Here in Tecamec (8/26)

So I am here in Tecamec in the ward Huicholes and I really like it here. I apologize ahead of time for being so brief. I literally have no time. It was a really busy PDAY. I cant believe how different it is to be working in a ward and not a branch. I like it because we have recieved a ton of references. I have pictures to send but my USB drive isnt working right now. I will see what happens next week! :) But Elder Christensen is really nice. He sings really amazing though. He kind of reminds me of Elder Van Tassel that we had serving in our ward a few years ago, a really good singer and obedient but a little strange. We get along really well. The crazy thing is, is that my spanish is just as good as his, (he says mine is better) and he has been out for 10 months! So that makes me feel really good. We put a baptismal date on this lady and she came to church on Sunday so that was awesome. I think she will progress just fine, her name is Apalonia. She is the sister in law of this nice lady in our ward. Basically Tacamec is really crazy, especially compared to Molango, but as the week has gone on, I have felt more and more comfortable and know that this is the exact place I need to be working at this point in time! Something I am going to miss is telling everyone that I am 18, I wont be so different anymore! I will try to give more details next week, but I have to go save some souls now! ;) Miss and pray for you all, but most of all I love you! Make this week the most amazing week ever!

Love,

Elder Hixon

Changes (8/19)

So I got changes! I will no longer be in Molango. I am with my new companion Elder Christensen and he is the District leader. I still havent been with a native companion! Elder Christensen seems like a really nice guy. He has 10 months in the mission and is from Kansas. We will see what we can do here in this ward. I am really really sad to not be in the jungle anymore but I really look forward to progressing in the mission and getting to know more people! I am now serving in the zone Tacamec and I am about 45 minutes away from Pachuca and not 3 hours! I have not gone to meet anyone here yet so we will see what happens this week. I am kinda sad because I am leaving a baptism that will happen on Saturday in Molango and then one the following week.But I will get Elder McCormick to send me pictures of them. Now I really feel like I am in Mexico. I am in a place more like how I imagined it. The pictures are of me with Elder McCormick eating pizza with our zone leaders and the other is with me standing in front of the house of prayer in Molango, little did I know that it would be my last there.

Earlier this week on Thursday, we had a visit from the area 70 Elder Valenzuela. He trained us as missionaries and showed us our role in the work of salvation. I dont know if you Dad have seen the work of salvation videos and stuff. How that is working up in the states. But basically Elder Valenzuela was legit and he told us on how the keys are given to the Bishops and stake presidents and with the help of the members they do the work of salvation. Us as missionaries also play a key part as we are full time teachers. That is what we are called to do is teach! Nothing else, and it is the job of the members to keep our agendas full, not us! I learned a lot from him but that was the basic idea of it. I also have lots of desires to understand the Atonement and the role it plays in my life as a missionary. That is going to be my goal from here on out and I can only imagine that it will be a life time goal. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and I am so grateful for the gift we have to repent from our sins everyday, both the big sins and the little sins that we arent even aware of. 

This week was crazy but I really dont remember too much of it because of packing up and leaving Molango and now coming here to Tecamec, everything is so different. But I love all of you and thank you for all you do for me and your prayers! Talk to you all soon! Oh and have a great week at school and work! :) I will be working too! 

Love, Elder Hixon

NOTICE: This email

Hey all! (Again!) 8/12

This will have to be a short letter this week sorry! Everything is doing fine. I am really improving in my teaching skills and my spanish, just like always! As a part of my training this week I had to start EVERY SINGLE LESSON! It was really hard at first but as I just took a deep breath and let the spirit work through me I was able to teach better and really improve my spanish. We taught 45 lessons this week and I think my companion started maybe 3 of the lessons. And on top of all of that, I was sick with a cold! So lame! I saw pictures of the lake and it looked like a blast! Josh looks like a man already.... I am scared that he will be a giant compared to me when I get back, Jake too. This week it finally started to rain on a more consistent basis. :) The past couple weeks had been pretty toasty. We are really trying to work hard with our investigators that we have. We have a good group of them but they are being stubborn with their commitments we leave them, especially the one about coming to church! That has been really frustrating for me, dissappointing more that anything. Just the lamest excuses for not going to church. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father feels about all his children that cant keep up with commitments. I have been reading and studying the General Conference talks from April and I have been learning a ton and I cant wait until the next General Conference in October. Weird to think that in October I will already have 6 months in the mission. I am so excited for general conference that I think I am more excited for it than I am for my birthday this year! I have also been reading in Alma in my personal studies and reading about Captain Moroni. He was a beast of a man. I laugh and how dumb the Lamanites were and how clear it is that when the Nephites kept the commandments, the Lord blessed them. I want to become the man that Moroni was, always firm in the faith and a great leader! I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that when we read and study it we can recieve blessing from our Heavenly Father. I know that the Lord put obstacles and hard things in our lives so that we can be lifted up from them, just like I was with all the lessons I had to teach this week. It all depends on our attitude, if we let our trials weigh us down we arent going to be happy, but if we use them to lift us up we can be happy. This is my testimony and some of the things I learned this week. And I would like to share that with you all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

