Eternal Marriage = Eternal Principle

Hi Everyone,

We finally have a ward mission leader again! About 3 weeks ago, our ward mission leader was called to be the Elders Quorum president, which left us missionaries hangin`. But as of yesterday we now have our new leader. What a difference it makes. We`ve already had our correlation meeting and our new leader is awesome. He is so willing to come teaching with us and if he can`t come he makes sure we have someone planned to accompany us. It’s great to have members come with us! Joint teach with the missionaries if you can. He told us that since he got back from the mission he`s always wanted to be the ward mission leader.

We were able to find an awesome family. The dad`s name is René. He has a wife, who is already a member of the church, and a little daughter. The wife was baptized in Quiché (my old area) when she was little but only went to church every once in a while. Elder Flores and I committed the husband to be baptized. He sometimes works on Sundays but we are excited to continue working with them.

This weekend, Isaías and Floridalma are getting married! This is a huge step. They said they need a little more time to be baptized but we are so happy they are getting married. For a long time, the two had said there was no need to have their names written on a piece of paper for them to be happy. However, after teaching them the importance of marriage and eternal families, they are really excited to be married this Saturday. Can`t wait! They are inviting all of their family from San Juan and the missionaries. I`ll make sure to take lots of pictures. I’m so grateful that we have eternal marriage in our church.

Another quick thought about what President Nelson said in his talk to us last week. ¨I know you’re not supposed to think about marriage on the mission...but think about it! Make sure your husband or wife loves the Lord more than you.¨ At first, it seemed kind of like having your wife love the Lord more than you didn´t make sense. But after thinking about it for a while, knowing that your wife or husband loves the Lord more will allow for that love to flourish and increase as the years go by. It makes me question, ¨Do I love the Lord more than anything else?¨ (also thought it was kinda funny that President Nelson told us to think about marriage on the mission)  Anyway, I know the Lord talks through His called prophet and apostles today. I’m already getting excited for General Conference coming up.

Today was a zone activity. Our zone went to the Laguna Chikabal. Basically it`s a lake on top of a volcano. In the morning, our plans fell through and we didn`t have a bus to take all the missionaries. We made just one phone call to this awesome recently reactivated sister in the ward and she hooked us up in less than ten minutes with a bus big enough for the zone! Huge blessing! When we finally got to the bottom of the volcano, an hour away, we still had to take a pick up to the top. That was fun! Then at the top, there was still quite a ways to go, but we got right to it. It was great just to be out of the city and for a moment to be in the mountains of Guatemala. It`s so beautiful! Very lush, very green and not too hot or too cold. Happened to be a lot of fog, so it made it hard to see at times but it was great. In the end we got to the Laguna, took some pictures, walked around and ate lunch. Glad everyone was safe and no one got hurt.

 

Trying on the new shades! 

 

In the bus to Laguna 

 

Zone Pic at Laguna

The gospel is true.  Have a great week! Paz y amor

Elder Hicken

President Russel M Nelson

As of one month ago, the whole mission has been really excited that President Russel M. Nelson was going to come this Tuesday to talk to the missions Quetzaltenango and Retauleu (I think that´s how you spell that?). Turns out he wasn’t able to come! Bummer. My comp., Elder Flores, freaked out the most of anybody. It would have been the first time he met an apostle. But the good news was he still talked to us by satellite. Saturday morning, our zone along with the XelaCentro zone gathered at the chapel to watch the broadcast of Pres. Nelson from Honduras. First, we got to hear from a member of the seventy, Sister Duncan and President Duncan, the president of the Central America region. Then, unfortunately, as Pres. Duncan was addressing us, the power went out in the building! We stayed that way for about 10 mins. until a generator was hooked up. Luckily, the power came back on before Pres. Nelson began to speak.

Hard to mention the many great things said by Pres. Nelson, but mostly he talked of the importance to get members and non-members to the temple. Our main goal shouldn´t be to baptize, it should be to get our investigators to partake of the ordinances and covenants made in the House of the Lord. How do we do that? By teaching the doctrine of Christ, the first principles of the gospel: faith, repentance, baptism, reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was amazing to hear President Nelson speak! The spirit was very strong. Also, he would talk and then the translator would say it in Spanish. Kinda cool to be able to understand both * jaja * I know he is servant called of God, a living day apostle of the Lord.

The best part was what I felt the spirit was trying to teach me. It allowed me to step back a little and see where my priorities were. Basically, we are now going to work more with members. I think that´s the key. As we work alongside with member families, I feel that the Lord will bless this area with success.

Anyway, a few other things-we had divisions with the assistants. I left the area and went to Calvario, which is basically a cemetery and a HUGE beer plant. Near the end of the day, Elder Bryan wanted to try some very tasty pupusas. Also, he really liked the Dog Dazer mom sent. He got a kick outta seeing the dogs run away every time he used it. jaja Also, he wanted to show me all the corte he has. We´re talking A LOT. Just to give you an idea, he has an entire suit made of corte-orange, black lined corte. Nothing subtle about it. He had me try it on. jaja  Really happy to have played soccer and basketball today and another game called Aromaya for our pday today.  It´s kind of like ultimate frisbee but Honduras style.

puros chivos! (the soccer team in Xela)

Hope everything is well! The gospel is true.

Extraño a todos. Paz y amor

Elder Hicken

Update

Elder Flores and I, and the assistants, Elder Bryan and Elder Pérez.

