Feliz Navidad. 12/26/11

Hello again,
This new card reader I bought works great, so I still have 15 minutes. I heard that some of you are calling my emails home ¨epistles¨. Hahaha. Not sure if it´s a good thing or a bad thing. Just wanted to say that I know there are many people outside the church, members I have never met, and all other types of people that do, can, or will read these letters. I am determined to be a witness of Christ always, in all ways. My call to be a missionary does not stop at the borders of this island, and will not end in July of 2013.
Something interesting that I read this week in the Book of Mormon is found in Moroni 7. I have read it before, but it now has more powerful meaning for me. Moroni is teaching us how to judge between good and evil in our lives. He counsels us to no confuse the two, mistaking that which is good for evil, and vice versa. We met a lady who told us that God does not answer prayers, because Satan is in the air spreading lies. I testify that God loves his children, and that Jesus commanded us to pray. He said he would send us the comforter to teach us and bring things to our remembrance in John 14, verse 26. We read in Galatians that the fruits of the spirit are love and peace. I give a firm witness that God is listening to our prayers, and will answer them through the power of the Holy Ghost, as long as we have real intent and faith in Jesus Christ. Moroni 7 explains repeatedly that everything that is good comes from God, and all that is evil comes from Satan. Satan will not testify to you of the divinity of Jesus Christ, tell you to pray, love one another, give service, or anything like it. When we do these things we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. That is exactly what Satan does not want. Remember that the Pharisees accused Jesus of using satanic power to cast out demons, to which Jesus responded ¨a house that is divided against itself cannot stand.¨ Furthermore, Moroni says ¨ For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil.¨
You will know the servants of Christ by their words and deeds. The Holy Ghost will confirm it if you are seeking with a sincere heart.

Elder Nichols

Christmas, I think. 12/19/11

Dear friends and family,

Last Saturday we had a baptism! A couple and 2 kids from different families. I´ll show you the pictures next week because this shop doesn´t have a card reader. It was great. The couple showed up thirty minutes late. But they showed up! I had to baptize the wife 3 times because she kept popping her feet above the water. The third time my district leader told me to step on her feet. So I did. It was tricky, but worked like a charm.

We also had a service project. The mother of one of our investigators was telling us about how she wanted to paint her house, so we said we would do it. She didn´t believe us until we showed up the next morning with 4 other elders ready to work. Took 6 hours but we got it done. One of the other elders and I placed a Book of Mormon with one of her other daughters too. So now 2 of her daughters are investigators. Score one for God´s army.
I had another interesting experience. The boyfriend of one of our investigators never wants to talk to us. He is always ¨busy¨... But we caught him chilling in the street one day sitting in his plastic chair like they all love to do here. I´m still green and naive so I said let´s go convert him and be his friend. Needless to say it didn´t turn out the way I had planned. He immediately told us he didn´t want to talk to us or waste our time, said Joseph Smith was a crazy person, and, well.... A lot of other rude things too. To be honest I left in tears and we went home.

Then during our weekly planning meeting 2 days later I had revelation. This man saw us as representatives of Joseph Smith and the church he started. I don´t really blame him, because that´s normally the first message we tell people. The Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. So for those of you reading this blog that are investigating or something close, members who want to share the gospel with their friends, or anyone else, let me set the record straight.

I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church that He is directing. My purpose is to invite you to follow him, help develop your faith in Him, invite you to make changes in your life in accordance to God´s will and standards, help you to make the sacred covenant or promise of baptism by one holding the authority, help you receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and teach you how to endure to the end, standing as a witness of Christ and developing His attributes. Everything else that we preach is but an appendage to that goal.

I´m out of time, but its good to say that I have a stronger sense of purpose, and when I focused on it during my lessons, I saw and felt a huge difference.

Much love
Elder Nichols

Long time, no see. 12/14/11

Dear friends and family,

Well it´s only been 5 days since my last update, we are now back to the original schedule. This week we mainly just tried to get people ready for their baptisms. We should have 5 this Saturday. Here are the details

Flor and Rafael are married. She loves to sing under the stage name la pluma sutil, which means the subtle feather. She... Is... Interesting... But her husband is super excited about the gospel, and one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Jesu angel is a 9 year old whose parents are members, he just never got baptized. Kinda just fell into our laps when we went to visit his family one day.

Allen is the son of a couple that is waiting on their papers to marry. Bishop said it was a good idea to baptize him, because they are having a lot of legal trouble with their papers.

Devid is a few years older than me, and was waiting to finish school to be baptized. The problem is we can’t get a hold of him to have his interview. Wish us luck with that.

Other than that, just another week in the field. Had a guy tell me he is a prophet and had a vision concerning the United States and that I need to deliver a message to Obama. He was serious. Drunk, crazy, and crazy drunk people all love to speak English to me.... Or at least try.

Oh and I don´t know if I told you all but I’m teaching an English class every Saturday at the church. Its nuts. I teach the intermediate class... Which is just about everybody, because nobody wants to join the kids class and admit they don´t know English.

Pasan buena,
Elder Nichols

It's about time. 12/7/11

Dear Family and Friends,

Hope all is well in... well... everywhere. Today we went to the Temple and had Pizza Hut afterward. It was great. That´s why i´m doing email on a wednesday, cuz the temple is closed on mondays. This week I forgot my cable, so still no pictures. sorry. But I´ve got some good ones I´m just dying to share.

Unfortunately this week we had to drop 4 people because they just won´t come to church. It literally breaks my heart. I hate giving up on people, because the Lord didn´t give up on me. The problem is that we just don´t have the time or energy to spend with people that don´t understand how important this is and don´t want to keep commitments. There is a difference between trying hard but coming up short, and just plain not wanting to act. It´s been tough to learn again and again that my purpose is to invite, and the powers of the priesthood can only be exercised through patience and long suffering. It´s hard because the people I listen to the spirit, pray, ponder, study, and fast the hardest for are the same ones that we had to drop. The ones that are closest to being baptized are the people that have just kind of fallen into our laps.

However, I refuse to let it get me down. I studied lately in chapter 9 of Mormon, which reminds us that God is a God of miracles today, yesterday, and forever, and that his servants will be recognized as doing the same. I was called of God through a prophet and set apart to do this work. These are his children. I was endowed with power in the temple. I was given the gift of the holy ghost and promised through the scriptures that he will guide my thoughts. I am not a casual or social missionary. I will be a sacred missionary. Miracles are not out of reach if I maintain my faith and obedience.

To close, I would like to repeat more or less what I shared with Rosana the last time I saw her. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church this week either, so we will probably have to drop her too. She has had trouble deciding which church, this or her evangelical, is true. Our blunt discussion on authority didn´t seem to get through to her, but I later found out that she has yet to ask specifically in her prayers about this church. She just says that she prays every day. I said, more or less, the following...

