Transfers

Unconvential Companion
I got a new companion and his name is Elder Sylvester he is from Draper, Utah and he has been out for 8 months. But he is not the normal mormon that you hear of from Utah he is actually a convert to the church and he is the only member in his family. Yeah there are such things as non members in Utah. He has been a member for five years. Actually his family is being tauight by the missionaries right know because they loved what the church the gospel of Jesus Christ did to him. He is way excited that they are listening to the message.

TractingWe have been really busy this past week. We have been trying to find new investigators. So we have been doing alot of tracting. We had eighteen return appointments for the week and that is alot but some of them did not go through. Oh yeah we just found this young vietnamese family yesterday and they can speak english a little bit. not to well. So we are going to give them a vietnamese book of mormon and bible and hopefully they will hear the gospel from missionaries. I wish we could but we do not know vietnamese.

MiraclesOh this is a cool miracle story we were tracting at some apartment complex and we knocked on this one door and a eighteen year old answered the door and he said to come on in. we started to talk to him and get to know him and he said that he was praying like ten minutes before we knocked on his door to Heavenly Father that he would show him were he needs to go and can find happiness and we knocked on his door that was pretty cool so we are teaching him right know. his name is corey plumber. we are teaching a few other people.

BaptismsOh yeah we have a baptsim on June 16th with tori miller and she is pretty excited. There is quite a few things that are happening this week. tomorrow we are going to the temple, and on Saturday we are have a tri-mission conference with all the houston missions and elder johnson is speaking to all of us so that will be exciting. 

Spiritual Fire

First Baptismal Ordinance and Many More
This past week was awesome we had three baptisms. I baptized Dwyne Daugherty and it was the first one I have done on my mission I got nervous when I got into the water and had to say the prayer like eight times but it was all good. then I baptized Corey a really cool guy and I only had to do it once. we baptized mackie in the singles branch. they were all very spiritual uplifting experiences. We have another baptism on June 16th. Which we are excited about. We had a cottage meeting yesterday and it was very good. Corey the one that got baptized shared his testimony and it was powerful and then a member shared a talk on the book of mormon it was a really good day. yeah I am staying another transfer in Beaumont but my companion is leaving so I will be getting a new companion tommorrow. we have to be at the kingwood stake center tomorrow at 11:00. I did not get a calling yet, I will be getting an experienced elder. It has been really great. Oh yeah I found out this past week that three of the investigators that I was teaching in my last area just recently got baptized.

It's been a long time

Sorry everyone that it has taken me this long to do any posts, but I went to Peru, got married, and moved across the country this past month and a half, anyways, here are Elder Hickey's next five emails in series, starting with the first and some photos!




Baptisms
Things are going really great here in Texas with all the baptisms that are coming up in the next few weeks. We have a part member family the husband is getting baptized this tuesday which is really exciting. his name is Dwyne Daugherty he loves the church and the branch and especially that he can get sealed in the temple for all time and eternity.

Then we have a young single adult that is getting baptized on the 20th she is from portland, oregon and she is a secretary for the alarm systems and she is so awesome since we have been coming over and she has been going to church she said that she felt so comfortable and peaceful and that it seems like she heard of it before which she did in the pre-earth life that is showing the spirit is working on her.

We have another investigator her name is tori miller and her date is the June 16th and they are all excited and have come a long way. We have found more people that we have been starting to teach and hopefully we will set a baptismal date with them soon. the Lord is blessing this area, it is so great to see how the gospel changes peoples lives.

All about investigators

Investigator Progress
The investigators are going really great we are the Daughterys the part member family and we watched the talk from Elder Uctdorff the talk called you matter to him and that really touched him and it remined him of his mother because she is German and his experiences over in Germany he really like Elder Uctdorff. It really touched him and he is progressing really well and he has been reading and has a lot of questions that we are going to answer later tonight and he loves the branch. His date of getting baptized is the may 19th and we are really excited.

New Investigator These past two sundays some returned missionaries from Utah came down and are selling the alarms for the summer. they are pretty cool and they have a secretary that is from Portland, Oregon and she is not a member and they brought her to church and it seemed like she loved it. later that night we went over and began teaching the lessons. she said she felt peace when she was at our church and that what we believe makes sense about that there is a prophet on the earth and about Joseph Smith. she said that she went to a baptist church in California and the first time she went she felt good so she went back and then she did not feel good about it because the preacher was yelling and pounding so she never went back and has not been to church since then and she has a lot of questions that she asked to the preacher but he could not answer them and when we taught the first part of the lesson her questions were being answered it was so cool. the spirit was so strong. she accepted to be baptized on May 26th so we are excited for her. this is going to be a life changing experience for her. this is in the young singles ward branch. they are excited too. 

Year mark!

