Merry Christmas!

 

Lutaremos pela causa Celestial

Another amazing week in Fairfield Iowa! This week was a little bit of a battle with a victory at the end of it. We are so happy! Every week as a missionary is a battle. Every day even! Being full time representatives of the Savior Jesus Christ isn't easy. And Satan knows that if he can weaken us, then that will cause big ripple effects to others. This week was full of hard days but as we gave our best effort to stay true to our God, we have felt satisfaction and real joy. 

We did a lot of service this week and I had an opportunity to spend a day and a half up in Iowa City because of an exchange I was doing. It was loads of fun and I learned so much! It is so wonderful to go into the homes of members and be able to see their desire to serve the Lord and help aid missionary work. So many are jumping at the chance to provide our Facebook pages content or help film and record and even direct. If you have talents behind a camera, or are very good at video editing or even just have great content ideas... please get in touch with your local missionaries. We need help. We've been trying to do it ourselves since Covid hit and we are learning we aren't very good at it. We desperately need the support and aid from ward members. If this is the first time you're hearing about this, well you arent helping the missionaries then haha! This is the most important cause on the face of the earth, the Gathering of Israel! Jump in. Don't hesitate. Reach out now and find out how you can help. If I received a text from a member or a call that said "How can I help with Facebook?"... I'd be on cloud 9! Big rant sorry! It's just important. The area president has been doing trainings with Elder's quorums and relief societies about this... and yes, the Area President took time to give each stake a training on Sunday. Pretty cool stuff! 

Liz was baptized on Saturday. It was wonderful. She's been investigating the church for about forever... and she finally decided. There was a good amount of bold statements said but ultimately she decided it was right. There isn't a middle ground. If you are not making and keeping covenants then you are wrong. No if's and's or but's about it. So we were so grateful and our hearts are full for sweet Liz! It was a full team effort. All 4 of us Elders took turns in our companionships ministering and testifying to her and she finally decided that now was the time. It has been so sweet to see the change in these people. Leonia and Annette and Liz all had been people who had been around the church forever, they'd been to Navoou(spell check me idk how to spell that) pageants and tons of sacrament meetings and went through so many missionaries, but now finally have decided to go forward. It's wonderful. It warms my heart to be a front row attendee to the mighty change that the Holy Ghost can bring into the lives of others. 

Here is a quote I heard at the baptism that I loved... 

"Spirituality fruits 2 things... The inspiration for what to do, and the power to do it"

- Richard G. Scott 

I'm so grateful for a prophet. He leads us and guides us. He has instructed us to seek personal revelation or inspiration. We all have the ability to receive divine assistance in decision making as we put in the effort to hear the voice of the Lord. I know this to be true! I'm so grateful that Annette and Leonia and Liz have all put in the work to hear this divine assistance about where they really needed to take their lives. 

Love y'all! I love the snow hear so much. I made snow angels the other day and rolled around and ran and played in the snow. I felt like a little kid but I have not had many times in my life to be in the snow so it's just fun. My heart is grateful

Elder Hixon 

The Big Pendulum

Hey everyone!

I know God loves us. So much so that he allows us to experience joy and sorrow. Even when we follow all His commandments! What a blessing! It's like a pendulum, it always swings back. When good things are happening in your life, be grateful because tough things are coming. When things are tough, be excited because good things are on the way. A quick example of this is with Charlene and then Tiago...

Baptism fell through. What a heartbreak really. Poor Charlene. She believes everything and follows all the commandments but for some reason isn't quite ready to get baptized. It is quite saddening. But oh well. We will work with her a little but not all that much anymore as we have other people we need to work with. We've been playing Dad in that house for a while. We've patched holes in walls and changed tires and reminded the boys everyday to take their medicine and basically stabilized the home. Now we are stepping out and we are hopeful Charlene will see the difference between having the church in her life vs. not having it. Her boys are too autistic to really understand or be their own forces for getting to church. So it's all up to Charlene. 

