Goodbye Union City

Here's some final goodbye pictures with some people from UNION CITY:
(Elder Hicks's mother posting this trying to match description to pictures. If they are incorrect Elder Hicks can fix them in another year when he gets home.)

Norbert: our good friend that helped us all the time



Hector: Recent Convert



Abel: Super Less-Active that we helped bring back into the church



Margarita and Cristina: Super nice members



Christian and Trixi: Awesome investigators



Bishop Chavez: Really awesome bishop for Union City



Elder Caleroni Going Home



Hna Martinez


Efrain and Martin (2 Investigators)


HECHO!

The Land of Plenty

I know I'm on the computer a little earlier than usual, but I guess a change of area, calls for a change of schedule.

So the drum roll please.... I am now serving in the land of plenty (or so my companion calls it) of Passaic New Jersey. It's a pretty great place, and a lot different from Union City. The culture is more so Mexico here, with the majority of people being from the homeland of Mexico. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to work with and talk to Mexicans (a little bit but not a lot) so it will be interesting to get to know them a little better.

My new companion is Elder Jarrett from Highland Utah. He went to Lone Peak, and is actually my first companion that loves BYU about as much as I do. He loves basketball, and we get a long pretty great. In honesty, Elder Jarrett reminds me a lot of my old roommate Chase Bastian. Maybe it's just because he has red hair and freckles, but I think in someways he talks like and acts like Chase which is pretty cool. It's only us two living in an apartment. It's a pretty big apartment for 2 people. We have a really cool mega-desk that we study at, which is basically 4 desks pushed together, but I'm really liking it here in Passaic.

It was kinda sad to leave Union City while at the same time kinda refreshing to come to a new area and meet new people. It does have it's challenges though. Without Utah Mountains, it's really hard to tell the direction you're headed. I left the awesome grid system of Union City, to a place that just has a bunch of random names, but luckily Elder Jarrett is the driver, and we have a GPS to help us out.

Life as a zone leader get's pretty busy. This week me and Elder Jarrett had to do 5 baptismal interviews for people in our zone. It was a great experience, and I did my first all Spanish interview with a guy named Atelmo. It was pretty humbling though, because it really made me realize that I need to work on Spanish a lot more.

So on Tuesday we went to transfer conference where we all received our new assignments. I was thinking I was going to go to Passaic, I guess it just made the most sense. I shook President Jeppson's hand on the way out of the chapel, and he had me in a hand shake and was really expressing his gratitude for accepting the assignment of Zone Leader. I think I'm going to have a really good relationship with President Jeppson.

On Tuesday night we went to correlation and I had the opportunity to meet the Branch President. He's pretty new, but he's really awesome. He was talking about how important our health was, and was trying to get a feel of who was feeding us. He asked us about every meal for every day of the week. So that's why it's called the land of plenty, because we get fed a lot (supposedly) and one of the ladies in the ward buys a bunch of grocery items for us including Milk, Juice, Muffins (Costco muffins), Water, Yogurt, and other items. This really is such a great branch, and I think it is only a branch because we are in a district and therefore can't become a ward.

We have 4 people with baptismal dates right now, and they are as follows:
1. Marilu. Marilu is a really sweet lady, I think from Mexico. She was taught in the past, and last year went to church 3 times. She was picked up again, and set with a date. She still hadn't been to church since last year, but this week we taught her a little about church, and she showed up to church an hour early, and stayed for all 3 hours. She is set for July 31st which is pretty great. Hopefully she can be ready by then, and can continue coming to church each week.
2. Dilcia: We found Dilcia just the other day. She is from the Dominican Republic, and let us in on account that her dad received a blessing from missionaries or members one time in the DR and now he's still alive, so I guess that is a good sign. She didn't come to church, but I think she has a lot of great potential, and will be baptized one day.
3. Ana: Never met her, will tomorrow though.
4. Victor: Last night we went and taught Victor and the family he is living with. He lives with the Garcia Family who are recent converts, as well as his sister who was baptized last year. Elder Jarrett told me he wasn't sure how much his mom would like the idea of baptism, but last night we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and talked about baptism and helped him overcome some of his fears. We invited him to be baptized for August 7th, and he ran to the back room to get permission. His mom said yes, so now Victor is preparing to be baptized. He is like 11 years old.

