Grateful

Got my first kiss in Chile this week!!!!!

And it was from a dude! :-)

Haha. That pretty much sums up my week, honestly. This place, this mission, this work, everything is so different than I expected. I think I always imagined missionaries wearing capes, combating the forces of evil, unable to be tempted by the devil or things like that. You know, kind of like the Crimson Chin. I`m learning in my first week here that, as a missionary, I do not wear a cape. I`m just an 18 year old kid who doesn`t speak Spanish. (Ïn my defense, these people don`t speak Spanish. Chileno is by no means Spanish. They have a dictionary of words that aren`t real, I swear.)

This week I had the opportunity to play the guitar! It was SWEET. My companion, who still is the coolest guy ever, and I were walking and doing some contacts, when we walked past a house from which some gnarly electric guitar noises were being made. Not my style at all, but I crave the guitar out here, so we went up to the door and shouted "ALO!" (chilean style of knocking doors) and this 18 year old kid answered the door. We introduced ourselves, and commented that we could hear the guitar playing and it sounded sweet. I told him that I played guitar, and then he invited me in to play his acoustic! As a missionary, set apart to preach the Gospel to a land far away from my own, representing the Savior and my Family, it was all too easy to pick the song.

So I, try to understand

What I can`t hold, in my hands

And whatever I find, I`ll find my way back to you

And if you, could try, to find it too

Cause this place is overgrown,

Needs some whacks and a mow

Home is wherever we are if there`s love here too

Yup. Jack Johson. Can`t ever go wrong with singing Jack Johnson, (English, not hymn) to a Chileno is isn`t familiar with either. His dad kicked us out shortly after. But playing was pretty fun. 

I also got to play the piano in church, which was a blessing. I really do love music. I may not speak Spanish, but if there`s a language the both the Chilenos and I know, it`s music. Minus Jack Johnson. So, I appreciate the break I received and ability to just communicate through the piano for s short bit. After the meeting a few people came up and asked if I could give lessons, so maybe that`ll be a new way to contact! Who knows.

Thanksgiving isn`t a thing here in South America, so this is pretty much my chance to have a Thanksgiving moment via email. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to preach the Gospel, to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and try my best to do what He would have me do. I am thankful for my trainer, Elder Thomas, and his gift of being able to teach my the things I need to know as a missionary. I am thankful for my family, and for all the things they do for me. I am thankful, above all, for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His infinite love for me.That`s another thing I am learning. All my life I have known that Christ knows us all personally, but I am learning that to love somebody is more than to just know them. And Christ loves me.

I may not wear a cape, and I sure don`t speak spanish. I`m really just an 18 year old kid who is kind of an outsider here in Chile. But I know that my Savior loves me, and that Love supports and sustains my efforts and sacrifices, and endows me with more power than any title or cape that I was expecting. I am so grateful for the chance I have every morning and night to set aside time and pray to my Heavenly Father, and feel that love that is waiting for me. My favorite part of the day here is when I get to be on my knees and pray. I am thankful for prayer.

I am thankful for you all! Reflect on those you are thankful for this week, and let them know you are thankful. 

Chao!

-Elder Hixon

Some kind of Peppers!

Christmas Eve

Dogs. Grafitti. Cats. People.

Santiago South is pretty dang sweet :)

Out of the CCM! My trainer´s name is Elder Thomas, and he is the MAN. Straight capo. He´s from Scottsdale, and has been serving for about 18 months. It´s only been 2 days and I am extremely grateful to be with him, he has a love for this work and for the Gospel. Couldn´t have possibly picked anyone I´d rather be trained by. My house is wayyyy ghetto, or flaite is what everyone calls it here. Well, everyone calls our mission "flaite" and then they proceed to make guns out or their hands and making shooting noises, pointing their gun-hands in the air. I feel like Buddy the Elf in my shower (well I guess I feel like Buddy everywhere, people here are so short), but especially in the shower. My head hits the roof! Haha. Makes for a pretty funny shower though. 

President Cook, Hermana Cook, ahhh. Incredible. I arranged a number with all the missionaries from the CCM who were going to Santiago, and we played it for President Cook when he came to the CCM, he liked it so much that we played it again at the transfer meeting. It was pretty cool. It was a mix of Families Can Be Together Forever, Called to Serve, and Army of Helaman! English and Spanish mixed, turned out really well! I could write a novel on the things I learned from a devotional he gave us at the CCM on Sunday, but time (as always) is pretty limited so I can´t. Adding that to my post-mission to-do list (hyphenated modifiers, not my thing not my thing). But something he said stuck out to me, that I hope to remember throughout my mission and for the rest of my life. His words were: "Too often we get so busy counting God´s sheep, that we forget to feed them." While all of His children are numbered as well as named, I imagine that we were named first. Numbers are important, it´s not like they don´t matter, but names just matter more.

