Good Morning

Hello Everybody!
        Welcome to another Monday of listening to my rambling! I just checked
and you only have to suffer through 70 more of these emails!
Muuuahahahahahah!!!!!
        Anyways, 'Twas a slow week for missionary work though our ward has
been cracking down on Home Teaching! They wanted to get 100% home
teaching from now on which is quite the feat for a ward that is as
spread out as this one, and with several people who aren't very open
to being seen! Our Bishop set it up with our front line being the
actual Hometeachers, after that comes the organization leaders and
then us missionaries and the young men, then the bishopric!
        Being that we started that this month there was a lot left over. Our
ward is separated into 4 areas. Frenchtown, Flemington, Clinton, and
Washington. Each area includes a large chunk of members. The Bishop
asked us to visit everyone in the Flemington area that hadn't been
seen yet.... Which was a lot! We ended up spending all day Saturday
and about a 100 miles worth of driving going to every one of these
members' houses. It was quite exhausting! But it worked greatly and we
were able to see most of the people we went out to find!
        By the way people... Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching is Super
Important!!!! I swear New Jersey would not have as severe a Less
Active problem if people just knew the ward actually cared about them
personally!!! So do it!
We did have the Mission Summer Conference and that was super fun!  It was ridiculously fun and
tiring. I was sore for 4 days afterwards though. I spent the whole
time playing soccer and talking to people. The food we had was
imitation Cafe Rio... It was a nice attempt, but nothing beats the
real thing.... And then we sat down for a 2 hour training from one of
President Taggart's sons about Prayer, humility, and power.
        So it was a pretty great experience all in all.
Not a super eventful week but not a bad week looking back. Cup half full right?
Love you all, and keep staying awesome!

                      Elder Anthony Sleigh Hicks
                  New Jersey Morristown Mission

Double Hicks power holding up the one with the speakerphone.

Surprise Meetings

Good Early Morning everybody from the Homeland(Unless you're not in
the homeland, then hello to you too.)
   This was a fun week! Lots of Random experiences!
To start I finally got a new iPad.... For those that didn't know my
last one sucked.... Due to repeated beatings and uses as a bludgeoning
weapon it was having some serious problems. So after a couple days of
trying to finagle with Apple and the Church I had to submit and deal
with "policies". Which included me forking up a painful amount of cash
for a new iPad..... But it's over with and my life is much easier now
so yay!
   We had a funny run in with one of our investigators this week too.
This late is super busy and so we've never been able to schedule
anything with her. So one night we decided to just stop by her house.
She was actually there! And so was her boyfriend, and 5 minutes 2 more
of her friends. Apparently we showed up in the middle of their band
practice. Now you don't run into that every day so we showed support
for our investigator and stuck around a little to see if they were any
good ;)
   For the last 2 weeks we have been spending some time helping a
member paint her neighbor's basement. Her neighbor is going through
some serious medical problems with her husband and so she is trying to
sell her house and run back and forth between hospitals and
specialists. So she doesn't have time to prepare the house for sell.
This week we managed to steal a few young men to help us out. It was
really fun though handing teenage boys rollers and free reign on a
room that you can't really make a mistake in painting it is a bad
idea.... Two hours later we had 2 boys covered in paint and a 3rd
trying to peel it off of his arms, which were completely covered. So
we made them sit out and dry for a few minutes before we had to take
them home.
   Now for the highlight of the week!!! TEMPLE!
       The ward had a youth temple trip and our recent convert Bridget
who got baptized a couple weeks ago managed to get everything set up
for her to go with! We met all the qualifications to allow us
missionaries to accompany her and it was super great! We got to drive
out to Good ole' New York City... Still don't like the city... And go
to the temple to do Baptisms with her. She also had the names for her
Parents, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents! So her first time doing
baptisms for the dead was for her mother. She gave me the honor to do
it for her Male ancestors and that was super cool! The spirit fills
that building everywhere and it was an amazing opportunity to be a
part of that!
   Another crazy thing that happened at the temple.... Apparently the
Riverton High School theater was on their annual New York Trip and
they happened to be at the temple when we got there! I got to talk to
a few friends from home for a minute! What a small world we live in!

       Now for my Father's Day rant....
   So many of you heard it from me back from conference.... But I'm
just reminded constantly of where fatherhood is going in society.
There are too many families that are broken and/or fatherless. Too
many children who don't even know who their dad is. Too many without
that example, who will grow up to continue the cycle. With all the
amazing father figures I've had, and my own deep opinions on the
subject it hurts me deeply. Especially as a missionary when one of the
first principles that we teach is the God is our "Heavenly Father".
Many that we teach have no comprehension of what that means. They
don't understand the learning, the strength, the guidance, and the
love that a true father is.
   I would just like to thank all the Father Figures I have. My Dad,
Stepdad, Uncles, Grandfathers, and family friends who have been there
to teach me, and guide me into the man that I am becoming today. I
thank you all and love you so much. Never forget the impact you have,
good and bad, on not only your own children, but all those around you.
   I love all of you. Have a great week.