I´m sorry for those who like to hear more details about Mexico and my investigators but I just dont have the time to talk about all of them!! I wish I did but that is what we can do after the mission. We can have a nice long talk! ;) 

Love and miss you all. Thanks for prayers, you are all in mine!

Elder Hixon

Hey all! (8/5)

Well this wont be too long, I dont have much time but this week went by so fast! My companion and I worked so hard and ended up working in a good 44 lessons this week! It is only frustrating when you have 7 or so invesitgators and then none of them come to church! :( But its okay, just got to work a little harder right? Fun fact of the week; I got pizza hut pizza on wednesday night and it was delicious!!! We got 2 supreme pizzas and one pepperoni. They got all kinds of good stuff in Pachuca. But since I am here in Molango in the middle of no where I just get pure mexican food all day everyday! (I guess that is not so bad of a thing)

 Well I had one really awesome experience that I would like to share. We had a zone training meeting and I learned a lot! We as a zone had a goal in July to baptize about 35 people, but our zone only got 11 baptisms. So our zone leaders and the mission assistants were really worried there. One of the assistants, Elder Shillig stood up and talked and I dont recall all the words he said, but whatever he said moved me! I know that I need to work harder and I can always improve as a missionary. Yes I feel like I am doing a lot and yes it might be more than other missionaries, but I am giving the Lord my 100%? I think that is a good question that we need to ask ourselves everyday, are we willing to give the Lord 100%? It is something I have tried to work on since the training meeting on wedensday. I felt as if I was getting comfortable and going through the motions. I am now trying to continue to study harder, teach with more power, and love the people even more. We can always improve everyday. I have been reading in Jesus the Christ and I have come to appreciate the Savior and his atonement more and more as the days go on! I am so grateful for His sacrifice for each and every one of us. The atonement personal and infinite. I know He lives, and I am so grateful to represent Him! These were just a couple of the things I learned and have been thinking about this week and I would like to share with you all! 

Well, I believe that is all I have time for. I hope all those at Bass Lake have a great time and eat an extra piece of Pizza Factory pizza for me! YUM!! Love and miss you all. Thanks for your prayers and love!

Love,

Elder Hixon

Another week down (7/29)

Wow what a week! It was a really busy week and I learned a ton... On last week on Monday, after our pday ended we had a FHE with a family in our branch. (actually the family that we had the baptism with last saturday) Anyways so my companion and I watched a video about temples with them and then had a little discussion about it. We had a little snack and then left the house. We were heading home for the night.... because we wanted to be home before 9:30 and be obedient you know... but the closer we got to our house I started to feel worse and worse. I finally said something to my companion and said something wasnt right. He looked and me and said ´´Elder, do you feel like we need to go back to the house?´´ I told him I thought it would be a good idea. So we called president and said we would be a little late getting home. So we went back to the house and asked them if they had ever dedicated their home before. They said they hadnt and they dont have a priesthood holder in the home so my comp just offered the prayer. After we dedicated the home we gave blessings to the two ladies that live there. (sister Burgos and her daughter Ana) Anyways I dont know why the Lord prompted us to go back to that house that night but I sure felt a lot better after we blessed them and their home. It was the strongest prompting I have ever recieved in my life. It is comforting to me to know that the Lord trusts me to follow through with the promptings I recieve. Who knows what might have happened if I didnt say anything to my comp or if we had been doing something that was keeping us from having the Spirit. I am grateful that I can act as a tool for the Lord and act in His name. It says in Preach My Gospel, ´´Your calling gives you authority; keeping your covenants gives you power.´´ I know that to be true and I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost as I continue to be obedient.

