Flag Bearers

Dear family and friends,

So I apologize again for always being in such a rush to e-mail. I've been helping Elder Sam for most of our time today. It's been way fun having him here, especially the last couple of days. Elder Tarter, Elder Sam, and I really get along well together.

Honestly though, it's been quite difficult balancing training two missionaries, in two different languages, zone leading, along with everything else we're doing in our area.  Elder Sam hardly speaks English at all. It's been fun speaking Khmer all the time though. The difficulty is Elder Tarter still doesn't speak that much Khmer since he’s new. So getting everyone included and participating in the daily activities all together can be challenging. And yet, at the same time, I've been enjoying the challenge. That's why I say the last couple days have been particularly enjoyable. We're starting to get into a grove of working with each other. We currently have a pretty good balance.

Elder Sam is what we call here in Long Beach "FOBY". It stands for "Fresh Off the Boat". He's very native in everything he does. He'll be singing Cambodian songs as we're out working, he boils rice every day, wears cargo pants and a long sleeve shirt to bed, never wears his shoes all the way on-he walks on the heels of his shoes. He's never really ridden a bike before, he can't run for more than 2 minutes without having to walk, etc.. It's just way fun having him around.

Elder Fowler and I gave a zone training this week and we felt blessed that the Spirit was there. We focused a lot on vision and unity. We wrote our zone's mission statement/vision on a flag, like the title of liberty. At the beginning of every meeting we share miracle stories. We have asked the zone members to write brief summaries of those miracle stories on the flag. We’re hoping to just watch the flag fill up with miracle stories. We’ve also assigned "flag bearers" for the week, a companionship who keeps the flag at their apartment until we meet again the following week. We're excited to see the effects this will have on our zone.

I can't believe my mission is winding down. I’m really going to miss the people here. I want to make these last three months the best possible!

Love Elder Hicken