Tis the Season

(Letter November 28, 2011)

Well Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is soon to come. Wow, where did 2011 go huh? Anyway, Thanksgiving was just as merry as any other Thanksgiving I guess you could say. It included some all star football in Bogata on the same football field I played at last year. It was a little wet and muddy, but nothing too horrible. Now the questions is... did we win or not? Well unfortunately we didn't get to play zone vs zone, but the zone leaders were team captains, and My team, and Elder Erikson's team both beat the other zone leader captains, so I guess we could say we won. It was really fun though, although the super soreness for the days following wasn't much fun. We didn't actually end up eating PB and J, and we had a pretty original meal with Hermana Zamorah. Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Gravy, Corn, and rice. It was a super delicious meal. Later we went to the lazaro's house and got to eat some ribs and the such. So it turned out to be a great Thanksgiving overall. 

As far as missionary work goes this week, it wasn't too great overall. We didn't teach a ton of lessons, nor did we accomplish the goals we were hoping, but I guess it was good to finish off the week with 2 baptisms! Yep, Guillermo and Gerardo both got baptized this Sunday by their Uncle Hermano Bello. It was a great baptismal service, and President and Sister Jeppson came to enjoy it with us.

  

But now comes the real test. Passaic was split, we lost a lot of investigators, and then we just baptized 2 more of them. So where does our teaching pool lie? Well we don't really have much of a teaching pool anymore. I guess you could say we just ran the elevator principle, and now the elevator is back to the bottom, but nobody there waiting to go up. I guess it would be unfair to say there is no one, but there definitely isn't anyone super close to getting baptized. 

We did find some other great investigators this week. One is named Jimena. Her parents and some of her siblings are members, and her parents work in the temple. We taught her one time 2 weeks ago, but seeing very little desire. We came back though, and she had kept her commitment to read, and seemed a little more open to what we were saying. Still not anywhere near baptism, but step by step she could possibly progress. We also started teaching this lady named Natalie, who is the sister-in-law of Ana (The recent convert). She still has a long way to go, as she hasn't participated too much in religion, and prayed (Like really prayed) for one of her first times when we taught her. We'll see how things go with her.

  

I guess our big focus for these coming weeks is finding. I don't really know the secret to finding here in Passaic, so that is something Elder Erikson and I will have to figure out together. The mission sits at about 361 baptisms for the year, and our yearly goal set in December or January was 500. The goal has been reset to have 400 baptisms in the year of 2011. It's quite a feat, but definitely possible. Hopefully Elder Erikson and I can fulfill our responsibility of helping the zone get 6 baptisms this month, as well as our companionship getting 1 for the month of December. And the way things are looking now, we don't have anyone close to be baptized before year's end. I guess it will take a lot of prayer and faith.

  

Things are going pretty well though. It will be interesting to see what kind of turn our area takes with these coming weeks. We just need to work super super hard to build up our teaching pools. It's true what pmg says, nothing happens in missionary work until you find people to teach. So that will be our big focus this coming week.

   

I'm really happy to be a missionary though, and I'm excited for this Christmas season. I'm not too much into the Christmas spirit yet, I guess it's just not the same when you're a missionary. We are excited for the new zone goal coming up, and then we have a missionary fireside for investigators and members in Union City on the 11th. On the 23rd Alex Boye (President's son in law) is coming to the mission to perform. (I think he is the main african american guy in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) so that should be quite a treat. Transfers are in 3 weeks on like the 18th or so. 

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

T Day

(Letter November 21, 2011)

 Elder Guinto departing New Jersey. He was in my first apartmentship, and he was also my "street pops" for the fear buster. One of the first missionaries I met here in New Jersey.
Also possibly a future roommate at BYU.

It's so great to hear from all of you again. It's too bad I'll have to be away for another thanksgiving, but it just leaves more food for you! Sadly, (although we are in the land of plenty, Passaic) we haven't gotten any Thanksgiving dinner invites from anyone. It's very strange, but I'm sure something will happen between now and Thursday. I mean, what are we supposed to do, ask the member, or just sit and wait? Guess PB and J would be just as good on thanksgiving as any other day right? Haha, that probably won't be the case.

