What an amazing week! So Saturday we got
special permission to go to the LA temple to see two families get sealed
together. It was awesome and I want to tell you all about it! But I just have to
say, if I haven't said it before, the LA temple is incredible! It is huge and so
beautiful! It's got amazing landscaping. And the building itself has an
incredible design. Since this temple is in the middle of loud LA, the designers
made sure to make all the rooms completely sound proof. It's super cool because
you come out of the loud crazy city and step into the Lord's house, this refuge
from everything outside, and a place where you can really feel the spirit.
Anyways, I’ve never seen a live sealing before, so I was super excited when I
called President and he said we could go! We started off waiting in the chapel
with probably 30 or so members from the ward. There was another group sitting in
the pews next to us. We were just listening to the music when a temple worker
walked in and asked for two Hickens to come with him. (They wanted them to sign
a witness paper for their group's sealing session.) Guess what? One of them who
stood up was Uncle Neil! Remember when we visited them shortly before I entered
the MTC. I have that picture of us in front of his house all jumping together,
grandma, grandpa, Uncle Neil, Aunt Phylis, me, Jonster, and mom and dad haha.
(Uncle Neil is on the end!)
I
went over and said hi. It was really fun seeing him! He looked great! I barely
recognized the other Hicken though. Sorry. Maybe I've seen him at a reunion once
before. Anyways they both said I looked a lot like dad. I guess I'll take that
as a compliment. haha. It was great to see them.
So, the sealing itself was incredible. These are two
families that have come such a long way in their spiritual progression. They
were just so happy and smiley the whole time. My favorite part was when the kids
came into the sealing room all dressed in white. That's really the goal isn't
it? To make it to the temple and be sealed as a family for eternity and to never fall away. I just kept
thinking of Thea and Sinouen. They are such an amazing family too. I can't wait
to see them make it to the temple with their family someday. December will be
Thea's one year mark as a member of the church.
We actually were just at their house last night. It was
totally unplanned. But after church, they called us to come over to their house
and teach Sebastian along with his little sister! Cool! She became a new
investigator for us this week! They both are so cool and they look pretty
promising for baptism.
Guess what? Thea taught Sunday school yesterday! It was a
miracle! We've been out of Cambodian Sunday school teachers for a while. (kind
of a long story why) Mostly it’s just because the Cambodian members are scared
to do it. They don't feel like they know the gospel well enough. But Thea was
willing (after a little nudging) and he did an amazing job! I was so proud of
him! He actually called us earlier in the week to see if we could help him
prepare. Isn’t that awesome. We met him at the church, while he waited for his
son Tim to finish seminary, and we helped him prepare his lesson. He is now
unofficially called as a Sunday school teacher. Yeah! He will be great! And home
teaching has officially started for the first time ever in this ward too! It’s a
miracle.
Remember Sokha by chance? I taught her last transfer in
the other area. She has been learning from missionaries for over ten years and
guess what? She was baptized yesterday!! It was an amazing service! It really
strengthened my testimony that the church is true. She had been going to other
Christian churches for a long while but after pondering and praying, she knows
that this is the true church. When she finally decided to be baptized she asked
me to baptize her. I felt so honored. As I lifted her up out of the water she
was so happy! She was just all smiles! The spirit was very strong.
 |
| Sokha's Baptism |
Have a great week!
Elder Hicken
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