But yeah, things have been pretty busy, and Sunday night even busier trying to fill out all these reports and things. It's good though, business makes time go by faster, and keeps me more focused. I don't have too much else to update on.

Our new address is 56 Chestnut,
Garfield, NJ 07026.
Yep I live in Garfield, the City of Champions (Or so the sign says).
It's a nice place, and there is a lot more green here.

Well, I guess that's just about it. Thanks for the cookies you sent, they are delicious.

Thanks again for all our support.

I hope everything else is going well, and that you are all still enjoying the summer. Love you tons!!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

Almost 6 months... 100 days... y Ya Me Voy de Union City

Well, it's finally time for Elder Hicks to leave Union City.

After being here for almost 6 months, that time has come for me to pack my bags and head out to a new part of New Jersey. Today Elder High and I have been together for 100 days which is pretty cool.

Where am I going? Who knows? But I did get a call from the assistants last night, and I have been called to be a Zone Leader! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I'm going to have to be a zone leader, and learn how to better serve others and be an example. So my possible future areas are pretty limited. I will be going to either West New York, Passaic, Newark, Elizabeth, or back to Dover. Most likely Passaic, Dover, or West New York, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I've already packed a bunch of stuff, and will probably finish packing tomorrow, but I'm excited to move onto a new Area and try to take all the things I've learned here into a different place.

Hector was pretty sad to hear that I might be going, and now that I am, he says things like "No Te Vayas!" Meaning "Don't Go!". It will be sad to leave Hector. He really is a stud and is going to do great things in the church, but I guess it had to happen sometime. That is why it is so important to have friends in the church, because the missionaries will always be leaving. Luckily Hector has been making good friends with people, and so I know he'll be ok.

Oh yeah, by the way, President and Sister Jeppson are super awesome. President started the zone conference out by pulling out his guitar and singing a missionary song to the tune of a Johnny Cash song. He is really an amazing man, and has been through so much in his life, including the death of a brother, his dad, his son, and the loss of one of his legs. He's from Utah, and graduated from U of U, and got his doctorate at BYU. He was a Lawyer, and some callings he's had in the church include Bishop, Stake President, and Patriarch. President Jeppson's theme I guess you could say, or at least for that conference was "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart." I'm really excited to get to work with President Jeppson more and to get to know him a little better. His wife is equally amazing. She is super nice, and super loving. Truly a mom away from home. Sister Jeppson said EFY music would be ok, but all my EFY music is on the Ipod, and Ipods haven't been cleared yet, and I don't know if they will be. So that might be coming home in the mail. We shall see.

This week has been a pretty good week nonetheless. Things didn't turn out quite as we expected. We got juked by a lot of people. We had some really set appointments, and some still ended in no shows. I called one of our investigators Elias 15 minutes before, and he said that we could come in like 30 35 minutes, and he didn't even show up. So obviously that has been a little frustrating this week.

But the Exchange with Elder Christopher was really good. He doesn't mess around at all. He is a contacting machine, and he really does ask everyone for referrals. We were able to teach Yolanda this week, with her husband there. He said that she can make her own decisions and could be baptized if she wanted, but we aren't sure how true that statement really is, because we tried setting a date with Yolanda, and she was able to accept it at that time. She probably wants more support from her family. But Elder High and his companion will probably keep working with them.

Felix is doing ok, we haven't been visiting with his as much. He kept rescheduling appointments, and then there came a time when he didn't answer his phone, so we haven't really been in much contact with him, but he called yesterday saying that he's been busy and he would call us when he got out of church. That didn't happen, but I think there is still some interest. We were able to see Christian and Trixi again yesterday and they are still willing to be baptized, they are just not really close to getting to that point with the divorce and everything. Elder High and his new companion should see a lot of success in this area. I sure hope so anyway. Hopefully they can do work with the recent converts to get them active. In all honestly Hector has really been the only active recent convert lately. But I guess that's where the ward needs to step in, the missionaries can only do so much.

That's about all the updates I have for the week. Yeah I am coming up close to a year, and it's kinda crazy. I'm sure when that day hits, time is just going to start flying even more so. There is still a lot of growing and learning I need to do as a missionary, and hopefully I can continue becoming better each day. Thanks for all of your support and love!

The Gospel is True!!

Love you all.

Feliz dia de independencia!

