Primera Carta del 2015

A little of a shock that Talon comes home next week. Also that you´re looking for a dog. I´m not sure how I feel about either one. To me, coming home after the mission is weird. 

This week was real interesting because of New Year´s and that everyone was traveling and we had almost no lessons this week. We had another session with Gabriel, our Jehovah´s Witness, and got a super stellar reference, but I won´t be able to give an update on her until next week.

But, we still had a good time this week. Wednesday night we went to the family Palacios in the ward and had a little ´end of the year dinner´ with morcillas and hígado and we didn´t eat much. I´ll send pictures of some ward members making morcillas and it isn´t pretty. They were awful at this house but apparently they just don´t make them well because Hurtado tried some of Hugo´s and they were good so I just doubt the integrity of the Palacios Morcilla. 

On the 1st, we went to some member´s house (in a different ward and she had a house it was crazy) and barbequed loads of meat and they played pranks on all (16) of us which included sitting on a wet rag and eating soap yeah it was great. 

Where we had New Year´s. This house had it´s own guards, gate, overlookng much of Medellín and it was real cool.

 The super long driveway through jungley palms and greenery leading up to the house.

Walking up the driveway overlooking Medellin

From L to R, Crispín, Ruiz, Johnson, and if you look closely you can see Hna Chuquimia

a 5D simulator. I, like, understand where they think they have 5D, but that isn´t what 5D is. 

Ask Renen what a 5D anything would look like.

 waiting on the lawn right before one of the pranks (the one with the soap)

I talked with Élder Oqueso (AP) and he said I can make a Dropbox if it´s with the church email account so I´ll do that.

Oh, here´s big news. I caved and bought flip flops. I feel more like a human being now and I think it´ll help my spirituality to be able to walk around on p-days with flip flops and they weren´t that expensive but it is so hard to find flip flops here.

This letter is short mainly because there isn´t all that much stuff to put in it.

Here's a cool story. On Tuesday there was a Reunión de Líderes and Élder Pastrana and I went on exchanges during it and met the daughter of Hno Torres from a different marriage and talked with her. She´s inactive and has a whole host of problems with all her parents and they´re all keeping her from the church and she asked for a blessing of strength. Pastrana and I gave her one. But, this was in a tienda where she worked and right before we gave her (Catalina) the blessing, another lady named Maria walked in to buy something. Well, Catalina told her we were Missionaries from the Church, and invited her to see the blessing. So, Maria did and basically started crying afterward and begging for a blessing as well and we talked to her and explained stuff and eventually gave her a blessing. She wanted faith. That´s what she wanted a blessing for. It was a little deeper than that, but that was it in short. So, after, we gave her a lesson with the Spirit as strong as ever and though she didn´t accept a date to be baptized, she was enthusiastic for the next visit. And, she´s got a Book of Mormon now and it went well and everything. And what´s more, she doesn´t live in Envigado, she lives in Belen the area of Elder Pastrana so I don´t get to teach her. His area is a good area and they have work. We have drunks and really people who don´t listen. But we also have real good people and the food is great.

-- 

January 3, 2015
Flores, Hurtado, Hicken, Muñoz before a baptism

Always Great,

Élder Hicken