Collecting the Lost Sheep

Hola amigos y familiares! 

Dad´s off to his Angel Meeting again? Those were some of my favorite memories, going to a few of those meetings together. I´m so happy Jonathan is working hard with basketball and it´s paying off. I hope he ends up joining this special travel team. Sounds like dad is doing an awesome job helping with Journey for Joseph! How is Jonathan liking it?

This week has been somewhat of a difficult one health wise. I came down with some sort of cold towards the beginning of the week and it still hasn´t gone away. It just happened to be the week the Assistants went on divisions with the zone leaders as well. During district meeting I was struggling to talk and coughing a lot, but Heavenly Father blessed me. A little cold never stopped me! I’ll be fine mom.

We´ve been trying to track down references and names in the area book. President Smith has received an inspired idea to double and triple results. It requires asking for references from members, less-actives, and recent convert families. We are to ask them which families they know that don´t know God, and then to write down their names. Each family member takes a copy of the collective list of names in hand, then we pray, together and individually, inviting the Spirit. Once done, we circle which names we feel are ready to hear the gospel now and compare the lists. It has happened a couple times where everyone has one or two similar names that are circled. The spirit is so strong when that happens. And so that´s where we start. We then make plans and set up activities to fellowship the future investigator families. 

It´s been helping us branch out as well. My comp. and I have found names not in central Santa Cruz. We are beginning to find people prepared on the outskirts of the city and beyond, another indicator to me that the work is expanding.

My companion and I have met with a lot of less active members and recent converts this week, collecting the lost sheep. We’ve seen so many miracles. For example, we found Oscar Chavez as a less active member on a list. We asked around and found out he worked in the market selling corte. We went and checked it out. When we stopped by his wife was the only one working at the time. We got their phone number and address and she said we could stop by later that week. No one was home on Tuesday, but being persistent we stopped back again the next day. They were there and invited us in! We got to know the whole family! They are so neat. Oscar and his wife have 4 kids, two of whom were baptized just last year. We got to meet Oscar´s mom who is also living with him. We planned a family home evening before leaving and promised to help Oscar´s mom dehusk corn later that week. We ended up doing all of that and invited them to church. They didn´t come but my comp. and I are determined to keep working with this family. 

I´m so grateful for this gospel and for all the blessings it has brought in my life as well as the lives of those my comp. and I are teaching. The work moves forward! The gospel is true.

Love, Elder Hicken

Estefany's Baptism

Hola amigos y familiares!

Estefany's baptism on Saturday turned out great! She and her dad arrived at the baptismal service 20 mins. early. When the actual baptismal ordinance took place it was an amazing experience. To see Jesus and Estefany enter the font together, as father and daughter, it was very special, especially since Jesus recently received the priesthood. The Spirit was so strong and I couldn't help but smile. The branch mission leader mentioned that Estefany was the first of the sisters in her family to be baptized (she has 3 others). I know anything is possible with the Lord!

 Estefany with her dad, Jesus, prior to her baptism.

 Elder Loayza, Estefany, Jesus, and me

The Rosales Gómez family is so awesome! Not only was Estefany baptized and confirmed this week, but her brother, Walter, gave a talk in Sacrament meeting as well as her other brother, Abraham. What's more, Abraham gave the lesson in Priesthood meeting. And the whole family is planning on going to the temple this Saturday! I know miracles really happen! Elder Loayza and I are trying to get Estefany's baptismal form turned into the mission office so she can attend as well.

We had divisions this week with the Chichi elders. I went to Chichi and Elder Loayza stayed here in Quiché. One of the reasons I went to Chichi was to interview a husband and wife who were to be baptized. Elder Rojas and I hiked a good 20 mins. and took a mini taxi to take us the rest of the way to their house. It was incredible to finally see the couple after hearing about them for so long. They were baptized/confirmed this weekend! What a blessing! Also, I learned a lot from Elder Rojas, specifically how to plan and organize better. And lastly, I got really sick while on division with the Chichi elders. Broke out in hives and was throwing up. But I'm all better now! Still working hard.

