The world keeps turning and I'm . . .

Staying!!!!!! Yep, I'm staying in Union City for a 4th Transfer, can you believe it? I used to get transferred every transfer and now I'm finally sticking around for awhile. Elder High is staying as well, so we'll at least be together for one more. First time I haven't had to adjust to a new companion as well.

But yeah, I don't know if it was the same in the west, but supposedly last Saturday at 6 was supposed to be the end of the world. I guess some guy did some researching and predicting, and it was supposed to all be over, but alas... That didn't happen. I've had a few people ask me about the world ending and what I thought about it, but thanks to the knowledge of the Gospel, we don't have to worry so much about that kinda stuff.

This week turned out to be a really good week though. On Tuesday we had district meeting, and were so much obliged as to have a Hot Seat for Elder Davies, Elder LeBaron, and Elder Seymour, who have completed their 2 years as missionaries and will be headed home on Wednesday.

That was pretty great to hear their stories, and their funny moments, and even get advice. I really liked what Elder LeBaron said, about just forgetting yourself. That the times he was depressed on his mission is when he was thinking to much about himself. I guess the same would apply in the outside world, that as we become depressed, it may mean we are focusing to much on ourselves, and should be out trying to help and serve people.



Later that night we were in charge of YM/YW, but unfortunately I didn't get to teach really anything because I had to leave. But the good news with that is that I left to Confirm Fiorella and Samantha!! Finally! After like 6 weeks from their baptism, they were confirmed.

We also found a guy named Jesus that day, who accepted a baptismal commitment and has a date for the 19th (Although I'm not sure how solid that is) but we thought that it would be appropriate for him to be baptized by the recent convert Juan Bautista (John Baptist). So I guess we will see how that turns out.

Wednesday was a pretty miraculous day. The departing missionaries headed to their last temple trip, and Elder Hunt (From UC 30-49) came down to work with us, as well as someone we weren't expecting, Elder Pascual. So that day we had 4 missionaries working in our area, meaning we were able to do splits. The Lord really has plans for all this. So we decided to do splits and Elder Hunt and I headed to Hectors house for an appointment. At the same time, Elder High and Elder Pascual headed to a different appointment, that ended up falling through. We got into our appointment, and set another baptismal date with Hector's Mom which was pretty awesome. Elder High had a thought to go and check on a bomb referral we had received for this girl named Mariuxi from Ecuador. We had been trying to contact her all transfer, but the most we had ever gotten was her picking up, and saying she would need to call us back. We went by a few days earlier and talked to her husband who said that she was home on Sundays. Well, Mariuxi just happened to be home on that Wednesday, and had before been praying that the missionaries would come. Well that's just what happened. Elder High and Elder Pascual taught her a first, and she is a super prepared lady. She will be baptized, but the only problem will be getting her husbands consent because he is super Catholic. But we'll keep working with her for sure. We taught Noemi again, and are still trying to get her set with a date, although there is still some iceburg that is keeping her from committing.

On Thursday we went on exchanges, and I had the opportunity to work with Elder Seymour in our area. We taught the word of Wisdom to the English class, and had the opportunity to teach Christian and Trixi, which was good because Elder Seymour is the one that found them and referred them to us. We got them pretty excited to come to church, but they still haven't been able to come, mostly because of the pregnancy and work and everything.

On Friday we went to lunch at El Unico with our Ward Mission Leader, and then had a lesson with some members. We did a role-play with them to try and teach them how to invite their friends to learn about the gospel.

On Saturday we visited Ana again, and the first hour was spent discussing why we baptize the way we do, and why we confer the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. She's gonna be a tough one for sure. We also had the opportunity to go help this guy named John Janelli with some stuff he needed. He's a taxodermist, and has lots of animal skins, and other things that you see at the Bean Museum. He's a pretty nice guy, but he's super Catholic, speaks english, and doesn't really have interest in the message. Good guy though. We also helped him cut off part of a table, and as they finish cutting it with a Sawzall or whatever it's called (It's like a power tool saw) he wanted me to finsih it off. I was pretty scared to do it cause I didn't really know what I was doing. I pulled the trigger, and it was kinda like a little earthquake in my hand, but I guess you learn new things every day right?

On Sunday we had Stake conference (for like a bunch of stakes here in NJ) being broadcast from SLC, but unfortunately something was wrong with the transmission, so we watched part of it in English, with somebody translating, and then we lost all audio. So we didn't really get to enjoy it that much.