¨Rosana, I´m very glad that you say your prayers every day, but this is not what we have been inviting you to do. We have been inviting you to ask your father, through prayer, specifically about this church. This is the most important question that you could ever ask him. Also, prayer is not just you talking on one end. He truly is listening on the other end. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord, which means that as you pray, you have to be listening for his response. This will come through your thoughts and feelings, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Think about it for a moment. Other pastors are confident enough in their own interpretation of the scriptures to try to convince you that they are right. But we are are saying to ask God. Would I tell you to ask God about this church if it was a lie? No. In fact, I can stand here as a witness and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and promise you that if you ask the Father he is going to tell you that everything we are teaching is true. I can do this because I know, without doubt, that this Church is led by Jesus Christ himself, is the kingdom of God on the earth today, and is inviting you to be a part of it. It´s not a copy of his Church led by a group of men. It is the kingdom of God, and as your loving Father in Heaven, he will comform it to you if you just ask him in sincere prayer.¨

My time is up this week. Thanks for your letters and thoughts. If there is anyone reading this that is not a member of the Church, please, don´t ask your pastors, families, friends, neighbors, or even the Mormons themselves if this Church is true. Are you willing to put your salvation in the hands of fallible, imperfect men? I would hope not. Ask God. He is the source of all truth and light. He will not lie. He cannot lie. He does not want to lie. He wants you to be happy in this life and the next. Ask him the most important question of your life. Eternity hangs in the balance, and blessings are in store. I leave this with you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Plain and Precious Truths. 11/21/11

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week come and gone. My companion celebrated his one year anniversary, and I made him guacomole again. Today we played basketball of course but also we played bitilla which is like baseball with a stick and a giant bottle cap. It was ridiculous. This week we also had a cat burglar break in to the house. No literally.... a cat climbed up to our porch and then jumped in through an open window. I´ve got pics of its paw prints to prove it, but I forgot my camera at home this week.

Another Elder in my Ward, our ward has 2 areas, always says the funniest stuff. His name is Elder Allen. This week he said ¨Sometimes I wish Satan had a body so I could punch him in the face as hard as I could¨ and ¨I´m sure there are worse countries in the world, they just don´t send missionaries there¨.

The highlight of my week was that we finally got the conference issue of the liahona, and I was super excited to have my very own english copy. I am very confident in my priest leaders, and they speak the words of Christ. So when I read the liahona I feel like God himself is telling me about all the things I need to hear, including the answers to my prayers. It´s a great feeling.

In our district meeting I was asked a little before hand to speak for 5 or 10 minutes on the Restoration. Normally this should be in spanish, and we all just rely heavily on Preach my Gospel since four of the six of us are still training or just barely finished training last transfer. Anyways, as I was thinking about my tema, or theme, I didn´t feel like speaking spanish. Before you think I´m apostatizing, remember that my companion is the only native in our district, and is only one of two fluent spanish speakers. I didn´t feel like spitting out the same comfortable key phrases that I say to my investigators, because I knew my fellow missionaries wouldn´t get anything out of it. So I thought for a few minutes on how the restoration effects me as a missionary, and what I could say to help my fellow laborers.

I remembered a talk from conference that I had studied that morning by Elder Jeffrey R Holland, and just kind of went by the spirit I guess. I testified that one of the tactics of Satan is to bind our tongues. If we don´t speak up we can´t testify, or teach. We can´t perform miracles. We can´t invite people to come unto Christ, and without these invitations they can´t repent. The importance of our ability to speak up has been paramount ever since the Pre Existence. We have all heard about the War in Heaven, but have any of us stopped to think what that means? I don´t imagine a war of swords or hand grenades. I imagine a war of words. Those of us who chose to follow the Savior testified of his divinity and the perfect plan of our Father. I imagine a great debate in which we fought to maintain our agency and save our brothers and sisters who were enticed by the allure of Satan´s proposal. In fact, this was the war that STARTED in Heaven, but is being fought every day here on Earth.

Satan would have me think that I don´t know enough spanish to testify clearly. He wants me to feel embarassed or too ashamed to speak up. But this week I have learned that it is wisdom in my Heavenly Father that I have to preach in Spanish. Let´s be honest, I like English. It´s comfortable, and I can be fairly persuasive. But in Spanish I can´t worry about the connotation of my words or illustrating an elaborate speech. All I can do is testify of the plain and precious truths that have been so distorted and corrupted by philosophies of uninspired men. I know that God is my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is his Son, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The more I think about this simple testimony, the more I realize how complex and vibrant it really is. This clearly defines the nature of God as our father, and not some mysterious everywhere but nowhere being that only wants us to worship him. If he is our Father we can become like him. This testimony also destroys the theories of the trinity, or that revelation has ceased. It tells us that God has reached out in love once again to provide us with all that we need to return to him and find strength in a decaying world.

Open up your mouths. Stand up and stand out. Declare with vigor what you believe in. Remember that the God of Israel himself is directing this Church. Billions of Angels are watching intently, taking notes, and aiding us in our endeavors.

Love
Elder Nichols

A Sure Witness. 11/14/11

Dear Friends and Family,

Today was a much needed pday. We played basketball, and later a little bit of RISK. Then we went to the local supermarket for lunch, and I got a ¨Tres Leches¨ which always cheers me up. Don´t worry I had rice, beans, and fried chicken too. My companion told me jokingly in our inventory this week that I need to eat more food. What can I say? I like to eat, and there are no rules against it. I made Mac n Cheese last night with a little bit of queso dip, you know for like dipping chips, and it was delicious.

Still haven´t seen German. I guess that is a good thing. When we found him last time it was cuz he had nothing better to do than sit on his porch and drink and smoke. So it´s kind of a blessing that he is always busy i guess.

I studied a lot about how the Book of Mormon and Bible support one another. I made a little cheat sheet with the help of last month´s liahona. It contains major points of doctrine and references from the Book of Mormon and Bible. Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses shall the word be established right? Mormon himself says in chapter 7 verse 9 that the Book of Mormon was written to convince people of the Bible, and that those who believe the Bible will believe the Book of Mormon as well. 2nd Nephi chapter 29 is a lot of fun for anyone who says that ¨we already have a bible, and we need no more bible¨ The Lord basically says that the testimony of the book of mormon is meant to run together and join the testimony of the bible. He also says that since he is the Lord, he can talk to whoever he wants to, whether they be in asia, the americas, or the isles of the sea. The Lord remembers all of his children, and we should not complain when we recieve more of his word.

I´ve struggled a bit this week. I´m wondering what is the point of all this studying of the scriptures and testifying of the truth when the majority of the people I talk to don´t want to change and will interepret the scriptures according to whatever is convenient for them. I know I´m supposed to be out here, and the Lord needs me specifically in this place specifically. I just feel some days like i´m talking to deaf people. This lady told us how much she prays for guidance and help, believes we should have prophets, and a bunch of other stuff. My companion and I preached to her until we were blue in the face. I straight up told her that God hears her prayers and has sent us to her to help her grow and bring her family back to church, but it didn´t even phase her. She just wants to be right. Even when we explain everything clearly, even when we ask her a question she doesn´t know how to answer and she just changes the subject. It seems like everyone here is just comfortable with what they already believe because it´s safe and doesn´t require them to be accountable or grow. I don´t know... I guess it´s just one of those days. There has to be opposition in all things, yeah? I can´t appreciate my baptisms unless i get a few nutty people. I just wish that I could see that I´m actually helping someone, that someone is truly searching and willing. I know i´m serving the Lord, and I know I´ve served my companion a lot. I guess for now that is enough.

