#HESROGUE #justforaweek ;)‏

Hey everyone how are we all doing???  I know its been a long time since I wrote anyone a really good letter and I just want to apologize, sometimes I get so caught up with what im doing out here that I tend to forget all of my support base that’s out there, I will try to better ok?:) 

                So this week was a little challenging, the learning process for my new responsibility of emigration work is really just kind of a tough one, lots of things, lots of tiny little details that I just forget because I´m such a doorknob as my mom would say…   Oh well though, the work has to be done, and failure and im getting a lot better at not being such a big doorknob. 

              My area out here has been a tough one, you would think that I just have one of the strongest wards ever considering the fact that we have the Mexico City temple and the visitors center right next door but its actually been a really tough ward to be in, well, it was, why?  For lots of reasons, lots of gossip, lots of members getting offended, poor leadership in some situations but the biggest of all was just the routine members had gotten stuck into of going to church, but not remembering why.  It was something that has really made me think a lot about my personal conversion and how I can get closer to my father in heaven, and I believe that is something we should all think about.  Are we going to church every Sunday because that’s what we have been doing for years and years and years, or are we going to church because we are really trying to become more like Christ?  That’s a huge distinction that we must all make and realize, because at the end of the day there is a huge difference between actively attending church and actively trying to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ. 

           A miracle I have been able to see in the last few months in this area hasn’t been huge amounts of baptisms, nor have I healed the sick or raised people from the other side, but what I have been able to see is the difference the spirit has made in myself, but also in the personal lives of the members of my ward and our ward as a whole.  When I got here I found a ward and members that were really struggling.  The ambience of the ward sacrament meeting was cold and harsh, members lacked excitement to be in the chapel with their ward family, and sometimes the spirit itself was very absent during our services  why?  Because technically we were active members, but we weren’t actively trying to become more Christ-like through our personal scripture study and revelation, through our efforts to be worthy of the spirit, and our efforts to be kind and loving to other people, but my favorite aspect of the gospel of Christ, repentance, has changed things around so quickly that I find myself at church this Sunday (20 minutes early by the way) feeling like I am in a completely different ward with completely different members.  Every single member of the ward council were welcoming the members and investigators alike, people sang like they were really trying worship our father in Heaven, and the spirit was felt, and hearts in need of spiritual nutrition were fed.  The ability to change through repentance is always available through the wide open arms of Christ, and i can personally say from personal experience and from the changes I have seen in others that the changes made through Christ, which bring us closer to our father in heaven are the changes that bring real happiness into our lives, and I would like to invited you (because im a missionary, if you havnt noticed that’s what we do) to reflect on your activity in the gospel of jesus christ, not your attendance in church, but the efforts you are making day after day to become a  better disciple of Christ, and if there are things that you feel need correction, to make the corrections. Even if its something little, just remember that its through small and simple things that the members and I decided to start doing that god works miraculous changes in us.  So don’t be shy, start somewhere with something small and through your diligent efforts to get better I promise you God will work miracles in you too.   

           I really hate to be preachy with you all but I have to admit that I have just been selfish in not sharing these testimony fortifying experiences, but I promise I will be better, because seeing how much my ward has changed through the small and little things really was just a miracle, one that strengthened my testimony and an a story that I hope can help someone out there trying to come closer to Christ.  I love you all, I know that real happiness can be found in him, because I feel it every day as i have devoted my time out here into trying to live his gospel.  Thanks so much to all of you for supporting me and I hope I can continue feeling all that love from back home because really that’s how I power through the bad days, you all are helping so much and I really do appreciate it.  

Special shoutout to mama hicks, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY J

With love,

Elder Hicks 

ya im 20 years old now #GEEZER‏

no time to write but just wanted to let yall that neighborhood watch is keeping me safe out here!!!

​

nothing like a little capital punishment.     

love yall, be safe and have a good week 

-Elder Hicks

viva mexico!!!‏

NO TIME TO WRITE TODAY, ITS MEXICOS INDEPENDANCE DAY, MEXICANS ARE NUTS, LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

ay caramba...‏

 Friends family, how are we doing!  Ya know its been a really fast really hard week here, as normal change week is super busy for us but what made it worse is that presy out of nowhere decided he was going to take my comp out of the offices and so we had changes that we werent expecting and i got changed to a different position here in the office, im now the visa secretary, i do all of the visa work for my 145 foreigners and i got no training whatsoever to do it!!  HAHAHA, so funny, just winging it right now, but its fine, im really learning a lot and im finding that ias i rely on god in all things not just spiritual, he provides and helps me out!!!!  

    My new comps name is elder shillig, hes a retarted QB from so cal, yah, he knows im his daddy hahahhaa, love him tho, shillig is a great elder, is one of the most succcesful when it comes to babtisms in my mission, before this change he babtized every week for over 2 monthes straight, im excited to learn from him and get better as a servant of god preaching repentance and babtism unto his people.  

    Kinda just in shock right now with changes hahaha, felt like i wasnt ready for this but ya know, thats how it should be, so we learn to depend on the big man upstairs. 

     Shout out to my boys in blue for playing gorman tough last night, and im really proud especially of my little brother colton!  play your heart out!!!!  Also a fat shout out to those cougars, its game time baby and i just kinda want to play football, hahaha, no i love it out here, but not playing kinda SUCKS so if anyone wants to atleast hook me up with scores and stuff ill be happy.  hahahaha its getting harder and harder to turn down that offer to go play for one of my investigators teams every day ahhahahaha i would just love to throw on the pads and wreck some of these guys hahahaha oh well, i wont!!!!!!!  just trying to be obedient get at be!

     Another shout out to kesni, brayden, jordan, manoa, harvey, seni, and all of those other punks playing d1 football today, uhhh get some!

lol this pics dope, we went to migration earlier this week with this member named abdayan (he is the mexican version of alan from the hangover i promise you lol)  but he came with us to buy us some fat tacos cuz he wanted to and it started rainging so he cut of these carbage bags and made us use them so we wouldnt get sick lol!  

​by the way mom, abdayan says hes got some buddies in nogales if yall wanna send me something dope!!!  look at my comp on the right there, he just looks like a softy qb man lol hahahah love my comp!  

   miss gagon tho, its fine tho, he needed a break from me reminding him how we beat them hahahahahahahahaha

    well, good week, gotta jet and go to work, but i love yall and hope you just have a great one and that you have an edifying week!!!!!!!!!!

just wannna say i love you mom!!!!!!

-elder hicks

ps please send me scores and updates and articles and stuff on byu/bingham/everyone else this football season so i dont have to do anything too drastic. oh ya, by the way i heard that craps hitting the fan with obama and russia right now, so if anyone wants to just pull a cnn on me and keep me updated with that stuff too id be pumped.

ya se fue la semana‏

hey everyone how we doing... 

            had a really good week this week, busy busy busy like always traveling around the mission taking care of problems, but thats fine!  had a lot of good success in my area as well, just enjoying life!  Good luck to everyone thats just starting school in the last weeks, enjoy it!!!!  Shout out, to colty on winning another game!!!  2 and 0 baby!!  just want you to remember one thing though buddy, no matter what happens, i still own you!!!!!!

​

love you all, have a good week and keep in touch :) 

elder hicks

I Spy with my little eye...

No time to write today... but my comp and i found Chancho from Nacho Libre here in Mexico... Go Figure

As well i would like to make two shoutouts, primarily to my mother, LOVE YOU MOM!!!  as well as to my comp, Elder Gagon for snapping this pick on the run man!!!

limpié su casa!!!!‏

ight yall, how we doing today???  

          Ya know, its been awhile since i wrote yall a good letter, haha i apologize.  ive been busy, and i still am really busy, just trying to make a little time for all my little peeps.

