Yesterday I gave the first blessing of my life

Well everybody, things are changing here in Bayonne, New Jersey.
First to start with the few bad things:
No snow yet, but it's getting cold, and not the cold that I like...
There is a fowl beast that lurks in the air here. An elusive creature
whom you can always feel his presence, but can only rarely glimpse his
physical form. The demon I speak of invades your soul, and sucks the
life from your joy. This monster is called by the name of "Humidity"
and I hate him.
We're also still constantly running out of food.
Other than that things are getting much better:
We've had 10 scheduled lessons this last week and most went super
well. We met a guy named Justis who I'm pretty sure is 99% LDS in
beliefs and just doesn't realize it. And then we happens to
accidentally knock on the door of a less active member whom we didn't
know existed. She dragged us into her house and spilled her heart out
to us while I silently searched our ward records trying to figure out
who she was. Finally I found this ladies name and we were able to help
her calm down about her issues a lot. She then asked for a blessing.
My heart kept and I kinda freaked out in my head, but yesterday I gave
the first blessing of my life to a lady I had only met an hour before.
The spirit was strong and it amazes me how the spirit guides us to
those that are in need.

I love all of you guys and thank you for the support you give.
Many keep asking me about an address.
For less important things(I live in the super ghetto) you can send it to

Elder Anthony Hicks
New Jersey Morristown Mission
120 west 10th street
 Bayonne, New Jersey 07002-1359.

 For more important items send it to the mission office, the address I don't know so you
can get it from my mother.

Thanks again for all the support. Good luck and as all the people in
New Jersey keep telling me. God Bless.

          -Elder Anthony Hicks

This is Mother with the Mission Office address:

Elder Anthony Hicks
New Jersey Morristown Mission
5 Cold Hill Road, Suite #10
Mendham, NJ 07945

From the other Elder Hicks

This is a little something posted about Anthony as said on the other Elder Hicks Blog:
 
 Last week we got to do the funnest thing and pick up the new
missionaries. I love picking up the new missionaries #WelcomeToTheWar.
This time was actually a lot more special because I got to see myself
come into the mission field! Everyone say hello to the New Elder
Hicks!! It was soooo awesome to finally meet the kid! I've known for 3
months now that he was coming into the mission because we get what's
called a "compliment" that lets us know who is going home at what
transfer and who is coming in for the next 3 transfers so we can plan
on closing, holding and opening areas in the mission. He is such a
little baller! He actually lived in Bountiful for a little bit. Anyways, he is very
respectful and has such a strong spirit about him. When we picked up
the new missionaries he was one of the 3 that drove with Elder
Garfield and I to the fear buster. At the fear buster, I got the
sweetest opportunity to be the kid's "street pops". We talked to some
interesting people. The first guy's name was Lee. We actually ran up to
him and he got a little scared at first but totally warmed up to us. I
can only imagine what went through his mind when he saw us. Most
people when they look at our tags see the title "Elder" and think that
we are brothers, but for us it was both "Elder Hicks" and both
blondes. (Haha) We said that we were cousins ;) Anyways he was the
first "Muslim" that I have ever spoken to out here (we meet a lot)
that believed Jesus Christ is his Savior. I was so confused... That's
like a Mormon saying he/she believes the Pope speaks the word of
God...um... No! Anyways we went with it and it was a super spiritual
contact/lesson. Elder Hicks and I bore powerful testimonies of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. The new missionaries have such a strong
spirit, I love it! After Lee, we started to walk back and saw 2 black
guys (of course) standing outside of McDonalds. We walked up to talk
with them. When we were about 5 feet away they noticed us and stepped
way back going "Wwwwwwwoooooooowwww!! What did we do wrong this time?!
We are just standing here having a good conversation, Brothers!" And so
we took a step back too (haha). I wish somebody filmed it. We asked their
names were and I swear if this was truly their names I feel so bad for
them... PooGizzle and Splash. I kid you not that's what they said
their names were. Elder Hicks started talking to "PooGizzle" while I
talked with "Splash". He had just gotten out of jail 2 weeks previous
and wanted to know about Jesus since he knew literally nothing.
"PooGizzle" was just swearing at Elder Hicks and I don't know what he
said but he calmed him down - so the kid must be super talented.
When we got back to the mission home President wanted the new
missionaries to Role Play inviting someone to be baptized after
explaining the Book of Mormon. It was hilarious because the new
missionaries were just dead beat tired from flying #jetlag and now
they were expected to Role Play. In the middle of Role Playing, the
sisters that serve in the area of the mission home called us, and
asked for us to come change their tire for them because they couldn't
get a hold of their District Leader.

Elder Hicks is standing above Elder Hicks

So this week was exciting but rough.

So this week was exciting but rough.
Monday was planes trains and automobiles. Bus in the morning, then To
front runner, and onto the plane. When we got off the plane we met our
mission president and all the assistants, and one happens to be
another Elder Hicks. After that I got into a truck and went straight
to our "fearbuster". This includes all the new missionaries going out
with the assistants and talking to random people on the street in
downtown Newark. That was super fun and I of course went out with the
other Elder Hicks. The next day I got to go to the zone transfer
conference in which 72% (about 140 missionaries) of our mission were
being moved around. I got my new companion/Trainer Elder Norris, who
is pretty cool so far and we got doubled into (we both are new to the
area) the Bayonne, NJ area...

This is where things start to get rough. Bayonne could be considered a
Suburb of Jersey City. So I'm in the hood for my first area. Its made
up of almost entirely multi family townhomes. It's also one of the few
areas in the mission that doesn't have a car, but is one of the larger
areas... So we're walking..... A lot. Our branch building is only
slightly bigger then the doll shop and at least half of the members
don't speak English, and our area book is a mess. The last
missionaries left us no information so we've pretty much been starting
from scratch in the area.

Things are starting to look up though. We've finally started making
progress and contacting people. Now that we've met a few members we
are able to get a little bit of a low down on some of the
investigators. But most people won't talk to us. The culture here is
very different.

All in all, It's definitely going to be an adventure in trying to turn
this area around.
It's hard but I accept the challenge.

Thanks for all the support. Food shipments are appreciated. We have no
car and the nearest Walmart is 5 miles away. ;)  Love all of you guys.
Good luck and God bless.

          -Elder Anthony Hicks

I made it!!

I'm still alive and I'm currently in the Mission home.

I found the infamous other Elder Hicks that we had heard of and have already adopted him as my brother.

President & Sister Taggart are super great and overwhelmingly nice.

Everybody is super cool and I can't wait till tomorrow to find out who my companion is.

I had an awesome "fear buster" in which we went around Newark and talked to people. I of course went with the other Elder Hicks as my companion and in 40 minutes got the numbers for 4 possible new investigators.

My next P-Day is on Monday so I'll get back to Ya'll then.

I Love all of you guys and I miss you tons.

-Elder Hicks

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

So I had to share this amazing experience that we just had with our
real investigator that we have.

For some backstory: this lady hasn't prayed in 14 years. And that last
one was to save her son from death, and he still passed. She's had an
abuse infested life and believed God hated her.
She also is currently searching for a job.

In our last lesson we invited her to pray.
Today we went back with no idea as to what we were gonna teach, all we
had was a video and a hope that she did pray and she told us that she
did, and felt a small power of patience.  In our talk with her we
found out she was given a job offer... That she refused because it was
at dollar tree. After a conversation we showed her the video "Daily
Bread: Experience" and she freaked out that we didn't know of her
trial with patience in work and taking life and praying day by day
instead of begging for miracles. After testifying of the power of
prayer, I offered her a Book of Mormon... She then began to tell us
about how she had read bits and pieces. She mostly loved Alma the
younger and loved Paul from the bible. We then proceeded to freak out
because the next segment of our lesson was to talk about those exact
prophets.

I testify to you the power of prayer, the power of the spirit, and
most of all the power of the temple. I can say that when we got to go
to the temple today all three in our companionship had our
investigator in our prayers. I personally had a prayer in the
celestial room to help this woman.

I love this church.
-Elder Hicks



Sent from my iPad

"This lady deserves an Oscar"

Hey everybody. I'm still alive, church is still true.

Anyways, I'm having a blast at the MTC and my companions are awesome.(Yes companion"s", I'm in a group of 3 now because one Elder in our district went home.) I'm a Zone Leader and the District Assistant. So you could say I'm a pretty important guy.

The food is alright even though all the soda is caffeine free.

We have had the chance to teach 2 investigators multiple times.1 was one of our teachers role-playing while the other I'm almost positive is a real investigator or this lady deserves an Oscar. It has been one of the most spiritual and interesting experiences in my life.

I got my flight times and I leave to New Jersey at 9:55 Monday Morning(the 9th)

I love all of you guys and I'm so happy that you all support me.

                      Love, Elder Hicks

p.s. I Have an iPad so I can receive and read emails anytime, I just can't respond until my next P-Day

First message from the MTC

Oct. 30th 

So... still alive, and I've only fallen asleep in one class. They keep us ridiculously busy here and I never feel like I have time to breath, but I'm still having fun.

 I have an awesome companion, Elder Gentry from Richfield, and we get along great.

 

All the soda here is caffeine free... Even the Mountain Dew. It tastes the same but my body rejects the lie.

 My P-Day for my MTC duration is friday. But today(the 30th) I'm only available till 12:10. Next friday I can email all day.

Go ahead and spread my email to the masses.

I Love you so much and I miss all of you idiots. 

And by the way.... I forgot toothpaste so I had to buy a whole dental health bag to get some....

Off to the MTC

October 25th 2015

"See ya in a bit"