Hola de un semana de agua

All is well here in San Silvestre II! We had a baptism this week, and everything went wonderfully!

We had a wonderful Zone Meeting and training this morning, where Elder Claros (our new zone leader) taught us about planning efficiently to help our investigators keep commitments. It must have been inspired, because it´s exactly what E´Gaete and I needed. We hope to see great progression in these next few weeks with our investigators progressing and keeping commitments as we apply what we have learned from Elder Claros.

The assistants to the President called today and asked for me to train them in Excel. I immediately thought about the part in my Patriarchal Blessing that says that the Lord is mindful of me, I will have the opportunity to serve my leaders in the mission, because as far as I know, they had no idea that I had computer background, but they called and asked for me somehow. The Lord surely is mindful.

[Brent asked Talon for input as he was asked to give a small report on Talon's mission thus far in their home ward's sacrament meeting.  Among relaying experiences already shared in his letters, Talon included this:]  I would like to advise all families that Preach my Gospel is a guide to conversion. If you want conversion, it’s got the instructions. Conversion for yourself, conversion for your children, friends, coworkers, whoever. We should be using it much more than I think any of us are, missionaries, leaders, families, everyone. Especially for FHE.

       I didn´t realize that in the mission there is absolutely no spare study time. I have lists of hours and hours of things to study that I´ve encountered in the mission, and I haven’t had a chance to study anything I wanted to study before my mission. Before serving a mission, study everything you can possibly think of, because there just isn´t time in the field. Or in the MTC either.

       Living with a companion 24-7...I don´t really know. All it’s taught me is that I am really grateful that I get to choose my wife. Unlike my companions. The key is communication. Especially open communication about things. Just things. The ability to talk about whatever is bastante importante. [extremely important].

        Member missionary involvement, ask the missionaries who they are teaching nearby, and offer your houses to meet in, or offer to bring them to church, or something specific that you can find in preach my gospel. The key is that missionaries are great and everything, but they are a temporary fix until Christ comes, when all members are missionaries. We are shooting for Zion, so why not start now? Take over the missionaries' job! Do it! They won’t mind!

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Map of the Mission

Servicio!

Ashley, before her baptism.

Yes, before her baptism which is why she isn't smiling yet.

Just Kidding.

That's the path??

Yep, that's the path!

Object lesson in District Meeting

[can you guess the object lesson?]

New cover photo for FaceBook!

It's my trainer's last exchange.

I won't see him until I go to Santiago!

Hola del semana de cambios!

This week was wonderful, we made significant progress in our logros [acheivements]! 

We now have two with baptismal dates, one for this Saturday: Ashley. Ashley is amazing and is learning as fast as we can teach. She keeps all of her compromisos [commitments]and is bien hermanada [well-fellowshipped] by the JAS [young single adults] in our ward. We hope to invite all her family to her baptism, and start teaching them the lessons as well. 

We encountered a futuro familia sellada [future sealed family] recently, and we are looking forward to teaching them. If I understand correctly, an FFS is a family with one parent member, one parent investigator.

We had 12 lessons with members this week, which was wonderful. We are planning to maintain this level of activity with our members through working with maestros orientadores y maestras visitantes [home teachers and visiting teachers], as well as a weekly schedule of all the youth que puedan acompañarnos [that can accompany us], and the times they are available.

Everything is just dandy here in The Flowers, and we are looking forward to cambios [transfers] tomorrow! Elder Sagostume, one of our Zone Leaders is leaving us. He only has 2 cambios mas [2 more transfers]. He is awesome, and lives next to us. I´m going to miss his example a ton, but I´ve learned a lot from him. He lives in Dad´s mission! We might just have to go visit your mission, Dad, when we come visit mine! (Yours too, Mom!)

We decided last minute to entrar en internet hoy [get on the internet today] instead of tomorrow, so I don´t have anything but the pictures from this week, so I can´t respond to previous letters, sorry!