          So im doing really good, elder gagon and i have just been going to work and it feels really good.   there are few things that are more satisfying then getting home after a hard worked missionary day.  if ya havnt ever felt that, go try it, i promise its cool hahaha!!!

          We dropped a lot of investigators this week, it kinda hurts.  we contact these peole and become really good friends with em but at the end of the day they are just lazy or they are just lying about coming to church..  Everyone wants to hear about god when they dont have to work for it, but when they gotta get off that booty and go to church on sunday all of the sudden they arnt that interested, its sad, we testify and we motivate and we do every thing we can do to convince these people that god will recompense them for their sacrifices but the majority of the peoople just dont have the basic faith to test god.  bummer, but thats the way things are sometimes.

          As much as i hate to say it though i havnt been too focused on my area too much these past few weeks, ive been on divisions with president doing house inspections... just wanted to say 2 things:

    1: if your house is dirty go clean it lol

    3:  just wanted to remind everyone to be grateful.. to see some of the places my elders are staying in and to see how happy they are anyways really is such a humbling experience.  weve got kids out here that have dropped everything, including their nice lifestyles to come out here and just preach the word, and to them it doesnt matter that they are living in a 10 by 10 ft rm with a bathroom outside, they are happy no matter what, and it just makes me think, if those guys that are working in some of our lower class areas can be happy and be grateful i think we all can.  The attitude of gratitude, and i promise you, when we recognize gods hand in our life, he usually tends to use that hand a little bit more to bless us.  Just do it people, i promise you that its cool.

     Thanks to everyone whose kept in touch with me and who has really been supporting me, although i sometimes sound really busy and i dont write back or i dont get on and write at all i really am thinking about you and really am feeling the blessings of all your supportive prayers.  It makes me happy knowing i can go get on my email and find an inbox full of love.  Someday i will figure out how to repay yall, just give me some time to think about how and ill get it done!!!

      I really dont have much more to say, next week (if i have time, hahaha yes, i put the time clause in there cuz i have too hahaha) i will write you about one of the people im working with.  because building testimonies and changing lives really has been such an incredible experience for me that has changed me and helped me grow and become better in so many ways, and i want you all to be able to benefit and hear about these experiences to... So just be patient and stay posted, when the lord gives me time i will drop yall a line!!!

Stay up everyone!

Elder Hicks

HAPPY BDAY MERICA‏

Alright everyone, i only got five minute to pump this sucker out so pleawe forgive the shortness...

hahaha, this last week was a really fun and productive week... since i have gotten to the offices of the mission i have learned a lot about the administration of the church, its really fun to see the money side of things and to learn how we function.   I have made a lot of changes inhere about how we do things so we dont end up wasting more money then we need to, it feels really good to be able to serve my mission and make it as good as i can.  

july fourth???  it was bomb.  we had a big leadership council and elder gagon and i convinced our president to give us american food for lunch instead of the usual mexican greatness... hamburgers, french fries... and some root beer floats baby, i also wore my white house tie to celebreate... day maker!!!  hahha, we definitely let all the latino elders knOW  the it was americas birthday by singing the star spangled banner, haha poor guys i wish they had a cool country that they could be patriotic about... speaking of america whats happening over there... i hear the media turned on obama?  whats up somebody, hit me up with some news updates, im an educated intellectual that likes his fair share of politics.

Elder gagon got sick, he had to go get studies to see whats fetching wrecking his innards and i had to catch his poop in a cup, check out the pregrame pic baby.

yahh, im catcher of the year:

hahaha, our areas been going good too, i stole alexes idea and wwere having a huge competition bettween the ward members and us to see who can share the gospel more... the smakck talk is amazing and things are really starting to heat up... lol.

all in all it was a great week, love my comp, love my mish, love my life... 

peace out yall.

elder hicks

ya me enferme otra vez...‏

​

So the rain season started full blast here in mexico....  When your this wet, and no one will let you in you sometimes have to stop and just take a nice sexy selfie in the rain you know??? hahaha but seriously tho, i think were going to invet in some umbrellas, i mean, considering the fact that there only like 1.50 in US dollars i think thatd be worth it.. hahahaha

so, short week short week, it feels like i just wrote yesterday, i mean, i did right on monday, and now its saturday so obviously i didnt write yesterday but i swear i just blinked and im writing agian... why didnt weeks go by this fast when i was in high school?  hahaha

so i may or may not have gotten some raw food poisoning monday night, we went and ate with the relief society president, she gave us the funkiest omelletes ever, and worse, shes a food pusher, so we HAD TO EAT.  ha, i had a raw fever of 102° and chills all night, i probably could have died, but I WILL SURVIVE, I WILL WIN THIS FIGHT OF MAN VS FOOD POISONED FOOD MEXICO MEXICO CITY SERIES...  just need a few more monthes to let my immune system get used to the dirtiness of this pllace... hahah, when this is all done and over with imma have a stomach of iron that can litterally eat everything. tight right?

so our area is going good, gonna babtize my boy mario next week, GET EXCITED lol, hes a cool dude, im grateful gods blessed us with the opportunity to teach him and has filled our mouths with words and lessons that are actually worth listening too.... couldnt do it without the big boy up stairs!!!!

took a nacho pic, check it out

​

trying to get president to buy us a motorized on of these bad boys so we can cruise like this all day every day, probably not gonna happen but hey a man can dream right?

so like its weird, cuz my comps my grampa i told yall that right?  ya dud, its tight, but as i completed six monthes he completed 18, aka, hes only got 6 monthes left.. we started a new ab workout program, its called 6 monthes to sexy, considering how hot he looks in this next pic and the ferociousness of this workout my only comments are....

​

WATCH OUT LADIES.

lol, so ya, for this weeks letter i think thats just about it, things are going really good here, working hard, playing hard to (dont worry only on pdays :) and just doing our very best to serve the lord!!!  every one have a good week, love yall, cheer super loud for mexico againnst netherlands cuz they are going to get smashed and i am going to talk so much smack to every one here when they lose lol... USA BABY ALL THE WAY!!!

love yall

elder hicks

GANÖ MËXICO!!!!!!!!!!!‏

 alright everyone, so i was walking down the street after lunch today coming to my office so i could send you all some workds of love and then everything just exploded... you could hear cheering in the houses, fireworks, and just a lot of crazy coming out of nowhere... why?  because mexico won the game today and they are passing into the next round of the world cup... dude, these little mexis are NUTS about soccer... like, nuts.  nuts nuts nuts nuts nuts nuts nuts nuts nuts... oh well tho, it is really really entertaining, i enjoy it alot!!

          i really love my mission ya know???  like i finished six monthes this last week and as fun and cool as it was i am also kinda sad that it just flies by so fast... i love you all, and i miss you all so much, i have so many days where i wish i could just see all of you and give yall a big keeg hug and say what up but i just love love love my mission too, so it makes things so much better... and its kinda sad that i have already finished a quarter of my mission so fast, thats six monthes as a full time servant of the lord that i can never get back, that i can never redue in the same place in the same situation with the same people, and ya know, its kinda sad.. but awesome, i have learned so much out here in these short six monthes, so many life lessons that i never would have learned anywhere else, and the best part?  i still got 18 monthes ( a full mission for a sister missionary )  to keep learning, to keep progressing, and to keep coming closer with my father in heaven!!!!  love the motivation to realize how fast time flies and to realize that i gotta be doing everything i can to take advantage of where i am and what i am doing. its like life ya know, we all have a clock thats ticking down, but whats important is what we do with that amount of time gods given each and every single one of us to become like him.   So what will i do with the time that i got to serve the lord?  i couldnt tell you exactly what im going to do but i can prommise you i am going to be living the slogan that good old coach peck hammered into my brain for 4 years... NO REGRETS.   nothing better then looking back at something and saying if i did that again i would go do it the exact same way again cuz i did my very best, and thats where we are at with my mission, just trying to ball out in a spiritual sense ya know?

