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