Week seven in Silsbee

Hot Dog!

It has been very hot. It has been like 110 or 120 degrees because even in the shade its 100 degrees yeah very hot.

In-actives

We saw a less active and he loves hunting and fishing and he showed us some pictures and told and showed us about his guns that he had. We saw Sally Golden and she is a less active she loves the sacrament but she can't come to church because of her health. so we bring her the sacrament. we read her the book of mormon to her. We saw Eva Hare a less active and she takes care of her horses, dogs, and cats. we were there forever, she just kept talking, we were listening and replying every once a while but Texans can talk easily for an a hour easily. We saw the Camerons and they are less active and they have a son who is 17 who plays football and a 16 year old daughter. they are a cool family. The dad is a flight attendant adn the mom is an artist. we saw Brother soignet who is a part member and he believes most of our beliefs but he does not believe in Joseph Smith but believes in the Book of Mormon and he doesn't really believe about the Word of Wisdom. He said how he finds things out is he uses common sense.

Food, food, and more Texan food!

we had dinner at Sis. Rogers and had gumbo and it was so good. we helped her to drain some of her pool. we ate at Sis. Rogers and we had steak and it was good. we saw the Vashaws and they just got back from the lake and the eight year old had an ear ache because he had gotten water in his ear and it was hurting him, so we gave him a blessing. we had dinner with Brother ratcliff we at a china buffet in Lumberton and it was good. we saw the Huttos they are the best, we always have peaches, watermelon, cantelope or something at there house, they are so nice. do you know what the people down here put on there watermelon? They put salt on there watermelon and know that is weird and it sounds like it doesn't taste good but I have never tried it before but they say it is good. On sunday we had Lunch with the Boddies and the son Ian Boddie and he is seventeen and he can cook. he made us Asain food. It was so good.

Investigators

the next day we saw the Easons and they are potentials and David Eason had a seizure a couple days before so he is know on seizure medication and Sany Eason had a bad headache so we just talked to them about coming to church. our goal for baptisms for our district for this transfer is four.

We went to see Bill Singley and he is not a member but he pays tithing isn't that weird. He has a smoking problem and we where trying to get him to church and commit to baptism but he said no. we said will you quit smoking in six weeks completely and he said yes. we will see how it goes. than we said when you do stop smoking will you get baptized? He said YES!!!

we did some tracting and everyone says we are to busy come back another time or were not interested. If they just see how important this is and how much it will bless there lives. we went to go see an investigator and we knocked on the door a couple of times and no one was answering so we thought she was taking a nap or something. we were going back to the car and Brother Ard who was driving us and he accidently pushed his car alarm, oops. she came to the door all tired like she just got out of bed and we said is this a bad time and she said just a little. we said we will come back another time. It was four PM when we went there.

We also went to see Michael Stanley and he drinks a lot and he wants to stop so we suggested the program that the church offers so he can stop and he wants to do it. he is a handyman and he is really cool. we went to see the willis's and we where standing out in the hot sun for an hour because Ian Boddie who was going out with us and Brother Willis were talking forever.

1st Transfers

Transfers
Things are going great the baptism was successful!!! transfers were today but i'm still going to be in the same area. One has been here for nine months in the area and he just got transfered today but I don't know where he is going and he was our district leader. he has been out for a year and My companion has been out for nine months for his whole mission and Elder Olsen has been out three months so he is a transfer ahead of me. I have not learned any spanish, I have not met one spanish person because there is one to three spanish stakes and the spanish missionaries are there.

Trying to go to Jail and Getting Pulled Over by an Ice Cream Truck
we had a referral from mormon.org and we went to see this lady that has two daughters and she just believes weird things so we are trying to get everythign straight and her husband is in jail for another five years and she wanted us to go see him and we told her that we could send missionaries over there than we called the mission home than they told us that missionaries can not meet people in jail so maybe when he gets out some missionaries can meet him. we had three less actives to come to church this sunday and one investigator came also which was good. we were going to see the wallis's and the dad was not there so we said that we could come back another time to meet them, we were heading to there mom's house that lives behind them and we were on a dirt road than we heard sirens behind us and we were freaking out and was saying what did we do, so we pulled over to see what he wanted and it was a ice cream van!!! got pulled over by an ice cream van can you believe that. JK but that would be funny. it was a blue truck with sirens on top and it was the dad and he said that he just wanted to do it for fun. he is an voluntary fireman.

Blessings and Trials
we had an less active had fall down the stairs and her leg is all swollen and bruised and so she asked us to give her a piesthood blessing and she went to the doctor and they said it was not broken or anything and they said she needed to lay down for a couple days, so she wouldn't be able to come to church. But she said I am going to church no matter what, wow she has so much faith and determination. we had a member that is real good friends with her and he told her not to come and to get some wrest. We went to see this other less active and she had a disease or something in her leg and they had to amputated it just a half a foot or something below the knee and it was not healing so they said to her they would have to amputate it above the knee but she said no and they amputated two more inches and they said if its not going to heal then they have to amputate it above the knee. so we visit her every once awhile and she loves when we go and stop by.

