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 

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