Wrongs to Bests

Another week(or 3 since I last wrote) down! Things are moving along here in Paraisopolis. We sent Elder Krett to Caucaia and I received Elder Lima. Elder Lima and Elder Krett might just be polar opposites. Elder Krett never turns off his mouth and it seems Elder Lima does not know how to turn his on haha. It has been good. They are both so great and I have been learning lots from them. 

We are on the brink of helping a little group of people get baptized. It has been fun. A journey to be with them and literally walk them along this path. We are almost there! To the first big step. Kauã and Estela are getting baptized this Saturday and Fatima, Chiquinho, and Heloiza will be baptized next Saturday. So it should be a good 2 weeks going forward. We have transitioned into receiving our lunches from the Panamby ward this month... which wow. Because we cover 2 wards we do 1 month in one ward and 1  month in the other. And wow. Panamby is fancccyyyyy. Like fancier than most houses I have walked into in my life haha. We went from favela fun to primpy panamby. And maybe primpy is a bad word to use because it has a negative connotation. But seriously, these people have money and their houses are awesome haha. And they are still so humble and dedicated to the Lord. 

There really is not anything huge that happened this week out here. Just another week of teaching others about Christ. But I have been thinking a lot about the magnitude and infiniteness of Christ's Atonement recently. I have learned and will forever keep learning, that as we take full advantage of Christ's Atonement, any "wrong decision" we make, can appear to be the best decision that could have happened. This idea may be a little tricky to understand so I want to give a few examples...

Adam and Eve. What was contrary to God's commandments(partaking of the forbidden fruit) was a choice that turned into, for all of us in existence, the best choice for Adam and Eve to have chosen. Because of that choice, we are here on the earth. But that choice only became the "best choice" for them because there was a Savior sent and Adam and Eve believed that and took full advantage of His Atonement. 

Alma the Younger. He chose many wrong decisions in his life and as we know was visited by the angel and had a bit of a 3 day conversion. He during the 3 days, caught hold of the teachings of his father about Jesus Christ and his Atonement. In Alma 36 we can read what this experience did for Alma. he says in verse 24, "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto ^arepentance; that I might bring them to ^btaste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be ^cborn of God, and be ^dfilled with the Holy Ghost."  Because of his wrong decisions, he had an experience that changed his life forever and helped him to become who the Lord needed him to become. One of the greatest Book of Mormon missionaries ever. Even one who was given the blessing to be translated like Moses was. Do you think his zeal to preach the Gospel would have been the same, had he not made bad mistakes previously? His bad mistakes were transformed into choices that were essential to aiding him into being what he was. In my perspective, these choices became the best choices he could have made, because he took full advantage of Christ's Atonement. 

My parents. My mother wrote a little bit about her experience recently on Facebook. She writes, "This morning we wrapped up a week at Bear Lake with our sweetest children and grandchildren. Stephen shared some small thoughts right before we prayed and we said our goodbyes. We prayed for our boy who wasn’t with us and we all cried because we miss him so much. It’s our anniversary today. Stephen told our kids that most of our anniversaries have landed right in the middle of family vacations and we wouldn’t have it any other way. This one was special though. To look around at so much love built over the years this week was priceless. Once upon a time there were two young kids that got themselves into just enough trouble when they were together. But their love was bigger than their choices. And more importantly, so was Gods! To think that those two could be living a life full of so much joy today is a testament to anyone that there is always hope. If you’re not happy in your situation or pleased with your choices, you can change. There is ALWAYS hope in a joyful tomorrow. We are a testimony of that. Oh how we love this little family! Today has been a perfect day to reflect on that with the man who holds my heart." My parents' took full advantage in their lives of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And they are still taking full advantage of Christ's Atonement. Any decisions they might have made that they felt unhappy with became decisions that have been essential in shaping them into who they needed to become. I would say, those choices were best for them to make because of Jesus Christ.

