Goodbye Iowa!

Last week in Iowa!! I am very ready for this to end haha! I know that I am called to the work and am assigned to labor so I am technically not called to serve in Brazil... but I can still be excited. To be able to have a third chance at this! I want to be a better missionary this time than I have my last two times. Mini new goals have already began to form in my head and I am very ready to go and try to achieve them. I am so excited to be emersed in Portuguese! I love the people of Brazil and my heart aches to be there again to strengthen them and learn from them! Again, my heart is grateful and excited!

This last week was a bit slower. Maybe it is because my thoughts have been on Brazil for a greater portion of my week, but wow. We still are living a life without a SIM card which was not the so hard last week but this week it has proved to be might difficult. We have been in very tight communication with other missionaries so that we can text them messages to text to the people we are teaching. Haha it is a big mess. I am excited for the Ames missionaries here to have a SIM card come Tuesday. Oh! That reminds me, transfers are this week. Elder Wilkes will be staying here in Ames and will get a new companion. I will be going up to Iowa City for the week as I work out covid tests and things like that to get me ready to ship out on Friday.

This week I want to talk a little bit about what I learned from Asia! Her name is really Ashlyn, but they all call her Asia! I will send a picture with Elder Wilkes and I with their sweet family. The Morris family is a family with 8 kids and Asia is the youngest and is adopted. This family has done a lot with working with foster kids and has actually recently taken in an 18 year old son who was disowned by his family for leaving the rLDS church and joining our church. They are a VERY kind and loving family. They have been there for us since the day I got to Ames! So there is back story to the family and now let us jump to Asia. Asia is the only black kid they have. But, Asia is the happiest girl in the world. She is 4 years old and by being with the family for the past 6 weeks I have noticed a few things about her.

#1- Asia giggles and laughs about EVERYTHING. I have never seen her cry. Even after taking BIG falls while rollerblading or not getting what she wanted. She just giggles and laughs.
#2- Asia compliments. It is so cool! Every Sunday before our missionary moment with the family we go around the room and do the highlights for the week. Each time we have all had a highlight that was usually about food or an activity or something going well in our personal lives. Asia though, she ALWAYS said her highlight was someone else in the family. Her highlight was always one of her siblings or her parents. And she would laugh and giggle talking about how nice they were or how fun it was to play with them.
#3- Asia loves the gospel. She told me so many times how much she wanted to go on a mission or visit the temple. She has her priorities straight!
When I told them I was leaving Asia gave me the biggest hug ever! She ran up a couple stairs and then jumped from them right into my arms. Of course, as a missioanry you are not really supposed to be huggng children, but my heart just melted. I have learned from Asia the importance of being happy! The importance of positivtiy and the joy in laughter. I want to laugh more! I want to love my siblings more and have my eyes set more firmly on my temple covenants and my calling as a missionary. I love little Asia and I want one day to come back to Ames Iowa and visit this sweet family!

So I guess I do not have a whole lot to teach or testify of. I just know that laughing is funner and a life of covenants is more fulfilling. I love y'all! Let us all pray my Covid test comes back negative or I am going to quit on the mission and come home!!!

Elder Hixon

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 

Miracles!

This week was AWESOME!!! We continued to find more people to teach and have been trying to stay focused. We went to MLC on Tuesday in Iowa City and on Friday we packed it up and went to Mason City for the night to do some exchanges with the Elders up there! On Wednesday we met as a zone and we were able to have a fun council, basically just about the stuff that happened at MLC. It was way fun! I really enjoyed being at these different gatherings and being with more people and learning so much!! I love being in a position to learn more I really do!!!

