Love is the Answer

Another week in Ibiuna. Yes, last week I talked about it being the Jungle but this week we were in a little bit more of a cityish part of Ibiuna. This place is massive. We can go walking for 2 hours and still be in our area. I'm pretty confident I got bit by a spider on my finger because it is kinda feeling funky with a cool bump, but come on, I love it! It is the missionary life. Also my feet are smacked with blisters but again, what better place to get blisters than in the service of the Lord? Anyway....

Danilo is doing good(the man I spoke about last week). He is not yet coming back to church but his love of being a father and his love for the gospel is strong! We have a good amount of people we are teaching this week and continue to find more and more families. We had only 5 of our investigators at church this week but it was still great.

Easter was nothing special. Just another Sunday here. So look, there is not breakfast or dinner here. Just lunch. So yes we had a big lunch but we have a big lunch every day so it was regular. It was so awesome though this week. The ward here is amazing. The ward missionaries are 8 newly married couples who are all RM´s.... It is insane. We have our own army of missionaries in this ward. They help us on whatever night with or without us! They truly love the people and they get it! They befriend the non members and grow stronger relationships with those that are less active or part member families. They are a huge example to me and I hope we can all learn from them. Missionary work is not just for the missionaries. Nor is it just for the non members. We need to be ministering in our wards with greater effort and within our own families. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and to be learning all these things! Portuguese is hard but dang it, it is so fun. The Lord is real and He LOVES us more than we can ever know and ALL he asks of us is to Love others. But first,  love Him. Love is the answer. My family wrote a poem the other night so here's my poem or rhyme that I have come up with that I love.

Everything has it´s season

All things have a reason

But trusting in a God who knows all

Ensures that we shall not fall

I love my mission and I love Brazil. I love my family and I love my Savior Jesus Christ

Elder Hixon

It's Jungly Out Here!

Well hello world! It has been a little since I have written so let me catch you up to speed here.

The MTC is done and gone and I am so happy! So we can celebrate that. My leaving the MTC was an interesting experience though, I was alone for about 6 hours without a companion. I did not leave the MTC for my mission until 9 or 10 o clock ish because my mission actually is where the MTC is so I did not have flights. The rest of my district left around 3 or 4 in the morning. But all was well. I got to watch General Conference in English with everyone here at the MTC so that was super good. Dang it the messages were amazing. And how about President Nelson´s last words... TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Let us all repent. That message is not for your friend or someone in your family, but it is for YOU and ME! We all need to repent even better than before. In a more Christlike way. Love and Repent! We must do it all as we need to in our respective circumstances. 

But the FIELD. We met at the Mission home and it was me and 10 others. Had a quick meeting and then we were off to go get our companions, eat dinner, and depart for our areas. My companion is Elder Stimpson. He is from Boise Idaho and he is the MAN! He has been on his mission for a year and 8 months and really is just incredible. He looks identical to Spider Man(Tom Holland) and wow it is nuts. He has the spirit of a giant. I love this guy! Our area is called Ibiuna. It is a jungle town. It is 2 hours from the Mission home so we are kinda on our own out here. Our phone does not even work to contact president or anything back there so yay! Missionaries have not been in this area for a while so we are kinda reopening it I guess. My companion and I and 2 others. Fun fact, this city is bigger by itself than the rest of our mission haha. It is pretty big. Lots of walking but very fun. We have had some touching experiences here already. We taught a few families and actually had about 9 people come to church with us this week. It has been so humbling to be here already. These people do not have much yet are so joyful. What an amazing lesson! Joy does not come from our materials but it really comes from our Savior Jesus Christ and Families!  I invited someone to baptism this week after an amazing lesson with him and he said yes! The 27th is the date we are shooting for so this is exciting! This work is real! 

This place consists of Monkeys, Dogs, and SPIDERS. LOTS OF THEM HOLY COW. Found a half dollar sized one crawling on my leg the other day and might have almost cried. But yeah it is very Jungly here. Whenever I get the ability to send pictures I will! 

We had an experience with a family where only the Father is a member. But he is non active and his story is really one for the ages. Allow me to explain.... He was a drug-lord. Or I guess technically he was second in command. He was loaded! But he was not a very good Father or Husband at that time. He got busted and was in Jail for 9 years. As he was released from jail he had the opportunity to get it all back but instead he felt that God needed to be apart of his life and that he needed to be a better Father. HIS FAMILY was important to him. So he called it quits and ran away to Ibiuna with them, and I mean RAN! He could lose his life if he gets caught but he gave it all up for his Family. In Ibiuna he found the church and was baptized. His wife not yet nor his daughter. His first couple of months he was strong and in the church but then started to feel like he was not being loved by the members at church. He was struggling a ton at the time because he could not get a real job because if his name was on the records for a job then the drug 'powers that be' could find him and hurt him and his family. So he instead is broke pretty much and his wife has to work a ton. As he was struggling he was tempted to get alcohol at the store. He ended up buying some and as he was leaving the store with his Alcohol a member saw him and called him out, which made matters worse for him. He then did not feel connected with the church as much and fell away. But in our lesson he testified to his family about the truthfulness of the gospel. But UGH! The members did not love! We Need to Love All!!!! We need our members in our sacrament meetings to feel the redemptive powers of the sacrament. Pray for your ward. Pray to know the name of someone YOU need to love. And then do it. With haste! That is my prayer for each of us!

Love you all!

Elder Hixon

Anxious and Ready!

A few things from this week. I learned my mission is a unique one. It is very similar to the Temple Square mission in Salt Lake. All the sisters in my mission only work in the visitors center teaching other people and the Elders are the ones in the field. So districts and zones are either all elders or all sisters. So that is pretty cool!! Also one of my companions was struggling this week. He has been throwing fits of rage and hitting other people and stuff. It has been quite a roller coaster but all is well. He is a good guy. I know he will work through his frustrations and be able to serve like he desires.

I am learning a lot from the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. My personal study has me there right now and it has been wonderful to see SO MANY symbols and so many things that apply perfectly to us. Those chapters were put in this sacred book for so many reasons! Personal revelation has been flowing. Instead of writing it all out, just know that I know I am reading the words that God wants His people to know at this time. Especially me.

I had an eye opening experience this week. After my experience with teaching my friend last week, I was reading on the website Mormon and Gay.org (a link through lds.org) to try and understand him a little better and dang it. It all was hard for me to read and I felt to repent and soften toward something I don't think I have ever understood. I felt sorrowful for anything I might have said or thought that was unkind or hurtful toward those who are suffering with this struggle. My soul felt an increase of love toward this group of people so much as we are all children of God.

I am anxiously awaited conference. I am so stinking excited. I love you all! The next time I email you I will be a real missionary in the field!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

Love, 

Elder Hixon