Feliz (almost) Natal - But really it's super close Dec. 16, 2013

Dear Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

So this week was super great! I actually was in João Pessoa for three days. I was on exchanges with 3 sisters as part of my responsibility as a Sister Leader Trainer. It was really great to work with other sisters and try and help them to understand how to work more effectively. It was great to see how much the sisters really opened up and I tried to help them as best as I could. Also, I got to see the beach for the first time while we were on the bus. 

Mom: Loved the picture from the Nutcracker and Heather said that her family just adored you! They said, no wonder we love Courtney, her mom is so amazing :) Also, that is so sweet that you made a quilt! Oh my gosh, they absolutely loved it! So cool Mom, thanks, you´re so sweet! 

Dad: That´s crazy that it´s snowing so much! Heather said that the girls had 2 and a half snow days! Also, that´s kind of a bummer that you were just in buildings all day during your trip to Europe...

I really liked what you said about just going forward with faith from Sister Dew´s book. It´s so true that we just have to trust in the Lord and go forward with faith. 

Bryan: That´s great that Dean was able to visit and hope that you are doing well! 

Lindsey: LOVED the blog post! Looks like you guys had so much fun! That´s so funny about Norah and a rocket ship! haha, I wonder where she got that from? haha and the never-ending Christmas music. haha, good old Pandora :)

I really love being a Sister Leader Trainer. It´s hard to not be in your area for a few days but it´s so rewarding to help other sisters. 

So this week was pretty great. It´s definitely interesting to work in other areas. I was in João Pessoa which is a lot different than my area in Queimadas. There´s way more condos and it´s hard to get in because they all have gates with codes. But it was so great to see the work progressing in other areas.

So yesterday we had stake conference which was really cool. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake and Elder Ballard spoke along with other General Authorities. There were two seventies that spoke that are Brazilian. They talked about how much the work is progressing in Brasil. It seemed like almost the entire conference was about missionary work. Also, Sister Marriot, from the Primary Presidency spoke. She definitely has an accent, she just served as a mission president´s wife in Brasil. One of our investigators (he´s 10 years old) asked me if she was my mom. I think just because of the accent, haha, it was pretty great. 

Also, as we were returning to Queimadas (our branch just rented a school bus) the driver stopped and picked up a group of church goers from another congregation that were returning to Queimadas too. hahah, it was so funny to see the look on their faces as they entered a bus with a bunch of Mormons returning from church hahaha

So we had an amazing lesson with Danilo (Camilla´s (recent convert) brother). He´s investigating the church and he really wants to know. He always reads the things we leave with him and he was teaching US about how important the law of chastity is. Super cool and he has a marked baptismal date for December 29! 

Also, Diego, our recent convert received the Melcezidek priesthood yesterday!!! It was so cool to see him stand up during Stake Conference! Wow, he´s so great and it´s just so cool to see the progress :)

Well, I think next week, Christmas will be p-day, so don´t be worried if you don´t receive an email on Monday! 

I love you all and Feliz Natal!!!!

I hope you are all doing well and staying warm :)

I love you the MOSTIEST!!!

Love,

Sister Hicks

Feliz (almost) Natal! December 9, 2013

Dear Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

I hope this letter finds everyone happy and well! This week was a pretty great week and I´m so happy that I´m staying in Queimadas! Woohoo! We´re definitely in full Christmas season here and it´s pretty funny to hear Christmas music when it´s about 90 degrees outside and super sunny! But it´s definitely a fun experience! It´s also funny to see fake Christmas trees that have the fake white snow on the branches. haha, almost EVERYONE here wants to see snow. They always ask us, Does it snow where you live? haha, it´s definitely the little things that we take for granted :)

Dad:

I´m glad you guys got the letters and the pictures. That´s cool that you were in Germany, I can´t believe how expensive those nativities were! Oh my goodness...but super neat too

I liked what you said about how it´s really cool that as sisters we have to involve the members from the very beginning. It´s really cool to see that the members really are part of the baptism. We had another baptism yesterday. Her name´s Severina and she´s a friend of an inative lady in our branch, Maria da Guia. They live right next to each other. Severina went to church for the first time two weeks ago with Maria and she really liked it. The next week she couldn´t go but we talked to her and she decided that she wanted to be baptized so yesterday she went to church again and we had the baptismal service after church. 