Through a series of miracles I am so excited to be headed back to Brazil on February 26th. The short story is that in order for me to return to Brazil I need a blue card (basically a social security type card for Brazil). They issue these to missionaries in Brazil, but for some reason when I was there I did not get one. When I found out that I couldn't go back without a blue card I knew there was no hope. I was heart broken. Little did I know, behind the scenes President Horsley and my parents were working and praying and doing everything they could to help me return to Brazil. But even with that I had no blue card. After all searching and efforts were exhausted even President and my parents realized that I was not going to get to return. And then a miracle happened. As i was told, one day President had an impression to look in these random files to see if they could find anything. And would you believe that in that file there was a blue card for me! With my name on it! I have no idea how that should have happened as I never got a blue card, but somehow the Lord saw fit that there was one provided. None of us know how it happened but it doesn't matter because the miracle DID happen and I am headed back to my beloved Brazil.

I know that God loves each of us. I feel the most undeserving of such a miracle, I feel like I already threw away my chances of being in Brazil. But that's not how God works. Our chances can not be thrown away. The grace of God is real and can give us the chances we didn't think we had anymore. There is no possible way to mess up too much and lose all. Turns out, you really can't lose what you have if you turn back to God. Eventually all things that we desire in righteousness will be ours. This is a promise from Jeffery R. Holland! An apostle of God!! I'm so grateful for this truth that I've been able to experience these blessings this week. I love growing up and experiencing things. I love growing my testimony. I'm happy!

Stay strong and patiently wait on the Lord for what you righteously desire!!

Love y'all

Elder Hixon!!

The Best Who Had Ever Lived

 This week was eventful. This weekend was somber and full of emotion. 

I celebrated turning 21 on Wednesday which was fun. We visited a Brazillian little hole on the wall place and I ate some Brazillian food. Besides facetiming my family that night, the Brazillian place was my favorite part of the week. It was just a good time go eat food and pretend to be in Brazil. Though of course the place wasn't anything like Brazil... I enjoy pretending. We've found out a little more with missionaries going back to my mission and it's just about certain that I will not go back. Which is a BIG bummer. But, it's what's being asked of me so it's okay:) 

The work is going good. Living in Ames Iowa and things are starting to blast off. We are super excited for this area. This area has been dead for over 2 years and I'm just not about that haha! So we are working harder than ever to make things happen. We actually have a girl getting baptized that we taught everything and she's solid but turns out she lives just outside of our area... so oof that was a bummer. But it sparked life into my companion and he feels like baptizing here is possible now so that's good!! We are excited!

In some regards I wanted to address the more somber events of this past weekend. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this already knows the events that happened. But I want to in some ways just dump some thoughts that have been on my mind this past weekend. My heart aches and I mourn with our dear Murset family. To lose Jayson at the age of 16 is devastatingly hard. And as I was thinking much about Jayson's swift passing I wondered what it would have been like to be an early saint and to hear about the death of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. I then began to think the same for Peter, Paul, and all the apostles of that time. What must it have felt like to hear that news. When a life is cut short it stings and can leave lasting effects. And many many many people whom we look up to had their lives cut short. So Jayson is in a group of amazing men. And that's something to remember. That not everyone lives life to grow old and die, and some of the most amazing men ever to live on this earth got their life cut short. So, Jayson is our hero! I'm so grateful for the Murset family and I'm grateful for Jayson. My testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the power and reality of the Gift of the Holy Ghost has been strengthened this week. I'm grateful for hard things that God gives us so we can learn and grow! Sometimes these mountains to climb get mighty steep, and the trail gets slippery, but we can always prevail with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ

Love you all! To echo the words of Bryson, "Hug your loved ones tight. Because you just never know" 

Elder Hixon 

Brock Purdy

Here we are in Ames Iowa. My area is the second smallest in the mission. It actually doesn't even cover the campus or student housing. It basically covers where all the staff live like the professors and stuff. So it's almost the campus life but just not quite. The campus is literally 5 minutes from our house though. We actually toured with one of the people we are teaching a little bit of the music department. She's the organ professor at the college and so she let us play this massive organ and she showed us different tricks and helped us make music. It was so much fun. We learned a lot about the organ and the origins of it and things like that. We also got to play the harpsichord that they have on campus there and it was so cool. Basically the harpsichord is the mother to the guitar. It came first. But the concept is pretty similar. Where piano has hammers that strike strings the harpsichord has little things that pluck the strings after keys are pressed. So it's like a guitar/piano combo. It is really neat! 

