BEST STORY EVER!!!

Hi hi everyone!!

THIS WAS AN INCREDIBLE WEEK! Side note: everyone keeps asking me separately if I am really this happy, and YES I REALLY AM!!!! Remember the beginning of training...!?! I would tell you if I was struggling :) This has been like the best part of my mission. I am so happy all of the time! Well, not all of the time, but most of it :)

So, Tuesday I went back to my first area on exchanges! That is where I served with Sister Parkinson. I did not like being back there without her! It was sad. I had lunch with the Gomm's (who we lived with), and it felt like home :) I have missed them!!! I honestly felt weird being back there. Not a lot is happening there. We think they are going to shotgun Elders in which makes me so sad because that area is my baby!!!!! Ugh, oh well. The Lord knows best :) It was fun to be back and try investigators from when I was there. I tried Matt and Hannah, but they were not home. I need to write them.

Okay, so remember the family I told you about last week? The Lane's? I think I wrote about them at least. They are the GOLDEN FAMILY WE FOUND HERE!!!! EEEKKK I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, Sara, the mom, was baptized when she was 8 in a Baptist church. She said she felt the spirit, and she felt it was right. She has been struggling whether to get baptized on May 2 with her husband and her oldest son. We have tried teaching priesthood authority a million times but nothing was sticking. We left our lesson Wednesday, and I was super worried. It was just a tough situation. sister Wright and I decided to fast and pray about it the next day (Thursday) for us to know how to help her understand she has to get baptized by priesthood authority. That Thursday we were fasting, we had a leadership meeting with two guys from SLC from the Mission Proselyting Department. It was incredible!!! Sister Wright and I went up to them during lunch to talk about our situation. We explained it to them, and how we didn;t know how to help Sara because we do not want to diminish her baptism. One of the men explained out Elder Richard G. Scott explains it. He said there are two main parts to baptism. The first, is just having a desire to follow Christ. You sincerely want to make that promise. The second, is actually being baptized by the proper authority of God. In both, the Spirit can be felt. He told us to tell Sara that she has righteous desires being baptized at 8 to follow Christ, and now this is the next step...to be baptized with the proper authority. It isn't taking all those years of being baptized away. Sister Wright and I felt like we received a lot of revelation that day at the training, while fasting and praying. We decided when we would teaching Friday night, we would not bring it up, so that we wouldn't be pushy and talk about it Saturday.

At our lesson Friday night, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We just wouldn't talk about Sara's current concern and teach the doctrine. We were reading the beginning of Acts 19 about Paul and the Holy Ghost, and I saw something change in Sara. I asked her what she was thinking and she started talking about the time being "now." We just listened, but in my head I was thinking "THE TIME IS NOW FOR WHAT?!?!?!" Ian, her husband, starting talking about how they discussed all of this yesterday and he told her that if she wanted to be on this team, aka Jesus Christ's church, then she had to be baptized here. We shared our experience of fasting and praying for her. We shared with her what the guy from SLC shared with us. the Spirit was so strong. The strongest I had ever felt in my entire life. I was crying. Sara was crying. Ian was crying. Sara said she felt her answer come the day before that she needed to be baptized May 2 with her family. So, she got her answer the day we were fasting and praying. I was so overwhelmed with the Spirit. IT WAS A MIRACLE!! TRULY! HER HEART TOTALLY CHANGED. Heavenly Father listened to our prayers and answered us. I felt so much love. It was the most spiritual experience I have ever had. It is a blessing to get to witness the conversion of this family. I get so happy thinking about them being sealed in a year. I do not even know how to fully express, except that Heavenly Fathers knows us personally. He knows what His children need, so we must seek HIS help. 

Kody was baptized on Saturday!! It was an incredible baptism!! His past seminary teachers spoke. His nonmember Dad came, and the dad's GF. They both cried during our "missionary moment." We taught about the Atonement. They totally felt the spirit, It was incredible!! 

The Lane's came and loved it. We walked them around the Temple after. The baptismal font for my stake is in the church building right next to the Temple. 

I just cannot express my joy. This is the family that I have been praying for. Sister Wright and I have already planned our trip back here to see them sealed as a family. They are just incredible. They have such strong faith. They are prepared. They are SO ready to be baptized. They do smoke, and they are stopping this week. please pray for them. I love folsom, I love Sister Wright, I love being a missionary, I love this Gospel, and I love getting to share it!!!!!! 

This transfer will be one that I NEVER FORGET. The Lane's are some of the most special people I have ever known! Hopefully they come visit Oklahoma to meet y'all :) 

Lots and Lots of Love from NOR CAL!

Sister Hickman 

Nothing beats bikes :) We love Folsom!

What will like be like after the mission when I am not biking in a skirt anymore...!?!

Lunch with the Gomm's in El Dorado :)

Stopped by Karen and Carissa when I was there for the day....still aren't baptized...maybe one day :) I LOVED seeing them again!

Kody's baptism this last Saturday! He is hopefully going on a mission in the next couple of years. He was brought into the Church through friends growing up. How neat!!!! He is awesome! Yes, I have gotten lots of sun on my bike.....

Bishop Grimsman baptized Kody. Such a special baptism!