Elder Talon Hicken: The Missionary: Hola!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Hola!

Todo está bien aquí en Precursores!

It´s been a crazy week, and honestly the lack of sleep has caught up with me. We´ve been up too late passing logros [passing off goals], writing in journals, and talking about the needs of investigators and missionaries. We´ve set a companionship goal to improve on our bedtime. We also want to be more punctual in all aspects.

We´ve got people on date once again!

The Isasi family is the greatest. They were a reference from a member because their house caught on fire. We visited them and they are golden. They are planning to be baptized the 15th. Candy, the mother, has a serious disease, but is recovering very quickly after a priesthood blessing. Our bishop is helping us out and has organized the Elders Quorum to do a service project in their home and look for a wheelchair for Candy.

Teresa is the grandmother of a less active that is starting to reactivate. She has been very catholic in the past, but we are helping her feel the spirit, and she confessed to us this week that she has the desire to be baptized on the 8th.

Juan is the spouse of a recently reactivated sister in our ward. He can´t read, and understands on a childlike level. We are trying our best to help them get married next week, and understand the principles of the gospel so Juan can be baptized the 15th.

Elder Castro sliced his hand open helping the Isasi family this past thursday.

He got 10 stitches. I was on exchanges with another Elder, so I didn´t see it happen.

While he was in the hospital he taught 7 lessons to doctors, nurses, and people waiting to be helped in the emergency room. (he waited for 1 1/2 hours to be helped).

He is recovering very well, and the hardest part is keeping him from overexerting.

He is teaching me more than I could realize, and is helping me to see my strengths, more than anything, which builds my faith.

We are as united as two teenage boys endowed with power from on high can be. We work like friends, because we are. We laugh when it´s time to laugh, and we work when it´s time to work. Elder Castro has taught me how to work with goals in the mission. I always thought the point of a goal was to reach it. Now I understand that the point of a goal is to increase product. We are improving every day, and learning even more. I am truly grateful for the Lord´s hand in my life these past weeks.

This week I had an exchange with a district leader in his sector. He is getting ready to return to his home, and my goal was to help him focus his thoughts: think of home when it is time to think of his home, and think of the mission when it is time to think of the mission. As we discussed, our thoughts turned to talk about how to change faith into power. It is a profound subject. Scriptures to study regarding such a topic, and how to apply it in our lives, or especially in the mission field, are more than welcome.

Sé que nunca habrá una oferta en bendiciones. Hay precios eternos preestablecidos para este vida y el momento preciso no significa que no tenemos que esforzarnos tal comolos otros momentos. Sé que nuestra tarea es demasiado grande para cumplir solo. Necesitamos la ayuda del Salvador. Y esa es la clave cuan dispuestos estemos de buscar y recibir esa ayuda. Sé que uno de nuestros responsabilidades es lograr metas dignas. Cuando somos dignos, logramos metas dignos. Sé que Dios nos ama muchisimo, y que conoce los sementinos mas tiernos de nuestros corazones. Cuando somos humildes nos manda demuestros de este amor para motivarnos y ayudarnos a progresar Se que dios nos conoce perfectamente y que a medida que estemos orando nos consagre nuestra acción para el beneficio de nuestras almas.El Libro de mormón is la clave de nuestra religión, y si no lo compartimos, lo olvidamos. Compartalo!

[I know that blessings never "go on sale". There are pre-established eternal prices for this life and the exact moment doesn't mean that we don’t have to put forth the effort as much as in other moments.There are eternal prices preestablished for this life and the precise moment does not mean that we don't have to put forth as much effort as in other moments. I know that our work here is too big to complete on our own. We need the help of our Savior. And the key is how willing we are to seek and receive His help. I know that one of our responsibilities is to achieve worthy goals. When we are worthy, we meet those worthy goals. I know that God loves us so much, and that He knows the deepest feelings of our hearts. When we are humble He sends us manifestations of this love to motivate us and help us progress. I know that God knows us perfectly and that as we pray, He consecrates our action for the benefit of our souls. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion, and if we don't share it, we will forget it. Share it!]

Thank you for your faith! I love you!

Love, Elder Hicken

Hurrah for Israel!

No comments:

How great is my calling!

I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master, and He has chosen me to represent Him, to stand in his place, to say and do what He would say and do if He were ministering to those to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my actions are His actions. My words are His words and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done, to say what He wants said, to be a living witness in word and in deed of His great and marvelous latter-day work.

