Pepto Bismol

Hey Mom!

My new area is awesome. 

So my new companion, Elder Judkins, is awesome. He wears glasses but when he doesn't he looks IDENTICAL to Tyler Bennett. He is an awesome kid. He's been out 6 months and has a genuine care to work. It's such a breath of fresh air. He takes his studies seriously and it make it so much better in a lesson because I can actually trust what he is going to say. We found 7 new investigators this week and I have never had a more unified companion than I do right now. We think with the same mind. Our lessons go SO well. And as we have been exactly obedient, the Lord is just handing us success. It's so awesome. He is from Las Vegas and has been in Greeneville his whole mission so far. We get along really really well. I've never had so much fun while having so much work and success ever in my life. When two people with pure motives who desire to work as a team get together, things go really smooth. 

Getting transferred was rough on the budget but it's been good, this week that'll change thankfully but it's running low. We had a member help us out, he does dollar shave club and it's the most amazing thing. FYI for anyone still buying razors from the store? Stop! Dollar shave club is so dang sweet. And way cost effective. Well long story short he gave us each 12 razor blade changes and ordered the handles for them so we could save money on razors. It costs him about 10$ in the end. So ya, it's sweet. Super nice of him. 

Elder Judkins and I tried to make this nasty drink thing that someone gave us. We were making it after we got home and it was literally the worst thing in the entire world. It looked like Pepto Bismol and didn't taste good whatsoever. I don't know what the deal is but it was hilarious at least. 

Last night Elder Judkins and I couldn't stop laughing, we were coming up with variant names for nouns around the house. For example.

Window = glass poster 

Shower = temporal atonement

Teeth = food axes 

Toothpaste = food axe sharpening ointment 

Bed = Human Wireless Charging Pad 

Tie = Expensive Noose 

Desk = Paper Elevation Station

Mirror = Opposite Day Portal

Juice = Pulverized Fruit Blood 

Belt = Hip Necklace 

Eye Lids = Sight Dust Mops 

So yeah things are good! 

Love you mom! 

Love cam

No Coincidences

Hey Yall!

We have great news all around! We had a baptism Sunday! And two more on the 24th and one on April 7th! Things are going fantastic and it's fun to see a "hard area" get some blessings. The thought for this week is how there are no coincidences in life. The investigator yesterday Jean has a crazy story. He lives in Honduras and his mom wanted him to get a better education so he came to America to live with his cousins, after about a year his cousins did something bad and he got blamed for it and they kicked him out. He had made a friend that week named Rylan Evans who's family is in one of the wards we cover. Jean was at Rylan's house the day he got kicked out and it was his first time being over to hang out with Rylan. Well Rylan's mom, as she relayed at his baptism which she hadn't mentioned before, immediately felt when she met Jean that day "this young man will be baptized." She and Rylan talked with him for like an hour that day about the church. Turns out Jean was very well read in scripture and could even see the temple in Honduras from his house. After they got done talking Rylan's mom asked him what he was going to do with being kicked out, Jean didn't know and so she told Rylan to go with him and get his stuff because he was moving in to their house! Brother Evans gets back that weekend to find he has a new son! Hahaha well Jean asked if he could go to church with them and they brought him. This was January and we met him that day. The lesson in gospel principles was one that was a little......not great for really any investigator was all over the place so we were like, "crap this is not good." Well we set a lesson up with them and it was awesome teaching Jean. (Pronounced John btw). He had no resistance to anything we taught and was like, "this is true I know it is. I feel it." He accepted a baptismal date and due to extenuating circumstances waited until yesterday to be baptized but it went awesome. Rylan got to baptize him and tons of people showed up, this was one of the only times I got to meet the investigator and see them baptized before leaving, it was a special treat. And then the two on the 24th getting baptized are awesome too, I'll save that story for another email. But man it was great.

This week was a great one and I hope everyone else had a good week. I also it my 21 month mark this week! So crazy.

Love yall!
Elder Hiatt

Juggling & Moving

Hey Yall!

This week was awesome, we had some crazy amounts of rain and biking in it was not the greatest plan. I'll show a video of why hahaha.

Things are fantastic though. We have had the best week as of work. We now have three baptisms this weekend! The family that is getting baptized has become some of our best friends. The wife we were worried would accept to be baptized with the son but we had a lesson Sunday where she asked if she could be baptized with her son. And it was sick! The bishop was so excited. I'll give the full story after it happens but man it has been a whirl. We also have a baptism Sunday as well. Things are raining out of the sky with all this rain!