        So this last week was pretty good, we had a lot of office work but ya know, when you are in the service of your fellow man you are in the service of your god, so whether we are working the streets or working the offices making sure all our guys in the mission are having the best mission they can possibly have physically and mentally it doesnt matter, we dont choose how we serve, got just puts us in the position to serve and we "JUST DO IT"   LOVE IT.

        we are progressing really really well with some of our investigators, my boy mario who i found because i felt like getting  a nice big fat amazing mexican hamburger has accepted the invitation to be babtized and it really is amazing to see a guy who didnt even know if there was a god and who really didnt even know how to tlak to him just grow so far spiritually... his family is progressing really well too, im thinking were going to get lucky in a couple weeks here with quite a few babtisms, and its all from the big man upstairs helping us out!!!

       i am really so pumped to be with my dude elder gagon, he relaly is like my brother from another motha, ya know??? to have a comp to help and make you better really is such a blessing as a missionary, and my guys so great!!!  h3es been out here for like 17 monthes or something like that so he definitely knows whats going on and hes in that mindset of no regrets too so i am just loving what we are getting done!!!  although if someone can hook me up with a bingham shirt i will love you, my boy looks way better in bingham blue then he does in alta gay.

        we havfe been having a problem in our mission with disanimation, just elders getting down because they havnt completed their goals,or they get homesick or something like that and so today elder gagon and i were able to plan a nice day of basketball for a lot of the boys in the mish, it was SOOOO much fun and i am so greatful to be able to play  apart of something that just makes people in need smile ya know that???  its just all about helping people, that is really what the gospel of christ comes down to, learning to love and respect and serve your neighbor, your family, your friends, some homeless man on the street.  gotta be willing to do that if you wanna follow christ!!!  

      i am running out of time now, but i love allof you guys, if there is anything i can do for ya please let me know, i mean i am kinda tied up right now so i cant just hop on a plane and come visit but like, i could hook it up with a fat letter or something that might just do the trick... love you all:)  have a good week:)  miss you and hope the best for each and every one of you :)

love,

elder hicks

mexico ganó... no manchies.‏

 hows everyone doing this week?? haha, ya know, sometimes my reports are super freaking crazy... and sometimes, theyre just average.... and then, there are weeks like today, where theyre just flat out boring.  hahaha its fine tho, like, stuff happens.... hahha, so we got a new load of elders in this week, which means we had a butt ton of office work get at us, yah, that means this week was pretty uneventful on the teaching side of things because we were busy keeping the mexico city east mission running, but oh well, serving is serving, and right now were serving the mission as hard as we can..

     we also had transfers, elder lee took off, hes only got six weeks left in his mission, im glad that president is letting him finish it off in the field, he deserves it considering how hard he worked here in the offices to keep things running nice and smoothly!!!  so now its just me and gagon that poor alta alumni and i riding solo dolo baby!!! hahaha, im so grateful to be comps with gagon, i mean, he did go to alta but i always win the smack talk (thanks again kalin) so i mean, im getting over it, and hes just becoming one of my best friends.   Ya have lots of strange comps out here in themission but everyonce in a while you get a comp who just becomes a good friend and thats where we are with that!!!

     we had to leave the mission several times this week, one for us to take a training course and another one to go to migration and make sure everyones visas are clear and out of deportations way!!!  its fun to get out get some fresh air, it also helps that bouth times we went to easily the nicest places in the city, theres poor parts of the city, and theres rich parts... and then there is polonco, ya, we enjoyed it, if i didnt know better i woulda thought we were in beverly hills thats how dope this area is!!!

      something funny, while we were on a visa run mexico was playing camaroon in the world cup, and you wouldnt believe how crazy these fans are, no one was driving and every single tv in sight had hordes of atleast 50 little mexicans wearing their jerseys and screaming their heads off... hahaha so funny, sports bars were packed, the mall was loaded, and every single taco stand, tamale cart and torta shop had a little tiny tv that had way more people watching it then it had in centimeters in perimeter!!! Even the government buildings especially put tvs up for the game  hahahaha, it was fun tho, just be walking down the street and all the of the restraunts just explode in cheering and those annoying soccer horns and all that good stuff!!!  hahaha made my day, we won too, so everyone just seems to be in a good mood, haha hows usa doing by the way?   dont tell my investigators but secretly im still pulling for them.

     this next week we shouldnt be too busy in the offices, im excited to get my but out in the area again teaching and preaching, thats what we came here to do right??? hahaha, oh well, miss all of yall, hope ya had a good week, if your wondering how im doing, jsut know im doing great, happier then ive been in a long time, and its because when you are in the service of your fellow man you truly are in the service of your fellow god!!!  

lvoe you all, dont be shy to write, or type cuz i would really love some pictures of all of you, like old pics of us or something, im going to be here in the offices for a bit like probably a year so ive been trying to get nice and comfy and ive built a wall of fame with all of my favorite pics on it, send me something so i can get you on there too!!!  

take care everyone, love ya, 

elda hicks

pday on saturday??? say whatttttttttttt?‏

alright, what up people, i realize that considering the fact that your going to be reading this before monday that your going to be feeling like christmas came early this year... thats cuz it did, just putting out a public announcement, my pday is now on saturday, just thought you would want to know that, idk, i feel like its pretty dope...
       so i feeel like i just wrote you all yesterday, but i didnt, but honestly there really isnt much to update yall on, like my comps are tight, my areas tight and we are just doing work!!!  i know, so tight!!! hahahaha

we did babtize this week tho... check it out homies

​
such a blessing to be able to be involved in this ladies conversion, so grateful that God could help us out in the work and bring back another one of his beloved children!!! 
 

so that was cool this week, we also had mission leader ship council, decided ill throw  up a pic of that too because it was so funny!!!

​
yeah, its pretty obvious which ones my comp, we pulled the "josé" face.... hes this cereep in our ward who litterally is always got his face like that trying to check out the sister missionarys... oh well, i hope everyone got a laugh out of that, because like serious, some of these dudes gotta loosen up and enjoy themselves hahahaha

      but anyways, i gots to dip, but i love you all, miss you all, and im having the time of my life!!!

stay up yall!

elda hicks

Presidente, Podriamos jugar golf??? Pues Claro‏

Hey whats up fools another weeks has passed and im still telling everyone that time flies as a missionary... cuz its true.  i mean, ill probably tell yall the same thing next week dont even worry about it!!!

       So my new comps are freaking tight man, i gave yall the run down on em last week, they tight ight??? hahaha weve been going to work too, between keeping this mission running and working our area we stay pretty budy, but hey its really fun...

