Wow, the week is here isn't it. This week I hit the year mark. In some ways it went by fast, but in other ways it went by a little slower. I'm sure the next year will just fly by. It's interesting to think back to different memories on the mission, and realize how long ago that was, and realize how long I've been a missionary.
But I guess I'll just start you off with some fun facts of New Jersey. Did you know that the New York Jets, and the New York Giants actually play in New Jersey? We actually drove by the stadium today. Also did you know that New Jersey is the Embroidery Capital of the Nation (Or world I can't remember). Pretty interesting right?
Things have been going pretty great here in New Jersey. It has definitely rained a lot, and this week, I've experienced some of the biggest lightening/thunder storms of my life. It finally starts to cool down a little which is nice, and fall is soon on its way.
Last Monday we got to go back to the Fear Buster. It definitely wasn't as dramatic and scary as I remember it. Probably for the fact that when I came, it was dark outside. So it was a little easier to do it in the light of the sun. Sadly the missionaries arrived pretty late, so it only lasted like 10 minutes. It was cool to have 4 our of the five from our MTC district be there again at the fearbuster, but not as trainees. My "street son" as I guess you would call it, was Elder Hoyt, from Utah. He actually went to WoodsCross, and said that he knows Savannah (Becca's cousin). It was cool to go around with him, and we met a pretty cool lady who was blind. She has a lot of faith in the Lord, and was yelling out loud her testimony. One thing I really liked that she said was "God can do anything but fail." It was an interesting outlook.
Tuesday was a pretty great day at transfer conference. Our zone has expanded a lot, with some area's being combined, and others added from different zones. We went from having 2 sister missionaries to 7, which is pretty great, cause sister missionaries do pretty awesome work. Our zone really got stacked with some great missionaries. Two of our district leaders were just barely zone leaders, and we just have a lot of great missionaries.
Pictures:
1. Goodbye Elder Christopher. One of the best missionaries I've known
2. Elder Potter
3. Elder Shaffer from Orem
4. Elder Simmons
Wednesday was a super busy day. We had to catch up with lessons because of the business of Monday and Tuesday. We had two delicious meal appointments, and we were able to see our investigator Sylvia, and set her with a baptismal goal for September.
On Thursday we went and saw out investigator Damilka. She's like a 21 year old dominican girl, but is actually pretty smart. We taught her the end of the plan of salvation, and managed to reason with in herself, the possibility of becoming equal to God, and therefore becoming God's and creating our own world. But sadly she doesn't really keep committments, and doesn't do the things she needs to really change. We'll probably have to drop her soon. We were able to go and see Hanz again, and he said that he is going to start paying tithing! Woohoo!! But I guess there are still more doubts. Now it is with the Word of Wisdom. He had questions about coffee and drinking beer. We didn't get to discuss it that much, but it shouldn't be too big of a problem.
On Friday, we got to go see our investigator Ana, we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she committed to be baptized on the 18th of September.
Saturday was not my lucky day. It was full of "That would only happen to me experiences." The first one was when we went to eat at a barbecue that a member was having. I was trying to put some ranch on my salad, and was trying to get it out from one of those little packets. I didn't tear the top very much, and so I was just trying to force it out. My instincts told me that I was going to spill all over my pants, but I guess I didn't listen to them, and so I squoze (is that a word?) the ranch, and guess what, got it all over my pants. Then, we went to go see if we could help the other elders with some service they were doing. We went, and one of the guys said we could go drink some lemonade. As we walked to the stairs, the other elders held out some glasses to us (I don't know why they gave them to us) but as they handed them to us, they kept repeating "Iced Tea, Iced Tea" but the missionary that handed mine to me is a joker, and so I didn't pay too much heed to it. I put some into my mouth, and then he told me even more so that it was Iced tea. Fortunately I didn't swallow, and I just spit it back out in the cup. It's kinda messed up that they handed us the glasses in the first place. I guess that was the majority of "That would only happen to me experiences" but let's be real, who else would those things happen to?
Sunday turned out to be great with Martin, Manuel, and Ana all coming to church. We taught a preach my gospel class to the branch missionaries, and were able to go and review some of the baptismal interview questions in order to help Martin and Manuel prepare. We got caught up though, because they were to familiar with the fact of a living day prophet. Manuel was pretty amazed. He was like "There's a prophet today, like living, like... alive" something like that, but they are going to pray about it.
Today was pretty great, we got to go play some Football and Weehawken, and I've included some pics.
I really liked something that was said this week at Transfer Conference. Elder Potter, who had been the assistant for the last while, was talking about how President Bahr had counseled him and Elder Christopher to not let their missions pass by, as if it were a dream. He explained more about that. Dreams are a curious thing. We can wake up, and can ignore what happened in the dream, and continue to live our lives as it was. Hispanic people especially, have dreams (when it comes to the gospel) that ultimately can change the course of their whole lives (Like finding out that the church is true). The same thing can apply to the mission. It can go by pretty quick, and can feel as if it were a dream. So when we wake up (return home), what will we do with it. We can ignore it, and go back to the way we were before, or we can use that dream to shape and change the course of our lives. I hope to choose the latter when all is said and done. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be serving a mission and I'm so grateful for the Gospel. The Gospel is true!!! Love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Hicks
Thanks again for everything. Much Love.
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