Ok, so sorry this might be another short letter. I guess a quick update.


President and Sister Bahr have left the mission and President and Sister Jeppson just came in on Thursday. We haven't met them yet, but tomorrow we have a zone conference to meet them which is pretty exciting. Who knows what changes that will bring, so I guess we'll have to wait until next week. This is the last week of the transfer, and potentially my last week here in Union City, but who knows, I could stay here for one more, than I will have been in Union City for 7 and a half months. It's a good area though, and I think there is still a ton of potential here.

Hmmm.... More information about the temple. I mean it was good, like really good. I wish we could go to the temple more often. It feels kinda cool walking in New York City in a suit and tie. The temple in Manhattan is really nice though, and maybe one day in a few years we can go as a family to the Manhattan Temple.

So last night was also another really cool experience probably a once in a life time. We got to watch the Macy's firework show on the Hudson river, with New York City in the background. I was saying that the cool thing was, that we get to see the show and New York City, while those in New York get to see the show, but are just looking at New Jersey. It was awesome to see all the camera flashes on the other side of the Hudson in the buildings and stuff of people taking pictures. I took a few pictures although it doesn't quite capture the whole experience.


Things are going pretty well here in the Area. We have found some pretty good investigators. Last week after the temple trip, we went to a members house, and ended up teaching their nephew Alex. He's a really cool guy. We taught him in English, and his aunt helped us teach him as well. We invited him to read the restoration pamphlet, pray, and come to church. He did all three of those things, and hopefully when we see him tomorrow, we can set a baptismal date with him.

On another note. This week we dropped by to see the family of Paul, one of our old investigators. And guess who happened to be there? Paul!! He came back for just a little bit, and we are hopefully going to teach him this thursday. I don't know how long he will stay before he heads back to chicago, but we are also going to try and start teaching his family.

We are still trying to work with Hector's mom Wendy, and she didn't end up coming to church like she said she was going to, but hopefully we can go and set a date with her today and help her progress. Today I am on an exchange with Elder Christopher who was just barely the assistant to the president, which is pretty exciting. Hopefully I can learn a lot from him, although he is expecting me to teach him. But I'm sure we will both learn a lot from each other.

Felix is still progressing kindof. He has a lot of questions that hit points of the gospel, but he's just struggling to believe that there is only one true church. We taught him the plan of salvation, and he was telling us during the lesson that those were things he didn't know before. Finally he came to the conclusion that he needed to really pray, which is basically what we've been asking him to do for awhile, but I guess now he has a greater desire, it should hope for better results.

On Thursday of last week, we were able to finish moving out of the house completely, and got to give one of our fridges to Ruth. She has been living without a fridge ever since I have been here, just because I don't think she had the funds to pay for it, but one of our members with a truck came to help, and we took it over to her house. Her and her kids seemed really happy and excited about it.

We went to the court last week, and it turned out that we had needed to call in for a court date. So we set a court date for the 13th of July, and there is a definite possibility that I'm not going to be here for that, but I guess we will see.

It is getting pretty hot now a days, and I guess a few more short sleeves wouldn't hurt, especially cause my shirts are starting to get worn out. Things for my birthday... Not too sure. Maybe some b-ball shorts that are a little longer. Caleb would probably know the best which ones. Probably the Jordan Brand. The shorts I have are still good, just a little on the shorter side. Other birthday things, I'm not sure. I already have way to much stuff, like 2 suitcases and 2 crates full of stuff, so I should probably start sending stuff I don't need home, give it away or throw it out.

It's good to hear you are all doing well, and Caleb and Becca should be having a baby pretty soon right? That's super cool. I hope all goes well with that.

Well I'm gonna put some picture up from last night. Thanks again for everything!!

Love you all soooo Much!!!!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

Back to the Temple a Year Later

Hello hello Family,

I don't know how long this letter is going to be cause I don't have much time. We go to court in about a half an hour about the ticket, so I'll just keep it short and sweet.

Anyway... The temple was pretty amazing. Can you believe it's been a year already since I went through the temple for the first time. How time flies.


And it was awesome being in New York. It is really such a cool city.



I saw a few missionaries from the New York New York mission, and some of them knew Elder Abraham Boekweg, so I decided to write him a little note again, and have the Elder's take it to him.



It was really nice this time not having to worry about buses and subways. We rode with some other missionaries, with a Senior Couple in their car.