       We got a couple to get hitched... wast expecting to be telling people to get married out here but i mean ya, it happened!!!  and now the wifes going to get babtized, were so psyched man so so psyched these people out here are so fantistic!!! 

      like, there is so much cool stuff to tell yall about and i feel like there just isnt enough time, but imma tell yall about taco machine... so we have this restaurant next to our house, and there is this guy there that litterally pumps out like 100 tacos per minute... the fastest moving man in the world, it takes him 1 second to cut up and dice an entire onion, yeah... he keeps the tacos coming and we keep on eating em, its good hahahaha

        yesterday we had the coolest experience with one of our hermanos, hes kinda been a punk while investigating the church, super uninterested and only doing it for his girlfriend and all that stuff, but yesterday he bore his testimony to us... the spirit touch that boys heart hardcore and let him know whats up... man, im pumped!!!  i know Gods helping us out getting it done, and i know that with god anything is impossible, like getting julio to accept a babtisimal date :)  hahaha 

        also president lived up to his promise, he took me my 2 comps and a couple other white boys (ya, mitch holmans in my mish, tight right?) to go hit the links... uncle kenny, you have to come, this was one of the coolest courses ive ever played in my life you would dig it!!!!  ill throw up some picks

        but im just loving the mission and loving life guys, ya wanna be happy?  go on a mission, feeling and recognizing gods hand in your life every day just will blow your mind and make you so so happy!!! love ya all, be good, be jealous that your not living my life here in mexico (yup, diarreah and all) because its freaking awesome!!!

and always remember the big man upstairs loves ya

im out yall

elda hicks

los mejores cambios en todo el mundo

well everyone... how are we doing today??? good?  bad?  just ok???    write me cuz i want to know chumps...
         hahaha so things are going absolutely fantastic here...  have you ever been to prison???  you know how good it feels to be let out..?  yes.  i know your joy... pres put big elda hicks back in the field this thursday and it has just been absolutely fantastic!!!  hahaha i also had changes this last week,  president put me with elder gagon and elder lee, were the secretarys of the mission, and its really cool!!!  hahaha whats cooler is elder gagon and elder lee though, we work hard, we keep the mission running, and we have the best talks about just about everything.

        hahaha elder gagons an alta hawk, but its fine, i just preached a little bit of forgiveness to him so i think god will forgive him, eventually... hahahaha he played ball too, number 3.  dont worry guys, he couldnt stop kalin, thats all that matters!!! hahaha we get along reallywell though and im just enjoying every second of this, pretty drastic change from last week isnt it??? hahhaha yeah the missions like that sometimes i guess!!!

        elder lee only has like 1 month and a half left in his mission, hes going to get changed here in a little because pres doesnt want him to die in a leader ship position hahaha he knows so much, its cool to learn from somebody that actually knows what they are doing, there are very few missionarys here in the field i think in the whole world that actually know what they are doing and he is one of them... its been such a blessing to learn from him im so grateful... and hes pretty cool too, like he boxed in high school, i call him rocky sometimes hahaha.

         our new area, besides the office is fantastic!!! we are super close to the temple and the visitors center so we are able to bring people and teach them here in the visitors center all the time, kinda bugs the hermanas because they wanna teach em but hey theyre mine and i aint gonna let some sister ruin what we got going on!!!

          our house is awesome, we live with a sister whose just fantastic and her family is so cool too, shes got a son named juaquin who just got back from going to high school in the states and he speaks english, so he joins in on our homie talks every night, looooove it!!! we also kinda have a dog, its the families but its basically ours, yessssssss hahaha

         its so great to see kids like me become freaking awesome missionarys and it gets me pumped to learn from em!!!  

so, as you can probably tell, im doing a lot better then i was and im psyched its just like ether 12 27... god humbles ya, and if you have faith strengthens ya after... looooove it!!! go read it and remember that its worked for me so itll work for you!!! 

yall have a good week kids,

elda hicks

una inyecion en la bumba... o___o‏

alright everybody ive got ulcers and im grumpy so lets get this over with shall we???  lol, just kidding im not grumpy, still the happiest smiliest most handsome dude ever, just one thats not allowed to work for a few days, it really is a bumber, who woulda thought that 2 days of rest would piss me off???  ha, missions, they are pretty whack, but awesome... 

      so this week was actually really exciting, had some awesome lessons and met some awesome people and then i went to the hospital well actually a red cross emergency station at 1 in the morning lol, dont worry mom, im fine, just a little skinnier hahahahahaha!!!

       im really pumped about my area, the last cita i had before president shipped me off to his hoiuse with another sick gringo was with this lady named angie, so awesome the spirit was so strong!!!

       We also babysat german, our resident alcoholic who wants to change but cant do it solo a lot... haha, its sad, but hes a great guy and hes been sober for 5 days now, so awesome, except when he goes thru withdrawels, those kinda suck but oh well... hahaha not much to write about, except my presidents the dopest dude around, want you all to know that, and remember it becuase he really is so cool, hes gonna take me golfing when i get better, yeah, i know its tight.  hahaha miss ya all, hope all is well, ill write ya something cool when i get out of this incredibly nice house and get back to doing work in the lords vinyard, have a nice week, love ya all!!!

 

elder hicks

felicidades todos los madres en el mundo

 what is good white people?  please tell me, whats going on with you, miss yall freaking mucho!!!  hahaha its so hard to speak english right now, i cant wait to get back after another year and a half of babtism by mexican spanish and get thrown into some college english class not even remembering how to hold a non awkward conversation... jk, ill never forget my hood speak, im big freaking keeg, i hail from the dangerous slums of the sojo, its in my blood jajajajaja!!!

       so to all you mamas out there, sorry couldnt skype all yalls to wish you happy mothers day, but this should suffice... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY. hahaha speaking of mothers days, thought id throw up some goodness from all the mamas out here in the mexico, super grateful for them, theyre always hooking it up fat with enchiladas and tacos and sopas and all the goods for lunch every day... 

yeah, these ladies are pretty offended that im still losing weight out here.  i swear they have contests with eachother trying to see how many plates of food they can get me to eat... it sucks, because like i just want to be able to walk fast to my next appointment but i usually dont have the choice because if i dont eat atleast 20 tacos i am not allowed to leave the house... jajajaja as the best mama in the whole wide world (and the most heavenly) mama hicks would say they are a whole bunch of food pushers... hahaha oh well, they usually dont have to push to hard cuz mexican food is as good as it gets, even if its got lots and lots of killer diseases in it!!!!

so were gonna celebrate this mamas day by giving yall the run down of how awesome these mamas have been to me out here the past few monthes...!!!!

     So far left top is hna acosta, wife of the patriarch, fantastic mole, incredible testimoney and always always always blesses us with her graceful snores in the sacrament... love it!!!

     To her right we have hna juarez mendoza, presidenta de la relief society!!!  always going to visits with us, and she feeds us once a week, such a champ so grateful for her!!!

      to her right is the oh so hilarious and incredibly white sister savala oh my gosh, guys, this is the funniest sister every... 70 years old, going at it solo, she looooooves the missionarys, and loves to feed them, and probably if she could she could would lock us into her house and make us gossip with her about the ward and eat her homeade chocolates all day... utterlly hilarious, and her mole cafe iis probablythe best i will ever try in the my life... so sad, after i leave this area ill probably never have another mole quite as good.

      to her right we have sister ochoa, the truth is she scares the crap out of me, she loves her dogs more then she loves her kids but always has these random freakouts at her dogs for not reason... oh well, an angry latino speaking some realy fast spanish is always some pretty good entertainment for a couple of elders grubbing.

     then we have sister margarita, this laadies such a champ, presidenta de la primaria, those kids know the articules of faith way better then i ever will... plus she always hooks us us up with references, love her!!!

      after the fantastic hna aceves, im pumped to go eat with them tommorrow, we always have a good old time with them, plus super spiritual... lessons with her are easy as it gets, because she just teaches everything!!!

      the next two we actually dont know, not from our ward, but they seem nice, dont they???

      then we have hermana perez who cooks the best quesadillas ever and who also has the funniest kids... we have to walk about 10000 miles to get to her house but its always always always worth it!!!

      then the last three on the right are the 3 hna lopezes... the bishops wife and her 2 daughters and they are an amazing family... really, they always let us bring investigators to their home and they always like throw a party for us with tons of food and its always super spiritual... they give us food once a week and really are some of the best people i know, great testimonies but more important they live the gospel better then anyone else ive ever met, i could not say enough words for them!!!

       al final on the bottom left we have hna juaquin... hahaha those two little kids are the funniest ever, shes pretty new to the church, but were grateful for her willingness to learn and get better!!!  always makes my day if we have an appointment with them!!!