And me. My life choices have not been the most stellar at times. I made some poor decisions in my youth (I am 21 now so officially not a youth). But as I have taken full advantage of Christ's Atonement, I have been blessed to now be able to see those wrong decisions, as the best decisions for me. Again, because of Jesus Christ and His never ending mercy. These decisions have shaped my mission to become what it has been. Had I given a more stellar performance, I would have left on my mission in 2018 and come home in 2020 with no real hiccups. But, because of my decisions, I started in 2019, came home for a bit, went back out, came home again for a bit, and then went back out for a third time. With all kinds of hiccups and bumps along the way. But, looking back I am so grateful for what my life has been. I am so grateful for a Savior who makes it possible for me to be okay with my imperfections. Because in that, I am allowing His perfection to right my wrongs. He, in His loving kindness and infinite mercy, has allowed me to see my wrong decisions as essential stepping stones on my path back home. They have become the best decisions for me because they have helped me lean on my Savior. These decisions have encouraged me to take His yoke upon me.

I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice. I know He lives. There is always hope. He is here to right our wrongs and help us learn from our time in mortality. The path is always clear to come back to Him. Believe me, I have taken it over 100 times! Let us live and love our Savior. Let us truly repent so that our wrongs can be made into bests.

Love you all! Thank you for reading my sermon haha. Just some thoughts of a missionary in Brazil!

Elder Hixon

Under Duress!

I'm really the worst at writing these things and I'm not sure what I'm going to write about. This is really only being written due to my need to write these dang things haha because I only have 5 weeks left. So... maybe I'll just talked about highlights since being in Brazil!! 

I can't say it enough but getting to go back to Ibiuna was awesome!!! When I first got here and had that opportunity I was so so grateful. I got my haircut by the coolest guy Danilo who was a less active member when I served here an eternity ago. I also got to ride bikes around everywhere. Those didn't exist when I first started in Ibiuna so that was a fun little shake up. It was a blast being with Elder Pontual... honestly I believe it was there with him where I learned how to fry an egg. Maybe one day my wife will appreciate that haha. I also got to have all kinds of fun with our favorite family Kilton and Amanda! Kilton speaks both English and Portuguese fluently so it's pretty cool! And Amanda is amazing haha she's so funny. She's a big sass! She's like the missionaries mom so it's the best having members like that. Of course, meeting and teaching and baptizing Gaby was right out of a story book! It was amazing!! Everything worked so perfectly and it really was again a testament to me of God's love for me. It was there that I saw dreams be fulfilled. Literally!! 

Being in Vargem Grande was so unique. It wasn't much of a stellar area. But it was a time where i learned a lot about myself and about my Savior. It was a time that i put in some real work. I felt like my time in Vargem Grande was full of work work and more work. There i got the opportunity to be closer with Eduardo and Marcia and their sweet sweet family. What a joy! Those people are so kind and I hope to see them again some day! It was also in Vargem Grande where I met and taught Noranei and Eloa!! Such a humbling experience and taught me so much about the importance of Fast Offerings and the churches contributions to help those in need. I also had the chance to return back to Ibiuna ro visit our mini waterfall and got to have all kinds of scary fun at a little carnival fair thing. I've been in a few scary situations on my mission but wow, I almost died on those roller coasters... 

Getting to end my mission here in Vila Andrade and Panamby was yet again just another testament of God's love and His awareness of me. It has been here that I got to see Andrea again(it had been almost 30 months since the last time) and be able to work towards fulfilling a promise made forever ago! I've been able to have all kinds of fun with Elder Krett and live the Favela life which has been a blast. A little scary at times. Rn there is a serial killer in the Favela next to us and the police still can't find him because the Favela is huge. And the other day we were in the Favela of Colomba and were confronted by the gang members and they searched us for weapons because they thought we were the police. Then they told us to scram haha. It was good stuff! But even still, those dang carnival rides in Vargem Grande were more life threatening than these guys haha! Here I've met Ariel and Kauã and Mario and Aurora and Kaunne and Lucas and Carol and Paulinho and Fatima and Chiquo and all other kinds of people that my heart has attached to. I've been privileged to serve in this area where I have the best of both worlds. A very impoverished ward that is humble and helpful with a very wealthy ward that is also humble and helpful! It's been such a blast! 

Coming back to Brazil has done nothing more than further convince me that I'm a Son of God and He knows me and loves me! 

That's all for this week. Just a fun memory blast!!

Elder Hixon

God. Doesn't. Forget.

 

Well, I think it's been about 5 weeks! The closer you get to finishing the mission, the less and less you haheba desire to write these dang emails haha! But I'll be better! 

I'll catch you up to speed really fast on where I am and then share 2 quick miracles! 

I'm serving in the Panamby and Vila Andrade wards. Yes, I said goodbye to old Vargem Grande and left the Cotia Stake for the first time in my mission! And wow there is a real difference! There is money and expensive things in Brazil!!! Haha! My first week here I just couldn't believe all that I was seeing. I'm really in the city of São Paulo now and it's kind of crazy. They aren't getting about 10 million people living here(I think it's 10 million... mom feel free to fact check me). The streets are always packed with cars and people. It is always busy. Literally always. There is no break from the noise. This area is wildly unique because Panamby is a ward full of rich people. I'm talking RICH! Then Vila Andrade is a ward of very very poor people. Basically there are huge building and homes and apartment complexes in our area and then there is one massive Favela(a Favela is a cluster of homes on homes on homes on homes on homes. If you are interested, go look up Paraisópolis. This is the Favela in our area and it's the 2nd biggest in the state). The ward members from Vila Andrade almost all live in the Favela, then Panamby members live in the nice homes and pent houses and things. It is a very stark difference and you would think that the money would make Panamby more stuck up, but both wards are amazing. All they want to do is help. The Panamby ward is doing a monthly fast right now where each day out of the month of June they have at least 1 member fasting for missionary work. It's so cool! I might be in the best areas of the mission. It is amazing!! Oh also my companion is named Elder Krett. He is a musician song writer guy who speaks almost fluent English. He's big into American rock and roll music and is sometimes a bit rebellious. But I love him and we're doing great!:) 

When I was in my other area in Vargem Grande we met and started teaching Noranei and Eloá. We invited them to be baptized the 2nd contact we had with them and basically the rest is history because they were baptized on Saturday. But their story is so sweet so I'm going to share it! Noranei was a referral from a woman in our ward who claims she got baptized but no one can find her records and she doesn't want to get baptized again(believe me... I tried... the dimples didn't work with this old lady). She told Bishop that she had a friend who had gone 8 days without gas in her home and little to no energy. Bishop sent us and told us to go see what needs to be done in that regards and if we could help. We of course needed to be a little careful because it is very common in Brazil for people to use the church for money. And so the church here is a little more reluctant to give big financial aid because of the amount of poverty cases they deal with. So we called her the first night and shared a little scripture. We found out her husband had passed away a year prior due to Covid-19 and she was struggling with that loss. She never once brought up her problem with lack of energy and gas. We then went to visit her 2 days after and as we found our way to her house(shack may be a better term to describe her living conditions) we were touched deeply. We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation and invited her grand daughter, Eloá, to participate. We taught for about 30 minutes and we talked about her husband and that they had the chance to be reunited again through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then invited them both to be baptized and they firmly said yes. Up until this point, Noranei still hadn't made any attempt to beg for help or money due to her current situation, she didn't even bring it up. We then closed with a prayer and after the prayer asked if there was anything more we could do to help. Noranei then went on to explain her lack of energy and gas and told us that her and her grand daughter had been eating bread they were getting for free from the bread store down the street and drinking juice for the past 10 days. She said she wasn't too worried about it because God always is in control and when He wills it, her and her daughter will get real food again. All she asked of us was if there was any way we could help with that. She then followed it up with a, "But if not, I'm okay. I know who my God is". Her faith was remarkable. We told her we weren't sure what we could do but we'd go and talk to the local leaders of the church. And then, the rest really was history. The church aided and Noranei and Eloá are eating much healthier and are living real lives! As I was talking with my parents we were reminded of the story of Elijah and the widow.(I'm not explaining much of the story. If you aren't familiar with it, go study more) The widow was promised that the oil would never run out and we often like to think of it as a miracle of never ending oil, which it was. But maybe the "never ending oil" was the ward she became a part of as she accepted the prophet into her home.  Then she had others looking out for her and her son. Much like Noranei and Eloá. Their "never ending oil" came after they continually trusted in God and accepted the missionaries, and the "never ending oil" for them comes in the form of ward members caring for them. 