Also, another really cool thing, Diego, one of our investigators that was baptized a few weeks ago, passed the sacrament yesterday. It was so cool to see him wearing a white shirt with a tie, passing the sacrament. The young men in the branch were so kind and helpful. He did a great job and it´s so cool to see the progress that he is making. Also, his stepson Angelo, went to church yesterday too. He´s an inactive but I hope that he´ll start coming back to church :)

Also, I loved what you said about Alma 26:22. I love this scripture too and I love the two parts. What we have to do and what the Lord will do in response. It´s so cool to really start to understand our covenants and the promises from the Lord. 

I really am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a Sister Leader Trainer. This week, Wednesday and Thursday, I´m going to go to João Pessoa with my Sister Leader Trainer companion, Sister Mitchell. It really will be so cool to get to know other sisters and also President and Sister Nogueira. I hope that I´ll be able to help these sisters. Also, I can´t believe that I almost have 6 months in the mission. I can´t believe how fast the time flies and I can´t believe how much I am growing and learning. 

Dad, that is sooo cool about the experience that you had in the airport. You really did touch their lives that day and I´m definitely learning too how important it is to understand and act on the promptings from the Holy Ghost that we receive. 

Bryan: Wow, I can´t believe the crazy weather that you guys are having in Dallas! wow! I hope you guys are safe and that Lindsey and Alice feel better soon! Keep safe and keep warm! 

Oh Mom, just a random question for you, what do you think is the best way to wash my leather bag that I have? Any tips?

So we had a really great zone meeting this week. It was a little crazy because it was my first time helping out with one (the Zone Leaders and the Sister Leader Trainers are the missionaries that plan and execute the zone meetings). But we focused a lot on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I had such a powerful experience during the zone meeting. We had a time for pondering and reflection. The Spirit was so strong. We listened to music and read Mosiah 14:4-12. I love this part that talks about the power of the Atonement and what Christ suffered for each and every one of us. 

I am only beginning to understand the full magnitude of the Savior´s suffering for us. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the gift that we have to repent. 

I am doing well and I am super happy. I hope that you all have a great week and I love you the MOSTIEST! 

Oh also, I haven´t heard anything more about how it works to call or skype on Christmas but I´ll let you know soon!

Love you all!

Sister Hicks

I Got the Packages and the Letters - THANKS!!! December 4, 2013

Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

Well it sure is the Christmas season now...in QUEIMADAS! I wasn´t transfered and I´m so happy that I get to stay here in Queimadas, and the best part, all 4 of us, Sister Johnson, Sister Shirts, and Sister Stolk, we all are still here in Quimadas together! It´s gonna be a American/Brazilian Christmas with 4 American sisters in Queimadas! haha!

Oh and also, I got the package Mom! Thank you sooooo much! Ah, lotion, purrell, the cute little London socks, head band, NORMAL deodorant (woohoo!!!), razor heads, everything! Thanks Mom! Also, I got the letters too! Thank you! I didn´t open the 2 letters that were in the red envelopes because they seemed like they´re for Christmas, or can I open them now? But, thank you so much!!! You´re the best Mom!

So, one crazy change that happened this week. I´ve been called to be a Sister Leader Trainer, which means that I´ll go on splits with other sisters and help them out. I´ll have a Sister Leader Trainer companion (that I´ll travel with) and we´ll have about 4 companionships of sisters that we´ll be responsible for. The cool thing is that I´ll be able to see a lot of the mission and that I´ll be able to learn so much from other sisters. It´s pretty crazy because I only have 3 transfers here but I´m so ready to learn and grow. Because of this, I went to João Pessoa on Monday morning for a meeting with all the Zone leaders, other Sister Leader Trainers, APs, and Pres and Sister Nogueira. We talked about the numbers and goals in our mission and then we had a training which was so great. After we had lunch in the chapel and we went to the mission office to get packages and letters. All go to Joõa Pessoa (normally) every first Tuesday of the month to have this meeting with all the mission leadership. I felt so lost and overwhelmed but I´m so grateful for this opportunity that I have too. And the cool thing is that it will be for the entire length of my mission :) Also, the training that we had was so cool. It was about redemption and the Atonement. We read in Mosiah 14:4-12. Such a great chapter, we talked about how if we really understand the Atonement we will want to share the Gospel with EVERYONE! Such a great meeting and the Spirit was so strong.

