I Love Where I Am!

Things are actually going. People are coming out of their winter dens, being a little more friendly. Not much in the way of new investigators that we're finding in the streets, but there is a man named Joseph who we've been teaching. He's really cool, he speaks English pretty alright, Serbian and Hungarian. This part of Northen Serbia is called Vojvodina, and like half the people I meet are half Hungarian, so that's pretty common. We actually have 2 of our strongest members are half Hungarian (Eržebet and Dragana).  Anyways, Joseph has been an investigator for a long time without much progress. I picked him up again with Elder Bolan, and he's been to church now 2 weeks straight, and he is keeping his Book of Mormon reading commitments, and I'm finding a lot out about him as he is opening up more than ever. He's an older man, divorced with a daughter who is autistic. The last lesson we had with him we found out that he is still a happy guy, but happiness has gone down as he's gotten older, he says it was up in the clouds, but it slowly descends, he fears death, but accepts it in a sense of "everything must fall away and stand still, and then whatever happens next must be something completely new, as for what it is, I don't know." I switched into Serbian at this point so there would be no misunderstanding and I testified simply to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ (in a way that I now see everything in life like Elder Wilson taught me), about faith in a resurrection, about repentance being a renewal of things which have become corrupted or fallen away, and I promised him that I knew there would be a resurrection and that we could be brought higher even now in terms of happiness and cleanliness, and that we didn't have to be afraid. It was more simple and elegant than that, but you get the point. We committed him to read in the Book of Mormon, and to come to church the next day. He did both, and we taught about baptism in Sunday School from the 4th chapter of the New Testament manual. It was a very powerful lesson. We are meeting with him tonight and with Dragana with us, and we intend to read 2 Nephi 9 with him.

He's great. I am seeing a light turn on in him, and I really think he will be baptized. He's a good man.

(Stephen sent Jake these two pics of the boys and their friends from last Monday where they hung out and had family night with us, excuse the laundry being folded :) The following paragraph was in response to that)

It sounds like a beehive is moving over there, and the soldiers are getting to work. The pictures of the boys, both in battle physically and then around the family room, brought tears to my eyes. Remember that fast you told me that you and Marcus Leopard and those other few deacons had, with the prayer to see growth? It's comparable to Abraham wanting seed, and then being the father of the entire house of Israel, at least in magnitude. Look at these young men, and those that look up to and are following close on their heels. You won't find a battalion of young men stronger in the Lord than these anywhere on the planet. I would say that that force will be that force spoken of in Isaiah and the Doctrine and Covenants, of "the strength of (the Lord's) house, yea, even (His) young men" that he sends out and calls upon to thrash the nations.  You look at all the men in the world, how many of them are keeping covenants? And what percent of that number have their minds set on giving their all for the next 2 years in straight, exhausting and selfless service in which they will gain nothing as far as material gain? It's a small number, yet your home was full of them that night. I'm so honored and humbled to be in the war on this end, and yet I accept that my time as a soldier in the trenches is numbered now to 100 days, and I will soon be on the other end of the battle, in trenches just as deep if I choose, training young men to fight in this battle. And there's nothing I'd rather do, there is no better calling than serving the Lord and bringing others to Him. No matter the means or the way or the battlefield.

I'm ready to receive the blessings of Chip being out here. I still pray it's here, but I can't be too selfish, perhaps there is another nation that needs a Hixon brother to love them, like I love the Serbians. But I can still pray he is sent here.

Things are moving fast and this week marks the first of my friends to return home from their mission. Wyatt going home is a hard lump to swallow. Exciting as it is for all of us to get back and be...returned missionaries?!....and be together again, these new, adult creatures with these experiences that have changed us forever, to go on further in life and have more adventures, it's still the close of a chapter. And you know me, I hate chapters closing, no matter how good the next one is going to be, and no matter how hard the current one has been. But I've gotten a lot better at accepting change, moving with it. So yeah, sweet that he's finishing. We'll all be finished soon, but I still have more days to work out here, so I can't think too much about it.  

Among all of the life changing decisions I've made, those "defining moments" that President Layton talks about, one that I rank in the top area of those that I'm grateful for is the choice that I made in December to stay and not come home for surgery. Not going home, even though my hand still gives me troubles....I can't even explain how much I've gained and how much I've been blessed to see others grow here. People I'd have never met, never helped, people and experiences that have changed who I am, all those would've been nonexistent had mom not convinced me to push through it. So, thank you Mom. I'll be ever grateful and in your debt (more than I am :) ). I wouldn't change any of it. Every sacrifice has been worth it, and in the end not even comparable to the blessings. I love where I am, what I am doing, and who I am becoming.

I love you all,

Elder Hixon