Miracle #2! So  Back when I was in the MTC(close to a billion years ago) I met a sister named Sister Araujo. She was super cool and on the first day we met she asked where I would be serving my mission. When I told her the São Paulo West mission she got way excited and told me her family lives in that mission. She then made me promise her that I would find and teach her family because none of them were members. Throughout my mission I've thought about this promise I made to her and in a good amount of ways i kind of gave up on it. My mission was ending and I just didn't serve enough time in São Paulo to really find her family. Then fast forward to this last Sunday. A woman went up to bare her testimony and I immediately recognized her and was almost certain she was Sister Araujo. After the meeting we talked and the first words she said to me was "I remember you!". She remembered the promise as vividly as I did and we did some rejoicing. Of all the areas I could be serving in, Panamby is the right one. It was another loose end that God has tried up for me. I was brought to my knees on Sunday in the spirit of adoration and gratitude. It was a very touching miracle and we are hoping to get something happening with her family. Their interest level is a 0 right now but I know through earnest prayer and effort things can change! I am so grateful for our God! He is miraculous and really knows the beginning to the end

Miracles never cease! The Lord is in control and knows what He is doing! I love Him. I am so grateful for my mission. It really is the mission that keeps on giving. It wasn't easy to get out, it wasn't easy to stay out(I got sent home twice remember?), but it really has changed my life for the better. God keeps showing me I made the right choice to serve! He shows me His love each day. And for that, I am forever grateful!

Tchau tchau!! Amo vocês!!!!

Elder Hixon

Wrong Revelation

 Hello hello hello! 

The past 2 or 3 weeks have been great (frankly I don't remember the last time I wrote one of these but I think 2 or 3 weeks ago). Elder Yoshida and I have been doing all we can to help people come unto Christ. It has been fun, and hard sometimes, but very very rewarding. 

We are working with a couple right now named Vitor and Trinidy. Trinidy is already a member, they are newly weds since February. Vitor and Trinidy are amazing. Every Monday night we go over to their house and play cards and games and laugh and eat food and then do a lesson. It usually starts at 7 and ends at 10 haha. So Monday's we get home late! But these 2 are literally so funny and golden. Vitor is 21 and Trinidy is 20. They actually remind me a lot like Shelby and Bodie! Okay tbh I haven't been with Shelby and Bodie in a minute but I like to imagine this is how they are haha! And it's super awesome!!!!!! The only reason Vitor isn't baptized is he feels like he needs to participate more to be baptized. Him and his wife work just about everyday of the week and Saturday and Sunday are their busiest days. And unfortunately here in Vargem Grande steady work isn't that easy to come by. So he can't leave his job. Nor is he in a position to get Sunday's off. Which isn't a huge problem to us. Back in the day, Sacrament attendance was something that had to happen in order for people to be baptized. But now do the pandemic, it has been changed a lot. Due to the church's renewed emphasis on a gospel centered home, some of these sacrament attendance rules for investigators have been lifted. And Vitor has already been plenty of times, he knows all the Ward members, and his father in law is in the bishopric(which might not seem like much but here in Brazil being in the bishopric is huge!!!). So he really technically has no rule or anything stopping him from being baptized. It's just him! So the last time we were over there we tried helping him see that. He said he'd pray about it and think about it. We are going to bug him some more but if all goes well he could get baptized this week. Our focus is on his potential to be eternal companions with his spouse who wants a temple sealing so bad. We told him it takes a year after his baptism to go through the temple so the longer he postpones his baptisms the longer he postpones his temple blessings and his wife's. So it was bold, upfront, but he felt loved so it was right. We are hoping it goes well with him. 

