Happy Belated Father's Day

So... Happy Father's day Dad!

So I guess just an interesting situation/story that may require you to send me some information about the amount of money in my account. Last Monday we were driving doing errands, and I was sitting shot-gun. On our way back, the driver of our car ran a red light, and a cop just happened to be at the intersection. We got a ticket for 80 bucks, but what's worse, is you know how I've never really been good at looking for stuff. Well I was trying to find the insurance card, and I just couldn't seem to find it. The driver looked through the things a little bit, and we could only find an expired card. So... we got another ticket for failure to show proper insurance for another 180 dollars. Pretty crazy right? I felt so bad inside, but when Elder Woodburry got back into the shot-gun seat, he was able to find the proper insurance card. And so I'm really hoping that when we go to court next week, that the judge will drop the charges of the insurance ticket because we had the insurance the whole time. At first I was going to have to pay half of the 80 dollar ticket because I was the co-driver, but I talked to President Bahr, and he said the driver has to pay half, and the rest of the people that were in the car have to pay the other half. So for that I just have to pay 10 dollars. But, with the other ticket I don't know. I will probably have to pay half if the judge doesn't let it go. So yeah, I was really not happy on Monday, but hopefully things will be alright. We will go and fight it in court, and maybe the Judge will have some mercy. So hopefully I have enough on my card to potentially pay $100.

So this might be the last time I write you until next Wednesday because hopefully we will be able to make our temple trip. I don't like that we have waited till the end of the month, cause what if something comes up? So Wednesday is the plan, it should be pretty great though. We are going with a member who comes out with us a lot, and hopefully Hector will be able to come too, and do baptisms with Norbert while we do a session. And yes, we are actually moving out tomorrow, so tomorrow should be a pretty good moving day.

Anyway, none of that stuff is very fun to hear about right? So let me just give you an update of the weekly doings.

We have been able to teach Felix more, and he's a really awesome guy. He seems interested in learning and has some pretty interesting comments. He was talking about how the devil has a bible, and expressing how big the bible is by out stretching his arms. Last week he was like ... "I just have a problem.... No I don't have a problem.... I'm confused.... No I'm not confused...." and than he talked about how the restoration made sense and that it was a good story. He has read a little bit from the Book of Mormon, but hasn't prayed about it yet. He's a really cool guy though, and hopefully we can set him with a date real soon.

We have started teaching this 8 year old kid named Jonathan, who is the brother of a less-active girl. He's a really cool little kid, but I'll be honest, teaching the young ones is not an easy thing to do. It was pretty tough simplifying it to a point where it would make sense. But I guess it's good practice for all other future investigators.



On Wednesday we had our all mission conference, our last one with President Bahr. It was great to be able to go feel the Spirit there, and receive instruction from President and Sister Bahr, as well as the assistants. I'm going to miss President and Sister Bahr , but hopefully I'll be able to have a good relationship with President and Sister Jepsen as well. Elder Yates gave his final testimony for the mission, and he leaves in a week from tomorrow.

This week we tried to check on our Investigator Paul from Ecuador. We hadn't been able to meet with him for a few days because he was sick, but we went by again to teach him, and got some bad news. We asked his aunt if he was home, and she said he was in Chicago, we asked when he would be back and she said in 2 months. I wasn't expecting that at all, especially since he had a baptismal date for July 10th, but I guess whoever is in this area in two months can pick him back up.

Friday, was the day of the Summer Scrub, meaning that all the missionaries were supposed to clean their apartments, like super clean. There was a list of all the things we were supposed to do so that our apartments would be spotless. Well it was a little tough even getting close to finished because we are only two people and we live in a huge house, but hopefully it's not as big of a deal because we are moving to another apartment which appears to be pretty new. It will probably be a little easier to clean once all of our stuff is moved out. After cleaning, Elder High and I had something pretty cool happen. So we had this potential named Gabriella who we have passed a number of times on the street because she is a vender of corn, and mangos and stuff. She said that the best time for us to teach her would be on a rainy day when she can't work. We passed her again on Thursday, and Elder High told her that it was going to rain tomorrow, and so we set up an appointment to come by the next day. Well the next day came and it actually turned out to be really rainy, even to a point where one of our window seals flooded, seeped through the wall, down through the ceiling to the downstairs and was leaking into the kitchen. Even to a point where water was seeping out of the air conditioning unit. (It's time to move right?). So we went and we got to teach her, which was pretty great. She's a really nice humble lady from Mexico, and she accepted a soft baptismal commitment. When the appointment was over, we came outside to find that the rain had stopped.



That evening I started my exchange with Elder Yates. It was pretty great being back with him for one more day, just like the olden days. We went to a little bit of the Father's Day party that the ward was having and headed back for the night.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty good day as well. We got to teach Mariuxi again, and sadly she hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon for basically all of last week, but she said she would read every day this week, and she accepted to live the word of wisdom.

