June 25, 2012

Things are going well, it is sad to hear that dad is out of town again. 

 

That is so exciting about Mikey though. I am going to have to e-mail him when he gets to the MTC. (Mike Graham just left to the MTC in England!)

 

I will definitely be praying for Lisa also.

 

 Absolutely the spirit can be fun. I lot of missionaries need to learn that out here that is for sure. 

 

So I was in an earthquake this past week. It was pretty cool, only lasted about 5 seconds but the whole house shook and quaked. The ground was kinda rolling really weird feeling. It was centered right here in Yorba Linda which made it so strong.

 

 I have been doing a ton of service this week for our new investigator Peggy Anderson. We are landscaping her backyard for a party that one of her grandchildren are going to have there. We have been working a lot on it. 

 

Tyler is progressing and his baptism will probably be moved back a week from the 14th. The house situation hasn't really solved itself yet so we are waiting for that to die down. Other then that we have been doing a lot of finding. Knocking lots of doors and checking up on a lot of former investigators. One girl answered the door in a towel this week, that was pretty strange. We had a good conversation with her about the Gospel though. People I guess are just more laid back in California ha ha. 

 

Love you guys and thank you for the frisbee. Ha ha that was so much fun you guys sending that. I love you all.

 

Love,

Connor

June 18, 2012

I missed you guys too on fathers day. This ward did something really fun though. After church they put all these cookies, that every single mom baked in the ward, in a room and only dads were allowed in. We were allowed also because we are Elders ha ha. There were so many cookies and only guys in there, no kids and no women. It was like an elite club or something. Really amazing and really really good. I hope dad liked his card I thought it was funny and totally reminded me of what he has gone through with me ha ha.

We found a new investigator. It was so amazing we went tracting and prayed on where to go. We then saw two guys moving furniture out of a truck and we went up and helped them. We met the lady that owns the house and her name is Peggy Anderson. She is a 80 year old lady and super nice. She is full of spit fire though and has a temper ha ha. I love her to death. We are going to be helping her with some yardwork and moving things around the house. She is Catholic and has raised 9 kids all by herself. Her alcoholic ex husband walked out on her and her kids when she was 30. It was terrible. She has been through a lot and we hope that the gospel will apply to her life.

It is getting really hot here. We are in the desert part of the mission so it kinda sucks. I'm okay though because I know it is like super hot back home and this is nothing. Elder Kohl though is a little bit more over weight and if he starts sweating and can't stop sweating so we kinda have to take it easy some days and get lots of water when we go out. 

We have a member of the ward who is a karate master and has like 4 black belts. He teaches us how to fight and self defense on p-days. It is super fun. We get to spar and fight and stuff. I am pretty sure that I look like a dork doing it ha ha. 

We really aren't allowed to go to anything like any big events or Mormon night stuff because it usually is past our curfew and out of our area's so haven't seen to much of that.

I love you guys and it is so great to hear that Papa had a good fathers day. Thank you all for everything love you guys.

(Dad's letter)

Hi dad, happy fathers day. I really missed you the other day. Everybody went around the room and talked about their dad. It was hard. You'll have to read mom's e-mail to get more info I don't want to repeat information.

So I got to meet Howie Kendrick who plays for the Angels the other day. He was having a signing at OC Sportzcardz and the Brad the guy that owns it let us meet him. Elder Jackson got an autograph and I got a picture with all of us with him. It was really cool. He saw us and was like you guys LDS and we were like yeah. He then told us about how you guys were cool and that he use to play basketball with us every monday and that he would get smoked by these mormon kids. It was really funny. Really good guy. I'll send the picture to you on the flash drive. I also told Brad that you liked the Royals and he started to give me cards of them to send home to you ha ha. I'll have to send them. Like OC Sportzcardz on facebook and you can see a picture of me on there.

That is good that Jaylen is doing well in soccer. I hope that she goes far with it. That does suck about Kate though getting sick. (Kate only lasted one night at her first girl's camp. She got really sick and had to come home.) Ha ha that is funny that you had to do security. (Dad had to sleep over one night at girl's camp.) No kids running into barbed wire fences that night huh? Ha ha.