Mom: Well, I´m so glad to hear that you all made it safely to Dallas. I guess I really do mess up the travel plans in our family :) I laughed out loud when I read about what Greg said, "I hate when that happens" haahaha, all of the sisters that I live with already love Greg because of all the stories that I share, like, "Go back, go back go back go back!" haha Sister Johnson said, wow, you really do have a lot of funny stories because of Greg! :)

So, I still haven´t heard anything about how phone calls work for Christmas, I heard that you can skype but that it doesn´t work very well so I think it´d be easier to just call but I´ll ask for more information and get back to you.

I´m glad everything went well for Thanksgiving and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE! I´m glad to hear that she had a great horse birthday party!

Also, wow, no black Friday shopping Mom? Woah! :) haha

So I can´t really remember what we ate for Thanksgiving, obviously they don´t celebrate it hear, I can´t remember what we had for lunch (well probably rice and beans) and dinner we just grabbed some bread rolls from the local bakery haha :)

So the only other thing I can think of to send would be peanut butter, it´s wicked expensive here! 20 reais (10 bucks) and it´s super small size but I´m craving peanut butter :) Thanks Mom! Just when you get a chance!

So Ana Claudia´s baptism went really well. Her mom didn´t attend but her siblings and inactive aunt came which was cool! So happy for her and on Sunday she received the Holy Ghost!

Exciting about my room too! Can´t wait to see it! :)

Dad:

 I´m glad to hear that the trip to Dallas went well and you´re sure right, it is SUPER hot here but it fun to see fake Christmas trees and garland with fake snow on it, hahah, in 90 degree weather! But you´re so right, I just want to soak everything in about the Christmas culture here! It´s going to be so cool and I just can´t wait!

Oh one funny tradition (not relating to Christmas) that I found out recently. So here in Brasil, or at least Paraíba, when you lose a tooth you don´t put it under your pillow, you throw it up on top of your roof! haha, not kidding, we were with a little kid and he showed us his tooth that fell out and then he threw it on the roof! :) just a little funny tradition in Brasil :)

I really liked what you said about faith Dad. It is such a critical aspect of our lives and especially with missionary work. This morning during companionship study Sister Stolk and I were talking about how we can help our investigator, Paula, really gain a testimony. She wants to know so bad that the Church is true and we´re trying to show her that she just needs to exercise her faith. She´s a really great young woman and she has such a desire to know! She´s always going to seminary and she´s been to church 2 times already :) Oh so Kimball, in response to your question, Paula is one of our investigators that is progressing really well!

Lindsey: I´m totally with you Linds, I love Martinelli´s and I actually saw sparkling cider in the super market this past week so we´re definitely going to buy some for Christmas! Woohoo! haha

I´m so glad to hear that the party went well for Alice and that they didn´t lose any fingers feeding the horses! :)

Kimball: Wow I can´t even imagine 6 degrees and snowing, haha it seems like a totally different world. Everyone is mesmerized when we tell them that it snows where we live. EVERYONE wants to see snow, it´s so cool. It´s crazy that we sometimes take for granted such little things like seeing snow but I can´t imagine how cold it much be up there in Chicago, brrrr! Keep warm and keep Black Bear warm! :)

So funny story from yesterday, we were talking to a lady in the street yesterday, probably about 65, 70 years old and she was about to eat a popsicle when she asked us, oh do you want some, we said no, no, we´re fine but she insisted so we Sister Stolk and I took a few bites and then she ate the rest. Haha, it was such a sweet and hilarious experience that would never happen in the US, or rarely would happen. haha, she was so sweet and cute!

So we have some new mission rules. One of them is that we can´t email people of the opposite sex (just family). So that´s a pretty big change, it´s just for our mission but I know that a lot of people aren´t going to like it, but I loved what Kimball wrote in my journal that just always obey the mission president no matter what.

Oh side note Mom: could you get a hold of Sister Schmutz, Connor Schmutz randomly wrote me last week but I can´t respond because of the new mission rule. Thanks Mom!

Oh and so cute, Julia, Heather´s daughter, sent me a Flat Stanley that I´ll take around with me and snap a few pictures! So cute! :)

Oh, so we live above a store that sells furniture and they´re always playing music, and one of my favorite songs, Home, by Jason Mraz is always playing. haha love that song and it´s funny to hear it about 10 times a day!

Also, we had another baptism this week, Vito! He´s a young man and it was really great! It was funny, he was having difficulties understanding that we don´t pray to Maria, but after a few lessons, he finally said that he understood that we don´t pray to her but we pray to God. But he´s doing well and going to seminary too!

