Week 25:Bug Bites...50 and counting, contacting the driver of the bus:)

Top 5 things that made you smile?

1. The fact that Mexico lost made me smile because we will have better attendence at church next week.

2. One night I could not sleep because of the bits on my legs but I knelt and said a prayer to be able to sleep and then I fell asleep.

3.When we finally found a new house to live in after searching for a while.

4. When we were walking in the street today and I watched all the people and realized for me everything is normal. As people passed and stared at me I realized I am still American:)))

How are the bug bites? To tell you the truth not good. Bug spray does not help I have tried. I recieved a blessing yesturday and hope that will help but please pray for my legs the pain is not fun and I have about 50 bits on my legs.

Coolest contact this week was we were riding in a bus today to go to a market place and I contacted the bus driver. We had a nice talk :)

Tell us something that you learned about yourself this week: I learned that I have more patience then I thought and that Christ can make me what I want to be. I had a cool experience on Thursday of this week .We had weekly planning and at the end a part of planning we did companionship inventory. My companion told me that she feels like she is with a different companion because I have changed so much this week. We have clicked and I love her in a way that I never thought possible.

What was your favorite service that you rendered this week? We got to help paint a fence of someone on the street. We asked if we could help and gave him the first lesson while painting:)

How are your investigators progressing? M... is doing great he came to church yesturday which was great but a lot of our investigators have not come to church and they have to come for at least 5 times before being baptized. That is the hardest part, they know its true but they fail to act when it come Sunday morning and we are knocking on their door.  

What was the best thing you did to prepare to serve a mission? Visiting the Sacred Grove is is a neat experience to be able to say I have entered the grove where Joseph Smith prayed and have a testimony that he was a prophet.

Tell us about p-day?  Do you do anything fun? We are in a place called Central. It is like a huge China Town. We bought Mexico jerseys in honor of Mexico losing yesterday :(

Well I love you all and guess what the CHURCH is TRUE

Hermana HIckman

Week 24: Top 6 things that made me smile this week:)

 

What has the weather been like? I can´t really give you a day to day weather update because in the same day it is boiling hot and then its start to pour rain. It is mostly hot and there is always rain.  How does that effect your teaching? It doesn't effect anything, only when we show up to lessons sweating a lot or soaking wet. 

Would you consider yourself fluent in Spanish?  Yes and no I understand    99.99 % of everything, but I still don´t know a lot of words.  What do you love about the language? the way it sounds and how fast people talk.

Best lesson this week? This week we had an amazing lesson with our investigator M... We taught him about the law of chastity because we knew that he has problems with it. We invited him to live it and he said yes i will start to live it.  He asked me to talk in English when it was my turn to talk in the lessons and I got to testify that he will be blessed for living this law. The spirit was very strong he told us at the end of the lesson without us inviting him that HE WANTS TO BE BAPTISED. I started to cry, I was so happy. It is amazing how the Lord works in the lives of his children. 

What made you smile this week?

1. We were in front of the temple one day and someone drove past in their car on the busy road and yelled hola HERMANA HICKMAN!!!

 

2. I got really mad one day and I started to sing," Let it go, let it go" in my head:)  (FROZEN)

3. I was walking in the street and a bird pooped on me and all over my bag!

4. The other day I let a little boy pick a sticker and her choose the American flag.  

5. While writing this letter people started cheering and yelling goal because Mexico is playing.... When dad told me what has been going on in the World Cup I laughed.... I live in Mexico dad it is all people talk about;)

6. We were riding in a bus to go somewhere and I got to listen to the US playing and they scored 2 goals while I was in the bus. 

What is something that you see every day that would surprise me?

* the amount of bugs...

* the trash in the street....

* everything.... :)))

How are the bites on your legs?  I have A WHOLE BUNCH. Did you every find out what they were? no]:(

Besides us, what do you miss the most? sleeping in and feeling loved by a family.

I love you all and remember that Heavenly Father answers prayers. 

Hermana Hickman 

 

Week 23: Mangos, baby bananas, teaching in the temple and drying clothes in the rain

 

Tell us about some of the people you are teaching? We have two siblings that we found the other day J... and Y... they are progressing a lot.  Their cousins are members J... is 15 years old and Y... is 17, pregnant and her husband left her.

 

Tell us about your best lesson and what made it so?  The best lesson this week was with them.  We got to teach them inside the Visitor's part of the temple (which was pretty much amazing).   We invited them to be baptized and they said yes:)  

 

What have you learn from the people you are teaching? One of our investigators M.. who can not be baptized because he is not married has taught me a lot. Whenever we visit with him he says," Hermanas I learned this and this and this when I read my scriptures this week." We have been fasting with him so he can get married, but  he is a member at heart. This week he even paid his tithing!

How has your testimony grown this week? My testimony has grown in the fact that Heavenly Father can give me strength when I don´t have any.  Today we are fasting with our poor bishop for our ward.  We fasted for one of our investigators M... this week.  You know how much I love food it was hard but the Lord has helped me realize I can do hard things. I think about him walking beside me a lot. 