I miss you guys and don't need much right now. Thank you all for everything. Read mom's e-mail for more info on the week. I love you dad and happy fathers day.

June 11, 2012

Hi mom I'm doing well. Thank you for the package I just got it this week. The Jelly Beans are amazing, I was craving those so so so so much thank you. I think that our Zone Leaders are a little retarded when it comes to giving mail and it took awhile for it to get from the mission office to me. 

 

We don't really have very many cool dinners ever. Just standard run of the mill dinners. We did have dinner with an excommunicated member who served his mission in Japan. We all had uncooked meat and veggies and a big frying pan in the middle of the table and we cooked it and ate it as dinner went on. It was very difficult with chop sticks but I am getting better at using those.

 

So I never bought the steak and I haven't had any steak since Austin was my companion. He bought it all and cooked it. He was the southern boy so I just got fat off of eating his food ha ha. Except I think I have lost some weight. I can't tell though because I don't have a scale. Got to go on belly size ha ha.

 

Those are some really cool missionary experiences that you all have had. That is a good plan mom that you have. Did you pray about it to see if it was part of God's plan also? Maybe it is time now to give him the BoM or maybe it is after Christmas. I have never prayed so much as I do now out here. About little tasks also like who we should go see, what street we should knock, and what we should share with someone. It is really cool. Pray about your decision, doesn't hurt to run it by God, the source of all truth and knowledge :).

 

So this week was crazy. Tyler's mom gave permission for him to be baptized it was soooo crazy!!! We are super excited and set a date on July 14th with him. His dad and Tyler are really busy until then so that was the first open date. We really think it was the 40 day fast we are doing in our ward that softened her heart. The 40 day fast is where a different member of the ward fasts for missionary opportunities in their life each day for 40 days. We have been seeing a lot of miracles and a ton of missionary opportunities that the members are having.

 

This week also we had a Less Active member Sis Hamutoff trip and fall and break her hip. She is about 60 years old. We had just started to get her to come back to church and then this happened. We were the first ones to know though and we rushed to the Hospital and gave her a blessing. We were the first ones there and stayed with her and her husband for 2 hours till the relief society president came. They transferred her down to another hospital for surgery and now she is recovering. She has Parkinsons though so her body moves uncontrollably so she is in a ton of pain and is having a hard time healing because she keeps moving her hip. We are praying hard for her.

 

Other then that it has been a pretty normal week. We have a temple trip coming up in two weeks and it should be fun. Be sure to wish Jess a happy birthday on the 28th. Send her an e-mail to see if you can meet with her for lunch also while you are up in Utah. Thank you guys so much for everything I love you so much.

 

Connor

June 4, 2012 (Letter to mom)

Ugh, tell the BYU soccer coach to go back to happy valley. Jaylen is too good to go there. Ha ha but that is really exciting being scouted by a coach like that.(Jaylen met the BYU soccer coach at a soccer tournament in Houston.)

 

Members do a good job of feeding us. We have about one-two meals a week that don't get filled up.

 

So the acnefree face wash does help but it doesn't really matter. Just keep sending me some face wash and I should be fine. The like organic pills don't do anything for me either I don't think.

 

Elder Khol is good. We get along well but in social situations we differ. He just brings up random things sometimes during lessons and he sometimes has a hard time connecting with people. But we get along great.

 

The weather is getting really hot. I am in the desert part of the mission now so I am feeling the heat.

 

So we teach this older black lady. She is a Less Active because she has some problems getting to church. She has a really thick mustache. Like bigger than anything that I could grow. Anyways she got a new flat screen T.V. and was telling us how she got it. Her son Butch that lives with her went to social security and told them that he was having some memory problems (which he isn't). So they gave him a bigger pension each month and he took the extra money and bought a new T.V. with it. That was kind of interesting ha ha. Now I know why America has problems.

