Hey All!

Hey all!!

This week has been wonderful. With it's challenges, but every week has challenges. And if a week goes without challenge, then we must be doing something wrong. So this week was good.

We went on 3 exchanges this week. I spent the night in Carrol, Hampton and Fort Dodge Iowa. We have done an exchange with every set of Elders in our zone except for 1 and we are doing an exchange with them this week. It has been loads of fun and has also been super beneficial. Our zone is doing things it has never done before. Last month our zone had 10 baptisms and we are looking pretty good for this month as well! We love being with other Elders and learning from them and teaching with them. So those were some highlights.

Elder Wilkes and I also enjoyed Valentines Day together. Hopefully this is the last Valentine's Day I spend as a missionary but in all reality who even knows haha! Maybe my mission ends up taking even longer;) We also were able to baptize Heather this weekend. We started teaching Heather my first week here in Ames and on the 2nd lesson invited her to be baptized about 3 or 4 weeks out and she walked herself right into the font. It was a much easier process than ones I've had in the past, namely Annette, Liz, and Stephen haha! She had a divorce last year and really has been trying to find her footing in this life and with God. My heart is so happy for this sweet woman and all she does to come closer to Christ and to help her children do the same. Heather is one who truly understands that God sends trials for our good. She has persevered and needs to keep doing so, and more and more rewards will be hers! I love Heather!!

We also were able to find a record new amount of people being taught in our area this week. And we did it without a SIM card for half of the week. AT&T and the church are struggling to come to an agreement with contracts for SIM cards so AT&T is kind of eliminating a lot of things and so our SIM card was the first to be eaten up. We didn't let that get us down too much tho. We've gotten very good at using the chorded phone in the church and finding wifi all around the city of Ames so we can still do Facebook work. And though losing a SIM card has made things very inconvenient and at times frustrating, I'm grateful! It tests our commitment to still plug along and still do what needs to be done. And, we've been able to get creative! And I love it.

That's basically all my week has been. Hopefully this is a better update than what I've given in past emails. I'll be better! I leave for Brazil in 11 days so that is wild. Hopefully when I get there I'll be better about these again like I was when I was there.

I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the love He offers me. Due to a -40 degree Sabbath, church was cancelled and we were unable to partake of the Sacrament this week and we weren't given permission from our misison President. It is something I really look forward to, so not partaking of those emblems has been hard. But even still, I know God knows and understands my circumstance and blesses me even still. I look forward to the next Sabbath and the chance to renew covenants. Until then, we march forward:)

Love you all! Stay warm!!

Elder Hixon 

P. S. If you look, the Midwest is the coldest place on earth rn. Just saying... from AZ to the coldest place rn. And I'm serious. Antarctica is like 10 degrees and it's been stuck below zero for a solid couple of days lol