Yesterday was a good day of church, and we got to go teach our Investigators Maria, Esperanza, and Efrain. I think Maria is the one really prepared right now, so we will probably start focusing more on her, but the lesson was pretty good, and Maria seemed really interested to read from the Book of Mormon. Esperanza and Maria are both Peruvian, and their Brother Angel, is a member of the church. He was there for part of the lesson yesterday which was good.

Basically that's my week. It went by pretty quick, and this week will probably be filled with awesome things as well. Thanks again for all your support. This transfer might be a little longer than 6 weeks, like maybe even 7 weeks with the new president change and everything, although I'm not 100 percent sure. I guess you just gotta go with the flow sometimes right? Well, I'm not sure when I'll get to write again, but sometime next week I'm sure.

Hope all is going well, and that you all have a good week. Love you all so much!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

Getting down to the wire!

Well things aren't so much for me, but for President Bahr and a bunch of other missionaries, the Journey is almost done. We just finished week 3 of the transfer, and really we have 3 more, but confusingly, President Bahr and the other missionaries leave the mission in 2 weeks, so I'm not sure exactly whats going to happen. A lot of changes are about to hit the Morristown mission with a few more Spanish missionaries heading out, and a brand new mission president coming in. So I can't tell you exactly when I'll be transferred or when transfer conference is to come, but I'm pretty sure this is my last one here in Union City, and Elder Zierenberg (Zone Leader) made it sound the same way.

I sadly didn't get to go to the temple because Elder High has to go to the Dentist today, meaning we have to take our P-day today. I'm not sure exactly when we are going to go, but I sure hope that we get to. We only get to go to the temple 2 times a year.

We are moving out of the house next week. Probably because the house is just way to expensive for 2 missionaries. We went and saw our apartment not to far from where we live, and it's pretty cool. It's on the first floor, kinda like a basement. And the land lords we live with are Cuban, and they are going to take good care of us is what we hear, like cook for us and stuff. So that should be pretty cool.

This week was a pretty good week here in Union City. We met some pretty great people that I think have some really good potential.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with one of the zone leaders named Elder Zierenberg. He's a pretty awesome missionary. He told me that he used to work at Provo Canyon Boy's School as a transporter, so I asked if he knew Rachel, but he said that he didn't. It was still cool to have that connection though. Elder Zierenberg and I went and taught this potential named Maria, who we actually just set with a baptismal date on Friday. She is a pretty cool lady, although she didn't come to church yesterday. We went and taught Noemi again, and sadly she just doesn't really want to make an effort to know if the church is true, or even come to church, which makes things harder for her recent convert sons I'm sure. I don't know if you remember them, but little Christian and Francisco are her sons that were baptized in March, and she has another son named Daniel who was baptized farther back. Christian and Francisco haven't been to church a whole lot since their baptism, but hopefully their older brother can keep being a good example for them.

On Wednesday Hector came out on a team up with us which was pretty awesome. We went and saw Christian and Trixi again. They are so awesome, and really need to be baptized, but their are still 3 big problems in the way.
1: They have never come to church, and Christian is basically always working on Sunday
2: Trixi must get a divorce with her ex and
3: Christian and Trixi must get married!
So as you can see, I don't think they are too close to getting baptized, but they have basically been taught everything, and as far as I can tell, they are willing to live all the commandments.
Hector did awesome helping us teach them about prayer. Christian was talking about how they don't really pray as a family, and Hector cut in, and started talking to him about how important it is, and used it from his own experience. Hector is going to be an awesome missionary one day.

On Thursday we got to go and teach this less active who found us, but originally found the church through Marie Osmond. Small world huh? He lived in Utah for awhile and has been through the temple, but he has sorta fallen away. We taught him a few things, and made him a little goal sheet of things he can do to replace drinking alcohol, and commited him to not drink alcohol that night. I'm pretty sure he didn't! Which is awesome, or I guess I should say So Awess (Inside joke with Caleb and Becca). He came to church this week, and coincidentally the priesthood lesson was on the Word of Wisdom. Which by the way, one of the teachers here in Union City is probably one of the best teachers I've had in church. He explains things so clearly and keeps the lessons interesting Hno Quizada. We were able to go and teach our Investigator Sunilda again, who was the one who origianally opened the door with the chain still attatched, but later opened all the way. She seems willing to read and to pray, and Elder High likes to joke with her that she is going to get baptized as much as she has told us that she isn't.