Then on Sunday the Brazilian family was finally able to meet with our bishop which was just amazing. They love bishop and due to a lot of legal complications couldn't really meet with us again until they met with Bishop so we are beaming with joy! We have gotten passed the legal problem and now are able to teach them regularly. I think that's the real reason I'm staying here one more transfer. I'm grateful for the bond we've made with them. Tiago says that he feels like he's been friends with us for such a long time so it's really cool. When you run into a receptive and open person/people the process is so beautiful. 

I'm grateful for the ups and downs! It makes life more fun and interesting. Love everything you go through in life because why not:)

I had one insight this week that I found in the book of Mormon that really helped me through some of the lows. Perhaps it will help you too. We all know the account of Nephi breaking his bow. Everyone is ticked. Except of course, Nephi. Nephi has been righteous before the bow broke and even as the bow broke. And then of course we know Nephi even continues in diligence as he asks his father where to hunt and makes a new bow for himself. So basically Nephi is doing everything right. Even though everyone around him isn't. He is literally the only person there (I don't know if any of us these days can have a situation like this) that was choosing the right. So what does the Lord do for him? Before I answer that, remember that Nephi and his whole family are literally starving. No food and had been traveling and traveling and were very unsuccessful at getting sufficient food. So he is probably exhausted and tired and hungry. So it is only is fitting that the Lord tells him that the only food he can get is on "the top of the mountain". The Lord asks Nephi to do something incredibly difficult even after he has been doing basically everything right. The Lord always asks for sacrifice. Nephi was not exempt from hiking a whole mountain even though he was starving, tired, diligent, humble, and faithful. Interesting huh? It helped me realize that sacrifice is just part of the gig. And what better way is there to live. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. So when the Lord asks for sacrifice, you better believe he will follow up with blessings as we faithfully sacrifice. It helped me a lot. A sweet tender mercy from God to teach me that the other day in my personal study. 

Love you all!

Elder Hixon

Happy!

Hi!!!!!!!

Life in Fairfield continues. It's snowing and getting colder and colder. But it's kinda fun! I've never had a snowy Christmas before so this is exciting stuff! 

As in terms of the work... 

We have another baptism this weekend for C--------. Pray for her. She's nervous. She still feels remorse. 18 years ago she got in a car accident that left her paralyzed and killed her mother. C-------- was the driver. She feels bad about it even still. It breaks my heat that someone could still feel remorse and guilt for things that happened almost 2 decades ago. And this remorse and guilt has been something that has been a stumbling block in being baptized. Her boys were baptized about a year ago but she has been shy about it. We have been pretty bold with her and in some ways are helping push her into it but it's because we know with all our hearts it is what she wants and needs. The Spirit made manifest to us that she was our next baptism. Weeks ago my comp and I fasted for who in our teaching pool we really needed to focus on and work with and as clear as day C------ name came to our hearts. I'm grateful for the guidance of the Spirit. C------- has also had a stroke and another car accident since that first accident. She has recovered from her paralysis in a few ways. She walks but struggles. She has adapted quite a limp. Muscles in her eyes are failing and her health deteriorates. She is mid 40's and has 2 kids at home though. These 2 kids are 25 and 20 but they have the brain capacity of teenagers. She works a full time job to try and help the boys. She has never been married. Just used and abused and left with these boys. Her past is pretty tough. We prodded a lot this past week and my heart yearns for C------- healing. Not so much physically but mentally and spiritually. So, pray for C-------. That all goes well this weekend. She could be a vital asset for the team of God. We need her! 

That's all I have in way of reporting. Due to legal problems we are having trouble teaching the Brazillians. Also the other elders were going to baptize a girl named D------ and I had to do the interview at her house. Well she definitely had word of Wisdom issues still so her and I made a deal that I would take the cigarettes and sweet tea home for 3 days so she could feel how it was to be without them. Unfortunately her ex husband heard about it and told her we stole from her and are using her(he is very manipulative and abusive so it's tough) and she believed him so she hates us now haha! 