Where to Send the Good Stuff

Inspiring Words from Elder Hicken

Feb 21, 2013: Anyone who can't decide about serving a mission, start studying the Atonement with all of your energy of soul. You will not be able to resist the desire to share the amazing effects of a knowlege of the Atonement. As for everyone who has already been on a full time mission, congratulations, you're now a part time missionary--you're not done sharing. If you lack an intense desire to share the gospel, you'd best start studying the Atonement right along with everyone else. If you don't fit in either of those categories, you should study the Atonement. In summary, STUDY THE ATONEMENT! It is so wonderful, so happy, so inspiring, so spectacularly amazing! I know it is because as I study it every day, as I share it every day, as I pray about it every day, my happiness has grown exponentially, my energy has increased in duration, my attention has been refocused, and my desires are being tuned! If you seek happiness, seek a testimony of the Atonement, and the happiness will come with a flood of our Savior's love.

Feb 21, 2013: Fear to take advantage of the scriptures. Be afraid of falling into the category of people Nephi spoke to in 2 Nephi 32:7! But even more so, fear to hearken unto the evil spirit which teacheth a man not to pray. Which whispers "you're too tired", "try it first and then pray", "see if you can do it on your own". If you're ever thinking of praying, you should be praying. Ye must pray always! (verse 9) The ability to do things without prayer is a vice, and a weakness. It is harder to rely on the spirit, than to do it yourself.

May 21, 2013: I only want to share a thought that I had during our Stake Conference this last Sunday. We were singing “Praise To The Man” and a thought came to my mind forcefully, that what I am sharing and preaching each day is true. I know without fail, with every fiber of my body and I cannot doubt, because of this I am made. This is the true gospel, and there is no other way, path or salvation. The happiness that I feel grows each day, and my experiences are helping me in each moment. I am extremely grateful for the gifts of knowledge that the Spirit gives me, and I hope with all my heart that you are feeling a new desire to study, search, and pray with more effort often and regularly. There is no other way.

July 1, 2013: I know that God loves me, that He knows me, such that He puts details in my day that He knows only I would recognize. I know that God listens to my thoughts as well as my prayers, and that He is helping me develop a will similar to His. We please God when we help His children come closer to Jesus Christ, but our most important conversion is ourselves. God takes care of me every day, in a way I cannot understand. I know that Jesus Christ thought of my name, our friendship, when He was praying in theGarden of Gethsemane, and that I have his strength as a support when mine is weak. I love my Savior. I love my God. I have His love for you and I want to help you just like my neighbors here to know Christ. Believe in God; believe that He exists, believe that He has all wisdom and all power, believe that man does not understand everything that the Lord can understand. Know that I believe it, I know it, and I want to live it.

_

October 14, 2013: 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.

-

Dec 23, 2013: The work of the Lord is progressing at an incredible rate. The adversary is fighting to keep up. His work is disgusting in every way, and even worse is that he disguises it to not appear that way. In Elder´s Quorum this week, President Jimmy said that everything Satan does is to divide the family, and he works with the weakest member. Don´t be the weakest! Even better, don´t let there be a weakest! When a family is united in persevering to the end, there is no place for Satan! No handhold! But he has many workers in this world, and he will pull at every seam, and tear at every fray. I testify of the importance of gaining a testimony by way of the spirit. The devil reasons with perfect reasoning. There is no outsmarting the devil, but there is overcoming. We overcome the devil by rising above reason and learning to listen and understand the spirit.

.

April 7, 2014: This week I have learned the importance of setting goals so that in the future we can measure our progress. I remember the feelings I felt when Sister Borg explained to us that she can see our progress, even though we can´t see it. It´s like my family: they send me pictures, and everyone seems so much older, though they have no idea. Sometimes we need to look ourselves in the mirror spiritually, compare ourselves with a snapshot from the past and see just how much we have grown.

.

July 8, 2014: One thing that I¨ve learned to always ask myself is if I am a blessing or a burden. When I call my leaders to ask for help, I ask my self how I can be a blessing for them in this moment. When I call my missionaries to verify their work, I ask myself how I can bless, not burden them. It has been one of the biggest changes in my life, and I believe it all started with something Dad taught me: whenever you go to a meeting or meet with someone important, always make sure that by the time you leave, they are glad that you were there. I always try to make people really, truely glad that I am there to help them, and never feel like life would be easier if I weren´t there to bug them about an assignment, or get after them for not doing something.

.

Nov 15, 2014: Many times it hurts to not have materials for those who need. It makes me think of the spiritual application of the same; the feeling of guilt and pain that one encounters when lacking a testimony to share in another´s time of need is a cringing experience. It is not as easy as asking a companion for an extra pamphlet, or looking for the extra you always keep inside the cover of your scriptures. I urge all who are within the reaching of my words to prepare themselves. There is not much time before the Lord will require your testimony. The days are accomplished that the battle front has disappeared. The enemy is within the walls, and we must sleep on our swords. There is no child too young, no soldier too wounded, no scout too lost, and not one too weak to be strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We all need it.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Hola!

No comments:

Post a Comment