Keep Rowing

There's a good scripture, a great story, and a great way to describe an awesome experience we had this week. President Gwilliam taught us a little about a story that is found in Matthew 14. He explained to us that in the days of The Savior, the Hebrew form of telling time was to divide the day into two 12 hour blocks of time.  The block of night time was divided into 4 periods called “watches”.  President wrote us this: 

When the Savior had fed the multitudes, Matthew records that he sent the disciples to row to the other side of the Sea. They set out into a fierce storm and rowed for quite a distance (about 40 football fields) and after hours of struggle and in their time of desperation, Jesus came to them “in the fourth watch”, walking on the water.  He calmed the seas and his disciples’ hearts.

Here is our "fourth watch" experience this week:

So, our week was moving pretty slow. The winter season provides different opportunities and different trials for the missionaries in our mission. It´s colder, it rains pretty often (and in here in the soth of Santiago, when it rains, the streets are transformed into rivers....crossing them becomes quite the obstacle haha), it gets really dark at about 7 o clock (with 3 more hours to teach and find), people seem to be more sick (including missionaries)...things are just different haha. They actually change the block schedule of church, making The Sacarament Meeting the last hour of the block as opposed to the first. At 10 o clock on Sunday morning (the first hour of church), there are normally about 5 people at church...and 4 of them are usually missionaries haha. The 5th is normally an investigator. "The Bishop and ward members will get here soon enough, don´t worry!" are our hopeful words every week to our poor, confused investigator (singular noun) hahaha. 

Please don´t think I´m complaining :) just explaining so that the miracle we experienced is more fully understood! 

On Thursday, I woke up feeling pretty sick. We went through the day, contacted for some long hours, and then finished the day and came back home. On Friday, I was starting to lose my voice and feeling worse. Saturday, when my comp saw me laying down on the couch in the morning, brought me blankets and a pillow and told me I should sleep. I was out cold from 10-5. When I woke up, some hot soup was waiting for me #BestCompanion

Sunday, I have ZERO voice and really don´t feel much better. Our dats (and really, our work) of the week was pretty depressing. Lots of 0´s. After church, I felt tempted to claim sick and just stay home for the day. I literally had zero voice, and Spanish is a real struggle for my companion. If you put 2 of us at a Chileno´s doorstep, it would be pretty funny to try and see how we would try to communicate. 

But, we went out. We both decided to keep rowing the spiritual boat and trust that The Lord would be pleased with our efforts and bless us in some way. 

From 6-9....rejection :)

9:15, we knock on a door. This girl comes out in the dark night and listens to us, and actually says yes when we ask to come in! She calls her husband and he runs home from a friend´s house to accompany us in the lesson. As we teach, this girl, named Andrea, started crying and had to leave the room. After a great lesson, we set up another appointment for Monday night. 

Monday night, the family was there again, ready and waiting to hear more of our message. They are now investigators, we have another appointment on Friday! THEY ARE GOLDEN! 

Andrea (wife), Alex (husband), and Samuel (2 year old son) are from Colombia, they have lived here in Chile for 3 years. 

After talking with Andrea, she told us a little bit about her story. Her and Alex have been married for 8 years. They were pretty young when they got married. Alex was an addict to alcohol, and also participated in other drugs. A few years after being married, Alex was able to leave all of it behind and completely stop drinking and doing drugs. For the past 3 years, he has been clean! They had their baby, and now live in Chile. 

About a month ago, Alex started hanging out with new friends and started drinking again. He is trying to stop, but it is a struggle. Andrea told us, "Yesterday (sunday) I was praying to God all day to send help, to help me and my husband, and to help our whole family. I prayed and waited, and prayed and waited, but nothing happened all day. Then, right as I was going to call it a night and go to bed, 2 people knocked at my door in the light rain and said they were sent from God and have a messgae that would bless me and my family."

Looks like we weren´t the only 2 people rowing for 3 watches. I honestly feel embarrassed for thinking that my struggles were, well, struggles. Cold weather, common sickness, rejection...all pretty easy trials, to be honest. But even though our struggle were (and are) completely different, we both kept rowing. And sure enough, as He always does, The Lord came to us in the 4th watch and blessed us with more than what we were looking for. 