We have been having some superb Chinese food as of late and so I've been carrying around some chopsticks and it's been pretty funny to see people when I whip out my own pair. 

I also learned how to juggle! Some members made us some bean bags so we could learn. At night I've been trying to and actually can. So that's a fun thing. 

We helped a bunch of people move this week which was good. Nobody has a basement because the ground is awful so they have storage units and I'm pretty sure everyone understands that if they got nice storage totes and spent a little money it'd be super organized but instead they're like, "nah, that's money, we can just stack it!" Then you open that pearly Burgundy sheet metal door and BAM! You've got yourself a hoarders dream. It's great. 

But ya! Life is good, we are excited for these baptism and so next week should be a great email.

Love ya!

Elder Hiatt

Magic & Jesus Cards

Hey Yall!

This week was a good one! Neither I nor my companion got transferred but he wrecked his ankle this last Monday and so he's been in a boot cause he tore some ligaments. So we stayed close to our homestead. But that's been good because we have been going out and playing pickup games and shooting oops at a nearby court as well as we have learned a ton of card tricks and do street magic for people and then talk about missionary stuff after cause they always ask. Well this weekend was the third weekend we have really made it happen and so we were out Friday shooting hoops and tons of high school kids walked by going home from school and all of em were like, "Hey! It's Elder Hiatt and Elder black!" They knew us by name! All cause of street magic and ball. It's awesome. They know me as the baller and Elder Black as the magician but we do both we just are better at our corresponding talents. So it's way fun. Members are that way too, when we get to dinners they all after are like, "so we hear you do magic, let's see this!" So we then have an awesome time and end up getting tons of ward help from it too! It's been so fun. We recently learned a new trick and it blew some kids minds. While they all were watching magic some of them came over to me and asked for more Jesus cards cause they wanted some and so this time I gave them the articles of faith cards and everyone saw and then everyone at McDonald's wanted one! I sat while Elder Black did magic talking with everyone else as they read the articles of faith and asked what they all were and such. It was so sick, I felt like Alma. They all put em in the back of their phone cases so they could have Jesus showing it was sick.

We also had tons and tons of full size candy bars. Elder Black and I didn't want them so we filled our suit coats with 70 total things of snickers, Starburst, milky way,skittles, and everything you'd find in movie theaters. We then went to church and whenever someone in any class answered a question we tossed em. The priest quorum went nuts and the young men's president was all, "man you guys know how to get street credit with the youth, making my bar too high sheesh! No you guys are the best thanks for that man." So that went awesome. We also had a linger longer after church and we got stuck at a table with a way cool family. Their daughters were awesome and we enjoyed their company. 

This week has been FREEZING...... It's awful. The air is so dang wet and it's all sub 32 temperatures so coats literally don't matter. It rained one night and then froze and all the trees were coated in like ice, every inch of them. I felt like I was in heaven cause the sun in the morning shined through all the ice on the tree branches and made them glow. It was so cool. Then it slowly melted through the day and so under any given tree it was raining.

Things are awesome, I appreciate your prayers!

Elder Hiatt

29,000 Steps!

Hey mom!

We walked 29000 steps Saturday! But ya so far has been good. We currently have a baptism for next week so that'll be awesome. 

We also had a mission president fireside for our stake that was themed the joys of missionary work and all the missionaries in Mckinney came to be a panel for a Q&A and I got the question of if there was a budget for groceries. I don't know why but I had all the people there laughing their heads off as I talked about it and it was really good. I got a lot of compliments from the parents and leaders on the things I said so it was cool to see that. 

We got to help the family that our investigator lives with take pictures of all their puppies to be ready for selling. They are super cute it was a puppy party!

Saw a sweet Lamborghini too! 

We biked a ton one of the days around here and my legs have never felt so destroyed. It was super nice though cause this lady gives us stuff at Starbucks where we sit down to plan in the evenings and stuff. But ya, it's been a good week, had some awesome meetings with my president and stuff and everything is really good. 

But ya, life is good. Just Goin along.

Love you mom! You can use the email stuffs for sending something out.

Yard work & Magic

Hey Y'all!

