Letter 06/25/2012

HI

Well, I made it and Im alive. barely I dont think Ive ever been this tired in my life. not sleeping for about 36 hours killed me haha. Chile is way different. but then again, not that different either. The first week has been good. I dont understand much though. Everyone here talks so flipping fast. It wasnt really what I was expecting but then again I didnt know what to expect. Its winter here. Not too cold. It rained on us like wednesday night while we were tracking. but it was actually warmer that day than any other day here. I dont really know what the temp has been but I wear a jacket after about 4. The nights are really cold and the houses here dont have heat haha. I have probably walked more this week than the last 5 years combined. My sector is called Jose Miguel Infante 1 and its in a suburb of Santiago called Renca. You can try and find it on Google or something. Its pretty ghetto here. lots of graffiti and flaetaes *gangsters* theyre all like 15 years old and just stand on the corners smoking pot and insulting people. They actuallly like us missionaries because they want us to teach them english words. My companion is Elder Weigel and hes pretty cool. Ive helped teach a few lessons and we visit the members a lot which is nice cuz they know that I am just learning spanish so they are really patient and are eager to help me understand. We contact all the time and I try to talk to everyone I see. We go door to door a lot and all the houses here have huge fences so instead of knocking you stand at the fence and yell ¡ALO! and wait for them to answer. Its pretty interesting.

Thanks for your love and support it means a lot.

con mucho amor
Elder Hicken

Some Pix of Santiago - Notice Moroni on the temple?

He made it to Chile! We have proof! (Pres. Essig, Stephan and Sis Essig)
Notice the "deer in the headlights" look in his eyes?

His first letter Chile! (PDF)

Letter 06/16/2012

Hola! how is everyone doing? so sorry you didn't get a letter from me yesterday, it was our "in-field orientation" day and so today is p-day. It's not really infield orientation, just a whole bunch of workshops for 12 hours straight but it wasn't bad and the day went by really fast. I can't believe I leave for chile monday. Blows my mind. I'm not really looking forward to my first day there though, because I don't think I'm going to sleep very well on the plane :/ oh well! one thing I've learned about being a missionary is, you're ALWAYS tired.

So... I hate packing. I hope I don't have too many transfers in the field. because packing is a pain. haha. I'm going to be sending a box home with all my letters  that I've gotten while I've been here. just throw the box in my room. I finally got my warts out wednesday. it didn't hurt too bad cuz when they injected that stuff it killed off everything so when he scraped it out, I didn't feel much. I'm glad I got it done, it relieved a lot of pressure in my foot.

Other health news, I've been super sick all week. it started about monday night, and I'm just now starting to get better. I'm thinking it's a sinus infection or something. I've had congestion in my nose ears and chest, and a sore throat, tons of gunk, and a headache. even now I still don't really have a voice. no, I didn't go see a doctor... do I ever? I've just been laying on the meds and it's been good. I'm thinking I'm going to have this cough for a while though. I'm never really able to get rid of coughs very well.

I'm super jealous of your ride. that sounds like way fun :) maybe one day you'll be up to the 1500 miles :) mom, don't worry about the curves, I'm thinking it's so much harder on the goldwing because you're a lot higher off the ground.

I got the package and I really appreciated it. I'll be set on melotonin for the next two years I think :)

Mom, isn't that how your summers have been for about 10-15 years now? haha what are you all planning on doing for a family vacation? if anything? family trek sounds fun you will all enjoy it. how is the ward doing? how is everyone there? tell everyone I miss hi for me.

Yes, I've had to be a host 3 times, well actually once lol. 3 weeks ago, I was one of the hosts, 2 weeks ago, I was one of the missionaries doing traffic, and this week I went and took a nap instead becuase I wasn't feeling up to hauling around a bunch of luggage all day. I actually didn't really enjoy hosting. It's really kinda depressing and made me a little homesick ahaha.

I'm really excited to talk to you all, but please be patient with me, I don't know how much I'll be able to talk, I will try to hustle every where I go so I have enough time to talk to you all. I'm going to call from SLC even if it's only for 5 minutes. I will be calling my Mom :) and maybe she can figure out how to do a 3 way call. so mom, be home or available between like 11 and 12:30. I don't know exactly when it will be so just be ready. I'm sorry I can't be specific.