The week in general was a little slow. Tuesday through Friday there wasnt a lot of people home because everyone is on vacations. This little town is basically a ghost town. But we worked hard and did what we could. On saturday in Zacualtipan I had some of the weirdest food of my life! I had COW BRAIN quesedillas and chicharrones (fried pig skin)!!! The cow brain was actually kinda yummy! :) But the chicharrones were slimey and in salsa... I just ate them with a ton of tortilla.. It was pretty interesting. It actually made my comp pretty sick. But not me! I guess I got a steel stomach. Nothing is going to make me sick. When we came back we rode all the way back to Molango in the back of a truck. That would NEVER happen in California so that was a cool experience. 

On sunday we had a branch leadership council and we talked about what we can do as missionaries and leaders to help make this branch a ward. It went really well and hopefully that get things going here. We will see! 

Anyways I dont have much more time but this week I learned a lot and I am a little sad I am not at Bass Lake right now with the family! But I know i am where I need to be! I am sad to hear about Matt Needham. He was really a nice kid. Tell the family I am sorry for their loss! 

Of course thanks for all of your prayers.. Oh and CONGRATS to Bronson for his mission call! Mexico City Southeast! Thats so awesome. Maybe would could arrange a pday at one of the historical cites here in mexico. Well see! Until next week

Love,

Elder Hixon

New week (7/22)

Well this week went really really well. The first few days we just worked really hard and taught our lessons like normal. The juicy stuff started happening on saturday and sunday!

So on saturday President and Sister Egbert came up to Molango to come watch a baptism! We baptized a lady named Arizbeth, she is part of a family that is all members except her... Well at the time. She has been listening to the missionaries for 8 years but never recieved an answer to her prayer until she was with us. She is an amazing girl and she has such a testimony. She was having doubts about Joseph Smith for a little but we cleared that up and now she has a strong testimony of it. She has a daughter that has down syndrome and she is just adorable. He name is Miley. She likes to hit and make silly faces at us but we know she does it out of love! So I got the oppotunity to baptize again in the waterfall!!! Woo hoo! It is such an amazing feeling when I say the words, ´´Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ´´ I just feel an amazing spirit and know that I am truely a representative of Him and I have been called to preach his gospel and baptize! Then saturday night president Egbert had a meeting with the branch presidency and councelors, so basically all the priesthood holders in the branch and basically disciplined them in the most loving way and told us that they would be more committed to helping us and helping the branch grow so that one day we can have a church building here in Molango! 

Sunday morning, sister Egbert made us breakfast burritos with bacon and GALLONED MILK not boxed milk! It was so delicious! Sister Egbert texts us all the time and she literally LOVES my comp and I. Also president Egbert said he is going to come once a month and visit us and the branch to give more training to the leaders here. President is so amazing too. He know spanish really well and he brings the spirit so strong whenever he talks. Anyways so I went to the sacrament services with Elder McCormick and president and his wife in Zacualtipan for the first time because normally I am in Molango playing the piano. We had 25 people there and the average is 13 and the meeting was amazing. Then we put two more baptismal dates on 2 investigators right after the meeting. Then we came back to Molango and had our sacrament services here and there were 41 people here in Molango. We had one investigator there and he started crying because of president Egberts talk. It was amazing. The spirit was amazing and the leaders changed. I have seen so much change in this branch just from a little bit of help from President Egbert. Oh and on saturday sister Egbert brought us brownies, milk, candy, LUCKY CHARMS, and a ton of other goods! I am getting so well taken care of out here. But yes, this week was amazing and the baptism and confirmation of Arizbeth just topped it off. I am so grateful for all of the blessings the Lord has poured upon me. I know it comes from obedience and persistance.

Thank you for all of your prayers, they really help a lot! until next week!

Elder Hixon 

Another week down (7/15)

Hey all,

Wow where to start this week.... So many great things happened. At best I will share two stories that I liked best and then talk about so other good stuff!

