Anyway, this week was actually pretty great for us. Probably our best week of the transfer. We went and saw Ider again this week from Newton, and he was their and ready to listen. We watched the Restoration with him and I thought the Spirit was definitely in the room. We talked to him about it afterwards and we asked him something like, "How can you know that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet?" or something like that or just mentioned it, and he agreed that he was a prophet. We decided to hard commit him to baptism with a date and everything, and he accepted. February 5th is our goal, which is really exciting, but sadly I won't be here for it, or for Freddy's either. But I think that the next Elder that takes my place and Elder Harrington will have an awesome transfer coming up. Elder Harrington and I have found some pretty good people lately that I think have a lot of potential which is awesome.
This week we went to see Patricia and Wilson's family. We went and taught the Plan of Salvation using a cool puzzle thing, and we brought Hermano Haro from the ward who is a patriarch. He truly backed us up, and really did a lot of things that would be hard for me and Elder Harrington. So he basically told this family that we don't worship Saints, and that The Church of Christ should be named after Christ and not have some other name. He said that their are only 2 churches, the Church of Christ and the Church of the Devil. He also brought down the belief of infant baptism, and talked about how it says nothing about infant baptism in the bible. So hopefully this will help Patricia and Wilson understand better, but hopefully Hermano Haro wasn't too bold. He explained parts of the plan really well though. I guess we'll see how they progress.
Yesterday we went to Edwin's cousins and taught her. We talked about the plan with her, and she sent a text to Edwin after the lesson that said something like "Thank's so much for coming, and I'm excited for the next lesson, and to learn how to pray better." Which I think is a pretty good sign from her as well.
The snow hasn't been too bad. We got a lot of it on Tuesday night, that they actually made us do our car fast day on Wednesday. The roads aren't so bad anymore. The weather gets super cold here. One or two times this week when we went running in the morning, I would wear my neck wrap/face mask, and all the moisture that I would breath out would like freeze on my eyebrows, and I actually started getting a little ice on my eyelashes. It's all good though, I'm glad we've had a car for this transfer. Who knows if I'll be a walking or driving Elder next transfer?
But yeah, things are going pretty good here. It's sad to be leaving Dover, but also kind of exciting to move to new places and meet new people. I think it would be good for me to get an older more experienced companion so that I can improve my Spanish more and my teaching skills as well. I guess we'll just see where I go next week.
I'm sorry that this letter can't be so detailed, but we're trying to keep our writing time under an hour writing both our families and President Bahr.
I guess the spiritual thought, or something awesome that I found in the scriptures this week would be from the book of First Nephi. So we all read that Lehi's family had to leave Jerusalem and all the things that they had to go to the promised land. Laman and Lemuel murmur alot and want to go back to where they are comfortable and have the things they need. During the whole time they are being led to a far better place, but they just don't really trust in the Lord. Nephi of course does all the things that the Lord commands him, and bears with patience all his afflictions. They reach the promised land after being counseled by the Lord on how to build the ship.
So how can this overall story relate to missionary work, or life in general? Well... as a missionary we leave our own "Jerusalems" where we are used to life there and have everything we need. At times we may want to go back because we are not use to the things out in the "Wilderness". We may murmur about different experiences, and may sometimes be blind to the fact that the Lord is really leading us to the promised land. The Lord is leading us as missionaries to really become better people, and to have better lives. We just need to be as Nephi and bear with patience, all of our afflictions. And then we'll see, that the Lord truly did lead us to the promised land.
Just as I've talked about in the past, the scripture from Matthew that says something like, "He that shall save his life shall lose it, and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it." We are on a Journey as missionaries, in the Lords work, trying to do his will, and trying to become better people. If we truly lose ourselves in the work, and forget about ourselves, we shall in turn find our lives. So we just need to trust in the Lord and realize that everything that is happening to us is truly for our benefit and learning, and that the Lord is trying to lead us to the promised land. And I know that if we follow the Lord, we truly will be happy, even if life gets tough sometimes. Thanks for all your Love and support. The Gospel is True!!
Love all of you!!!
Love,
Elder Hicks
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