Still working

Unfortunately my comps foots been hurting him this week. He fell in the mud a few times and it swelled up pretty bad poor guy. We still got to work a good chunk of the week though. We found two positive families to begin teaching. It's so awesome to keep working.

Finished the Book of Mormon again. I can't even imagine all the sacrifice that went into writing, translating, and publishing such a book. Truly it is the word of God. I love it.

Hope all are well back home!

Elder Hicken

Change of place - and change of language...

     Thanks for the update on grandma.  I love her so much! I'll be thinking about her.

Glad to hear school is out for Jonathan! And what is he doing this summer?  Sometimes summer life can be even more busy. Sounds like a lot of changes in the ward. Congrats to all those heading out on missions soon.

        So, I had changes last week! I'm now in an area called Chirijox. The people here don't really speak Spanish. They speak what is called K´iche. Sacrament meeting and all of church is in K´iche. I've been pretty lost trying to understand it, but little by little I'm learning the language. Don't think I'll have a lot learned anytime soon but I'm trying. It's pretty much all with the throat.  I'm so grateful a member comes with us for a few hours almost every day. They are so nice to spend their time in that way. It's a huge help! Having members with us helps so much in teaching and contacting. If you can go out with the missionaries, do it.

        The culture is very prevalent here. Lots of Corte, tipico and huipil. My companion is again from the Dominican Republic. His name is Elder Mendoza. He's a convert of about 5 years ago and he's awesome! super funny. I'm excited to work hard this last change.

        I came across a couple scriptures in my personal study this week. In Helaman 13:19-21, it explains how the people had their hearts focused on riches and not for the purposes of God. This lead many times to their downfall. Later, when Christ came to the Americas, he explains in chapter 13:19-21  ¨Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.¨  Got me thinking, what is my treasure? Where is my heart? I know we should be focused on God's purposes and not our own. As we do so, we will prepare ourselves for an eternal home.

Anyways, hope all is well back home! Have a great week. Jesus is our Savior.

Elder Hicken

Remembering Grandma

My heart is heavy for the decline in grandmas health. I love her so much.  She has been an example to me all these years of love, selflessness, and faith. One of my favorite memories was while visiting Virginia just before leaving on the mission, seeing and talking to both grandma and grandpa,
being able to go to the Washington D.C. temple together.  It's not so much that I can remember all that we talked about but it felt good to be with them.

In my personal study, I came across these verses while reading in the book of Helaman. ¨Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good. Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them¨ (Helaman 5:6-7).

I will always remember grandma and the name we share.  We´re family and she has a legacy of being good. I want to live up to her name. I want to be good. As I remember grandma, I'm inspired to be like her.

The mission goes on. I have changes! I'll see tomorrow where I'm going. Elder Romero´s been an awesome comp. A lot of good times and miracles seen. Lesly got baptized last week!  The baptism was great. (At the end we all sang happy birthday to my comp. being his birthday was the same day.)

Hope everyone has a great week! I know the gospel is true.

Elder Hicken

Pics--zone conference photos

Skyping with family (From Susan)

What a special day, to get to Skype with Nathan, in Guatemala!  Sweet Nath had sent an e-mail several weeks ago sharing that he really wanted to push himself these last few months of his mission.  (awesome)  As such, he didn’t want any distractions, like talking about college stuff, etc.  So, he asked if we could talk about General Conference talks, and gospel topics for our Mother’s Day phone call.  (Loved that! great idea!)

With the various General Conference talk suggestions that came in, here’s where we landed as a family.  (see list below)  It was great to have these talks ahead of time, giving each of us some time to ponder and study the messages beforehand.  Of course we didn’t get to everything, but that was o.k.

Turned out Nathan wanted to start with Elder Lawrence’s talk, “What Lack I Yet?”   It was so awesome sharing insights and ideas as a family, the parts that stood out to each of us, and the specific ways we might apply what had been said.  Here were a few parts from this talk that we liked:

a.    If we are humble and teachable, (the Holy Ghost) will take us by the hand and lead us home.  However, we need to ask the Lord for directions along the way. We have to ask some difficult questions, like “What do I need to change?” “How can I improve?” “What weakness needs strengthening?”

b.      (Elder Lawrence speaking) “Like you, I have received many messages from the Spirit over the years showing me how I could improve. Let me share a few personal examples of messages that I took to heart. These promptings have included:

·         Don’t raise your voice.

·         Organize yourself; create a daily list of things to do.

·         Take better care of your body by eating more fruits and vegetables.

·         Increase your temple attendance.

·         Take time to ponder before you pray.

·         Ask your wife for her counsel.

·         And be patient when driving; don’t exceed the speed limit. (I’m still working on that last one.)

c.    A perfect time to ask, “What lack I yet?” is when we take the sacrament. 

d.    Sometimes we need to ask what we are doing right so that the Lord can lift and encourage us.

Nathan shared a neat idea about this—so, I guess someone Nathan knows made an actual list of the things they were doing right.

·         I don’t struggle with pornography

·         I keep the Word of Wisdom

·         I’m chaste

·         I pay my tithing

Etc.