      i wish i could say that this was all of the wonderful mothers in our ward but its not, but i hope you all get the idea... these women take care of us, a lot more then i was expecting, and the truth is without them we wouldnt be able to do anything... im so especially grateful for them and to all of the other mothers in this world that have helped me out in my life!!!  so, with that, i hope you all had a grate mothers day and are continuing celebrating it today, tommmorrow and really every single day!!  because moms are the best!!! especially you mom, moma hicks, thanks for everything youve done for me!!!  everyone have a good week, respect your mama, cuz she loves you lots and lots and lots:)  

love elda mommas boy hicks

cambios!!!!!

  well every body, elder hicks here reporting in on a beautiful weak, its hot its sunny, and its mexican!!! hahaha and dont worry, i love it!  

      i have to say, its always refreshing to change your companion whether it only is for one day on divisions or for permanently well atleast permanently for the next five weeks i mean... hahaha i never really thought about how hard the mission would be in this aspect, always always always being with another dude and never being a lone (unless you have a stomach parasite like me and have to use the potty lots) but yeah, its kinda hard...  i think its just natural, but companions just get sick of each other... hahaha oh well, itll make me an even better hubby for when i finally decide to get hitched like 1000 years down the road!!!

       so my new companions name is elder colop, this little guatemalteco and i just have to say its got to be hilarious for the people to see us walking side by side down the road... i mean, sumano was small, but this boy is freaking little... cracks me up!!!  hahaha   so hes got like 16 monthes now as a missionary and lets just say hes tired... its alright tho, im bigger then he is, so if i say i want to be obedient and he says he doesnt want to be obedient it doesnt matter because like my good old friend paul furse always says "the car with the most lugnuts always wins" (referring to accidents...)  and i testify of that concept, pure physics, ive seen it and i will continue to see it throughout the rest of this change ;)  hahaha

        hes actually really cool, we have a lot of fun together, and its so nice to be able to get home at night after a hard worked day and have a comp that makes me laugh and who i enjoy!!!  

        so now im in charge of my area, its pretty cool i gets to make the decisions now and ive enjoyed listening to the spirit and going wherever the lord sends us!!!  we focused a lot on the less actives this week, i decided that if i could reactivate they could too, and it seems like things are going pretty good as theyre starting to remember the happiness that the gospel brought them in one time or another!!! 

         wednesday we visited a sister  who is less active because she attends with her kids but i havnt seen this sister since my second day... her face when i started talking in español and asking her how she was... classic.  hahaha she had a freaking mexican freakout and started going off about how its a miracle and how the gift of tongues is real and yada yada yada... haha, i havnt even thought about how my spanish is in weeks, but it was a real testimony to have realized how much better i am at speaking now... just goes to show, when were doing is will, god always helps us out... freaking so dope.

         thursday was a tough day for me, we tought a lot of great great people and this old couple of 80 year olds and it was fantastic... but we have a member in our ward who is about 55 years old, is an out of control alcaholic who wants to change but cant... it was hard because he told us his life story and let me tell ya. wow.  born in the church, beena  bishop twice, and served ten years as stake pres...  ex missionary, and at one point was a millionary (in american dollar standards)  and now... well, hes barely still going, hes lost everything, his wife, his kids, and his purpose in life... my heart hurts for that guy, but from his story i was able to see what went wrong... his prayers, still prays, daily, but he doesnt mean em, and he stopped meaning him a long time ago... let me tell ya, when you stop talking to god it all goes down hill.. and thats exactly what happened, first he fell, little by little and now hes under the rocks at rock bottom and hes not strong enough to get these rocks off of his head either.. i know how he feels.  its a slippery slope my friends, one that is much much harder to climb out of then to slide into... so my advice, dont even look over the edge to see whats down there, cause it is not worth it!!!

       this sunday guadalupe was confirmed and it was such a cool experience to see how happy she is and to hear her testimony... so humbling to know that god used me to play even just a little part of bringing her back  to him...

      last night was the most spiritual moments that happened to me in my mission and possibly my life.  we have a sister who is very sick with parkinsons but she loves the elders!!!  so we went and visited, really just sung a few hymns for her but it was amazing.  this sisters in bad shape and she knows it, barely walks and her muscles are constantly flinching and she cannot care for her special needs son but she does what she can anyway...  she kept trying to cook for us she was so excited to have the elders in her house but we finally got her to calm down and to rest. lets just say things could not be any more bleak, but she was not sad, she was not full of despair, she is actually full of gratitude for how gods blessed her in her life and keeps blessing her at this very moment, she shared a powerful testimony (barely can talk by the way) that christ lives and that through him she will live again perfect and rid of this horrible disease... then she asked me to give her a blessing not of healing but of comfort, to help her have the courage to be able to pass through the veil in peace... i have never felt the spirit guide me and more importantly my words like last night and i am so grateful that god chose me to care for his daughter, and that god through me was able to care and comfort for his daughter and beckon him to come to him.

     ive said it before and ill say it again, hes waiting with open arms and a wide smile ready to bring us in.. he loves us. and hes send angels and care for us and guide us back to that big warm comforting love hug...  remember that...

elder hicks

renacimiento en el agua‏

well, sometimes i wonder if i will ever run out of stuff to write you guys... then i remember that im in a city that has over 40 million crazy little mexicans and like a couple hundred white misioneros like me... of course ill never run of out of cool stuff, this place is too crazy for that to happen!!! 

       so, this last week was really crazy, mexicans really love their holidys, like really really really love there holidays!!!  the entire country basically took the entire last two weeks off for spring break, and i mean everyone, not just those dumb kids in high school lol!!!  its been hard, theres like nobody here or if they are here its cuz theyre hosting all there family and they dont have time for a couple of dumb 19 year old kids lugging around scriptures and preaching the word... oh well, if they cant make time for god thats good that i havnt taught them, greater knowledge means greater condemnation ;)

        so many drunk dudes, so many, hahahaha alcahol basically is like the english switch for mexicans, andthey only wanna talk in english... lol, so obviously theyre attracted to the huge white boy walking down the street, ive had some incredible conversations... like, so funny, ill never forget em!!!

        i had my first babtism yesterday, it really is amazing how god works, when i first got here my zone lider said that i shouldnt focus on looking for people to teach, but that the ones god has prepared will just come to us... ha, the last thing i was expecting when i decided to knock the last door on the street that had a statue of the virgen bigger then me in the front was that hermana guadalupe whose worked with mormons all her life, whose listened to missionaries before and then moved and lost contact with them would answer the door and tell us she wanted to get babtized... but it happened,  and for that i am so grateful, god works in strange ways sometimes, but all we got to do is open our eyes to see the miracles that he leaves in his wake...  being an instrument in the hands of god really is a miracle, because i tell you, i wouldnt have knocked on that door without the big man helping me out!!!

       we have transfers tommrrow, im grateful for everything elder sumano has taught me,  were super different, but at the end of the day i think thats why we were put together, because without that difference i wouldnt have learned nearly as much!!!  haha, tommorrow should be exciting, everybody wish me luck!!!!  

        oh everybody go read your scriptures, it will be cool, i promise.  threw in some pics for yall, figiured yall would enjoy some eyecandy in the form of elder hicks lol, be good everyone, have a good week,

i love you.

elda hicks

me encanta kfc..

 sooo, i went to kfc last week, yeah, its not very good here.  yall should feel blessed, and say a prayer of gratitude because you have a kfc that doesnt make you sick and tastes good, but other then that downer my week was pretty good!!!

     the fact that i only have a few weeks left with elder sumano just hit me in the face... that poor kid, ill bet he will miss me!!! lol, no but for real its been a good time with him, ive learned a lot, and weve made some good memories together and for that i am soo soo grateful! kinda scary to think that two weeks from now president is gonna call out a name and whether i like him or not were stuck together for atleast a month and a half... pray for my next comp that he will be a good one please :)

    so, i played basketball today... that was very interesting, i think a mix between the fact that i havnt touched a basketball in 4 monthes, the ghettoness of the court and the fact that none of the mexican elder actually knew how to play basketball made it a game for the ages... lol.  they suck so bad.