What food have you grown to like? I have grown to love all types of mangos there is about 30 different types. I also all spicy foods!

 

Have you had any new fruits or vegetables that you wish we had in the United States? yes Mangos and baby bananas

What made you smile this week? Our ward conference turned out great! We had a huge amount of less actives come and J... came to church (he is an investigator we hope will be baptized this week)

What made you laugh? when we let our cloths out to dry last week after HAND washing them;:) and it started to rain. 

What have you learned to love about your companion? I have learned to love her as she is.  I have learned more about her story and background and it is amazing: a convert of 5 years that used to be on the rough side now serving a full time mission. I also have learned how to pray thanks to her. She prayers like God is right next to her. It used to bother me and her prayers are extremely long but now I love them ( prayers like dad´s) lol 

 

 

Week 22: Represente de Jesucristo, and lots of bug bites!

If you had not chosen to serve a mission what would you have missed? To tell you the truth a lot of things. I know that I will be a different mom because of what I´m learning every day.  I have always known the church is true but testifing every day I can tell you I really know the church is true. 

How did your best lesson go and what made it so? On Tuesday right after the worst lesson ever. I asked my companion if we could say a prayer before our next lesson .We said a prayer and went to the next lesson with a women whose kids I'm teaching English. After a short English game we taught her a lesson and invited her to be baptized. We were nervous to invite her to be baptized because we did not know if she was only listening to us so that her boys could learn English. I was able testify that I was a representante de Jesucristo and that I came to Mexico to share this message. She said yes, but she did not come to church on Sunday:(  Hopefully she will come next week. 

Tell us about something that made you smile this week.I smiled when we got our conference magazines and it was like Chirstmas or a good Hallmark movie.  That night I sat in my bed and read as much as I could!

What have you been praying for this week? Well this week we were supposed to have a baptism but when the older brother was  interviewed with our mission president we found out that he is not married to his wife, and that she does not want to be married to him.  They only live in the same house and  she does not want to listen to us . We have a lesson with the bishop and the whole family tonight. People not being married is a problem, we are teaching so many people that could be baptised but they are not married. Anyway  I have been praying that we can have a baptism this weekend.  I have never had so much faith in my life. I know Heavenly Father can bless us with a baptism and I have learned to look for His miracles. 

Do you cook? eggs but nothing else really

 

 

How is your foot? my foot is good but I have 25 or more bug bits on my legs. One night I could not sleep all night because they hurt so bad, but they are a little better now. 

What is your zone like? We have double the amount of sisters then elders.

 

 Do you play soccer on P-day? no

 

 

Are the missionaries sad to say good bye to your mission president? yes but he does not want to have a meeting before he leaves so we will not get to say goodbye 

Week 21: Futbol, 105 street contacts, 29 lessons

 

Hello Everyone!!!

Who are you teaching? We have a great bunch of people that we are teaching here! A lot of them are so busy that we can only visit them on the weekends which makes it hard, but they are really great:) 

 

 How many street contacts? We had 105 street contacts this week  14 lesson with members and  15 other lesson which is really good!

 

 Did anyone come to church? 5 investigators came to church and 3 less actives. 

What made you smile this week? Seeing the little kids play fútbol in the streets. My companion and I have found more reasons to laugh together and I have grown to love her a lot!

What service did you perform this week? Whenever we see people cleaning or doing something in their yard we offer to help. The other day we helped paint the outside part of a house. 

Favorite thing you learned in your study this week: there are too many things to write in one letter but this week I found a lot of scriptures that can help our investigators with their struggles. 

Favorite thing about being a missionary this week: Fasting and realizing I had no more energy and did not think I could do a thing more and then we came to church and 5 investigators came. 

What is your apartment like? It is a nice apartment. It has a entry way, bedroom, 2 areas to change, a bathroom, a little kitchen and a patio.

 

 Do you still have cockroaches? Yes:) 

One of the most impactful moments of this week was when we were teaching an investigator named M. We taught him the plan of salvation and I used my amazing pictures mom gave me and the spirit was strong. After we taught him and all the images where laid out on the table he moved all the pictures except life on earth and death and he said this is what I see and this in my understanding of life..... how sad. We are so lucky to have and know the plan of our Heavenly Father for us, but M's mind was closed to the idea. It made me extremely grateful for the knowledge I have.

 

Also we had our first lesson with a young man and I felt like we needed to invite him to be baptized.  He left for a minute and I told my companion I feel like we need to invite him to be baptized she said go for it... I showed him the map of the plan of salvtion and the part that talks about what we need to do to live with God after this life.... and because Heavenly is Amazing he prepared the heart and mind of this young man. A... said to me it says baptism here in the folleto... I then told him what it was and invited him to be baptized. He said yes!!! He does not have a date but I hope that he will come to church so that he can be baptized. 

 

Hermana Hickman