Over the last 3 weeks we have absolutely SIFTED through people. I think we've blown through literally 20 people. Found them, start teaching, stop progressing, quick drop. We are just sifting this area. And we continue to sift. We have invited many to  baptism and for whatever reason have still gotten no's haha what a joke! But this work is rewarding.

The subject of my email was a branch of thoughts I was having the other day after reflecting on 2 big choices I made in regards to following revelation. 1 is maybe controversial so I won't bring it up but the other is about my release date for my mission. I decided to counsel with my Mission President about being released on July 27th rather than August 17th. There are a few factors in play with making this decision but ultimately it was inspiration and revelation. Here was the journal entry that I made after reflecting on these 2 choices... Also I swear this talk I refer to is Elder Holland but Momma if I'm wrong please fix it(also delete this line too!) 

"I was pondering on receiving revelation and I thought about the talk given by Jeffery R. Holland, it's about how the people prayed when they were at a fork in the road and then felt prompted to go one way and it was wrong, and so I started thinking about what kind of revelation God really reveals to us. "His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men."(Moses 1:39). With that understanding we can know each decision He makes is towards achieving that goal, His work! But we need to remember that the way into presence of the Father is not to be perfect, but to be made perfect. And becoming perfect doesn't come through making perfect decisions. If that was the case, none of us would ever be able to become perfect. Becoming perfect comes through sincere effort and the enabling and cleansing power of Christ's Atonement. So, knowing these principles, we can be okay if we receive revelation to go the "wrong way". Because always choosing the "perfect" path isn't what is going to make us perfect, it's choosing to try and have faith in Christ. So sometimes, God will inspire us to maybe make the less "perfect" choice so that we learn and grow and can begin to become perfected. For example, if I approach a fork in the road and am trying to get home. The path on the right is a perfect smooth path back to my house. The path on the left is bumpy, rocky, full of thorns and hardship, but eventually connects to the path on the right and leads me home. The more "perfect" path would be the path on the right. The path that could require sincere effort and faith could be the path on the left. When we left the presence of the Father we entered into a world that was pretty rocky, thorny, bumpy, and full of hardships. But, we knew and are now trying to remember that this is the path God revealed to us that would help us get back home. It isn't a path of smooth sailing and it isn't the "perfect" path. It's a path that demands faith and repentance to become perfected. So, if someday in my life I am confronted with a number of trials after receiving revelation to choose the path that had trials(though maybe in the beginning I was unaware of such trials that were ahead) I can know and be comforted that this is the path that God revealed to me as the most correct or perfect(without quotations marks because this path actually is perfect for me individually) path. I think this principle will help me be more faithful when confronted with trials that seemingly came from heeding divine revelation. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk".

Hopefully that makes sense. I added in quotation marks around the word perfect a few times to signify that in those instances of the word perfect I was not meaning the idea of perfect that is God's plan. It is a perfect that the world or sometimes we label easy things as. Sometimes we like to say, "It just worked out perfectly that this ..." insert whatever clause you want that alludes to the fact that things worked out easily. Easy, smooth, or seemingly coincidental do not mean perfect. "Perfect" decisions don't help us become perfect. It is Christ who is the one who can make us perfect. All we can do is try! So each time we receive revelation from God, let's not worry about how "perfect" the choice is we are making or waste time trying to find a way out of making this choice because it could be hard. As President Oaks counseled, we just need to follow the first prompting we receive! So let's do that. Maybe it is in this aspect that we can exercise blind faith. "I believe in Christ so come what may", just choose to follow the dang revelation and stop thinking about al the consequences so much. 

So I am excited to be going forward with some of the choices I've made! I am excited and ready for whatever consequences they may bring. I know these decisions were inspired and will help me come closer to God! That's all I want!! Love you all! Pray for Vitor!

