My new companion´s name is Elder McKane...seems like a super super awesome guy. He´s got 7 months in the mission, and he´s from Utah. My utah companions have all been super sweet, seems like he fits right in! To describe him...you know that one friend we all had, who was super white but on the inside he´s really just a brotha with sooooouuuulll? Or, as I remember hearing in Remember The Titans, "Just anotha child in God´s lovin family".
That´s my comp! Tall, white, super good at break dancing, likes all music but has a sweet spot for Ragae, Regaton, and Rap. Triple threat! I´m pretty excited to work with him here in Las Americas, excited to see what I am able to learn from him and excited to see how he will bless this ward. All is well.
My last week with Elder Canaán was a good one, we were able to sit down after our studies one day and just reorganize and reevaluate the work we´ve done and the work we felt like we needed to do in our last week together. We were able to clean out the Area Book and refocus ourselves on what it was that The Lord wanted us to accomplish, and we were able to set goals and organize our thoughts and ideas on how to accomplish those goals. Thursday, in the rain, we were able to find Jaime! Let me introduce you guys:
Jaime is a joven who´s 16 years old, and he´s got a pretty complicated life. We found him by contacting on Thursday. We had gone to a street that Elder Canaán hadn´t contacted in a while, and at one of the houses, this 13 year old girl answered the door and we started talking to her. Her 10 year old friend came out shortly after, and introduced herself. She said she lived close by, and she lives with her family.
"There are 6 kids in my family."
"Oh wow! And you guys all live close by?"
"No...my dad doesn´t live with us. My older sister lives with her boyfriend, my older brother is in jail. By 4 of us live with my mom. But it´s okay because my mom lets me come here everyday"
I wouldn´t call this a typical family we find in contacts...but it´s not that uncommon, either. A single mom with one child in jail or living with the boyfriend/girlfriend (or both), if there´s a dad...there´s a chance that he is either addicted to alcohol, has another woman and kids in another area, or abandoned the family some time ago.
President Cook once said that The Savior has a particular love and interest for lost and broken things...I have been able to feel a love towards lost and broken things here in Chile, too. This little girl explained what her house looked like, and we went over to contact it. It was cold outside, and it looked like a rainstorm was about to break, so we hurried over and shouted "Alo!" at the gate.
Out comes Jaime. He listened as we introduced ourselves, and listened as we shared The Message of The Restoration. He seemed interested as we shared with him The Book of Mormon, and when we offered him his own book, he said "Para mí? Gratis?"
"Sí!"
"Wow...encantado. Muchas gracias."
We were able to set up another appointment to come over the next day, and were able to talk more about The Book of Mormon and The Plan of Salvation. Really really cool kid. He wasn´t able to make it out to church on Sunday, but I´m hoping that he will be able to come and participate of the peace and renewed strength that I feel when I am able to go to church and partake of The Sacrament.
Love you all!
-Elder Hixon
