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