Everything Is Crazy

Sorry for writing on a Tuesday. We had a zone meeting and activity coupled with trainings to the leaders from Elder Rojas, an AP, and a couple other stuffs in Monteria for the day and they never left us time to write, so I can take a tiny time out today.

Basically, everything is crazy right now. This upcoming week should be really interesting. It looks like, after three weeks in a trio, I´m gonna have a new comp coming today or tomorrow. That´ll make 5 official comps in 4 weeks.

And it looks like one of my mission-long dreams may be realized. I may be authorized to proselyte in flip flops. I´ve developed an infection in my foot and normal protocol with that is not use shoes. Shoes are kind of like a 4 billion degree oven that that´s bacteria´s ideal climate. The locals describe it like this: cooking the infection. I´ll have the official words a bit later today. Elder Muñoz also has a massive ingrown toenail, basically you can only see half his toenail. Just don´t think too hard. I have a picture of my foot, but I´m not going to send it.

Also, I think I got sick this last week. Not sure what it was, and thanks to a bunch of prayer it went away quickly. Basically, I had all the primary syptoms for Chikungunia, a coastal Colombian disease. 

I feel like there´s more, but I always forget everything when writing time comes around.

Hey, so Diogenes made it to church again, and he´s liking it. Just gets really bored in Elders Quorum. He had a misconception that reading the folletos [study guides] of the lessons was the same as reading the BoM, and didn´t understand when we said otherwise (time and time again) so we finally confiscated his folletos and he started reading the BoM and he made a study journal and takes notes and writes his questions (which are a TON) and although he still makes random comments in lessons, he´s progressing well. For example, last week we invited an hermana [sister] to the lesson, and one point he randomly just said  [to her] "no es por enamorarla, pero tienes unos lindos ojos"  [Not that I'm in love with you, but you have beautiful eyes]and we were like oh gosh this guy wants his exaltation. At one point we really had to drag him back and he was like I think I was getting off topic and we were like yes. 

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

10 meses [months]

Well, I hit double digits in months this past week. Cool. So, there´s not much I can write here. It´s been a super interesting week, but most of the things I´ll have to talk about in Navidad or afterwards, p.20 MM (español). Short story is the Stake and Mission are getting involved because of cosas [things] in the ward and it´s way being more a detriment to the obra misional [missionary work] than a help. On the actual missionary side, we´re doing well. Being a trio, it´s easier to do divisiones because we only need one guy to make two companionships instead of two. So, we´re taking advantage of that, just that we only have like 5 members who put energy towards the obra misional. There´s almost a complete lack of support from the ward, though they do still give us lunch. It´s just rough. It´s on the point of being downgraded to a branch for a bunch of reasons. 

Well, CONGRATULATIONES TO TALON AND MADDY eternal families you know what´s up. Lily is a riot in the pictures I miss her. Also, buena suerte to Kenzie starting BYU this week. Sounds like the wedding was a bit crazy, and I´ll be waiting for that slice of frozen cake when I get home. Just two years left. That´s what I tell the people when they ask how much time I have left and they get confused when I say I´ve got 2 years left.

I got the email about Bro Scarbrough, and it´s good and bad new that he passed away. I always remember his gratitude when we brought him the Sacrament every week. I think he introduced me to the pictures of all his children like 5 times, and he´s got like 7 kids. Always a sweet old man, he was. I always admired his wife for her constant smile and support through everything. 

We had a couple of investigators that came to church this week, but they had to go after sacrament meeting so it basically doesn´t even count. This week we´re going to drop a couple people and meet a bunch. Attached are a couple of pictures.

 The sunset after coming out of an appointment

The lights along el Caño Bugre, which is filling back up finally. 

We joke about how filthy that thing is. 

We´re pretty sure you  can get sick by looking at it. 

It looks better in the dark.

