Mayo (what?)

So, it´s May, and I definitely did not see that coming. I have literally been here for like two seconds. Alain was confirmed yesterday, so he now actually counts as a baptism. This week, our success can´t be shown in the numbers, because we don´t send in the less-actives that come to church, but only Nuvia came as an investigator, but we had two less-actives, Claudia and Luis, who hadn´t come to church for a really long time, and it was a silent victory. We´ve been working long and hard with them both, especially with Claudia, also trying to convert her parents and other sister (Claudia and two sisters, Rosa and Marisol are members, the parents and sister Leo aren´t) but that´s a long and slow process due to the drunken nature of the father, unmarried status of them both and the general uneducated state of the society here. Slowly but surely, as I remember Talon always saying ("slowly but surely your stuff is disappearing until you give me back my _____").

In my letter to the president, I talked mainly about the success that comes when you put your attention on something, and don´t loose focus. I spent a bunch of energy on having nuevos this week (as Spanish speaking missionaries, we are incapable of speaking English normally, and when gringo leaders ask me about my nuevos, they ask me about my "news" and it still trips me up) and it´s paid off. I contact everyone I interact with basically, and I ask every member and potential member if they know anyone who needs our message, or if they have familiares [relatives] that are members that we can help with. It works, and even though it was something I was doing also in Envigado, I lost the habit when I came here to the coast and had so much more work to do. I basically just decided that I wasn´t satisfied at all with what was happening in the ward, and decided to be the deciding factor. It isn´t the first time I´ve done that, but it feels like the first time every time (name the song. I can´t remember which song, but I know it´s in a song) [ "Amazed" by Lonestar, thank you Kerri..., and google].

Grandpa Hicken sent me a discourse on prayer from like 10 years ago that I really enjoyed because it´s something that I´ve been focusing on for the last while, putting my heart in my prayers for what I need, and then putting in my energy and esfuerzos so God will help me out. ["Did You Think to Pray?" by Bruce D. Porter BYU Speeches].

 Did You Think to Pray by Bruce D Porter

Every time I hear about people and things with missions, it gets me excited, so congrats to Bradley Gunnel as well for his mission call.

Every letter needs something with relation to the heat here, so one day, going to lunch after a cita [appointment], (the 4 of us were eating together in the house of some recent conversos[converts]) I got there and took off my backpack and Sanchez pointed out that every place that the backpack touched me was completely drenched with sweat. It´s been another week of nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Farenheit) everyday, and it finally rained a tiny bit after like two weeks. There´s usually massive puddles in the streets, but they´ve now dried up. Also, I´ve seen so much frog roadkill.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken