Elder Talon Hicken: The Missionary: December 2014

Friday, December 26, 2014

Spiritual Thought this week

Here´s the spiritual thought for the week: Helping Others Find Faith in Christ

If you´re too busy to read the whole article, or just in the mood for a video, or you´re on top of things and have already read the Esign message, here´s a wonderful video that edifies my faith in God, and his prophets: Free Forever

Love, Elder Hicken

Skyping with Family on Christmas Day!

It was great being able to Skype with Talon and Kai on Friday. It was Talon's birthday so we sang to him. I especially enjoyed the time when both Kai and Talon were on Skype together and they could interact. It is wonderful having both of them serving the Lord full time at the same time.

Brent

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Hola de casi navidad [almost Christmas]

Well December is going by like water in a salt flat. I just don´t know where.

Todo está bien aquí en la Oficina!

Fun fact for the day! Kai´s trainer, Elder Hurtado, has a brother on a mission. In Peru...Lima...Central Mission. He just got here last week, and I talked to him for a while on the bus from the MTC. We just had a training meeting with him and his trainer yesterday. He has been sick for about 4 days with food poisoning. Interesting connection! Small world!

I mentioned to the President the day before yesterday that air traffic controller came up on one of the aptitude tests that I took in my career development class at BYU, and he´s been on the topic nonstop since then. He even gave me special permission to look up some information today during pday.

Today my companion is going to Las Flores (if you don´t recall, he was my zone leader there this time last year, and we lived in the same apartment) to attend a baptism. I´ll be with Elder Chatwin, and I think we´re finally going to go see a museum!

We´re working hard on getting our Christmas party ready! We´re doing several video productions that are going to turn out pretty darn Christmassy. I´m excited. I´ll get you the links to see them once they´re ready.

Ok, Christmas is coming, and that means it´s almost skype time. What does your schedule look like? We don´t have anything figured out yet, but we´ve got all day, and plenty of computers to go around, so I´m pretty flexible this year. What time would be best for you?

Yesterday we finally had some time to go out and teach, and I went with Elder Carmona, the financial secretary. I found two of the questions he asked the taxi driver particularly interesting:

Why do people forget about God?
What can we do to make sure we don´t forget about Him?

I would love it after pondering the first question, you would send me a short response to the second question. What are you doing, or what do you need to start doing to make sure that you "do always remember Him, that you might have His spirit to be with you."

I love covenants, and I am so grateful for the Spirit which will not cease to strive with man, as long as we give heed to it´s promptings.

Don´t forget to share the Gift through social networking! It´s super easy to set a cool facebook banner with Picasa. Or to set a new background. I was pretty picky making this one nice, and it only took me 10 minutes! Share the Gift!

#ShareTheGift

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Feliz Deciembre!

I´m so happy that change day is done and over with. It was such a crazy week. But the rest of this change is going to be just as crazy. Did you have a Christmas dinner with the president? We´re trying to get all ready for ours, but we also have to organize all of the interviews as well. We just finished specialized training meetings last week! My goodness!

Well I have to admit that this week has been tough physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. What has been of greatest help has been remembering my close relationships, and trying to strengthen them. As I stopped focusing on everything that was going on, how I was feeling, what needed to be done, etc. I started to focus on how those I care about were feeling. My companion, the president and his wife, My former companions, etc. As I looked to make them happy, I´ve felt relieved of my own burdens.

The pivot point happened as I led the mission council in reciting our missionary commission:

Soy llamado de Dios. Mi autoridad está por encima de todos los reinos de la tierra. Por revelación he sido seleccionado como un representate personal del Señor Jesucristo; él es mi maestro, y me ha escogido como su humilde siervo, para ponerme en su lugar; para decir y hacer lo que él diría o haría si él peronalmente estuviera ministrando a la gente a la cual él me ha enviado. Mi voz es su voz, mis actos son sus actos, mis palabras son sus palabras, mi doctrina es su doctrina.

Mi comisión es hacer lo que él ha hecho, decir lo que él ha dicho para ser un testigo actual de su palabra en su grande y maravillosa obra en estos últimos días.

¡Cuan grande es mí llamamiento!

[I am called of God. My authority is higher than all the kingdoms of the earth. Through revelation I have been chosen as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ; He is my master, and He has chosen me as his humble servant, to put me in His place; to say what He would say or do what He would do if He personally were ministering to those to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice. My acts are His acts. My words are His words. My doctrine is His doctrine.

My commission is to do what He has done, say what He has said to be an actual witness to His word in His great and marvelous work in these last days.

How great is my calling!]

How great it truely is. I am so grateful that the Lord provides his gospel to all of his children. Today for the first time in a long time, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with people who wanted to hear. It may be Pday, but I just loved going around the park with Elder Chatwin and contacting a few people who looked at us with a desire to learn more. We gave out a bunch of Dádiva cards. I love this new phase the church is going into. It´s incredible to be so close to the Apostles and Prophets.

[#ShareTheGift Cards]

How great the blessings of fasting. I truly seek to be able to receive the promises from this past conference, so that I can call upon the Lord, and he will respond: "Heme, aquí."

Dive in headfirst with the church´s Christmas video program!

He is the Gift

What a special opportunity! Elder Evans of the 70 says that this is the best time to be involved with missionary work. Are you involved?

Love,

Elder Hicken

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Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

--Marianne Williamson

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.