I was thinking about one characteristic of Christ that I wanted to have. I feel that Christ could experience a negative situation without becoming negative. For example, as He drank from the "bitter cup" he avoided becoming bitter. Even though in some ways He probably could have rightfully been bitter. I started thinking about my life. How many bitter or stressful or anxious or annoying circumstances can I be in without becoming as such? It was a cool thing to reflect on. I'm going to try and be better. To not become the negative that my circumstances might be in. I'm grateful for the Savior. I absolutely loved President Nelson's message. I've already watched it 5 times since. I can't get enough. It brings the Spirit and helps me be more grateful. I love the posts. Changing the environment of social media has helped me feel more encouraged to do the work. Seeing all the good has really lifted my spirits and the spirits of many many missionaries! 

I'm happy to be a missionary! I'm so grateful for the technology that allowed me to facetime my sister earlier this week and see her sweet new born. I love my family and am eternally grateful that they are the ones God let me be with. Be grateful this week! Avoid becoming negative!!

Elder Hixon

Facebook!

 

2 For 1

This is gonna have to cover for last week too! I didn't have time to write an email last week!! So... sorry!! And it's gonna be a quick one... sorry again! 

But last week all kinds of good stuff probably happened. We got closer to the ward and went to church and I tested negative for the rona and all kinds of good things happened. We've been playing ping pong with a less active member of our ward on Monday's and he's been coming back to church since. Annette has also been a big part of that WOOT WOOT! We helped some people move and we taught a Russian! Luckily he was not apart of the group of Russians that conspire against Timmy Failure... he is a nice guy named Andrew. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was cool. Hopefully things keep going well with him as that was our first lesson with him. 

But this week was fun! We have been putting basically the whole world on date for baptism. I just want everyone to get baptized haha. Weeks with baptism are so stressful but at the same time they are so miraculous:) So yeah... we had a phenomenal lesson with the Brazilian family again and I just about bawled my way through the thing. The mother started crying and the father of the home at the end of the lesson went off for 10 minutes in pure gratitude and thankfulness for my companion and I and sharing the message. The love from Brazilian people is so real and so tangible. It made me deeply miss Brazil for sure but at the same time brought me so much peace. I need to be here now I just do:) Fairfield Iowa is the funkiest place ever but it definitely has my heart! It was amazing because they believed in reincarnation as we went into the lesson but after explaining the Plan of Salvation and resurrection, they both said "This feels so much better than our idea of reincarnation. We totally love resurrection". And the dad in the beginning of the lesson straight up said his sons never got baptized and he believes God sent us to them so that his sons could get baptized haha! Little does he know that him and his wife are gonna get dunked too YES!!!

We also did a fast this last Sunday trying to know who to focus more on in our work. I am so grateful for fasting and how it helps me grow more in tune with the Spirit. The answer to who to focus on was so clear and the Spirit was absolutely so strong. I am so grateful for the scriptures and all that we can learn from them. They really are the spring board for revelation. As I offered a prayer during sacrament meeting I opened the scriptures and every verse I read all pointed to the same answer and flooded me with revelation. I'm so grateful! 

In the past 2 weeks we trekked up to Iowa City about 4 times for various purposes. Meetings and interviews and stuff! It has been good to see President and learn from him. He has a BYU Speech if you want to be edified. Look up Dale Sturm on BYU speeches and you'll find his talk on faith. Ver powerful! He's amazing!! I love where I'm serving and I love my leaders!!! In spirit of Thanksgiving, challenge yourselves to be more grateful for those that teach you or coach you or lead you or guide you. They are in those positions in your life for a reason. Shrug off things that bother you and take advantage of the opportunity to learn from them. You'll be beyond blessed! 

Love y'all!!

Elder Hixon 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

 

SKIP BO!

