Call me Phil!

Thank you all so much for my birthday emails, cakes, packages and wishes. It made for the best day!!

Another week and time is flying by too quickly, but like every week, I'm learning more and more about aligning my will with God's and going forward with faith. For a week and a half, here's been the daily.

4:55 wake up 

5-6 study

6-7 workout and run

7-7:30 district pickleball 

7:30-11 get ready, eat, personal study, daily plan, companion study

11-9 proselyting

9-10 workout

10-10:30 get ready for bed and go to sleep 

With this schedule I felt like I was doing what was right working my hardest to accomplish what I wanted to do within God's parameters. What I'm learning is that God can only work miracles where we put forth faith. Ether 12:12 teaches us that. So with that in mind and a little spiritual prompting I adjusted the daily to this. 

6:30-7 wake up and run

7-7:30 district pickleball 

7:30-11 get ready, eat, personal study, daily plan, companion study

11-9 proselyting

9-10 workout

10-10:30 get ready for bed and go to sleep 

And we have seen so many miracles this week because of some very minor adjustments. So let's dive in.

Monday- We played basketball basically all day after I had the chance to talk to my family. Then we found 3 new friends! Which is crazy and it was all in the last 2 hours of proselyting. We went out in the rain and hoped that God would see our efforts and he did. But while we were in the rain the people were quite rude. It wasn't until after that we found our friends.

Tuesday- We had district council again (it's a snooze but I am trying to be attentive) and then we went out and we were able to get in touch with a lot of our friends who we had stopped teaching in the past because we haven't been able to get in touch with them. It was pretty cool! We met this guy named Rocky and we set up a follow up appointment through the window. We had bible study and after we taught our friend Dreagen about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation. He's elect he just doesn't know it yet. He keeps his commitments so I trust that the spirit will work on him.

And then we put Mateo on date!! He asked me to baptize him on the 28th at 2pm! It was all over the phone because he is still in Texas with his mom.

Wednesday-We taught our friend Raymond over the phone with Cody Jenks (who was my brother Chip's mission companion and lives here in Minot) and the spirit was so strong. We called both of them and just put the phones by each other and it's a miracle they talked to each other perfectly! Then we went out with a YSA in the ward named Lincoln and found 2 new friends. People are out there waiting to be taught we just have to find them. After that we had dinner with the Eagle family and it was so fun. They lived in Arizona for a bit so that was awesome. 

Thursday- We did service at Matthew 25 where the owner lives right by us and has a gym barn. So we will be using that every chance we get. Bye bye pickleball haha. There was a blood drive at the church and I gave blood for the first time. We then went knocking and met this guy named Edwin who says he's a soldier for Christ. He's not a big fan of unified religion. But he took a Book of Mormon and might come to bible study. He's trying to save our souls by helping us make our own choices and not having to listen to our elders. That did make me think of one thing. It taught me that I don't need to always cite my sources when I testify, I can just stand firmly and say what I believe because Christ has manifested it to me. So it was a blessing in disguise. After that we had institute where it's always so fun and we have friends there so we get to stay.

Friday- THE EXCHANGE. So before we get exchanged Elder Lambert and I went to a guy's house named Sean who I'd never gotten in with before and all of the sudden we teach a huge message and I'm able to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon and give it to him. I'm so happy he accepted it. Then the exchange happens and I get to work with Elder busby. He's awesome! *side note* every male companionship in our zone had someone from Arizona. Elder Busby is from Tucson. Elder Holliday is from Peoria and Elder Stock is from Mesa. So Elder Busby and I go out and teach Raymond again and it was so awesome. He has such a strong testimony and it just brings light to my life. He's like a spiritual recharge for me. We then helped this lady move and went to MSU to the college campus to contact. We just walk around campus and talked to people. We helped these ladies take down this pottery event then met a man named Abu. He speaks only French so I used google translate and he said he'd be interested in a message about Jesus another time. We then talked to this guy named Caleb who is a youth pastor. We talked to his wife a lot so it was good to talk to them. We then went to sports night where no one showed up and we were pretty bummed out, so to lift out spirits we went to the grocery store to contact/make pazookies. We were wayyy past curfew when we exchanged back. It was totally my fault. But its all good. 

Saturday- We got back in with Rocky and taught about the Book of Mormon briefly and gave him a copy. Then after a lot of doors not opening we went on the road to go check on a friends house for them while they were out of town. On our way there we went to a couple of small towns and knocked doors for no one to answer or for them to say no. And when I say small towns I mean the only community building is a Lutheran church. It's probably a 2 mile radius town. We then met a guy in our friend's small town and he also took a Book of Mormon. He was super nice. Finally Mateo came home!! Finally he is back in Minot and we've seen him for  the past three days and it's been awesome. We have been planning his baptism. I'm so happy for him!

Sunday- We had church and it was good. Sundays we spend a lot of time studying and then we got to a few lessons and at nights we knock a little. They are still days of work but I feel that it's not the best to bang down random people's doors or bother members on Sundays because that's family day. So we try to have a lot of set lessons and make sure we are ready for next week. Raymond sadly did not come to church. He slept in but we were able to teach him again. Brother Jenks came again and it's always so awesome teaching Raymond. We then went to a YSA dinner and we talked to Mateo more about baptism. 

Now it's Monday and we are going to celebrate Elder Falkner's birthday!! So wish me luck, I'm baking a cake for him. I love all of you guys and I love it here! I'm gonna miss Minot when I have to leave but I will go where the Lord wants me to go! If I've learned anything so far it's that missionary work is two things. one, be the hardest working missionary you can and two, have the highest expectations with incredibly unrealistic faith. Because God does work miracles. I know that personally.

Love you all!

Elder Hixon