Visible and Present Miracles!

Happy Week! A few weeks ago, we walked by a family who was outside their house, two older parents with a little baby girl. We decided to turn around and talk to them, to which we were greeted by a pretty nice mom and a pretty cold and mean dad (typical Chile...). We got in the door, shared the Light The World video, and before we could close with a prayer, the Dad kind of rudely kicked us out. :)

Elder Barfuss and I talked about the visit that night at the apartment (we live as 6 elders in an apartment....quite the change from the 2 of us to the house in Los Olmos...) and we both couldn`t help but agree that we needed to go back and visit that family again. In the short conversation we could make before the video, we learned that the Mom`s name is Romina, and she`s inactive as of 7 or so years. The Dad is Patricio, not a member, but his Dad is a Bishop in one of the ward`s in the El Bosque Stake, and his brother is the fiancè of the Primary President here in Los Robles (who`s name is Pamela). Patricio claims to already know everything about the Mormon´s, but sticks to his belief that God doesn`t exist. "There just isn`t proof". Well, we went back the following week, and we were rejected by Patricio at the door. Didn`t let us in. We walked away feeling pretty frustrated. A few days later, at a lunch appointment with Pamela, we asked for Patricio`s story. She told us that he`s a really good guy, but he doesn`t want anything to do with the church. She was actually really surprised he let us in the first time, she said that she doesn`t think he`s ever let Elders in the house before. She gave us one idea, saying that Patricio LOVES helping people. "If you need help," she said, "he`ll put on a bad-guy face and act irritated, but he will never go without helping you. Secretly, he likes it". 

A miracle happened the next week. The weirdest miracle ever! There we are, walking down a street called Bernardino Parada, when we run into Romina. "Còmo esta??" 

"Mal" she responded. She had gotten results from a doctor`s appointment....cancer. We talked for a few minutes, but I don`t know if there`s a lot of words that will do any good in a situation like that. We offered the little bit of comfort we could, feeling like we failed as she walked away, towards home. The next night, an appointment fell through, so we decided to buy some chocolates and treats to bring over to Romina. She came out and, with a smile, let us know that the Doctor`s had called, said that they had mistaken a mistake, and that she was actually perfectly fine. No cancer. (The Lord works in mysterious ways)

So, 2 days ago we decided to go back over, with USB cards and SD cards that have viruses on them, to see if he can fix them.  (he`s a software engineer). "Alo!" we shouted outside the door, and out walks Patricio. 

I kid you not, this guy was smiling. "Come in! It`s cold outside." He let`s us in, fixes our USB amd SD cards, and we have an hour visit with them. Night and day difference! Miracles!! We set an appointment for the next week, we`re going back (with Pamela) and have a family night planned. 

That was a visible and present miracle this week, there are many others that maybe aren`t so visible, but I feel grateful as The Lord mercifully allows us to participate and see miracles as He works to change our lives, and the lives of those around us. 

Love you,

Elder Hixon 

few p days ago, in this place near the sector, medio rich place haha

melina had a birthday in decemeber, elder jenks and I got permission to go to lunch a her house 

Quick Pre-Skype Note

Happy Birthday to Elder Hixon!!!!

Birthday cake and Christmas Dinner!

 

This week was a great week for my companion and I, we are both learning a lot as we put ourselves to work out here as well. He´s always down to work, and I love it. We are having a great time. we found 17 new investigators this week! Wowza. We´re really feeling like this ward has so much potential, I suppose the white of this field is a lot easier to see. Pretty much the same deal, all day every day. It´s like every day we retake the same test, some days we get good scores, other days not so good. But every day we want to get a perfect score....and the cool things about the mission is that we get so many tries to do it. I guess you can relate that to this life, and all life before The Savior comes again in glory. Yes, time IS limited, there isn´t time to waste, but we DO have a lot of chances on this test to retake and try again. So, that´s cool. 

I'll talk to you Sunday!

Love you,

Elder Hixon

Twenty!

Wowza! In the words of a chileno, sacamos la mubre esta semana! 

(Remember Jorge, Angelica, and Fabian? Family of Golden Investigators that Elder Jenks and I taught, they were at church when I went to visit for the baptism! So we got a picture )

It`s been a great week with Elder Barfuss, we`ve just been working, working, working, and working. Lots of work. Ahh. I feel like we had a Steve Hixon kind of work week, one where we just got dirty and worked hard, because that`s what The Lord needed us to do. Elder Barfuss is THE MAN!