Girls, just wait to talk to me til monday night, k? And I don't really want a recap of the last two months, I just want to have an oppourtunity to hear each of your voices and tell you I love you. And if you have questions I would love to answer them so maybe write a couple down that you think of between now and then. Mom and Dad, we'll talk about whatever you want.

Well, the adventures about to really begin. I'm super nervous, mostly about the language. Chilenos speak really fast and kinda have their own way of conjugating. I'm really excited though. I worry about myself and whether I can do it or not. It's going to be super hard. thanks for your prayers and please continue them! vos amo mucho! familias son eternas

hasta proximo tiempo
Elder Hicken

Letter 6/8/2012

como estais mi familia! haha vosotros form :p we're not supposed to use it but I can with my family :) I did get a letter from mom :) who was it that fell off the top bunk? I laughed.. sorry.. but that is kinda funny. was it just during the night while she was sleeping? Emily that is awesome you went on an overnight backpack trip. maybe when I get back we could do a backpacking trip :) I'm jealous of the motorcycle ride. I miss it a lot :/ I hope they both work out for you and I'm glad you got to make the monte ride. That is probably my favorite ride. If you end up going south... go to the Grand Canyon!!!! It's such a fun ride! and state route 10 or whatever from bryce canyon to moab is so awesome! that was my favorite part of my ride last year. How is Emily doing with the driving? She has a very good head so she'll probably be better than I was at her age becuase she is so much more mature. Thanks for taking court out, she mentioned in a dearelder that you invited her and she was a letter nervous haha. keep watching out for her but she sounds like she is doing really well, and I'm proud of her.

I'll try the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda trick and see if that will work on the garments. I'm just afraid of the stain bleeding through my garments to my shirts. I still don't have travel plans.. hopefully today. I'll send you a quick email when I do get them so you can have a heads up of when I'll be calling. I'll only be calling my family, I really don't need to talk to anyone else :) So let me know where everyone will be once I get the travel plans so I know who I need to call where. Thanks for working on getting me a copy of my blessing. I did email steph. I'll try and find it and send it to you so you can make sure she gets it. haha don't be too suprised about singing I have always loved singing, just never felt the need to sing in front of people hah a :P I'll try and record a practice session of it today and I'll probably end up sending it to you in the field because I don't want to send an SD card home this close to leaving, with out knowing when I'm leaving yet haha. I'm  no where near as good as you but I'd consider doing a duet with you one day :) Speaking of other things about music to blow you away... I'm practicing piano again. I went and bought an Himnos Simplificados (sp?) and have beeen playing once a day for about 30-45 minutes. Just in case I'm ever in a situation where they'll need a pianist, I want to be good enough to struggle through it. Hermano Cuadra, one of the teachers here, is kinda from Chile, and served there on his mission (he's really from Espania pero he lived en Chile, his dad is a diplomat) in the Osorno mission. But just a few weeks ago he went to Santiago to see his dad and showed me a whole bunch of pix of Santiago, and MAN I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! and he said that they always need piano players. mi espanol esta muey bueno (por 8 semanas) yo creo, pero yo tengo mucho aprender. yo entiendo mucho cuando los hermanos hablan, pero no cuando yo hablo espanol. pero no se precupo por que yo aprendera mucho en Chile. viva chile! I'm not en spanish mode so I can't think much right now. Tell Greg Hansen I said congrats that is way cool and exciting for him! pray I get my travel plans today, I really wanna know whats going on!!!

I feel like I don't tell you much about what I do, but it's basically the same thing every day. Not too exciting. I still haven't gotten my warts taken care of, it's been pushed to this next wednesday. Keep me in your prayers. you know how I'm a worry wart (hahahaha get it?) so I'm super nervous about something going wrong.

