Feb 24

Dear Family, I want to start by answering the questions that you have for me.

How much money do you get each month to spend?

 We recieve about 156 dollars each month, and it lasts us all the month. something i want to do this last year of my mission is to begin to buy things that our interesting from Argentina.. i don´t know maybe a mate.. or a jersey... something that will help me remember this place and this people forever!

What are your responsibilities as a DL?

 As a district leader I do anything and everything that i can to help my district to be better leaders, and to be better missionaries and to have more happiness and success in their missions. What i do is send them messages during the day and i also have to report to the Zone leaders how my district is doing. Every night i call my district and i talk to them about how their day went and what they can do better tomorrow. It really is super fun and exciting to be able to talk to my district each day and to get them excited for the coming day. im not going to lie somedays it is difficult. because sometimes i want to be able to eat in the night times. but i need to remember i need to forget myself and think about others!  

What is a typical day schedule like for you?

 Typically, for my day we start and study and then we leave to pension at 11. then we preach with a member and we go to some appointments that we have scheduled for that day. and then around 1 o colock we have lunch with the members( thay always give us so much food. haha they are always asking ¨do you want more food¨) and after that we preach with a member until 9 o colock at night. at 9 we plan until 9 30 usually we finish planinng late at around 9 40 and then i call my district while elder Rodriguez is writing in the area book, and i call the zone leaders to report on my district is doing and by then it is already 10 30 so i jump into bed, after i brush my teeth of course, and i go to sleep=)

How are your glasses holding up?

 would you send me some new lenses.. my glasses that i have right now are really scratched. 

What is the Buenos Aires Temple like?  (I loved the pictures you sent)

 The temple is so beautiful. it was like being in the house of God. the celestial room is on the end of the temple and has two huge windows that bring in the light and make the room seem like heaven.

How are your investigators doing?

We had 11 investigators in church this week. It liteally was so great, my companion Elder Rodriguez is always talking to so much to people and inviting them to go the church and teaching them the doctrine, i am so greatful for him as my companion. 

Right now we are working with the family of the man that came to the church with us last week and they are such a big family! we are trying to help them to keep going to the church and they are going to be baptized this weekend. i will take pictures and i will tell you how it goes this week!

I love you all so much 

i don´t have much more time to write but i will write better next week!

also i want to remind you, this week for the temple ceremony remember that if you invite someone you are going to feel the blessings of the lord. 

Something that helps me to invite people to christ and to learn more about the church is the introduction of the Book of Mormon,
We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)
After reading this i ask ¨what are 3 things we need ot do to gain a testimony of this gospel?
Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Then i ask what are 3 things you are going to learn if you pray and gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon
Once you read this it is clear what the people need to do to have a testimony of the gospel of Christ. I love you all so much
I invite you to apply this practice in family home evening, i know it will help you help others come unto christ!
Pray for missionary experiences! and you will be blessed with more happiness and peace in your life !
Love, Elder Troy Hicks

            oh and dad noquis is potatoes with flour and with a tomato sauce           

Feb 17

Dear Family,

 This week has been great and also it has such a great time! I love the mission and i don´t feel any stress so don't worry about me I know everything will work out in its given time.

Well i sent a couple pictures of us in water because the bottom floor of our hotel flooded. Also, A picture of us at the Temple. And another picture of us at a home of a member!) Eating something called noguis, wow so delicious... ja

And talking about Makenna´s birthday, all I can say is wow she sure is a lucky girl. My week has been great, With my district we are doing so great, and we are trying to work so hard!

Yesterday in church after looking for our investigators in the morning and passing by each one of their houses we had noone come to church... me and my companion were so devastaded and we did not no what to do... it felt like a whole week of work wasted... but during the sacrament meeting an investagtor showed up named vicente! I know hte Lord is part of this work as long as we are obedient and our true desire is to help other sould come unto Christ! I feellike i hav never wanted something more than I want that other people can come unto Christ and can reallly be converted to him and his gospel! I love the mission so much.

Love,

Elder Hicks

Feb 10

Dear Famliy and friends,

Wow, I love the mission so much and i know our Lord lives and that he sacrificed everything for us. 

