Gift to the Savior for Easter

Hola amigos y familiares!

How fun to hear about the family road trip. Hope you have a good time. Thanks for letting me know about brother Plante as well. I miss his smile and his jokes. He always knew how to make me laugh, haha.

Sorry I couldn´t write last week.

So excited that the church has put out another initiative called ¨Gracias a que Él vive¨ (at least that´s what it´s called in spanish). 

Check it out at mormon.org! So my companion and I have been thinking of the best way to use this wonderful tool to bring more people to the knowledge of the Restoration of the gospel. One idea is to have an activity in the park. So to get permission from the government, we wrote a letter last week. Must have been ok cuz we got permission! I love miracles. And the city will provide a screen, chairs, and speakers. What a blessing! The activity will be the 10th of April. Our plan is to show the video ¨Gracias a que Él vive¨ as well as a few of the new videos of Jesus Christ´s life.

Neat experience, my companion and I were walking down the street and saw a family carrying eggs into their house. We rushed to help. When all the eggs were inside, we asked if we could share a message. Juan (the dad) said sure. We shared the message of the Restoration and made an appointment just two days later. When we came back we invited them to be baptized and they accepted for the 25th of April! Amazing what can happen when we serve.

Another experience started a few days ago. We were knocking doors and found a woman who told us to come back Sunday in the afternoon. So we did! Unfortunately she wasn´t there but we knocked on her neighbors door and found her there. She told us she had forgotten and came quickly to let us in her house. After talking for a bit we came to know that she had started attending an evangelical church a few years ago. She had always questioned why there were so many churches. We taught her about prophets, the establishment of Christ´s church on the earth and the Restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith. As we gave Joseph Smith´s account of the First Vision, she started to cry. She felt the Spirit. In the end she accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of April. The Lord has truly poured out his blessings. Almost always, it´s when we are on the edge of breaking or giving up that God shows forth his hand. Never give up! Always rely on the Lord!

Yesterday the zone leaders let us know who has changes. Elder Hicken, Elder Rojas, Elder Cruz, Elder Harward, Elder Dixon, Elder Espina and Hna. Rodas. Every companionship had a change. So, I´m going then. I´m going to miss Quiché a lot, the experiences I´ve had, the people I´ve met, the miracles I´ve seen. However, I´m excited for a change. I know the Lord will call me where I need to go.

I´ve reflected a lot about the Atonement of Christ and the role it plays in my life and in the lives of others. Christ has paid for our sins. He has felt the pain we feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He has conquered death and permitted life. What are we waiting for? This Easter, I try to make prayer and repentance more a part of my life. And maybe you want to think of what you can give to the Savior of the World and then do it.

Miss you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hicken

I Love to See the Temple

Lisangela's Baptism

Hola familiares y amigos!

Glad to hear the Journey with Joseph performances turned out so well. Sorry you were sick mom but it sounds like dad’s blessing really helped. Hope someone videoed it?! Super cool.

  

Elder Hicken and Lisangela

 

Lisangela got baptized! Her whole family showed up! Lisangela bore her testimony and the Spirit was really strong. Then her grandma gave her testimony as well. I´m so glad I had the opportunity to be part of this special moment in Lisangela´s life and in the lives her family. Earlier that day, Elder Andy and I had bought cake as a surprise for after the baptism. Turns out they had the same idea haha so we had 2 cakes. Yumm!

 

The Family Crew

Unfortunately, we found out this week that Feliciano was married before, more than 8 years ago. His wife had left him and had taken their 2 children. Being really weighed down for a couple years, he found Cristina and they hit it off. They have one child together, Carlitos, but they can´t get married right now until Feliciano gets a divorce. Yeah, kind of a long process. But we´re trying to help them in whatever way we can. We have a lawyer in our branch who is super cool. He´s helping us as well. It depends if the first wife of Feliciano is in favor of a divoce. If so, the process goes super fast. If not, it will take a lot longer. We´ll see how that all turns out.