My companion is Elder Wilkes. He's from El Paso Texas and is THE MAN! I love this guy. He will go home one transfer before me. So it is fun to be with someone who has very similar missionary time/experience as me. Training for the past 5 transfers has been fun but there is definitely a difference when your companion can lead out and help with teaching. He's a rock and I'm super grateful to be with him. 

This area hasn't baptized in 2 years! It has been a drought. So... we did exchanges with some other Elders and me and the other Elder were teaching a girl in our area and I popped the baptismal invitation and she's getting baptized on the 13th of February! Hopefully we can end the drought!!! That'd be such a miracle and really is something that this ward could use. This ward struggles with any desire to help with the missionary work. Actually it's the stake as a whole. My companions and I were able to be at a Stake Missionary Correlation meeting on Sunday with the Stake President and his counselors and our mission President and the stake just tries to find every excuse to not help. Oh it's just the worst. Haha but I am excited to work closely with this stake and the leaders of the stake. I think one analogy that could help a lot of people is about someone with high blood pressure. This analogy is for people who love to hide behind the phrase, "We need to remember the numbers are people and we can't only care about the numbers". Basically if you have someone who walks into the doctors office going in for a checkup and the doctor examines them and says that the numbers show that the guy has high blood pressure and that he needs to do certain things to lower those numbers. Then the man complains and throws his hands in the air saying "Doc I'm trying to get healthy here and all you want to talk about are the numbers!". It's honestly pretty idiotic of the man to complain to the doctor about being told the numbers of it. And it's the same with missionary work. Number represent people of course. They are amazing indicators set up by church head quarters to help us achieve what we need to acheive. So with this stake, it's something they could really work on because they hate talking about "the numbers". 

That was a big rant for no reason at all haha! I'm happy and healthy and excited to keep working here in Ames. The reason the title of this email is Brock Purdy is because he is the Iowa State Cyclones quarterback and I scrimmaged against him back during high school football. We got talking with the bishop of the ward here and turns out Brock works for him! So we might have a lesson at some point with D1 QB Brock Purdy from Gilbert AZ! It's pretty fun. I think the only 2 people that would appreciate it would be my dad and Parker Nuzman. 

Well I love you all! Help your missionaries out! Try to lift them! Big Happy Birthday to both my Dad and my brother Jake who has birthdays this past week! 2 of my greatest heroes!!!

Elder Hixon 

Ames, Ames, Ames!

I have got about zero time today. I know I've been awful about writing these past couple weeks. But today I have a real excuse. I'm leaving Fairfield and in the process it's been a little crazy. I'm headed to Ames Iowa!!! Woot woot!! I'm super excited to go and meet more people and experience the joy of change and goal setting. New transfer=new goals! I love it! Elder Anderson is staying here and will get another comp that just finished training so hopefully Fairfield doesn't burn to the ground!;)

This week was good. We were seeking out inactive people in our ward and knocked our way into an older woman who lives at home with her daughter. They had us come in and then I was forced to play their organ so we could all "sing praises to Jesus" were the words of the daughter. It was a ball of fun haha! They are great people. But very VERY crazy. But that's nothing new for the floating people of Fairfield Iowa. I'm kind of glad to maybe get a little bit of normalcy in my new area. Ames Ames Ames!!! 

Quick good scripture is Mormon 9:17!! God is a God of miracles. If you find yourself looking for a miracle in your life, better become more faithful because that's the catalyst for miracles. In fact the bible dictionary tells us that once faith ceases, miracles cease as well! 

But yes, onto Ames! I'll write better next week I promise!!

SEE YA!