 

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Trio

I tell the short version. Pezo left to Manizales, the cold corner of the mission. They announced my comp as "el gran y poderoso Elder Reyes." [the great and powerful Elder Reyes].  Immediately, almost every missionary gasped and started warning me of what was about to come. It reminded me of when they announced Rios as my comp, but like the triple. He has a massive amount of fame in the mission for being one of the worst comps, and least obedient. 6 weeks left in the mission, and as trunky as can be. Not even wanting to get up in the morning at any hour. Also a mountain of other things that are things you don´t want with you 24/7. Basically, they sent him home before he ever got here, and the APs say that they´ll probably not send me another comp. En fin [In the end], I´m in a trio now with Elder Muñoz and Elder León working between two areas. I told more deets to Kenzie, so if you really want to know more...but it´s been a massive change in Cereté. When I left Envigado, Elder Bleazard told me that houses of 4 elders are cool, but one missionary can turn it into a detriment easily. I didn´t believe him until Pezo left. The change was massive. Starting the next morning, there´s been hardly any issues with obedience, and everything good is better. Not saying that correlation is causation, but it happened.

So, this week has been awesome. Trio is a bit rough, but we get along real well, and all have desires to be obedient and work hard. Pezo confessed to Muñoz that he didn´t have either of those desires. At least it´s cool in Cereté in one sentido [sense]. Last night, a member who works as a chef invited us to his home for Mote de Queso. It´s a traditional food from the area (the colombian coast has a massive love affair with their local cheese, fried, soup, solo, with dessert...) and it´s one of the most delicious things that exists. Basically queso costeño and ñame, but I don´t even know how it´s so good. I should of taken a picture, but I didn´t. Maybe next time. But this guy cooks real well. He invited us to a crab ceviche/cocktail the other week and it was real good.

Mote de Queso (Google images)

So, another change this week was housing. Really,  just in the organization. When there were two companionships, we used two rooms. But, now with one companionship, we have to all sleep in the same room, and three beds don´t fit in the same room. So, we took the beds and put them in the living room, but the desks in my old room, and use the other room as storage. There´s only three salones [rooms] and a small kitchen, but now the house feels a lot cooler as well.

There's a term we use alot in the mission "cortando cabezas" or cutting heads, which I think coordinates well with the term "making heads roll" in English. Basically, it´s the way to corregir [correct] people. Well, over the months, I´ve gotten really practiced. Having had my head cut off a fair number of times and having cut off a fair number of my own, it´s now something I do instead of just letting things fly. I made the decision to cut the heads off of the ward council yesterday and got congratulations afterwards. There were just a bunch of problems there, and I got on their case. I´ve been trying to focus on the leadership tactics of Jesus Christ. He cuts heads like no one else, but he has so much wisdom and love and humility when he does it. Sometimes, we try to cut heads off from above, but it doesn´t work. You can´t get to the neck to do it well that way. You should be on the same level. Interesting way to look at it, but if you correct people pridefully, they rebel. If you do it humbly, they follow. 

Hey, congrats to Talon and Maddy this week! I´ll be awaiting pictures!

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Cambios [Transfers]

Well, after 18 weeks, I´ll have a new comp. I guess the zone leaders think it´s funny to tell us the bare minimum about the cambios because we don´t know where he´s going, who´s coming, we only know that Pezo has to pack his bags.

So, I don´t know if I´ve mentioned the name of Diogenes before, but we´ve been working with him for a while. Like 6 weeks I think. It´s been really rough trying to get him to Church, and he commits every week and assures us over and over that he´ll be there, and time and time again he doesn´t go. Well, I got sick of it and took a member of the bishopric and talked straight with him and told him we were disappointed that he isn´t fulfilling commitments and played with his self esteem, basically helped him realize that he isn´t and doesn´t want to be someone who doesn´t keep their commitments. Well, he came to church finally and he liked it. We´re planning on going with the Elders Quorum President this week and hope that he´ll start a trend of keeping commitments.

Last week, while working in a pueblito [little village] 10km outside of Cereté called El Carrillo, we contacted a family, the family Durango Galban and they are super cool. They just live super far and have 4 kids and so pasaje [price to travel] isn´t very cheap, but they are super receptive to the message of eternal families. It was actually a family I contacted with Elder Eno a couple of weeks before, and returned with Elder Pezo. Basically, they said that first day they were completely weirded out at these two gringos showing up in shirt and tie looking for a specific familiy in this small town. They said the other gringo really weirded them out. It was funny, and we joke about it when we visit. 

Elder Muñoz, one of the other elders in Cereté has been really rough for a long time. Just flojo and ocioso [lax and lazy]. But, he´s made massive progress in the last two weeks, starting to become a power in the district, and I´ve learned a ot from that experience.

I´ve been getting on people´s case for losing focus. What do we actually want? We know how to get there, but are you working towards something else? I know plenty of people who just don´t understand the Gospel, because they don´t do anything. They don´t understand the massive part that action plays. God didn´t create us to be acted upon, but to be our own agents, free from other acting forces, that we can make our own decisions. He gave us all the steps to happiness, had them written down, hasdthem announced time and time again, and then we do the repetitive and senseless question of what should I do to be happier? How about forget about being well-liked and turn to being trustworthy, respected, and worthy? God has it worked out, just that we´re often complete idiots and try to get man´s approval without realizing that man doesn´t actually know much, they just know what their five senses tell them, and make their own story. If your wishes go farther than a couple years down the road, perhaps into eternity, you´ll realize what you want has nothing to do with being popular or well-liked. That lack of faith causes problems in families, in missions, in careers, in studies, and in personal lives. 

2 Nephi 8:12 "Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of man, who shall die, and of the son of man, who shall be made like unto grass?" 

Enos 1:23 "And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them." 

I know that if we do what He wants, He´ll bless us, and that faith has nothing to do with seeing the consequences before doing something. 

Ether 12:6 "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

It´s always a step into the dark, it´s an act of trust. The pansies are the ones that can´t do it. 

Just something I´ve been raving about for the past couple months, I hope y´all understand it and put it in practice, it´ll make a difference. Don´t do dumb things. 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, and sorry for not writing last week, there was confusion but the zone activity was fun, we went to a finca [farm] in Monteria and it was super super hot, we almost actually died playing capture the flag in a field with a bunch of cows and they didn´t bring enough water.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Por Fin, conocimos el neuvo Pte. (We meet the new president)

So, Presidente Calderon finally made it  to the big bad coast to visit. He´s super different than Pte Pitarch and he´s really polarizing, with until now I think only one pole. Which techincally means he isn´t polarizing, he just has a positive charge. But, that would mean that we would have negative charges, and to avoid saying we are negative, we are going to leave chemistry and physics aside. But, he´s super cool. He´s also super short. He talked a lot about autosuficiencia [self-sufficiency], and talked about it in ways we hadn´t thought about before. We are starting to have the focus of helping the missionaries and the members be autosuficientes economically and spiritually and basically in any way we can.

The next day was interviews, and they were great. Basically, the Pte wanted to get to know us and asked about our strengths and weaknesses and why we´re serving a mission and a couple other things and how we´ve changed in the mission. I was surprised because I knew the answer to all the questions. I could look in the past a see how I´ve grown in just 9 months of mission. The two days together were really motivating for all, and the district has taken a leap forward in obedience and work, and it´s been really great to see the change happen.