Friday was a super filling day. We went and taught Ruth again, who is just falling farther and farther away. We figured we would just read the Book of Mormon with her to try and help her develop a habit of reading, and feel the spirit. We read in 3 Ne 11 about Christ coming, but she found a way to deny it by saying it wasn't Jesus Christ and saying the Book of Mormon wasn't inspired. I really don't know what is happening with her. It's pretty sad to see her losing her testimony, although she did tell us that she doesn't really think the 7th Adventist church is right either. She made it kinda sound like there isn't really a true church, it's just a matter of what we do in our own lives. We will keep working with her though and trying to help her out.

Later that day we went to a Papuseria (El Salvador) and later went to the bishop and ate Baliadas (Honduras) which were both really good.

We got to see Fiorella again, and she is going to try and be a good example to her non-member kids. We saw Ana again, who surprisingly wasn't as argumentive as usual. She is an awesome lady, but really just needs to pray about the Book of Mormon.

On Saturday we were walking around, and after passing this guy for the second time, I had a feeling that I needed to talk to this guy named Felix, and Elder High happened to feel the same way. We talked to him for a little bit, and went and taught him last night. He has a ton of questions, and is a pretty cool guy. He told us that we better come prepared tonight, because he is going to be asking us a lot, so tonight should be a pretty fun night. He thought it was pretty crazy/bold that we claimed to be the only true church with the authority, so we'll have to explain the restoration to him tonight pretty clearly, but he's a really cool guy, and we started teaching his friend too.

We went and had a lesson with Sandra and Washington again, (the people that gave us cow stomach), and Washington seemed a little more dedicated to wanting to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. He asked us where he needed to read, and they seem like they are getting close to being more prepared.

That's crazy how much the family is growing, and especially how much it is going to grow within the next 8 week. Thanks so much for all your letters and support!

I Love you all so much!!!

Great Week!

(Letter June 6, 2011)

We got to the library a little late today, and yeah, I feel like P-days are some of the most stressful days of the mission. Just so you know, June is Temple month, meaning that we get to go to the temple!! But that also means it counts as our P-day, so if there ever comes a day or a few days where I don't write when I was supposed to, it probably means I went to the temple. But I'm pretty excited for that for sure.

Thanks so much for all the letters, it's good to hear from you all. Rachel, that's a pretty crazy dream, kinda funny haha.

We have been able to find a lot of great people this week. There is this one guy named Paul who has been coming to English class. We started teaching him and he's a pretty cool guy. Probably the first investigator I've had, that smokes, or at least that I know of. The first lesson we had with him, was talking about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. He doesn't seem to have too much of a religious background, so we were just trying to help him understand that, but than we talked about the restoration and invited him to read and pray. He had told me in the middle of the week that he was going to research online for more info, but I told him to be careful, cause there is a lot of bad stuff out there. We met with him again yesterday, and he was on sites that he shouldn't have been, and was asking us questions about it, so I kinda scolded him in a way and told him that we told him not to look on those sites, but we did set him with a date, and he is going to prepare to be baptized on the 10th of July. He came to church yesterday which was good for him as well. He sorta has a testimony in that he has seen how members of the church are happy.

We have another new investigator named Dorian from Guatamala. He's also another guy from English class, 21 years of age, and is a good kid. We taught him with Hermano Ernest from the Bishopric which went pretty well. Hopefully we can set him with a date the next time we see him, but he's been to church before in the past.

On Friday we got to go and teach Hector again. We taught him about the priesthood, and he seemed really excited to be able to receive it. We did a good amount of member work and got to do some role-plays with some other members.

The exchange with Elder Hunt went well. I got to stay in an apartment with Elder Brickey and Elder Woodburry. One funny experience from there is that I accidentally blew the circuit breaker because I used the microwave while both the AC's were on, so we had to go down and flip the switch, and when I came back up and went to get my cheese tortilla out of the microwave, it was gone. Elder Brickey loves food, and so I had an idea of where it went. I went out to find him in the apartment, and he was crouched down eating my Cheese Tortilla.

I finally ate something kinda weird on my mission. On Saturday we went to go and see some former's and they let us come in, and the lady, named Sandra, wanted us to try some of their food. We started eating it, and I wasn't quite sure what the meat was. I thought it was fish, so that's what I guessed. To my surprise I was corrected and told that it was Cow Stomach. Cool huh? It was all too horrible, although it was really chewy, and I guess just the thought of what I was eating didn't exactly help it go down much easier.

Mariuxi is still doing good and progressing, although she still hasn't been able to come to church. She told us that she would talk to her husband, and asked us to maybe come by the next Sunday when her husband was home. So I guess we will see what happens there, but she's a really awesome investigator, also from Ecuador.

Sunday was a great day--you know why? Hector received the Aaronic Priesthood!!!! It was so great to see him there with his white shirt and tie. He has just progressed so much, and his mom and grandma were both their to see him do it.

