How to Prepare for a Mission

Hello everybody!

So, mom, to answer your question about how I would prepare for a mission...I'd say just having a good general gospel knowledge is a great start.  I would definitely make sure you read the Book of Mormon before you go, over and over would be great, but at least once.  Also, going on splits with the missionaries is a good idea. It can really help the missionaries out, and it’s a great way to get a feel for what things are going to be like when you go. Plus, going out with the missionaries can help you see what you might need to work on.  Maybe another suggestion would be to just develop positive character traits and talents, especially being able to interact and connect with all people.  I know God sends you where YOU are needed.

So it was another good week full of teaching opportunities. It's been great that we've been able to teach so much lately.  Teaching is giving us that experience we need to become really good teachers (something Elder Ballard talked about when he came a few months ago).  We've been trying to apply what we call the "prayer contact" in our work.  It has been really effective! We basically ask if we can come in for just five minutes and have a prayer. We write down their needs and then pray for them. Afterwards, we ask them how they felt and invite them to learn more.  Some times we even invite them to be baptized. We’ve had a lot of teaching lessons out of doing this and several new investigators too. It's been absolutely incredible to see how prayer invites the spirit and softens people's hearts.

Also this week, we contacted several investigators that we were about to drop (Ry, Sokchendra, Dee..). We'll probably hold on to them for a little longer, however, we're still looking for progressing investigators as well. It's been frustrating that our investigators just aren't coming to church and we don't know what else we can do. But this week we had a miracle! Yesterday at church we talked to Tia Hem. Everyone in his family is a member except him. He comes to church with them but he has just shied away from getting baptized because of a bad experience he had in the past. He felt like people were trying to force him to become a member.  We are being very sensitive to that. But yesterday Elder Sturgell and I decided it was time to try and meet with him. So we walked up to him and just asked him if there was a time we could come over and teach him. Surprisingly, he looked over to Elder Sturgell and was like, "You're the new guy right?"  He then asked him how many baptisms he had had since being here, to which Elder Sturgell responded none. Then he was like, "Well how about I be your first one so you can start your mission off right? " Of course we said that would be awesome! And so we'll be going to teach him first thing tomorrow morning.  We're super excited about that!

Just in general everything is going great. We're working hard and learning a lot.  We are trying to improve each day . Elder Sturgell is awesome. He is just a great missionary! Hopefully this baptism will follow through.  And then, Sovania should be getting baptized on the 9th! (she is the other elder’s investigator)  Good things are happening in the Park Ward!

Love Elder Hicken