So, we finally got to know that family in El Carrillo. It´s a widow with three children, one of which is living in Monteria and taking the lessons from the hermanas there. The other two live at home, but one works and only has Sundays off and the other was taking their 103 year old grandmother to the hospital. But we talked to the mother, and the daughter from Monteria was there and she beared her testimony and testified of the Book of Mormon and of the Church to her mother and it was super awesome. She isn´t even baptized. but she has a strong testimony of the truth and knows the importance of the family and having the family together in the Gospel. The mother, Eunice, came to church yesterday and although she has old eyes and doesn´t have glasses, she somehow can read the Book of Mormon, and has an energy to do the right thing. Also, a guy that I think is Methuselah´s cousin came, and although he can´t read, loves the Gospel and reads the BoM with his recent convert neighbors. He lives a very far distance from the capilla [chapel] and it´s hard to go because of his advanced age. He´s got super thick glasses. Coke-bottle glasses, I´ve heard them called. But, he came to church anyway, and was willing to leave an hour early and walk to the chapel if necessary. It was really cool to have them in church yesterday. Then, after the meetings and all, we met a blind man who recieved the lessons from the misioneras when there were hermanas here like 5 years ago, and his contact was lost in cambios. Teaching a blind man was interesting. We still maintained eye contact, we just didn´t ask him to read anything. But, it was awesome to see his faith and persistent energy although he couldn´t see us and can´t read the BoM. He was a reference from a member and the member is going to spend time with him reading the homework we leave.

This week was super awesome, and like I said last week, I´m super winning as LD [district leader] seeing the changes. But, this week I really noticed I´ve hardly done anything. I´ve invited, I´ve shared scriptures, I´ve given the example, but I didn´t make the change. I spent a time with Pte Calderon talking about faith, and I realized a lot of us have less faith than we think we do. Many times we think we´re alright, and that we´re completing our callings or getting to church every week. The Pte invented the word "activio" to describe the people who do the stuff and are active in the Church, but aren´t active in the Gospel. Often, we´re just worldly people who go through the motions of everything. Double check yourselves and arrepentíos [repent]. 

The picture I sent is the weather from I think Friday. The humidity gauge was broken, but it measured the temperature of the sunny street we were walking in. 43C = 109F.

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

Elder Hicken is the Best

As you know, I've been in this 6 week battle so far to fix the district, and it's been a rough ride. Last week, I said I started winning, and I'm still winning. The elders are working harder, being much more obedient, and more spiritual. Everyone is more focused, and basically life is better. The LZ recognize the progress, and as expected, aren't contented. Basically, it's what they should say. Great, they've come a long way, but compare it to where they could be, and it's your job to get them there. There's three weeks left of the long cambio, so I'll see what I can do.

Outside of that, it's been rough in terms of progressing investigators. Our investigatos are great and receptive, or that at least what it always seems like. Absolutely no one came to church yesterday and so we're like what is this. We had a couple people commit and we verified with them and all, and it was all seguro, and they didn't come. I was pretty upset. Diogenes, who had a baptismal date, and didn't come so now we're going to talk straight and put another date. Pezo and I decided that a part of our unsuccess could be that we just simply need more people. We've got more than enough work for the week, it's actually difficult to fit all the people in. But, we're going on the hunt real hard this week for stellar families.

So, this family from el Carrillo that we got completely soaked looking for? I found them on an intercambio with Elder Eno, LZ, on friday. and it was a small victory. Actually, we didn't find the family, just their house and their 200 year old tio [uncle].

This week, we did a Noche de Hogar with the family of Valentina, a family that was less active a month ago. Basically the mother, Vivianna, invited the entire block and they almost all came. There were a lot of people (or, in Colombia, un poco de gente) that night and it was great, we met new people, and we're planning visit again this week and start the ball rolling.

This week, Pte Calderon is finally coming to the famous Colombian coast. Maybe it's bad, but when people come, I always hope they experience the extremes of temperatures just so they understand what it's like here. Like that it's 40C one day, and it rains super hard the next. Like when Gma and Gpa came from California a couple of years ago and the weather suddenly dropped to like -20F for a couple days and everything froze.