At church there was a baby blessing and the lady wanted me to do it, but I wasn't really sure how, so I just stood in the circle instead. I don't even know if we are allowed to do baby blessings, but I guess I should learn any way. Later we ordained Hector to the Aaronic priesthood. It's really quite incredible to see a recent convert progress like Hector. He was even helping us to fellowship Paul because they are Paisanos (Same country). Especially when a good number of our recent converts are less active, or just not quite strong in the church. Retention is so important, and I guess I still need to find a good way of keeping the recent converts activated.

Tomorrow I get to go on an exchange in Newark which should be fun. I get to work with Elder Munk from my MTC district so it will be a good experience. Maybe it will help me erase my fears of Newark.

Thanks again for all your support and letters and everything, hope all is going well!

Love all of you so much!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

April and May Showers bring June Humidity!

Hello Family!!!

Let me just tell you flat out, humidity + heat is definitely something I am not used to. This past week, I just sweat for a lot of the day, it's pretty intense, but I guess whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger right?

Anyway... So this past week has been pretty great.

So their have actually been some pretty big changes here. Zone 2 (the zone we were in) has disolved into zones 1 and 4, and now we are actually a part of zone 3. Makes sense right? Haha yeah I was pretty confused as well. But Elder Brickey, the other zone leader got dropped, and we became part of the Newark Zone. Now there are only 8 zones in the mission instead of 9. That is because a ton of missionary went home this last transfer. The district changed as well. I'm still the District Leader, but now Jersey City has 2 sisters (Sister White, and SIster Callister) and guess what???? Elder Yates is in my district now! Yeah it's kinda weird being the District Leader for your trainer, but at the same time not that weird. It's cool serving around him again, especially since this is his last transfer. Nobody ended up moving into the house with us, so things are basically the same there.

On Tuesday Elder Hunt came to our area because his companion was leaving. We worked that day, and were actually able to find a new investigator named Leydis. She is from the Dominican Republic, and she's really nice. She has family members that are members of the church, and I guess a nephew or something that is going to go on a mission. So I think she has some really good potential.

On Wednesday we got to have district meeting about accountability, and eat a little birthday cake afterward for Sister Whites birthday. We got to teach Rafael again from Argentina. Elder Sopena and I taught him a few months ago, but never really followed up to much after that. I've wanted to go see him, and we have had some appoinments, but things always turned out that we weren't able to teach him. He is such a nice guy, really humble, and I think has a good interest in the message. He has a really hurt knee, so we gave him a blessing before we left, and we get to go see him again tomorrow.

On Thursday we did our normal weekly planning, and got to go teach English class. Their are some guys that have been coming to English class that have some really great potential. A new one named Paul from Ecuador has been coming, and hopefully we will be able to teach him this week. It's really great being a missionary when you receive that pure love of christ, and really love the people you are serving. It's such a great feeling.

Friday, we went and saw Ruth, and sadly she is still having a hard time accepting parts of the plan of salvation. She still believes in the adventist church, and it's hard to see her not being able to get it, especially since she has been baptized. Any Ideas on how to help her become truly converted? I was thinking we just need to start reading the Book of Mormon with her during our visits, because maybe she hasn't really been doing that, and that's why she's not truly converted.

Saturday, we had District Leader council with the zone leaders, and talked about zone goals, and the new monthly focus. This month we are supposed to focus on Preach My Gospel, and I think it will be really good for me, because I definitely think I under-utilize the very tool we are supposed to us for missionary work.

Sunday, the missionaries got to speak in Sacrament meeting. Suprisingly it's only like the 3rd talk I've given on my mission. I talked about D+C 4 about missionary work, which went pretty well. It's nice being able to speak Spanish well enough to get out what you're trying to say, but nonetheless, there is still a ton that I have to learn.

Yesterday, we played some good basketball, and found this cool lady while knocking named Sunilda. At first I didn't think she was going to listen, because she answered the door with the little chain still locked, but after talking to her a little more she opened the door all the way. She told us that she had talked to missionaries before and that they were just pushing her to be baptized, and I guess she wasn't a big fan of that, but we ended up talking more, and told her that she could know for herself. That made her a little more curious, and we ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon right there. I think she has a good desire to learn more, so we'll see what happens there. We also got to go to a members house and eat yesterday. We ate some barbecue chicken and steak which was super good. It was a pretty good Memorial day for sure.

Elder High and I have a goal to get 3 baptisms in the month of June, so we'll have to work super hard, but that would be amazing.

Other than that, things are going pretty good. The month of June will bring a lot of changes with my pops going home (Elder Yates), New Mission President, and I'm sure I'll be transferred from Union City after this transfer, but this summer should go by quick, although it's going to be super super hot. I'm grateful to be a missionary though! Thanks for all your support.

Love you all so much!!!

Love,
Elder Hicks