Another Letter

Well, it´s been a week. Joan Ramirez disappeared this week, hasn't answered or been home, and we've been worried. Andrés Ramirez told us this week  that he isn't interested in getting baptized. The family Furque didn't come to church yesterday, Geraldine was sick but we don´t know about the others. We have a cita [an appointment] tonight, so we´ll find out then. Over Puerta is in the same as last week, just waiting for his baptism. Actually, he left early from church yesterday that worries us. Family Uzcátegui goes great, and Martha was set apart as Sec of the SocSoc yesterday. Patricia Patiño is excited to get baptized and came to church yesterday and loved it. She often doesn't get around to reading the Libro de Mormón [Book of Mormon] but committed to read when we visited last night.

We met and started teaching the Family Angarita Rivera this week. Kely (40) is the mom and the kids Yojan (19) and Jasmine (16). Their Dad is member, but many years ago left. They want the gospel and are great, just really shy around new people and so they get real nervous coming to church. Kely asks tons of questions that aren´t always efficient, but at least she´s searching to know.

Also, we are teaching Melissa Gomez (32) and her son Jacobo (11). She wants to get baptized and wants to know if the Church is true but it´s real rough finding time in the day and so often doesn´t read. But, she committed to read every day this week. Then Sundays she´s normally involved in Scouts, and they do service all the Sundays and that´s why she doesn´t come to Church. But, she´s the regional president and has the power to change the schedule to be able to come to church.

It was also great calling to the family Monday!

The President Calderón came to the Eje this week and the pictures are here: https://misioncolombiamedellinsite.wordpress.com/ they changed the mission blog because they forgot the password to the other one. They actually do actualize [actualizar = update] this one.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Feliz Dia de la Madre! [Happy Mother's Day]

¡Feliz Día de la Madre, mamá [Happy Mother's Day, Mom!] ! Also, as I am ending the training of Élder Martinez, the second trainer is called the madre [mother] and so it´s also my day, as I have finished the training of two kiddos.

Joan Ramirez is going well, has a couple doubts or worries, but came to church yesterday, but to the Stake Center. Andrés Ramirez is having much more difficulties, he believes in God, but finds it difficult to believe in books like the Bible or Book of Mormon. Also, his work´s been stressing him out and so it´s harder to concentrate in the lessons. The family Furque is great, but only Geraldine comes to church, her dad Julian and brother Yeison still haven´t come. Over Puerta is patiently waiting the approval for his baptism, meanwhile, he´s paying tithing and coming to church every week. Family Uzcátegui is amazing, they are less actives, Nerio de Venezuela and his wife Martha from Colombia. They want to be active so they do everything of their own account to be awesome members.

We went out with Nerio for a couple hours yesterday to visit people and touch (knock) doors. They're so great that they gave us a super bomb reference this week of Martha´s friend, Patricia Patiño. She´s super awesome. She has had an empty spot in her heart for a very long time and has been on the search for truth. When she prays, it´s obvious that God listens, the spirit comes strong. She told us that our message fills the emptiness in her heart, and that´s why she keeps searching more, and yesterday committed to baptism in June, and committed to come to church on Sunday. 

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Cool Cats

So I've been using a sweater basically all the time. (suéter o chumpa, the jackets they say chaqueta and sometimes buzo). The Bolivians have a weird accent that they don´t roll their ´r´ but they put a 'z' and I´m trying to change Élder Martinez´ accent to talk normal. It´s rained constantly pretty much, and now that my shoes don´t have any traction on the bottom I´m slipping around everywhere.

Over Puerta has his baptismal interview this week, so we´re just waiting for the approval from Pte Calderón and he´s good to go.

We met two cool cats this week. Joan Ramirez has a bit more than 20 years [a little older than 20], and he´s an honest searcher for the truth. He wants to do the things right, and already came to church (but to the stake center) with his friend who  gave the reference. He´s really cool too that he prays with real intent and when I say real I mean real.

We also met Andrés Ramirez of about the same age that is real sincere. He recognized the necesity to read the Book of Mormon. We also started teaching the familia Furque who are less-actives except for the grandma, who is super old but really great. She lives with 4 sons and 2 grandkids and they are all less-active but she told us that her greatest wish is that her family comes back to church. The other day we were teaching them and entered some friends of the dad of the grandkids. The friends started asking questions about the Church and about missionaries and I say we like didn´t even talk, the grandkids (Geraldine (20) and Yeison (19)) got excited and answered all the questions and it was great. The Dad didn´t want to listen but Geraldine convinced him and then he got excited and showed us a million pictures about his conversion and people he´s baptized. 

One mistake that many people make here is the requisites for read the Book of Mormon. They often say they don´t have time, but it´s because they try to take out 15-20 minutes at least. It´s better to read the Book of Mormon for 2 minutes everyday than 20 minutes every week. It isn´t a textbook, it isn´t just to obtain knowledge and memorize. It´s the key to our spiritual progress, the key to our religion and if everyday there are temptations and confusions and spots from the world, how can we think that we are alright not strengthening us as equally frequent or more frequently? Read the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY if it be for few minutes or for more. The Liahona isn´t a worthy replacement, and #GenConf either. It´s not funny, I mean it.

Hey so I may not be sending many pictures soon, it seems as if I may have lost my camara and a couple other things in cambios in someplace, just heads up.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Pereira

Well, I´m here in my new area. I´m training a new kid from Bolivia. He already has a cambio of training, I´m just finishing up the second half.