Love,

Elder Hixon 

Choices and Consequences

Well happy holidays and all that good stuff. I'm not sure when the last time I wrote. Maybe 2 weeks ago which would mean I missed all the holidays. But that's okay! I have found it harder to write emails as frequently. I believe this is reason we get Nephi jumping from like mid 20s-30s to his age of 60 or 70 in his life in the Book of Mormon. In the thick of it it's just difficult to have the desire. The beginning and the end is easy though(and okay maybe I'm over exaggerating and I know Nephi wasn't writing down what was going down in real time but just have fun with me here!).

Christmas Eve was single digit weather and with the wind chill it was -11. So it was COLD. We took boiling water and threw it in the air and watched it evaporate in the air... I think it evaporates... right? I'm using the correct stage in the water cycle? Whatever it is it definitely vanished.

Christmas was awesome though! I so much appreciated all the Christmas cards I received from aunts and uncles and my family and grandparents! (and yes Murline you are one of my grandparents I'm so grateful for you and love you so much!!) And also can't forget about the Owens' family! So so grateful. We all bought each other gifts here as well. Elder Anderson bought me pair of led lights with a remote that can change colors haha. It's fun we can now have disco dance parties.

New Years Eve and New Years were slow. We had normal work days but not a soul wanted to talk to us haha. But! The day before we were able to baptize Steven Downs. It was wonderful to be a part of that whole process. It was kind of a quick turn around and a mid week baptism. The decision was made Monday night, interview was Tuesday and baptism Wednesday. It really was so great. I'm so blessed to have been able to see 4 people come to the waters of baptism during my time here in Fairfield. Since September! The Lord is merciful and is extending His hand to many people at this time!!

I am so grateful for the new year. New Year's Resolutions are so fun!!! It feels so real and so doable. The hope and the drive that comes around this time of year to make changes and to be better is my favorite. I've made some more goals and am so very excited to do my best to achieve them. Making and striving to achieve goals is joyful. If we never set goals in life then we have no direction!

I want to share something I learned this week. President Sturm gave a devotional about this in regards to the Fall of Adam and Eve. Too often in the church we claim that Satan's "plan" was to force us to do good so that we would return to live with God. That is a wrong claim. If we read from the book of Moses we see what Satan really aimed to do... Satan says he would "Redeem ALL mankind that not one soul would be lost". In essence, Satan would take consequence out of choice. He would take away law. Christ redeems us as we exercise faith and repentance and make and keep covenants. Satan was not like that. He wanted to take away agency but not by taking our choices away but by taking consequence away. He's the same being he's always been. That's his work now. He wants us to believe in the unfairness of consequence. He wants us to leave consequence aside and do whatever we choose to do. I believe true freedom is choosing to do God's work and further His purposes. It yields the most liberating consequences and helps us grow the most. I just love this truth. Agency and freedom requires certain things to happen. They are-

• The ability to choose
• Opposition
• Law
• Knowledge of Good and Evil

So if you want to be more free and exercise more agency, learn the laws of God. Learn about opposition. Read 2 Nephi chapter 2! It very clearly defines these very things. Understand what is good, and what is evil. Sometimes it is difficult in the small things but I was reading a book recently written by Ronald A. Rasband and he talked about how when we are keeping our covenants, our relationships with other people will improve. But as we begin to disregard our sacred covenants, we will notice relationships around us begin to crumble and fall. So in an aid to better find out what is good vs. what is evil, look around yourself. How are your relationships? How they are will be a good indicator of if you are choosing the good. And we NEED to allow ourselves and other people the freedom to choose. They can choose to do as they want. There are consequences for choices but it is not our place to 100% restrict someone's ability to choose. That defeats agency and frustrates the plan of God.

Just a few thoughts from this week! I'm grateful to be here in Iowa! Fairfield Iowa is the bomb. Transfers are next week so I might be gone before long but who knows!

Love y'all!

Elder Hixon 

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