I think my USB might have slipped through a tear in my backpack, and I may or may not have lost a whole bunch of pictures and music and whatnot. But let´s hope not.

Here are a few pictures that I´ve still got!

 

The bag exploded...

This is what I eat every morning for breakfast.

With Yogurt.

 Any guesses?
It's tasty, but I can't stand more than a few.

 They were filming a music video outside our dorm room...interesting!

Mission Map before the change!

 

Well everything is wonderful here in Peru! I´ll talk to you in a week!

'Elder Hicken

Hola de la ultima semana

Wow, these past 6 weeks have FLOWN by. Volado. Realmente.

We had interviews with the President this week. We also always have a training by the APs while we aren´t being interviewed. Los lideres de zona [zone leaders] this morning also trained us for a few hours on the same subject: goals and planning. Elder Gaete and I have reworked the way we will be planning from here on and so forth during our missions.

Right now we are low on baptisms, baptisimal dates, and investigators attending on sunday (i.e. progresando) [progressing]. We have decided to focus on acheiving a smaller goal, rather than overloading while shooting for excellence and accomplishing less.

We have improved dramatically with new investigators, with 10 nuevos this week. All from less active members, which shows that our hard work with less actives is really paying off.

Well everything is going great! We´re learning from our mistakes and doing our best not to make them again! Thank you for your support and inspiration!

A few more things to bring to Peru! Could you bring my work gloves? Even if they´re beat up, that would be wonderful. And batteries! They´re super expensive here! 3 or 6 AAAs would be wonderful!

A quick thought:

Proverbs 3:5

-¨Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.¨

-trust=love

-¨if ye love me, keep my commandments¨

-¨love the lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.¨

just a quick, rather digital thought, but hopefully you can chew on it for a while until the spirit can teach the principal for me.

Sorry another short letter! But at least there´s pictures this time! Haha

Thank you for everything!

We bought Zone Jerseys!

Billboards here are just great!

This one is for John Mulhern.

I don´t really know how to explain it, but please, pasa la voz por favor.

[looks creepier to me...uh, crepier, I guess]

 A member that always comes with us to investigators, who we buy fruit from all the time-Roberto

Scout and I. His name is scout because he sits at the very end of a dead end and watches over the neighborhood with ears as sharp as razors, and when a stranger comes in he runs off to go investigate. He always comes to me when I whistle to him. My fingers are black because I pet the dogs, who get super dirty super quick because the air is so poluted. Gross, but worth it for all the friends I have! 

Elder Gaete, Elder Sagostume, and Elder Gomez

made me think of Grandpa Steimle, so I took the picture

 in chorillos! (with the granny-bikes)

 Mmmm...Ocean!

climbing up to the Cristus with the bike

¡Hola de un semana de Bautismo!

Life is wonderful here in San Silvestre, and we are recognizing it. We baptized and confirmed Camila this weekend, and are looking forward to several more investigators with whom we have planned to set a date for baptism. 

Our biggest challenge right now is that we don´t have a ward mission leader. Our ward has a lot of potential, but we can´t adaquatly tap into that great resource without a ward mission leader. We have been working with the bishop, and expect to receive a new leader soon.

Another challenge is encountering our investigators and members. We´ve had quite a few appointments fall through this past week, and almost all of our members we had scheduled to come with us fell through as well. However, we are pressing forward with faith, and good expectations. Our bishop is amazing, and he is leading a growing, improving, transforming ward to the Celestial Kingdom. We are striving to support him in his endeavors. 

We have an investigator, Francisco, who is about as prepared as it gets. He has an incredible knowlege of the gospel, even though, or maybe because, he has relied on personal study and experience to teach him the way to Christ. When we read the Book of Mormon together and pause mid-chapter to review, in our conversation he explains to us the next few verses without having read them! Certainly prepared by the Lord, and taught by the spirit. We hope to be instruments in the Lords hands to lead him through the door of baptism on the 20th of July.