It was fun driving around, and the Church has actually done some good work advertising in New York. We saw a Taxi with a Mormon.org sign above it. Another screen billboard that was showing a little part of a video from Mormon.org, and I've included a picture of a huge advertising sign put up in times square. It's pretty awesome.



This week has been a pretty good week. We finally moved out of the house, and are now in our new apartment which is pretty nice. It's nice having air-conditioning again, and since we live in the basement basically, it doesn't get to hot, although a little more depressing because of the darkness.

Our investigators are doing pretty well. We may be pretty close to dropping Felix though, because he's not really committing much, and some of the things he says just kinda let us know that he isn't ready right now. We'll go see him once more and see how things go. We found out that our other investigator with a baptismal date, Maria, is moving to south Jersey, so we had to drop her as well. I'm not really sure what's going on with people moving, but I guess the Lord has more prepared people for us.

Sadly Elder Yates went home yesterday, but it was good to work around him for one last transfer. I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Hunt again which was pretty good. We were able to find this pretty great guy for the English Elders. We were able to set a baptismal date with him on the first lesson, but sadly I don't think the Elder's have been able to get a hold of him again.

We were able to teach Hector about the temple this week, but sadly he wasn't able to go with us. He is going to go tomorrow for part of Institute though which should be pretty good.

The new Mission President gets here tomorrow. We will get to meet him next Wednesday, and this Transfer will end on June 11th. Staying or Going, I'm not sure, but I did forget to say that Elder Yates was replaced by Elder Christopher, who just got dropped as Assistant for his last transfer, so now I have the pressure of having a former Assistant in my District, but it will be alright, hopefully he'll be able to teach me new things.

I sure love all of you!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

Happy Belated Father's Day

So... Happy Father's day Dad!

So I guess just an interesting situation/story that may require you to send me some information about the amount of money in my account. Last Monday we were driving doing errands, and I was sitting shot-gun. On our way back, the driver of our car ran a red light, and a cop just happened to be at the intersection. We got a ticket for 80 bucks, but what's worse, is you know how I've never really been good at looking for stuff. Well I was trying to find the insurance card, and I just couldn't seem to find it. The driver looked through the things a little bit, and we could only find an expired card. So... we got another ticket for failure to show proper insurance for another 180 dollars. Pretty crazy right? I felt so bad inside, but when Elder Woodburry got back into the shot-gun seat, he was able to find the proper insurance card. And so I'm really hoping that when we go to court next week, that the judge will drop the charges of the insurance ticket because we had the insurance the whole time. At first I was going to have to pay half of the 80 dollar ticket because I was the co-driver, but I talked to President Bahr, and he said the driver has to pay half, and the rest of the people that were in the car have to pay the other half. So for that I just have to pay 10 dollars. But, with the other ticket I don't know. I will probably have to pay half if the judge doesn't let it go. So yeah, I was really not happy on Monday, but hopefully things will be alright. We will go and fight it in court, and maybe the Judge will have some mercy. So hopefully I have enough on my card to potentially pay $100.

So this might be the last time I write you until next Wednesday because hopefully we will be able to make our temple trip. I don't like that we have waited till the end of the month, cause what if something comes up? So Wednesday is the plan, it should be pretty great though. We are going with a member who comes out with us a lot, and hopefully Hector will be able to come too, and do baptisms with Norbert while we do a session. And yes, we are actually moving out tomorrow, so tomorrow should be a pretty good moving day.

Anyway, none of that stuff is very fun to hear about right? So let me just give you an update of the weekly doings.

We have been able to teach Felix more, and he's a really awesome guy. He seems interested in learning and has some pretty interesting comments. He was talking about how the devil has a bible, and expressing how big the bible is by out stretching his arms. Last week he was like ... "I just have a problem.... No I don't have a problem.... I'm confused.... No I'm not confused...." and than he talked about how the restoration made sense and that it was a good story. He has read a little bit from the Book of Mormon, but hasn't prayed about it yet. He's a really cool guy though, and hopefully we can set him with a date real soon.

We have started teaching this 8 year old kid named Jonathan, who is the brother of a less-active girl. He's a really cool little kid, but I'll be honest, teaching the young ones is not an easy thing to do. It was pretty tough simplifying it to a point where it would make sense. But I guess it's good practice for all other future investigators.