    so my investigators are doing pretty good, although we had to drop someof them... oh well.  if they want it they want it, if they dont they dont, simple enough!!

    were working super hard tho, elder sumano and i have a goal to teach 60 lessons next week, ahhh its going to be so so so awesome, walking like 5 miles a day just doing work, im so grateful to be out here serving, its so satisfying, theres not much else that anyone could do thats better lol, so if yall wanna do something worthwile go on a mission, yes, you brandon ward. you.

     so as much as i want to report on the week i cant, theres stuff more important out there...  my prayers go out to the loerchster and culley families this week.   as a missionary one thing that i have learned is that i dont have all of the answeres... and it kills me, because i want to be able to help and answer and do all of that stuff so bad.  but what i can say is god loves each and every single one of us, and that it will all workout in the end, i know that and i testify of that every single day and i wont ever stop, because its too easy for us to forget... so my words and my prayers are that you all rest easy people, god left us in good hands when he sent his son to die for us!  please please dont ever forget it, because in a life as imperfect as this one, and the world we live in today, there isnt anything in the world i could tell you that is more comforting then the fact that you have a father in heaven who loves you, who cares for you, and who has a plan for each and every single one of you.   why do i know that?  because i see it every single day, in my life and in the lives of those i teach and i feel it every single night as i kneel to pray, and now without a shout of a doubt i know it.       family, friends if you do not know for yourself that god loves you, open your eyes, and see.  open your ears and hear, and last of all, open your heart and feel and i promise you in one way or another, god will let you know that hes there, that hes listening, and that hes looking out for you.  

stay up and smile everyone

-elda hicks

"soy un profeta..."..... "ha, me too"‏

sorry guys, this letter is a week late posting. so this is before the last letter posted. 




Alright white people, ya know, when this things all over i think im going to be so dark that i wont be able to be caucasiaun anymore... and no, probably not poly either, ill be too skinny :(  ha, just some freaky looking thing more like it... 

      So todays been nuts, and we moved our house, and i really dont have much time, because good old elder hicks decided, hey, lets go teach more lessons on pday and now im realizing i dont have anytime to write... oh well, youll get over it...

     But, saturday was the funniest thing ever, so i have to tell you about it.   So some other elders in our district found a lady whose been taking lessons from the j-dubs (jehova witnesses, thanks jord for the nickname) and this lady wanted to know which one of us was right, so she set up an appointment with elders and jdubs at the same time, and these elders called us in the help cuz let me tell ya, jdubs our our specialty... we get there... the the jehovas witnesses missionaries didnt show up... ha, sucked, until we found out why, the lady wanted us to teach her too.... lol, shes crazy.  no litterally, crazy.   we asked her the first question we ask every person who is god for her???  yeah, apparently shes seen god (or so she says, everything she says contradicts the scriptures so hard) but it was exciting... i mean, apprently.. actually no, i will not share what she shared with us, so much apostasy... hahaha but it was really funny, she was really funny, and then we tried teaching the resturation and my idiot comp decided to share a scripture in the bible talking about how profets and how they talk to god face to face and all that stuff and now this lady thinks shes a profet and has told just about every single person she knows... awww, we set up another appointment with her because like yeah we need to figure out whats going on with her because shes wack, but hey, idk, maybe she knows something that we dont ;)  hahaha if that wasnt crazy enough we taught margaritas mom right after (yeah the one who is straight off an indian reservation here who speaks a dead language and understands about 15 percent... hahahahaha imagine that, a know it all mexican whose super frustrated, a huge white dude who doesnt understand that well, and then this sister (we still dont understand her name so i am not oging to spell it) hahaha she just laughs when she doesnt understand which is always and is always stitching together sombreros out of leaves from her front yard. hahaha so cool, but every time we try to pray with her she just starts reciting catholic prayers, im pretty sure thats about all she understands about the gospel, oh well, esta bien, we had fun and she learned something... welll, probably not but its fine... 

    To top it all off saturday night we went by gabriel one  of our best investigators and he just decided he wasnt making enough money to take sunday off so he just opened a hamburger restaurent stand idk what it is... lol, so funny, so mexican, so awesome... and honestly, those burgers are so good.  except it added to my diarreah, oh well. 

    On a more spiritual note, i really lam so grateful to be here, it really is an eyeopener to be here and to realixze how blessed we are to live in such a great country, give thanks to god tonight!!!  love ya all, keep the faith!

elda hicks

haga su ejercicio!!!‏

hey white people whats cracking???  sometimes i forget what white people look like, and then i show up for general conference and the abundance of blanco litterally hurt my eyes... its ok, thats why god made sunglasses right??? lol

         So, another good week filled with incredible food, another box of anti diarrareal consumed (yeah, im forgetting how to spell) and a bunch of investigatores promising to go to church, and not going!!! yeah i know righgt? just kidding, some of em came, theyre the good ones, ha, im starting to learn whose actually sincere in their desires to come closer to christ and who just says it cuz it sounds cool, eventually ill be pro at reading these people just like ammon with limonhi, thatll be dope!!!

         So tuesday we had to go shoppingh for a bunch of stuff for the new house, and i passed this guy that makes boxing bags and gloves and all the goods, and he hooked it up fat with all that stuff for like 10 bucks, called one of my homie investigatores to install it in the house and all of the sudden my companion has to call me mike tyson, its bien padre... hahaha that means cool.... but yeah, something to spice up my workouts, making things a little bit more fun, yeha, you could say i enjoy getting up at 630 in the am now...

       Wednesday was my favorite day this week, we have this awesome family in our ward who has a special needs daughter who has about 25 years who cant go to church that often because she is on some heavy meds for her epilepsy that make her sleep a toooon!  but we ran into her mom and i asked if we could come read the book of mormon with her just for like 20 minutes a day once a week... oh my gosh so much fun!!!  her spirit is so sweet and reading the scrips with her was hilarious, she asked usually about 2 or 3 questions every verse so it lasted for about 45 minutes but i loved every second of it!!!  reminds me of all my friends back of bingham, and for this one im giving a big shout out to hayden cuz i miss that kid!!!! hahaha but seriously, ahhh so muich fun!

     thursday we had interviews with pres, he interviews everyone every 2-3 monthes, its so weird to think that its already been that long, it feels like just this morning i had my entrance interview here in the field and pres was setting goals for my studies and for the language, it felt even better when he told me ive met those goals and am doing better then expected (i didnt tell him about the diarrheal) hahahaha we also had some really good lessons with a few of the jehovas witness, ha, they actually went relaly good, change is hard but we know with the help of god all things are possible, so weve just been moving line upon line with them and its finally starting to feel like were getting somewhere!

      friday we found a couple of teenage kids messing around and told em were going to teach em, talked to em about drinking because everyone drinks here, and it was so cool, theyre both like 16 but they were so cool with everytghing and idk it was just fun to teach kids because we could talk about sports and stuff too!!!  hahaha, we worked hard and planned alot for the big even we had this weekend!!!

        i was pretty dissappointed when president said that we had to watch conference in espanol, but i prayed for some help to understand it and i got it!!  oh my gosh, every single session was really good and it was even better to have some investigators show up feel the spirit and then be like, ya know what, your right, those guys really too tlak to god ahhhH!   i hope everyone watched conference but more important i hope everyone watched it and really is trying to get something ou of it because there was something in there for everyone!!!  