 

For as long as I can remember our Simon has had a way with the elderly ladies in our world. I don’t know what it is but he loves them and they love his dimples. So it wasn’t a big surprise when we got this picture from Iowa with his Tuesday and Saturday evening skip bo group. He is just our favorite!

Boom!

Boom indeed! 

God is good! We had Annette's baptism this past weekend and it was phenomenal. I can't believe after 10 years I was able to be the missionary to witness this grand miracle. Annette is the cherry on top! She was probably the hardest person to baptize so far in my mission. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had lessons with her and each lesson started with "I don't want to get baptized". She was so so scared. But we knew she wanted to do this. I was with Elder Cragun on Wednesday and he was amazing. He helped teach Annette and encourage her. By the end of Wednesday we had both bore testimony about going forward despite fears and the importance of baptism. So she then said sure she would get baptized. Then on Thursday again she started the lesson by saying she didn't want to get baptized and she was too scared. I was with Elder Anderson this time and he helped me testify of how everyone can be helpful in the church and how we needed Annette's gifts in the church. We shared with her Elder Uchtdorf's talk, "Believe, Love, Do". She left the lesson feeling inspired and ready to be baptized. Then comes Friday. I was on exchange with Elder Ireland and Annette did not want to be baptized. She was so scared and flat out told us she isn't going to do it. We met with her in the morning and the afternoon and at night. Each time started the same "I don't feel it is right". Our lesson at night, was so spiritual. We talked a lot about how we love Annette and know that she needs to do it. We discussed heavily on big decisions we both had to make in our lives and how happy we were to make them. Even when we were scared.

I for example talked about sky diving. How without the instructor up there in the plane I probably wouldn't have jumped. I wanted to all the way leading up to the moment I was 30,000 feet in the air. Then I got too scared. But because of my flight instructor, I did it and it was the funnest experience ever. Elder Ireland talked about a basketball game he had in high school and it was the semi final in the state championship and the seconds were ticking and the game plan was for him to shoot the buzzer beater 3 to win it. He talked about how he was excited for it at first but once the seconds started ticking he got doubtful and scared. He confessed that he kind of hoped his coach would just pull him out of the game. But coach didn't and they went forward and he shot and made it. He likened it to how yes when we do big things we can doubt ourselves and want to be pulled out of the game but we would be left with major regret. And that we had already signed up so let's just go for it. 

I then shared the story of me coming home from my mission. I expressed my fears of doing that. I feared that my family would be disappointed and my friends. I even told Annette I was afraid my good friend would leave me for good! (one of Annette's fears was the "ridicule" she would receive from family and friends). And I expressed how I didn't regret a single thing. And how it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. I testified that Satan was the one who didn't want her to do this. He was blowing it out of rationale! It was him who was sending thoughts of discouragement and fear. The Spirit was very strong and some tears were shed. 

At the end of the lesson I decided to do something I've only done 2 times on my mission. It's what my family does every time someone in the family is about to do something big. We all hold hands and say a prayer together. One person starts it and squeezes the hand of the person beside them when they are ready for them to continue the prayer. Then the last person that gets their hand squeezed finishes the prayer. I started and then Annette finished the prayer. It was so spiritual and such an amazing prayer. We all opened our eyes feeling so much love and joy. We all embraced and Annette was feeling confident as ever. The next morning we were honestly expecting her to be back into "I don't want to be baptized" mode and we were ready to bring the spirit and help influence her agency again ;)... but it wasn't like that at all. We visited her with a plate of cookies we had for her and she greeted us with a joy I've never seen in Annette before. It had been 10 years of missionaries and she's been all the way up until the night before her baptism and then backed out. She had never been this close and she felt so good and happy. She went forward with faith and a few hours after our morning visit she was baptized and confirmed. It was such a privilege to be able to experience such powerful miracles! I was so humbled. I really don't feel as though I was worthy of seeing such miracles and such change in someone but I did. God is merciful. He allows us "broken vessels" to do His work! I am nowhere near where I want to be and need to be but God still let's me experience the miracle of change. In my own life and in the lives of others. I feel encouraged to do more and to be better. We love Annette!! Such a wonderful woman 

There was a speaker at Annette's baptism that shared such a cool experience that I want to share. I think it kind of puts into focus exactly what I'm feeling. This lady's name is Gretchen Van de Voorde. She is old and her husband is not a member. She was a hardcore smoker until the missionaries came. She recounted this story...