Wow this week has been so great, we went to the temple, ran in the rain, i was able to do missionary splits with my papi, elder barragan! also i did splits with an ELder In my disrict elder berrio from colombia!

Today we went to the temple, i don´t think i have ever felt the spirit so strong in my life! I have pictures ill try to send them to you after i send this email. As a zone we have been trying really hard to focus on how we can work more effectivly with the leaders of our ward so we can have more success as missionaries and so we can have more baptisms that stay in the church forever! and that is always with the help of the faithful members! So we have been praying a lot for the help of the Lord to reveal to us what we have to do! As i went to the temple i was trying to focus on what god wants me to do. And he responded to my prayer, as i was in teh temple i felt strongly that i need to focus much more on putting goals with the lord and also i need to focus a lot more on helping my district and other missionaries to have success! it was so great!

I know that the lord responds to our prayers and he helps us recieve personal revelation. 

Also this week it rained so much! We live in a apartment tower and the bottom floor of the apartment flooded with water up to our knees, we had to take off our shoes and walk thorugh the water for a couple of blocks and when we reached dry ground a man with his truck helped us cross the other places that were flooded. 

The missionary splits that we did this week were so great and have helped me so much. First i did splits with elder berrio. he is from colombia and is such a great elder. Also i went on missionary splits with Elder Barragan! and it was so much different to teach with him now then what it was like to teach with him about 8 months ago. now i am a lot more confident and willing to talk. ha he helped me become better and to feel a little bit more comfortable as a district leader! i love him so much he was and is such a great frend that i will always have.

about you all!:

I can´t believe that makenna is going on dates! and the pictures of her look so great! and also garrett looks pretty good also, i am so glad that he has treated her with such respect. i hope there was no kiss involved!)

also Mom i am so greatful that you are participating so much in the temple work, you are such an example to me.

dad, i really hope you can start feeling better and that you can keep enjoying life, who know maybe this migraine is a sign that you need to start sloeing down in life.

Brennan, I love you so much and i hope your work is going great too! im still not too sure what you are involved in but whatever it is i am here to support you! love you so much and i always will.

makenna,

I never wanted to be the protective type of brother that makes sure no boy goes out wiht you. but i think when i return from my mission that is exactly what i am going to do... no just kidding i am so glad you are happy and that garrett you treated you well during the date! Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK. 

ON YOUR brithday i am going to be thinking and praying for you!

Love,

YOur son and brother and friend

Elder Troy Hicks

P.S.

I want to share something with you about what i learned about the patience that has helped me out alot! 

The last transfer i felt very anxious about everything and i felt very stressed for about everything that was going on in our area, but i learned a very special lesson, one day we were preparing a baptism and we had to run to another ward to get the baptismal clothing because we were not able to get it from our own ward. as i was running around looking for baptismal clothing i was not able to listen to the sweet whispers of the spirit and the people around me could tell that i was not handling the situation in a manner that was acceptable. As i was feeling this stress and impatience and as i was running around at the same time one of the counselors of the ward told me¨be calm¨.....

I want to testify to you that we need to be calm in this life and we need to look and pay attention to every moment that is passin gus by. Us as humans have many plans and we want everything to be perfect... but we are not perfect and we are not going ot have it our way. We should pay attention to the little things and if we can not feel the sweet spirit of the lord we should change how we are living so we will be able ot feel his sweet spirit. And sometimes we need to slow down and take a breath and look at the small blessings that we alll have from the lord.

Sometimes we might feel like peter and the aposteles felt when they were in their boat in the middle of a storm
 24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.

I know that the lord can bring us peace in our lives and if we feel stress go to him... If he can change the weather i know he can change our lives.

I love you all so much and i am so glad we are an eternal family! 

More love,

elder Troy Hicks

Feb 3

dear Family,

I can`t beilieve that Elder Fernandez wrote you. he literally is one of the coolest District leaders and he loves to learn and to have fun. He is from Nicaragua, and i literally love him.

right now yes i am district leader. I have 6 elders in my disrict. they are all so great. Elder Pino(Chile), Elder Miles( Utah), Elder Damitz (Utah), Elder Berrio( Chile) Elder Barragan, Elder Engebretsen(he is in my group of the MTC), they are the zone leaders but are also part of my disrict.

