The Realities of Life

Good Morning Everybody!
      This week I don't have much to write about but I do want to
focus on a few highlights.
Wednesday was super interesting because we had to loan our car to some
other missionaries so they could go to a meeting in Morristown. We
used it as an opportunity to go out with some of the missionaries in
our zone! So Elder Peterson and I split up and did trios with other
sets of missionaries.
     I was with Elder Holmes and Draper all day up in Soldier Hill and
that was an experience. I'd never expect to find two people who are
exactly the same as each other being companions. But they were! 'Twas
quite entertaining.
     We also got to go on exchange with the APs Wildman and Follett.
It was a super funny exchange! We did a table stand trying to hand out
the Book of Mormon to people on a Main Street in Elizabeth. It got
really weird because this old Spanish guy kept coming up to me and
telling me dirty jokes. It was really annoying when I was trying to
talk to other people! Luckily the bus finally came and he left.
     Lastly I want to highlight a story I heard. I can't tell details
but there is this man that we are working with who told us his story
and the things that he has been through. I came to two realizations
from the unbelievable hard life he has lived. My problems are nothing
and that I've had the easiest life in the whole stinkin world, and how
important just one good influence on a child's life could do. This man
by the time he was 16 had done everything you can imagine from Jail
time, fugitive status, all the drugs and everything that comes with
that, and much, much more.
     Understand that your problems are small in the eternities.
                               D&C 121
7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine
afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou
shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with
warm hearts and friendly hands.

                      Elder Anthony Sleigh Hicks
                  New Jersey Morristown Mission

We've gotten so tired we've resulted to rolling around.

Snow Day! And some Early Morning Justice....

Guten Morgen meine Fruende!
     This week was weird but not at the same time! Everything feels
like it's slowing down here in Englewood. We've unfortunately baptized
all our investigators.... so we are having to switch gears to find
more people to teach. Which is a struggle because me and Elder
Peterson spent some time analyzing different types of missionaries and
we fall under the classification of "Closers" not "Finders" but I
guess it's a chance to grow right?
     Last Tuesday was rough! It was a "Big Snowstorm" so everything
got shut down and we were told we couldn't use our car. Which is
annoying because we don't have shovels and nowhere to go, so it felt
like a very unproductive day.
     So the big thing this week was Planning! Elder Peterson and I put
in a ton of time planning ways to find new people, Planning for the
people we are teaching, planning for future trainings we have to give,
and planning on ways we can best help our Zone. Hours upon hours. We
decided that one of our strengths is that when we sit down to plan
something we don't stop until it is all figured out, however insane we
get do to exhaustion.
     Now for the Justice. One of the District leaders in our zone,
Elder Spencer, doesn't have a car. So on p day and for all meetings we
drive him and his companion around. This last week he has jokingly
complained that we are always late to picking them up on p day
(Hardly, "A wizard is never late".....) And that p day is not a day to
chill. So he asked for us to show up earlier....... He didn't know
what he was asking for. So we made a plan, and committed to it. It was
a stretch for us, it required sacrifice. But the Justice was worth it.
 We set our alarm for 5 o'clock in the morning.
We found out a way to break into their apartment.
We snuck in at 6:27 and waited until their alarm went off.
Stormed into their room screaming.
And this morning, justice was served.

The Ultimate Team Up

  Hello all my weekly followers! This week was a solid mixture of
hectic to halted. One day we are running around late to everything and
the next we have so little going on we don't even know where to begin.
      So To Begin! On Tuesday we had interviews with president! Which
if you remember at all from the last 2 transfers, that means me and my
companion get to sit in the same room for 6 hours doing the same
training 5 times over and over. (Is that what Highschool teachers feel
like?) .....Going on....  and then after all the interviews President
Taggart wanted to come out as a team up with us for the whole night!
That is like a once in a mission opportunity. Not that many
missionaries get to do that. So of course we scrambled to get all of
our investigators scheduled so the Faith bomb of Pres. Taggart could
be there. It was absolutely awesome to have him there teaching with
us. Quite interesting to see the mission President out of the meetings
and trainings world. So ya, the most ultimate team up ever.
      The rest of the week was just the usual of teaching lessons and
takin names. We did have Zone Conference which me and Elder Peterson
Trained at. We got the opportunity to give a super powerful training
on the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ.
      I also got to go with Elder Spencer down in West New York on
exchange! That was an awesome experience. We taught this one
investigator who they were at a roadblock with. After delving in we
found out her problems and talked about Alma 7 and how Christ feels
and understands everything we go through. The spirit was super strong
and she cried through most of the lesson. She said the closing prayer
in Spanish so I didn't understand a good chunk of it but it was so
absolutely obvious that she was genuine, and that she was pouring out
her soul to God. Repentance is real people!
       Other then that the usual. We got a killer storm coming up on
Tuesday, looks like it's gonna be a blast!

                      Elder Anthony Sleigh Hicks
                  New Jersey Morristown Mission
New York City
Elder Spencer and Myself in front of New York City
Elder Peterson and myself's perfect weekly planning set up.

Look! Something Happened

So.... this week was full of surprises!
   To preface... Miracles happen and people can be truly prepared...
So on Wednesday we go to teach this investigator Janet.... she's super
cool... anyways... We met her when the Spanish Sisters referred her to
us a few weeks ago but we weren't able to talk much when we first met.
We had scheduling conflicts and couldn't meet for 2 weeks. And then we
finally met on Wednesday. Now here is where things get crazy. We
started teaching her and learned she had been taught everything before
in Massachusetts and also by the spanish sisters here. Things were
different this time. After teaching the first vision it really hit
her. Any of the hold backs she had before were gone. We mentioned
baptism and she was all for it.
   And then she told us she wanted to do it this Sunday.
Holy Flip! We were freaking out but we couldn't deny the spirit that
was there. We told her that it was totally possible but we had to make
a couple calls to make sure. We called President Taggart to get
permission and our Bishop to get his thoughts. Everyone was
onboard(Though very Hesitant) as long as we got her introduced to as
many members as possible over the next 4 days.
   So we started planning like crazy! We saw her Wednesday,
Thursday(For 2 1/2 hours), Friday(For 2 hours), and Saturday for an
hour and then got her interviewed. We pounded out all the things that
she needed to know and understand and it all lined up! So many
miracles happened to make this baptism work down to even her having a
towel at the baptismal service. Holy Stinkin ridiculousness!
   Another Miracle is that we had a ton of people show up to church!
Englewood is Exploding!
   Funny story of the week. When the baptism happened they forgot to
pull the plug in the font.... pictures and videos provided.

Miracle Investigator! And Stake Conference!

  2-27-27
 We had a pretty great week!
We got a ton of missionary work done! And we found an awesome new
person to teach! Full of several coincidences that led up to us
meeting her on the street! She was super interested in learning more!
And she even came to Stake Conference which was an hour away which is
a stinkin miracle that she made it with all that happened surrounding
it. I'm super sorry but I don't have a lot of time to send this right
now so this is all you get! Sorry!

Live long and prosper! Amen.

                      Elder Anthony Sleigh Hicks
                  New Jersey Morristown Mission

Here is two really cool Jeeps I saw!