Well the first story isnt really a story. Just the fact that my companion and I baptized Catalina, Jaan, and Mateo. And this time it was in a waterfall!!!! And we have one more baptism scheduled for Saturday! Okay I lied there is a story.... The three of them got confirmed on sunday in the casa de oración, or house of prayer, as they call it because it is too small to be called a church building. That experience was AMAZING. I felt the spirit so strong as they recieved the Gift of the Holy Ghost. What a blessing it is for all of us members of the church that have this gift. That we have the promise to always have it with us as long as we keep the commandments. Anything bad that happened this week disappeared right then because I was reminded again about how special and sacred this work is I do and all missionaries do. Right after, Mateo was interview for the priesthood and he was then ordained a deacon. So now we will have one active deacon and one active teacher to pass the sacrament and not me anymore! Something else I learned this week is the importance of the priesthood. Without the priesthood the branch we have here cannot, will not grow. The priesthood is the power of God to act in his name and if there are no worthy active priesthood holders there, the church cant run smoothly. I am so grateful for my priesthood and that I can use it bless others. It brings such an overwhelming joy to me! 

The second story is this... We were in Zacualtipan, our other area and we were having our lunch. Then the girlfriend of one of the members of the little group there (it is too small to be called a branch) came and my companion just started talking to her. At first she seemed really hesitant to talk but after a few minutes she opened up. My companion right there basically gave the entire resoration lesson and then gave me the time to bear my testimony and explain the Book of Mormon. The lesson was somewhat short but it was really powerful. But the best part is this... We asked her to give the closing prayer and she accepted. So we taught her how to pray and from the moment she opened her mouth and said, Padre Celestial or (heavenly father) my comp and I felt the spirit super strong! She was crying by the second or third sentence and it was the most amazing prayer I have heard from an investigator ever!! IT was amazing. I then testified to her that if she read the Book of Mormon and felt the same way as she did the the pray that she would know that this is the true church. We havent seen her since but I am so excited to see what happens with her. It was just an awesome experience.

Well other than that it was an awesome week with less rain. I got my camera stolen which stink but whatever, nothing can stop me from working hard and loving these people! Oh and president and sister Egbert absolutely LOVE my comp and I! They are like my Mexican parents here on my mission. I look forward to the 21 months I have with them. My 3 months is on wednesday! Unbelievable. Oh and one more thing I have a baptism for Saturday, I dont know if I already mentioned that or no. But president Egbert and his wife are driving all the way up here to see it so it is going to be something really special! Thank you all for your prayers and for all you have done for me to get this point in my life. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL AND I LOVE MY MISSION!

Until next week,

Elder Hixon

Week 12

Hey all! The girl I baptized, her name was Lucero. She lives in Zacualtipan, the other place we serve in that we go to every wednesday and saturday. Basically all the people in the photo all want to get baptized but they cant cuz they are living together but arent married. They were married but then got separated with their spouces and now they lost contact and it is super difficult to get divorced here in Mexico. But Lucero was super ready to be baptized and she had listened to missionaries before. She was super prepared by the Lord and we just happened to be the Elders to be there at the right time for her. We have another baptismal date with one other girl in the photo I believe but her mom got really mad when she told her she wanted to get baptized. We will see what happens with her. We are gonna continue to teach her cuz she really really wants to get baptized after watching Lucero´s baptism. 

We have 3 more people that are gonna be baptized on Friday. I will send photos of them next week. Their names are Jaan, Mateo, and Catalina. Jaan is 9 almost 10. Mateo is 13. And Catalina is 19. They are nephews and a neice of a less active member that we are activating and they live with her. They are super awesome and they love us. Hopefully everything stays good with them. I am super excited. My companion and I are working really hard and had a goal of 7 baptisms in July. We have 7 with dates so it would be awesome to see our hard work pay off. I know that when we set our minds to something and we have faith, the Lord will provide a way to do whatever thing it is that we want to do! I have learned so much about the power of prayer and that if we pray with faith that we will be blessed with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father really answers us. We just have to be listening. I dont have much time but I just love this gospel and I know Joseph Smith was a  prophet. I love being able to teach so much cuz everytime I bear my witness that this church is true, I can feel my testimony strengthening! 

My spanish is still coming along, I am realizing that I am not translating from spanish to english hardly at all anymore. Spanish is spanish and english is english. Its hard to explain. I am just super excited for the baptisms that hopefully happen on Friday! Just keep Jaan, Mateo, and Catalina in your prayers! All right I think that is all I have time for. I love you all. Have a great week. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Hixon

The work in Molango

This week went by sooo fast! I cant believe how quickly the time is flying by. This week was super busy. My comp and I taught so many lessons this week. It was extra tough cuz he has been making me start the lessons and then making me chose what to talk to the people about. We have a system that we do here. We help the members here, we reach out to the less actives and we also have investigators. I like the system, it is really effective to get around and help and teach all different kinds of lessons. My spanish is still pretty rough but i know it just takes time. I know I just need to be patient. My comp says I am improving though so thats good.