It`s pretty fun being in a new area, because everybody I meet is a "new person". I don`t know these people. I feel like a missionary who just got out of the MTC and thinks every investigator is golden, every contact is going to get baptized, ah it`s been a fun weeks. And what`s even better is that my companion is pretty new in the mission, and so he`s still got that same kind of animo. (not saying that old missionaries don`t have animo, nor am I calling myself an old missionary) but there definitely is a work ethic and faith in new missionaries. At least, that`s been my experience. This guy is the man! A couple Elder Barfuss shoutouts for this week: 

We had a wild day where the clouds rolled over and it rained the whole day. Which is weird, considering that we`re in the middle of Summer and it`s hottttttt out here. It was a nice change in the weather, but kind of made it a tough day for us. The typical response of a Chileno in a door contact on a rainy day is something like this: Boys! Can`t you see it`s raining? We can`t listen right now. But don`t get too wet, go home so you don`t get sick. God bless you! *door shut* 

*facepalm*

It`s like, if you don`t want us gettin wet...then let us in :) but it`s all good! We were having one of those days, and Elder Barfuss stopped me and said "Elder. I feel like we haven`t taught anybody today. We`ve been out here contacting and nobody is listening. We could keep doing this, but I don`t think it`s going to result. Let`s pray and ask The Lord to guide us so that we can find the house that He wants us to find". So, in the middle of the street, "in the pouring rain" like the Taylor Swift song says, we prayed to The Lord to help us find someone to teach. 

We stopped, trying to listen to where The Lord was communicating, and then starting contact on a different street. 

Nada. 

But since that day, we`ve had days FULL of finding new people and teaching. 2 days ago we saw this old lady with one leg in a wheelchair, and so we ran over and offered to push her around for a bit. We pushed her to a friend`s house, where we were able to sit down with her and her other senior friend and talk about Faith and Repentance. That may seem like a small thing, but the next day we went back, finding our 2 friends there again, but this time with her 42 year old son named Roberto as well. Yesterday we taught these 2 ladies, Roberto, and 1 year and 3 month year-old Gustavo the message of The Restoration. Last night we also found ourselves walking to another appointment, but we walked past a family outside their house, just talking. A husband, wife, and little girl. Vera has become the key to contacting anybody with a baby, and so we contacted them, talking about Vera, the niece I still don`t know. We were able to go into their house, and came to find out that this girl is a less active, and this guy`s dad is the bishop in a ward in El Bosque, his brother in a returned missionary, who is dating the primary president in our ward. 

Whatttt. We shared the "Ilumina El Mundo" with them and talked about Christ and the opportunity He gives all of us to change, every day, in every moment. The Spirit was present and we were all edified in the little lesson we had with this little family, and we are excited to see what`s in store!

Just a few of the miracles we have seen these week in the work, I am grateful for A Savior who created for us A Plan of Happiness. When we do our part, or at least try to do so, we really are happy! The formula to happiness, then, is a pretty simple one: Try my best to follow the Savior, by doing what He did (which is done in keeping the commandments), and then help others to do the same. 

Pretty simple! Anybody can do it. 

Feliz Navidad! I`m turning 20 this week!

Love,

Elder Hixon

Diego that we taught in Los Olmos with Huaquiñir....he moved to Necedal and recently got baptized! Like two weeks ago, my last week in Los Olmos, he got baptized in Nocedal

Los Robles

Awesome how the Light The World thing is going well. I`ve been trying as well out here, I`ve got a calendar up on my wall, but some things are pretty hard. Feeding the hungry today? I could pull the "yeah, we spiritually feed the hungry all day every day" but I`ve been trying to find things "outside the normal routine" to really try and participate. So, maybe I`ll buy some homeless guy a completo later in the night or something. Today we went to this SWEET place to player soccer and frisbee, then had a little barbecue with the Zone. Pretty excited about my new area, ready to work hard and find people to teach. 

Changes! I`m now in the ward Los Robles, in the zone Las Araucarias. (just gettin more ghetto as I go). It`s a little bit bigger than Los Olmos, my companion is named Elder Barfuss from Logan, Utah! He got here with Elder Hair, so he just left his training. This guy is a pretty awesome Elder, works hard, and is super down to be obedient and work. Day 2 and we`re having a great time. Ending in Los Olmos was pretty sad, hardest goodbye was probably Jorge, our Venezuelan Amigo who lived in the same house as us. Among maybe a few other things, I think the Lord sent me there to get to know and learn from him. 

Well, all things are going well! I was able to run into Elder Kelsch and Elder Fowles at the Change Meeting. Elder Fowles is with Elder Anderson (the one from my CCM group) and Elder Kelsch is with Elder Jimenez, the other elder who was trained by Elder Thomas. 

All good things! Ready to work in a new area, pretty animated to go find some new people here in Los Robles. Last night we had a meeting with our Bishop, in which he shared a spiritual thought that I`ve been thinking about since. He read in 3 Nefi 20, when Christ leaves  (I can`t remember the verses). He says that He will return the next morning...so all the men work all through the night, doing hard work, not sleeping, so that they would be prepared to only focus on what The Lord had to say when He returned. 

Pretty interesting. Some might say that sleep would be the best thing to do, so that they would be awake during the sermon, but they thought it would be better to forego sleep and get all the work done so that there was nothing more to do than listen to the Savior. 

Fun Fact: I`ve only given Priesthood Blessings in Spanish! I`ve had quite a few opportunities to give blessings on my mission, but it`s pretty wild that I`ve never done one in English. 

That's all

Elder Hixon