Of Miracles and Faith

Well, hello!

(Elder Sheridan and Elder Hixon)

This week is transfers! What the heck?! First and most importantly, everyone pray that I'll stay in Beograd another transfer, please. I have work to do here yet!

So....where to start. Well I'll start by saying I did not bring my journal today, so I am going off of my memory as far as what happened, forgive me if this is rambled.

We taught Nana and his family twice this week, and they came to church and stayed the whole time and loved it!!! They have a baptismal date for June 15, and I couldn't be more excited and proud of them. They're so awesome. In church this week, I was sitting by Nana during Sunday school, and Elder Bates was teaching on tithing and fasting. My heart sank. Too soon, too soon! I figured, it had been fun while it lasted with Nana, but this is going to be very interesting...I was concerned, and Elder Hixon, where was your faith!? Well, the Lord pardoned my lack of faith. Nana and I were both getting the gist of what was going on, because it was all in Serbian, and from different testimonies on tithing and it's blessing from some of the humblest and most poor people I've ever met, which truly strengthen me (one is a single mom who has fed us the two best dinners I've ever had in Serbia, she's incredible), Nana raised his hand.

Oh no.

More like oh yes!!! This man, who both he and his wife are struggling financially, and who impresses me every day, raises his hand and asks if he can share something in english. He shares a verse or two from the Book of Mormon that he had been reading, then testifies of tithing as an act of faith, testifying that if we truly believe that God has given us everything, than obeying His commandments should naturally follow, and that giving him 10 percent is truly a blessing to us, spiritually and temporally, as we receive the blessings that come from giving. He bore such powerful testimony on that. I was blown away! Has there been a better prepared person for the Gospel?! I don't think so!!!

(Elder Bates wants to count that as a member present lesson on tithing, I told him no.)

So, in short, Nana and his family are so awesome. His wife is so eager to learn and give what is
best to her children.

Speaking of them, another miracle took place. So if you remember, last week Nana and Zoe asked Elder Marks, Vladan, and I to give a blessing to their daughter Cecilija, who is 6 months old and has a condition with her eyes that caused them to bleed at times, and have cause other complications and much heartache for them both. We testified to them that God works through faith, and felt prompted to ask them if they believed that God could heal their daughter, and if they believed that, if it was His will, if He could do it through His servants. They both, very humbly and with smiles said yes, they knew that the Lord could do anything, even heal their daughter. So we laid our hands on her head and gave her a simple blessing of healing. This last week, when we met with them, Nana told us some exciting news, that when they had been to the doctor, they had informed him that they weren't sure how, but the Cecilija was making a 100% recovery, and would be fine.

Miracles happen, as our God is an unchangeable Being and always has, and always will provide miracles. As our teachers at the MTC taught us, it ALL depends on your faith.

That was incredible to be able to be a part of and witness that miracle. We also have been blessed to do some real work. Elder Mulder and I went to the Jovanovic's again and took out the rest of that cement foundation. You'd be proud, Dad, cause we broke the sledgehammer after about 100 swings, and had to resort to a pickaxe and that small hammer in the pictures from before. But we did it, the foundation is all gone. And my back and hands are broken :) But it was so much fun! We also went to Pancovo again to work on the farm, and I still don't have pictures of that (but we'll go back and I PROMISE I'll get some) but I had a few firsts. My first ride on a train (I think) cause it is better than a bus to Pancovo, and I milked a goat!!!! That's right my friends, I milked a goat. Call me a farm boy!

We also met with Nemanja this week, and had an awesome time teaching him more about the Restoration. He is excited to learn more, and said "I don't know what it is, but I see something in you two, and it inspires me. I will read and pray to find out if this is true, and then I will join your church." Hot dang! He will be out of town for June, but we'll be having more on that in the near future! He's so sincere in his questions, and always prays sincerely at the end of lessons, praying for our families and Elder Marks and I specifically by name, and never forgets. He's so awesome.

Quickly I will wrap this up. We had a conference with Elder Kearon. Which was awesome. He's a member of the 70, and he's so awesome! He is the British one who gave the talk on that scorpion snaggin his foot (I'm pretty sure.) He and his wife are so awesome, and we just got to spend the day with him, and we learned so much from him. Incredible. and , I got to be with ELDER SHERIDAN!!!! And Sister Crump and Sister Matthews and Sister Mortensen!!!! Talk about best week of my life!!! Wow, it was so awesome. 

I found out also about another missionary here. He's acutally on a mini mission (which is pretty frequent with President Rowe), and he's a Serbian. He was in the military for a year too. He lived in Osijek in Croatia, I believe, and the sister missionaries found and taught him and he was baptized. But his parents basically disowned him and revoked his citizenship, so he has no home or country now. So Mother's Day was hard for him, but he bore his testimony in our conference that he knows, that even if nobody in the world loves him, that he knows that his Heavenly Father and His Savior love him, and that is enough for him.

I'm going to end it there. He's incredible, a mountain of strength, and I look up to him. He'll be going on a real mission in the soon to be future.

I love you all! The food and life here are great, and I am proud to be a Serbian! I hope this email finds you well and happy, and we will see each other again soon.

I love you and miss you!

Love,

Elder Hixon