Then we come back to today. This will be a big transfer as we lose 14 Spanish missionaries, and gain 4, 2 of which are sisters. One area in the district had both Elders double out (Elder Davies is going home) and Elder Strong is going to another area. So it should be interesting to see who they put in, and how I can help them take control of that area. One of our zone leaders is leaving (Elder Lebaron), and another Missionary in the district is leaving (Elder Seymour). So the District will be different for sure with only 3 of the original 6 staying. Also, we might have a change in the housing situation because word on the street is that the Jersey City and Hoboken apartments are both being lost, and that puts a lot of missionaries out, so I'm pretty sure we'll be having some Elders moving in this transfer.

So that's about my week in a nutshell.

The Gospel is True!
Love you all so much!!!

Some people call it dirty, but I call it home!

Letter dated May 16, 2011

New Jersey is indeed a rainy place. I don't have a ton of time to write. We did end up having our service activity this morning, but it got cancelled soon after because of the rain, so basically we all just went to the Caldwell church, played some basketball and ate food. It was pretty fun, but definitely took a big chunk out of P-day.

This is the last week of the transfer, and I'll know whether I'm getting transferred or not next Sunday. What it is looking like, is that I'm not going to be transferred, but who knows, weird things have happened to me before when it comes down to transfers.

Otherwise, this week has been pretty good. We saw some good things happen I would say, although it wasn't our most successful week. I had the opportunity to go on exchange with Elder Strong this week back in my birth area (at least for part of the time) which was pretty great. He's such a great missionary, and I think we really saw a lot of amazing stuff that day. I took a picture with his basketball jersey that I though was pretty cool.



On Wednesday, we went to see a potential that we had written down, but couldn't really find exactly the apartment we had listed, so we knocked some doors, and as we got to the last top door, this cool dominican guy named Saury answered. He let us in, and seemed to be interested in the message. We taught in English. He just had a baby and just moved in, which are both two really good things for one to have done before receiving the Gospel. We had an appointment with him yesterday, but he couldn't meet with us at that time sadly. Hopefully we will get to see him sometime this week.

I also had the great opportunity to go to leadership training this week which was pretty amazing as well. I was a greenie the last time I went, so I probably wasn't getting as much out of it, but this time is was pretty good, and the role-plays we did were really great practice. Hopefully I can take the things that we learned, and really apply them so that I can be a better missionary. Leadership training was pretty great in the fact that a lot of our MTC zone was there. 2 zone leaders, 1 trainer, 5 district leaders. We are just missing a few people. But we thought it would be good to take a picture. (Including Elder Stuki, Elder Munk, Elder Harrington, Elder Erikson, Elder Bues, Sister Word, Elder Maughan)



We got really close to setting our investigator Noemi with a baptismal date. After the first day of training, we had the opportunity to have Elder Ruano work with us (from Guatamala) and he did a really great job helping us teach Noemi. We just need to give her a little push.

Hector was confirmed yesterday, which was amazing as well. I had the privilege of doing it, and I am really grateful for that opportunity. You could definitely feel the spirit. Also we heard that Hectors Grandma Yolanda started crying when she found out Hector was baptized, because she wasn't there when he got baptized, but she was there for the confirmation, and after he was confirmed, they gave each other a big hug, and looked so happy.



On Saturday I got to do some baptismal interviews for the zone leaders, for 2 people named Nina and Miranda. They are super awesome, and they both got baptized yesterday. The interviews were mostly in English (a little bit of Spanish with Nina) but it was a great opportunity.

Sorry my letter is probably a little boring, I'm just trying to hurry, cause we got to get back to work in like 20 minutes. Thanks again for everything you do, and all your support. The mission is great! I love it out here, although it is pretty rainy haha!

The Gospel is True!
Love you all so much!

Love, Elder Hicks

Happy Mother's Day and Beyond!

(May 9, 2011)

Happy Mothers day again to all of you, as I didn't clearly say it on the phone last night. It was so great to hear from you all, and hear your voices again. That's like the last time for 7 months, but that's ok, because it will help me to stay more focused on the work. It was definitely great to hear from you all, but it felt good when the call was finally over and I could just get going again on "La Obra Misional". I must say, it was pretty tear jerking to hear Jake say my name. It was really great to hear him talk as well.