Last night we had the chance to visit some recent converts, less actives, and investigators. One of the recent converts name is Marcia. She was baptized a little over a year, and yeah, I know, that´s not recent. Not even by missionary rules. But here´s the thing, Marcia is blind! We go over to her house twice a week (I think?) and read the Book of Mormon with her. Super cool, but it gets cooler. SHE HAS A BRAILLE BOOK OF MORMON. It´s this HUGE binder with tons and tons of pages of braille, and the binder I saw only had 1 and 2 Nephi in it! So crazy. So, we visit her, and then she reads a chapter the Book of Mormon to us.

But wait, it gets cooler :)

After the chapter, we talk about all the things we can learn and how we can apply it to our lives, and once we feel like we´ve got a good principle, she writes in Braille that principle on another piece of paper. For example: 

"Mosiah 18: When we bear one another´s burdens, mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort, we prepare ourselves to make, or renew, the covenants of Baptism, and receive the Spirit in our lives."

When you write in braille, you write from the right to left, because you´re punching little dents into this thick paper. So when you flip it over, you can read the bumps from left to right! So stinkin cool.

We continued our night by visiting other families, and we had a powerful lesson with a less active and her inactive family about the power of prayer. Ah I love my companion. I also got fed A TON last night, Chilenos are pretty darn hospitable. After our lesson with the inactive woman, who´s name is Paula, her husband sent his daughter to go buy Coke and Cookies for us. After that, we went to another home, where they just kept bringing food and pastries, they even made french fries! And they gave us chocolate milk, and then Pepsi. 

It´s just like Serbia over here! :-)

Haha. But really, what a blessing it is to serve these people. I was told last night by one of the families we were visiting with, "We show our love by giving you food". I definitely felt like a pampered misisonary last night. I am blessed to be here.

I had some sweet pictures of Santiago, but I tried to put my SD card in the monitor thing and I put it in the wrong slot....so now my SD card is at the bottom on the inside of this monitor. Woo :) a technician is going to come tomorrow and grab it so no worries. Just no pictures this week. Oooh and I learned how to send videos, so things are gonna start getting SWEEEEET.

I love being here. Today feels like Christmas Eve, with tomorrow being my first full day on the streets! And so the work moves forward. Another week in the life!

Chao! Les amo!

-Elder Hixon

WOO!

LAST WEEK IN THE CCM CAN I GET AN AMEN!

Yep, the time has come. 6 days mas, entonces, voy a salir para el campo! Woo! This week has been the best yet.  It was super awesome. While this has been a long (and weirdly short, time in the mission is so whack) 6 weeks, it´s awesome to see how much better our lessons go now as opposed to week 2. 2 weeks in the CCM would not have been enough for me, I have learned so so so much about teaching, and learned so many different perspectives on how to locate people´s needs. It´s awesome. I am grateful that I have been here for so long. Lessons with Elder Gehring are really getting smoother, we´re able to bounce back and forth a lot better and are really learning how to use each other´s strengths to help the investigator. I attest all the improvements we are having as a compnaionship to the fact that we have been reading El Libro De Mormon together every day, out loud, during every break. It helps our comprehension, pronunciation, and most importantly, it helps us grow in admiration for one another. We´re not perfect, we definitely get frustrated with each other at times, but there has been a night and day difference in our companionship this week. Teaching, planning, focusing, everything is improving. I have a testimony that The Book of Mormon is the Word of God! Only His Word could bring about these miracles. And all we gotta do is read :) 

This Sunday was one hundred percent Spanish, devotionals and all, and it was pretty interesting to see the different things you learn when you listen in a different way. While Jeffery R Holland isn´t as epic via Spanish Translator, the Spirit makes up the difference so it´s all good. Haha. In Santiago, every Sunday morning from like 10-3 they shut down an entire road for anyone who wants to ride their bike in the street. Families just bike down the road instead of cars. They still have to stop at stoplights and wait for the traffic going in the perpendicular direction, but it´s still pretty sweet. Let´s get that going in Gilbert!

Earthquake in Gilbert?! HEY WE HAD ONE HERE IN CHILE TOO! WOO! Middle of the night, all the beds were shaking and everybody flipped out. Haha...except for me. I slept like a baby with my 2 blankets during the whole thing (thanks Mum, literally the greatest thing I brought with me). So lame. I don´t know what one feels like. But everyone else does so, woo. :) (Did I mention that I left my sweet slippers on the plane ride over? double lame)

WOO. That word is growing on me.

This week I´ve been especially grateful for everything my parents have taught me and how they have raised me. I´ve kind of felt like Nephi in regards to my parents, I really have been born of goodly parents. The best. This week my District put together another musical number for Sunday, and the Spirit was felt so strongly in the meeting. I was grateful in that moment for my mom who would stay up with me late at night and help me learn to play piano, and help me develop things that only a mother would know her child could develop. Every day I am grateful for my Dad who´s taught me hard work, despite what anybody else might be doing, and especially the respect he´s helped me develop for women. My parents are the golden example of parents. Appreciate your parents, you really do realize how great they are when you´re gone! (I mean, I´m going back in 2 years, so I´m not gone, but the point is the same)

Saw a ginger chilena this week! WHACK. Also ran into Scott Bennion at the temple, anyone remember him? He´s in our stake, serving in Santiago South, wouldn´t it be crazy if he was my trainer! 

And so it is, the work moves forward!

Les amo!

-Elder Hixon

Elder Gehring, Me, Elder Lassig (been a member for 18 months!)

The place where we get our haircuts in the mall, hahaha represent Elders!!

 Popeyes. Wow. Whatta find. Grateful for Popeyes. Wow wow wow wow

Hixon Squad team shirts? Thoughts?

The Same but Different

Otro semana en la vida!

I love this work. Oh man. This week has been a success.

The CCM is...well, it´s the same :) Same food, same classrooms, same Spanish, same District, everything is the same. It´s SWEET. Ha. But something that I´m growing to appreciate is that because everything around me is the same, I am more prone to notice how I am changing, and how I am becoming different. It´s almost as if the same, sometimes mundane, schedule was inspired or something. Who woulda thunk. 

Elder Gehring and I, we are both growing a lot. I´m learning that, as always, we work best together when we love others and each other like Christ loves. When those we are with feel the love of Christ, His love changes them. We don´t have to do the changing, any bold showdowns, because that will never work. Christ´s love changes others, we just have to be the conduits of His love. Now, I know that His love has different faces, and I need to develop other faces of that love, but everything we do DOES need to be a face of that love. So that´s what I´m learning, and trying. This has been so helpful for me to learn this week. It´s great.

My District has had the opportunity to perform some musical number for various meetings, and it has strengthened my testimony of the eternal nature and power of music.

(His CCM President sent us this little snippet and expressed his love for Elder Hixon)

We all don´t speak the same language, about one-third of the people here are from different countries in South America, but despite whatever language we sing in, EVERYONE feels the Spirit abundantly. In the numbers we´ve shared, we´ve gone back and forth in singing Spanish and English, and I believe that when we listen to the "other tongue" we have felt the Spirit the strongest. The Latinos always start to cry when we switch over and sing a verse in English. I fight tears when we sing praises in Spanish. It´s interesting.

The Santiago CCM is different in a lot of ways. On our P Days, we get to go out into the city and do whatever the heck we want for 2 hours, which has been a ton of fun. Santiago is SO FLINGIN FLANGIN COOL. 

(Cumpletos are overrated but Kem is the best. Thanks Ben for telling me about it!)

Because the most people in the CCM at once is normally around 50 people, we grow very close with each other. Every Monday night we say goodbye to a group that is leaving, and every Wednesday a new group comes in. The Latinos are in a 2 week program, where they learn the principles of The Gospel, and us gringos learn both Gospel Principles and how to teach those principles in Spanish. 

Last night was the first time in the CCM that I had to do everything I could to not cry. Every 2 weeks another group leaves, and it´s always hard to say goodbye. Especially to the Latinos. A lot of the Latinos come on the mission with a pair of shoes, couple pairs of socks, maybe 2 white shirts, scriptures, and the rest is given to them. In every hymn they sing with the most fervor and strength that I´ve ever heard, even though they´re all tone deaf, it´s powerful. As we say goodbye to them and they´re all crying, some because this is one of the few times that they really feel the love of Christ so abundantly in their lives, and after 2 weeks they have to leave it behind. I suppose there are North Americans who come and are the same way. But it's truly humbling to see all of us, who are all very very very different, be unified through the love of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, His Gospel, and our desire to share it with others. 

Ah. I sure love these crazy 4 foot tall Latinos. I love The Gospel, I love the people I get to serve. 

(we convinced this guy that North American's eat the tails of monkeys)

Time to go find more people to serve!

(speaking of serving, this is Hermana Blanca, our dear and beloved laundry lady)

Les amo!

-Elder Hixon

P.S.

This is a picture of Christ that Elder Rodriguez drew for me this week.

This is Lando Commando! Love this guy! Reminds me of Gideon. This guy brought us to the semis in the CCM tourney, tough loss. Really wanna serve with him in Sur.