Hello Everyone

It's been a while since Elder Lickiss' blog has been updated. THAT IS TOTALLY ON ME! I will do my best to bring you up to speed.  

November 2014

 Elder Lickiss and his companions Elder Tulaga and Elder Hagen had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Their First Dinner Appointment

Thanksgiving Buddies

Second Dinner Appointment

Yummy

Third Dinner Appointment. So Good!

Then my chief went to work...and made a fourth Thanksgiving dinner for he and his companions.

He did a great job!

They ate turkey left overs for days.

Very happy companion

Elder Lickiss making fudge

His companions are very happy that he not only knows how to cook but he can bake too!

Elder Lickiss' homemade fudge.

December

The month of December was a very special and eventful month. First, our wonderful Elder turned 19 on December 12th. He had a wonderful time sharing this fun day with his companions.

Birthday Boxes (His favorite gift was the picture album)

Birthday Goodies Missionary Style.

Apple Fritter Birthday Cake

December was also met with transfers and Elder Lickiss was one of them. He was transfered from the town of Fort Worth to the "Cowboy Capital" of the world, Stephenville Texas and he loves it!

Last District Picture

Final trip to the Temple as a companionship.

The night before transfers the trio model their new Elder Aprons. What a handsome group!

Final Companion Picture

Welcome to Stephenville, Texas December 17, 2014

Elder Lickiss with his new companion Elder Meyer and a resident of Stephenville, Tx.

It do believe that we are all rooted together far before the foundation of this earth was formed. The whole point of missionary work is to eventually lead people to have eternal families. I am so grateful I have such a good one so that I may testify of how great it is. It is my strongest tool and the quickest way to teach by the spirit

A beautiful Texas sunset

Tell Bishop I love him, I never gave him enough credit for preparing me for where I am right now. He truly did change the course of my life forever. I will keep sending pictures and videos so that you will know that I am alright, that I am fine, that I am amazing and I will always be provided for and never have to worry. D&C 84 promises all servants of the Lord not even poison can kill his servants. This was proven when Joseph Smith and his fellow prisoners were held captive and administered poison in jail. They suffered a lot from the poison, but they did not die. I promise, I won't even come close to receiving poison, the biggest stress I have other than my families well being, is if the car is warm when we get into it every morning. Seriously I am going to be so OK. I have found myself under estimating the power of God. We forget every breathe comes from him, we need to give everything to him, because when we do, he gives everything to us, and he has a lot more stuff than we do! So my point is whenever you stress for my well being, put yourself in the most humble position you can possibly do, and ask that the God of our creation to strengthen you and I promise as I am standing where I am now and why I am here, that he will answer, according to our faith, he will answer! You need not money nor a home, not food or water, the Christ did not even have a place to lay his head. We can do all things if we but just remember that our Father is a God who has rights to all things. When we really understand Gods power, it is then, that we really understand who we are and what we can do. So don't worry, He is there, He is helping you grow. I love you, and so does He.

Christmas in Texas 2014

Christmas Morning.

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014

A wonderful Ward family invited our Elders for Christmas dinner. Not only did they feed them they also gave them Christmas gifts, a little pool time and fun with the family. Thank you so much!!!

A wonderfully yummy Christmas dinner

Can't miss dessert

December 29, 2014

My biggest stress is you guys; as long as you are okay then I am just as well. Hey let me send you my letter I sent my president this week, I think you will like it :

Let me tell you a little bit about this week. So I was teaching a Gospel Principals class in English because the teacher did not show up. There is this member of the Ward that really likes to talk, to the point were he is asking people questions and essentially taking over the class, he loves to correct the teacher as well. At the end of class he had talked more than I had, he sensed my frustrating and pulled me aside after class and continued to teach the plan of salvation, he said something along the lines of "When you become a professional teacher like me you might do this..." needless to say I was very frustrated by the end. After lunch I decided to lie down so I could cool off. While lying there I thought hard about what he said, everything he said was correct and true. He even said it in a well-formatted way. So why didn't it change me or sink into my heart like good lessons should. Elder Myer and I came to the realization that it wasn't taught with the Spirit at all, he simply was trying to prove his point. This really made me think if I do the same thing when I teach. Before I believed that if we are perfect teachers and we say everything correctly it won't matter if the Spirit is not there. On the other hand if we have no talent and are not organized, but we have the Spirit then it doesn't matter because it will hit them much more effectively, now I know this is true. Now I don't care or even hesitate to say something, I know if the Spirit is there even in my broken Spanish they will understand. My goal by the end of this mission is to speak better Spanish than English, though it is still my goal, it is not my focus, my focus is refining my ability to bring the Spirit into lessons.