"I remember not being sure about whether or not I needed to join the church. I knew I had received spiritual confirmations about the Book of Mormon and even about the church. I knew I needed to join but I felt too unworthy. So I asked for yet another sign. I feel bad for even asking for another sign and feel shameful about it now but I needed to know. So I love glitter. I love glittery and sparkly things I guess that's just the little girl in me. And I remember one morning it had just finished raining and I was walking through my house to go outback. And as I opened the backdoor I saw the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. The sun and the rain were glistening just right on a 2 foot by 2 foot spider web. A massive web but it looked magnificent. It sparkled from the sun shining on little droplets of rain that still clung to the sticky webs. Then I looked a little further down and saw a hairy, ugly, tiny brown spider. And the thought came to me... if something that ugly can create something so beautiful, then so can I and God created me this way."

Isn't that so cool? It was exactly what I was feeling! And it is the coolest little story. This is such a miracle. Literally everyone was in awe. All the ward and everyone. One of the AP's taught Annette so he came down to come watch the baptism. Everyone was rooting for Annette. And because of Annette, 2 less actives are coming back to church and another girl named Liz wants to be baptized. Annette is the bomb!

Boom right? It was awesome! One other sweet little time with Annette was at church on Sunday. In our ward we don't sing the hymns we just listen to them in a speaker. Well the closing hymn was Count Your Many Blessings and this is Annette's favorite hymn. She couldn't contain herself and she started singing. Surprised the heck out of me because no one else was singing. But she wanted to sing! So gosh dang it I sang with her. Annette and I sang the 3 verses of Count Your Many Blessings together and afterward she thanked me. It was just a sweet moment to share. I felt that by singing with her I was helping her feel more apart of the church. And that she had ultimately made the ride decision. She's so great! It's been a blessing to be apart of her life. 

So yeah this week was Annette filled but was joyful. We found a Brazilian family who we are now teaching so that is way exciting! They are from Rio de Janeiro!! Super super amazing people who honestly I could see them as member of the church real quick so stay tuned;) 

Lots of boom and that's about it. A quick highlight from Come Follow Me something very interesting in 4 Nephi 1:38. Notice how Mormon specifies that the people didn't just "dwindle in unbelief" but that they "willfully rebelled". What a difference! I think it important to note that there is a difference but more important to note is that both of them are bad outcomes! One is less rebellious but both drive you away from Jesus Christ! Avoid both. Examine your lives and see which category you fall under. Chances are in some ways you are doing both!;) 

Love y'all. Have a good week! 

Elder Hixon 

Praying and Sifting

This week was phenomenal! General Conference was so so inspiring! If you haven't watched it... PLEASE DO!! You'll be blessed!!!! 

I want to share a quick insight I had this week during Come Follow Me! In 3rd Nephi Ch. 18 Jesus Christ institute's the Sacrament to the Nephites. Then in verse 18 he tells the Nephites something that I love because it reminds me of one of my all time favorite verses in the bible. It reads,

 

"18 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat."

Which reminds me a lot of Luke 22: 31-32! Which read, 

"31 ¶ And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

Very similar! And interestingly enough Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament in Luke 22 as well just before saying this. Mirroring 3rd Nephi 18! But I want to point out a key difference that stood out to me. It was a testimony to me of how the Book of Mormon and the Bible can testify together to help us more further understand things! 

From what we read in the Bible, Satan desires to sift us as wheat. And in response to this desire Christ claims that he prays for us, or at least in this case Simon Peter, that our faith doesn't fail us. So a principle we could learn from the Bible is too remember Jesus Christ is praying for us to help us avoid Satan's sifting. But the Book of Mormon helps to show that there is more to do rather than just know that Jesus Christ prays for us.