                     Elder Anthony Sleigh Hicks
                 New Jersey Morristown Mission

 "Flirting with a lot of sister missionaries tactfully..... Just kidding.... Maybe..........."

 Money for the new IPAD

Transfer Doctrine......

Well we got transfer news last night everybody....
Drum Roll please.....
.....
....
...
.......
Absolutely nothing is changing.
Tuh dah!!!
So about my week....
Good fun stuff, had an exchange, started teaching a new investigator,
found out about an all mission summer conference coming up. Power
sprayed for the first time in my life. Etc.
I got a new haircut, that's always fun....
Anyways, to elaborate on the earlier stated events.
        On Tuesday had exchanges again and being that we only have one other
set of Elder's in our district it was the same except I had to lead
out for the first time in this new area. This very large, very
unorganized in it's roads and maps, and very full of bad wrong turns.
The GPS can only go so far. But it was a great exchange.
        The new investigator guy named Bruce! We taught him for the first
time a few weeks ago but he didn't show a lot of interest but we
decided to keep trying by. So me and Elder Jensen(who was on exchange
with) decided to stop by again. It turned out to be a really spiritual
lesson. He was going through a lot because of a divorce and it was
hitting him really hard. We talked a lot about faith and enduring
through trials. Then I got the prompting to show him the Mountains to
Climb video(P.S. I have yet to see anyone we show that video for the
first time not cry after it.) and it really helped him a lot. We
invited him to start hearing the missionary lessons and he really
seemed interested now. So I'll try to keep ya'll up to date on his
situation.
        So apparently there is an all mission conference coming up next P-day
and it's going to be all the missionaries hanging out and playing
games at a park! That will be super fun! So heads up to everyone I may
just send a short email next week because I probably won't have a lot
of time.
        Power spraying.... So every Friday we spend a few hours working with
the head Gardener of. Hunterdon County Parks & rec for service and it
is really fun. The guy, Jason, always keeps us busy doing good ole
outdoors work and this last Friday I got to power spray down an old
man made waterfall thingy in one of the parks because next week we get
to re-seal all the rocks together. I have never been so dirty or
soaked on my mission so far. If you've never power sprayed the trick
is to not let it ricochet back at you..... I didn't figure that out
for a good 15 minutes.....
        So that was some of the more interesting moments in our week.
        I hope you are all doing great and that you are staying awesome!!!
Keep Reading your scriptures and praying.... There missionary part of
the email done.
Love you guys, see you next week.

 Family Home Evening at Sister Kings house

The unexpected

Buenos Dias hermanos y hermanas
        How has your week been? How's life?... Well that's unfortunate...

        This week has been a fun week! Groundhogs can be added to my "Almost
hit list". I need a haircut. Apparently something happened in the
Basketball world because people kept asking us if we knew what was
going on. I went to my first YSA party. Unfortunately not as a YSA
though. Much less fun that way. And we got a crazy text from one of
our investigators...
        YSA Party..... We had a Giant Paella that a member in our ward made
for all the YSA in the mission and they had a huge party at his house.
I think about 120 people showed up. We got the pleasure to go because
first off we helped set everything up but we were also meeting some
new investigators there! That's how missionaries get into pretty much
anything fun. But it was awesome food and talked to a bunch of people
saying the exact same thing.... "Where are you from?" "Riverton? Is
that in the north? By Logan?" "How long have you been serving?" "What
areas have you been in? Just two? Really?"
Not kidding... Every conversation. And of course as a missionary we
can't do the one thing that YSA parties are for so we say down and
talked to the old married people half the time. Still really fun
though.
        Crazy text.... So we have this one investigator named Chris. He's an
older guy who has been investigating for 2 years now. We got to really
start thinking the other week by asking him what he liked about the
church and he was freaked out by how large that list was. And then he
FINALLY is reading the Book of Mormon, but he's been holding himself
back from progress because he is waiting for God to do something...
Anything really.
        So he started reading it about a week ago and has been loving it.
(This guy studies Theology hardcore) Friday night we have a really
good conversation about scriptures and how he's feeling about them....
And then Friday night as we get home we get a text "I know my
God and I know what I need to do. I want to get baptized! How soon can
we make that happen?"
        So as you can imagine me and my companion were a little surprised...
We obviously texted him back and will be laying out the plan with him
this week.

        That's all I got for this week...That I can remember...
Thankyou for all the love and support! Keep being awesome and Never Give Up!

           -Elder Anthony S. Hicks
  New Jersey Morristown Mission

LDS Weekend!!!