On a brighter note, I had a pretty awesome personal experience this week. My companion told me a really amazing personal story. It got me thinking, and I´ve never had anything quite to that extreme. It seems a little unfair, like in the scriptures when Laman and Lemuel see an angel and they are complete jerks. Why have I not had any powerful visions, dreams, angels or such things. Am I doing something wrong? Am I unworthy? But then, almost instantly, ¨Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe¨. I think this was said concerning thomas, I need to research it. Later I watched ¨The Testaments¨ this week with my companion, Eddileka, and her boyfriend Javier who is a member. It was pretty good, but in the moment after the movie, I just had this powerful feeling concerning the divinity and truth of the Savior´s existence. I´m running out of time, but its sufficient to say that I have a rock solid testimony that he lives, and nobody can take that from me.

Elder Nichols

Bitter sweet. 11/8/11

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was crazy. The bishops dad died and so i went to my first dominican open casket funeral. On halloween. spooky eh? Also saw a crazy lady running through the street in her underwear throwing rocks at people right in front of our church. Today we played lots of basketball, or at least the dominican version, because they don´t like to take it out to the 3 line when possession changes. Transfers are this week too. I´m staying here with my companion, but another elder who has one more transfer than me is training! I´ve also had to remind a lot of people that i´m ELDER Nichols, and not just hermano, or brother nichols. I feel like Jack Sparrow reminding people of his title of Captain.

I´ve got to take back, or at least clarify, a statement I made last week. I said ¨dont tell me that you read the bible¨. Well this week we found our first Jew, who said that Jesus never existed. So.... yeah... please read the Bible. What I meant last week was that I don´t like when people say they don´t need us because they read the Bible. The real reason you don´t want to talk to us is that you are comfortable where you are at, afraid of change, or heard something false about the church. I´m sure there are more reasons than this, but these are the most common ones i´ve run into so far.

I´ve been bummed about people not keeping commitments. You are probably all thinking ¨welcome to the mission field¨ right? At the very least it´s teaching me patience, and I have a better understanding of how Heavenly Father feels when we break our promises to him or don´t do as well as we should. I just wish that I felt I was accomplishing more. Not just the baptismal number, but actually helping people understand. Helping people that are truly looking and willing to act. Almost all the people we are teaching seem to have the same bland, comfortable attitude, as if they are all spiritual zombies. I just wanna scream ¨WAKE UP!!! Don´t you realize how amazing and important this message is?¨

On the other hand it also depends on how we preach. I´ve seen a difference when we ask more questions and try to break out of some of our ¨safe¨ routines. I have to challenge myself to grow right?

So this week I had an interesting experience, and it´s the reason for the title ¨bitter sweet¨ I wanted to wait to share it, but this way you can appreciate my situation more since perhaps you will feel as i feel and learn as I learn. Our ward is split into 2 areas, each area has 2 missionaries, and each has a trainer. Well this week our trainers and leaders had a meeting with President Hernandez (btw eickbush is just an elderly missionary). So I went on exchanges with elder Allen, who was in my group at the MTC. We were scared to death and when we saw our bishop we jokingly said we could the look of terror and sadness in his eyes as he saw two greenies together.

But anyways it actually went pretty well. we contacted new people for 2 hours in my area, and had 3 lessons. The cool part was the third lesson. A guy was smoking on his porch and we said hello. He just looked at us kind of funny and then we said ¨we´re missionaries from the... ¨ and he got up before we could finish the sentence. He let us in apologized for the open container of alcohol, offered us juice, told us that he had friends in the church and left. Then he came back with an 8 year old photo of 2 missionaries holding his baby girl. Then he told us how he wanted to quit smoking and drinking for his family. He told us how his mind and heart were willing but his body was weak. He said how hard it was to quit, and he always feels like he has demons with him tempting him, and how its just easier to pick up the bottle. Now to be perfectly honest, he was probably a little drunk. But not so much that he couldn´t walk, and a greenie missionary could understand his spanish. He recognized us as his friends, as someone who cared, and could help. He begged us to visit him often and help him. And I believed him. I felt he was sincere and my heart went out to him. I had been wondering if anyone truly needed us, and now here was this man begging for our friendship and help.

So I gave him a Book of Mormon. I told him whenever he feels those demons he needs to pray, and pick up that sacred book, and that the temptations would leave. We testified that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and would do our best to help him, but he needed to give it his all. We even gave him a priesthood blessing for comfort and strength. After the blessing we had the following conversation

I said ¨Alright now Germán, you have to throw this stuff away¨
¨I can´t I´m not ready. I´ll start tonight when you two come back¨
¨No Germán you have to start now. You can do it¨
¨No no no I can´t do it¨
¨Germán, do you have faith in Christ?¨
¨Yes¨
¨Do you truly want to leave this behind?¨
¨Yes¨
¨Germán... In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to throw this alcohol in the trash¨

When I said those words, I felt an electrifying power. It wasn´t just a 21 year old kid saying it. It was the Savior. and the Holy Ghost testified of it to me with that feeling. I felt like I was taming the raging seas. Like I could have moved a mountain. I felt like Nephi in front of his brothers while he was building his ship, or Abinidi in King Noah´s court. There was a tangible power in those words.

Germán looked at me with wide eyes, poured out the bottle, and threw it out the window without a word. as he did this i felt more joy, then i have ever felt in my life, and fought to hold back the tears. I told him to give me his cigarettes, which he did. I asked him if he had more and he promised me he had nothing else in the house. As we departed i reminded him he was able to do anything with the help of the savior, and promised we would return.

Sadly, I went back to his house 8 times in the next 4 days, but we always just barely miss him. I´ve prayed and fasted for him, and I have no idea how he is doing. But every time I wonder or doubt, I remember how I felt, and I trust that did what the Savior wanted.

Elder Nichols

Contradictions. 11/4/11

Dear friends and family,

This week I learned that some cockroaches can fly. Interestingly enough I learned at the same time how quickly I can run into another room and hide. Also, apparently tarantulas are interested in the gospel, because we found a big one in the church. My companion had to trap it solo because I was waiting on the other side of the church property.

We gave 3 blessings this week, one of which I sealed. It was my first one in Spanish. Fun fun. We´ve been working harder to teach more lessons every day. I think we had 8 yesterday. I´m a little bummed about our investigators. They love to meet with us and talk to us, but don´t take any initiative on their own to come to church, read, or pray often. It’s really teaching me a lot of patience. I taught a cool object lesson that i learned from a missionary when I was 10, about time management. You stick rice in a container, and try to fit in a big rock and it doesn’t work. But if you put the rock in first then the rice fits in around it. Obviously the rock represents time for the savior, and the rice represents time for other things. It went well. I also thought of an object lesson on the spot using my flashlight. I took out the batteries and talked about how the flashlight is useless without them, just like how we are not as effective without the spirit in our lives. I also mentioned how we can recharge our spiritual batteries through sincere prayer, study, and church.

That´s another thing I’ve learned this week. I got a little lazy and was just reading from the Book of Mormon, meaning that I was just following the story. But when I started studying by topic again, I felt the guidance and peace of the spirit much stronger. I think the same goes for our prayers. Do we say the same rote prayer every night because we know we are supposed to pray? Or do we take the time to open our hearts and minds to our heavenly father and talk to him as if he were kneeling next to us? Do we attend church and sit through it because we have to? Or do we ponder the sacrifice of the savior, the covenants we have made, whether our weekly decisions are in alignment with them, and listen with a humble heart to the what the spirit is asking us to change?