Well my time´s almost up but it´s so good to hear from you all! Thank you again for the package and letters! I love you all so much and you all are always in my prayers!

Lots of love,

I love you the MOSTIEST!
Sister Hicks

Congrats Kimball and Keley - Parabens!!! November 25, 2013

Wow, so exciting Kimball and Kelsey! I can´t believe you guys are having a boy! AAAh! Congrats, congrats, congrats! Parabéns! Keep me updated with everything!

So, this week went well! We had another baptism yesterday. Her name is Ana Claudia and I just love her to death. She´s 11 years old but she´s almost 12. Because she´s primary age it´s a mission rule that she has to go to church at least 4 times before her baptism if her parents aren´t members. So yesterday was her fourth time and afterwards we had her baptism. She was so excited and she´s really mature for her age. She was a little scared but it went really well. It was so cool to see little Ana Claudia being baptized and I was so happy for her. We made a cake for her and put jelly beans on top with the letters A and C for Ana Claudia. It was so cool! 

So...Mom: That´s so cool that you guys are going to Dallas for Thanksgiving! So exciting! It truly is a good thing that your "jinx" isn´t there to mess up the travel plans ;) Have so much fun and stay warm! 

So, I actually seem to like the bug spray more than the lotion. Sorry! haha, the spray is a little bit easier, I like the spray from the infectious diseases place but it could just be Off brand that has deet as well. Whatever works, just has to have deet :) Thanks Mom, you´re the best! And just any kind of good suncreen :) The sun is SUPER strong here! 

I´m so glad that you´re enjoying the notes, I thought it would be a good present for you, I love you the MOSTIEST! :)

Our teaching pool is pretty great, it was a bummer about Alessandra, but Diego our other baptism from this past week received the Holy Ghost and the Aaronic priesthood yesterday, so cool! One thing that he always says to Sister Stolk and I that´s really funny is whenever we ask him if we can mark another part in the Book of Mormon to read he always says, "diga minha joven" which means say it my teenager, haha he loves reading the Book of Mormon and he marks the parts that he loves :) haha so great! 

Thanks so much for the 5 steps about the Atonement. I really liked relating it to a GPS, thanks for sharing. 

Also, thanks for the tips from the other missionaries, I liked that too :) So cool that so many of my friends are serving missions!

Oh and just a reminder, I won´t email next Monday because next Wednesday is transfers so I´ll email next WEDNESDAY! :)

Dad: That´s so cool that you got to speak at the mission conference! I loved the 3 foundations that you said that we as missionaries are laying down: for ourselves, our investigators, and the members! It´s so true, I don´t want to just pass through an area but I want to make a difference. 

So cool to relieve your mission experience and I know the missionaries loved the talk you gave, you always give the best talks! :)

Kelsey: SOOOOO excited for you and Kimball! Congratulations! I hope everything continues to go well. How´s the morning sickness?

Stay warm too! It´s so funny to think that Thanksgiving is this week but I´m so happy to be here and it truly is full time Christmas season here! Last night we practiced the 4 Christmas hymns that we´re going to sing when we go caroling, closer to Christmas time, everyone´s really getting into the spirit of Christmas, in the 80 and 90 degree weather :)

Lindsey:

I just about died when I read what Norah asked about, "What´s Jesus like?" hahah, so funny :) 

Also, that´s so cool that everything went so well with the BYU management society thing! And I think Judge Griffith gave a devotional at BYU this past year, the name sounds familiar, so cool! 

We also had the Primary Program in our branch yesterday and it was crazy! The majority of the kids were visitors and it was a little insane. Irmã Fatima asked Sister Stolk and I to help out so we helped our during the first 2 hours before Sacrament meeting and it was pretty insane but it went well. 

So funny story for the week, yesterday we were visiting a young man named Vito, he went to church yesterday and he accepted to be baptized this coming Sunday! So we gave him the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet and on the front it has a picture of Christ. Christ is wearing sandals and Vito asked if we wear chacos, or sandals, because that´s what Christ wore. I just about died, it was so funny how innocently he asked the question, hahaha :) But Vito is really a great kid and I hope that we can help him this week so keep him in your prayers :)

So like I said, transfers are this coming week and I really want to stay here just one more transfer in Queimadas, especially for Christmas. We´re already planning so many activities and I´m just so excited! But we´ll see in this coming week!

One thing that I´ve been doing a lot lately is reading in the Liahona from past General Conf talks. I am so much more appreciative for the words of the prophets than I ever was before. They truly are called by God. 