Anyway, things are going pretty great here in Passaic. It's true, we are still learning how to run the area right, and we haven't had our area explode yet (not literally), things are still going well. Guillermo and Gerardo are doing really well. They are both set to get baptized this coming Sunday which will be amazing. Guillermo has been good about doing his reading, and well, Gerardo, he's got some work to do, but they both came to church yesterday, and they said that their mom was ok with them getting baptized. Tonight we are going to have an FHE at the Bello's house with Guillermo, Gerardo, and their parents who we have never met before. So keep you prayers up for Guillermo and Gerardo.

Meri, well, yeah we haven't seen a ton from her. She didn't make it to church again this week, but we did talk to her on the phone yesterday, and she seems to be doing pretty well. This past week during leadership training, President talked to us about how we shouldn't always just only focus on baptism, but that the Gospel of Jesus Christ entails 5 principles. Our purpose is to help people develop faith, and then faith unto repentance. All that comes before baptism, and that's one thing I haven't been very good about on my mission. I worry so much about helping people qualify for baptism, that I don't focus enough on the first principles. That could be one reason why a lot of the recent converts I had, aren't very active in the church. So taking that to heart, along with other things, we had lessons with both Guillermo, and Meri, specifically teaching them what repentance is, and how we do it. The lessons went very well, and Meri and Guillermo both said they felt a lot better after they did it.

   

Leadership training was the highlight of the week though. It was great practicing, training, and receiving counsel on how we can improve. Our training that we did about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion went pretty well, and it was nice to be one of the first companionships to go, so that we could relax for the next day and a half. It was great being around old friends again, meeting new missionaries, and getting a spirit booster for the upcoming weeks. In between the 2 days of leadership training, we received a new companion for the night that was too far away from his area to drive back just for the night. Elder Packer went out for the night, and he is a super amazing missionary. Missionaries are way better trained these days than at least I was when I came out. He had really great Spanish, and I think the training programs in the MTC are just going to get better.

   

Farewell Elder Jarrett!!

Hmmm, que mas? Well we had our Ward Thanksgiving party this past week which was super good. The food was pretty delicious, although I don't think hispanics make stuffing... que lastima.... But the rice wasn't too bad of an addition to the classic Thanksgiving meal. I got to eat turkey, ham, rice, and mashed potatoes (sort of). We'll see what kind of food Thurday holds for us. I'm really excited for Thursday though. It's our upcoming annual Turkey Bowl! Zone 1 vs Zone 2! It should be a pretty fun day, including a duo-zone breakfast, football, and then later eating more food (we hope).

This week should go by pretty quick including an exchange tomorrow, Dermatologist on Wednesday (Hopefully the Hives are gone for good), Thanksgiving on Thursday, Zone Leader Council on Friday, and then it's almost Monday again. The weeks are just getting faster and faster.

I'm so grateful to be out here though. The Lord has blessed me a lot! It was just a few years ago that I was afraid to leave home for a day or 2, and now look, 15 months later! I'm so grateful to be on a mission, preaching the Gospel, Learning Spanish, meeting amazing people, seeing people's lives change, meeting new friends, learning new things everyday, and working and facing situations everyday that test me in so many ways to add to my growth as a person. There are so many experiences you have here, that you wouldn't have anywhere else. It get's hard, and sometimes bad things happen, but those bad moments and experiences fade away pretty quick as you lose yourself in the work. I need to keep improving as a missionary, and I need to be sure that I do everything my Heavenly Father wants me to do here. 

I'm grateful for a wonderful family that supports me on my mission. I'm grateful that my family has grown so much while I've been away. I'm grateful for President and Sister Jeppson who make me feel really important, and help me whenever I have any problems. I'm thankful for my companion Elder Erikson. And I'm thankful for the knowledge of the gospel, that allows me to have hope for the future, and to receive peace and comfort through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is True!

I love you all so much!

 

Love,

Elder Hicks

 

 

Season's Changing

(Letter November 14, 2011)

Well, the leaves are turning colors, and things are looking pretty different here down in Passaic. Transfer conference was pretty intense not knowing who my companion was going to be. I always have my guesses, but I was super happy with what happened. 