 

Every day is a difficult time. Just the never ending work that is out there. I just keep on going that is all that you can do ha ha. But you have what I call little tender mercies of the Lord along the way that make it all worth it. Like Tyler's mom just gave permission for him to be baptized!!! We are so excited! We are going to set up a date with him tomorrow. We are so happy about that. It really is a miracle because she has had a really hard time with him getting baptized.

 

That is fun about going to Utah. Let Jess know so that she can have lunch with you guys once. That would really mean a lot to me and her if you did that. Thank you guys so much for everything. I love you!

June 4, 2012

Hi dad. That is a really cool missionary opportunity that you had. I love it when people tell me that they have a personal relationship with God and that is why they don't go to church. That just means that they haven't put in the effort and church makes them feel just a little bit guilty ha ha. Keep bringing up the gospel with him. Miracles can happen.

 

That is really cool about Jaylen getting a look at all the colleges. Get some of your connections to get the Utah coach down here. One of the Hinckley kids has to go to Utah! I already betrayed that by going to USU there can't be another one of us not going to the Lord's chosen school (UofU).

 

That sounds like Annie is more trouble then she is worth. If she is gone by the time I get home I won't mind :) ha ha she never liked me to begin with and I really didn't like her. SoCal is the king of little dogs. I mean I have seen big manly men walking a little tiny rat dog thing and no one bats an eye. It is all about the little tiny dogs and I they are not my first love. I just say that SoCal has a rat infestation. Ha ha, so I have never been chased but I have been barked at and then when I enter the house and they are barking at me I make like I'm going at them and they run away and usually pee. Gosh I hate little dogs.

 

Ha ha I'll play some board games with you. I think it is kinda nice that I am not going right back to school when I get home. I have a little bit of time to adjust back into real life. Thank you all for everything. I love you guys

May 28, 2012

That is crazy about all the people moving. I'm going to come back and know no one in our ward.  (We listed all the people that are moving out of our ward this spring.) Bishop Garlick may not even be bishop anymore that would be weird! Things here are good. We got transfer calls and I'm going to be with Elder Kohl again for another six weeks. I'm driver though for this transfer. Thank goodness Now I wont have to pray every time that I get into the car that I won't die. Don't worry so much about sharing the gospel and offending someone. People actually aren't offended when you do. They really aren't. If you want to share something with them that has brought you so much happiness they take it as a compliment. Trust me, I do it every day. :) (Mom had said how sometimes she is nervous sharing my testimony.)

Kate isn't allowed to dance with any boys so that is good that she didn't. Jaylen can't date while I'm gone either. That is a super cool experience that you had though Jaylen. Did you call him to repentance and tell him if he didn't join our church he would burn in a pit in Hell? You should have if you didn't.... ha ha jk. Follow up with him some more because now he is interested. Place the BoM in his heart. As being a member of this church you are commanded to share the gospel to all that will hear it. You are given promises though that you will have the words given to you what you should say when you are in the moment. Call upon those promises.

 Jaylen is not allowed to join the enemy. She can not go to BYU ha ha. Sounds like you have been pretty busy though dad. Working with all CEO's of companies and stuff. Things here are going well though. Tyler's dad is getting a divorce and Tyler kinda hates his mom now. It isn't how I wanted it to happen but at least he will be able to be baptized. I love you guys so much.

Love,
Connor

May 21, 2012

Thank you for the package. I think that I am fine right now. I will send you some pics. I don't think though I'll send you any of my gut because that is kinda weird ha ha. (I had wanted to see if he really had gained any weight, because I just can't believe it.) There are rumors of me training next transfer which is next week and an Elder Monson is coming to the mission and everybody wants me to train him. That would be awful and we would never hear the end of it from members.(Get it:  Elder Hinckley and Elder Monsen!!!)

 

Tyler, our investigator, is really having some family problems. It is a big mess and I feel horrible right now. I can not imagine how Tyler is taking this. We have a lesson with him tomorrow and hopefully that will go well.

 

Love you guys and thank you for everything that you do :)

May 14, 2012

Maybe just our mission said no then. (I had asked him why another missionary in our ward and in the Utah mission had been able to skype and we hadn't gotten to)  I don't know. So many rules and rumors of rules go on here that I don't even know what is okay and what isn't sometime. So I just pray about it and follow the spirit. :) ha ha.

