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
Saturday, June 15, 2013
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
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
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
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