      -also want to give a big shout out to my boi riley culley!   dig deep baby!  OLFLH-

      last but not least i want to talk about the familia aline that we contacted on sunday, oh my gosh.... their mom passed away a few years back and are still struggling with that, we taught em the plan of salvation and the spirit was so hard in the room and they were all crying and really it was just such a blessing to be a part of that... thats what i came here to do, help people and this is the first time ive relally seen the gospel really bring that peace and tranquility into real peoples lives and help them day to day!!  im so grateful to be able to bring the message of christ into peoples lives and if anyone out theres reading this and just needs someone to lean on christ is waiting!!  i know that, ive seen that, and ive felt that!   have a good week everyone and dont forget, hes always watching, and always waiting to lend a hand!!!

with love... -elda hicks

se renta departamento‏

sometimes mexico surprises me, like why is everything so cheap?  i dont get it... its not fair... like i can buy a huge box of oreos here for like a buck fifty... or like a custom suit for like 60 bucks... or like how i found out this week a 4 room, 2 bathroom (one of ems super luxery the others a little ghetto but hey a toilets a toilet if it flushes its perfect) super big super nice apartement for less then 200 bucks a month... lol, it aint fair man, i dont even understand why you are all still living in utah... quit wasting your money and come to mexico where 5 bucks goes ohhh so far...   just kidding, i just remembered why  the us is soo nice, clean drinking water, i understand what everyones saying... (actuallmente yo entiendo español muy bien, es facil) and everythings so much cleaner... be grateful gringos you dont know what a blessing it is to live in a first world country... although i have to say, its much more of an adventure here where your contstantly battling food sickness and drunk mexicans who were deported from cali and who just wanna talk in "english" hahahahaha i love it here :)

          so tuesday we had changes, well, ididnt have changes and for that im grateful cuz sumano and i do work, but two other companionships in my district had companionships, and both got brand new elders... awww, im not the baby any more, feels good to know that i already made it thorugh my first change which is uspposed to be the hardest, idk, i thought it was pretty dope but some people not as much?  idk, maaybe its just cuz the next ones are supposed to be better, we will see...

          wednesday we had a fantastic day, teaching, not having diarreah (it was only temporary) and all that good missionary stuff :)  hahaha we had an awesome lessons with like 15 people in noche de hogar, i could give you all a dialogue of what went down and why the lesson was so good but it would all be in spanish and you probably dont care anyway!!!  hahahaha 

         thursday, idk why but we kept running into other missionaries... of the jehovas witness, i think they were trying to make us look dumb or something idk, but they did an awful job... like if your gonna try and take a stab at my church atleast make it a good one, elder sumano has taught me way to much and sometimes when people treat you like that its hard to be nice... ha i had to say sorry to the big man upstairs after cuz i kinda just destroyed their religion... i shouldnt do that, and you shouldnt either, respect everyone, im learning it, and nothing teaches you better then a little godly sorrow that i promise you.

         friday was a good day :)  we made this incredible contact that just moved in and was already taking the missionary lessons and has already gone to church and stuff, sometimes its really nice when your investigators are super easy like that!! :)  we also taught the fam, tapia, theyre awesome stil and their ice cream is incredible... hahha

         saturday, well it was odd, we had to go hou8se shopping... the lady who we live with is getting a little toooo friendly with her boyf and pres said enough is enough, so we spent all morning house shopping, it really is awesome how pres just trusts us with this, he didnt even wanna come see the new house were going to rent, just gave us a budget and said go for it, it was so fun... hahha plus our new rentoers are investigators now, for some reason the 20 year old daughter whose never even seen or heard of our church wants to go on a mission so their listening, yeah, its fun... well move pretty soon, ive hired and armyof investigators and members alike with their little tiny mexican trucks (yes their trucks here are super tiny and super mexican too) to help us move soon... its going to be a blast, hahaha i really am loving everyone here, i think theyre starting to get over their fear that im going to eat them, well, some.  hahahhaha we also spent the night cleaning the church while elder sumano gave a babtismal interview, it was a blast, the family that we cleaned with is so awsome, they have this five year old kid named german, im pretty sure hes bigger then me when i was five but idk, and this kid is a lunatic... hahahaha his favorite thing ever???? getting a huge distance been us and running at me full speed and slamming into my leg... im still a lot bigger and physics makes it impossible for hiim soi obviously he gets pancaked but he is determined to knock me over... lol, its really fun actually.

         sunday we had a millino people come to church, it was really fun, except for all the apostasy that was taught, apparently jesus christ litterally had a cup full of all of our sins and he drank it in the garden of gethsemane.. well atleast according to our sunday school president thats what happened... we told bishop, i think hes gonna get fired, oh well hahaha 

well, i love alll of you and i miss all of you but i just want you all to know that im having a blast out here in mexico, so, if your ever worried about me just smile, cuz im probably smiling too, unless im trying to scare all the primary kids then im staring em down.   oh yeah, if anyones got any music that is legal i would love it if you sent me it, its hard to find church usic to work out too, its really starting to frustrate me... oh well, the work will go on, so with that im signing off another fantastic week here in the heart of mejico!!!  

con amor

elda hicks

coma lo

 you know your in mexico when one of your investigators tells you he bought his wife for 2 pesos... no but seriously, this guy was about to get babtized but then we found out that they werent legally married so we had to cancel hahahaha i guess some peoples standards on marriage are different, and well, for this hno who will not be named i guess 2 pesos was enough to consider it a marriage... fyi, incase your wondering, well 2 pesos is about 15 cents... i know, its freaking awesome.

      hahaha yah know?  im really enjoying myself out here, the foods great, the stomach infections but for real, the people are the best!!!! hahaha and last tuesday we got to enjoy all three!!!  last tuesday we got to eat with my favorite family la familia juarez again, her food is bien rico, like every time it kills me how good it is!!!   Had to take a gnarly bathroom break but we enjoyed it, and that night we got to teach some really great people!!! like always, it was a good day!

      wednesday we had a ton of fun, we had a "nice" little gospel discussion with the bishop of the local jehovas witness and it seems like this time  we actually got thru to him, maybe its because we were able to refute all of his statements about why the mormon church is a lie or because he couldnt answer any of our questions about his church but i think its ok now to officially say that hes a ledgit investigator, do we expect him to get babtized?  no, change is hard, and even harder when your in such a high position for such a long time in your religion, but he knows we speak the truth, so were going to keep on teaching him, and if he really wants to follow god as much as he says he does then he will come around!!!   We also had some nice discussions with a few drunk guys, idk why the only person they ever want to talk to is the huge white boy that sticks out like a sore thumb but they doo, and its always a good time... we always teach em the word of wisdom my comp in spanish and me in english cuz all they want to do is talk in "english" but they always end up crying... oh well, atleast we tried!

      thursday was really good, we focused that days on our members that our having a hard time, we visited a lot of the sick sisters in the ward, and they all asked for blessings... a few were terminal but not one of em asked for a blessing to be healed completely, they all just asked for a blessing that this sunday theyd feel well enough to go to church... really, its incredible how devoted some of these members are... i cried a few times.. on the inside, i never cry ;)  haha but seriously of all the things they could ask or could hope for they only wanted to feel good enough to go take the sacrament, they inspire me to be better.  really, their love for the gospel and their testimony of jesus christ and his atonement is astounding, just goes to show, theres incredible people EVERYWHERE, not just south jordan ut.   pretty eye opening isnt it?

      friday when we visited the tapias was definitely different, they always always feed us dinner, well...  this was by far and away the worst meal ive ever had... they put rotten fish in a blender with like flour and stuff and made some kinda pancake bread nastiness with this gross sauce and rice... theyre our best investigators, so when the grandmother and cook told us "comalo" (eat it) we had no choice...  i will never ever never be able to thank god enough for helping me choke back my gags and not throw up at the table, lol, that was definitely a moment to remember....  What made it even funnier was when we left and my comp kept laughing at me for eating all of the food, and when i tried to make fun of him back he laughed, told me he couldnt eat it and pulled a few of those pancakes out of his bag... yeah, i was pissed he hasnt showed me that trick in my training yet!!! oh well, still love that family!

      saturday we had cristofer take us around the neighborhood agian it was a blast, exept he always dissappeard in the lessons to play video games with the other kids.. oh well, atleast he kept those kids busy so we didnt have to deal with crazy kids during the lesson!!!