This week  with Elder Rodriguez has been so great. I have learned so much from him and i absolutely Love him. He is such a hard worker!

This week in my new area it was like i entered a new world! We have something called a villa or village in our area. A village is a place where a lot of people live and they have built there houses on top of the other house and they are a poorer group of people. in the villa there are corridors and passages that you have to walk through to go to homes of the people. It is really so great to work here. As we walk through the villa we say hi to everyone. What is so great about the villa is the people are so humble that live there and they are willing to listen to the message of the gospel.

This week really has beeen so great! and i have met so many people! At the end of this week we are going to help a boy named Benja be baptized. Yesterday as we were talking to him he did not want to learn much more about the gospel, he said he prayed about the book of mormon and that God told him to wait to be baptized, but we kept insisting and we kept explaining that when we pray God will help us to feel good about ourselves he is not going to say that we need to wait to be baptized. at the end of the lesson we explained to him the nature of Christ, and how he can return to the prescence of God only through the gospel of Christ. He told us after that he is going to pray about the book of mormon and is goingto be baptized this weekend! now all we need to do is help is mom and his dad listen to our message. I really hope they can change and they are willing to listen to the message.

This week we also went to a lunch with a young man that is 21 years old and who has not had the opportunity to serve the mission. Elder Pino, Elder Miles, Elder Rodriguez, and i went to the lunch. At the end of the lunch i had the opportunity to share a scripture with him and i decided to share Alma 13:24 after he read the scripture. He started talking about his desires to serve a mission but that he felt is he left now he would be behind everyone and if he would have left when he was 19 everything would have been much better. Also right now he says he has to work and to study. After he told us, you must of known what us 4 missionaries were thinking( wow we have to testify right now!!!!) ha all 4 of us testified to him that the decision of going on a mission is going to change his life only for the better. we commited him to continue filling out his papers at the end of the lunch. I know this church is true and i also know that the decision to serve a mission is never going to do me wrong and as we keep serving the Lord throughout are lifes we will only be blessed for doing it.

also this week i had the opportunity to do my first interview as disrtict leader. I interviewed a young man named Gustavo to be baptized and he was so excited to be bapitzed. I literally Love the mission and i love our Lord

I love you all so much!

 

Love,

ELder Hicks

 

PS mom and dad I love you and i hope you are doing great! Makenna i love you too

Brennan

You are such a stud and i hope you are doing great at selling! i am trying to learn right now how to sell also, if you need some tips i am always here to help!

 

PSS and yes dad we did play tennis and i did pretty well... i had lost a little bit of skill, and we lost a lot of games...it was my partners fault!) ha but that ok the church is stilll true. love you

Parque Avellaneda/Elder Rodriquez & DL??

 Noelia Baptism

 Tennis w/ Elder Compos

 Troy!!!

New Comp~ Elder Rodriguez

Dear Family,

Wow, this week has been great! have learned so much from my campanion. also I am leaving Josè C. Paz and I am gong to go to a place named Parque Avellaneda. It is closer to the capital.

My new companions name is Elder Rodriguez and he is from Panama. He really is such a great Elder. Also guess what, Elder Barragan is my zone Leader! and I will be able to work with him a couple times this transfer! It is going to be so fun! I love the mission.

I am really going to miss Elder Campos, he is going to be with another Elder named Elder Stewart from the USA.

Also yes, Noelia is the women in the picture with the baby, she really is so great!, yesterday we had a family home evening with a member family named ´the Contreras family and we watched the video how to find faith in Christ. she started crying and bore her testimony of the church and how she knows it is true. I truly love her and i am so glad she has joined the church she really is such a great lady. Also this week sister Luna has been going to the chúrch with Abirl, she went out with us to preach and she bore her testimony to so many people.

I am going to miss Josè C. Paz a lot but I am so glad to be in this new area.

From the emails I can`t believe that Makenna is already going to drive and also she is already going to date! I know she will continue making the right decisions in her life!

Tell her i love her and to be safe during her date!

