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Dear Mother,

Honestly the most important thing to me are pictures and feelings. I´m so happy to talk to Kai about how much better he is than I was in regards to his relationship with you and with the Lord at this point in his life. He definately has many of the same charicteristics as I do, and I am happy to tell him what I wish somebody had told me. 

I´m glad you understand that my number one priority is your wellbeing, and that I hope not to increase your stress level, as you have said. 

I´m not sure if I´ve already told you this or not, but you are in a different world. The one and only thing that is exactly the same here as in the world we came from is your divine potential, and that relationship between you and your Father in Heaven. I testify that he listens to and answers your prayers, just as he listens to and answers the prayers of our Savior on your behalf. I testify that just as our church leaders mention our names; the Hicken Family (o la familia Hicken) in their presidency meetings, ward councils, stake meetings, etc., our Father in Heaven and His Son, converse in union of our needs, prayers, and how they can bless us on an individual basis. Look for the time each day the Lord gives you to rest, and use it. It´s a gift from God, and he gives it to you because he knows you need it, not because he knows you have something else to get done. Read the scriptures for fun sometimes. Forget about any goal or need you have, and just open somewhere and read. The Lord has control, but only if you let him. Sometimes we want to do so much good, that we don´t let our Savior do anything--sometimes we want to help our investigators so much, that we don´t let our companions do anything. But not in either situation does it turn out for our good. 

Thank you for the blogs! I´m going to print them out, mainly to have the pictures, and also to save reading-writing time right now.

I´m so glad you´re sharing the gospel! See what you can do to help out the missionaries! I don´t know if you can offer to have a lesson in your house, but it´s always more spiritual in a memeber´s home. 

[Excerpts from his letter to the mission president]:

Todo está bien aquí en San Silvestre!

Thank you so much for giving me another transfer here in Las Flores. I love it here, and I am loving it more and more every day. All the members tell me to request that I stay here until I finish my mission. I told them it´s up to the Lord, but they should feel free to contact you to put in requests. Let me know how that goes. But really, I love this ward. Things seem to progress slowly when they only have time to work in the work of Salvation at night and one day out of the week, but slow and steady wins the race. We are helping our ward become worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

The day before yesterday Elder Walstrohm and I were looking over our logros [acheivements] for the week, and looking at our metas [goals], and there was a gap that didn´t reflect our efforts during the week. I sought the spirit, and suggested that we spend an hour and a half on Sunday practicing inviting to baptism using the Book of Mormon, to strangers. We ended up with less time than expected, so we found two priests and did splits. In a little over an hour, we taught 12 lessons, gave away 6 Books of Mormon, found 19 new people to teach, and invited 8 of them to Baptism. Two of them accepted a date as well! The Spirit directed our thoughts, and confirmed our plans, and then aided us in our work to achieve a goal according to the will of the Father.

Elder Walstrohm is progessing! I have to admit that I am completely confused by who he is, how he thinks, how he acts, and most of all why, but I feel that the Spirit is beginning to develop his talents and fortify his abilities to bring to pass the work of the Lord. I am learning so much in regards to helping him learn, giving him opportunities without leaving him out to dry, and preparing an environment in which the Spirit can help him invite people to come unto Christ. 

I´ve finally been given the opportunity to receive blessings for being a leader. In all honesty, the last six and a half months have been the only months in my life without a leadership responsibility since I was 11 years old. I have grown dependent on the blessings we are given to help us lead, teach, and inspire, while magnifying our calling. I am learning more than I can believe, and E´Casanova is right there with me, to inspire me, help me when I need it, and to understand me, as he was called as a district leader only one transfer ago.

I can feel the promises in my Patriarchal blessing, and I am fortifying my understanding, experience, and ability in the work of Salvation.

Well time´s up! See you next week!

Love, Elder Hicken

Hurrah for Israel!