Dear family and friends,
So now I'm back in Cambodia town! I'm with Elder Tarter, who is still training. Elder Sturgell was training him before but now he's off to an English ward. Elder Tarter is great, he's got a really positive attitude all of the time and he works hard.
The other big news is that the native Cambodian missionary just arrived this week. He's going to be so great! I was able to hear him teach a bit and I think he's going to be a powerful missionary. I was actually supposed to train him. I got the call from the assistants and everything and I was SO excited! However, when I got to the mission office, I suggested that we be in the car area together instead of the bike area. I gave several good reasons why and as a result they switched him to the car area, but they put Elder Fowler with him instead. As you can imagine, I was pretty darn disappointed to say the least. I really felt like I was prepared to train him, and I had already wrapped my head around the idea that I would be his trainer. But I needed to get over it fast and help out Elder Tarter instead.
Also in the midst of all this, there was a whole situation about one of Elder Tarter's and Sturgell's investigators getting baptized. Her name is Christina and she's been going to a singles ward more often than the Park Ward, even though she was being taught by the Park Ward missionaries. It became a BIG issue. President, the Assistants, the Stake presidency, Bishop, they were all in on it, trying to decide where she should be baptized. It got pretty complicated with boundaries and what different leaders wanted to see happen. I basically came into the area and inherited the problem and had everybody on my case, all these adult priesthood leaders. And on top of that, I'm in a new area, trying to adjust to a new house, a new companion, and a new investigators. Elder Fowler and I are still zone leaders but we're split now, so that's also been a bit difficult to manage. All in all, it’s been a super crazy, stressful week. But things have cooled down now. I've been able to find a lot more peace with the way transfers shook out. Also, Christina was baptized in our ward yesterday. She actually asked me to baptize her even though I only taught her once, a year ago, when Elder Skidmore and I knocked on her door and gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she wanted me to do it because I was the first one to tell her about the church. It was a great service yesterday. All last week I felt that her getting baptized into our ward would be the best thing! I"m glad that it worked out the way it did.
I know God has been supporting Elder Tarter and I throughout this week. We saw several really awesome miracles. One happened just the other day. We knocked on this door of a potential investigator. A 15 year old girl let us in. She explained that she had just arrived from Cambodia along with her mom and her little sister. None of them spoke English which was weird because usually the teenagers can speak English. But we were able to have a lesson with the whole family and we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" together. They all loved it and by the end we felt we should talk about baptism. Sure enough they all committed to be baptized on the third of November! It was a needed success for Elder Tarter and I. There is already a lot going on in this area but it was good for Elder Tarter and I to share an experience like that together.
I hope everyone has a good week! Thanks for all your birthday e-mails and letters and packages! I appreciate all the support!
Elder Hicken
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