Well, I hope everyone is doing well and I love you all the MOSTIEST! Be safe while you are travelling and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love and miss you the MOSTIEST! And thank you for your love and support!

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses,

Sister Hicks

Hey from Queimadas - November 18, 2013

Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,

Thank you sooooo much for your emails this week! It really is so fun to hear from all of you and to hear what´s going on with you guys! I´m doing great and loving life! :)

Hey Mom, before I forget, just a tip that the mission executive secretary said, the packages can´t be more than $50 US dollars or I´ll have to pay customs. Another package arrived this week but because of customs I have to pay $100 so I took money out of my personal account to pay, just so you know. The secretary said you can put whatever you want in (basically) the package but the customs sheet can´t say that the items are more than $50, but thank you soooooo much for sending more packages! They´re the best! The only thing that I can think of that would be good for Kris´ friend to send would be bug spray and suncreen, they are suupppeerr expensive here. Any kind would do but the spray bug spray is really great and the neutrogena sun screen is working great too. Thanks, you´re the best Mom!! Love you the mostiest!!

Mom: I think the only advice that I would give would be to study the Atonement as a missionary. It´s something that I´ve been trying to do and I´m learning so much. It´s amazing how much we can learn about the Atonement every single day. 

So, we had a baptism yesterday that went really well. His name is Diego and he´s 26. It´s a little interesting because he´s married to a lady who is 22 years older than him but they´re legally married so I´ll take it! 

The other baptism that we were supposed to have was Alessandra, a young woman, she´s 14 years old. So she had the interview on Friday night and everything went well and Saturday we passed by her house to walk with her to the church to go to a youth activity but when we arrived her grandpa answered the door. And then it went downhill, her grandpa, who I never met before this, is really religious and basically chewed us out. He asked me what the 4th commandment was and I don´t know off the top of my head, especially in Portuguese, and he said, Well then who do you think you are, you can´t preach the Gospel, you shouldn´t have even been baptized, you don´t know what you´re talking about. haha, it was pretty rough to take. And then, in front of Alessandra, he said that she doesn´t know anything about the Bible and she can´t be baptized because she doesn´t know anything. It was all pretty rough. And the best part, right before we left, he said to Sister Stolk that it says in the Bible that we can't wear jewelry so she was sinning. haha, oh good times good times

But, I learned from this experience that you just have to keep your head up and remember the calling that you have as a missionary. Missionaries truly are representatives of Jesus Christ. 

Thank you so much for always keeping me in your prayers and thoughts. Please know that I really am doing well and loving the time here. I can´t believe that tomorrow I´ll already have 5 months in the mission! 

So the next transfer is Dec 4 and I really hope that I´ll stay! We moved houses last P-day, our new house is sooo great! And Pres. Nogueira came to look at our new house and to finish the stuff with the old house. Pres. Jorge (branch pres) pulled him aside and I think he talked to him about Sister Johnson and I staying here but I´m not sure if that´s what they were actually talking about, I hope I´ll stay!

Please do send me that talk, I love reading anything that I can get my hands on! The last article you sent me was exactly what I needed to read! 

Dad: Wow, Dad, I can´t believe how crazy your week was! I hope that you are getting a little bit of rest and that things this week will be a little bit more relaxing! Oh wow, I just remember, Thanksgiving is this week right? Have a great week! 

Bryan: haha, that was a great story from Norah and she really is soo smart, haha, she did exactly what you said, well, in her way :)

Kimball: Thanks so much for the advice that you gave me. I definitely need to be better with exercising, but I want to improve on that! The days that we really exercise are definitely better and I just feel better! And it´s so true that it´s really on the mission that we learn so much about being self-reliant! 

I hope that everyone is ok from the crazy storm and I´m glad to hear that you all are ok. 

Kelsey: Ok, I´m going to make my guess, I think it´s a GIRL! :) haha, just a guess but I´m so excited to find out! woohoo! 

I will definitely take lots of pics of Christmas and it´s going to be so cool! We´re already singing Christmas hymns! haha :) When you don´t have Thanksgiving, Christmas starts in November! 

I don´t remember Carly but I´m glad that everyone is safe in the phillipines, I have a friend from BYU that´s serving there right now too, Lexi. 

Taylor: I´m so glad to hear that things are going well and that´s so cool that you have an interview for the Archives! What?! Nicholas Cage style :) I´m sure the landscape is really similar to what it´s like in Mexico where you served, so cool! I love it here! 

So this week was pretty cool, we had a special zone meeting with the APs on Tuesday and it was so great! I forwarded some pics too! Then we had another meeting Wednesday morning with just the sisters in my zone Liberdade and the other zone from Campina, Campina Grande Zone. It was so cool and one thing that we´re really focusing on as a mission is Alma 26:22. Read this scripture, it´s so great! We´re really trying to focus on the 4 things it says that as missionaries we need to do: Repent, exercise faith, do good works, and pray without ceasing! 

Oh another funny thing that happened this week, Sister Stolk was adament about something, I don´t remember what, but then it turned out that she was wrong. So I told her that she needed to stand corrected but she didn´t want to. Haha, oh the family traditions that we have, it was pretty great explaining, I Stand Corrected, to her and Sister Johnson, and Sister Shirts. 

Well, I have to go but please know that I love you all and I´m thinking and praying for all of you!

I LOVE YOU THE MOSTIEST!!!

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses,

Sister Hicks

Merry (almost) Christmas November 11, 2013

Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,                                                         11/11/13

Well, with regards to the title of my email, it´s pretty funny, they´re already playing Christmas music and there´s fake Christmas trees and tinsel in the shops which is pretty funny, especially since it´s in the 90s and definitely is a different kind of weather for Christmas. I am so exciting to have Christmas in Brasil though! It´s going to be so cool! Yesterday during our correlation meeting with President Jorge, and one of the high councilors Kaio, we were planning an activity for Christmas, Christmas caroling. But the best part was that it took about 10 minutes to explain what we are planning on doing for President Jorge. It´s so funny because I never though in my life that I would explain what Christmas caroling is. haha, but I already emailed President Nogueira (miss pres) to stay one more transfer because I´m dying to stay here in Queimadas for one more transfer to stay for Natal (Christmas)!

Oh and I got the other package Mom, thank you soooooo much! The reason I had to pay was because it was more than $50. One thing to remember is that packages can´t be more than $50 US dollars or I´ll have to pay customs. OH and thank you for the letters and the Ensign article, they were exactly what I needed to hear and read! Thamk you thank you thank you! And Sisters Johnson, Stolk, and Shirts are very grateful for the package too!

Bryan: I really liked your advice on working with members versus tracting. It really is true that working with members is so much more effective and Sister Stolk and I really want to improve in this area. It´s sometimes a little hard because we don´t have that many members but working with the missionaries will help strengthen the members for sure!

It´s true that Sundays are a lot different in the mission field and we actually go house to house to grab our investigators to go to church with us so we end up arriving to church sweating haha! But this week was sooo much better and we ended up having 7 investigators at church with us, woohoo! And two of them have a baptism marked for this coming sunday and 4 others for other sundays!

Lindsey:

haha, what a funny dream that Norah had and especially that greg was in it too. Oh funny story about Greg, it´s great because Greg´s funny stories are now being shared here in Queimadas, I love telling the other sisters about Greg and the crazy stories we have because of him :)

I hope the bed works out for Alice and that she stays in the bed :) that´s the key :)

Dad:

That is so cool that you´re going to have a meeting with Elder Cristofferson and some of the Seventies, so cool!

Also, wow 54 missionaries from our stake! That is incredible! It´s so cool to see how much the work is improving!

That´s also really cool that you met Sister Stolk´s uncle, what?! haha :)

I am sooo excited to spend Christmas here in Brasil, it will definitely be different, and just a LITTLE bit hotter :) but I know that it´ll be so cool! I love Brasil, the culture, the people, the EVERYTHING!

So this week was sooo  much better than last week! It´s great to see the hand of the Lord in our work and how much he really is helping us!

One funny thing that happened this week was that we approached a lady in the street and we said the normal stuff, Hi, how are you? And she immediately responded "Are you two Mormons?" I responded, yes we are, and she quickly said, "I don´t like Mormons" and walked away. Haha, we just had a quick laugh afterwards and moved on.

oh and yes, the water came back and it´s all good now, I definitely will not forget that experience haha! Shower with buckets woohoo!

Oh and Mom, thanks for the earrings, love them! I wore the dangly oval ones yesterday to church! So great!

Oh, and have you guys read the talk by Elder McConkie, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane, soooo good! You have to read it or reread it! I read it this week and loved it!