So Monday after I wrote we taught a few lessons and then went to a FHE with the ### family. There we had a good lesson about the importance of temple and covenants we make, also the covenants we make at baptism. The grandpa and also one of the grandpas daughters was having a birthday so we had a mini party after the family night. We had some cake and so pineapple jello stuff. It was actually pretty good. (I have eaten so much more fruit than I have ever eaten in my entire life here!!)


Tuesday we walked around for about 3 or 4 hours and literally had like no success. Nobody was home and all our appointments fell through. It was dissappointing but I knew that I was going to have tough days out here. It is super duper humid here in this part of Mexico. I sweat so much it is disgusting. And just to clarify, its not a jungle in the little town we are in but everything around us is jungle. The view is so amazing! Nothing like I was expecting when I got my call. I got a little sunburned on tuesday too. But yeah after the long day of not too much success we had to go back to Pachuca which is 3 hours away in taxi. We are literally 3 hours away from the closest missionaries. We preach here and in Zecualtipan on saturdays which I will talk about later.


Wednesday we had our zone conference which is the reason why we had to go to Pachuca in the first place. It was good, we had a couple of classes that we had and we also were taught by president and sister hicken. Supposedly it is the last time we are going to see them, my companion was having a hard time saying goodbye to them cuz he has been here for 19 months. Hes a champion. After the zone conference we had to yet again travel back here to Molango. The funny thing is that they PACK their cars here. The taxi had 6 grown men in the car, my comp and I shared the front seat the entire 3 hours. Talk about a long car ride!!! I guess it was a good bonding experience. haha


Thursday, nothing out of the ordinary happened, got up studied, taught lessons with whoever was home and willing to listen to us. We had some taquitos with sour cream, lettuce, cheese, and salsa for lunch cuz they feed us around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Nobody was really home this day either and I got a little burnt. When we have lots of lessons I dont have to worry about getting burnt cuz I am teaching inside a lot. I got some ice cream that was pretty good, I got bubblegum and cookies and cream. I was surprised and how good it was.


Friday was awesome. We taught this super powerful lesson with an investigator named ### and also her sister ### listens to us too. But we taught her about the restoration and we were in the middle of the lesson when my comp leaned over and told me to invite her to be baptized. So i did and she said YES! She said she wanted to be baptized the next day. We told her we had to wait until the next week so we could finish teaching her the things she needed to know. It was great! The spirit was so strong! These kind of lessons make this whole mission experience worth it. I love seeing the changes in people lives that this gospel provides for everyone.


Saturday was rough. When we went to go see ### she looked completely changed. She told us she didnt want to be baptized anymore! She let us teach her a lesson but the lesson went nowhere and we know she knows this is the true church but she is scared for some reason. It was super sad. We are going to continue to try and help her. We went to Zecualtipan after cuz thats what we do on saturdays. It was definitely different. There were a lot more people and the city is wayyy bigger than here in Molango. There is so much work to do in both places. We basically went around all day on saturday trying to know as many members as possible. It was exhasting! But there was a man there who was sick and asked for a blessing so I got the opportunity to anoint with oil in spanish. It was rough but really cool. An experience I will never forget. I love being able to exercise the priesthood which I have. But yeah we then came back here to Molango which is about a 45 minute drive.


Sunday was so nice. I needed a day to relax and recharge my batteries. We got to teach primary on sunday. There was a grand total of 3 kids there! I cant wait til we see more people coming to church on sunday. There was about 20 total there on Sunday. Other than that it was just teaching and yeah we talked to a super funny drunk guy. That was fun! I have never seen anyone so drunk in my life. Moral of the story, dont drink! It makes you do stuff you dont wanna do!


Thats all for now, I love you and think pray for everyone daily. Thanks for your prayers and everything!