Seems like so much is going on at home. Congratulations to Talon and Maddy. Weird to think summer's coming to an end and school´s starting up again. I remember those Get Connected Days at Valley View. A member here let me play her violin. Made me think of the ward symphony you started up, mom. Super cool. 

I'm really thankful for member families who help out in missionary work. It's been incredible to see the effort the members have put in to share the gospel and bear their testimonies to friends and neighbors. It's amazing to see the people they know accept the invitations to read the Book of Mormon, to pray, or to go to church. I know that as the missionaries and members kneel together in prayer and ask to have missionary opportunities, miracles happen. They will receive revelation and opportunities will come.

One such experience happened this past week. Elder Flores and I made a missionary plan with the family Visoni. After we prayed, the family Visoni thought of their neighbors. They commited to invite the family down the street to have a family home evening in their home. The family Visioni hadn't ever had this family over but had only seen them at work. As the day approached, we were excited to be able to meet this new family. In the end, this family of 8 was positive and receptive to the message we shared. They accepted a Book Of Mormon and committed to read and pray about it! I know there are families prepared to hear the gospel. It's powerful when the missionaries and members work together. I would encourage anyone who knows the missionaries to help them out, be valiant and courageous. Have one of your family or friends meet with the missionaries and share the gospel with them. Now is the time!

My comp. and I keep workin´ hard. It´s been amazing to see that as we do our part, give our all, and rely on God to do the rest, miracles happen. I know that God loves us, that Jesus is my Saviour and that He leads His true church today by a living day prophet.

Have a great week!

Elder Hicken

Transfers

Can’t believe the foggster is home.  It`ll be fun to chat it up with him when I get home. Looks like you had a lot of fun with Foggs and Joseph.

It`s been a crazy week! First of all, changes were last week. My comp, Elder Doty, ended up staying in Xela close by. Elder Rivera, however, went close to the border of his home country, Mexico. Both are doing well and are excited to keep working hard. Rivera`s happy to have found lots of food and candy from Mexico. His mom was able to send some when he was here in Garibaldi. At first I didn`t really like it. All the candy comes with picante (means it`s spicy)! But I came around. My new comp. is Elder Flores. He`s also from Mexico. He has a brother who recently got back from serving a mish, and a little sister. I’m glad that he is super excited to echar some fuego here and work really hard.

Nearly all the companionships changed. I was able to meet a lot of new faces at changes. Interesting fact...only 5 of the 30 missionaries in our zone have more than a year in the mission. the leaders meeting is again tomorrow. Can`t wait to hear what President has to say! I know he`s been called of God to lead this mission. I`m beginning to realize how President feels when missionaries don`t do what he asks. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father feels after giving us commandments that will bring us happiness and then we don`t fulfill them. I know the key to success and happiness is obedience to God and the servants he has called.

Elder Flores and I have worked hard with the Monteroso family this past week. The parents aren`t married yet but have strong desires to be baptized. They have felt the spirit and know that our message is true. It has been incredible to see the change that the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought in them and their family. This month they have now made plans to be married and baptized. So exciting! We are proud of them for taking these steps in their lives because we know then they can be sealed in the temple and become an eternal family.

The mission is so great! I love it! I learn something new every day and am feeling more and more the spirit working through me. One of the things I liked from my personal study was in chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel, the attribute of virtue. It all begins with our thoughts and desires. We should always strive to have clean thoughts and keep our hearts pure. If something bad comes in, we should kick it out with a hymn or favorite scripture. May we all keep our thoughts and desires clean and focused on what is most important, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

All the best! Paz y amor...

Elder Hicken

Some random questions from my mom:

1.     We sent a package your way a few weeks ago, for you and your companion.  By chance has it arrived?
YES!!! Thank you SO much. you’re the best!

2.    Wondering if you are playing the piano at all these days. I play maybe once a month.

3.    Curious what you eat-are you cooking for yourself?  Could you use recipes at all?  If so, what do you have to cook with? Oven? Stove? Microwave??  And what ingredients do you/can you mostly buy?  Recently my comp. and I have been trying out this product called Herbalife. It`s a healthy shake his mom likes. More than that we`re trying to eat yogurt, granola and lots of fruits. HEALTHY! Not cooking too much food these days. Maybe you could send some recipes for easy, healthy to make stuff?

4.    Do you take HOT showers?  Or mostly cold? mostly hot. Only the days when we don`t have electricity, it`s freezing!

5.    How are your socks holding up?  Do you like the thicker, wool, Gander Mountain ones, or just regular cotton ones? Almost all have holes. I like the regular cotton kind

6.    Any change in your P-day?  Elder Joe Klenotich mentioned that his mission president called them all together and changed their P-day to Wednesday so that 3 times a year they can go to the temple… interesting   Nope glorious p-day is still the same

To Jonathan

-Must be a busy week...only this quick note to Jonathan this morning-

Hey buddy! Really sorry to hear bout´ the blackout and fall and skull fracture. That’s awful! Pretty cool though that the hospital room was decked out in Pacers stuff. Mom sent some pics in the weekly letter. That was your first blackout right? jaja it´s a weird feeling uhn?

To let u know changes are this week. BOTH my comps are going. Feeling kinda sad to see them go but happy to see what next changes brings. Today we went to a country club. It was awesome! There were tennis courts (but of course it had to rain so I didn´t even play), mini golf, soccer, basketball, gym, pool (couldn´t swim tho), human sized chess (kinda reminded me of Harry Potter), a pool table, foosball.O and one of our investigators works at this club so we saw him there and got to say hi. Hope you’re feeling better. Peace out girl scout!

Love you, 

Nathan