Happy rainy Memorial Day... At least it's rainy for me!
I hope you are all having an awesome three day weekend! Because I am.
It's exhausting.
        Our "Resident Roman Catholic Member" (guy who is super active but not
baptized) called it LDS Weekend! In the monster truck commercial voice
because we have had 2 baptism's, 2 parties and another party happening
today!
        Luckily one of those baptism's was our Investigator Bridget! It was
super awesome and really funny because right after she came up out of
the water her 5 year old son yelled "GOOD JOB MOM!" We then had a
little party after to celebrate of course and there were tons of
members there that she had never even met. It helped her to make a lot
of new friends and see all the people that support her.
        After that on Saturday there was a Surprise birthday party for a
member that we were invited to and that was really fun! We had a
couple investigators there so it was totally justified.... We ate some
awesome food and talked about the church... and possible ways to kill
off varmint species in NJ......
        Then Yesterday at church Elder Reese and I were given the wonderful
privilege of giving talks.... I guess that went alright... Probably
not. Then we got double duty because we got to teach the 5th Sunday
class to all the young men and young women. I learned that stomping
your foot really loud gets teenagers to be quiet. Makes them jump a
little too;) After that we had a baptism for an 8 year old. The mom
invited us to be part of the program so we got to be there and help
out with all that jazz.
        For the rest of the week we had nothing too eventful. I did go on
exchange with the Zone leaders, got into 2 bible bashes, found 2
awesome people that I hope turn into solid investigators, and didn't
get enough sleep. All very eventful indeed.
        last of all we have our ward Memorial Day picnic today. Excited for that!
Other than that I think I said it all for the week. Bringing in people
to the Gospel is great!
        Keep on Keepin on, Live Long and Prosper, Never give up, Never
Surrender, Nos Vemos, and have a wonderful day.

           -Elder Anthony S. Hicks
  New Jersey Morristown Mission

....No Car......

Good Morning people!!!
        How's Life?
We'll it was rough for me this week!
        So for some reason that me and my companion don't understand, we had
to take our car in for repairs on Monday.... Which meant we had to go
4 days without a car. We cover an entire county and half of another
one... Roughly 450 square miles... And this week it was on bikes!
Woohooo.... My legs have never been so tired. We managed to get rides
from a few members to our important things, but otherwise it was pure
pain. So ya that was fun
        Our investigator Bridget is getting Baptized on Saturday!!!!! And to
think she found the church after watching Sister Wives. New finding
technique? Maybe... But holy darn she is prepared. I'm pretty sure she
has read more in Gospel library in that last month or two than I have
in my entire life. Pretty cool, I'll release pictures of the baptism
next Monday.
        I get to give a talk next Sunday on the topic "Remember those who
came before" and I'm at a loss... Any suggestions?
        I almost ran over a frog, 3 deer, a fox, a raccoon, and one bad
driver this week. My tally is growing.
        Life here in Clinton is great, I still haven't gotten a tick bite so
I must being doing something right.
        Sorry I'm kinda jumping around but I'm just spilling everything onto
the page as I think of it so I don't forget.
        Yesterday was super cool! We had an English missionary fireside in
which we all sang to all the people that came. The spirit was super
strong, as it always is when large groups sing hymns. I loved it!
        Other than that I have nothing to eventful to talk about, sorry I'm boring.
Hope you all are having a great week!

-Elder Anthony S. Hicks
New Jersey Morristown Mission

I feel old!

Well hello again my wonderful Monday subjects!
   I've been pondering and trying to decide what I shall write to you
this beautiful morning when I came out blank.... Nothing deep, nothing
funny.... Except I went to a Jewish church on Friday.
   A couple weeks ago we knocked the door of a house and the guy
invited us in and after talking for a minute he told us he was a
Jewish Rabbi. He led some kind of reformed Jewish church nearby or
something and invited us to one of their family services! So we went.
It was pretty neat to experience though a little odd and in the least
bit personal. One reason I love the LDS church. Sunday is for the
members to speak, not for one guy to sit up there and say the same
things they do every other week.
    As I continue to write this email I'm reminded of the things that
happened this week and that my mind is failing me. We also went to the
temple!!! Kinda Important. Not the typical thing you forget... But ya
that was awesome! I love the temple! Us missionaries are starved of it
so we only get to go every six months for personal worship. Off to
Manhattan we went! (I still don't like that city no matter what you
say mom) we took commuter trains and subway all the way from Newark to
the Lincoln center where the temple is! Did the wonderful spiritual
do's there. Which was even cooler because there was a guy there who
was getting his endowments for the first time but it had to be in
Mandarin because he didn't speak English. So in the last part there
were multiple people helping the translation. Funny and cool at the
same time. After that we sat outside and ate Gyros and watched the
chaos of the city for half an hour. Then proceeded to get on the wrong
train into Newark and ended up in central Newark instead of by the
church. A two and a half mile walk later in suits and sun we made it!
      That same night we asked one of our main investigators Bridget
to get baptized! She is super cool and has a ridiculously wild little
boy... She didn't seem to sure about the date we set for her so we
left it in the air for the day asking her to pray about it. The the
next day we get a call form the bishop saying that she called him and
was so excited to be baptized.... So that was funny!
      Otherwise nothing else to substantial happened this week. We
lose our car today for 4 days because it has some repairs that need
getting done. (Not my fault I promise). So this week is gonna be
hectic and will include a lot of bike riding. I'm not excited...
    To finish off I got to eat at the Gallacher's home last night
which for those of you that don't know is funny because they are
family friends. We joked about old nicknames and how they had to train
themselves to remember that I am "Elder Hicks" and not the other names
they know me as...

At the Manhattan Temple

 

 At the Gallachers for Dinner