Love,
Elder Hixon

Im finally here in Mexico! I cant believe it. Where to start?? Well I left the MTC early monday morning and took a bus to SLC airport and then flew from there to Atlanta, Georgia where I got to call my family for a few minutes, I wish it was longer!! I also saw one of the guys from Duck Dynasty there, it was pretty sweet! Yeah so I flew to Mexico City that afternoon and we drove to the mission home which isnt even part of our mission. THE CITY IS HUGE!!! The drive was crazy, there are like no traffic laws out here. I was freaking out but the drivers are professional!! (Dont worry mom) So we ate dinner and stayed with the president and his wife, President and Sister Hicken. They are both really nice and funny. President told us we were all gonna get native companions!!! We settled in for the night and then in the morning we headed off to the church bldg where we do transfer meetings and whatnot right by the temple.
The temple here is so awesome! So tuesday we got our companions. My companion´s name is Elder McCormick! He is NOT native and he is a redhead from North Carolina. He has been out for 18 months and his spanish is spectacular! I was the only one that didnt get a native companion because President Hicken recieved revelation to put me with McCormick cuz I can play the piano. So get this... This is the craziest part that I have been dying to tell you all!!! I was assigned to labor with my comp in the place called Molango. It is literally the farthest away place in our mission, about 5 or 6 hours away from the city. Molango is like a jungle, (I will send photos) It is super humid and super duper chill compared to the city. The scenery is gorgeous! The people here are all super kind too. We actually didnt even get to our house here in Molango until wednesday afternoon cuz the drive was too long. We stayed with our zone leaders in there apartment in Pachuca. Thats about half way between where we are here in Molango and the city. Oh and also because I was called to serve in a place away from the city, the mission is going to split on July 1 which mean my mission will no longer be called the Mexico City East Mission, it will be called the Mexico, Pachuca mission!!! Crazy.. So that means I wont ever serve in the big city!
So here in Molango it is a pretty small town and there is a small branch consisting of 20 or so members. Really tiny!! There is a lot of work to do here and I was sent here because I know how to play the piano! (THANKS MOM) I have had to use piano so much on the mission, both in the mtc and here in Molango. Our house is really big, too big! There are like 3 bathrooms and two huge bedrooms a kitchen and two living rooms. Its nice though compared to what other people have here. I am extremely grateful for what I do have. We have had to do a lot of traveling back and forth from here in Molango to Pachuca and even DF (thats the city districto federal). The people here in mexico speak spanish so fast its ridiculous, I can understand a lot of what they say but when I comes to speaking all I can do is basically sit there and wait til my companion lets me bare my testimony, he says I do really well for only being here for a week though!! He is great, I honestly and happy I didnt get a native companion cuz he has given me so many tips in English, we probably use more English then we should but it will change.
So yesterday I had to go to church with the branch president and my companion went to this one other city called Zecualtipan which is about 45min away in taxi from here. There is a smaller group of members there about 10 that meet in a members home and my comp goes there to basically be the branch president. We get to go teach people there on Thursdays and Saturdays. It is seriously so cool here, oh yeah last night here in molango it poured rain and there was lightning and thunder, IT WAS SWEET!!! So yeah, the weather is totally different than I expected... At least here in Molango. It is not hot at all, a nice probably 70 degrees but it is super humid so I walk like 10 steps and I am already sweating! I love it here! I am not gonna lie the first couple of days were a crazy culture shock and I got a little homesick but that is totally normal I imagine. I was sure glad to here from everyone back home. And that everything is good there.
I really cant think of anything you can send me mom, I can basically find everything here. And you dont need to send the tide pods either, one of the members here does our laundry!!! So nice. I have eaten so delicious food here!! The tacos are delicious and I have had some dang good enchiladas, but they arent like moms enchiladads, they are all separate. The weirdest thing I have eaten is a cow intestine taco but it was something my companion and I ate at a taco ´store´ and I had no idea what it was until after I ate it! Well I gotta go, im going to try to send some photos now! I am doing so good. Thanks for your prayers, I will try to write individually to people next week when I have less to say! I miss and love you all


Elder Hixon

Made it to Mexico!!

Hey fam,

Im here in Mexico! I made it safely. The city is so crazy and driving here was the craziest experience ever. I was glad to hear your voices today, sorry it was so short. I love you all. Dont worry about me. Thanks for your prayers. President Hicken and his wife are great. We are staying in the misssion home tonight and then we get launched into work tomorrow afternoon. Buenos noches! I love all of you so much.