Elder Hixon 

Anchored to Christ

This week was great! I have been faced with some interesting challenges this week. But of course, with any challenge in our life... there is always so much God reveals to us during the challenge. But lemme recap really fast before that

This week we received a little bit of a lift from our lockdown instructions. We can now be in people's homes if they are not members or recent converts. I was able to do an exchange on Tuesday and Wednesday to go to Ibiuna and visit Gaby again! It was so sweet!! She is so firm. I really feel like Alma when he says that God gives him joy through the fruit of his labors. Dang Gaby is amazing!! And it was good to be back in Ibiuna for a day. Such a special place full of special feelings for me! 

We also were able to have an in person multi zone conference!! And the Horsley's are competitive so there was a good two hours of competitions which was so fun! They have a son who still lives with them, he is 17. It is so interesting, oftentimes Sister Horsley cannot accompany President Horsley because she is at the school helping work out things for her son here or she is taking her son out to go do something because he can not get a driver's license here until 18. Or President Horsely sometimes is unavailable because he takes his son to the courts and plays ball or goes swimming with the family. It is such a special aspect of mission president that I have not been able to see before. President Horsley has his priorities straight, husband first, then father, then mission president. I love seeing his example and learning from it! 

Unfortunately one of our district leaders is being a stinker. I do not know if there is another missionary appropriate word for this. He is just a stinker!! He has decided that waking up on time, studying, planning, or trying to work are not necessary for him. Technically since he started his mission in this mission in January he has baptized 7 people already. It is remarkable that someone so disobedient can see so much "success" in the mission field. He served for a year in his other missionary assignment but was sent home due to some struggles and was reassigned to return to our mission. So he is a pretty experienced missionary, but he just believes the rules do not apply to him because he has been able to baptize without following any of them since January. Of course, this week we have been doing our best to help him and in some cases try to help him see his need to correct his approach as the scriptures teach us. As a matter of fact President Boyd K. Packer once said, "When you withhold needed correction from someone, you are only thinking about yourself". Which is a pretty hard quote to swallow because all of us have had times in our lives where we justified not correcting someone for whatever reason. But at the end of the day, we were only thinking about ourselves. 

So... we have been trying to help this Elder make the needed changes so he and his companion can better serve the Lord. Of course, with any correction given it HAS to be followed by an increase in love. The love needs to be greater than the correction. And as we have been working with this Elder and trying to help correct him, he has been absolutely terrible haha. The problem, he is a District Leader. He is actually our District Leader. So we really need him to shape up because he has a job to help lift other missionaries and help them be more obedient. But dang it he just does not want anything to do with the rules. He brought up the fact he has been wildly successful baptizing people without following the rules and claimed that obviously he does not need to follow the rules to teach and baptize with the Spirit. This Elder has been tricked by the adversary. As missionaries we do not follow the missionary rules so that we can become better baptizers. We follow the rules so that we can become better disciples. So we can become more converted and more anchored on Christ. It is a privilege that missionaries have that others do not have. We have all kinds of rules and restrictions on what we can do and watch and listen to and all that. But what a privilege! We have 2 years or 18 months to receive so many blessings from being obedient. We have so many ways to be obedient it is amazing. Unfortunately, like this Elder, too many believe following the rules= to help get more baptisms which is not the way this works. Commandments are given to help rivet us in Christ! In every single one!!! 

So what have I learned? 

1. My Dad taught me that what I can NOT do is ever ever ever lose hope that this Elder can change. And I need to not let him think I have lost hope in him. Because, there is always hope. Any wayward son can return! I am learning my need to be a greater beacon of hope for others. 

2. I also have learned the importance of the family and the un-importance of friends. And what do I mean by that... We were not sent here to gain friends. How many times in the scriptures are friends brought up? Or in the doctrinal lay out of the Plan of Salvation? Very, very, rarely. Family is what is talked about so much. Luckily, all of our friends can be a part of our family. Our family is the family in Christ. A family of covenant keepers that will be together forever in the Celestial Kingdom. This is our job. Not to gain more friends, no, our job is to gain more family members. And we do that by inviting all to come and make covenants and keep covenants previously made with Christ. This Elder that has been struggling is a dear friend of mine. We were companions before! I love him. But I realized this week that I need to stop caring about my friendship and start caring more about my potential eternal family relationship with him. Because you will not be with your friends forever, but with your family forever. Your family in Christ. Moral of the story. Friends are un-important because they are not eternal. Family is important because it is eternal AND our job is to invite all to join our family by being baptized and making covenants in the temple! 