I'm a little mad about missing the Avengers. I know that everything will be okay. Me and Heavenly Father have a deal and a plan worked out so I'm not worried. Thank you for texting her. Thank you guys for everything. Something I do need though is batteries. I am running out of them for my camera. It takes AA. Thank you guys for everything.

 

Love,

Connor

April 30, 2012

Hi mom,

Thank you so much for the package!!!! The scotcharoos are so so so so amazing!!!! Oh my gosh they hit the spot so well. I loved them. Thank you also for the Spider-man egg with suckers inside!!! Thank you so much. We did mormon.org Thursday which is where we go and look at mormon.org for an hour and I sent you a quick e-mail that day.

 

So not to many new stores except Target!!!!! So happy to have that. We go to the one in Brea though which is in our zone but not our area because everything there is a dollar cheaper than the one by us which is crazy. This area is a lot smaller than my last which is a little weird. Can feel a little claustrophobic during the week not being able to leave. No much has happened with the new comp. He has got some interesting habits.  So I finally got Toilet cleaner today and I'm going to start working on the bathroom. Last week I did the kitchen and organized all the cabinets and everything. I did the dishes of course or else they pile up in the sink and look like a leaning tower of piza with crusted on food.

 

I can't believe that Tyler is home. That is so crazy. Ha ha funny to think that he missed Amanda's wedding and now she is pregnant!!! So once every quarter we have mission interviews and zone conference and that is really when I see President Bowen. I have never gone to the mission home except for when I came out into the mission. I e-mail President once a week but so does every other missionary in the mission so I keep it brief. 

 

You didn't need to send new medication for acne out. Thank you though. It isn't that bad. Doesn't matter out here either. Just matters when I go home and Jess sees me ha ha. Speaking of which you should e-mail her. So e-mail her asking her how she is doing. She loves talking and hearing about you guys. She is running a marathon and a couple half marathon's also so you could give her some tips.

 

Our bishop is very very very nice. BYU fan and grad, Institute teacher. His kids are nice.  They are like young adults and not real little kids. He is a good guy and is trying to do good missionary things in the mission.

 

So Mothers day I don't know much yet or even if I can skype and find a member to let us use skype. We aren't going to be able to talk as long as we did last time though ha ha. probably be and hour tops. I am excited though.

 

I have maintained 195lbs. and hopefully I will convert my little gut that I have into my six pack that I use to have. Crutches and 6:30 in the morning though are really hard to do. Especially if you just woke up ha ha.

 

That is good that you are trying to be a missionary. Remember that your friends are your easiest mission opportunities. I love you guys and I will write you all soon. Thank you for all the packages they are so awesome and make my day.

 

Love,

Connor

April 23, 2012

Whatever you do..... don't buy a Mac. (Our computer is broken at home and we are thinking of buying a new computer.) It is a trick and a horrible lie. You may have sold your soul to Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) but that doesn't mean that the family has to follow you down. I do remember playing Mech Warrior, I also remember getting frustrated that I could never get past the first level when I played it by myself ha ha. Some things do change though..... now I can get past the first level. Oh Yeah!!! So what new computer are you going to get? You still got Mary Jane? (Mary Jane is the name of my computer).

 

That is awful about Matt. I(Matt Graham in our ward) Is he going to go back? How sick is he? I hope I hear from him soon.

 

That new High School does sound pretty neat. Hope that Jaylen has a fun time in it. Consol did feel like a prison though. Glad that this one is more open. The schools in California aren't buildings though. They don't have hallways they are all outside in individual buildings. It is crazy. To get to a classroom you just walk right into it instead of going into a building first. 

