The Legend of Elder Hicks: ONE MONTH ALREADY!!!

Well hello everybody. Yet another week goes by and more amazingly I
hit my 1 month out mark the other day. The time goes by so quickly.
This month has been a month of growth and change and it has been so
crazy. Full of new people, places, and experiences. I'm so happy to be
out here and serving the Lord.
So this week had a couple really interesting experiences. Tuesday we
went on exchange(us and another companionship switch companions for a
day) and that was great. I got to go up to Jersey City all day with
Elder Verhaaren who is from Salt Lake City(East High kid). I got to
meet there super cool investigator named Sidhon, and had an awesome
discussion about the gospel.
On Wednesday we had to do specialized training for all the Greenies
which really killed the day. We had to drive out to Morristown (about
1 1/2 hours away) and sit through six hours of training by assistants
and the president, not to mention I was having bowel issues the whole
time. And then the only person we managed to talk to in our own area
was a drunk guy who was trying to argue with my companion about the
separation of the godhead. That was interesting kind of hilarious.
Thursday: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! All the missionaries in the nearby
zones got together in the morning and we had a Turkey Bowl. Tons of
football for 4 hours and we went pretty hard. One Elder broke his
tooth in half, I'm pretty sure I dislocated my hip again, and other
minor injuries! It was awesome! After that me and my companion went to
a dinner that the Bayonne Branch set up for us. It tasted awesome(lots
of Mexican food) and tons of pie! AND I EVEN COOKED A DESSERT FOR IT!
Thanks Lory for the recipes. Now we have a fridge full of leftovers,
which is weird because the day before it was empty.
Friday was a long day of finding. Everyone we had scheduled cancelled
and so we walked and walked and walked.
Saturday we saw 2 pretty great investigators who are making small
progress and spent the rest of the day finding. Later we made an
awesome plan with the mission leader and the Spanish missionaries on
how we can get this area moving.
Sunday was great. We got to church and had a surprising new
investigator show up to church. Then we ate a lunch/dinner with a
member family. We then went to 2 places that kind of humbled me on how
much we take advantage of our country and freedom. First we met an
Egyptian family who had just recently gained citizenship and were so
happy to be in this country and were so grateful specifically for the
freedom of religion and opinion that we have here. Then after that we
visited a disabled member, who served 12 years in the Air Force and
was hit by an explosion when his whole convoy was attacked and
destroyed. We served him the sacrament and you could see in his eyes
how much it really meant to him, how much peace and comfort came to
this man who had been through so much and had turned his life around
and became one of the leaders for programs such as Wounded Warriors
and Project Warrior.

So this week was very back and forth, but we are making progress in
this area. We have set and plan to keep a goal of making this Branch a
Ward before we transfer out.
I'll also include a few of pictures from our temple trip last week
Thank you so much for all your support and I love the little emails I
get throughout the week. Keep the faith.
God bless.