Monday, May 26, 2014

Hey from Cabedelo May 26, 2014

Dear Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

So, to start off, Happy Birthday Norah! I can´t believe she turned 5 today! That´s so crazy! I hope you have a great day Norah! Love you so much! 

In other news, yesterday we had a baptism! Woohoo! His name is Audriano and he is 11 years old. His entire family are members (in-actives) but he was the only one that wasn´t baptized. So, he had already gone to church many times (because when his parents were baptized he wasn´t 8 years old yet). The baptism was great and his parents went to the baptism as well! :) 

Mom: 
Well, I´m glad to hear that Greg has been working later. That must be so nice to have some extra time to run errands and get everything else done, and go to the temple! Side note: I definitely miss going to the temple. Take advantage of it because you live so close and you can go. I definitely wish we had a temple in our mission.

That´s great to hear that Taylor was able to do a little bit of subbing at the schools and that´s funny that he even subbed for in-school. haha
 
So, since I was released as Sister Leader Trainer, I won´t go to the mission meeting but next week is zone conference so I should get the packages and letters next Wednesday! Oh, and I hope my chacos got here because one of my chacos broke, the sole was already wearing down but now the sole just completely split, haha, I´ll have to send you a picture next week. But I have the pair of gray leather sandals that we bought, so I`m going to use those until next week. :) Let´s just say that I´ve done a lot of walking in my mission, to the point that my shoes broke :) That´s got to be a good sign.

Oh, and I´m so glad you found the 4th missionary talk, it´s amazing, right? It´s such a cool talk and there´s so much packed into just one talk :) Thanks for mailing it to me :)

Kelsey:
Aah, Kelsey, you all look so adorable in the pictures! Baby Guy is just too cute! And his eyes! They are so big and so blue! Please send lots of pictures of his blessing, I can´t wait to see them! :) 

Well, the weather lately? Hot, really hot. Everyone always tells me, "Wow, you´re sweating so much, are you ok?" I just answer, "Yes, it´s just hot." I think Brazilians have a special gene that allows them to not sweat. It really seems like Brazilians sweat way less than Americans. haha, I don´t know why but just something that I´ve noticed here. 

It has definitely been a lot easier transition here than it was when I arrived in my second area. It´s really true that you get more used to it. And, I´m glad that you´ve been able to see progress, haha, I definitely feel more comfortable talking to everyone in the street than when I arrived in the mission. 

Lindsey: 
Wish Norah a very, very happy birthday from me to her! And FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO! Give her a big hug and a kiss from me as well :)

haha, that was such a cute story about Norah opening the presents. haha, I just love that girl :) 

Dad:
Yes, the fourth missionary talk is really just so cool. I´m glad you were able to read it, it´s so cool. It took Sister Cameron almost a whole transfer to read and study the talk. 

aah, please send my love to Grandma and Grandpa. I´m sure it´s not easy for all of you to try and help them. I hope everything works out. Send them all my love :) 

Wow, I can´t believe it´s been 30 years since you received your mission call. If it makes you feel any better, when I told Sister Maciel that you were going to be 59 years old this year she was like, "What? He definitely does not look that old!" :) 


Well, this week was a good week, it was a hot week but I actually prefer to work in the hot sun than the wet rain. We´ve been working longer hours here because we don´t do language study from 10-11 (you can chose if you want to and we just go and work after companionship study). It´s been great to work more and Sister Maciel is so much fun to work with. She´s a goof ball and jokes around all the time. 

Funny story of the week: So Saturday night while Sister Sayonara was taking a shower Sister Maciel that it would be funny to tell her that President Nogueira was at the door, waiting for us. haha, she was like, "Is he really here?!" And we all just responded, "Yes! Yes! He´s here, hurry up!" haha, she ran out of the bathroom with shampoo still in her hair, changed her clothes, got to the door and we just started laughing... haha you still have to keep your humor in the mission :) 

Oh random story, when we went to eat lunch at the member´s home on Saturday, she was playing music from a cd and she just let us scroll through and pick music. Well, she had the Remember the Titans soundtrack and let´s just say I rocked out to "Ain´t No Moutain High Enough". let´s just say that if you were there Mom, it would have been a real party, haha, that song made me think of you :)

Oh, today is going to be fun, all the sisters in our zone are going to go to Manaira and we´re going to have a p-day of sisters :) Everyone´s bringing food and we´re going to hang out in the chapel :) I even heard that President Nogueira is going to let us play the exercise/sports games at a members house using the x-box :) what?! 

haha, well the work here is great. I´m so blessed to be serving here in João Pessoa. I never imagined how great the mission would be. Of course it has its highs and lows but it´s so amazing to see the change that the Gospel makes in the lives of others. I wouldn´t want to be doing anything else with my time. 

A lady a few weeks ago just couldn´t believe that we had left our studies, families, countries, everything behind. And she said, "You guys are just losing so much, what to hope to gain from this?" I just responded, "No, we´re GAINING so much." I don´t feel like I´m losing anything. It´s like that scripture says, He that loses his life for Christ shall find it. I can´t believe how fast the time flies and I don´t want to miss a single moment. 

Pray for the missionaries, go out with the missionaries to teach with them, if they stop by give them food (something that I´ve learned here, missionaries are always hungry after walking so much), pray for their investigators, call them to see if they need anything...you get the drift. Anyway, I love this work and I´m so grateful to be a missionary. 

I love you all the MOSTIEST!!!!

Love,
Sister Hicks

PS I tried to send photos but the computer wasn´t working to send photos. I promise I´ll by an adaptor to send photos next week!  

No comments:

Post a Comment