My new companion, believe it or not, is Elder Alex Erikson, the elder that was in my BYU ward that I told you about when I got my call. It's super cool being together, especially since we knew each other in college, made a movie together, and played a lot of ultimate frisbee together as the semester came to an end. He was also my roommate for 3 weeks in the MTC.  We are getting along really well, although it is a pretty humbling experience to be with him. He has a lot of strengths in the work, and is one of the most solid missionaries I've ever been companions with. I'm going to learn a lot from him.

We also just had Elder Taylor and Elder Ream move in with us to take over Passaic north. Elder Taylor has been out for about 6 months, and Elder Ream is only on his second transfer. He came out as an english missionary, and has just been changed to Spanish, so he's gonna have to really get hopping on the Spanish. It's ok though, he took Spanish for all 4 years of high school I'm pretty sure. It's a pretty good apartmentship.  We still have to break the ice a little bit more. They got doubled in, and have been doing super great in their area. They even set a baptismal date with Leonardo this past week.

It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Jarrett, and Elder Guinto, who was in my first apartmentship when I got here. We have plans of maybe living together while we go to BYU, but we shall see. Transfer conference was super amazing and spiritual with 3 musical numbers, and some amazing testimonies from the departing missionaries. It looks like the transfers they made were right because our whole zone did better this week (as a whole) than we have done for a long time. I'm super happy for the zone, and hopefully we can continue seeing great growth.

The transition was pretty tough trying to teach Elder Taylor, Elder Ream, and Elder Erikson about Passaic, and especially trying to help the other Passaic area with planning. But I actually didn't do that much to help them, and I don't know if that was good or bad, but they managed to pull off a great week this week. Now we don't have too many investigators to work with, and it's something we need to work on a bunch. Now we have the outskirt areas of Passaic including all the little cities of Garfield, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, Little Ferry, etc etc... We have plans to do a pilgrimage to those lands in order to find some new people and find the bajillion members we have on the ward list that we don't know. We tried quite a few of them in Garfield, and the majority of them had moved out 1 or 2 years ago. We received a new assignment last night in correlation to clean up the ward rosters anyway, so that will make things a little more interesting.

The investigators we do have are doing pretty great though. I had the privilege of confirming Silvia at church yesterday. Also, Guillermo and Gerardo are doing really well. Jennifer (The member friend) had really been doing a lot of the work for us, and even worked things out for Guillermo and Gerardo to be able to go on the 2 days trip to Cumorah this past weekend. We haven't talked to them a lot about how it went, but yesterday during priesthood they were called to the front and asked to bear their testimonies of the experience they had. They both really liked it, and learned new things, and both of them said they would like to be baptized! They are set for the 27th although we don't know how solid that is because we haven't even met their parents, and they would still need to get permission. We need to work with them a lot more, and make sure they want to get baptized for the right reasons.

Our investigator Meri is doing pretty great as well. She had a date for this upcoming Sunday, but she didn't make it to church yesterday, and we aren't sure she is quite ready. She believes that the things we teach her are true, but Elder Erikson puts it in a way, that it's only skin deep for her. She either understands everything we are teaching her and is super prepared, or she doesn't understand very much. It's still possible for her to get baptized this week, but not likely. We really need to work with her, making sure she is reading, praying, and making it to church. We really hope to see some really change of heart. She's super nice though, and is willing to listen which is great! It just might take some more time.

   

Things are still going great here in Passaic and this week should be pretty good as we have leadership training in Morristown for 2 days. I've been to it twice before, and it's more so for the new missionaries, but all the zone leaders are going, and Elder Erikson and I have to do one of the trainings. We were assigned to train/ or do a demonstration on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion.

I'm really happy to be where I'm at. I'm so grateful to be serving with Elder Erikson, and that we already have a connection in our companionship. We already teach in pretty great unity, and I know he will teach me a lot. He is super focused on his purpose, and knows how to get things done. Sometimes it makes it easier for me to see my weaknesses, but I guess that's how I can see how I need to improve.

   

The Gospel is True! Thanks so much for all your support. Thank you for sending the Ensign, I'm excited to get in and study it when I have some more time. I love you all so much!!