So, the temperature in Pereira is normally about 10C less than Montería. I normally have cold [feel cold] and it's great. In the mornings it does iis] about 20C and I put a jacket on and still feel the cold and right now I looked up the conversion and that's like 70F. So, that goes to show that I´m real accustomed to the hot weather and especially to Montería. Especially when I see the Centennial weather and it does like 5C in the mornings.

So my comp is from Bolivia and is Élder Martinez, has 18 years, and he´s learning a lot. The work is a lot different here than my other areas in the mission, and being district leader is a lot different than I remembered. It´s an opportunity to learn and put myself a bit deeper in the normal mission work. Actually, it feels more relaxing and good. My district is only two areas, and the other is Ëlder Limos (who I knew in Armenia, he was in the zone in my first cambio) and his comp is Élder Rodo and they are both from Bolivia. So I live in a little house with 3 bolivianos. 

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Cambios!

Well, just like 6 weeks ago, I´ve got a new comp. Élder Alvarado and I are both leaving the area. It´s alright because we´ve got all the information they need to get here and take off running, and there´s plenty of people to work with, but it´s stressful at the same time. The good news is that one of the missionaries replacing us is Élder Velazquez, who was my comp in Álamos six months ago, and I trust in him to do a great job.

Élderes Alvarado, Muñoz, Villarroel, Hicken

Élder Alvarado and I are going to Pereira, but to different zones. I´m going to be in Pereira a part called Naranjos finishing the training of a missionary and being leader of district. I´m way way excited; I´ve spent the last 8 months training and all to the district leaders and now I need to be my perfect image of a district leader. The classic principle of live what you preach.

The week was a rough one, with alot of early mornings. We were exhausted all week and therefore we didn´t reach the goals we put -- we just didn´t work efficiently enough.

Also, Élder Muñoz, who was my companion in Cereté for 3 weeks ended his mission this week and I got to buy his ticket and send him off.

Me with the Río Sinú

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Cerete y nuevos

Hey party Élder Muñoz and I decided to come and visit Cereté, so I´m writing from the internet that I wrote from from April to September last year. We are going to spend the afternoon visiting members and converts.

This week is the last week of Élder Muñoz; next week he has his interview to end the mission.

Elder Hicken, Alvarado, Villarroel, y Munoz in the Avenida 1a

This week seemed successful, but in the end no one came to church. It seems like a less-active got lost and ended up going to Catholic mass o "misa". With Élder Alvarado, we are putting a bigger focus in the zone on achieving goals. Instead of being political with goals and putting goals that are easy to achieve or that change, or that aren't significative,  we put goals that are tough, achievable, specific, relevant, measurable, and that are by day, week, month, and cambio [transfer]. We are focusing on the little things that cause them to achieve or not achieve the goal and we are going to start being a lot more pilas with the goals and we´re going to achieve them. Also, paying attention to how well we actually use our time. Sometimes we lie to ourselves with excuses about our time. Yeah, but I was tired, or no one was home, or the Junior game was happening, or it was 40 degrees out...in cap. 8 of PmE it talks about "Rendir Cuentas" ["Accountability"]  and says the importance of taking responsibility for your failures and achievements, not giving them to others. The point is get better, not have a good reputation.  "Accept full responsibility for your efforts. Never blame others for difficult circumstances or lack of progress."

“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”
                                                                              –President Thomas S. Monson

Love God Every Second of Your Existence!

Work liberates us from 3 great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty

We met a family this week the mom is Yudi and she´s got two kids Javier (20) and Juan José (19) and talking to them was interesting. They´re catholic, but sharing the Gospel with them, they seemed to understand the stuff. They said that it just made sense that there should be a prophet the same as Moses or Abraham or Noah in the earth right now, and that the authority of the Priesthood, being the same as the antiquity, should be on earth. It made sense to ask God to know if it was true. Although they traditionally believed something else, they were humble enough to listen to two weirdos of their own age and not try to have the reason or to be superior, but listen and try to understand something different.

We have loads of problems with pride in Colombia, in ways that I hadn't seen before, but there are always people that amidst the traditional superiority have for some reason the right level of humility to hear and accept the Gospel. Where are we with pride? Just for being baptized doesn't make us Humble. If you want to know how you are, read "Cuidaos del Orgullo" or "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson in the 1989 April General Conference.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Invasion! Conferencia General!

So I´m sure Conferencia was great on Saturday, but we didn´t get to see it. We were under orders to not leave our house since Thursday. The guerrilla rose up and caused a stir, but everything´s normal again. This week we´ll have to see the Conferencia. Sunday was stellar though. 

Because of the situation with the guerrilla, no investigator could come but I wanted to just download the talks and show them to the investigators and people because they were perfect. It seemed to me that they talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation and the effect that our actions have on our situation now and after. As Pte Monson said, we need our end in sight before taking decisions. There was a lot of talk about the Temple. Our end in sight includes the Temple, and what the Temple makes possible.  But it isn´'t just that we get to the Temple and do the ordinances, but that we go often to the Temple. The work and glory is that all men have eternal life, or that ALL men go through the Temple. That includes mission work and proxy ordinances. If our actions don´t include making the Exaltation more possible for us and others, it would be wise to analyze that action and why we do it. Sometimes we try to separate Gospel and the "Real Life" but doing so is showing that Jesus only matters sometimes. Pretending that He has nothing to do with our job or dreams or studies or sports would be saying that He doesn't love us, doesn't look for our welfare, and we forget him. We should acknowledge the hand He has in every part, and through obedience we will receive necessary blessing even in work, aspirations, school, and other activities. How many people reach a comfortable point in their lives and therefore decide that God no longer applies? It was a good Conferencia. We didn't get much done this week for a couple vueltas and then the invasion of the guerrilla, but this week we should get more done.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken