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....