Stake Conference

They called me this week to play the piano for Stake Conference and for the choir and that sacó (how would you say that in english?)  [took up] a whole bunch of time out of working and I was upset about that. We also had interviews with the Pte Pitarch and the Hna this week and they were great. The Hna authorized reimbursable massages for me because of my back and those may start this week. The Pte asked me the biggest thing I´ve learned so far on my mission and I told him that it´s loving people, having a genuine interest in their welfare. I changed from trying to be sure I was comfortable in my situation, which I was very comfortable with, to willingly and willfully sacrificing my welfare for the welfare of others. I actually really like doing it, it´s fun.

So, our investigator Alain passed his interview yesterday after stake conference so he´s going to be baptized this weekend. This weekend we had and activity with the Pte watching Conozca los Mormones [Meet the Mormons] with all the investigators with fecha [baptism dates] that we could get to come. It was awesome and helped a bunch of people on their paths to baptism. I realized the value of those stories that they have for the investigators.

The talks in stake conference were awesome. They almost all talked about the Temple and missionary work, and so from a missionary prospective, it was super stellar. After conference on Sunday, we were outside waiting for a bus for more than 20 minutes and it was doing nearly 100 degrees and we were like dying.

So, I can´t actually use glasses here. It´s hot and humid enough that when I try to use glasses for an extended period of time, they just fall off my face because of sweat and so I have to use contacts always. Elder Hernandez was drinking cocacola the other day and it was fuming like dry ice because of the coldness of the drink and hot humidity of the air.

Hey, fun fact. Remember when Talon wrote home saying that people always thought he looks exactly like Mario Hart and he was like who the heck is this guy? Well, now that I am living with 2 peruvians, they say the same thing. It took like 2 seconds for Pezo to say hey Hicken, look a little to the right...yep, Mario Hart. They say I look exactly like Mario Hart and when they tell that to the people, they have no idea who he is because he´s only famous in Peru. I don´t remember If I´ve mentioned this in my letters, but just about everyone calls me Chicken. In Envigado, it got to the point that even the bishop and mission leader just called me Chicken and so basically everyone calls me Elder Chicken or Mario Hart.

I hope I mentioned the other week how awesome the area is and the people and the dirt roads and dirt floors and super friendly people, but I don´t know if I mentioned that when it rains, the water doesn´t drain much, it just gathers about a foot deep in the streets. 

 
Always Great,
Élder Hicken