Well, if I had to guess, I would say that I weigh almost 200lbs now. I´m running about every other day with Elder Eklof, and every other day dryland. The swimmer in me doesn´t know what else to call it than dryland. But we eat like kings, and my companion is tiny, so I eat what he can´t. And I´m huge compared to the people here, so they think I need a mountain of food. I also eat a lot faster, becasue I´m used to eating being a chore, not a hobby. I´m not complaining, but it sure is hard to say no when they ask if I want more...

Ok, so about my companion. I can´t remember what I´ve told you. His name is Elder Gaete (like galleta) and he is from Santiago, Chile, but he lived on Easter Island until 4 years ago. He is 21 years old and was inactive until he moved to the mainland because their branch on the island consisted of his family, 2 missionaries, and 2 other members. He is super cool, and we get along great because we really work. He is one day younger than I am in the mission, so I´m senior companion! haha. But really we´re eaqual because we balance each other out in everything. 

Yesterday I did something hard for maybe the first time in my life. I don´t want to share a whole lot of details, but I want to share the testimony that was strengthened. Sorry enlish speakers, but I´m not sure I can do it justice in english. 

Yo sé que Dios me ama, que Él me conoce, tanto que pone detalles en mi dia que Él sabe solo yo reconocería. Yo sé que Dios escucha a mis pensamientos tanto como mis oraciones, y que está ayudándome a desarrollar un voluntad semejante suyo. Alegramos a Dios cuando ayudamos a otros de sus hijos acercarles a Jesucristo, pero nuestro converso más importante es nosotros mismos. Dios está preocupando para mi todos los dias, en un manera que no puedo entender. Yo sé que Jesucristo pensó en mi nombre, nuestro amistad, cuando estaba orando en el Jardín de Getsemaní, y que tengo su esfuerza por un apoya cuando mio está débil. Yo amo a mi salvador. Yo amo a mi Dios. Yo tengo su amor para ustedes y quiero ayudar a ustedes tanto como mis vecinos acá a conocer a Cristo.  Creed en Dios; creed que él existe, creed que él tiene toda sabiduría y todo poder, creed que el hombre no comprende todas las cosas que el Señor puede comprender. Sabed que yo lo creo, yo lo sé, y yo lo quiero vivir.

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.

Cuidense--con los mandamientos.

Con amor, Elder Hicken

  

Pictures! Sorry there aren´t very many, we just played soccer last week, so I don´t have a lot of pictures.

Running with Elder Eklof

Still running!

Happy Birthday, Kai!

My Zone!

Hola de medio campio (Mid-Transfers)

We are esforzando con los menos activos, pero no con tanto éxito [working hard with the less actives, but without much success].  We´ve got a huge hill with shacks all over it. Poorer than poor, but wonderful people. Now to get them to church. Starting up home teaching and visiting teaching is a process, but one we hope lasts.

We´ve got quite a few people with family in Cuzco, and one of them wants to get married down there before we can baptize her. We´ll try and send references along, but it´s hard when they don´t know their own addresses.

This week was especially rough with lessons with members, but we are going to focus on that this upcoming week. We are working hard with less actives, and having quite wonderful success. We are starting up home and visiting teaching in our ward, and hope that the change will last longer than we do.

This Sunday one of our investigators on date [for baptism] lost her date because she didn´t come to church. We´ll continue to work with her to make sure she is prepared to covenant with God to follow the commandments so she can recieve the blessings of the spirit in this life, and of eternal life in the next.

Camila, a 9 year old daughter of a less active, is all set and way excited for her baptism this Saturday, and has already brought a friend to church, who we are now teaching with her mother. Camila's mom is now active once again, and we hope they continue to bring friends into the church. 

This week I have gained an incredible testimony que Dios me conoce [that God knows me]. That he knows my needs and desires, and that he listens to my prayers to answer all my needs, not just my requests. I have gained a deeper love for him as my God, and Christ as my Savior through this knowlege, and an even greater desire to share the gospel with my brothers and sisters here in San Silvestre.

I hope all is well on the home front! I love you all and hope you are feeling the joy of sharing the gospel through your examples and actions!

Con amor, 

Élder Hicken

Hola de día 138

How was Father´s day? Here it was asi-asi. Holidays are tough here because nobody wants to talk to us...yeah.

Here are a few pictures from a museum we went to last week. You have to go! Ask Kai for more details.

[pics to come]

Here is my email to the president!

This week was wonderful! 

We are siguiendo adelante with Camila and her mother to prepare for Camila´s baptism on the 29th. 

We also have another Sister who will be baptized on the 29th, named Edith. She has known the missionaries for 2 years now, but came to us a week ago to ask for our help to prepare to be baptized. 

Both Camila and Edith came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday, as well as two other investigators, Ashley and Trifina, and three less actives.

We are continuing to work with less actives, and we are finding more and more that as we work as hard as we can, God helps us with the work we just can´t get done in the 24 hours we have each day.

Thank you for your leadership, President! You are always in our prayers!

Hurrah for Israel!

-Elder Hicken

First of all...LILY! Wow! Now you are 5 years old! I´m glad you had a wonderful birthday, but I want to wish you happy birthday too! In spanish! ¡Feliz cumpleaños! This birthday is important because soon you are going to have kindergarten and you will have to be an example for other kids. Kids who don´t get to go to church, or to primary. And kids who will watch you to know how to choose the right. Now you´re a big(ger) girl and I know you can do it! Go and get ´em!

A few random things:

Is this ´Marks of a Man´ talk from President Priday´s personal experience?

Is Jason back home already? When did or will he get back?

If you hear of any cool tourist locations within 5 hours of Lima, could you send me information? We have these big P-days and we can ask permission to go somewhere special outside of mission boundaries. Pretty cool, huh?

When is daylight savings time? We don´t have it here, so when you change, we will have 2 hours difference between us. But I don´t know when that is.

Alright, last week I said I would share a little bit more about the talk Beware of Pride, because it is amazing. It is so essential to be stripped of pride in this life, so I think I´ll share a little bit every week! This week I have a testimony that we can be humble by choosing to recieve love. There are various ways to accept love, depending on how it is shown. One of these ways that God shows us love is by giving us commandments. When we choose to follow the commandments we are choosing to accept his love. When we choose to discard his commandments, we are discarding his love in order to gain personal pleasure. This is truely one of the reasons being humble is so incredibly crucial in this life, in our premortal life, and in the life to come. We can be humble by CHOOSING. Don´t forget to make a concious decision to choose.

Another scripture that I love this week is 1N22:17 

Wherefore, he will preserve the righteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.

What a great promise! Just make sure you´re righteous, and you´ve got it made! 

Well time is short, and the work is long, but the fruit is sweet and the glory is God´s. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Élder Hicken

Here is a giant alfajor that we saw downtown!

[An Alfajor is a cookie with dulce de leche/caramel in it.  That is bigger than any I have seen, says Brent.  Multilayered, even.]

 

And a picture frame that the Socidad de Socorro [Relief Society] made for you, Dad! I´m going to put that picture of us in front of the temple in it.  Speaking of that picture, can you send me a copy of it?

Dear Dad, Happy Father's Day

Happy Father´s day Dad!

I have never been so grateful to have a dad that isn´t ensnared by a worldly vice. I think above all the things that I have learned on my mission, I have learned the most about the importance of the family, and furthermore the importance of the father. 

This Father´s day I can´t do much more than write home, however I have a gift for you. Possibly the most important and most valuable gift I can ever give. Through my study of the scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have learned that I need to give my will to my Father in heaven. I have also learned that we are placed here on earth to learn on a small scale the principals we will need in the eternities. Through personal studying, pondering, and praying, I have learned that to fully be able to surrender my will to that of the Lord, I must first surrender my will to you, my earthly father. 

This year my gift to you is my will; that as you hearken unto the will of the Father, so shall I, hearken unto your will. I may not understand why, but I understand how. I hope that now I can become an instrument in your hands, as much as a instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father: a tool to do good with more than I have in myself. 

I hope this Father´s day you had a wonderful time with Family, as I know you would like. We are so blessed to have a Dad with a deeper desire to spend time with family than with friends, videogames, or sins. Thank you for all of your dedication.

Love, your son,

Elder Hicken

Hola del cambio nuevo

Everything is going splendidly here in San Silvestre!

Brilliant Idea! I´m going to try and remember to include parts from my letter each week to President Borg. 

Everything is improving here in San Silvestre II. Elder Gaete is settling in just dandy, and we are already working excellently as a team!

Our first day together after cambios, we met with the Bishop (new as of two weeks) and asked for a blessing, as he holds the keys of missionarywork within San Silvestre. We have continued to see the blessings from this blessing throughout the week, and expect to experience many more in the following months.

This week we challenged a new investigator Camila with preparing to be baptized the 29th. She accepted, and is learning faster than we can teach! All because of the spirit. She is 9 years old, and we are reactivating her (widowed?) mother. 

We also had 6 less actives at church yesterday, which was wonderful! Another way that we are seeing the blessings of the spirit, because we just have too much work to do, even though we are working as hard as we can, so we need the Lord´s help, and as we ask, He gives.

Thank you for my surprise, President! He is wonderful! He is most definitely distracted with girlfriend problems back home, but I think the Lord might have prepared me for this opportunity to share what I have learned about devoting a life to serving the Lord. Especially on a mission.

Here is last week´s:

How is everything? We are doing great in San Silvestre. This past week we saw off Elder Perez Albela, and I worked with the Zone Leaders EE´Eklof and Sagostume and Elder Fankhouser. I did have the opportunity to work a little bit in my sector, but obviously not as much as I would have liked. It´s actually been really hard to not have a companion. This past week fue duro. But we had some wonderful lessons in the other sector, and I am determined to improve my sector to contribute at least as much as they have. 

I´m excited to have a new companion, and I can´t wait to work harder,more efficiently, and more obediently with him in the cambio que viene!

Well at least that gives you a basic thought about what I´m doing here right now.

Now to share a bunch of the random things that I´ve noted down throughout the weeks.

Normal is the enemy of progression! If you find yourself using the word normal, rethink if ´normal´ is a good thing or not. Another word to look out for is ´but´. If you are thinking of making a decision, and you find yourself saying ´I should....but...´ then rethink! You were probably right when you said I should the first time!

Sisters! I realized something this week, that is absolutely wonderful! There are several sections in the D&C that are directed towards Emma Smith. These sections are spectacular becasue they are directed solely towards the women of the church--YOU! If you study these sections dilligently, you will come to understand even better the relationship that you have with your Father in Heaven, as his daughter, and the responsibilities that you do or will have as mothers and daughters, sisters and wives.

DENTAL FLOSS IS SO EXPENSIVE. When you come down, make sure to bring plenty of dental floss. A little free thing that you get when you go to the dentist costs almost as much as breakfast here...

Could you send me a map of where Cajamarca is? Just an image from google maps or something? And I´m also going to have to let my mission president know that you will be changing your address for a few months, so once you have an address and dates and whatnot, the sooner the better! Plus I´m dying of couriosity!

Did Jessica leave for Washington already? When did/does she leave?

Reading assignment for this week: Beware of Pride by Ezra T Benson. Oh my goodness so wonderful. I´ll write more about it next week, cause time´s up!

I love you all and I´m so grateful for all of your prayers! I can feel them every day! We are receiving so much help from the Lord, and there are all sorts of miracles. Some of them you´ll have to wait another year or two to hear, but everything is in my Journal, don´t worry! I haven´t missed a day yet!

