Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Accelerating the Work of Salvation- 2015 Plan

Hola amigos y familiares!

Ahh-the Winter Retreat.  I have good memories of going to those. I remember one year I tried taking down President VanWagenen while playing Ultimate Frisbee. That was a mistake. He pinned me so hard I felt it for the next 3 days. But hey, we learn from our mistakes right? In this case, don't mess with the VanWagenen. Glad Jonathan had a good time and that he is trying to magnify his calling as Deacon's Quorum President.

So we had zone meeting this week on Wednesday. At the start of the meeting I had put our phone on silent. When I looked at it afterwards I saw 5 missed calls from the secretaries. Yikes! I quickly called them back and found out that my comp. had to be in Xela that afternoon. Ahh! Apparently he had to sign some papers for his VISA. Originally we had thought to do divisions after the zone meeting by having me go back to Cunen and Elder Loayza stay in Quiché.  Well, Elder Cruz, one of the Cunen elders, ended up going to Xela with my comp. and I stayed in Quché with Elder Workman. We worked hard, learned a lot from one another and I was able to show Elder Workman the inspired idea revealed to the leaders by President Smith. Realizing the elders wouldn’t get back to Quiché until really late Thursday, Elder Workman and I went to Cunen. We did an activity with a member as well as got Elder Cruz's stuff to spend the night. Good divisions! Just really hectic.

Interviews with President Smith also happened this past Friday. We were asked to bring 3 things: our area book, pictures of our apartment, and something to share from our Book of Mormon reading. President smith has asked our mission to read the BOM in 3 months, ending at the beginning of April. Right now I'm reading in Alma 34. Amulek is preaching to the poor people of the Zoramites. I shared with President verses 8-10 where Amulek bears his testimony of the Savior and his infinite Atonement. Amulek’s conversion was interesting to me. He was called many times but he would not hear. Then when he finally did hear, it was hard. He was thrown in jail, suffered hunger and thirst, his family wasn't supportive, but in the end he gained the greatest gift of all. Eternal Life.

It was also District Conference this weekend. The Sunday session consisted of 2 parts: general meeting and priesthood meeting. I really liked the Saturday session because it was interactive and required participation.  One of President Smith's counselors showed a video sent from Elder Duncan, a member of the Seventy presiding over Central America. It was about tithing. Then his other counselor showed another video about family history work and talked about the importance of family history work. To finish, President Smith showed a video about the plan for central America 2015 ¨Accelerating the Work of Salvation¨. It pumped me up so much! This plan, as well as the plan for the District, has become our new focus. I know it comes from the Lord.

 Hastening the Work of Salvation in  Central America

Individuals and Families
Individually and as a family,  we will strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ through prayer and daily scripture study, paying an honest tithe, fasting and contributing generous fast offerings, finding ancestor's names and doing their temple work.

Objectives
1. Prayer and Daily Scripture Study
2. Pay an honest tithe and fast offering
3. Find the names of our ancestors and take them to the temple.

Hastening the Work of Salvation in Central America

Ward Council 
We will work in ward council helping the work of God "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" of the individuals and families, helping them to become self-sufficient both spiritually as well as temporally, as they receive their own saving ordinances.

Objectives
1.  Conversion, retention, and reactivation
2. Family History and Temple Work
3. Spiritually and Temporally Self-sufficiency

Another great week gone by! Someone asked me how long I have had in the mission, and it took me a while to think about it. I guess 7 and a half months this change. Time goes by so fast! It makes me appreciate even more every second I get to totally dedicate myself to preaching the gospel. Love you all!

Elder Hicken

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