July 28

Dear Family,

This week we helped Susana be baptized, it was such an amazing experience. I love this word and I love the missionary work. I have never felt so tired in my life but I am loving every moment!)

 Dad, Thank you for your experience about your baptism I loved reading it.

Also Mom thank you for sharing with me what you are reading and the things that you are doing... I LOVE hearing about what is going on with the family.

1. This week I have felt God guide me as we talk to people in the street, Personally I feel like God guides us through reason, We think it out in our minds and then as we act with faith (sometimes I have no clue what I`m doing but it also makes sense) we have spiritual experiences. Example. Sometimes as we talk to people in the street and we invite them the spirit prompts us to talk to them even though it may not make sense to talk to a kid of 13 years old or to talk to a big african guy who does not speak spanish... but he speaks Portugues! haha

2. I feel my testimony of my Savior increase everyday, I can not do this without him... it would be impossible. Some things that have occured is that I have been able to keep walking even when I don`t want to. Keep talking or even I have been able to keep awake! the Lord supports and helps ALL of those that choose to follow him. 

I love my savior, Every day I feel the need to be a better servant and to love every moment of it, even when it is hard. And to keep climbing towards higher ground (even when Christ is carrying me up the hill) I know he helps me when I feel alone because He never leaves Me alone. He is always there supporting me. 

I love the mission and I love our family. 

Please keep smiling!! !)

Love,

Elder Hicks

P.S. If we work hard we are going to be able to help Liliana be baptized this week!

July 21

querida Familia,

La Misión siempre se mejora. A mi me encanta la Misión y también A mi me encanta servir a las personas acá en Buenos Aires! Cada dìa es un Sueño! Les Amo un Montón. Más Que saben!

Con mucho Amor,

ELder Hicks

Translation:

dear Family,The Mission is always improving. I really love the mission and I love to serve people here in Buenos Aires! Every day is a dream! I Love a Bunch. More Than know!

With much Love,
Elder Hicks

Well, I hope you can read the above spanish insert, it is truly so great to be a misisonary here in Buenos Aires. I love the mission and each day that we have to be able to talk with the people here about making conventants with their heavenly Father.

I saw the pictures of Makenna. It is so good to see how determined she is to be successful and to not fail. I love hearing about people who don`t give up on teh first time, and when it is my little sister even better (Big brother Pride=) also it is so great to hear about the miracle that happenend to Brother Brown, I can`t believe how much the Lord looks out for those who need his service and those who give their service to him.  

Mom, thank you so much for sending me the email address of Sister Mcmullin, And i am really hoping that you receive the letter i sent to you also. It came from the heart. Also I can`t believe that Josh and Alexander are already leaving on their missions! They are such great examples to me. It is so great to hear about them. I truly love them. Just so you know that John is serving in Leon... every now and then i get to hear from him, 

Dad, could you do a favor for me? Could you write me, in the next email your story on why you got baptized. Thanks dad! 

My companion is from Utah in a place called herriman, his name is  Elder Travis Jewitt. I am so glad you asked about Susana. We saw her on Thursday... and she said that she was not sure about being baptized. She told us she wanted to wait until the end of the year to be baptized. When we heard this we were pretty bummed. But then she explained why. We had given her the pamphlet of tithing and she read it, and was worried that she was not going to be able to pay her tithing, She told us that she has many debts and she won`t be able to pay her tithing until the end of the year, and she doesn`t want to get baptized until she can do everything that the Lord expects of her, She is so faithful. We still need to talk to the bishop about her being baptized at the end of this week, I`ll tell you what happens in the e-mail next week. 

We also have another investigator named Liliana who is going to be baptized on the 10th, she went to church this week.

I think the biggest miracle that happened this week is that the Lord is able to use me in this great work. I`m not sure how but it is amazing to see that I have the opportunity to help these people here in Belgrano in Buenos Aires Argentina. It is so great because i know i am nothing but through the lord he can make weak things become strong (ether 12:27)

Well I sure do love you Mom and Dad and Makenna and Brennan! It has been a great week. 

With Much Love,

Elder Troy Hicks

July 15

Dear Family and friends, 

Wow, This week has been so great. We had transfers today, and guess what? I´m staying in Belgrano! I was so happy to know that i get to stay here another transfer! I love Belgrano.

