Babysitting Boegrad

Well hello world! 

This week was nuts. Not a lot to report though...just the stress of missionary work is so real. I tell Elder Wade all the time "my soul is racked with eternal torment" when things start going to parts. I swear, it feels like we're trying to babysit Beograd. It's so much work and man, it's rough. We did a lot of inviting to try and meet our goal of 10,000 invites to church this week, and so on Saturday, we went to town and got 400. Can't say we've seen the fruits of those labors yet...but no worries.

But, not to say missionary work isn't the same a lot....but sometimes it is.....I mean, to me every day is different, but it probably won't sound a ton different to anybody else. So, sorry if this email lacks a ton of substance.

A few quick stories. We watched that missionary members broadcast in District meeting, and wow....that was like General Conference on crack, cause it was all about missionary work! It was soul stirring and it tugged at the ol' heartstrings. I loved it.  I learned a ton, and though I was at times jealous of the missions who are directly affected by this conference (i.e. not here...), I still took a ton away from it, and we are going to employ it as much as we can here. We still go tracting most every night, and we contact every day, nearly wherever we go.  Member referrals....don't usually happen, and anything we accomplish is a miracle. Because our efforts alone aren't good enough and I doubt they ever will be. But seeing the wards' abilities to work together brought a glimpse of what these branches can one day have, and even that they can partake of it now. So, we're getting right on that.

Nana and Zoe are going to be (it's official now) baptized in a week from Saturday!!! They have been having a lot of struggles, and indirectly us too, but they are pulling through by faith! We taught them the Word of Wisdom this last week, asking them why we receive commandments and why we should follow them, and their answers were simple and profound. Zoe, at the end of the lesson, went unprompted by us, and threw out all their coffee, and they both agreed that if it is from the Lord, it is for them, regardless of them maybe not knowing why. They have expressed their desire to raise their kids right, and not having the best examples to do so, and they feel peace and closer as a family when at church or meeting with us, and we've promised them that continued feeling once they've received the Gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism. It's been a miracle in the works, but the visa stuff is basically worked out. How about that!!! 

Other than that....it's been stormy all week! Which has been way nice. Nemanja should be back in town today...so we'll hopefully begin teaching him again.

That's all I have for this week. Thank you all for your support and prayers, they are felt here and I can't express my gratitude.

I love and miss you

Elder Hixon