Sounds like it was a great Martin Luther King Jr. Day! So fun all the missionaries were able to come over for a District party. New rule as part of the Guatemala, Quetzaltenango mission: districts/zones can no longer meet together for activities, meaning we have to stay in our areas. At first, I was a little bummed but it’s o.k. I know President Smith is called of the Lord and receives divine inspiration to guide this mission.

I love the Lord. Elder Loayza and I will continue working hard. The work goes on!

The Quiché Zone!

Love, Elder Hicken

Update

Hola amigos y familiares!

 

It´s gotten really cold! Everyday my comp and I have worn our sweaters. It´s especially cold in our study room. My comp and I ended up putting our electric stove in there to heat the place up. First to use the stove in the morning for breakfast then to our study room. Now it´s toasty warm. It sure looked warm in Mexico. Thanks for sending those pictures as well. Scuba-diving, horse-back riding, four-wheeling. Glad to hear Joseph and Jonathan were able to find a basketball court and shoot some hoops. There´s always a basketball court right?? Nice job Jonathan on winning your b-ball tourney, carrying the team. Keep practicing buddy!

 

So my new comp and I have had an awesome first week. His name is Elder Loayza. He´s from Bolivia and speaks REALLY fast. He uses a lot of words and phrases unique to Bolivia as well as South America. He loves to dance. He´s made that clear. Never really played sports. Kind of funny to see him play soccer today. He is really enthusiastic about the work and has a strong testimony. We´re both learning together as part of training. We started following the ¨First 12 Weeks¨ booklet. It´s the same booklet that Elder Golledge used to train me. Even though I´ve gone through it, I feel like I´m learning so much! Elder Loayza´s a fast learner as well which helps. We´ve already had a lot of success in accomplishing our goals and working together.

 

Last Tuesday, after changes, Elder Loayza and I had a 3 hour bus ride back to Santa Cruz del Quiché. Once we got back we went straight to work. We stopped by the church and had my new comp meet the branch presidency. We also met the ward mission leader on the way to visit the Rosales Gómez family. Since then we have continued working hard. We´ve spcifically been trying to find new investigators. We just sat down one day and came up with a bunch of ideas. For example, starting an English class. setting up a stand in the park passing out Book of Mormons and other church materials, contacting A LOT more, etc. Already we´ve seen the miracles and blessings from the Lord and have found a lot of new investigators.

 

We also stopped by a lot of already progressing investigators. Estefany will be baptized this Saturday, 17th of January. She is still deciding who will baptize her but we´re hoping she will choose her dad or one of her brothers who have recently been baptized and received the priesthood. She´s awesome! We weren´t able to meet with Jonathan cuz he was out of town this week but he came to soccer today and he said he would be here this week. We´re hoping to put a baptismal date. Lisangela will not be baptized this week but the other Saturday, 24th of January. Her parents want the service just to be family.

 

Anyways all in all a great week! Working hard and the Lord is pouring out his blessings. Have a fantastic week!

 

 

Elder Hicken

Feliz Navidad y un prospero ano

Hola amigos y familiares!

Wow nice to see you all back home! Sounds like you´re all doing well. Next time less questions about me and the mission, and more questions about you guys. I realized how much I miss you all, and especially going to Jonathan´s basketball games and seeing him own everybody. Keep practicing buddy! I really have an amazing family.

Merry Christmas! On the 24th we spent the night passing from house to house. Everyone offered us tamales. By the end of the night I had eaten 4 and had taken home a ton as well. The last family we visited was Jesus and Abraham. They had invited us 3 weeks earlier and were waiting in anticipation when we arrived. They had prepared...yep...tamales! But more then that, they had prepared a meal with chicken, chips, and salsa. We ate, and ate, and ate, and had fun and shared a message. I wouldn´t have wanted to have the night anywhere else.

Our zone wasn´t able to do a zone Christmas party. To make up for it, the zone leaders spent the night with us.

 

They have a tradition here to shoot off fireworks at 12 o´clock the night of the 24th. So at midnight we woke up for the display of fireworks that would appear. Sure enough, at the stroke of midnight the sky was bright with light. Not long after the sky was filled with smoke from all the fireworks. It was amazing.