Hurrah for Israel!

Love, Elder Hicken

Baptism of Hermana Silvia

Hemana Silvia and Jeffer, Elder Perez Albela and I 

 Hermana Silvia and Jeffer

 Lunch with Stake President, Presidente Manuel De La Cruz

In the bus or taxi or something, from a long time ago.

Elder Obeso, Gutierrez, Eklof, Me, Lopez (then my District Leader), and Perez Albela 

The wall says KAI !!

Elder Fankhouser ate too much!

Contacting Practice

Hola del día 124

Can you believe I´m 124 days old? crazy. I remembered my cheat sheet this time! So here we go...

I got your dearelder that says you´re dissapointed that I haven´t gotten any dearelders! So I´m getting them. Haha, it´s dated the 11 of May. I like the story! Made me laugh.

I´ll write my own noticias [news] before responding to your letters, that way you hear what´s going on.

I think I´ve figured out a way to send letters home, but It´s easier if I have American stamps, so if you could send 20 or so in the next letter that would be awesome!

I have a less active who is a high class chef. 

Dinner at his house.  I want to bring him back with me to start a Peruvian restaurant in Provo!

He wants a recipe for BBQ sauce.  I told him that we´ve made it a few times, and so he asked if I could give him a few. But! they eat a TON of oil with their food here, so if you could send 2 that would be awesome. One that is healthy and Mom-approved (and preferably tested), and one that is as unhealthy as delicious calls for. Thank you so much!

Also, if anyone sends letters, could you do me a favor and include your email? Thanks! (P.S. can you send me Braden´s email?)

I would love it if you could also send me FHE activities! We love to play torre de arena, and cat and mouse, but that´s about all I have up my sleeve! Preferably something with a doctrinal base! THank you!

I was thinking this past week about something that would be so amazing if you could do as a family. If randomly throughout the day, you would share scriptures with each other. Just a short 2 minute read the scripture and explain why you like it. Just really quick, but if you start talking about the gospel, well then that´s great and you can talk longer. But just think about how awesome that would be, and how much more the spirit would be present. Now this would be cool if Mom and Dad did it, but how much cooler would it be if Renen, or Sierra, or Kai, or Lily (?) came into the office one day and said, ´´Dad, I was reading the scriptures and I just want to share this scripture with you that is in Proverbs chapter 4. The whole chapter talks about the instruction of a Father to a son, but I really like verse 18. It says But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. I just love the thought that we have this grand potential to shine more and more, and never stop until we´re perfect, like the light of the world.¨ Wow, what a great spirit would be there.

Random Peru fact: car mirrors all have a chain attaching them to the car, so that when they get hit off because they drive so close together, they can just reattach it, and not have to buy a new mirror.

Big favor to ask! Could you send me a calendar more or less of important dates? Birthdays in the family, in the ward, holidays, and anything else that I would love to know. Thank you! You could even do it monthly, or weekly if that is easier.

Another random Peru fact! They don´t sell those silky garments here, so sad. 

They love to have quotes and stuff on their cars, and here are two that I´ve seen quite often. ¨Esfuerzo es exito¨ [Effort is Success] and ¨No se gana, pero se goza¨ [One doesn't win, but one is happy] just a little saying for the day.

Another saying that is my own, but reminds me to think of the importance of humility: No olvide su exito por sus pruebas, pero no olvide humanidad por su orgullo. [Don’t forget your success because of your trials, but rather don’t forget humanity because of your pride]

[Not all idioms can translate quite correctly into English and have the same effect, but this was the closest we could translate]

Well I made some good progress on this list, but my time is up, so I´ll save the rest for next time!

I love you all! Stay strong!

Love Elder Hicken

Caricature of Elder Perez Albela and I

Brandon Palomino and Daniel Melendez, two members

Service Project at Hermana Betty's!