Yesterday was one of those days that it rains an entire ocean and floods everything. It was great. We were in ward council when it started, and after it ended Elder Pezo remembered we left the balcony glass doors open (we normally do, just that it normally doesn't rain like it did yesterday) and we left running to the house hoping the damage wasn't bad. The streets had a good foot of water, deeper in some points. I got some video of trucks with the water halfway up their tires, and it was crazy. After like 3 minutes, we were completely soaked and Elder Muñoz tripped and fell in one of those deeper parts and got super soaked and all our shoes were wetter than a car with it's widows open in a malfunctioning car wash where it's spraying water, but doesn't move the car forward. It was a good time, but my shoes ended up super wet, and when we got to the house it was partially flooded, and we took over an hour trying to get the water out. The Colombians do a thing here when it rains, and it's sweeping the streets. It may sound normal to you all, but remember when I say about a foot of water in the streets. The rain's coming down and there's a foot of water, and there's people in the streets with a broom sweeping the same spot over and over again like they're trying to move the water away. None of us understand it.

On intercambios with La Granja, with Elder Zuchel, we were teaching and these bright orange and pink chicks were playing in the dirt. After the lesson, we started playing with them and it was just odd, these bright colored chicks. 

I love the woman's shirt.  They could have stopped with the first phrase  

STOP WAITING FOR FRIDAY

but then we wouldn't have had the pleasure of being amused at how poorly the designer (or translator) actually is at writing English 

MAKE THE MOST 

THE MOMENT YOU TIME 

IS NOW. 

Always Great,

Élder Hicken

I like walking

This week was awesome. We met a super cool family contacting this week, and although they didn't come to church, a big part was because of a motorcycle accident they had. It wasn't bad, just that the youngest daughter scraped up her leg a good bit and it hurts to walk, and we haven't talked much with other members of the family because they've been coming and going. But, the family is super cool, believe me.

We received a reference from some sister missionaries in Montería of a family that lives in a place called el Carrillo. After a bit of research, we found out el Carrillo is a bit farther than San Pelayo, a smaller town outside of our small town. Basically, we thought it wasn't very far, maybe like a kilometer or two. Turns out, it's about 8 (5 miles). 

 Elder Pezo and I outside San Pelayo as we walk to el Carrillo

We kept thinking, it's just up ahead, no that's not it until two hours passed and we finally got there. We started looking for the house with the address we were given, carrera 2 with 8. After a half hour, I noticed we were actually looking for carrera 8 with 2, and that was not what we wanted. Basically, we started looking over, and asking questions, we were told that el Carrilllo was still like a half hour more, and if we wanted to get back to Cereté, we'd have to get going because there weren't going to be motos going back for very long. Equally, it was about to rain. So, we got on moto going back (took about a half hour) and it started raining like mad. We got super soaked. Even worse, we were almost there and my moto went right through a massive puddle (the streets are used as canals to channel the water out, so about a foot of water gathers there) and drenched my shoes and below my knees, and Pezo's moto let him off in the water-filled street. We were 100% drenched when we got there, and I was even missing a contact that was washed out. Our plan was iron a new shirt, put on new pants and socks and shoes and tie and all, and get to the next appointment. We get upstairs to the apartment and the power goes out for like 5 hours. Even better, the power went out the next day for practically the whole day. Hey, but it was fun. En fin, we never even found the house. We scheduled another day to find it (this time not walking) but it sure made for a good story.

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned at some point the challenges that exist in my district, and that I've got a supporting zone leader. This week I gained a victory. I got the entire district to work like I tell them to. It didn't last the whole week, but it lasted for a couple days. But, the victory wasn't that it happened, but what it did. Basically, the other elders noticed they got to the house feeling really good and excited to work more and I was like guys, I told you it always works like this, and I'm super excited for this next week, because the goals and plans we've got make it seem like the same thing will happen, but for more duration. Basically, I'm winning.

Oh hey, the weather is a whole lot better this week. It's actually raining.

Quick question, what malt drinks are there over there? Here, we've got Pony Malta and it's super good and I like it, but I want to know if there's like an equivalent in the USA.

A Colombian Sunset

Always Great,

Élder Hicken