This week was really good. This last Sunday was long as heck but as a testimony to having charity above all, let me relay it to you. We got to Sunday meetings and had a ton goin on, when it came time for the second ward sacrament meeting, we didn't realize it but afterwards there was a family with two investigators in it there. They came up to us after and asked when we could come over for dinner. The dad is a member returning to activity since he was 14 when he left the church and his wife and kid aren't members. The missionaries in the past rubbed them the wrong way really bad they said, how it was like someone selling pest control but instead it was membership at the price of getting taught lessons. But unbeknownst to us when Elder Black gave his testimony two weeks before and how candid he was with who he his and giving true testimony rather than a thankamony or talking the talk without walking the walk, and how I testified of love and charity and the effect it's had in my life and how it should be the growth formula of our nature, they went and met with the bishop after and asked for our names and numbers. They then this Sunday set up a time for us to go eat dinner and just, I was humbled. We met the wife earlier that week when we stopped by and got to play with their cute dog and get to know them. It's gonna be awesome getting to know them. Then in the next ward a youth brought a friend to church who moved in with their family. He has taken extreme interest in how his family is from the gospel and asked us to teach him about how he can be a part of it. So that's been crazy, literally just the lord showing his hand, making our efforts light up. It was awesome. 

So that was the big highlight. We also helped a family with yard work to ease the burden placed on them from moving out soon. It was way fun and I got to do some magic tricks with their kids, it was enjoyable. 

We also had some awesome sushi with Elder Owens and Busch one day, sushi is the best we went again today and that was a treat. 

We also saw a dog that made tears come to my eyes and you'll see why.

Oh and we also built a puzzle and the last piece literally didn't come with the puzzle. I think someone working at the puzzle place fricken trolled us.

Love you!

Elder Hiatt

Loving People is Most Important

Hey Yall!

This week was a slow one. Battling motivation is a real battle but we are the masters of our own fate and our area just exploded with some astounding blessings and people.

I'm sorry I haven't done a Dallas Daze in forever. I really have run out of things and so why best a dead horse ya know?

We got evacuated for a fault fire alarm in our building and got to meet all our neighbors in the coldest dang day ever so that was grand. I'll attach a photo.

So the highlight of the week was we had a meeting with our bishop in one of the wards and discussed the work he'd like from us which was good because everyone's been out of town and finally our leaders are back. I felt like the army of Antipus and how they were confused because of the loss of their leaders. So we discussed things and then he asked if we'd give our Testimonies so the ward can see us and pray for us by name. So we figured we'd do it in all three. So we did and I felt to share different things in each ward and I feel like a testimony has to come from the heart which means you gotta open up a little personally to really bring the spirit otherwise it's just vain repetitious words. So I shared some of my struggles of reading and praying for a year and a half and still not getting an answer and how I eventually received one. Then another ward I talked about the importance charity has taken in my life. Then another I said how I grew up and really didn't believe how I talked like I did. All round just being real. I wondered if it did anything and such. Well we got a call from a bishop and he talked about how there was a less active who has just barely been wanting to come back and his wife and kids aren't members. He wanted them to take the lessons but his wife is really uncomfortable with elders and doesn't like their pushiness and such. Well they were at church this Sunday coincidentally and he requested to meet with the bishop and said and quote from what my bishop told us "He said he looked at his wife and said that these are the elders that are suppose to teach us, let's get em over here." So they're hesitant but ready. I am totally astounded the way God works through us, cause I don't feel worthy of that kinda thing but the spirit carried our words to people. So Elder Black and I have really recommitted and repented so we can give the proper time to this family because they deserve our 100%. That was the biggest thing this week and I can't believe how the Lord's hand is in my life these days. Ever since I've sought love and love only I've become more obedient, filled with joy, and stuff like this is becoming regular. As a really good friend said to me, Missionary isn't suppose to be like a corporate business, it's suppose to be personal, genuine experience. It's suppose to be love filled. Like really all missionary work is is first experiencing the truth of the gospel for yourself, and then just giving a crap about someone else and they'll eventually see like,"why the heck does this person love people so much, what do they have I don't." And then you share your experience with them and the spirit carries it home. I have never been so happy. This is what I think President Monson tried to teach through his life. I genuinely feel like the greatest lesson I learned form him and I'll say it over and over because it's changed how I see life. "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I've typed that much my iPad auto corrects it for me. Seriously all this life is is to follow the greatest commandments, love God and love everyone else. But that's my spiel. I glory in God for how merciful he has been to use a rust tool and work through it. I don't feel worthy of the blessings he gives me but I know that I am clean, and if you can say that then the blessings of heaven are around you. That's what christ came to do, so get clean and feel this joy, then go give a crap about someone else and let them know they are loved and they can be clean too. 

Love 

Elder Hiatt