      Sunday i believe was a historical day for the church, not one member of the bishop bric showed up, ha we had the elders quorum president preside over the whole meeting, it was the most interesting sacrament meeting ive ever had, but im so grateful that the elders quorom pres actually showed, because without him, well, it would have been one of the teachers...jajajaja  we also ate with an awesome family whose son is insane, four years old, built like a tank and he loooooves fighting, i thought my comp was going to die when out of nowhere this kid charged with a toy sword (which had theese pointy spikes that hurt relaly bad), and when he turned on me i had no choice but to grab a wrench and have a sword fight with this kid... considering all the bruises and stuff on my legs i think he won... i know, depressing.  hahaha oh well!!

      As for me, well, just like last week im doing good, i had no idea it was st. pattys day until i got on the computer, my pants are huge, and im starting to talklike a mexican, and for that i am happy!!  im working hard, having a blast and im really thankful that gods helped me get here!!!  mmom, i would really love the missionary library (jesus the christ, our heritage, true to the faith, and our search for happiness) and as for you all, well, id love to hear from yea, a little update from everyone always puts a smile on my face!!  grateful to be here, and most of all im grateful for god whose guiding me all along the way!!! have a good week yalll

elda hicks

la bendicion.

Before i even get started i just want everyone out there living the civilian life that God LOves you... so whether your happy or sad, turn to god, tonight, and say thanks.

    

This weeks really been pretty good, im not a perfect missionary, i struggle at teaching, i struggle at the language, i struggle with my companion, but every day i feel gods love for the people here  and every day he helps me get just a little bit better...  Line upon line, eventually, ill get good at this, i know that.  haha just gotta keep working and this week that is what we did, last sunday night i felt prompted to set some unheard of goals for our numbers for the week... well.  God answered, it really is amazing to see how big of a hand god plays in missionary work and how little the actual missionaries do... but it is incredible to watch and theres no place id rather be watching then on the front row right here in the mission field. 

      Tuesday we had a zone class, and everyone reported, ya know, im not trying to be proud,. but when i saw how other missionaries teach and how much success other missionaries get it made me smile...  Sometimes i expect to much of myself, well actually not enough, but it was a huge tender mercy for me to realize at that moment that i can do this.  such a confidence builder and for that i am so grateful... We ate lunch with one of our favorite ward families, we actually eat lunch with members every day but familia juarez is special... this wards really poor, these people barely have enough money to put food on the table and to pay for transportation to get to church on sundays, but every single day i feel these peoples love for god and love for fellow man when they dig deeper then their pockets even go to put together a meal for us, ever heard of the widows mite?  yeah, go read about it and youll realize how great their little sacrifice is in the sight of god... but what makes this family even more special?  they do it every week... usually we only eat with a family once a month, or less, but sister juarez (who lives in the poorest area of our mission) has a heart bigger then anyone ive ever seen and she feeds us... usually, after every meal we share a message with the family, and it sucks so bad because i cannot think of a lesson to share with her that will make as big as an impact as her example for me...  I cannot do enough to thank this incredible woman.  To make that day even better we had a lesson with gabriel that night, ya know, our golden investigator... but that night was different, when we arrived his mother (who wed never even taught before) made all of her boys and their wives, and their kids come sit down and listen... i quote "vamos a escuchar a la palabra de dios."   it was such an incredible miracle to see god soften the hearts of that entire family as well, they have all agreed to a babtism, and so right now were just working on preparation.  it is so much fun.  

     Wednesday we had a multi zone conference, it was fun to get some pointers from Pres. Anaya and the APs as well as get to know a bunch of the other missionaries!!! we made a lot of contacts and taught a lot of people too...  we stopped by the ward mission leaders house to ask him to come to a lesson, he wasnt there, but his cousin was, and his cousin needed help...  hes having a hard time with his family and we showed up, right on time, well, on gods time, to teach him about families, were now teachingt him and his family how to be stronger together and more unified.  In one week we can already see such a big difference, i cant wait to meet with them agian.

      thursday morning.... well, this entire day was incredible actually, tuaght the tapieas, made a bunch of contacts, set a record for lessons taught in a day... but thursday morning was the best.   So, we had an appointment with an investigator and her neighbor a member was oging to take us... well the appointment fell through, but we went to the neighbor membres house anyway... her names margarita, shes a single mom with an 11 year old kid and a 6 year old kid... those boys are crazy, but they wanted to come with us to teach there neighbors... we talked to margarita, and like every good mother she said they had to finish their homework first... so, thursday morning i was helping one with addition and teaching the other how to spell (in a language i dont even understand) haha it was so much fun, and after they asked if they could show us all the members houses and go on visits with us in the little neighborhood, margarita said yes and we went to work.   hahaha the 6 year old, joshua decided he wanted to ride on my shoulders from house to house, while cristofer the 11 year old was going to ride his bike... IT WAS A BLAST..  they showed us former investigators houses and members as well, and we acutally taught 4 lessons together, most people  would think that an 11 year old and a 6 year old would be bad companions but they really were incredible, all because their momma taught em right..,.  Every house we went to asked christofer and joshua to say the opening and closing prayers, and we based our lessons off of what those two boys knew, so christofer would read the scriptures for us and give us an explanation in his words, those are the best, and joshua, a six year old kid that cant even read would recite any one of the articles of faith for us...  the faith of their mother margarita was astounding, and well definitely be taking those kids to do missionary work with us again, such a cool experience.  

     Friday was nothing too special, although its fun to plan with the bishop stuff for this ward so we can get it going.... in the 5 short weeks ive been here this wards really come to life, and were not done yet.   it really makes me stoked to be here.

     saturday was another fantastic day, we got to teach fernando (the ward mission leaders cousin) agian and we just went to work, had another run in with a drunk saturday night, dont worry we didnt fight, we just had a nice little chat aobut the gospel... hahahahaha elder sumano and i have so much fun with people that try and rain on our nice little mormon missionary parade.. elder sumano and i dont always get along, were super different, but if theres one thing hes teaching me how to do is to defend the faith.  really, its so much fun. 

      yesterday we got to partake of the fruit of our labors as the tapias came to church along with some other investigators and a few of the lessactive to inactive families weve been teaching... ya know, everyone says its all about babtisms and thats a lie because the inactive members are just as important as the investigators, and to be honest with you, helping them find their way again is so so so rewarding... so ya, you could say i was pretty stoked to see them at church.

      as for me?   well, im doing fantastic, im still losing weight, here a little, there a little...  i speak better every day... sometimes im really not happy, usually with my companion or with fallen appointments but every single night i feel gods love for me and the happiness associated with sharing the gospel.. so yeah, i go to sleep smiling, too bad i cant say that about when i wake up hahaha jk, usually im happy in the mornings, im only a "big american bear" in the mornings when ive been sitting on the jon all night and havnt gotten any sleep.  haha, i still miss all of you dearly, no im not homesick, i just wish i could have appointments with you guys too.  I still love letters ;) Im still hood, and im only kinda rogue...;)  But most importantly my relationship with our father in heaven gets stronger and stronger every day.   

      As for the scripture of the week?  well, im thinking 2nd nephi 2:27... if any of you are not happy with your life and how things are going then go read that.  We have an incredible gift called agency, sometimes satan makes us forget it, but we all have the ability to choose the high road and experience real happiness, so if any of you are feeling like you need a reminder on what agency is the go read it, go learn it, and apply it.  

Be Good ;)

 

Elda Hicks