We had a Mother's Day party in the ward this week as well which was pretty great. There was a band and everything, but you can't really dance as a missionary, so it wasn't quite the experience, but Hispanics sure do know how to throw a fiesta!

Well, let's see, I've updated you on the big things of the week. I guess of course the biggest news was that Hector got baptized, which was pretty great.



He seriously looked so happy and joyful as he was stepping out of the font with a joyous look on his face, and the word "Increible" or Incredible in English. That was just one of those things that reminds me why I am here as a missionary. Earlier in the week we were at his house and watched the Joseph Smith movie (The one they play at temple square) with him, his mom and his Grandma. They all really liked it, and we tried talking to Hectors mom a little bit about him being baptized, and she was talking about how she wanted him to really know what he was doing, and so as we left, I told Hector to bear his testimony to his mom sometime later. I don't know how that exactly turned out, but hopefully him being baptized will set a good example for the others in his family

This week we found another pretty cool investigator named Ana. She's really smart with the Bible, and she was asking us these pretty tough questions. It would definitely be nice to know the Bible a little better than I do, but I guess I just have to keep studying.

I had the opportunity to go on a exchange with Elder Davies this week back in my old area, sleeping in my old apartment. It was pretty good. We had interviews with President Bahr as well, and made a scrapbook page for the mission scrapbook.



We went back and visited Ramon, the Seventh Day Adventist. He is a tough cookie for sure. We will give him some time to study the Book of Mormon before we go back again, because he was shattering the fact that the Book of Mormon was inspired. We got dropped this week by Irene and Cheryl which is never fun. It was probably more so opposition from her spouse, so maybe she'll be more interested sometime in the future.

We got to teach Christian and Trixi again, and they agreed to live the Word of Wisdom. I guess the only main thing we have to teach them, is the Law of Chastity, so that will be an interesting one for sure.

Which brings us back to yesterday with the baptism and everything. We were also able to get a Less Active, or I guess Inactive named Abel to come to church. He hadn't been for like a year, but he came to the party on Friday and even came to church. Hopefully we can continue working with him and try to get him active again in the church.

The Gospel is True!

Just a Quick Letter

(May 2, 2011)

This week has been a pretty great one. I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Lebaron, one of the zone leaders. That was pretty fun to be in English work, but it definitely helps me appreciate Spanish work a little more. Spanish people are just so much nicer I feel like. And I almost started throwing in Spanish words during the lessons and prayers. But it was a really good exchange and Elder Lebaron really taught me an important principle of understanding why you are in a certain area, and not leaving the area until you find a new investigator or a good potential. We had the opportunity to go and see a media referral who was a 7th Day Adventist. We were trying to use scriptures and stuff about the sabbath day being changed to Sunday and stuff, and then used references from the Book of Mormon that clear passages in the Bible. We will have to see how he progresses. We also went to see Ruth who was a former 7th day, and we found out that she is going to both churches, and still believes the Sabbath is on Saturday. Any pointers or tips on how to help her with this? Hector still has not been baptized. He was good for it, up until I called him on Saturday night and he told me that he wasn't going to be able to get baptized or come to church that day, because him and his mom were going to look at colleges. It was pretty discouraging for sure, but he is saying next week he will. I think there is just a lot of opposition from family.

We went and taught our recent convert Jan Ventura this week and his friend Manuel was there. He seemed to like the message and even came to church with Jan's family. So hopefully we can see good progress with that.

We have some pretty cool new investigators named Cheryl and Irene who seem to be progressing sort of. At least Cheryl is. When she prays she seems to be so sincere. I think I told you that the first time she did, and thanked the Lord that she knows who Joseph Smith is now. Last time she prayed, so gave thanks that we were able to come over again, and was a little sad that we couldn't be there for longer. But she's a pretty awesome 13 yr old girl.

We got to go see Trixi and Christian again and even started teaching their daughter Cindy. They seem to be doing well, and told us last night that they are still in the process of the divorce thing, but that things should be a lot better come the end of May. So I might not be here for their baptism, but they are pretty incredible people. Last night they agreed to live the law of fasting and tithing.


Pictures are worth a thousand more words. I'll talk to you on Sunday!!

Love you! The Church is True!

Love Elder Hicks

PS: The pictures were taken while we were helping one of our members clean the windows to his store. His name is Bernardo de jesus velarde, or Chamo.