Happy!

Hello! 

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!! I hope you have the greatest day in the world. I am especially grateful for my sister Hannah. Wish her a happy birthday!

I got to play soccer on a turf field today and man! The smell of turf brought so many memories of the summer mornings paying football...man I was so happy! I love football. I`ve realized here on the mission how much I loved playing, 

Was it Easter on Sunday? Sad to say, but it`s pretty hard to remember holiday`s over here. I can`t remember how our Easter was, just another work day. Christmas Eve was a big day, and the only other two holidays that we as missionaries recognize over here are the Days of Protest, there`s 2 every year. September 18th and March 29th, and on those days we aren`t allowed to leave our apartment because it is too dangerous to go ouside. So this Easter Sunday was the same as other Sundays, but I don`t think that`s a bad thing. I think it is just a compliment to every other day we have. They are all (ideally) focused on The Savior and Walking In His Footsteps. It`s just a pretty concentrated (and consecrated) 2 years so really I didn`t really realize it was Easter Sunday.

But I did recognize the season, because we shared a lot about the Resurrection and had a lot of lessons using that video that the Church came out with (church videos are so flingin flangin awesome). I think of the scripture in Alma where it says all things testify of Christ...I know that to be true. Recognizing this makes it easier to teach by the Spirit, because whatever the investigator says we can always relate it to Christ, which makes it easier to put faith in creating and asking and trusting inspired questions, because the answers always lean to and testify of Christ.  

My new comp. Let`s just say this kid is so awesome! His name is Elder Huaiquiñir, from Santiago Chile. He has his mission call to Phoenix Arizona, he`s just waiting on his Visa! He`s from the North of Santiago, and his Grandma lives about 3 blocks away from us. His training was pretty rough and so he also is really for this change. We, like the fisherman before they were apostles, are throwing our nets to the right of the boat this change. I am really, really excited.  This is probably his last change here in Chile, then you guys can go find him in AZ! But I am so happy that I get at least another transfer in Los Olmos, which is awesome. I love this area and ward. 

We are excited to watch conference. We get to watch it live here. So the sessions are at 1, 5, and 9 I think? It`s going to be a late night, and I think they are all in Spanish for us whoopeeeee!!!!

 Pumped for this week! Love you!

-Elder Hixon

Happy Easter!

The Food, The House, The Good Ol Boring Details

 

Work as usual this week, the next week I`ll have a new companion and possibly be in a new sector! I hope I stay a lot longer in this ward though, although I`ve contacted every door in the sector and a lot of them twice, and know a good chunk of these people by name, I still feel like there`s a lot more I can do in this ward. This week, we had a special musical number in ward conference! I`m pretty sure this is the first special musical number done by the youth in the history of our stake, El Bosque, haha and I`ll tell you what: we nailed it. A couple weeks ago the mutual theme song "Come Unto Christ" got stuck in my head, and I couldn`t get it out. I thought about Dakota`s Farewell, we sang that song in Sacrament meeting, and the spirit that I felt during the number. I remembered the same feeling when we did the song in a seminary conference my senior year. So I set aside some time to go over to the church and try to make a Spanish version. Once I got a rough draft of lyrics, Hermana Fanny and Claudia (the two most incredible women, other than my mom, that I have ever met) fixed some grammar issues and we came up with a Spanish version of the song. We`ve been working on it at mutual for the past couple weeks, and on Sunday we performed it, and it was sweet. Super super powerful. I was grateful for that moment! I`ll send a video of a practice home this week.

My mom asked for a letter with details on what we eat, how we eat, and details on our living conditions, so I thought I could share a little bit of that here. In Chile, there`s really just 1 and a half meals recognized in one day. Lunch (huge, ridiculously big, kids come home in the middle of the day to eat lunch, then go back after), and Once. Like the number 11 in Spanish. It`s like the equivalent of a night time Brunch. Normally they drink tea, coffee, juice, or soda, and have bread and some kind of delicious jam and ham. If the family is wealthy, maybe they have completos (Chilean, tastier version over the American Hot dog, with diced tomatoes, avocado (not guac), and mayo. maybe some Aji). It`s pretty good, but we don`t get a break as missionaries to take Once, so we`re pretty grateful if the people we are teaching that night give us Once. If not, you kind of live off the big lunch. I have a bowl of Oatmeal and some Mate in the mornings (Mate I think is originally from Argentina, Chileans are unoriginal in almost everything. The only completely unique thing in Chile is the language...I`d say 30% of the vocabulary is made up Chilean words and sayings, which are all really funny and fun to use). Just about everyday, a family in the ward provides us lunch. The idea for the missionaries is that they can eat lunch in the members' houses, and get references at lunch appointments to pass by during the day. But a majority of the time we have to pick up lunch from the members and eat in our house, because we can`t go into homes if a man with more than 18 years old isn`t there...and that`s the case for most Chilean homes at 1:30 in the afternoon.  Some wards never really give the missionaries lunch, which means the missionaries have to buy or make lunch every day. But I am convinced that I am serving in the best ward in this mission, and we receive lunch almost every day.

Yes, we do live in a house. I live with 3 other Elders. We are the Elders of our ward, and our sector is split into two halves. The house is a 2 room little place with a bathroom and a kitchen, two little couches and one couch a little bit bigger. We have a washer and a dryer, a shower, hot water, and a couple weeks ago we got some SWEET medicine cabinet in the bathroom and a pantry thing in the kitchen. They also added a fan in the bathroom that turns on with the light, which is super cool :) It`s really convenient, has everything we need, but the hot water almost always runs out before the end of the month, and it is expensive to buy another gas tank for the house.

We used to have a dog named Almendra living with us, on our patio, but when our dueña died, her daughter and son-in-law took Almendra to their house, so we`re a pretty lonesome 4 Elders now. 

Our schedule is as follows:

7:30 wake up, exercise, shower

9:00 personal study

10:00 comp study

11:00 HIT THE STREETS BABY

1:30 Lunch

3 STREETS

10:30 In the house, off the streets, journal

11:30 Bed Time :)

Yep, we do everything one hour later than the majority of the missions in the world. Chile is weird, everything starts and ends way later. For example, Mutual starts at 8:30 in the night and ends at 10:30! Whackooo.

To close this uneventful letter, I'm happy to say that I've seen small miracles this week with my companion. That makes me happy. I feel like I am behind on my mission. I don't feel like I am 25% done. Really. I need to catch up or something, I feel like I have so much more work to do and things to learn. I love this gospel and I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. Happy Easter to you all!

Smmmmmoooooooch!

-Elder Hixon

On Prayer and Faith

Woo!

Another week in Los Olmos, another week in Chile, another semana in español, what more could I ask for? I think Joseph B Wirthland's "Come What May and Love It" talk is applicable this change, it`s been pretty wild. We had a training meeting yesterday and when President saw me he just gave me a big hug and told me that he was proud of me and grateful for what I was doing. It felt good to hear that, knowing that someone else understands the situation. In the weirdest way, I might miss this transfer. I don't want any more time, but I'll miss this somehow. 

Been thinking a lot about Faith this week, what it is and how we can manifest our Faith to our Heavenly Father. We had a training from Elder Bednar 2 weeks ago (I think? maybe last week, who knows), and he talked a lot about Faith. He explained that in the prayer Joseph Smith offered in that Sacred Spring in the Sacred Grove of 1820, Joseph did not only ask which church was true, but in which church he should join. He asked with a desire and intention to act. And by this type of Faith, he received light (understatement). Elder Bednar then gave an example of a common prayer heard in the Church many times, one that we all offer. One like this: 

Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this Sabbath Day... We`re thankful for the Sacrament Meeting we have had, and all the blessings we have received.... We ask that Thou wouldst bless all those who aren`t here that they can come next week.....In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

He kind of made a joke and explained how this would be an example of a faithless prayer. To ask God to magically make it possible for people to make it to Church the next week, acknowledge that God can do it and then expect Him to then do it for us. He then gave an example of perhaps a more faith-filled prayer, which has changed my prayers in the past 2 weeks. He said:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this Sabbath Day...We are grateful for this Sacrament Meeting that we have had, and for all the blessings that we have received....Heavenly Father, we recognize that many of our brothers and sisters were unable to attend today, and for this we are worried. But Heavenly Father, we aren`t going to ask you to make it possible that they come, instead, we are going to all go visit one person that wasn`t here today after this prayer. I recognize that I don`t have the keys to give this assignment, that the Bishop has those keys, and so if he stops me right now then I take back this commitment. ·pause· Yep, the Bishop didn`t stop me, so we`re all gonna do it. We will visit, find out what we can do to help bring them to church next week, and the only thing we ask is that you make sure that we don`t all go to the same house. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Okay I'm outta time, but that`s the idea, I have noticed a difference in the way I act and try to manifest my Faith, and I have seen miracles these past couple days as a result. I am grateful for any prayers of faith that have been sent my way, and hope that all goes well in your week this week!

Okay bye! Love you!

-Elder Hixon

Rules Schmules

(Elder Hixon and Antonella)

Hey another week!!

Had some pretty neat experiences this week, all relating more to my companion. The work is moving on, but I feel like this change, my companion maybe is my number 1 "investigator" you could say. And we definitely made some progress!

Okay, that sounded prideful and ridiculous. Little background and then I´ll explain :)

This transfer....has been pretty tough. Not a lot of work, summer time (so nobody is in town), I´m without my trainer and leading the sector, which makes me feel responsible for any lack of success we´ve had.

And my comp is a punk. He´s pretty rude to everyone, fights with people during door contacts and tells them they are wrong and "in the last day will realize it". Some missionaries may struggle to find the faith to drop an investigator, I think I´m struggling to have the faith to accept that we have had investigators drop us (and I will be short-sighted enough to be tempted to blame my companion). Literally, this guy does not want to be here, does not want to ever come back to Chile, and does not want to remember these last 2 years ever. And has the mouth of an Argentine Sailor!

So things have been pretty wild :)

This Friday, we were reading the Manual Misional, and he started to scoff at one of the rules and said something to the effect of "these rules are ridiculous. Nobody trusts us. I detest rules". Not being the first time he´s said something like that, I got kind of ticked. I was sick of this kid hating everything! I closed my book, told him we were going to read some scriptures, and began searching for Alma´s words on the reasons we have laws. (blessing of paying attention in Seminary, I remembered a corny video we watched about this and it helped me find the chapter). We read Alma 40, and I started giving him some palo, telling him that if he didn´t want a Savior then he didn´t need to want rules, but if he had the ganas to testify to people that we have a Savior, then he better have the ganas to follow the rules and laws set by That Savior.

I was ticked. 

He got quiet, and then responded quietly. "I don´t care about rules. I never have, and I never will. I don´t care if I´m condemned in the next life, I don´t care about anything. I don´t. I just want to leave from this stupid country and do what I want."

I don´t know if it was the way he said it, or the fact that he said that, but I realized in that moment how wrong I was handling the situation. This guy was lacking something huge if that´s the way he felt, and I felt pretty sad when he said what he did. I was then the quiet one. I thought and thought and thought, said a silent prayer, hoping to know what to do. Attempting to go out in the streets that day had long since lost any purpose. We would not accomplish ANYTHING if we tried to work as representatives of The Lord that day, there was something else that needed to be done. I remembered that the week before, he had told me that he loved American Football, and we made plans to play it sometime on a P Day. 

Football!

"Okay dude. Listen. I´m sorry about what I said. I didn´t know that´s how you felt, and I´m sorry that that is how you feel. These are the last 3 weeks of your mission, and these should be good weeks that you always remember. And they´re going to be terrible if you feel like that. You´ve worked hard for the past 2 years, and you deserve to feel good about what you´ve done. So maybe today we can try something different. Let´s throw on some street clothes, go over to Mal Plaza Sur, and I´m buying you lunch. After that we´re searching the city to find an American Football, and then I´m gonna teach you to how to throw and catch a football. Te parece?"

I threw him some of my basketball shorts, my converse, my football shorts, sprayed him with my cologne, and told him we were gonna be the best looking Gringo Football Players in Chile. And so we left, and had the best day I´ve had this whole exchange. 

I called President that night to tell him about what we did, and while he said that I can´t ever do that again, he thanked me for what we did that day and thanked me for following The Spirit. It was a great day.

And there´s been tiny miracles throughout this week that I have been very grateful to see. We throw the football in the mornings (sly way to get him to wake up, wooo!), and there has definitely been a change in our companionship since. Today he bought me pizza and a couple little things from Santa Lucia, and gave me this giant jar of change he has been saving since the beginning from his mission. Which is a huge blessing because I´m broke from the Mal Plaza Sur Trip. Hahaa.

That´s it! Great week. Grateful for this Gospel, and the chance we all have to help in the work of The Lord. I don´t think there is any greater happiness that how I felt seeing something small that I did help move The Lord´s work a little bit farther a long. And I know we all have opportunities to experience that happiness every week.

Love you all! I have a testimony of this Gospel. 

-Elder Hixon

Bowling on Pday

Elder Albarracin in my shoes (not his comp)

Contacting

Build Where You Stand

Well, in terms of progressing investigators, not a lot to report this week. Another good, slow, long, hot, week in the life! Haha. So I`m gonna share something that a member shared with me this week. 2 quick stories about la familia Moya that I really enjoyed.

Hermano Moya and his family are, well, the coolest family I know in Chile. And that actually does mean something, because I have gotten to know a lot of families here. The meal of the day in South America is lunch, and so the members take turns feeding us lunches as opposed to dinners. Dinner doesn`t exist here... :( whenever we have lunch with the familia Moya, we don`t eat anything in the morning because they have a goal every time to feed us more than we can eat. If we finish our plate, they refill it until we give in and say we can`t eat anymore. Thank goodness that they are good at cooking hahaha. There is a cool backstory as to why they feed the missionaries so much food, but I`ll save that for the next ridiculously slow week we have. :-)

Hermano Moya speaks pretty decent English, is a DIE HARD Star Wars fan (his daughter is dressing up like Princess Leia for her baptism on March 20th), has a Husky named Hagred, and has an awesome testimony with awesome experiences from his life and his mission. For a while he wanted to take his family and move to the United States. He had an opportunity to work full time up there, with good pay, he could live in an area and a ward where he wasn`t the only member who magnified a calling, and all could be perfect. Not to mention that he loves Dr Pepper, which is almost impossible to find in our mission. I asked him what happened, what stopped him from moving, and he said that we have received counsel to "build Zion where we stand". He has been called to stand here in Santiago Sur, and so here is where he is going to build. Even if at times he can feel pretty alone in being a builder here, it`s what he`s been called to do so it`s what he does. Pretty cool.

Second experience is about Hermano Moya`s 3 year old son named Juan Mi. Juan Mi is awesome. Juan Mi was born when he had 5 months in the womb. 4 months early, without the majority of the vital functions his body needed, including 2 functioning lungs, he was supposed to die within a day of his birth. After he lived for a week, the doctors said he would go blind, never be able to walk or speak, and wouldn`t have very much to live for. Hermano Moya said "He literally had nothing. Not even a complete body. He just had the will to fight, the will to live, and that`s what pulled him through." Juan Mi was dancing around the kitchen singing Justin Beiber's new song "Sorry" last night. Cutest kid, and perfectly functioning. 

Lessons in both stories are self explanatory, and they helped me desire to work harder this week and build wherever it is I have been called to stand.

Love you all!

-Elder Hixon