This week has truly been so amazing, I have seen so many miracles from the Lord, One including your message or Email that you sent me righ tnow. I am so truly greatful to see pictures of everyone in A jersey of Argentina. How i love the people here. And How I also love seeing all of your smiling faces so much. Thank you mom and dad, and Grandpa and Grandma and all of my little cousins that i love so much! Thank you. even though... argentina lost... We didn't see the game. But that is okay... I´m not crying...haha but many people here in argentina were crying nd yelling...

I am also so grateful for what you told me concerning Cory Breinholt. I want to be like that, I remember he came to the house before he left on his mission and talked to me for a little bit, How the spirit of the Lord impulses us to act and to be better. I love The example of Jesus Christ, his perfect example to be a missionary all the time, Jesus is the PERFECT missionary and the perfect person. I love him and I also Love my great family. 

I´m not sure if i have told you much about Susana, but i am pretty sure i told you that we lost her and she did not go to church last week. This week, we called her and asked her and invited her to church, She said sorry i got lost doing some things... We were a little confused but passed by  on sunday and she came to church with us, It was so great, on the way to chruch we started talking about her reading and her prayers and even about a baptism, and she kept saying ... it is just something you have to feel, you need to feel these things are true. After, we arrived to the churhc about 30 mintues early and we started to show her some pictures that are in the chruch, we showed her one of the temple and the spriti of the lord really touched her. SHe started crying and we were not sure how we said it but we felt like we needed to tell her that what she was felling was the spirit, so we opened our mouths and we explained to her what she was feeling. we stayed there with her for some time. like it says in preach my gospel we did not have any problems wiht being in silence...!) BUt i am not going to lie...we didnt know when to start talking agin, so after a couple of seconds we started talking again and we showed her the baptismal font. Once again she felt the spirit. started to tear up, just so you know SUsana is about 65 years old and is very great, a little old lady that is always trying to help the peopele around her, but while we talked to her she felt the love of the lord and I know now that she can not deny that it is true that she has felt that it is true. So last night we had a family home evening with eliana and franco, 2 recent converts, and Eliana invited Susana! ( Eliana is a super great Missionary, Ever since she got bpatzed, she has been trying ot share the gospel, She is an example to me.okay now back to the story) with Susana we arrived and Elder Jewett thought of a video to share with her about the book of mormon named ¨a story of the book of mormon¨ (super good check the video out) and after the video we sarted talking to her agin and Elder Jewett shared with her a scripture that was super bold in Alma 10:20 that says repent ye repent ye for the kingdom of god is at hand.¨after we shared the scripture we invited her to pray and to be baptized she said ¨you have almost convinced me¨ I know that we weren´t doing anywork but the spirit was doing all the work by trying to convince her, She said she needs to pray and then she is going ot tell us today if she is going to be baptized by the end of this week!

 I love this place so much and I know without a doubt that by reding the scriptures everyday and by praying we will know that god loves us more than we can imagine. just like I love you but his love is never ending and he is perfect. 

I love the mission, and I love the people here in Belgrano, also I love my family and friends at home. I also love my lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through him anything that is good is possible. 

Love you so much,

Elder Hicks

I got the message Dad! today is P day... sorry for not telling you but every trasfer we have P day on tuesday, so we are going ot have an activity witht the zone and we are going ot go preaching after, and we are going to see SUsana, hopefully she is going to tell us about her prayer. love oyu dad! 

durng the game the whole city shut down and we had to be in our pensions from 4 until the night time. people screaming and people crying... kind of hard to see... and that is why we are here to show them the hope of the world which is the gospel... I was thinking recently what we could say... even though Argentina lost, you can still be onthe winning team, this would be God´s team! hah i don´t think i am really going to say that. But it was pretty crazy. right now their is no destruction or anyhting just some sad people. 

Love you dad!

you forgot something SWABH and

See you soon!

July 7

Dear Family,

First of all my new companion is from the good old Utah, He works so hard and is a super fun companion. He has about 8 months in the mission!

Also, I love your jerseys so much!! I can’t believe that they continue winning and winning. And this week they are going to play on their independence day. It is truly going to be crazy. And we are going to be able to watch the game again; we are going to try to watch it with the members here. It is going to be amazing... I never knew that I could like soccer so much... and that I would have a jersey of the team. It is actually a really great sport. 

