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!
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