Scripture to read: Doctrine and covenants 18: 15 and 16 it is so great. Keep inviting people to go the temple and I am so glad that we, as a family are all involved in this work together, I think about all of you often and I Love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Hicks

Also I wanted to tell you that I love you all so much and as members of the church we are all going to have trials but if we stay strong to being obedient the Lord will provide for us a way out of our trials and he will also show us the why of everything.

Love,

Elder Hicks 

We also received this letter and picture from Troy's previous DL

Hi... Elder Hicks´ mom.... How do you do? I hope that everything goes well...

My name is Elder Fernandez, I´m from Nicaragua. I meet your son, Elder Hicks. Wow! He is a great Elder, I enjoyed to work with him. I´m not his companion but I was as his district leader, these last transfers... now he went to another area as District Leader too.... wow... when I realised of that i was very happy on that news.... oooh I called him and I gave him my congratulations and i Said him that i am so proud of him....!!!! I am so happy for Elder Hicks..The People say him " CariHicks" (by Charity- Hicks) =)

Do you know? your son is awesome, when we made divisions the last transfer... I could see in him a good represent of The Lord Jesus Christ and his dedication to serve his Heavenly Father.

I love this Church

, this gospel, this dispensation, our Prophet Monson, The Book of mormon .. I know that all these things are true.!!!! Just i want to meet you... ´cause there is a Saying. "Behind a Great Elder, There is a Great mom"... take Care Sister Hicks, and glad to meet you!

Enjoy this week! 

Sincerily, Elder Fernandez

Note: I hope that you can understand me! =S I am learning English.. haha 

Chau…

w/Elder Fernandez

Jan. 21

Dear Family,
Sorry for writing late, yesterday we were not able to get home in time to use the computers. But what is good is that we went to the offices of the mission and we now have a cell phone for our area. Hopefully right now we will be able to work more with the members when we call them.
This week has really been so great! Noelia was baptized! She is so great! It was so funny, right after the baptism when she was coming out of the water of the baptismal font she asked me if she could hug me and i had to stick out my hand and say... no Hermana, only a handshake.  ha all I can say is it was not awkward. On Sunday Elder Campos bleessed her with the Holy ghost.
I love the mission so much.
I don't have a lot of time to write today but i want to tell you i love you so much and in Argentina we are all doing so great, and i loved reading your letters. And thank you so much for the pictures of the temple. Oh and yesterday as a district we played tennis! it was so fun. i love you all so much and i am so thankful for your example to me to always go to the temple!

Love,

Elder Hicks

P.S. I love the mission!

Mom, next tuesday i will write a better letter! i love you all so much.