 

 

Christmas morning we woke up and got to open the packages our family´s sent us. (thanks for always sending my companion a package as well) One very specially wrapped box from my parents to me was saved to be opened last. When I unwrapped it we couldn´t believe what we saw. Bacon scented products!

What a great joke. We were so excited. But you got us. We were disappointed to find it was a prank box and not what was actually inside. Thanks guys! Still I loved all the gifts and Christmas cards. You guys are the best! Hope you all had a merry merry Christmas. 

 

This Christmas season has given Elder Golledge and I many opportunities to serve and share the gospel. We love it. The ¨He is the Gift¨ initiative has been especially helpful. For example, this past Friday we were asked to stop by a potential investigator´s house. We had met him and his family many times through another investigator but never had taught them. They gladly accepted our invitation and invited us in with open arms when we arrived. After talking for a little bit we felt we should share the He is the Gift video even though Christmas had passed a few days earlier. When we were done we asked everyone to share their feelings about the video. The mother of the family had listened to the missionaries previously when she had lived in the capital. She said they had confused her a little but after seeing the video it became clear that we believe and worship Jesus Christ. All asked more questions about the church and about the Book of Mormon. They accepted an invitation to come to church as well. We were overjoyed to see their whole family come to church yesterday. This is truly a special time of year to see miracles and to remember the gift our Heavenly Father has given us. Let us give Him a gift by remembering and following His son Jesus Christ, this year and all the following years.

Estefany and Lisangela are set to be baptized the 10th of January.

Best wishes to all and a have a happy new year!

Elder Hicken

Talking to Nathan on Christmas Day

We had a fabulous conversation with Nathan around noon-definitely the highlight of the day! It was sooo… good to Skype with Elder Nathan, something we’ve anticipated for a long time. He sounded awesome, and looked great! He is just really HAPPY—he loves what he is doing! His Spanish is amazing. We all chuckled that he couldn’t remember the English word for “parents,” or “basketball court.” ha ha J Sounded like there are quite a lot of Christmas Eve festivities, with the actual Christmas day being low key. He is teaching the Mayan people. Up North there is another group of Guatemalan people but that is out of his mission. He will always teach the Mayan people. He talked about the new change of teaching Lesson 5 in Preach My Gospel BEFORE  a convert is baptized—Laws and Ordinances: Priesthood, Eternal Marriage, Temples & Family history, etc. Great idea! What blessings the Lord continues to give to Nathan… 

Deck the Halls with Tamales

Hola amigos y familiares!

This Christmas has been one of giving, service, peace, joy, and love. Perhaps I'm not back home for the holidays but the feeling of Christmas is here. Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday night, all the elders in our zone came to Quiché and stayed the night. Bright and early the next morning we headed out to Huehuetenango for a multi-zone conference with Elder Duncan from the Seventy. We cleaned our suits, shined our shoes, and got there with plenty of time to spare. When Elder Duncan walked in, all the elderes y hermanas stood. Shortly after we had the opportunity to shake Elder Duncan´s hand and talk with him for a few seconds. After a short message from Hermana Smith as well as a few words from Presidente Smith, we got to hear Elder Duncan. He started by reading off statistics, the point being that the majority of the members are in North America, the other largest portion in Central/South America and the rest in the other continents of the world. He also read off numbers of the people baptized and the people attending Sacrament meeting every Sunday. The difference in numbers was startling. There is a hastening of the work and LOTS of work to do. The churches efforts in the past have been good, but now with the expectations higher there needs to be a change. Over many hours he talked about the need to find to teach. And then after we find, what is our message? Faith in Jesus Christ and true repentance. In turn, this will lead to baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Already we've applied the things we learned at the conference. We have been able to see the difference and the fruits from following the leaders of the church. I know they are called of God and receive revelation.

Other random happenings of the week

1) Elder Golledge and I have been going to the ward choir practices this past week. He sings and I play the piano. Saturday, there was a ward activity where the choir performed a Christmas presentation of Christ's birth. The narrators read a few lines then the choir sang a Christmas hymn. Like we practiced, Elder Golledge sang and I played the piano. It turned out really well! It was nice to focus on Jesus Christ.