This past Thursday, our zone went to the temple. It was great! We left early Thursday morning and got a private bus to head down to Xela. I had seen pictures but I couldn´t believe how beautiful it was in person. I know it´s the house of the Lord. Every time I go, I can feel His prescence there. And each time I go, I take away something new. I love learning in the temple. I´m so grateful for temples on the earth today.

Changes are coming up in 2 weeks. Later this week there is a multi-zone conference. Can´t wait! Y´all have a great week!

Love, Elder Hicken

 Una fiesta Guatemalteca
A Party - Guatemala Style

 

Sister Baby

Pineapples here are amazing

Hola familiares y amigos!

Qué tal? That´s awesome you guys got to do family history and then go directly to the temple the next day. So cool! Saw the pics of the Journey with Joseph rehearsal. Jonathan, you’re looking good buddy in your suspenders.

So towards the beginning of the week, we met with hermana Cristina, who was very sick, and we gave her a blessing. After the blessing, she gave us a reference of a family who was passing through a rough time. The son of the mom had passed away just 2 months earlier. We went the next day and found this family. The mom´s name is Katarina and she has 3 children still living, Teresa, Ana, and Gabriel. We shared a message of hope that one day they would see their son and brother again because of Jesus Christ. They loved it. They said that although they felt sad, they felt a lot happier at the end of our visit. We passed by numerous times this week. We invited them to the activities and they came. We invited them to church and they came. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted! Their baptism will be the 28th of March. It’s a miracle! The Lord has blessed us a lot.

Lisangela´s mom was out of town this week but we were still able to meet with Lisangela and her grandma, Hermana Odelia. She is ready. She will be baptized this Saturday!  And her whole family is planning on attending, a lot of whom aren´t members. We’re excited!

We´ve been working a lot with a new family in the ward that recently moved to Quiché. They were inactive for a while but decided to come back to church after a visit from the brothers in the branch. What a difference a visit can make. Now they have come to nearly every activity. And the daughter, Marelyn, who is 19 years old, brought a friend to 2 of the activities and the friend really liked it. We hope to work with her friend starting this week.

Ok I just gotta say the pineapples here are AMAZING! Ok I´m done.

The Branch President gave my comp and I the oportunity to speak in church. My comp. talked about miracles and I talked about revelation. When I was little, I always thought 15 mins. was a long time to fill. Now it´s not enough.

I´m in 3 Nephi chapter 11, of the Book of Mormon.  I’m starting the Savior´s ministry in the Americas. I love the Book of Mormon.

Have a great week!

Elder Hicken

The Book of Mormon is True

Hola familiares y amigos!

We went on divisions with the elders in Chichi this week. We did a lot of contacting and I learned a lot. I interviewed a 9 year old girl for baptism and came to find out that she and her whole family were drinking coffee every day. Crazy. (So glad I never drank coffee)  Unfortunately, we had to postpone the baptism but I know that through the amazing Atonement of Christ and full repentance, the Lord makes it possible for us to change our habits and passions. Another investigator in Chichi, named Caren, knows she has denied Christ for a long time. She wants to do what´s right, and she is! The elders called this morning and told me Caren quit her job because her boss wouldn´t let her go to church on Sundays. I was super excited.

My comp. and I are learning to use our time more wisely. We are dividing our time into intervals that will bring most effective results. President Smith has asked us to spend half our time teaching and the other half finding. Simple right? That way when missionaries find an amazing family and in the end they don´t want to be baptized the missionaries don´t have to start from square one all over again. If one is constantly teaching AND finding, that is a good missionary.

Feliciano and Cristina are our most positive investigators right now. They are wanting to find the truth and ask really good questions. They truly have the desire to change. Still need to be married though. But they are coming to our English classes!

Anyways, I´m reading in Helaman in case you wanted to know! Chapter 12 to be exact. Nephi is such a great example to me of obedience, so quick to remember Heavenly Father and constantly relying on Him amidst all the wickedness around him. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It testifies of Christ. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hicken

New Companion

Hola familiares y amigos!

It´s always great to hear Jonathan´s basketball updates. Ranked #1! That’s great! Keep working hard buddy. I really liked reading Elder Scott´s talk ¨Make the Excercise of Faith Your First Priority¨. 