Thomas Baptism
My week has been fantastic. We had a baptism on Saturday with Lester Thomas He is such a really cool humble person. He was so excited to be baptized and he felt so happy when he came out of the water and told us how much he loves us and the branch like we were his family yeah he has been helping us out a lot with service. we are helping a member remodling a house that got burnt by a tv fire and there is alot of smoke damage. so we have been scrubbing the walls and the ceiling, took out part of the wall that was really damaged and we painted it, the walls and the ceiling. It is looking a lot better than what it used to be.



Lots of Fish
After the baptism we had a fish fry which was so good, less actives came, some non members came and they loved it, they had 80 to 100 pounds of fish and there was leftovers and there was dessert after it was so good. On sunday evening we had a cottage meeting which is a little fireside where members can bring there non member friends and family to and it takes plave in a members home and there is a speaker and music and refreshments it was pretty good.

New Investigator
We were teaching this guy named eddie who is kind of the manager of over some apartments with his wife and we thought she was not interested at all. we taught eddie the first time and he was asking a lot of questions and seem really interested but when we came back we found out that he got into anti-mormon material and does not want to talk to us but his wife does not believe him she likes us and wants to know the truth of what we believe and so we taught her today had a lot of questions and was really interested and wants to come to church oh yeah she was catholic growing up and baptized in the baptist church but she does not believe what they teach she only goes because she wants to know more about the bible. she does not believe what everyone say about us or what the internet says so she is going to be a really solid investigator.

the picture with the flag is called spindletop park. it is the first big oil place, it was cool to read and learn about.

the fish I caught was kroker fish I think that is how you spell it. it would make this croaking sound and you coudl hear hear it when you hold it.

Lots and Lots of Goodness in Texas

1st Year Reflection
Yeah I can't believe that I have been out for a year this coming Friday. It feels like we were sitting in cold stone and I was the first one to finish and anxious to go and was worried that I was going to be late and kept bugging dad and telling him how much longer we had until I was late and he said your fine I am sure the other missionaries will be late. then you guys dropped me off at the MTC said our goodbyes and I was about to leave and mom is like wait we want hugs. After that I was headed off not knowing what I was going to get myself into. Actually the first day I was nervous but it turned out to be good. I am so glad that I am came on my mission it has changed me so much. To see how the gospel changes so many peoples lives and seeing what they are willing to give up for it. Just being In Texas I am so grateful that I had the gospel in my life and was raised in such a awesome wonderful family. It is so sad with all the things that happen out here and how much they are really missing not knowing what the gospel will do for them. I am so grateful for all your support and prayers. I know that as we are faithful we will be blessed and that we do not have to worry what is going to happen in the future just as long as we are faithful and trust in him all will be made right.

Miracle with Thomas This past week has been crazy we have been on our bikes alot and it has been tiring and exhausting. We have seen so many miracles it is so amazing. like for example one of our investigators Lester Thomas I think I told you about him did I? well we have been teaching him and he said that before we met with him he was praying for help and that same day we contacted him and since then he has felt happier, and better about himself, He said that he would stop smoking completly in a week. he has been smoking for forty years and have always wanted to stop and he did it cold turkey. He said it was the priesthood blessing that we gave him and when we come over it would give him more motivation to stop. which he did stop smoking completely. This past week we went over to see how he was doing and we saw him drinking a nice hot cup of coffee oops forgot to tell him that he could not drink coffee. we told him about the word of wisdom and he put the coffe down and said I will not pick it up again. He is so awesome and the Lord has prepared him and has led us to him. He loves coming to church. he is getting baptized next week.

Miracle BaptismAnother miracle that I have seen this past week is with another investigator that we have been teaching Roy. His grandfather came down town and visited them and Roy told us that he is pentacostal, oh great. Roy Told us not to tell his grandfather that he was going to get baptized because his grandfather does not like mormons. My compaion forgot and said to the grandfather has Roy told you that he was going to get baptized tomorrow and the grandfather said no he has not excitedly but really he was not, and Roys eyes went big he was like on no, yeah the baptism was not going to happen. We were going still have his baptismal interview but his grandfather took him to get a haircut and trying to tell him anti-mormon stuff to him and Roy did not know what to do and was confused. We kept on and visting Roy and told him that we love him and want the best for him and told him to pray to Heavenly Father on what he needs to do, If getting baptized is what Heavenly Father wants him to do. His grandfather finally left and since then Roy's desire to learn and to be baptized has increased and has been made stronger. He felt so happy and has felt the spirt so strongly when we meet with him. Him and his grandmother is going to church this Sunday. From Roy's example he has brought another person into the gospel and this will bless him and his family.  hopefully the grandfather will have a change of heart. I know that when Roy is baptized his family will follow behind him.

Motivation of the Temple
We know are teaching a less active part member family and they are awesome the Daugherty's. The husband is not a member and is really interested what caught his attention is that families can be sealed in the temple for all time and eternity and he is awesome and very sincere. He is going to read the book of mormon. He does not know that much about our church but what he has heard from our church it is good like that we have a non-paid ministry that we do not force people to believe, that we have members go visit another and some other stuff. We are going to set a baptismal date with him hopefully this week.