In the Book of Mormon Jesus Christ commands the Nephites to pray always to be able to withstand Satan's sifting. I think that's something very important. M. Russell Ballard talked about the importance of praying as often as we can in General Conference and I couldn't agree more! 

I believe understanding both of these principles is crucial to being able to avoid Satan's sifting. Jesus Christ, our loving Savior, really does pray for us! He does not want out faith to fail us. We must remember this. Christ is on our team! He knows us so individually and so closely. We must change our mindsets and take advantage of this. But it's just not enough to only know this. We must pray always! If not, we will enter into temptation and Satan will sift us as wheat. What a testimony! The Bible, together with the Book of Mormon, can teach us so much more what we need to do in this life to find everlasting joy! Use both as you study. Find the connections! If you read something in the Book of Mormon that reminds you of something in the Bible, open up your Bible and take a look at it! Your mind will be opened and you will receive more light to aid you! I'm so grateful for the scriptures. Ancient and modern. I know as we use these resources to strengthen our own testimonies we will find joy and satisfaction in our relationships here on earth and in heaven. 

Love y'all! Read up!! The scriptures are GOLDEN! Better than corn!

Elder Hixon

General Conference

General Conference was absolutely amazing! Seriously was so bold and so blunt about everything. There is no beating around the bush and there is no sticking in the middle. We are either with Christ, or not! Oh I loved it. What an inspiring conference. If you went into conference without a question in mind then you didn't take advantage of it. Pray, think of a question and rewatch it. You'll be able to take much more from it! But okay okay I skipped all the weeks so let's come back to general conference in a little bit!

So this week was all kinds of fun. We were able to put sweet Annette on date for baptism for the 17th!! It's so exciting. She's such a sweet lady with quite a fun story!! We also woke up at 4 AM on Thursday to go wean pigs at a pig farm. I was pooped on and peed on. And I didn't have gloves. It was great. Definitely something I won't do again soon sorry... I smelled like straight poop for the whole day and my shoes still REEK! But it was fun. And sad a little. Animal farms like that... the animals are definitely not treated very well because the one purpose is to one day be food for us so... I could definitely see how one could decide to be vegan after seeing what they do at those places. Kind of crazy stuff but also super cool and fun. I was grateful to learn more!! 

There wasn't much more that happened this week. It was cold and rainy but the Lord still made things happen so we are glad:) 

One of my favorite talks from General Conference was from Jeremy R. Jaggi! He spoke about something that obviously had my ears perked. Simon! Simon the Zealot!! Ever since I read the scripture Helaman 5:6 my love for other people with my same name has changed. It changed so much that if you can remember from the letter I wrote when I first came home from my mission, that I even came home because of how powerful the principles in Helaman 5:6 influenced me. And even still today they do. So yes, i listened attentively to this talk! Brother Jaggi demonstrated the ability that Christ has to change us through the story of Simon. Which really hit home for me and pierced me deeply. It gave me hope that I still have chances to change. I can still become better amidst my imperfections! I, being over zealous at times, can learn patience and humility! Which gosh dang it I NEED to learn!! What's in a name? Well everything! Finding out why you have the name you have will give you more meaning. Your name is YOU! You are called to by your name. You make covenant by your own name! If you don't see any significance in your own name, then find some! Ask parents or grandparents. Do genealogy! And then take what you learn, and use it to come closer to Jesus Christ. It has brought me great joy to do this exact thing. To study my name in scripture and even in history. Even Simon Cowell! Yes I've researched a little bit of his life. Why not?! There's got to be something I can learn from him. We've got the same name that couldn't have been coincidence! Find out why your name is yours and come closer to Christ. He loves you and God loves you! 