Also, Alma 26 22-37 is so great too. I love the the part that talks about wanderers in a strange land because sometimes we feel like that here in Queimadas but I LOVE Queimadas and I really don´t want to leave!

Mom: I hope everything is ok and really I´m truly grateful for the package, I can´t wait to hear from you soon and I love you the MOSTIEST! I hope you know how much I love and miss you Mom, you really are the best!

I LOVE YOU ALL THE MOSTIEST!

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses from beautiful and hot Queimadas,

Sister Hicks

Ola' from Queimadas November 4, 2013

Hey Mom, Dad, Family, and Friends,                                                            Nov. 4, 2013

Hello all, I´m so glad to hear that everything is going well with you guys and that everyone is safe, happy, and healthy! It´s so fun to get your emails and especially the blog posts Linds!

Oh and first off: Feliz Aniversario Kelsey! I hope you have a great birthday this week and that you do something special!

Mom: That´s so cool that they started reading the letters in YW. haha, it´s good to hear that you always knew that I was cool haha ;)

That sounds really cool to have the chance to eat dinner with the Mission President, his wife, and the other stake presidents. I can´t imagine 250 missionaries, I think we only have a 100 something but we´re going to keep receiving more!

Aah, tell Sister Sweeny that I say hi too and I hope she´s doing well!

So, for a lot of reasons, our baptisms fell through this week. Lucas didn´t progress at all and he lied to us and a bunch of other stuff. Also, Solange and her daughter Ingrid that we found while we were going to church last week weren´t baptized also. So we talked about the Law of Chastity on Tuesday and there wasn´t a problem and then on Thursday she decided to tell us that she actually has a guy in Rio de Janeiro that she´s had a thing with for a long time and they´re husband and wife, practically, but not married. But he´s going to visit in two weeks and we´re going to see if we can help him be baptized too.

That´s really cool about Sandra and doing the family history work for your side of the family. I´m sure this will really open up conversations about the church with her.

I don´t know what the deal was with the package but I´m sure everything will be just fine. Also, Heather Kern said that she sent a package about a month ago so maybe it was the package that she sent. I don´t know.

Yah, I can´t believe Christmas is just around the corner and its 90 degrees haha. Oh and thanks for sending the new package, you´re the best! So, we asked yesterday where to buy a mosquito net so you don´t have to worry about buying one and they´re really cheap here. One thing that I was thinking of for christmas is that I would love an English copy of the Ensign from the Oct conference. Also, probably just more candy (Reese´s cups, the peel type twizzlers, umm really any type of candy haha) we really love that, oh and PRETZELS! haha, i really miss pretzels for some reason with nutella :) But really anything is great! thank you thank you thank you!

So, I don´t really know where I would get my hair colored and really the sun is doing that just fine. haha, my hair is a little bit lighter because of the sun and I should probably get my hair cut soon but I don´t think it would be that expensive. But I´m not too worried about, I usually wear it in a ponytail everyday anyways.

Dad: That sounds like a really cool meeting with the other mission presidents especially in the visitors center. And you´re not the new guy anymore, parabéns! Congratulations! haha :)

That´s cool that you go to talk to a guy who served in Rio. There are a lot of people here that were born in Rio or lived there, kind of interesting.

Bryan and Lindsey: LOVED the blog posts and all the pictures, wow Norah and Alice are growing up so fast! So cool to see pictures of them! And the rice cooker and the planets, HILARIOUS! haha, Oh Norah, little Norah!

haha, well intersting news of the day, we don´t have water in our house. There was a huge thunder and lightning storm last night (water all over the ground in our kitchen) and I didn´t understand exactly why but basically everyone here doesn´t have water because of the way the energy works. I don´t know exactly but last night we took a shower with buckets with the water that was coming out of the sink but this morning we woke up and we don´t have water in the sinks either.haha, soo it´s little bit like girls camp...hahah but the water should return sometime today...we hope :)

This week was pretty hard, it seemed like almost no one wanted to talk to us and the contacts that we did make, the addresses were wrong or we got to the house for the first visit and they didn´t want to hear anything more, I don´t know, it was pretty hard, and the same thing happened for Sister Johnson and Sister Shirts. But something that a lot of people said this week that I really liked was, lift up your head, and just keep going.

A lot of times in life, we have trials or difficulties, but we just have to keep going, work hard, and have faith!

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! Share the Gospel with everyone!

I love you the MOSTIEST!

Lots of love and prayers!

Sister Hicks