Zone pictures

It looks like Elder Hickey has a fun zone

Week four in Silsbee

The Ward
The ward is really great, I love it. the ward has 250 active members and like 500 less actives so yeah we have a lot of work to do. We have eaten so much food, it is so greasy, fatty, but it is so good. epecially blue bell ice cream. Yeah I think I have gained ten pounds. yikes. Oh Yeah our stake president asked us if we would fast for rain on last sunday because we are in a huge droubt. twenty four hours later it started to rain, we got a little but we can use all the rain we can. we made a scrapbook page for our mission presidents because they are leaving in two weeks.

Study
we have studied why the book of mormon, church, and prayer is important. I just bearly finished reeading jacob, enos, and omni. In jacob about the vineyard and in enos how we should excercise faith and how he prayed so long. They pretty much covered everything in the MTC.

The Work
Things are going well for the investigators we are teaching. Tracting is interesting and fun, and just how each person reacts to you. we are baptizing a nine year old this saturday which is very exciting. we tracted in these people and they where finding a church that people are welcoming and we told our church was and they talked to there family and they don't want to go and know they don't want to go. they are not ready yet probably. we tracted into this one guy and he believed that William Brudman i think thats what his name was that he was a prophet and he performed many miracles and did all the things he did and he was in the 1930's and he died and he said that he left the Holy Ghost. while we tract we look around the yard or on the house to give us clues like if there are toys than we share a message about families, if there is a message about faith outside than we talk about faith. we knock on the door and say how are you doing? than we say we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints and then we ask a few questions and than share a quick message.

Week three in Silsbee

So Elder Hickey's letter was a little longer so I put some titles if you wanted to just pick and choose to read what you wanted to, but I think it is all fantastic!


Investigators
James and Claira they are in there twentys and they have a baby boy that is one year old (James junior) and James has a word of wisdom issue and another thing that is holding them back from being baptized so we have a little work with them. Claira is really shy, she wouldn't read our say a prayer in front of us but yesterday we got her to read and maybe later she will pray. We have taught them the first two lessons. They are progressing slowly and we are trying to get them to church but James sometimes works on Sunday. We have David and Tristin smith his son that we are teaching. The dad wants his son and Tristin wanted to be baptized so we set a baptismal date for June 18th. The dad has been through alot so we hope Tristin will get baptized. we just tracted into a couple and they are trying to find the true church and a church that the members welcome and they can feel loved, and peace and they said they have not been to a church like that forever and they said there is probably no church like that and we said we promise when you go to our church you will feel welcomed, loved, peaceful, and you can feel the spirit but she did not come to church yesterday, she probably had something come up, we are going to try to bring them to next sunday. They said if that is what our church is like and it is true than they want to be baptized and be strong in the church and they will bring there whole family (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) they are trying to find a church for them and do you know what that means, a ton of baptisms, we are going do our best to get them to church and they so far like and agree of what we believe and have taught them. we have taught them the first lesson, families, and prophets. we are teaching Nicholas Moore he is twenty and he wants to go on a mission but he has a smoking problem and he is trying to quit and we are trying to get him to read the Book of Mormon and he has not been to church in a long time and we got him to church this week which was awesome. He has a lot of questions and the last time we where over there he opened the book of mormon and started to read and his questions were being answered and that was so cool. the ward has 210 active members and 600 less active or part members. a lot of the time when we go to some of them they don't answer the door or they say don't visit us anymore, some just say they are busy all the time which they are not, some we have got in and got to meet them.

Splits and a Miracle
we where on splitz in Lumberton, Texas and we where tracting on this one street and me and the other companion said and kept repeating in our head that the Lord has prepared someone on this street and that we know he has. we started to knock on the doors and the first one we didn't even get to the door and the lady said get out of here right know. we left and went to the next doors, some people were not there and then some people say they are not interested, this one guy was outside and we started to walk to him and said how are youd doing and he said i'm not interested and we stared to head to the next door and he said they are not interested, we where confused so we kept walking, then he repeated himself and said they are family and not interested and I just thought that he was taking away there free agency. so there was three houses left and we knocked on the door and the Lady came to the door and we said how are you doing? she said fine and we said we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we are going around and sharing a message about Jesus Christ, That he is of great value and importance and can we come in and share more about our message and she said yeah I always have time for people that is sharing a message about Jesus Christ and we taught her the first lesson and she really loved it and was interested in it. At the end of the lesson, we set up a baptismal date for June 30th and she accepted, so know the Lumbeton elders are working with her. That was so cool because faith is so cool if you put faith in him and believe then miracles will come and he will show and guide you to the people that are ready.

The Power of Service
This other time I was on exchanges and we biked to the other side of Lumbeton to meet this one family but they were not there so we decided we would tract while we go back to our apartment so we met this one lady about in her 60's and she was not that interested in our message. she talked about how they are still cleaning up from the hurricane in 2005. I said we do free service and we are willing to help you and tears started to come out of her eyes. than she started to say how grateful for what we were doing going out and sharing the gospel and helping other people, than she gave us cold water and she said thankyou for not preaching about my smoking, we said your welcome. I don't know if she called the elders to help her. but that was so cool. where just one thing can trigger them and they want to know more, like service, and a member in our ward said he was not interested at all and his wife had the missionaries over to teach her and he would pop in every so often and when he heard that families can be togther forever, he started to listen and he wanted to be baptized, we just have to follow the spirit and have the spirit on what they need to hear.