Hola de Callao!

Todo está bien aquí en Jorge Chavez! I got transferred to Callao! I was praying to be transfered here because it was getting waaaaay to hot in Las Flores. Here is a lot better, but still too hot.

First off, the mission sent us a link to a mandatory missionary survey, and I had to take it before writing, so it's going to be a little short today.

So right now the ground is trembling. Everyone in the internet café here is a little spooked. It´s amazing how satisfied the people are to dwell in their sins, up until the ground starts shaking, and then they run into the streets and pray. However, it is wonderful that that is their first instinct. They say it was 5.6! Wow. It just felt like a big truck drove by for a really long time.

I love Jorge Chavez, and Elder Pinedo is awesome. We get along really well. He strives to be obedient and is willing to learn and progress. Our Bishop shared with us that there has been a lot of problems with disobedient missionaries in the past, and that has damaged the relationship that the members have with missionary work. If I had to choose one goal for my transfer here, it would be to reestablish that confidence in us, and help the members to have spiritually uplifting experiences in the work of salvation.

Right now we don´t have anyone on date. We also only had one investigator when I got here. We´re up to 4 now, but we need to find more, and invite more to baptism. More than anything else, I´ve found that the most common weakness between missionaries is knowing how and when to invite to baptism, and how to prepare our investigators to accept the invitation.

I´m getting to know my area and the Elders in my zone. We played soccer this morning for a little too long, but it feels good to be tired like this. 

My trauma of the week has been a lost box from the transfers meeting. I´m pretty sure I left it in the taxi, but just in case you find a grey shoebox, full of the most beautiful ties you have ever seen, it probably belongs to me. 

Next week I´ll talk to you about our investigators on date!

Yo sé que Cristo vive! Lo siento cada vez que comparto mi testimonio, y mi amor por él y el amor que me tiene crece cada día más. Sé que el tiempo es corto, pero es mucho la mies. I LOVE THE LORD!

[I know that Christ lives!  I feel it every time I share my testimony, and my love for Him grows daily.  I know that the time is short, but the harvest is great!]

I love you!

Elder Hicken

Hurrah for Israel!

Hola de mi cambio

Well the time has come! I´m finally getting changed! So I´m spending a lot of time today getting the pictures off other Elder´s camera cards, because I lost about 150 pictures when my USB got a virus.

Anyway, todo está bien aqui en San Silvestre!

Well after many fervent prayers on my behalf, asking for the Lord´s will to be done, I´m leaving my hometown Las Flores to start fresh in a new ward. I´m very excited to finish training another missionary, and I hope to be able to adjust to the new program rapidly.

This week has been pretty hard, but pretty good. We had a family referred to us by the other Elders in our ward, and they are awesome. The Rosales family. Raquel is a single mother with 5 kids, all above the age of 8. 4 of them are planning to be baptized on the 14th of December, one more should be joining them shortly, but wastn´t present when we invited the rest, and the last one works a lot, and we have yet to teach her. Due to canceled meetings this weekend because of voting here in Lima, it will be crucial that they attend church in two weeks in order to be baptized.

Elder Walstrohm seems confident in taking over SSII and helping his new companion get to know the Ward Council, especially the Bishop. They have an appointment to introduce his new companion Wednesday. 

Thanks for all the music and pictures! I´ll tell you all about my new sector next week! I´m working on the captioning pictures!

Love, 

Elder Hicken

Trip to Pucusana

Pucusana:  place.  Small fishing town on coast of Peru, an hour south of Lima. 

 In Pucusana...A Picture to use for a piece of digital art that I thought of at the beginning of my mission

Is the water supposed to be up on the street? Is it supposed to be this cold?

Boat in Hand!

"Its coastal location makes it home to several unique species of birds, dolphins, and other marine animals." -- Wikipedia.

Duh...check out these pictures!

Quick Letter

Well things didn´t really go as planned today. I´ve only got a minute. But I wrote a handwritten letter all throughout the day today, so you´ll get that in a week or two.

This week has been good, but way too fast. We just got back from Pucusana late, and I´ve got 15 minutes to write before 6 pm. It is very hard to be righteous. It is even harder to be an example unto the righteous. I can´t believe how fast this week became very stressful, all due to trying to do the work of the Lord on our own terms.

I´m working on becoming a better district leader, trainer, companion, missionary, and above all, servant of God. It´s hard, but rewarding. Right now I´m focusing on dilligence and patience. And trying to maintain the two in balance and equalibrium. Bit by bit, I´ll figure it out. It takes a lot of practice.

We have hit a pretty big problem with Francisco. We´ll do our best to turn to the Lord as much as possible. He´s done miracles for Francisco before, he can do it again. Claudia just told us she doesn't feel ready quite yet, and so we´ll have to keep working with her as well. We have to do something so she can attend church.

Excitement is developing about transfers. I promised one of the members in my ward I would ask the president to think twice before transferring me. I can´t decide if I want to stay here or if I want to go. There´s a lot of pros and a lot of cons on both sides. I´m glad it´s not my decision.

I feel like E´Casanova is going to bring about big changes in the stake here. I hope the leaders will follow the spirit and take heed to his ´call to repentance´. He has a very good way of being direct, to the point, and precise. Meaning that there is no confusion in what needs to be done. 

Thanks for all the letters this week! Sorry I´m not going to be able to read them!

I love you!

Elder Hicken

Hurrah for Israel!

Hola de una semana de cambios beunos

Todo está bien aquí en San Silvestre!

We had a good week this week. Although we lost 2 investigadores on date due to not coming to church, we invited two others, in whom the ward is much more focused. We also have one more ready to accept a date, which we will invite in our next appointment. 

I had two exchanges this week, one with E´Warren in Los Jardines, and one with E´Cassanova in my own area. With E´Warren we talked quite a bit about learning spanish, and about teaching efficiently and simply. They´re doing great, and I´m learning from being their district leader. I´ve finally learned how to invite people to baptism, which has been my greatest weakness since day one. They also had many young children on date, without permission. We discussed it during the exchange and in district meeting as well, and they are now striving to teach not only the kids, but also the parents.

In our zone we seem to have many companionships with the same problem: companionship unity. I talked to E´Cassanova about it in our exchange, and he expressed the same concern, and we instituted ´trust falls´ into the zone meeting this morninig.

Francisco has experienced several miracles (from our point of view) in this past week. First, his heart changed. I don´t know what happened, but when E´Burgos and E´Walstrohm visited him, he accepted a baptisimal invitation, and said he would pray to ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. Second, in compliance with the feeling I´ve had since we first found him, he was finally able to come to a baptism on Saturday, in spite of conflicts he had told us he would have. What tender mercies to let us know that we aren't alone in our fight to help God´s children, especially Francisco, make sacred covenants with their Father in Heaven. He plans to be baptized this Saturday.

We also have a young woman on date for the following week, named Claudia. She is very shy, but seems to be doing well, and always follows through on her commitments. She even calls us ahead of time to let us know if she will be late for an appointment, or why she can´t come to church. She only has 2 attendances, and one was General Conference, and the other the Primary Program, so we really want her to see what a normal sacrament meeting is like.

Well that´s my time! Thank you for all your support! (and the music)

Love, Elder Hicken

Hurrah for Israel!