Hello!
This week was so
much better! The Lord is sending us people to teach! We picked up another new
investigator making a total of 4 (except we found out that one of the kids
we're teaching is actually 7. not 9 so I guess she doesn't really count
anymore so more like 3...). But even still, very exciting compared to where we
were before! We also have several good potential investigators that we've
picked up by just visiting less-actives, talking to everyone and meeting with
members. It's just such a blessing especially because things were looking
pretty dead only a couple weeks ago.
However, each one
of the people we're teaching has some challenges. Elder Dain said that it's
pretty typical. There's not very many easy baptisms. He said it just
strengthens his testimony even more of this work as he sees all the things
Satan does to get in the way. Jimmy (13) and Sandy (7) are these two really
awesome Cambodian kids. When we come over they get so excited and run
(literally) and get their Books of Mormon. The dad doesn't want to learn but
said he was okay if we taught the kids which we're grateful for. But we
realized this is a bigger problem than we thought because when we invited them
to come to church, their dad said no that he needs to go with them, which is
understandable. But he can't take them because he works on Sunday and he's not
comfortable with them getting a ride either. So we're kind of stuck, but Elder
Dain and I are hoping that we can figure out more about the family and maybe
find a member who knows them (all the Cambodians seem to know each other).
Also, as we continue to go over, we're hoping the father will have a change of
heart. The other struggle too is that they are only available to have us come
over once a week, so it's hard to progress because it's so long in between
visits, and we need to do a lot of reviewing before we can move forward.
Our Investigator
that we picked up last night has the similar problem in that she can only meet
once a week. She is an older Cambodian lady with a less-active member
daughter(s?). Very nice, but loves to talk (typical Cambodian). But it seems
like she's very open to our message and is letting us come back next week.
Finally, Peter is
still meeting with us which is great. The biggest thing with him right now is
helping him commit to a date to be baptized. He's feeling he doesn't want to
limit himself to one congregation but that him believing in Christ and his
testimony and strivings to follow the King James Version of the Bible is good
enough. But not to worry, we'll figure it out! It's just going to be a
challenge.
The good news with
all of our investigators is that we're teaching! It's so much better
than knocking on doors randomly hoping to find someone. We're starting to meet
with members a lot more, seeking referrals and even finding people through
visiting less actives and part member families. And then we're talking to
everyone. A guy that we just ran into at the Car Wash almost came to church
this Sunday. He called and said he wasn't going to make it because his work
went overtime. But we have an appointment with him Tuesday. We also tracted
into this Cambodian couple that let us in. We only were able to teach about who
God is and prayer but they said we could come back. Also, we were visiting a
less-active whose brother sat in on our lesson. He had just been reading a
lesson 3 pamphlet and thought he might be interested. I just feel so blessed
that the Lord is sending us people and trusting us with people to teach!
Speaking of
talking with everyone, Elder M. Russel Ballard stopped through our mission and
talked to us just a couple days ago! He was just stopping through because he's
on vacation with his wife, but we got to hear from him for an hour and even got
to shake his hand! We only have about 150 missionaries in our entire mission so
it wasn't too hard. He's actually over the missionary sector right now or whatever
so he was very helpful and insightful. Talking to everyone was a huge
thing he stressed. He also talked about the importance of really knowing
the doctrine as outlined in Preach My Gospel and becoming good teachers.
It was really fun to have him here! Fun fact: he was born on Oct 8th! I know we
have several October 8th birthdays in the family!
Speaking of
family, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTERS!!!!! It was really fun hearing from
all you guys! The reunion sounded so fun and well planned with fun activities!
Thank you so much for your support! It just makes me want to work even harder!
I love you all!
Elder Hicken
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