Quite a detour from General Conference but I know studying your name and using your studies to come closer to Jesus Christ will help change you into who you really want to be! I'm grateful for my name!! I'm grateful for my parents. Who gave me the name Simon. I'm so grateful for my sweet nephew, who's name is also Simon! I have a Simon close to me forever that I can learn from. If you come to find that your name has no significance and is quite frankly worth nothing, which I don't believe can happen but hey I wont count it out, then be grateful that Christ has got that covered as well. I'm grateful that Jesus Christ let's me try and take on His name each day through the covenants I've made. He is our loving Savior and has worked everything out for us! We just need to make and keep covenants.

Love y'all! 

Elder Hixon

A Child's Prayer

This week was awesome!! I picked up a new missionary Tuesday, Elder Anderson, and I'll be training him for the next bit here. He's fresh out here from the online MTC and is from Layton Utah. Super excited for him and all he is becoming! He's rocking it!!

This week I've had the song "A Child's Prayer" stuck in my head. And I absolutely love it. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite children's song book songs ever. And I think because this song has been stuck in my head, the way I act has been different. I am becoming better at really having a prayer in my heart. I'm learning the importance of it. Anytime that I'm waiting on something to load or waiting for someone to pick us up or whatever it is, I have tried to really be praying. Just in my mind. Even if I'm walking somewhere and there isn't conversation happening, I try to remember to pray. It's amazing. It has changed so much of what I do and how I act and react to things. It has opened the communication with Heavenly Father ten fold! Rather than day dream of who knows what, I'm expressing to my God my feelings and thoughts. It really has been a learning experience this week to try this out and I credit the idea from the song A Child's Prayer. How often do the scriptures command us to "pray always"? Lots! And I think it's a lot more literal than we think. I'm not perfect at it but I'm going to try to become better at this and I invite you guys to do the same! You will find so much more joy and satisfaction in all that you do. You WILL feel that God is pleased with you and your work. I know this is true because I've applied it in my own life!! I love this work, EVEN MORE SO NOW!!!

Love y'all

Elder Hixon

Hello Hello!

 
HELLO EVERYBODY

And yes I also understand that "hello everybody" mostly means my mom, my dad, maybe a few other family members and at least one amazing friend... and then me again in about 2 years when I read through all this stuff and maybe my kids down the line haha! But I'll still address it as though I was speaking to a group because why not right...? 

But okay last week there wasn't an email because basically we were doing service for an old lady. Her sister earlier that day had tried to kill her so the cops were there and we were moving her out. Then the cop left as we left but the old lady left her cell phone so we had to go back to the house without the cop and the sister again attempted to hurt her very bad. Luckily Elder Hixon was there to speak a little boldly in the situation and then catch the old lady before she hit the ground as she was shoved off of her porch by her sister... then the cops came back and lots of paper work and good stuff. So, yeah. I was busy around the time I normally email! Sorry! 

Let's catch you up to speed well. I moved areas to Fairfield Iowa. The worlds epicenter for Transcendental Meditation(maybe I spelled the first word wrong). Home of the Maharishi university so we get all kinds of people from all over the world who come to this place. Mostly Indians but still. There is some creepy stuff here because of it. All kinds of stories of ghosts and weird spirits because of how much meditation and weird ritual stuff goes on. In fact the goal in the practice is to eventually be able to meditate so well that you can levitate. And that you can help call world peace. They believe if you get enough people to mediate in a concentrated area you can help that area have peace. So they are trying hard world wide. It is a little sketch because of how over board it is. But the principle idea is good. Meditation is good I think. Mindfulness is another way of that I think. Taking 20 minutes a day to just stop what you're doing and focus on nothing. Clear your mind and just be still. I think it's got good principles. Might have to start picking it up while I'm here who knows;) 

My companions name is Elder Ray. He's from Ephraim, Utah and he is a work of art. He has some sort of acid reflex problem or something. He burps 24/7 and then the other day at a lesson he threw up because he ate too much. But he didn't even finish his plate, I was so confused. It was toward the end of the lesson so he held it in his mouth for about 5 minutes while I finished the talking and then we got out of there. It was so funny!. So yeah he's great!  He wants to do good and be obedient and that's all it takes to be awesome so I stinking love him. But I will be losing him tomorrow. Tomorrow I will get a new missionary to train again here in Fairfield. Yes I've only been here 2 weeks but it'll be an adventure. They are going to split Fairfield into 2 areas for now because of how many missionaries we are getting. So him and I will in fact separate. 2 quick weeks with Elder Ray. 