Then as they humbly prayed “What lack I yet?”  they were encouraged to try to be better in just one more area-line upon line…

Anyway, hard to sum it all up, but it was a wonderful conversation!  I LOVED hearing and feeling the strong testimonies of my children!  It inspired me! THANK YOU NATHAN--this idea was such a strength to our whole family!  

Sending much love your way,

Shaun, Susan, Joseph, Nathan, and Jonathan

An ELDER HICKEN sighting

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ray Oborn
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2016
Subject: Fwd: Look who we found in church, Nathan Hicken
To: President Hicken

Dear President Hicken,

I hope this email finds you and your family well.  Please give my regards to your wonderful wife.  You won't believe who found us in Church today.  I have attached a picture of Nathan with my two sons (Jacob and Jordan) and one of the converts that Jordan worked with when he served in the same area three years ago.

We are here in Guatemala doing a tour of the areas Jordan served in during his mission and some sightseeing.  It has been a great experience so far and we were excited to see Nathan.  We attended two sacrament meetings today and one of them happened to be the ward Nathan is serving in - what are the chances!  There are 3 stakes in Huehue and at least 18 wards and branches and we pick the one with your son! We had a chance to visit with him briefly after sacrament meeting - he is doing great!  Hard to believe that he will be finished in a few months.  It seems like just yesterday that Jordan got home and Nathan got his call and we were able to connect the two of them.  Who knows, maybe they will run into each other at BYU in a few months.......

Please give our regards and well wishes to the wonderful members of the Minneapolis MN stake!

Take Care and God Bless,

Ray Oborn

And let us not be weary in well doing

 Sounds like it was a great stake conference! Thanks for sharing. Shout out to Iggy for being the best exchange student ever to stay at our home. Glad to hear he stopped by.

I don't have a lot of time this week. My companion is Elder Romero. He's awesome! He has 2 older sisters. Both married. He has about a year in the mission. He's been in Xela the whole time so he was pretty excited to hear he was coming to Huehue. He's a hard worker and has a lot of enthusiasm for
the work so I'm excited. And guess where he's from? The Dominican Republic!

The Rainy Season has begun!

This week we went on divisions. Elder Romero and Elder Chavez talked to an old investigator. His name is Carlos. He works close to our house selling hot dogs. He said he had read more of the pamphlet we'd left a while back and was interested to learn more. They set up an appointment so Elder Romero and I stopped by this week. We taught about the Restoration and invited him to be baptized. The spirit was strong. He said he would and then he even came to church. We`re pumped to see the change in his life.

I've been feeling lately what an honor it is to be part of the Lords work. I know He guides and leads this church. I'm always awe-inspired as I listen to the servants he calls to speak in his name. I learn so much not just from their words but from the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Also, I love the scriptures. I can't even imagine what the prophets of old must have gone through to write down all they did so that we have them so accessible to us today. I know that really studying the scriptures is totally different that just reading them.

¨And let us not be weary in well doing¨ (Galatians 6:9).

Hope everyone has a great week! Adiós

Elder Hicken

Breakfast with the assistants

All are reading the Book of Mormon!

Thanks for the update on grandma midgley. I continually pray for her, and hope that she is at least comfortable.

I'm staying! My comp already has all his stuff packed and ready to go. We`ll head out tomorrow at 4:30am to make it in time for changes. It's definitely been a blast having Elder Rojas as a companion. I've learned so much from him and we`ve seen so many miracles. I know he`ll continue blessing the lives of those that surround him wherever he goes.

This week was great! We have been visiting a family. The dad is really interested and has been reading the Book of Mormon! He had a few questions the last time we passed by but we had invited a member and she was awesome at helping answer his questions. He continues to read and pray. He has trouble understanding the need to be baptized again but we explained about the Priesthood.  I know that by reading the Book of Mormon with real intent and praying with a sincere heart, he will come to know that our message is true by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Book of Mormon is so great because it invites the spirit and testifies of our message of the restoration of the gospel.

Leslie Morales continues to progress! She attended church this last Sunday and she really liked it. She is also reading the Book of Mormon and praying. The last time we met with her, she told us that she had felt really good reading the book and that she knew it was true. Every time she prays, its humbling. She prays to know that our message is true. I'm so thankful for prayer, and that we can pray anytime about anything. She's excited to keep preparing for her baptism.

Mackbryan wasn't able to get baptized after all. He still attended church though and is excited to continue reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He made it clear that he wasn't drinking coffee anymore and was drinking instead juice so that's good. We plan to continue passing by and to help him work towards another baptismal date.

In my personal study, I've been reading in Alma. Speaking to his son Helaman, Alma said, ¨For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers¨ (Alma 37:17). I know that God fulfills all of his promises!

Have a great week!

Elder Hicken

P.S. Some random experiences of the week(see pics attached)...Elder Hall had his birthday! Guess he didn't know the Guatemalan tradition as he complained after having his face shoved into his birthday cake jaja...

Also, my companion and I found a rickety old bridge. Of course my companion rocks and shakes the bridge accidently releasing and then throwing off a water pipe that had been attached. It took us a while to get it tightly fastened back on the bridge jaja....

My companion and I were walking down the street when we saw some member locked outside of their house. Elder Rojas tried to help by wedging himself down to the other side but got stuck doing so jaja