 

Well being transferred sucks. I hate it. You have to learn people's name again, move all your stuff, and start over completely. You know me I don't like change that much and this is a lot of change at once. Plus our apartment is awful.... lets just say mom would take one look at it and run away screaming. So I had a lot of cleaning to do. I don't think missionaries understand that they need to clean the table off after they eat. I think I wiped up about 3-4 years of food, dirt, and muck when I wash those tables. The Yorba Linda area is really nice, but it is a lot hotter here. About 10 degrees because I don't have that ocean breeze. It is weird not being in a student ward anymore because sacrament is so quiet and there are a lot more old people in our ward. The only place in the mission that is remotely dangerous is certain places in Santa Ana. This is a really safe mission for the most part. Member refferals are less in every area. I have yet to recieve one from somebody in my ward. Elder Khol my comp is cool. He was a band guy in high school. He is a kid in high school where I would have seen in the band hall and talked to but nothing more. So we get along well.

 

Let me know how that trip to Nebraska is. I wish I could go with that to you. Is the whole Hinckley clan flying up there for that?

 

Oh dangit! You put up that Student Union. I signed a petition against that!!! Definitely not for that! Ha ha I do think that your opinion is a little biased about it but I bet it looks really cool. Can't wait to see it when I get back. I'll walk on the grass and wear a huge hat also just to be a rebel like that.

 

I got something called dry-el it is suppose to be drycleaning that you can do in the dryer. It was 7 bucks and so I picked it up because dry cleaning here is 7-8 dollers per pant and 14 dollars for a suit jacket. So I will let you know how that goes.

 

I do need some toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo (anti-dandruff kind), and some med stuff. So I got a chemical burn from cleaning the oven the other day and it really hurts and is not healing very fast so if you could send some neosporin that would be awesome, also I was talking to this lady on the street and she said that vitamins that are Pro-biotics would help my acne. I didn't convert her but she may have given me the cure to my acne. So if you could send some Pro-Biotics that would be awesome. Thank you guys so much for everything.

 

Love,

Connor

April 16, 2012

Hi mom it is good to hear from you. That is really funny about Ellie and awesome about Nana and Papa coming down. I'm glad Jaylen is doing so well in Soccer.  She is a hard worker. That is funny about her Asian thing though. I don't even think Jess has seen me act full blown retarted ha ha. That is just a Hinckley family thing lol. I never did get any cookies so you might want to check with them to see if they sent them.

 

So I got transferred today. It was really sad because I really liked my old ward in Irvine. I had to say goodbye to the Kiesters, the Hawkins, the Knuetsons, and Stephanie the convert I baptized. The worst though was saying goodbye to Elder Austin. He was such a great companion and we got along so well. He said I was the only companion that he ever loved. He was really cool.

 

So now I am in Yorba Linda 5th ward. I have been for 1 hour so I don't know that much ha ha. My new companion is Elder Cole and he just finished training and has been out 3 months. So I will be greenie breaking him. He is a really cool guy so far. He is a music education major and loves piano and trombone so we should get along fine. He is also a comic book nerd so we should get along really fine haha. This is a really really rich area so I won't have dinner at any more student apartments ha ha. That I don't mind. I'll let you know more next week.

 

Can you log onto facebook and accept all the friend requests that I got? I told everyone to facebook friend me to keep in touch. Thank you for all the letters I haven't gotten a chance to read them yet but I will try and write you all back this week. Love you guys lots!!!

 

Connor

May 6, 2012

 This is  a letter from Connor to his dad:

 

Hi guys, I'm glad Nana and Papa got my letter. (The letter actually came to our house while Nana and Papa were visiting us! Really cool) Sounds like you are going to be doing a ton of traveling. Your job does sound cool. Sounds like you have be to around a lot of big whigs a lot though. Always have to have that happy pleasing face on. I have to do that also. Always have to be in a good mood with members and investigators. It is hard sometimes ha ha. But it is worth it. Some days you just want to be a bum. I never am though ha ha. You can use my computer also. Probably a lot faster than Jaylen's because it is awesome!!!! haha. That is cool that the Jazz actually made it to the playoffs. Hope that they build up next year and then I can watch them dominate when I get back haha.

 (Shane must have asked him about politics.)