Another thing real quick we are trying is new ways of contacting, we went to the store for about 30 minutes and pretended to buy stuff but just casually talked to Hispanics we saw. I could tell they were a lot more comfortable talking to us when the conversation starts off "I am a Spanish student trying to learn Spanish, can I talk to you for a second and you can tell me how my Spanish is?" Then lead the conversation to our church and purpose.

One last thing, we thought it would be cool to add a letter to PCD's, calling is PCDF's as in Follow up, just so we remember what we did last time with them. If you don't think we should contact this way or add the F then just email me and we will stop, if you don't email I will assume that its alright. Thanks president, and thanks for the great Christmas devotional/presents and letters!

I LOVE THIS FACE!

January 2015 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Sun Selfy

Texas Rocks!

I fed and pet this donkey and mule, really I did, it's on film.

Selfy with a donkey, check that off my bucket list.

Me, learning how to rope a dummy. I feel like a Mexican Cowboy.

Playing cards at a Zone activity, I've never played "Scum" before.

I think you will like the story...

"This week we had an interesting experience that I think you might find funny. So the remote on our keys don't work, so we just press the lock button once in the car, and about 5 seconds after the last door shuts, it locks. Well we were visiting about 5 people one night in the trailer park, we parked the car, locked the doors, and visited. Surprisingly no one was home, when we decided to go back to the car and stop at another neighborhood on the way home, my companion couldn't find his keys. It was because they were sitting in the middle of the drivers seat, in the locked car. So we called Elder Maus and went through the steps. But we also called our zone and district leaders. Our district leader suggested we call a police officer in the ward, so we did. He came out with his tools ready to brake in. HE decided to wait for his friend who does it professionally, and while waiting I asked the question "So how often do you break into peoples cars for them" he replied casually "Never, I usually just call my friend, the only reason I'm out here is because of who you are." That really made me think, I realized just a little bit better how blessed we are as missionary's. Every temple session of everyday in every temple through out the world prays for us, those plus the prayers of our families and friends, and our mission president really add up. Its nice to know how blessed we are, and because I have been given much I too will give. I am so blessed to be a missionary. "

Yep, those are the keys in the locked car. 

This is one of the weekly letters that Elder Lickiss sends to his Mission President: 

January 5, 2015

I was reading about the parable of the talents in Mathew 25. Before I have read this and not truly understood it, or at least took it at face value and move on. Being on a mission that is foreign speaking has made studying extremely interesting. When trying to translate or understand meaning to words or sentences you have to understand the root of the word. Practicing this in Spanish has opened my mind to a world of new understanding about scriptures. When they speak of men being given talents I assumed it just meant talents like juggling, or something more useful like being able to write stories and novels. I realized after looking at foot notes, looking for the real meaning, and listening to the spirit which is the greatest resource, that talents also mean mysteries of God. We being members of this church have the mysteries of God, like knowing where we came from and why we are here. It continues saying that Men need to share or multiply this talent or mystery, or what we do have will be taken from us and we will be just as if we had never received it. That's just another testimony to me of Missionary work!"

Thank you Haley I love this. (Painted by Haley Potter)

Yummy

Keeping the car clean

Last companion picture

Driving for the first time in 6 months 

Elder Lickiss and Elder Meyer

Playing a little pool.

February 2015

Ward Valentines Day Party

Some of the candy in here is older than I am. We provided it from the apartment which came from the food pantry we work at. I would say "algunas de los dulces entre el penata tienen mas anos que yo" which means "some of the candy in the penata is older than I am" and they would just laugh, I love their laugh.

Happy Valentines Day!