dec because she has work on the 19, but she said that after that, she won't have to work on sundays anymore, which is pretty amazing.

Saturday was a pretty rough day for us because a lot of things were falling through. We talked to some good people and did some good knocking though. On Saturday I also wrote a Christmas Talk for Sunday, which I didn't end up having to give which is a bummer. But it's pretty cool how it's so diverse here. I've like talked to 3 Uruguayans and there is a lot of Colombians here.

Without our trainers, me and Elder Harrington have really had to get better at Spanish, and I feel like mine is improving a little bit each day. I still need to be diligent and learn a lot more. But Sunday was a pretty good day. We had church in our building. Yeah it's just a building because we are only a branch right now, but are 4 members away from making it into a ward. Once we get that, they can start building the chapel. So it's something to work toward for sure. Anyway, in church we had the Primary program which was pretty great. Our Branch President knows Spanish but his daughter doesn't so there has to be a translator each week talking into a little headset and then they can hear it on their headphones. I got to do that for a little while yesterday and translate for her, but I missed a lot of words and sometimes I just said a word and paused until I understood something else they said, so it probably sounded really funny, but it was a good experience for sure.

Then Last night we had our Christmas devotional in Union City. It was a far drive, but it was great for sure. It was a wonderful spiritual devotional.

Everything is good here. The transfer was definitely different and I'm still trying to get used to the change. I like it here in Dover though and hopefully we can have a lot of good success.

The gospel is true. This week I have been reading more about God's love for us, and it has been pretty great. God really does love us so much and wants to bless us, and it's so important that we love God. I was also reading this talk today from Elder Bednar that talked about how we need to pray, not only with the intent to express, but to act. Our prayers shouldn't just be checklists of things we want, but we should have the intent to act to try and make those things happen. He said we also need to persevere after the trial of our faith, and then conform our will to God's will in blessings.

I'm learning a lot here, and I'm excited to talk to you soon.
Love you all!!

Goodbye Jersey City!

Yep, I'm am leaving Jersey City this week. Elder Yates and I got a call from the assistants on Saturday saying that we were being doubled out of the area. Meaning that both of us are leaving Jersey City. I don't know if they are going to combine our Journal Square Area with The Heights area or what will happen, but yesterday we worked on the area book and wrote things down about the area that will help the next missionaries know what is going on and who has the greatest potential. So... I guess I gotta start packing today and I have no idea where my future destination will be. Elder Yates has been an awesome trainer and companion, but I'm excited to have some change and learn to grow more.

This week has been a pretty good week for sure. Last P-day we played some Baskeball which I always love and then had pizza. We've also been playing soccer a lot of the mornings which has been pretty fun, but it's starting to get really cold outside.

On Wednesday Elder Yates made me the senior companion and I was in charge of planning the night before of what we were going to do the next day, and then carrying out those plans. Planning is harder than I thought it was cause you need to try and schedule people in at times where they are close to other people so that we aren't walking all over the place. Wednesday it was crazy stormy. We left the house and it was super rainy and windy. There was a bunch of broken umbrellas on the ground and in trash cans. We walked to Rauls and by the time I got there I was pretty much soaked. Silly me I didn't wear my rain coat.

It's all good though cause as the day went on we found some great new investigators. We had decided to check up on some formers at the same building as Oscar lived at (Which we still haven't talked to him since) but somebody let us into the building and we went an knocked the door. Leonal answered and we talked to him a bit. Missionaries had been over before but I guess had stopped because they weren't keeping the committments.

At the door Elder Yates asked Leonal some questions and it turns out that Leonal believes the Book of Mormon is true, and the Joseph Smith is a true prophet. Then Elder Yates started talking about how Jesus Christ was baptized and asked Leonal if he thought he should be baptized or something like that. Leonal said yeah, and then Elder Yates asked what church it should be in, and then he said our church. Then Leonal invited us in and invited his friends to come up and listen. We couldn't really have a lesson cause they were all laughing really hard and joking around, but I'm glad that we got to meet them.

On Thursday we had detox day and weekly planning. So we were home for most of the day but it was good to clean up and get more organized. We moved the beds around and stuff, and I organized my study area to make it more efficient and then we set up the Christmas tree that we had up in one of the closets. It's a white christmas tree so it's a little different, but it's better than no christmas tree. And it looks pretty cool with the colored lights shining off the white pine needles.



Later we went to the Garcia Family's and watched By Small and Simple Things. I can really feel the spirit while watching that movie. Then I had the opportunity to give one of their daughters a blessing. It was in English, but still a great opportunity.

On Friday we got to go to Leonals again, and this time his sister Patricia was there and two other friends. We taught them the first lesson and taught them all how to pray. We took turns trying to pray going around in a circle, and it was a pretty good lesson except that they were still laughing a lot and joking around. Patricia asked us if we had girlfriends and then was saying that she wanted to marry a missionary. She told Elder Yates to call her after his mission. Then later she asked if she could touch my hair. It was kinda weird.

