 |
| RICHARD AND JP |
Hello Family!
It's so great to finally write home again to let you know of all the happenings! Well... I've been sent down south for the first time of my mission. My area is called Hightstown, and we cover Hightstown, Trenton (The capital), and Princeton. It's very different down here in the south. We spend most of our time working in Trenton because that's where most of the spanish people are. Basically I just left Mexico (because of all the Mexicans in Passaic), and arrived in Guatamala (because everyone in Trenton is from Guatamala). That's probably the coolest part of serving in New Jersey... You get to serve in lot's of different countries while never leaving your homeland.
 |
| FAREWELL ELDER LONG. (FILMED THROUGH HIS MISSION FOR A DOCUMENTARY PREMIERING IN OCTOBER 2012 |
Here's a quick update on the week....
Tuesday included lots of packing, getting all my things in to 2 suitcases about ready to explode, and 2 crates full of stuff. I don't know where it all came from, and I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to get it all home, but we loaded the car and headed out. The night before I went to say goodbye to a lot of the members that I had grown to love so much before finally departing.
Before heading to transfer conference we went to the Wall of Fame. A stretch of about half a mile to a mile of concrete that has been graffitied throughout the years. It was pretty interesting but nothing too spectacular.
We walked along the tracks with other missionaries who had come to the same place, and even got a picture next to the infamous "Dirty Jerz".
We sat down in Newark for a final meal at Altazora's (A really good brazilian sandwich place) but got interupted as they moved transfer conference up about an hour, so we had to take our food to go. President began reading the transfers, and I was one of the last people said, because I'm in the last zone of the mission. Other highlights from the conference included Elder Munk being called as Portuguese speaking (he's one of the Elders that came out with me), and taking a picture with everyone from our MTC zone.
I headed down to my new area, which was a relatively long drive, with my new companion Elder Wooton! Elder Wooton came out the same time as me, and we are actually both the District Leaders down here in Highstown. Elder Wooton is from Alpine Utah, and he's a super humble, super nice missionary. He's a little more on the shy/quiet type which is a change for me, but we should do really well together. I spent the rest of the night unpacking and organizing, still in shock that I was actually away from Passaic. I don't know what it is, but change is just mind blowing for me, and so the shock of being in the south was pretty tough for me.
Wednesday, Elder Wooton and I had to quickly prepare district meeting and head out the doors. The weather was a balmy 60 something degrees which was incredible considering it was the first day of February. We still don't have snow here as of now, and I'm not sure if it's ever going to come or no, which is really weird because last year I feel like there was just constantly snow here. The day didn't turn out to bad as we found a new investigator name Marianela. It's been tough not knowing any of the members, where anything is, and not knowing who your investigators are.
Hmmm... I guess some other highlights of the week would include Donna. On Friday night we went and tried a Less-active, who didn't end up being home. We were sitting in the car wondering what to do, when a lady knocked on our window. She asked for a ride, which unfortunately we couldn't do. Then she asked if we had a coat we could give her. She had just been discharged from the hospital after being sent there after a fall from her landlord. She was released out into the cold with only sock-slippers and no coat. We decided to get out of the car with her and walk with her to where she was going. As we walked we talked a little bit about the restoration which she seemed pretty open to, and then we left her waiting for a ride from her Nephew at a pizza place that claims bragging rights of being the oldest pizzeria in america (Est. 1912). We went back to donna yesterday to get the coat back, and she was still interested in the message, so we referred her over to the English Elders.
On Saturday we were pretty busy with District Leader duties as we headed to Princeton for District Leader council with the Zone Leaders, and after that to District Leader Training in Morristown. The training in Morristown was really good, and really uplifting for me. I was still having some struggles adapting to being in the South so far away from everything, and then being moreso out of the loop, not being a zone leader. President quoted a general authority that this church is "not about where you serve, but how." It helped me out a lot to really accept that I was sent here for a reason, and that I can do a lot of good for the missionaries in my district. We really do have great missionaries in our district, and I'm excited to get to know them a little better. Later that night we had a great restoration lesson with a guy name Evert. I feel like the Lord has blessed me with even a greater outpouring of the gift of tongues as I've been talking more, and listening more to the people here. During the lesson with Evert I felt really comfortable with my Spanish, and didn't have to put too much effort into coming up with Spanish sentences. I'm so grateful for the ability to learn a new language here on the mission, and now being here in Hightstown with Elder Wooton it will be a big time of growth for me.
On Sunday we went to church which was also different than what I was used to. They have a really big chapel here in Princeton, with 2 English wards and 1 Spanish branch. There were so many people there! The branch isn't quite as big as the Passaic branch, but that's what we'll be working on :). The members here seem really nice, and seem to really love the missionaries. There is a member that take the missionaries to the China buffet every week, (which was actually pretty delicious). We also have a recent convert Sara who is an amazing member, and is soon going to go to the temple for the first time. There is a lot of work to do, and a lot of potential here in the Area. Which just really need to work on finding those that are prepared, and those that have a lot of faith. I'm excited to see what the transfer has to bring, and although it's going to be difficult learning the area and the people, it's a real time for me to grow as a missionary.
Thanks again for all your support and love,
I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Hicks
No comments:
Post a Comment