On Wednesday we had our all mission conference, our last one with President Bahr. It was great to be able to go feel the Spirit there, and receive instruction from President and Sister Bahr, as well as the assistants. I'm going to miss President and Sister Bahr , but hopefully I'll be able to have a good relationship with President and Sister Jepsen as well. Elder Yates gave his final testimony for the mission, and he leaves in a week from tomorrow.

This week we tried to check on our Investigator Paul from Ecuador. We hadn't been able to meet with him for a few days because he was sick, but we went by again to teach him, and got some bad news. We asked his aunt if he was home, and she said he was in Chicago, we asked when he would be back and she said in 2 months. I wasn't expecting that at all, especially since he had a baptismal date for July 10th, but I guess whoever is in this area in two months can pick him back up.

Friday, was the day of the Summer Scrub, meaning that all the missionaries were supposed to clean their apartments, like super clean. There was a list of all the things we were supposed to do so that our apartments would be spotless. Well it was a little tough even getting close to finished because we are only two people and we live in a huge house, but hopefully it's not as big of a deal because we are moving to another apartment which appears to be pretty new. It will probably be a little easier to clean once all of our stuff is moved out. After cleaning, Elder High and I had something pretty cool happen. So we had this potential named Gabriella who we have passed a number of times on the street because she is a vender of corn, and mangos and stuff. She said that the best time for us to teach her would be on a rainy day when she can't work. We passed her again on Thursday, and Elder High told her that it was going to rain tomorrow, and so we set up an appointment to come by the next day. Well the next day came and it actually turned out to be really rainy, even to a point where one of our window seals flooded, seeped through the wall, down through the ceiling to the downstairs and was leaking into the kitchen. Even to a point where water was seeping out of the air conditioning unit. (It's time to move right?). So we went and we got to teach her, which was pretty great. She's a really nice humble lady from Mexico, and she accepted a soft baptismal commitment. When the appointment was over, we came outside to find that the rain had stopped.



That evening I started my exchange with Elder Yates. It was pretty great being back with him for one more day, just like the olden days. We went to a little bit of the Father's Day party that the ward was having and headed back for the night.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty good day as well. We got to teach Mariuxi again, and sadly she hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon for basically all of last week, but she said she would read every day this week, and she accepted to live the word of wisdom.

Yesterday was a good day of church, and we got to go teach our Investigators Maria, Esperanza, and Efrain. I think Maria is the one really prepared right now, so we will probably start focusing more on her, but the lesson was pretty good, and Maria seemed really interested to read from the Book of Mormon. Esperanza and Maria are both Peruvian, and their Brother Angel, is a member of the church. He was there for part of the lesson yesterday which was good.

Basically that's my week. It went by pretty quick, and this week will probably be filled with awesome things as well. Thanks again for all your support. This transfer might be a little longer than 6 weeks, like maybe even 7 weeks with the new president change and everything, although I'm not 100 percent sure. I guess you just gotta go with the flow sometimes right? Well, I'm not sure when I'll get to write again, but sometime next week I'm sure.

Hope all is going well, and that you all have a good week. Love you all so much!!

Love,
Elder Hicks

Getting down to the wire!

Well things aren't so much for me, but for President Bahr and a bunch of other missionaries, the Journey is almost done. We just finished week 3 of the transfer, and really we have 3 more, but confusingly, President Bahr and the other missionaries leave the mission in 2 weeks, so I'm not sure exactly whats going to happen. A lot of changes are about to hit the Morristown mission with a few more Spanish missionaries heading out, and a brand new mission president coming in. So I can't tell you exactly when I'll be transferred or when transfer conference is to come, but I'm pretty sure this is my last one here in Union City, and Elder Zierenberg (Zone Leader) made it sound the same way.

I sadly didn't get to go to the temple because Elder High has to go to the Dentist today, meaning we have to take our P-day today. I'm not sure exactly when we are going to go, but I sure hope that we get to. We only get to go to the temple 2 times a year.

We are moving out of the house next week. Probably because the house is just way to expensive for 2 missionaries. We went and saw our apartment not to far from where we live, and it's pretty cool. It's on the first floor, kinda like a basement. And the land lords we live with are Cuban, and they are going to take good care of us is what we hear, like cook for us and stuff. So that should be pretty cool.