Saturday was another one of those days where you wonder what you're going to eat cause you don't have a ton, and then boom the Lord just provides.

We started the morning off by going to the Flores Family's and they fed us some Tomales and some way good Mexican Hot Chocolate or something like that. It was pretty spicy food though. After that we went to Union City because Elder Yates had to have a meeting with the other Distric Leader and the Zone Leaders.
When we returned from that meeting we went to Glisseds house. (Oh yeah, earlier in the week we went to Glisseds to talk and she wasn't there, but there was a guy next door that came to the door and got really angry at us, and wasn't a fan of us.) So when we returned later in the week we told Glissed and she had us come inside so the guy wouldn't get mad at us again. There was a problem though because we aren't supposed to go into houses with a women and no other guy so as we sat in there she gave us food and we had to eat really fast and then try to get out as quick as we could.
After that, Dave took us to get pizza and by this point I was really stuffed.

Later we went to Leonal's again and they were going to make us Mangu, which I wasn't super excited for because I had already eaten so much throughout the day, but luckily Patricia was gone and so we didn't end up making it. We got to their apartment and Leonal and Patricia were gone, but Jonathen (one of the friends) was there and we taught him a part of the plan of salvation and about the questions of where we came from and why we're here.. He seems a lot more mature than the others and takes it a lot more seriously I think. Later though, Leonal and his cousin came in, and they just started laughing and joking and stuff so it was hard to keep having a good lesson. But Elder Yates gave some homework and Leonal started reading like right on the spot. I think he has a lot of great potential, and I think Jonathen does too.

Then that night we went to a reception at the church building. It was kinda a weird place to be because they were playing loud music (some of the Backstreet Boys, and Hannah Montana) We did get to talk to this one friend of the brides though and got to give him a Book of Mormon which was great. His name was Liem and he seems like a really awesome guy and sings in churches a lot. When we were about to leave they gave me a plate of food and thus my day of being fed a lot was over. It was a good day for sure.



Sunday was a good day! I played the opening hymn again in Sacrament and it wasn't a great experience. There was just some confusion. So I played the Intro and then started the first verse but nobody was singing except for Elder Yates and maybe some other people, so I played the first verse and I think people thought it was just the intro, and then we started. At the end I wasn't sure if we had sung all the verses or not and then yeah, it was just kinda confusing.

Later we went to go see Hermana Aranda with Elder De La Cruz and Elder Flake. It was great having all of us there and we shared spiritual thoughts, she was given the sacrament, we sang, and then we took some pictures.



Then we went home and worked on the area book and then went to an appointment at Hermana Dolores. She made us fish and this other shrimp stuff. We took some pictures with them and then went off to the fireside.



I met a lot of great people here in Jersey City that I'm going to miss. We found a lot of great people here near the end, and hopefully the next missionaries can work with them and truly invite them to come closer to Christ. I've learned better how to love the people I'm serving, and although I'll miss them, I'm excited to move onto something new. And who knows, I could possibly return to Jersey City in a few months or a year. It has been a great opportunity to serve in Jersey City though.

The Gospel is true, and I know my Heavenly Father loves me and loves all of his children. I know that if we are obedient, he truly will bless us. I know the power of prayer is real, and it is the way we can truly communicate with our Father in Heaven. I know that the Gospel can make us better people and that it can help us get through times of adversity. I know that through the Atonement we can receive remission of our sins and feel clean again, and truly become better people. I know this is a great work, and there is a lot of work to be done. I love the Gospel and I know that President Monson and the Apostles are called of God. I'm grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge it gives us about the purpose of life.

Thank you for your love and support.
I Love You All,
Love Elder Hicks

Thanksgiving over and on to Christmas!

Letter: November 29, 2010



So last Monday we were supposed to go and do a family home evening with this lady who stopped us in the street who was a member. When we got over to her house she wasn't there and didn't answer her phone. Oh yeah, ok so you remember that Jon guy I told you about who we contacted and he said that he was wanting to make a change and this was it? Well yeah, so I asked the English Elders about him, and guess what? Fake Number? I had some real hopes for him, but I guess those things just happen sometimes.
But we did get to go to the Correa Family that night and have an FHE with them. We watched the Special Witnesses DVD where it has all the Apostles and Prophet bear testimony of the Gospel. I loved watching it, and you could really feel the spirit.


I had a really great learning experience this week. So Elder Yates went on Exchanges last Tuesday and left me to run our Area with an English Elder that is just a transfer ahead of me. So really we were just two greenies basically and I was the only one who knew Spanish. So it was kinda my first experience as senior companion in the field. So we went to our scheduled appointments, and a lot of the time and just had to shake my head and say yeah when the people would talk to me. I could understand some of what they were saying but not all of it. It was also a good opportunity to learn my area, because usually I just follow Elder Yates everywhere, but now I had to look on the map of where we needed to go, and try to find certain streets.