I want all of you my loved ones to know that I have a strong testimony of this Gospel. And it has grown so much since I've been here. The Atonement.. It's just amazing. Whenever I feel down or think about bad stuff or feel like crap, I always think of Christ and remember he has felt EXACTLY what I have felt. That is so comforting. And I know that through His Atonement, we can become perfrect through him, if we continually repent and try harder the next day. This Church is true.. Christ's true restored church on this earth, and through President Monson, it is guided by Him. The book of Mormon is so true. I love that book. Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. I feel the Spirit every day and am learning to live my life with it's guidance. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father answers prayers. He is always there to hear you, and wants to here you. All we need to do is open our heart to him and tell him everything. He loves us. I don't know how people can think of him as just a God that doesn't care about us or love us. He IS our Heavenly Father.


Well, I'm outta time. I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to talk to you all in 10 or 11 days. I LOVE YOU!!!!

con mucho amor
Elder Hicken
 

Letter 06/01//2012

hey mom and dad! how are you? it's absolutely crazy that I only have less than 3 weeks to go. The time has definitely flown for me. Being zone leader I'm always having to worry about something, so it makes time fly.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!! man the cake was an awesome suprise!!!! we had it saturday afternoon with my district. My teacher Hermano Blake has the same birthday as me (I'm 1 year older... weird huh?) so we celebrated it with the cake! in his words... "AY! QUE RICO!" haha it was way good and a couple of the other teachers from the zone as well. I love the ties! Paisley is just the most amazing thing ever lol. But I like that blue/black striped one too :) Tell Steph thanks for the hat! I wrote her like last week or so but didn't get a response. did she get it? I haven't heard from Joshua and Amelia yet either... and RACHEL!

I can't wait to go to Chile! I don't have my travel plans yet but I suspect that I will be getting them this next week sometime so hopefully I will be able to tell you next week when I will be CALLING! I can't wait to talk to you all :)

Tell Rach I am so proud of her in her dance. Tell her I want her to dedicate herself to piano as much as she does with dance! I've been practicing piano whenever I get a chance, I want to be able to play a few simple hymns eventually! I wanna come home and be an insane organ player hahaha.

So weird thing... I'm obsessed with singing! don't role you eyes at me lol. I'm really no that great but I am really enjoying it here for some reason. Me, my companion, and a couple Hermanas will be singing Come Thou Fount in sacrament meeting together. I'm singing bass even though I struggle with a low G haha. We're actually sounding really good and if I get a chance, I'll record one of our practice sessions so maybe you can hear us ;) I'm also still singing in choir every sunday and tuesday and I really enjoy that too.

...

So I thought I heard someone singing happy birthday... haha jk.. That makes me happy though cuz I didn't get sung to! haha but it's okay it was just like any other day really. but I felt a little more "special" inside. (shut up emily and rachel! I know you are about to come up with a comment on that :p)

tell Uncle John I said hi! and I'm doing great.

That's a pretty neat story about Uncle Brent. I'm glad you all had a good Memorial day and had the oppourtunity to do that for them.

...

I've had some struggles and I've had my moments. But I'm still here and I'm still working hard. The Lord has comforted me and I've felt his promise that he'll take care of things for me at home while I'm gone. 

So I'm like more than halfway through the New Testament. I started it when I got here and I going to try and finish it before I leave the MTC. If I read 7 pages a day between then and now I should be able to get it done.

So as a missionary, I've discovered you have to be super organized, especially as a leader, or else you run out of time really fast. But I'm actually pretty decent at being organized (i've never proved that before, because I've never had to be) I also don't get to mess around and goof off as much as I want. boo :( I have to resist so much it's ridiculous. but my zone is now literally all 19 year old kids beside me, and they're like puppets, anything I do, they do it to so I really have to be careful not to mess around a ton. I'll be zone leader until the sunday before I leave. so my work is cut out for me. But oh well, I have a billion friends now because of it and of course... every one loves me :p I'm not bragging but seriously I'm an awesome leader and I don't know how that happened so you two can have the credit :)

how's rachel and steph? I haven't heard from them in a long time. Every day I see the ASL missionaries, and I get super jealous that I'm not with them, and I miss my Steph. The last devtional a guy from the 70 (Zwick?) spoke and his wife talked about their disabled son and an awesome story. I'm so thankful for Stephanie and the oppourtunity to grow up next to her. She is the greatest example of Christ-like love on this earth. Give her a hug from me and tell her that I love her so much. I hope I can grow to love people self-lessly as she does.

well now I feel like I'm rambling on. tell everyone I said hi and on the family website as well.