Jan 13

Dear family,

 I know without a doubt that God is much stronger than Satan is. The story in Moses 1 comes to my mind. It is the story when Moses speaks face to face with God and then Satan tries to tempt him also;  1 The words of God, which he ^aspake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high ^bmountain,
 2 And he ^asaw God ^bface to face, and he ^ctalked with him, and the ^dglory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.
 3 And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God ^aAlmighty, and ^bEndless is my ^cname; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?
 4 And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore ^alook, and I will show thee the ^bworkmanship of mine ^chands; but not all, for my^dworks are without ^eend, and also my ^fwords, for they never cease.
 5 Wherefore, no man can behold all my ^aworks, except he behold all my ^bglory; and no man can ^cbehold all my ^dglory, and afterwards remain in the flesh on the earth.
 6 And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the ^asimilitude of mine ^bOnly ^cBegotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the ^dSavior, for he is full of ^egrace and ^ftruth; but there is ^gno God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I ^hknow them all.
 7 And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee.
 8 And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the ^aworld upon which he was created; and Moses ^bbeheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly ^cmarveled and wondered.
 9 And the ^apresence of God withdrew from Moses, that his ^bglory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he ^cfell unto the earth.
 10 And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural ^astrength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that ^bman is ^cnothing, which thing I never had supposed.
 11 But now mine own eyes have ^abeheld God; but not my ^bnatural, but my ^cspiritual eyes, for my ^dnatural eyes could not have^ebeheld; for I should have ^fwithered and ^gdied in his presence; but his ^hglory was upon me; and I beheld his ⁱface, for I was^jtransfigured before him.
 12 And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, ^aSatan came ^btempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me.
 13 And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a ^ason of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy ^bglory, that I should worship thee?
 14 For behold, I could not look upon God, except his ^aglory should come upon me, and I were transfigured before him. But I^bcan look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so, surely?
 15 Blessed be the name of my God, for his ^aSpirit hath not altogether withdrawn from me, or else where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me? And I can judge between thee and God; for God said unto me: ^bWorship God, for him only shalt thou ^cserve.
 16 Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not; for God said unto me: Thou art after the ^asimilitude of mine Only Begotten.
 17 And he also gave me commandments when he ^acalled unto me out of the burning ^bbush, saying: ^cCall upon God in the name of mine Only Begotten, and worship me.
 18 And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his ^aglory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. ^bDepart hence, Satan.
 19 And now, when Moses had said these words, ^aSatan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the ^bOnly Begotten, worship me.
 20 And it came to pass that Moses began to ^afear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of ^bhell. Nevertheless, ^ccalling upon God, he received ^dstrength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of ^eglory.
 21 And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, ^adepart hence, ^bSatan.
 22 And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and ^agnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.
 23 And now of this thing Moses bore record; but because of ^awickedness it is ^bnot had among the children of men.
 24 And it came to pass that when Satan had departed from the presence of Moses, that Moses lifted up his eyes unto heaven, being filled with the ^aHoly Ghost, which beareth record of the Father and the Son;
 25 And calling upon the name of God, he beheld his ^aglory again, for it was upon him; and he heard a ^bvoice, saying: Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have ^cchosen thee, and thou shalt be made stronger than many ^dwaters; for they shall obey thy ^ecommand as if thou wert ^fGod.
 26 And lo, I am ^awith thee, even unto the end of thy days;
Many times this happens to us also and we have to always keep calling upon God and he will help us.
I know that us, sons and daughters of God on the Earth, have right now and always will have more power than Satan, when he comes, if we plead for the help of the Lord, I promise that the help will come.
I love you so much Mom.

This week has been so great and I am trying hard to learn even more and to look for miracles with our ward! We are trying so hard to be obedient and to ask for heaven sent help.

To start, we went bowling this week with our zone and it was so fun! my score was 50..... ha that is not really important because we had a blast.

1. The name of my companion is Elder Melvin Campos, and he is from Peru, and is on eof the best missionaries in the mission. I am not lying that every day when we have training I learn something new form him.  Sometimes I ask myself.. Is he the trainer or am I the trainer? because, I am sure I am learning more than he is. I really love him.

The mission this week has been great. Elder Campos and I have been working so much with Noelia, her baptism is set for this Friday and she is so excited. Yesterday we visited her with the first counselor in our ward named Brother Rodriguez. He is literally a spiritual giant and has so much love for everyone. During the lesson Brother Rodriguez started to bear his testimony, the spirit was so strong. I felt at that moment that I never wanted to leave. I know Noelia felt the spirit and it was such great preperation for her to have coming up to her baptism. We are trying so hard to have the support of the ward and to always have a member with us when we visit her.

If you can it would be great to have a couple of prayers from all of you to help us be more bold with the members so that we can ask for more of their help, that would be so great.

I know the church is true and that if we focus in every moment how can we help establish the Lord's kingdom we will be happy and I know that Christ is our savior. Please remember that only through the doctrine of Christ(2 nephi 31;17-21) can we return to God! Love you all so much. And remember SWABH, don't lose your smile!!! and I love you all

Love,

Elder Hicks, your son

 Also I am so glad that you are going to the temple so much and I am jealous. Also, I want to go to the temple so bad!  I guess when you think about it as missionaries we are already separated from the world. I still want to go. Love you! Keep your goals high and your dreams higher. 

One mroe thing, ha don't worry about my weight. I am already starting to not eat as much, and all my pants fit normal now. About 6 months into my mission I had to change my belt but right now I am back to normal. haha kind of a funny thing I know… ha

Don't worry Mom, ha I am happy! I promise