We went to Hermana Arranda's and we decided to sing an opening song like always. But Elder Yates is the one who has the voice in the Companionship. So we sang but Elder Tadd (My English Comp for the day) couldn't really see the words and so he was just kinda mumbling... and yeah, let's just say it wasn't the best performance ever. Later during finding time we contacted some good people and looked up some former investigators. We were walking and we saw this one guy but just kept walking. We decided to walk back and started talking to him about the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I read parts of the introduction with him and then gave him the copy that I had with me. We said a closing prayer and he said that we could maybe try back sometime in December because he is a really busy guy.

We also had a lesson with Moises and we taught from the talk of President Uchtdorfs talk about Simplifying your Life. We talked about developing 4 key relationships 1. with God 2. With our family 3. With our Fellowman 4. With ourselves. It was a really great lesson and I could feel the spirit. This was also a good day for me to test and work on my Spanish. Definitely a good growing experience.

We went and talked to Joseph again this week and talked to him about now that he had received an answer he knew what he had to do. We talked about baptism, but we didn't push it too hard, because I think that was his problem last time, is that the other missionaries were pushing it too much. Elder Yates invited him to pray that night and ask Heavenly Father, "What do I do now?" and then wait for an answer. We haven't gotten to talk to him about it yet, but I sure hope he got a sincere answer.



Thanksgiving was pretty great this year. Sure it wasn't home, but it was still pretty fun. That day marked exactly 3 months since I've been on my mission. Pretty crazy huh? Ok so it's only 3 months but whatever. Anyway, so we had an awesome turkey bowl with zone 1 vs zone 2. We went and played at some highschool field with 2 different games going at the beginning and then 1 game with the whole field later. It was a lot of fun to play football again. We were there for like 3 hours. Later we went to Daves house. The Dave that took us grocery shopping at the beginning of the Transfer. He made turkey and stuffing and all this delicious food. I filled myself up for sure. Sadly Dave had to go to work so he cooked the food and then bounced, but we stayed and talked with one of his roommates Timmy, and one of Timmy's friends.

This week we got to go see a guy named Hermano Juan. He got baptized like 6 months ago or something and doesn't have very good hearing but he is such an awesome guy. We taught him a few times this week, and one of the times as we were leaving Elder Yates told him that I wanted to give him a hug. He seemed pretty happy and then gave me a hug. Really cool guy. Later we went to go see Moises again and I was on an exchange with Elder Calderoni because Elder Guinto and Elder Yates had to go do interviews, but after looking and looking up and down Laidlaw Ave, we finally found Moises's house. We got to meet his daughter which was pretty cool. We taught about helping Moises get to the point where he could baptize his daughter. It was a really great lesson, and Elder Calderoni really inspired me to be a better missionary. He also gave me some tips on learning spanish because he had to learn English and so he just told me some of the things he did, like doing personal study Book of Mormon in Spanish. I've been doing that lately with my English out at the same time, and I think it has helped out.

We had another good Sunday yesterday. I made pancakes for my first time, they were ok, but not even close to as good as moms. We went to church and I was playing some prelude and then played the opening song for Sacrament. It was an epic fail for me. I just get nervous playing in front of people. I was playing from the simplified hymns too, but I just kept messing up and played like 1 note at a time. I definitely need more practice, but I didn't play anymore after that. We also had a primary program yesterday which was fun to see.

Yesterday we went and taught Hermana Aranda and while going there we met this guy named Luis. He speaks spanish and English and he seems like a genuine guy. He told us that he would love for us to come over or something like that, and that before our appointment next Sunday that we should just call him on Friday to make sure that he's going to be around. Later last night we went to Moises's again. Moises's mom has been inactive for awhile and she usually doesn't stay around when we teach. Most of the time she only stays for a few minutes and then walks to the back room. But lately she been staying longer and longer. She and Elder Yates really get along well. But yesterday Elder Yates actually got her to open up a little and we got to talk about gospel things with her. She left after awhile, but I think it is definite progress and Elder Yates told her what his goals were with them as a missionary. It was a great lesson for sure.

The Gospel is True. I heard Elder Yates talking about with a contact that we always say that the Gospel is going to bless peoples lives, but we never say really how. But he told him that the gospel will allow him to make the changes to really have a better life and be a better person. I think that's really true. The gospel does change us and wants to make us do better. And as we strive to be better, I think we find that we are a lot happier. And the Gospel truly can bring us happiness in those ways. And when we are obedient to the commandments, God truly will bless us.
Thank you all, I'm thankful for all of you and your support.

Love You!
Happy Christmas!
Talk to you in about a Month!!

Love Elder Hicks!