I don't wanna write seperate emails for the blog.. how have you been doing that? just taking stuff from my emails?

I'll be writing Emily a snail mail today since she wrote me a dearelder. Tell Rachel she'd get one too if she'd ever write me! School is out! i expect a hand-written letter from her every week til I leave the MTC so snap to it missy!!

I got a birthday card from grandma, I've been meaning to write her but I haven't yet. I'll get to it soon.

I get letters from marci every week, and I've been getting letters from what's her face's sister.. emily YW leader? I can't think of their last name ahaha.

I also got a card from Mindy. tell her thanks as well

put on my blog site that anyone can email me. and put my email addy up as well and if anyone emails me I can reply with a snail mail.


les amo todos vostros
Elder Hicken

Letter 5/25/2012

Dear Family
como estan? yo no reciba mucho cartas para mi hermanas?? que pasa???? tambien yo no reciba cartas para Joshua y Amelia nunca.

I don't wanna write spanish cuz I don't have all th time in the world haha. That does seem way early for the girls to be out of school. doesn't it usually go into June? and now it's before memorial day? crazy. what are you guys doing for Memorial day this year? We're having a little fiesta after class monday morning because it's also my instructor's birthday as well. I'm exactly a year older than him. weird, huh. 


Soooo..... why'd you wait til after I leave to buy a firepit?? dang it lol I'm jealous. that will be lots of fun for the girls this summer. 


Tell Steph I'm sorry about her guinea pig. I'm sure that broke her heart :/ speaking of pets, how's my puppies doing??? I miss them a ton :) there's nothing like going home and having 2 wagging tails and happy faces wondering where the heck you've been all day!

Tell Rachel good luck with her dance recital. I'm sad I can't be there I haven't missed one in who knows how long... if ever.

Tell Emily that's exactly how it was when I was there (Driving and being a chauffeur) and just be greatful she has her licence and can get herself where she needs to be. I didn't have my licence when I first started OCR and it was a pain.
I can't believe I'm about to turn 23. I remember being in High school and thinkin how old 23 seemed then. and I atually do feel old cuz I'm a good 3-4 years older than everyone here. I'm excited to get a package. Some of the Elders here have averaged a package about every other day and multiple letters daily. It's kinda annoying..

I'm doing pretty good though. This week was kinda hard. I was homesick, courtney-sick, and tired of the MTC. I'm ready to go on. But, I'll be fine and my goal is to finish out the next few weeks strong. Even though I'm only a 1.5 hour drive away, I feel that I'm in a different world. I'm tired of seeing the same sights every day and I look forward to my temple walks and temple visits cuz it's a chance to get out of this prison.. haha Spanish is doing really well. I can pray, "bare and stand" my testimony, and teach lessons. I don't use any notes and I just depend on what I've learned and the Spirit when I teach. Speaking of teaching, I commited my 2nd investigator to baptism this week (he's just my teacher, but I take it seriously, he plays the role of one of his investigators on his mission, in paraguay) His name is Enrique, he has a girlfirend, and a son with another girl. We taught him the Restoration, The Plan of Happiness, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ but he still wasn't sure. Last monday, we taught him about the law of Chastity, and how he can improve his life and make it happier by living it and marrying Gloria. I got choked up when I was telling him the happiness that comes from living it and he did as well. We asked if he'd marry her, and follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptised and he said yes! yesterday we taught him again and he said Gloria said "yes" and that we're going to teach her also. Their "baptism" is set for June 15. MAN! even though this isn't real, it's crazy awesome. I can't wait until it is "real" and truly see the change and effect peoples lives!!!

...

thank you for being wonderful parents and great examples. I love you both, and my hermano y hermanas mucho!! have a fantastic week and thanks for the love

con mucho amor,
Elder Hicken
 
(He sent us one of his memory cards from his camera and here are some of the pictures)