 

2) We celebrated Hna. Blanca's birthday. We frosted a few muffins and sang. Like the tradition here, she took the first bite and then her face ended up in the cake. Afterwards she kissed all her kids with her frosted face. It was really funny. We also gave her a small gift. Guess what it was? PEANUT BUTTER! (thanks mom for sending those little packets) She loved it.

 

 

 

3) At the branch activity, they served tamales. Apparently that's a big thing down here during this time of year. Can't wait to have that every day this week!

I hope you all feel the Spirit of Christmas this season. I know Jesus Christ lives. Les felicito una buena Navidad y prospero año!

Elder Hicken

A Holly Jolly Week in Quiche

Hola familiares y amigos!

Jesus, Santiaga, Abraham and Walter all went to the temple this past Saturday!  I was so happy!  They said they had a great experience. Elder Golledge and I had tried to help them find family names to take but it was very difficult. Then just one day before they went, Jesus found the names and dates for his parents. Abraham was able to be baptized for his grandpa and Sanitaga for Jesus’s mother. What a miracle.  I was just so happy!

Unfortunately, Estefanie, the daughter of Jesus and Santiaga, has been struggling. She is finding it hard to leave behind her old life and friends. She truly has the desire to be baptized but feels unworthy to do so. But yesterday, we visited her and began teaching the Plan of Salvation. We helped her understand that the Atonement could help her with her desire to change. She really got it and said she would use the cleansing power of the Atonement in her life. Then she said she wanted to move up her baptismal date. I almost screamed! It has been incredible to see the change in Estefanie in her efforts to become better. I know the Lord is routing for us to follow Him.

Elder Golledge and I are still meeting with Lisbeth and Silvia. They are still looking for an answer that they should be baptized. We are really trying to work out their challenges and help them read the Book of Mormon. My love for them has grown so much. They know we carry something special and appreciate when we come over. In our last visit with them, Lisbeth told us she had heard a voice in the night, The voice told her that Elder Golledge and I had a special message for her. I hope this experience can help her in the right direction to find her testimony in all that we´ve taught.

Lisangela will be baptized in January. She has been such a great example for her family. Almost all of them are re-activated. They have come to church for the past 3 Sundays, Biron is preparing to receive the priesthood and Roxana re-new her temple recommend. Very exciting!

It´s been fun seeing the decorations go up this Christmas season. There is a huge Christmas tree in the park along with many dazzling lights and decorations. Every store is selling Christmas decorations, treats, lights, trees and fireworks. Fireworks seem to be a big thing down here, no matter what holiday it is.

This was Elder Jerez´s last week. He bore his testimony in church as his send off and left this morning. Out of all the missionaries he has been the greatest example to me. He has been a great leader, selfless, humble, hard-working and continually looking for spiritual experiences. It was sad to see him go. Funny thing though, he´s coming back in roughly 2 weeks. He is going to come back to visit with his family, and to baptize an investigator family. I guess I´ll say good-bye a second time.

Overall it was a great week! A few more fun experiences...

1. Our district planned an activity in the park for this past Friday. We had a lot to do and weren´t able to get everything pulled together in time. We ended up singing and passing out cookies along with the ¨Él es la Dádiva¨ pass-along cards. It was a great time and we received a few references. We plan on doing the activity again in the park next week.

2. Elder Galbraith went on splits with us last Saturday. His companions had gone to the temple in the morning. I´ll have to admit, it was interesting teaching in a trio. But I learned a lot and we were able to teach by the Spirit.

3. We were passing by Jesus´s house when we saw Walter and his friend fixing their bike. We helped them repair a flat tire (with a paint brush and tape) and made friends with Walter´s buddy. He came to church!

 

4. Elder Golledge and I were looking through Elder Jerez´s pictures and saw one of an hermana holding a gun. We were all over that! When we went over to her house this week for lunch, we asked her about her gun. With pride she pulled out an airsoft gun as well as two pistols. ha ha.

It is amazing to see all the blessings the Lord has given me, especially this Christmas season. The difference is startling when the attitude is of service. Remember this holiday the true meaning of Christmas and the greatest gift our Heavenly Father has given us, His son Jesus Christ. I know this gospel is true. Love you all!

Elder Hicken