So, keep rowing! Christ is on His way!

I love you all.

#WaxStrong

-Elder Hixon

Rain Rain Rain!

Familia Cancino (gave me that same jersey!) 

Marcela and her Family (recent convert and less active mom, part member family)

Hello! 

Wow. It has been a cold week. Rain rain rain! Lots of rain. I am grateful for my grandparents who sent me the greatest shoes on the planet, honestly they have saved me these past couple days. I`m not a big fan of rain boots, they are too hard to get on and take back off...but the shoes that my grandparents sent me are just comfy, slip ons, and basically waterproof. Thank you to my good grandma and grandpa by the ocean. 

I`m excited for some foundations we were able to set this week, we have some pretty awesome family nights set up with some youth and less actives families for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Saturday in the morning we are going to play basketball with some guys we contacted in the park. We`ve got some AWESOME plans to do some creative contacts in the Subway this next week, I`ll be sure to get some pictures and send them all home. All is well here in Chile. 

I`ve been trying to reflect on the Savior and what He did and continues to do to help give us the opportunity to grow and become like Him, and I have also been reflecting on HOW He did those things. My companion and I have had some long days trying to find people who are willing ti listen and who desire to progress...and to be honest, the work here has been pretty hard. The days that we send in every week are sometimes a little discouraging, and it has been awhile since a REAL investigator has been able to come out to church with us. We see miracles, but normally they are miracles that are just enough to keep us going... there hasn`t been any real visible fruits from anything I have done here in Las Americas. I was able to learn from the example of Adam this week as I read in the 5th chapter of Moses. 

Context: Adam and Eve just got were removed from the Garden. I can only imagine how  Adam must have been feeling separating them from the presence of God. I can just imagine the weight that he felt upon his shoulders. The garden was great, the fruit might have even tasted good...but now the consequences were real. He hadn`t yet learned of the redemption that Christ would bring to his family...the only thing he knew was that, although ALL was seemingly lost, he was commanded to offer specific sacrifices to The Lord. 

If I were in Adam`s shoes, I don`t know if I would really see the point of being obedient after already having condemned myself and my whole family. But he obeys! "And after many days" of this almost blind obedience, He learns the purpose of his sacrifices and learns of the redemption of both himself and his whole family. Adam then is filled with The Spirit, rejoices, blesses God and his family, teaches his wife, and together they go to teach their children. 

So, I`m down to keep working and keep hoping and continue putting trust in The Lord`s promises. He has promised me that there are people who are searching, and that I, with my companion, will be led to their homes. There weren`t a whole lot of fruits this week, nor has their been for pretty much the last 3 months...but I am still confident that The Lord`s promises are sure, and that He has a reason and purpose for all things. 

So, back to work :)

-Elder Hixon

PS- we are doing a fast as a mission, from Sunday after lunch to Monday at lunch...with the hope that we can be led to those who are searching. We are currently the lowest baptizing mission in South America, and feel like The Lord has much more for us than what we are currently finding. I would love to invite everyone to join with us....your hermanos chilenos will be eternally grateful :)

I Can Love Everybody!

Flag Day! Wow! My companion had ordered an Irish flag some time ago...it got in this last week. We´ll hang it up tonight in virtue of the holiday. 

The report this week...well, it was a slow week. We´re just trying to work hard and do the right things, and hoping that some of these contacts and miracles bear fruits. While some people we have taught have accepted the invitation to be baptized, even with a date to do it, we´re having trouble finding these people a second time around. This week we knocked a lot of doors, talked to some people in the park on a few different occasions, even had a decent conversation with some intense ex-criminals who were smoking marijuana last night. 

Due to the lack of things to report, I´d like to take a few minutes to introduce you ll to my companion, Elder M------. 

This guy is the funniest guy you are ever going to meet! Honestly. He is Bob Marley´s nuimber one fan, loves lighting incense in our morning studies, and is a friend to all the dogs in the streets. He holds dear a dreadlock that an investigator from his last sector gave to him, and he is also SO DANG GOOD at dancing. It is unreal. He never took classes, rather, he took his dog out to the park every night and watched youtube tutorials and learned how to dance. Incredible. 

