Well I made it to London! What a journey it has been. It took me over a year to get here but this is the time I need to be here, however, I don't quite know why yet. In North Dakota you could guess a few reasons why I was there, but here I am learning day by day. I am in what's called the Hayes area and the work is FAST! We have a few baptisms next week and 4 the week after if everyone keeps their commitments.
Back to Hercules, Phil is singing throughout, Hercules is training, and once again I'm in trio training so this is going to be a party. Elder Moss and Elder Petersen are my trainers and they're pretty great.
A few days ago I was reading in Alma 39 and Alma is chewing out (kind of) Corianton for leaving the ministry to chase after the Harlot Isabel. In verse 7 Alma says,
"And now, my son, I would to God that ye had not been guilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good"
This taught me something. In life we sin, that's the nature of man. God, like Alma, wishes we didn't, but when we use Christ's Atonement to bind our hearts to God we are able to use the very thing that is keeping us away from God to build an unshakable Jacob like testimony. That is the miracle of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Not only does it let us be with Heavenly Father again, it takes the very thing that kept us away from Him and uses it to bind us to him. To give him all our heart. There was a BYU speech given not too long ago by Shima Baughman called "Giving all our Heart to Christ". She brought up a lot of amazing points, but one point I loved is a saying in the middle east, Gahl Bal Nadira (idk how to spell it) but it means there is no equivalent to you. If you say to your friend "I like your shoes" they would say "Gahl Bal Nadira" and try to give them to you. Christ is constantly saying "Gahl Bal Nadara!" He mourns over a sparrow falling to the ground but you are worth more than many sparrows. He wants you. There is no price equal to you. There IS no equivalent to YOU. Be you and be Christ's!
This week was amazing I love the work here! Left off at Tuesday last week so we are gonna start with Wednesday!
Wednesday- I got off the plane with 2 hours of sleep at 7am, and my phone time didn't switch over so I was so lost all day hahaha! But I met the mission president who is so powerful with the spirit! He is like a coach, he knows his players and he knows his goal! I went to a district council with a random district because my companions weren't there yet. I then met my companions Elder Moss and Elder Petersen. They are super hard working and after eating food we took an hour train ride home and got right to work. After going home we went to a high street (a place with lots of footwork) and we invite everyone to church and try to text them the address so we can get their numbers. It's pretty successful because there are so many foreigners who just want a church to go to. After that we went to the church where we taught all of our lessons over the phone. In between lessons we call any contacts we got or any referrals. We then went home and I was mooching off them all week because I had no food yet.
Thursday- We had district council. I'm going to have to learn to love that meeting. Just my luck to have two in two days in Slough and that is another hour of transport there and an hour back. We invited people to church while we traveled but we went straight to the church to teach lessons and reach out to our friends. Elder Moss and Elder Petersen contact every number. They have of a progressing friend every day!
Friday- We had exchanges! But first we had lots of service. We built a shed for sister Warburtons. Then we helped this sister named Sister Roswell move her son out of his apartment. We then dropped Elder Petersen off with the zone Leader and we picked up Elder Terua. He's the 5th best boxer in Fajiti so we got along super well. He's so funny! Then we went contacting on the streets again. After that we taught lessons at the church went home and Elder Terua made this stake broccoli and rice dish for us. It was super good! Oh also, on Friday I called elder Hansen from my MTC group and Elder Arrington, also from the MTC, sent me a referral.
Saturday- I had to say goodbye to Elder Terua and we got Elder Petersen back. Before that, we cleared a garden for a sister named Stephanie, then we went street finding and taught at the church again!
Sunday- We woke up and left to church early. Elder Petersen made contact with two Hindu monks who wanted to come early to church and learn about Christianity. They are awesome! But they leave for India next month and then move to America. Turns out Hindus gave 2 branches of religion. One that gets married and the other that abstains from any wants and only focuses on the needs of the body.
Then we went to sacrament and so many of our friends pulled up. After a friend's first Sunday, Elder Moss and Elder Petersen teach them a lesson by the font and put them on date for baptism right then and there! They set it as a goal for the person to be ready and meet with us enough by that time. It's so cool!
Now we are at Monday. Days are moving fast! I feel like I have the hang of things here and I want to stay for a while. But this is exactly what I've been asking for. I didn't want a car in England and we don't have one. I didn't want to be by a bunch of missionaries, I wanted to be on the outskirts and we are as far as you can get in the M25. The M25 is a rail way (or freeway I don't know) and all of the areas in there are central England London Mission. Outside is different, so I've heard but obviously have no clue. I miss my friends in the NDBM but God is looking out for me here. I love all of you so much! Thanks for reading until the end!
Elder Hixon
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