Well, as missionaries don't really celebrate Valentines day, I think it's appropriate to call it "Missionary Day". I'm getting a little more used to the changes although I do have some bad news. This week President told us of his current condition as he has been on crutches for a few weeks because of a herniated disc. He said that he got the herniated disc Re-injured by doing a wall sit competition at a district meeting. This herniated disc led to an MRI, which as a tender mercy led the doctors to find that President Jeppson had a tumor on his kidney, and diagnosed him with Kidney cancer. Therefore, President will be flying back to utah to get his kidney taken out, and will be recovering there from anywhere from 4-6 weeks. A senior couple (The Andersens) will be in charge of shepherding the mission until president returns. It was pretty shocking news indeed. But just think of the blessing it was that president got re-injured doing a district meeting activity, which led them to find cancer in it's early stages. He probably never would have known until it was too late. Hopefully all will go well with him there.
So that was the bad news of the week, but this week overall has been pretty good. On Tuesday we had a really great zone meeting filled with the spirit, as we talked about the role the spirit plays in each of our lives. We were also able to find a new family with lot's of little kids, but the lesson went horribly because of the temper tantrum of one of the kids upon our arrival and turning off of the TV. I guess we will see how things go this week. We had the wonderful opportunity to go to dinner at the Branch President's house, and get to know him and his family a little more. After dinner he went out on splits with us, and we were able to visit some less-actives and talk a little more as he gave us some advice on certain things.
Thursday turned out to be a really interesting day. It was our walking day so we didn't have our car, and we were walking around trying some former investigators and other people, when we came upon a man sitting on a bench next to a duffle bag. We began talking to him, and sharing a little bit of our message. This man's name was Ivan. He told us that he's kind of stuck, and that he doesn't understand why God won't let him get out of his current situation. He explained how a bit ago he lost his wallet that had lots of money in it, he got really sick which led to him losing his job. He found a job through a friend in Boston, and as he waited for the bus/train, he missed it, and they wouldn't let him take the next bus/train without paying a fee, which he couldn't do because he had no more money. So it was a sad situation for sure, and he really needs God in his life. We shared a scripture with him from D and C 121, when God tells Joseph Smith that his adversity and afflictions would only be for a small moment, and how Ivan could apply that scripture to himself. Unfortunately Ivan doesn't have a home, nor a phone, so we have no way of contacting him, but we did leave him with a pamphlet, and a card so that he could give us a call. He expressed how what we shared with him helped him feel better, and feel happier. It was a small miracle of the day.
Later that night we had a pretty great lesson about the plan of salvation with one of our new Investigators Francisco from Guatamala. We were teaching him the plan and explained to him what our purpose was, and mid lesson we hear a knock on the door. The next thing we know the Jehovah's Witnesses walk in. I stood up to greet them, and she looked at me and asked if we were Jehovah's witnesses. I said we were missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that we were sharing a message about God's plan for us and she was welcome to listen (I said it kinda smugly which probably wasn't good), and she started talking about how they believe in the bible and stuff. I explained that we did too, but also the Book of Mormon, but she didn't really want to hear it, so I sat back down, and the two Jehovah's Witnesses started teaching a lesson to the kids at the dining table, while we taught a message to Francisco at the couches. It was something I had never seen before, and was kind of a weird experience. It was our bad for not having involved the kids in the lesson... maybe next time. I mentioned to Francisco during the lesson about the confusion of so many churches and pointed out how that was basically an example of it. Francisco seemed to like the plan of salvation, and has been reading a little bit in the Book of Mormon. We'll see where he goes as he expressed his dislike of attending church. It was a pretty good lesson though, we just need to get the family more involved.
That night we went to the Umana's house and ate a great dinner. It was pretty fun teasing little 4 year-old Justin. We taught Carlos (a friend of Sister Umana) who has been investigating the church for quite some time and comes to church pretty regularly. He doesn't have much desires to read the Book of Mormon, so we read some questions of the soul and told him to pick one he would be interested in. He picked Infant Baptism, so we left him with Moroni 8 to read. We'll have to follow up and see how he did.
On Friday I went on an exchange to Princeton with the English Elder Blake. It was great working around him and meeting some of their investigators. We were able to go to 2 meal appointments. One with this returning less-active named Bill who collects records like dad! He was a nice guy and made us some delicious food. We later went to "the hood" if that's what it could be called of Trenton. We were visiting an Inactive/Part-member family and they were really cool. They made us some Fried Chicken, and we taught a short lesson.
On Saturday Winter came in with it's snow and we headed off to all mission conference where Elder Jay Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy would be visiting us. He taught us about making scripture study more effective, and how we can better apply them to ourselves, and talked about how the church is guided by Revelation/Research/Reasoning. It was a great conference, but was also where we received the news about President which was pretty sad. President has just been through so much in his life, but I guess that is why he has such great faith. I'll miss him for these few weeks for sure.
On Sunday I was asked to give a talk about what I have learned on my mission. I narrowed it down to a few specifics and I hope that every member can apply the same things on their Earthly Mission.
1. God has a plan for each one of his Children- He really does know each companion we will have, mission presidents who will guide us, and members and investigators we need to meet to become the person the Lord wants us to become. There is always something you can learn from a companion, neighbor, friend, acquaintance in order to help you develop as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
2. How to Follow the Spirit and Receive Revelation. It's so true that we will be guided as we are worthy and listen for the Holy Ghost. Often times we don't know when we are being guided, just like the experience of finding Ivan on that park bench. We can follow the spirit in our lives to lead us towards God, and to help our families go in the right direction.
3. The Atonement of Jesus Christ can make our missions perfect. (Moroni 10: 32 and 33?) As missionaries, we often make mistakes. We don't talk to a certain person, we waste precious time, or other sorts of things. But as we actively use the Atonement and strive to become better, we can serve a perfect mission, even through all our imperfections. I know that repentance is real, and even though I have a hard time really knowing if i'm forgiven, I know that through Jesus Christ our lives can become perfect. Sure we're going to fail, make mistakes, sin, and all that other imperfect stuff. But as we rely on Jesus Christ, and apply his Atoning sacrifice, we can be made perfect through His grace.
It was a great week. I still don't know a lot of our Investigators very well, but there is so much potential in this area. I'm thankful for this opportunity to grow and to learn, and I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I love you all so much!!
Love,
Elder Hicks
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