This week was a pretty good week here in Union City. We met some pretty great people that I think have some really good potential.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with one of the zone leaders named Elder Zierenberg. He's a pretty awesome missionary. He told me that he used to work at Provo Canyon Boy's School as a transporter, so I asked if he knew Rachel, but he said that he didn't. It was still cool to have that connection though. Elder Zierenberg and I went and taught this potential named Maria, who we actually just set with a baptismal date on Friday. She is a pretty cool lady, although she didn't come to church yesterday. We went and taught Noemi again, and sadly she just doesn't really want to make an effort to know if the church is true, or even come to church, which makes things harder for her recent convert sons I'm sure. I don't know if you remember them, but little Christian and Francisco are her sons that were baptized in March, and she has another son named Daniel who was baptized farther back. Christian and Francisco haven't been to church a whole lot since their baptism, but hopefully their older brother can keep being a good example for them.

On Wednesday Hector came out on a team up with us which was pretty awesome. We went and saw Christian and Trixi again. They are so awesome, and really need to be baptized, but their are still 3 big problems in the way.
1: They have never come to church, and Christian is basically always working on Sunday
2: Trixi must get a divorce with her ex and
3: Christian and Trixi must get married!
So as you can see, I don't think they are too close to getting baptized, but they have basically been taught everything, and as far as I can tell, they are willing to live all the commandments.
Hector did awesome helping us teach them about prayer. Christian was talking about how they don't really pray as a family, and Hector cut in, and started talking to him about how important it is, and used it from his own experience. Hector is going to be an awesome missionary one day.

On Thursday we got to go and teach this less active who found us, but originally found the church through Marie Osmond. Small world huh? He lived in Utah for awhile and has been through the temple, but he has sorta fallen away. We taught him a few things, and made him a little goal sheet of things he can do to replace drinking alcohol, and commited him to not drink alcohol that night. I'm pretty sure he didn't! Which is awesome, or I guess I should say So Awess (Inside joke with Caleb and Becca). He came to church this week, and coincidentally the priesthood lesson was on the Word of Wisdom. Which by the way, one of the teachers here in Union City is probably one of the best teachers I've had in church. He explains things so clearly and keeps the lessons interesting Hno Quizada. We were able to go and teach our Investigator Sunilda again, who was the one who origianally opened the door with the chain still attatched, but later opened all the way. She seems willing to read and to pray, and Elder High likes to joke with her that she is going to get baptized as much as she has told us that she isn't.

Friday was a super filling day. We went and taught Ruth again, who is just falling farther and farther away. We figured we would just read the Book of Mormon with her to try and help her develop a habit of reading, and feel the spirit. We read in 3 Ne 11 about Christ coming, but she found a way to deny it by saying it wasn't Jesus Christ and saying the Book of Mormon wasn't inspired. I really don't know what is happening with her. It's pretty sad to see her losing her testimony, although she did tell us that she doesn't really think the 7th Adventist church is right either. She made it kinda sound like there isn't really a true church, it's just a matter of what we do in our own lives. We will keep working with her though and trying to help her out.

Later that day we went to a Papuseria (El Salvador) and later went to the bishop and ate Baliadas (Honduras) which were both really good.

We got to see Fiorella again, and she is going to try and be a good example to her non-member kids. We saw Ana again, who surprisingly wasn't as argumentive as usual. She is an awesome lady, but really just needs to pray about the Book of Mormon.

On Saturday we were walking around, and after passing this guy for the second time, I had a feeling that I needed to talk to this guy named Felix, and Elder High happened to feel the same way. We talked to him for a little bit, and went and taught him last night. He has a ton of questions, and is a pretty cool guy. He told us that we better come prepared tonight, because he is going to be asking us a lot, so tonight should be a pretty fun night. He thought it was pretty crazy/bold that we claimed to be the only true church with the authority, so we'll have to explain the restoration to him tonight pretty clearly, but he's a really cool guy, and we started teaching his friend too.

We went and had a lesson with Sandra and Washington again, (the people that gave us cow stomach), and Washington seemed a little more dedicated to wanting to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. He asked us where he needed to read, and they seem like they are getting close to being more prepared.

That's crazy how much the family is growing, and especially how much it is going to grow within the next 8 week. Thanks so much for all your letters and support!

I Love you all so much!!!