This new trainee will be comp #14 for me. In just a little over 13 months. I think I'm really setting records here just saying. Also 7 areas in the same amount of time. And 5 mission presidents. Oh yeah and 3 different mission assignments. So I guess that makes things kinda fun right? It makes me so grateful for our Heavenly Father. His plan is perfect for me! I've been able to learn and grow because of this path I've taken. And it all is because of repentance. Had there never been a need to repent my life would have looked a lot different. But there is always a need to repent! And I'm grateful God made it all workout in the end. He always does. As we do our part in trying to come closer to Jesus Christ, God works out the rest. He knows what is best for us. The amount of spiritual growth I've been able to receive these past 2 and a half years has been beyond amazing. I've met people I never would have met and established relationships that never would have been. Repent repent repent. I've never regretted it. And honestly I've only enjoyed doing it. It's never as hard or as bad as you think it is. That's Satan trying to trick you. Trying to scare you into not doing exactly what you need to do. REPENT! The time is now!!! I'm so grateful for a loving Savior who wants what is best for me. I hope you all will find something you could work on this week to be a little better and do a little better. And work it out. Figure it out! Repent gosh dang it. I know who the few people are that actually read these blogs and I love each of you guys so so much. So please repent!!!!!! I'm begging!

Love y'all! Conference is in 2 weeks #SOEXCITED

Elder Hixon! 

Transfers

Transfer week WOOT WOOT!! I will be leaving East Moline Illinois and am headed to Fairfield Iowa! I am super excited and in about 2 weeks I will have my comp leave me and will be receiving another opportunity to train a new missionary! I feel blessed with the opportunity to go forward with faith and to move the work forward there. Goodbyes are hard but ehhh. I didn't come out here to make friends, I came out to do the work! And it will go forth. And will bring me more joy than any friend I make on the mission. Yes I have made a lot of friends and really love the people I'm with, but saying goodbye to them for a cause as great as this work is easy:)

I've been thinking a lot about truth lately. I face timed my brother on Thursday after he has his baby, SHOUT OUT TO HYRUM PORTER HIXON, and we discussed a lot about truth. He told me about a parable and it goes like this:

There once was a man who was very good at knowing whether or not a dollar was counterfeit or not. So people put him to the test. They put bill after bill in front of him and had him tell them whether they were fake or not. After about 100 or so dollar bills, the man had answered everything perfectly. The people around him were bewildered and questioned him. "How can you know so much about counterfeit money?". His reply is the lesson to learn. He responds, "I don't. But I do know what is real". You see this man never studied counterfeit money, he ONLY studied the real dollar. Who know what a true dollar bill looked like and everything about it, so that when a fake one came he just knew it was fake because it wasn't like the real bill he has. 

Similarly, all we need to do in life is to better learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We don't need to read wrong stuff to be able to decipher what is truth and error. We just need to come closer to the light of Jesus Christ and as we do so, we will be able to see what is truth and what isn't. Focus on Jesus Christ! Focus on recieving personal revelation. So that when counterfeit ideas or thoughts come to you, you may know with a surety as the man who knew the dollar, that the ideas are wrong. 

I invite all of you to come closer this week to the source of all truth that is Jesus Christ. There is safety in knowledge! It will come to us much more clearly if we seek Him. The prophet's call to "Hear Him" has never been more important and more prevalent. Let us all do better and be better!!

Love y'all! Till Iowa!!

Elder Hixon