Prayer,
Scripture Study,
Family Home Evening
and Temple Attendance.

I printed it out and will be giving it to a recent convert family later tonight.

So I have a new companion, Elder Andy. He´s a hard worker, laughs at the most random things, loves pancakes and French toast and comes from Ecuador. He is constantly trying to follow the promptings of the Spirit and at every opportune moment is reading his Scriptures. He´s been a really big example to me and we´ve worked hard this week trying to find new investigators. Unfortunately, we had to drop a lot of our previous potential investigators because of our absence in Quiche last week.

We did feel prompted to fast to help us find new investigators. Saturday came around and we started our fast after lunch. That night we were contacting in Zone 2. We felt an impression to look in La Coloñia Primero de Mayo. We tried for one hour, knocking doors and contacting in the street. Finally when we were pretty worn out and about ready to head home, we felt to knock one last door. This woman opened the door and invited us in with a smile. We got to know her whole family of 11 people. We taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel, gave them 2 books of Mormon to read and set up a return appointment for this Tuesday. It was a miracle! We know it was an answer to our prayers.

As a district, we set a goal to have 15 investigators at church this past Sunday. We reached our goal having 18 investigators attend! That was really exciting.

We´ve been working with a sister named Lidia. She is living with a member, but they aren´t married. She wants to be baptized but we explained that she needs to get married first. We hope to help her set a wedding date this week so she can be baptized and receive the full blessings of the Lord. Feliciano and Cristina are another non-member couple we are working with. They need to be married as well before they can be baptized. To finish the week, my companion and I put a fecha meta [date goal] with a man named Jose-Luis. He is really smart, willing to read the Book of Mormon, and wants to have God in his life. His baptismal date goal is for March 27th.

I just finished reading the war chapters in Alma. In Alma 62:41, it tells of the different ways the people responded to the wars. Some were hardened and others humbled themselves. Same trial, but different responses. The work of Salvation is not easy, and we have to decide how we will respond. I know that this is the Lord´s work. I know the fullness of the eternal gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Lord continues to reveal His will to his living prophet. I love this gospel.

All the best this week!

Love, Elder Hicken

On the Move

Hola amigos y familiares!

I got the Family Calendar! I love it. Looks like there´s a lot going on this year. I also got the Valentine´s package. Thanks mom! I shared the Guiardelli´s chocolates with one of the Latino Zone Leaders and he about died. He loved it so much!  (I was with the Zone Leaders because I ended up staying a night in San Jaun with them, but I’ll get to that)   Happy Valentine´s day to you!

Unfortunately, my comp. decided to go home this week. After an interview with President on Monday, he packed his bags the next morning. We talked for a long time but basically he misses his family and he doesn´t agree with the way the church leaders are leading the church. It was sad to see him go. I had emergency changes and ended up staying the night with the Assistants. Then went to another area in Xela and stayed the day and night with the zone leaders. Me and my new companion met up there. His name is Elder Andy! He´s from Ecuador. 

I´m so excited to start working again. A lot of work to do having not been home for a consecutive 4 days.

With all the changes we did not have our English Class this week, but looking forward to doing that again this upcoming week.

Such a cool experience this week. So, the Chichi elders had been struggling to put a baptismal date on the calendar with one of their investigators. While on divisions, Elder Rojas and I were able to teach this investigator. We explained the way that Christ was baptized and the importance of baptism. We asked her a lot of inspired questions. Then this sister ended up sharing a neat experience with us. One night she was praying and reading the Book of Mormon, asking God if she needed to be baptized. As she went to bed, she heard a voice say ¨What are you waiting for?¨ She knew no one else was there and that it was a sign from God. We told her that was the Spirit. Then we asked her ¨What ARE you waiting for?¨ She will be baptized the 28th of March! So exciting!

I know the Lord is pouring out His blessings as we follow Him and His commandments. Have a great week!

Does this tie into Nathan's letter's title: On the MOOve?  

Or is he trying to preach the gospel to every creature?

Or is he tapping into the Dairy Farmer side of Hicken?

Love, Elder Hicken