Elder M------ has a few struggles, a couple of personal battles that he has to fight daily. He suffers from depression and anxiety, and has to take medication daily or else it´s a pretty rough go. He is the first of the kids in his family to serve a mission! While he submitted his mission papers in August 2015, for his health problems, he was told that he was going to have to start taking medications before he could be assigned and set apart as a full time missionary. After a few months of successful medications, he received his call to Santiago Sur!

Shortly after, he blew out his shoulder playing rugby. Due to the injury, he was delayed again. After almost 15 months of waiting after his initial call, he got to the MTC here in Chile. It hasn´t been an easy go since then, he´s had to change medications 5 times while he´s been out here. Spanish has also been pretty hard for him. But even though it hasn´t been easy, I am grateful for my companion´s dedication and commitment to fulfill the Lord´s commandments and do everything he can to be strong and help others. 

Here´s is a quick thing that my companion taught me this week:

In District Meeting, we were discussing how we can become better disciples of Christ. After a lot of ideas, we in the thirteenth chapter of John where Christ says: 

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

My companion then commented "I have a lot of things that are hard for me. I´m not a great teacher, especially when I have to teach in Spanish. I don´t always know what to say, or what to do...I don´t even know the scriptures as well as a lot of other people do. But I know that I can love everybody I meet, and so that is what I try to do".

I am grateful for the example of my companion, I continue learning from him daily. 

Love,

Elder Hixon

It's Chile!

 

Another week! It´s Chile. 

Did I put that pun in last week´s letter? These week was a great week, I really feel like the Spirit is guiding my companion in I in the work, as we keep seeming to be in the right places at the right time. I think sharing 2 experiences a week helps me put my thoughts together, so here are 2 experiences where I felt The Spirit´s guidance in The Lord´s work this week. 

1) Yesterday. It´s pretty darn cold. We had a good lesson with 2 investigators and a less active, whose names are Nicolas, Alejandra, and Camila. As we left the lesson, we put ourselves to contact and look for more people. It wasn´t a bad day contacting, we were able to talk at a few doors and we actually have a couple of new people to go by this weekend. At about 8 o´ clock we decided to go to the house of an old investigator named Mario. As we shouted "Alo" at Mario´s door, another neighbor walked out, apparently crying. I didn´t notice her, but my companion did. When I looked over I realized that my companion was already over, talking to her and asking her what had happened. We were able to walk and talk with her, and she told us about a difficult situation that she was passing through. We quickly explained what The Priesthood is, and told her that we were sent of God and have received that power and authority. She readily accepted the offer to receive a blessing, and we were able to sit down on a park bench and give her a blessing of strength and comfort.

Perhaps it may have looked weird to any cars that passed by, 2 Elders with their hands on the hand of a crying woman, but The Spirit really did warm us as we all were blessed by Priesthood power on that cold night. We exchanged numbers and have a cita for next Monday. Pray for Sara Cecilia!

2) On Sunday, I had the opportunity to go to the San Bernardo Stake to play for Stake Conference. Elder Clayton and his wife came, and we were all taught and instructed by both of them. As the Sunday Morning session of Conference began, they announced the individuals who were to be, or who already had been, sustained to the office of Elder and receive The Melchezideck Priesthood. I wasn´t really listening to the names that were called, until I heard "Leonardo Villagran"....

Leo!! Received the Priesthood! Leo was a guy that Elder Jenks and I taught and baptized back in Nocedal. We were able to catch up after the conference, he is still active and fulfilling his calling as a counselor in the Young Men´s. He is waiting to have an interview to go through the temple. I am excited to go through with him in the near future. 

I feel grateful, and even humbled, to have been led by The Spirit to be in the right places at the right time this week. I am sure that The Lord was communicating to me that He really is in control, and that if I just try to do the right things at the right time, I can be sure that I am doing what He would have me do. 

Love you all!! Bienvenidos al Mundo Norah!

-Elder Hixon