So we actually aren't allowed to talk about politics. It is annoying because everybody asks us about the elections and Mitt. I do hope that he wins though. Looks like he is going to though just depends on how bad the democrats cheat now. 

I'll be able to call next week after church. They wont let us do skype anymore because I guess some missionaries abused it. Majority suffers from the minority. I will only be able to talk for about an hour this time also. Church ends at 2:30 so I'll call you about three to three thirty. My time. If anyone isn't there I can just call back later also. I'll call moms cell phone also. 

I love you guys and thank you so much for the Spider-man ball ha ha. (We sent him a kiddie Spiderman ball in the mail.) That was so much fun and everybody was stunned that I would get a Spider-man ball. I thought that it was legit. They were all jealous ha haha. Thank you guys and I love you!

April 9, 2012

For Easter we went to church, went out and visited some Less Actives, and then we had dinner at the Kiester's. The same family that we had Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving dinner with. I really like them.

 

Last night We ate potatoes, roast beef, stuffed mushrooms, asparagus, Sparkling Cider, and salad. It was very good.

 

 What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

I ate nothing. Breakfast stuff is very expensive. I usually eat it every other day and when I do I eat cream of wheat packets that I get from the dollar store.

Do you like it when we send you food?

I love it when you send me food. Although did you say something about cookies? Because I never got cookies. I did get your Easter package which was great. Thank you so much! Remember to put medicine or food on the side of the package to make it come a lot faster.

How does homemade food send? Like can we send you Rice Krispy treats? Will that send. Or is there something homemade that you have been craving?

I have been craving scotcharoos. They sound really good right now.

Do you still have the same companion? Is he the same age as you?\

I do still have the same companion and he is 21 he waited a little bit before he came out.

When is your next transfer date? Do you think anything will change for you?

Transfers are next Monday. There is a good chance that I could leave or I could stay. It is all up in the air.

Do you still have a car?

Yes we do.

Are you teaching anybody?

Ha ha of course we are. Just it is going slow. We are focusing on Less Actives and reactivating them.

How is the person you baptized doing? I still think that is so cool!!!!

She is doing good and still comes every Sunday and has tons of friends.

Brian and Brooke and the little b's just got back from Disneyland. He told me that when he went running in the morning he looked for missionaries. How close are you to Disneyland?

I am about 20-30min. away depending on traffic.

Elder Bednar came and talked to us Friday. It was really cool! Sister Bednar came also and talked about growing up in Afton. I got to shake Elder Bednar's hand. It was a really cool experience.

March 26, 2012

That is way awesome that Jaylen found her phone. That is the power of prayer right there. Ha ha. She could have survived with a regular phone though. I do no internet, games, movies, music. Just calls and texts ha ha. There is a rumor though about missionaries getting ipads or iphones that are locked out of certain functions. So we can report our numbers and do reports all digitally. The missionaries over in Japan already are doing that.

 

Ha ha I am glad I am not there to be in all those flowers to take pictures again ha ha. They were very pretty though. (He's talking about the bluebonnets in Texas in the spring.)

 

So I haven't gotten a package from you and I think it is because our Zone Leaders (who get the mail from the mission office) are incompetent. Put Food or Medicine on the side of any package that you send me and that way the mission office texts the zone leaders to come get it so I can get it faster, or actually get it.

 

So we got new ward missionaries in our ward and we have to train them on what to do in lessons. They follow our lead and testify basically to what we say. So we train them on the lessons, how to follow the spirit, and that silence is okay in a lesson.

 

I am filling my time wisely. A inactive member whose parents are actually the senior missionaries that check our apartment once a month owns a comic shop. I bought a card game there to play on p-days that's it. I didn't buy any comics because that is against the rules. Don't worry. I am going to be a lot better with purchases also. I'm not going to use my debit card at all this month. Wish me luck because it is a five monday month.

 

We went to general conference at the church. Me and Elder Austin pulled in a couch from the foyer and sat and watched it on that. We had some snacks also. My favorite talk was Elder Nelson's when he talked about the body's relationship with the Spirit. I thought that was really cool.

 

Love you guys thanks for everything!