Also, this week I wanted to tell you something that was probably one of the coolest experiences that I have had in the mission. Yesterday we had the farewell of the missionaries that are going home and when we have the farewells members and recent converts and investigators from all the mission come in to see the missionaries that are leaving.. While we were talking with all of them in the end... Elder Clawson (from the MTC, Who is now in Pilar, where I started my mission) came over to me and said we want to present someone to you that got baptized in Pilar this week he says he knows you. His name is Nico. When they told me this I was thinking ¨Nico...who is Nico. I don’t know anybody named Nico... Then Nico came up to me and said Hey Elder Hicks!! 

After he said hi, I remembered everything about him. He was a contact that Elder Barragan and I made and we only talked with him one time about the church, then we tried calling him but he never answered... This happened over a year ago, and Nico remembered everything that we talked about in our conversation! And right when I saw him I remembered everything about the conversation also... It was extraordinary because I remembered the day like it was yesterday and also exactly what we talked about... (And in this time, I couldn’t even talk the language!) But he remembered me and He remembered everything that was said. 

After I realized who he was I gave him one of the biggest hugs and told him congratulations for being baptized. He is one of Elder Clawson’s converts but I also asked him for his email. It was so cool to know just one moment changed the life of NIco!! I know we are tools in the Lords hands and that he loves us so so so so much! But a lot!

Also this week I gave a blessing to a sister who is in our district, she asked for a blessing after the zone meeting. While I was giving her the blessing we could all feel the spirit and it was such a great opportunity to be able to be a servant in the lords hands... After the blessing something unusual happened it was almost kind of awkward, But her face was a little bit awestruck... she said thanks and then they had to go to their area and started to leave. After the sister was walking away she turned around ran over and told me... elder Hicks I want you to know that you have the priesthood of god... you said things in my blessing that are in my Patriarchal blessing. 

After she said that I felt a great peace and I was also so grateful to be able to be a servant of the lord.. 

I hope you know I do not say these things to boast but I want you to know that I know this is the church of Jesus Christ just like you know! I love all of you so much and I know we are going to be an eternal family. I miss you all; you have no idea how much. On Monday I am always thinking what can I share with my beloved family to show them my love. 

Thank you so much for all of your great examples!! 

Love,

Elder Hicks

Makenna, I love you so much Keep being such a great girl, I am so glad for your love and that we are brother and sister! I LOVE you. I hope you never forget it,

Mom, Thank you so much for always writing me... without fail. I think about you every day, I really do!! I LOVE you so much 

Dad! I am so glad for your great example of how to be a man, and for your willingness to use your priesthood! Love you

Brennan, Thank you for your support and love. I love you more than you know. Please keep being my great friend!!

To my Eternal family: the Hicks Family- I love hearing about your lives each week! Please keep telling me about the miracles and the daily events that happen!!

One more thing- GO Argentina!!!

I also received pictures from Elder Guerra from the baptism of Santo!

Our family received this picture from Elder Clawson's Mom this morning.  So happy to get it, Troy has not been able to send very many pictures while serving in Belgrano.

Elder Hicks and Elder Clawson at the Argentina v. Netherlands viewing. 

The follow is an excerpt of Elder Clawson's letter home,  His mother forwarded it to me because of what Elder Clawson wrote about Troy.

"Okay, you are going to love this story.  The truth is Elder Hicks was the first missionary that Nico met.  Just a street contact.  Elder Hicks when he was here exactly 1 year ago saw Nico in the street and shared his testimony with him and gave him a pamphlet of one of the mission lessons.  Well, Nico never forgot and told me of this experience during one of our first visits.  I got to bring the two together last night.  Elder Hicks is finishing with another conversation at the end of the farewell and I present him to Nico, ¨Elder Hicks I want you to meet Nico.¨ Elder Hicks said, with a smile, ¨Hey I´m Elder Hicks, nice to meet you Nico.  Nico...NICO!! Oh my gosh Nico what are you doing here?  I remember I talked to you one time in Pilar!¨ Then Nico had the opportunity to tell him that he´d been baptized and confirmed just today.  That was a very cute reunion.  Just remember we have no idea what power and consequences our small and simple and loving actions can have. 

Very memorable week.With lots and lots of love,

 Elder Clawson"