Addition by Division

Passaic's Bravest

This week has been pretty crazy indeed, but we did have Silvia's Baptism this week, and I received some other big news, Passaic will be split into two area's, and we will have 4 Elders here. But I guess I'll give you a quick update on the week as a whole. 

Sorry if my letter doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm in a hurry, as Elder Jarrett and I have a lot of things to do today before he heads home on Wednesday. We have to go remodel our apartment to allow for 4 missionaries to live there instead of two. So yes, I will be staying in Passaic, but things will be a lot different than before.

Elder Jarrett's Hot Seat (Representation of me killing him)

Sister Lowry and Sister Word  (Sister Word is getting transferred)

 Last Monday we had a pretty awesome Halloween party as a zone. We carved pumpkins, played some games, and headed home for the night working on zone goals and the such. 

New Jersey Morristown Mission
(The shape in the middle is supposed to be new jersey)

Tuesday came, and we had a really great zone meeting. We talked about the importance of setting goals, and talked a lot about commitments. It was a really great meeting, and I think it really helped pump up the zone for this coming transfer. 

Zone 2

We are focusing on personal consecration, and helping other to make and keep commitments. After the meeting, I went on an exchange with Elder Lopez, as he was to come into our area and do the baptismal interview for Silvia. Upon arriving at the Interview, Elder Lopez said that he had already taught her before, and as such, couldn't do the interview for her. That was kinda discouraging, but we had one of the assistants do the interview the next day. We taught Sylvia that night, and one of our goals going in was to find out if she was separated from her Ex-husband or divorced, because she was still living with him, and if they were divorced she couldn't be baptized. We asked a few questions and found out that they were divorced, which made me a little worried, but then another miracle took place. She told us that a few days earlier, she had thought about moving out. That was amazing news, she must have received some pre-baptism revelation that that was something she would need to do before she got baptized. She got moved out on Saturday, and was able to get baptized on Sunday.

Silvia's Baptism

 

On Wednesday, Elder Jarrett went on his temple trip and I spent the day with Elder Silva from Brazil. We didn't get to teach anything together because of time spent driving and waiting for Silvia's interview to finish.

I should just give you an update on our investigators. Well sadly, the areas split, and therefore I won't be able to teach about half of our investigators anymore, but I'll still be in the same branch. Our investigator Meri is still doing awesome. She readily accepts what we teach her, and she said that she feels she has received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. She came to church this Sunday, stayed for the baptism, and should be ready for her baptism on November 20th. She'll be in my area this coming transfer.

   

Manuel and Marcelino

Sadly, our good friend Manuel will no longer be in my area. We had a pretty amazing lesson with him last night, talking about how we received answers from the spirit, as he is sorta expecting to have a dream in order to know these things are true. Although he did have a dream the other night about looking for directions for "Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias" not including "La Iglesia de Jesucristo" and that he couldn't find where it was. It was kinda a weird dream, but we asked him questions, and he seems more sure about being baptized on the 20th than he has in the past. Hopefully the new elders can do some great work with him.

   

Leonardo, Laticia, and Santiago

We finally got to go and see Leonardo again. We taught him about the Sabbath day, reviewed things, answered questions, solved doubts, committed to come to church. And what added more to our joy, was seeing Him, Laticia, and their son Santiago walk down the hall towards us, coming to church for the first time. It was amazing! Sadly Leonardo will not be in my future area either, but the other Elders should be able to do good work with him.

  I don't know what else to really include in this letter. The Baptism, and the splitting of the areas was definitely the biggest news. I'll be including like 10 Pictures, which should equal about 10,000 more words right? 

The Garcia Family

Abraham Sanchez (With his hats that he wears and always talks like an italian "Forget about it"

Thanks so much for all your support. I'm excited for this upcoming transfer, and all that I'm going to get to learn. Hopefully my new companion and I get along well, as well as the new missionaries moving into our apartment. It will be a change for sure. I haven't lived in a 4 missionary apartment since the beginning of March.

The Gospel is True! 

Love you all so Much!!

 

Love,

Elder Hicks