3. No one will ever be perfect. Do not expect perfection when giving correction. But you can expect effort. 

4. Never ever feel bad that oftentimes we will be inviting others to do things that even we are not perfect at. By correcting someone you are just extending the same invitation Christ has extended to all of us. If they have a problem with you extending the invitation because you are not perfect, tell them to take that one up with Christ. The talk, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect- Eventually" by Jeffery R. Holland capitalizes this idea perfectly. 

So, I am still learning. We are still trying to help this Elder. But I am so grateful for lessons I have learned by going through this process with him. My new companion is a new Zone Leader and he's so sweet and tender that he has been crying this whole week over the situation. It's so sad because his heart is so big and soft but also so funny. Mid call we are talking and trying to help this Elder and he just walks off to the corner crying. He's got such a big heart! I love him!!

That's all for now.

Love,

Elder Hixon 

Lessons From the Piano

 Hello hello hello! Wow I think it's been 2 or 3 weeks... SORRY!!! I'll be better!

I've got a new companion named Elder Yoshida. He was born in Japan and lived there for 10 years. Then he came to brazil to live with his grandma. While living with his grandma the missionaries knocked on the door and his grandma made him listen to the missionaries and he ultimately was baptized at age 13. Then his parents got divorced and his mom moved to Brazil and lived with him. And then years later he baptized his sister then left for a mission. So him and his sister are the only 2 members of the family! But he is incredible! He is one of the genuinely nicest companions I've ever had. And I've had 18 companions so that's saying something! He really is just a nice guy. I swear every day there is some way he has served me at least twice. He's better at it than me. I feel like I always strived to be the serving companion. I enjoy making my companions bed or clearing his plate or cleaning up his messes or polishing their shoes or other things like that but dang it Elder Yoshida beats me to all these things. I'm learning I need to serve faster if I want to get a chance to serve Elder Yoshida. Haha it is good. He's the best. 

This week I really just wanted to recount a little faith lesson I learned. We had a leadership meeting this week, and I was asked to play the piano a little last minute. And I have a good amount of hymns that I've got down to just be able to play them at a moments notice for a baptism or meeting or whatever. But this time I really felt prompted to play a hymn I wasn't too familiar with. And I got scared because dang it I didn't want to mess up in front of anyone and stumble through a hymn. Also, no one would sing it was just piano playing so if I messed up... there was no hiding it. 

As i was trying to justify not following this prompting 2 things came to my mind. One was a story President Horsley had recently recounted about Elder Bednar. Basically Elder Bednar went to bless a man who had cancer but before doing so asked the man if he had the faith to not be cured. Which is a pretty big question to ask. Many of us have the faith for things to go right but do we have the faith for things to go wrong... that's what really shows faith. Then also the #hearhim video from President Oaks about following the first prompting we receive. With these 2 things in my mind I figured I didn't have much of a choice but to play the hymn I wasn't very familiar with. And you wouldn't believe it... but I definitely made errors and stumbled my way through that hymn. It was a long 2 verses(I opted out of verse 3). But after the hymn I was pleased. I was happy. I had felt a prompting and went forward with it. Even if things always don't workout, there is so much joy in sticking to promptings and revelation we receive. I learned a lot more about having the faith even when things don't workout the way you want to. Maybe someone was touched by the hymn I chose that day, or it was all for me to learn this lesson. I'm grateful that i was given the opportunity to learn and was able to follow this simple prompting. It has helped me as I've received other revelation and promptings to really stick to them, even if things don't workout the way I had thought. I know joy comes from following promptings!

That's all my future kids and whoever else is reading this email!:) 

Love y'all!!!

Elder Hixon