Love, Elder Hixon

Week 5 MTC

Guess what? Cory is in my zone, her classroom is right next to mine!! I got to introduce her and her district into the MTC last night, it was really cool. I also saw Elder Wolf and Elder Murphy. Shane is actually living on the same floor in the same residence hall as me so we caught up for about a half hour last night. It was sweet. It was nice to talk to someone about life back at home in person and not being rushed in email or something. Well I only got about 6 more minutes of email, not sure where you went but I guess the next time you hear from me will hopefully be in the airport. I don't know if I have to do that in the SLC or if I can do that in the Atlanta one when I have more time. Either way I hope I can call for a little. But if not, I will be fine in Mexico. I am so ready to eat some dang good mexican food! I started packing a little bit today and it all became more real that I am leaving in a few days. CRAZY. This MTC experience has been so awesome. I cant believe its almost done.
More about the vegas experience, we got up at like 5:30am to get ready and stuff and then we drove a bus to the airport. We drove right by the Cuillards house and it kinda made me sad but not really. We ate Cafe Rio and then flew to Vegas and were picked up by a Senior couple elder who took us to the UNLV institute. We got del taco for lunch and we just talked for a little bit. Then we went to the Mexican place and we got our fingers scanned and our photos taken for our visas. It was really simple. Then we went back to the airport and flew home, and we didnt get home until about 10:15. It was nuts.
Lets see, what else... Being a zone leader is fine, I just go to meetings and stuff and I got to help to give this girl a blessing in our zone who was feeling a bit homesick. It was a really cool experience. I didnt actually give the blessing, but one of the branch presidency members. My companion Elder Beck and I got to join the blessing. I realized I have never experienced anything like that, I have just joined in ordination circles and stuff like that. So what is Josh's job? Thats awesome he finally got one. I havent heard from him in forever!
But guess what? Cory is in my zone, her classroom is right next to mine!! I got to introduce her and her district into the MTC last night, it was really cool.
Love you all lots,
Elder Hixon 

Week 4

Hey all!

Wow I honestly cant believe that as of tomorrow I will have been here for a month! Only 23 to go. I know that is no way to think but I cant help but think of how fast this experience is passing by me already! I leave for Mexico in what? 11 days? I am so excited! This week has been crazy! Last thursday night my Branch President, President Dittmar, asked my companion and I to be the new zone leaders! So thanks to Grandma's advice to being exactly obedient brought me blessings of more work! Being exactly obedient is constantly on my mind, and more so now as Zone Leaders because our companionship is now the "example companionship". Another one of my responsibilites is to make sure we welcome anybody who is new and my sure everybody feels comfortable when they feel sort of left out or left behind. I know this is the Lord trying to push me and take me out of my comfort zone because I feel more comfortable just minding my own business and not bothering anybody. I am grateful for this new responsibility and I have learned so much from the experience.

Lets see what else cool happened this week? Oh yes, yesterday (wednesday) the new missionaries came in and our district was asked to Host so we did that yesterday. I got to welcome 3 new missionaries into the MTC yesterday and it was a super awesome experience to see where I was 4 weeks ago and to see how far I have come since I said goodbye.

My companion and I get along so well and when we teach our lessons to our investigators we definitely teach with the power of the Holy Ghost and we work well together. We still have lots of room to improve, especially in spanish, but we both know it will come. That is not the important part. Oh, one quick story. Okay, so every monday night we teach what is called a TRC which is where volunteers come in and they are members and we teach them a quick 20 minute lesson. Last Monday, my companion and I taught this one sister who had just recently moved here to Provo to go to school at BYU and she was from Uraguay I believe. Anyways she knew English pretty well but of course we taught her in spanish. We taught about Revelation through prayer. Our lesson when really well and she told us afterwards that she had really needed to hear that lesson from us that night. She told us that she was just about to start a semester and she was feeling really nervous but we told her in the lesson that through prayer her Heavenly Father would help her with all her problems and doubts. This Monday we saw her in the hall because she had come back to TRC and she told us how she still remembers our lesson perfectly and we really changed her life! It got Elder Beck and I pumped to do the Lord's work for him because that is what missionary work is all about. Bringing others unto Christ. I cant wait until I can teach the people in Mexico and hopefully touch the lives of many.

Oh my goodness I can't believe I almost forgot about the Tuesday Night devotional. Elder Nelson spoke. I believe that was the second time I was in the same room as an Apostle of the Lord. The spirit was super strong there and he talked about how important family history is to our work. They are literally ancestors and ancestors on the other side of the veil waiting for us missionaries and members of the church to convert their relatives down here on the Earth so they can do their work for them and help them with their work. It is a never ending pattern! So Clara, good job with your new love to Index, that's really cool!!! He spoke about a few other things and I have it written down but I don't have much more time.

I love and miss you all. Thank you for your prayers, they help me get through each and every day!
Elder Hixon (Curtis)

MTC week 2

Hey all!

Holy moly this week went by so fast! The days seem to go on forever but the weeks just are flying by! The MTC is awesome. It is truly a place of God. It is a place where I can always feel the spirit strong as long as I am obedient to all the mission rules. I don't remember if I mentioned last time but my companion and I are now sacrament coordinators and I am the pianist for Priesthood, thanks mom :) haha I just want to thank you all for your prayers and letters. They really keep me going. Okay, so a cool story. My companion and I taught a practice investigator yesterday. We went in there super excited and prepared to teach a lesson about faith, repentance, and baptism. We went in there and we taught this amazing lesson with the spirit and we committed Carolina (our investigator) to be baptized, come to church with us on Sunday, and read and pray about the Book of Mormon all in SPANISH! The Spanish is coming along really well. I know as I continue to put my trust in God and work as hard as I can that I will be able to speak the language. And the most important part of missionary work is not the language, but is the spirit we feel with our investigators. A few more things. We got a new teacher, his name is Brother Osuna. He was born in Mexico so he is an awesome teacher. His style of teaching is incredible. He speaks amazing spanglish haha. My companion Elder Beck is from Centerville Utah and yes dad, his uncle is the YM General President. This week we practiced street contacts so that was pretty sweet. Good job with TO by the way. I have so much stuff to tell you and I'm pretty sure I'm telling you all the important stuff but I still feel I haven't told you anything. This week I had a pretty bad cold but thanks goodness I'm better now. I also had like 30 swollen taste buds on my tongue and it was terrible but I am all better now. I get to go to the temple every pday and last week I did an endowment session but it will just be easier for me if I don't have to worry about the family names. I don't need Mexico pins cuz Cory sent me some in a package. I have seen Elder Mosley, I saw him yesterday and I also saw some of the guys from Arizona like Elder Rogers and Elder Parsons. It is cool cuz I do see Ben pretty often. Oh yeah, sorry about forgetting the scripture for FHE so much stuff to remember. This weeks scripture will be Jacob 1:19.
 I love this gospel and I love being a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I love and miss you all.

Elder Hixon

I am pretty sure this is his companion. He didn't post names or captions with his pictures....

MTC Week 1

 

Hey everyone!

 

Wow the MTC is amazing, such an incredible experience so far. From the moment I was taking into the swarm of missionaries until now I have been busy. Its awesome how much Spanish I can remember from high school, at least the listening part. I can understand about 95% of what my teachers say and what my investigator Jose says to me when we are teaching lessons. The Spanish I am trying to speak is rough but I can get the message across and the spirit is super strong! I can already pray in Spanish and bare my testimony in Spanish so that is fun haha! The gift of tongues is real as long as I continue to work as hard as I can I know that the Lord will bless me and has already blessed me with the ability to pick up Spanish. In our district 6 of the 8 guys in our class are all from So Cal, crazy huh? Elder Elton is in my class but he isn't my companion but I see him basically all day so that is fun. I cant send pictures cuz I don't have a SD card or something so if you want me to send pictures I will once I get a card. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that one of my teachers, Hermana Eyring is president Eyring's granddaughter so that is pretty sweet! Oh and Josh, they have this thing here at the MTC where you go and talk to the nutritionist and they have special gluten free food meals here so I thought you might like that fact! One of the guys in my district actually has Celiac too. The food here is amazing though! I have gained 6 pounds in 3 days cuz all we do here is eat and then sit in a classroom and learn Spanish. We do get 50 minutes of gym time and all I do is play basketball which has been fun. My companion's name is Elder Beck. He is from Utah and he is a really good guy. He pushes me and I push him to be better. We were assigned by our branch president to be sacrament coordinators and I he told us that he has never assigned first week elders anything in the entire 3 years that he has served at the MTC so that made us feel really important! We are both 18 and his birthday is August 13 or something. We are very similar and we get along well. I'm super grateful I can be his companion. All the talks and firesides up here are awesome and the spirit is super strong! I'm running out of time on email but I cant think of anything else to report. I am working on my hand-written letters as well.

I love and miss you all but I know that I am where the Lord wants me to be!

Elder Hixon