In the process of contacting people we find a lot of people who want to preach to us. It is interesting to me because nobody can go more than five minutes without contradicting themselves. One lady said that we don´t need a specific church because we the people are the church. So we asked her why she goes to her evangelical church and she said because we have to congregate and hear the words of god. One man said that there was no apostasy because the gospel of Jesus Christ was never taken off the earth and that there is only one gospel. When we asked what the gospel of Jesus Christ was, he said it´s different for every person because it´s in your heart. Another man said that the Sabbath isn´t Sunday, but that it´s not important what day it is anyways because we should always worship in our hearts according to the higher law. He also said that he will worship with any church but the Catholics, because they worship idols such as Mary or the other saints, and he wants to follow the Ten Commandments. So i asked him if he thinks it´s important to follow the commandment which says to keep the Sabbath day holy, and if so, which day is the Sabbath? He never answered me.

I have run into so many people that say they are Christians and that they read the bible every day, and so they don´t want to listen to us because the bible is all they need. Um.... Hello! Are you sure you are reading the bible? If so, where are your prophets or apostles as found in Ephesians 4 verse 11 to 14. Or Amos 3 verse 7? Why do you think that a belief in Christ is all you need to be saved when it says in James 2 verse 17 to 18 that faith without works is dead? Why do you repeat the same prayers when Jesus says not to in matt 6 verse 7? Why do you think that you can just choose to be a preacher when the bible teaches against this in Hebrews 5 verse four and john 15 verse 16? Anyone who is reading the bible can see the proper way to baptize, and that it´s pointless without the correct authority or if its not followed by reception of the holy ghost. Anyone can read that at the baptism of Christ god spoke from heaven and the Holy Ghost descended, or that Christ prayed to the father in the garden of Gethsemane, and therefore cannot be the same person. Anyone can read in Ephesians 4 verse 5 that there is one lord, one faith, and one baptism, which should naturally raise the question which is right? So please, don´t tell me that you know everything just because you read the bible. Anyone who is reading it can see that there are many false interpretations in the world, and a restoration is obviously necessary, and would have some serious questions.

Now, would you like to talk to a missionary of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints? Would you like to speak to one of the saviors chosen representatives and have all of your questions about the bible answered and confirmed through study of the Book of Mormon? Would you like to have that knowledge confirmed through sincere prayer and a powerful witness of the Holy Ghost? Whom Jesus said that he would send us as a comforter and a teacher of all things? Which knowledge we are promised by our loving father in heaven if we will just ask him?

Think about it.

Elder Nichols

Fun, fun. 10/24/11

Dear family and friends,

Forgive the lack of proper puncuation, i´m working with a spanish keyboard. This week we moved the other elders in our ward to a different house. My companion and two other dominicans found a coconut tree and went wild. My companion found a machete from somewhere (which scared me a little) and then i got to try fresh coconut. I dont like it. And the picture is of me trying some next to a banana tree. I didn´t know they grew upside down.
Today we also played baseball against another zone. I caught a deep fly in left field and later caught a infield fly as the 3rd baseman. But i still can´t hit a thing so nothing has changed. Other than that nothing much has changed.

David has a baptismal date, and so do patricia and kayla but it´s tentative in november. Patricia doesn´t feel ready. My companion and i decided to kind of trick her a little bit. We are going to ask her baptismal questions incogneto and show her that she is ready. I think of 2nd nephi 32 verse 8 that says the evil spirit teacheth a man not to pray. I would bet that its probably the evil spirit telling her she isn´t ready for baptism. As i pondered this i realized this can be applied a lot in all aspects of our lives. Its the evil spirit that tells us we are no good, to give up, to give in, etc. I believe its chapter 7 of moroni that tells us how to judge good from evil, based on what we are encouraged to do . My friends, don´t give up. The lord does not give up on us. My return to the mission field is evidence of this. An angel appearing to alma and the sons of mosiah, who were described as the vilest of sinners, is further evidence of it. Later alma and the sons of mosiah gave up rights to be kings and served missions, baptizing thousands of lamanites and saving many more nephites from apostasy. The lord knows our potential and satan fears us. Satan knows he is going to lose this war and his only pleasure comes from making life difficult for us in the process. That is a pitiful existence. I invite all of you to choose the lords side, and remember how much he loves you. I am just starting to finally realize how important the missionary work is to the lord, and how many great lengths he goes to in order to save his precious children. He tells us that his sheep are numbered, meaning he knows every single one of us personally. Pray always to your father in heaven, and don´t give up.

Love
elder nichols

Just 2 more miles... 10/17/11

Dear family and friends,
Another fabulous pday! I love reading your emails, letters, etc. Remember dear elder is free for my mission. Congrats and good luck to Taylor Morgan, I’m pretty sure he reported last week or something. Could someone please forward his emails to me? And whatever happened to Elder Bredeson??? Specific shout out to jack, garret, and Simon, I miss you guys and think about you a lot. Stay strong.

Anyways today we took a bus to Duarte and found a pizza hut!!! I was so excited. We ate a whole large pizza to ourselves. I´ve been eating rice beans and fried chicken non stop. Except when I made some epic french toast the other day. The best ingredient is an ancient chinese secret so don´t ask. Speaking of chinese, Duarte has a chinatown something or other. I was really confused seeing asians speaking spanish. Some tourist asked me if I was lost because I’m obviously not Dominican. I told him I was a missionary for the next two years. He asked if I could throw some holy water on him, and I said no, but i can baptize you. Which led into a discussion of authority, apostasy, restoration, and repentance. The funny thing was that I was having an incredibly difficult time teaching him in english.

The theme of this week seems to be endurance. We have walked a lot and taught very little. It’s been frustrating for me, but caused me to come up with an idea. I suggested to my trainer that we split our area into smaller areas and keep our appointments and tracting closer together, so that we spend less time walking and more time teaching. However, Patricia, Kayla, David and Nilson all have baptism dates.

I had 2 specifically good experiences that i want to talk about. The first was with a lady named Soñí. She was really receptive the first time we met her, and we taught her the first half of the restoration. I was excited, but my trainer said that apparently she is cool with sharing ¨the word¨ with everyone, no matter what sect. Well we went back and finished the first lesson which went well, then she went off into some long story which I think was a medical miracle or something about her daughter named Milagro, but anyways i specifically heard ¨perdí tres hijos¨ which means ¨I lost 3 children¨. Then it clicked. Her mother is a strict evangelical but she talks with everyone. Losing 3 kids had to be extremely traumatic. What if she is searching other religions for an answer or comfort or something to her experience, and so far nobody has been able to. I´m sitting there just thinking ¨.... I thought this kind of teaching situation only happened with like a golden investigator, like in the movies or something.... But it’s happening right now!¨ so I whip out my plan of salvation pamphlet and wait for her to finish her story. My companion didn´t even skip a beat. He saw me take out the pamphlet, made a quick overview of its contents, and made a follow up appointment. Goooooooaaaaallllll!!!!!!

The other experience was with Rosanna. She doesn’t come to church. She never reads our pamphlets or book of mormon assignments. But she always lets us in and listens. She keeps saying she doesn´t have an answer yet. We brought 2 members with us named Karla and Julio. Julio served a mission in Guatemala and so he was just tearing it up in there with scriptures. It was great to have such a strong member to help us out. Then his wife Karla gave a nice experience which I didn´t understand a word of because she speaks in turbo mode. Then my companion said something. But to be honest i have no idea what was going on because i wasn´t listening. Before you give me the tsk tsk or whatever let me finish. I was listening to something else. The whole time Julio, Karla, and Elder Sena were speaking, I was thinking. I thought ¨heavenly father I need help. The salvation of one of your children is hanging in the balance and to be honest I have no idea what she needs to hear. I need to know what you would say if your son was here.¨ and I listened. And pondered. And experimented in my mind. Then it was my turn to talk. And I talked a lot in the most fluent spanish of my mission. I told her ¨ I don´t know exactly what you need to receive your answer, but I suggest that different people learn in different ways. Some feel the spirit most strong in reading the book of mormon, others when they hear it. Some people feel it most strongly when they attend church, and others when they pray. But a lot of the time the answer doesn’t come until we act first. The lord is waiting at your door, and has given you the book of mormon, the testimony of these members, and the help and love of his representatives. There is much more that you don´t have yet that the lord wants to bless you with. You like the way you feel when we meet with you, and this is because of the holy ghost. With baptism comes the constant companionship of the holy ghost, a feeling of love and support that I cannot accurately describe. Perhaps the time for waiting is over. Perhaps the lord will not show give you a witness until you act in faith.¨ Right there I thought I was done but the spirit was so strong. I knew I had to say one more thing, but as I tried I broke into tears, and to be truthful Karla had to repeat it so Rosanna could understand. But I said ¨Rosanna, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of god?¨ to which she said yes, but still hinged it on whether or not she received an answer. So my companion and I had a special fast for her and will go back soon.

That´s all for this week. Love you all
Elder Nichols

Two weeks in the Field... and Baptism! 10/11/11

Dear Family and Friends,
Just another week down in carribean. I wish I would have brought my journal with me, because now i will have to do this all from memory.Before I do that i would like to apologize. I think my last email sounded kind of negative. Despite the heat, walking, language, and other numerous trials in my life right now, I have never been more happy, and that is the truth. I love being on the Lord´s errand.

So i guess I will start with the big news first. Last week I forgot to mention that I commited one of our investigators to a baptismal date, which was last saturday. Her name is Eddileyka her boyfriend is a member. she talks so fast I never understand her. But nevertheless I bore my testimony about baptism and asked her to commit to a date and she accepted. I thought her boyfriend Javier or my companion were going to perform the ordinance, but when I asked I was told that I was going to do it! So yeah... 2 weeks in the field and I have already had the oppurtunity to baptize someone.

Everything else is a blur. Rosanna is an older lady that we´ve had for about a month, and says that she ¨hasn´t recieved an answer yet¨. So we (yes WE) reviewed the restauration and how to recognize the spirit. Turns out she has never prayed specifically about the book of mormon or the prophet... kind of important... but i´m glad that we reviewed that.

Simón is a cool young guy we just started teaching. The first time we were just walking down the street and my companion was talking to him about the millenium and stuff, but our fist officially lesson turned out to be on faith. He was really passionate about showing his faith, so I asked him to show his faith by following christ into the waters of baptism. Turns out he has already been baptized in another church. But this opened the door to the apostasy. We see him in the street all the time and he always greets us warmly and tells us to call him.

Daisy is an older lady with 3 kids and a soon to be husband. She has to get married in order to be baptized, and is waiting on her papers. Down here it´s really expensive to get your birth records and stuff from the government. So we visited her and talked about family home evening. 2 of her kids are already baptized, the other is underage. Her fiancee is Rafael, and he has met with us twice. It´s kind of hot and cold with him.

Ana and Alberto have 4 little kids and are waiting for their papers as well so they can get married. They are always at church though and their kids are adorable.

Patricia and Kayla are sisters. We taught them about our premortal life, creation, and the fall. Then later that week we came back and taught them about the purpose of life on earth, and for the first time we were able to teach their mother and father as well which was awesome.

Caridad is a new one. We taught her the restoration and it went really well.

A member named Cyntia had a reference for us, and accompanied us during our lesson with her. I don´t remember her name, but to be honest she didn´t seem that interested. We talked about faith and repentance, because my companion likes to save the big stuff like the restoration for when the whole family, or at least the ones that want to listen, are around. Her husband was sleeping i guess. The cool thing is ten seconds after we walked out the door we met Heidi and Herson, and taught them the whole restoration in Cyntia´s house. I even did an object lesson with Cyntia´s cousin that was there too.

There is a guy named Nilson, and his brother Carlos. Nilson has had 2 baptismal dates, and didn´t show up to either of them. He is never at church either, so my compaion said we might have to drop him.

I think that´s the majority of our progressing investigators and new ones. We meet so many people and are constantly on the move. I rarely have any idea where we are because my companion likes to take different routes a lot. In fact he even got us lost a few nights ago. We went in a giant circle. fun fun.

Next time week I´ll bring my journal with me so I can write in more detail.

Love
Elder Nichols

First Week in the Field. 10/3/11

Dear Family and Friends

Thanks to everyone that wrote to me this week. I´m sorry for the delay, my pday got switched now that i´m in the field. Your emails mean a lot to me, and I love the advice and love I recieve from all of you.

So... my first week in the field.... well, there aren´t really words to express it. I´m kind of in shock. The CCM was definitley it´s own little bubble. I´ve seen some pretty intense stuff. Half of my area is kinda like the city (and by city i mean the Bronx) and the other half is like the jungle. Dirt roads with potholes, naked kids running in the streets playing with sticks and dead animals, wild horses, giant angry roosters, houses made from tin shingles, trash everywhere, and many other eye opening things which I´m sure some RM´s could expound upon. I´m not sure what qualifies a place for ¨third world¨ status, but this probably would. It´s awesome.

So funny story. My district in the CCM (MTC) didnt like to speak spanish. So naturally I prayed that they might want to, so I could get more practice. Well Heavenly Father obviously can´t force them to do anything, so instead he inspires a wise Mission President to give me a native Dominican companion. His name is Elder Sena. He loves our investigators, he´s really funny, oh... and he doesn´t speak english. Our communication is an interesting hybrid of Domincan spanish, english, and illigitimate sign language. It might be more effective for us to just point and grunt. Ok that´s just for laughs, but I´m seriously teaching him just as much english as he is teaching me spanish.

Today my difficulty with spanish hit me pretty hard during companion study. I mean I´m already hot, sweaty, covered in bug bites, scrapes, blisters, and rashes, and tired from walking about 6 to 8 miles a day, which is physically exhausting. Then I also have to focus so hard to listen and speak, which is mentally exhausting as well. In companion study today it was my turn to share what I learned, and I shared alma 7, verses 11 to 13 (i think) about the suffering of Christ. He suffered for more than just our sins. He suffered our infirmities and sickness as well, in order that he can succor us. As I was telling my companion this I just broke down in tears. This doctrine is extremely important, and is lost to these people. I want so badly to help them. I´ve had so many struggles and trials in my life and I want to tell them that they are never alone, and the Christ is waiting to help them, but I can barely put a sentence together, let alone understand their questions and struggles. I have followed the counsel of leaving everything behind in order to get to work, but how can I get to work if I can´t even understand these people. I´m tired of just smiling and nodding and pretending like I know what´s going on. But when I thought of all of this, I also thought of another scripture that I don´t remember the reference for. Possibly alma 36 or nearby, but it says that through small means, the lord brings great things to pass, in order to confound the wise, and the scripture in timothy about ¨let no man despise thy youth¨, and that gave me a lot of comfort.

Ok fun stories... hmmm...

The bus that took us to our area dropped us off in the middle of the freeway. I got to carry my 60 lb suitcase across 8 lanes of high speed traffic. It was like Frogger on steroids with consequences. I´ve since come to realize that is completely normal. We do it nearly every day.

We were contacting new investigators (proselyting) and my companion says ¨Ok this one is all yours.¨ So I say ¨saludo!¨ and tell the young lady we are representatives of our church and want to invite her to conference where the leaders are going to speak. I might have said something a little different. Eventually she looks at Elder Sena and says something, and then Elder Sena looks at me and says IN ENGLISH ¨What did she say me?¨ (yes he forgot the ¨to¨) and smiled at me. Like I said, he is really funny.

We visited a less active member named Marcia and my companion shared a scripture. I didn´t understand a single word, but I still felt prompted to share D y C 1:38, and invite her to conference. My companion told me later that he had shared a scripture about our trials, and had told her that the apostales speak to us in order to guide us and help us. So my scripture, about the Lord speaking through the mouth of his servants, fit in PERFECTLY with the lesson. How cool is that?

Elder Cornish, who spoke in conference about praying for a quarter, spoke to us in the CCM, and I got to shake his hand and talk to him a little bit. So when I saw him on TV I thought that was pretty cool.

Well I´m out of time for now, and I wish I could tell you about the other small but powerful experiences I´ve had out here. It´s going to be a great 2 years.

Love, Elder Nichols

10/2/11

From Elder Eickbush, Mission Office Secretary:

Attached are a couple of pictures of Elder Nichols with his companion and trainer in the field, Elder Sena. Your son is doing well and we are pleased to have him serving in this mission.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Elder Eickbush

The Countdown. 9/13/11

Mi Querido Familia y Amigos,
How is everyone? I was SO excited to see emails from my parents, Uncle Vaughn, and my cousin Jeanine (sorry if i spelled that wrong), as well as glad to see updates from the missions of my friends. I'm still wondering how Elder Bredeson is doing. Also, if any of my family, or close friends from La mesa, is able to spare a few minutes it would mean the world to me to hear some good faith building stories from your individual missions. Also, I need addresses so that I can snail mail people individually. I really do love to write letters, its just that our preparation days here have been packed for us with the Temple and other things. I will have a lot more time to write letters in the field. It's okay to email me, I just have to write back on paper, however hand written letters have a nice touch :) I sent letters to my parents, Garret, Simon, Trepaniers, Morgans, and Mike Neal so far. I love you guys and hope you got them. I'm in the process of writing more.

This week was pretty intense. We got to go out on splits with the missionaries in the field. We went once last friday, and once yesterday (wednesday) for about 4 hours each time. I was paired up with my first companion from Provo, Elder Williamson, and our trainer Elder Hatch. Elder Hatch is such a great guy, and he radiates the spirit. I hope that I get to work with him in the field. The first time our appointments all fell through, and so we spent the entire time making more contacts, meeting people, setting up new appointments and such. The second time we went with the same people, and our appointments fell through again. So we decided to do more contacts. One lady rudely told us to go away and that she didn't believe in "that stuff". Our trainer was shocked. He said that was the first time that's happened, and he has been out 14 months. Nobody here is atheist, and everyone loves to talk about their beliefs. But nevertheless we valiantly continued onward (this time Elder Hatch was making us start conversations and do the contacting while he supervised, and it was little more than "hello, this is who we are") and kept knocking doors. We ended up meeting a lady named Celeste, who was interested in talking to us. She pulled some chairs out of her apartment, and we had a short discussion right there in the middle of the street, with cars and motorcycles riding right past us! It was nuts! At one point as I was trying to follow the conversation (remember that this is only our second time in the field, and we were relying heavily on our trainer. The university had lots of students who knew english so it was easier) and Elder Hatch just looks at me and says "Talk about God". After I had recovered from shell shock I was able to put a few sentences together about how God is literally the father of our spirits, and because of his love for us has restored the the same church that Christ built when he was on the Earth. I was scared to death, and afterward Celeste looked at Elder Hatch and I could tell she was complaining about my spanish, but he stood up for me and talked about how he could feel the sincerity and power of what I said. We also attracted some more people, named Eva and Miguel. They got our information and showed us where they live (literally had to walk down a long dark alley behind some shacks) and then we moved on.

This next story is where it gets awesome. We were walking down the street and saw 3 women sitting on their porch with a few kids, just enjoying the day. We stopped to talk to them and found out that one of them had visited with missionaries before and found out what she knew.

Let me just take a second to explain something. My spanish is very limited. I can understand a lot more when I read, but when people are talking faster than I'm even able to think in English, and they are dropping letters and mumbling, my tiny vocabulary is near useless. But as I looked into her eyes as she spoke, and tried my best to piece it together, the Spirit helped me. Not only did He remind me the meanings of some words I had studied, but He filled in the gaps. Even though I didn't recognize the words, He placed concepts, feelings, and ideas in my mind that helped me understand the conversation between her and Elder Hatch. It was absolutely incredible.
But with that knowledge and understanding also came the responsibility to testify. As thoughts came to my mind I had this feeling inside of me that just kept swelling and growing inside me. As it grew it pushed out all the fear I had about speaking, and motivated me to act. Soon enough the Lord provided a a pause in which I could speak.

I said ¨Hermana, no sé mucho español, pero yo siento que necesito decir algo a usted. No soy Mormón porque mis padres son Mormones. Soy Mormón porque yo tengo mi propio testimonio del Libro de Mormón. Yo sé que el es verdadero. Cuando lo leo, siempre siento sentimientos de paz y amor. He orado sobre la mensaje que el contiene y he recibido una respuesta. Por eso, yo sé que José Smith fue un profeta. Le prometo, si leerá el Libro de Mormón, y orará con intenta real, y si quiere saber verdaderamente, el Señor le contestará.¨

As I said this, everyone was dead silent. Even her friends that were Evangelicals. Even my trainer. I don't even remember hearing cars or motorcycles or pedestrians. I looked her square in the eye and testified to her of what I know to be true. I wasn't trying to convince her or force her. I testified, I invited, and I promised her a result.

I love being here. I am so blessed to have this oppurtunity. I am so excited to break out of this training center and spread the good news of the Gospel to those that are truly searching and willing to come unto Christ. I love you all very much, thank you for your prayers, letters, and support. Until next week, Go forward in faith.

Con mucho amor,
Elder Nichols

Teaching with the Right Spirit. 9/16/11

Dear Family and Friends
They are giving us a few minutes before lunch, so this will be pretty short but sweet. I've learned a lot about the teaching process, as well as other people. There are so many different types of people in the world, and we all process information differently. Some of us focus on having the right answers, planning our moves carefully before we act. Some of us act more on our feelings and emotions. Some of us don't think at all. I was getting so frustrated with "Carlos" because i felt like I was explaining myself clearly with the scriptures to back me up, and he should be understanding it. But I realized (well... the spirit helped me... a lot...) that teaching the gospel is more than just having the right answer. The correct doctrine is necassary of course, but the crucial thing that I was missing was the WAY i taught. We were trying to force our agenda on Carlos. WE wanted him to understand and believe the apostasy. WE wanted him to pray the right way instead of using the Lord's Prayer. I realized that the more we push, the more we risk pushing them away. Our purpose as missionaries is to INVITE people to come unto Christ, and help them build their faith in him. Not force them or build it for them. When we taught him today we came in with a new attitude. We taught from our heart. I don't think we taught him anything new, but the way we presented the message was softer, more loving, and directed at showing Carlos why he is important to us, and why we want to help him. We focused on HIS needs, HIS comments, HIS desires. I definitely felt a difference. I didn't have that anger or frustration that I had before, when I was trying to convince him. It's a concept that I am struggling to describe effectively, and I hope that you guys understand what I'm getting at. It's like that picture of the Savior knocking at the door. The door has no handle on the outside, and we have to open it. It's a lot more enticing to open the door when he is standing out there patiently, full of love, instead of using a battering ram. Yes I love debating, using facts to prove my point and such, but I love helping people more. Loving, serving, and helping them through a relationship of trust gives me so much more satisfaction. I love this work. I love the things i'm learning about myself and the gospel. I love the changes that I see in myself, and I am so grateful to be here.
Our President told us that a few apostles have said that when we get to heaven we will be shocked to find out how much God has micro managed our lives, without interfering with our agency. I was reading my journal last night, thinking about the time I spent at home in the last year. I never could see it in the moment, but looking back I see a lot of instances where my path was redirected or slightly corrected in order to get me back out here. I know this is where I am supposed to be. I have had many miracles, big and small, that have allowed me to be a part of this and I am ever grateful.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Nichols

Good Things. 9/9/11

Dear Family and Friends
Things are going great here in the Dominican Republic. I’ve been learning a lot about how to teach more effectively. We have an investigator named Carlos (it’s really just our teacher pretending) and he is really hard on us. The first time we knocked on his door he didn’t even open it up. He just stayed inside and we had to convince him through the door to let us in. Finally he let us in, and over a few different visits I could tell that he still didn’t trust us at all. He was giving us short answers to all of our questions as we were trying to get to know him and teach the first lesson, saying “Why?” all the time. “Why does God love me? What does it matter to me? Why are you here? Why do you want to teach me? Maybe you should come back when you are a little more prepared.” It’s really made me think a lot about my calling. I’m sure I will meet plenty of people like Carlos that don’t know who we are, don’t trust us, and wonder what we want from them or why we are wasting their time. After praying and pondering (I had no idea how we were going to crack this guy) I finally just told him “Carlos, we are representatives of Jesus Christ, sent here by God himself. He knows your heart and mind, He hears your prayers, and he has sent us here because of them. I don’t know why we are here, but He does. We are here to help you. So tell us what you need.”
And that did it.
I got that feeling that I always get when I teach from my heart, and I know that the spirit was helping me. He finally opened up and asked us how we can help him, and if we could answer his questions. We told him that maybe some questions would take time to answer, but we would try our best. We also told him that we would help him and teach him how to find his own answers. It was great. But it’s not easy. At all. We are currently stuck on the Apostasy. We told him (as part of the first lesson) that the priesthood authority died with the apostles. From there we were going to talk about the restoration, but he was too quick and (as a Catholic) made the connection to the Pope not having authority from God. This has been pretty tough for him. I don’t get the feeling that he doesn’t believe us, it’s just that his whole life he has been taught about the Pope. So we have had to take it pretty slow, and still haven’t been able to teach about Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. He is a challenge, but I learn a lot from him. It’s interesting to me how the more I search for answers for his questions, the closer I come to Heavenly Father as well. Oh and we have taught him how to pray twice, but he keeps using the “Lord’s Prayer” from the Bible. I thought that was pretty funny. So anyway, wish me luck with Carlos.
We had an interesting experience at the University this week. My companion and I got shot down about six or seven times as we were walking, and spent the first half of our time there just trying to find someone that was interested (We saw David again and said hello but he already had 4 missionaries teaching him). Finally we found a nice guy on some steps (everyone’s name here is so foreign, I struggle remembering them) and talked about his family and beliefs, and he asked about ours, but after five or ten minutes he had to go to class, so we left him with a Gospel pamphlet (faith, repentance, baptism Holy Ghost)and moved on. After about ten more minutes of walking we saw 2 women (probably in their 30’s and by now I’ve given up on remembering names) and thought “why not?” We asked them if we could practice our Spanish with them for a few minutes, and they were more than happy to chat.
Well eventually everyone wants to know why and how two white kids are learning Spanish so fast, and wearing a shirt and tie in the blistering heat while sweating profusely. It’s actually a pretty good conversation starter. I’ve never been so aware of the fact that I’m white, but I’m really glad that I stick out. So anyway we tell her why we are here and start talking about her beliefs. She is a med student, but has no time for church. However she was VERY interested in what we had to say. Her friend eventually left, which would have been the perfect chance for her to escape, but she stayed right there on the grass, only to be joined in a minute or two by a different lady. We gave her a restoration pamphlet, taught the entire first lesson, and gave her a copy of the book of Mormon. It was fantastic, and we both walked out of there on cloud nine.
Other interesting highlights from the week:
I’ve been pretty stressed out about a lot of things, and I was venting through prayer one night for quite awhile. I asked for his help pretty sincerely and then went to bed. I thought everyone was asleep but then my companion asked if I was okay and I said yeah. I went to the bathroom and then he asked again. Then my other room mate asked a few minutes later. Then his companion did too (who later told me he had actually been asleep and woke up suddenly). I hadn’t wanted a blessing originally, but after that I just felt like that was what our Father was trying to get to happen. So I sat down and they all participated in the blessing, which was given by my companion. It was his first one, and I definitely felt the spirit and his sincerity, and all of us talked for about an hour after that. All of us are really close now.
On the way back from the temple today it was raining really hard and a few of us decided to sprint from the temple to the CCM. Well I’m not coordinated and took too sharp of a turn while sprinting, and my feet slipped out from under me. I ate it pretty hard on the pavement, did a weird type of ninja roll, and quickly got back up. All the other Elders thought it was pretty funny. Not to mention that tripped a few days ago playing volleyball, and have taken many, many shots to the face, some of which I did to myself. Word has gotten around that I’m a klutz.
But anyway that’s it for this week. I love you all, write me.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Nichols

Week of Weeks! 9/1/11

Dear Friends and Family,
This was an amazing week in the field. Every week we all have to write a talk that we may or may not have to give in sacrament. They randomly call on an Elder or Sister to speak. As you have probably already guessed, the only reason for me to tell you this is if I myself was asked to speak. The good news is I got to go first, and we are still speaking English in meetings, so I didn’t have to sweat bullets the entire time. Our topic was on the Plan of Salvation, but they only give us three to five minutes. In an effort to practice teaching people and not lessons, I tried to look at the plan from a different perspective, and apply what I know about it to the life of a missionary.  I opened with who we are (Abraham 3:22-23) and reminded everyone that we were noble and great, and that we have been saved for these days. Then I skipped ahead to where we are going, because if don’t know where we are going, we won’t end up anywhere we want to be. I quoted David O. Mckay, saying “As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become”, and then read from Romans 8: 16-17, which says that we are joint heirs with Christ. I also read from D&C 76:79, which tells us that we need to be valiant to inherit the celestial kingdom. Then I came back to our life here on Earth. If we are able to keep our end goal of exaltation in mind, then our trials here in life become a little easier to endure. If you will sit back for a moment and think about God’s love for us, you would understand that he would never ask us to do anything that would hurt us, and if we will just trust in him, he will not let us down. Any trial given to us is a signal that we are ready for more growth. Gold refiners will heat up the precious metal and scoop out the impurities (or dross) until they can see their own reflection. Likewise, the Lord turns up the heat (literally in the Dominican Republic) and gives us trials, burning out the imperfections until he can see his image in our countenance. When those trials come let us ask the Lord to help us understand which Christ like attribute he is helping us develop, and how we will use it in the Eternities.  And then I closed, reminding them that we are noble, we must be valiant, and not to fear the refiners fire. I think it went pretty well.
Tuesday we went to the “Mall”, which was more like a two story super walmart, the bottom floor being a grocery store. It’s really hard to tell how expensive something is in pesos, but when I did the math later I was pretty sure I got ripped off. They probably knew that this is where the … well… how about we just say tourists … go to buy stuff. My total came to 4,000 pesos, and I had to get rid of all the cookies and chips and just focus on the things I actually needed. So I kept the backpack, sunscreen, bug repellant, underwear (for gym), and one tie. I still had to borrow 500 pesos from my companion. One sister spent 8,000 pesos. In her defense it was her birthday.
Wednesday we got to go back to the University to accost (just kidding) some more unsuspecting students. This time we were a little more prepared with pamphlets, Libros de Mormón, and water bottles. My companion and I decided to start this adventure off with a prayer and afterwards we walk… and walk… neither of us feeling anything.  Finally we decide on a little group in the grass. Their names were Juana, Miguel, and some name I have never heard in my entire life and couldn’t repeat. At least I’m honest right? WE TALKED TO THEM FOR 45 MINUTES!!!! Miguel helped translate a little, but we understood most of it. Jane Doe’s mother is pentacostal, and she was asking what the difference was between Mormons and other Christians. After my companion confirmed that we are Christians (honestly??? Just look at the nametag. It’s even in Spanish so you really don’t have an excuse) we talked about the nature of the Godhead and how they are 3 separate people, how God is literally the father of our spirits, the Book of Mormon, prophets, and the role of prayer and personal revelation. It was fantastic. I felt the spirit so strong when I testified to her that she is a daughter of God, that he loves her, and wants her to be happy. I said that He is just waiting to bless her. It was great. We read out of the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy, as well as a restoration pamphlet.
When we were done we went to see how some of the other Elders were doing and tell them what happened.  We hadn’t been talking more than 3-5 minutes when a young man approached us and said (in Spanish) “can I ask you guys a question?” I’m sure you can imagine six young Elders with jaws dropped and eyes wide open all saying “yes!” in unison. The kids name was David, he is from Spain,  and he had met missionaries on the campus 2 weeks (or months? He was speaking really fast) ago and had lots of questions. They gave him a number to call, but when he called it he got bad directions and never saw the missionaries again. So we got his information and talked to him about some of his questions for 30 minutes. It took all six of us to understand him and help each other teach, as if we were some kind of “think tank”, but it was great. He had never heard of the Book of Mormon (SERIOUSLY??? Did those last Elders even have a pulse?) and when we told him about it and gave him a copy. He told us he didn’t like reading much because it just made him ask more questions that nobody could answer. We told him the Book of Mormon has all the answers and  he literally asked “well how can I know if it’s true?” So we read Moroni’s promise (duh) and told him the spirit would teach him through warm feelings of peace. Then he asked how he would know for sure it was the spirit. I asked “David, how do you feel right now as you are talking to us?” and he said “really good”.  I testified that was the spirit. I promised him that if he really wanted to know, and was truly willing to act on the answers he received, that the spirit would testify of the truth, and he would find the answers he was looking for.  Brothers and sisters (family, friends, enemies, whoever is reading this) I know that I was inspired/prompted to ask that question. I did not have that in my arsenal or bag of tricks to whip out just in case he asked that question.
I love this gospel. I love this work. I can’t wait to get out into the field and what I did with David every second of the day.
Remember that you were noble and great. Remember to be valiant. Don’t be afraid of the Refiner’s fire.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Nichols

Going to Work in Santo Domingo. 8/25/11

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been a great week. Today has been our Preparation Day, so we went to the temple and also went on a tour. We saw the oldest church in this hemisphere, the home of Christopher Columbus's son, and some other things, with pictures enclosed. The highlight of my week was when they let us out of the temple grounds (the CCM is on temple grounds) and we walked to the Santo Domingo University. Then they set us loose on the poor unsuspecting students. For two hours we got to practice making contacts. The people here are so nice, and were more than happy to talk to us and let us practice our spanish with them. I was so afraid at first, but I was surprised that we could understand a large majority of what was said. They were all shocked when we told them we had only been studying spanish for 4 weeks.

The classroom is a little bit frustrating for me, because they threw all the kids together, regardless of where they were in their spanish studies. Also, we have 2 elders that are going on english speaking missions, so for 3 weeks all the meetings are in english, then we get latin missionaries and make the switch. It's pretty much up to me to create a lesson plan for my companion and I, and make sure we are learning something new each day. The teachers here don't know what we did or didn't learn in Provo, and have been starting at square one. I'm sure its helpful for others though, and it causes me to be a little more proactive, instead of waiting for the teachers. They are more of coaches I guess.

I've had quite a few interesting spiritual experiences as well. For instance, we watched a video of Elder Holland speaking to the Provo missionaries about a year ago. At the end he talked about the last chapter of John, in which the Savior has died, and the apostles (I literally just typed apóstales and had to delete) went back to the only thing they really new how to do, which was fish. The whole night they don't catch a single thing, and then the Savior comes on the shore (but they don't know its him) and tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat. They catch so many fish that they can't haul in the net, and John immediately says "it's him" and Peter just jumps overboard. Eventually after they eat and what not Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him, and if so, then to feed His sheep. Elder Holland put it this way "I've already asked you to cast down your nets and follow me once, and now I'm doing it again. Don't make me do it a third time. If you TRULY love me then feed my sheep. You can't turn around and go back to life the way it was before"

When I heard these words I swear it felt like Elder Holland was right there in the room speaking as if it was just a Personal Priesthood Interview with him and I. Those words went straight to my heart and I was flooded with the spirit. I have been praying every night as hard and intent as I can, telling the Lord I love him right before I close. So when he said that I just knew it was meant for me.

Not to mention that my bishop had in a sense already told me to "cast down my nets" a few months ago, and I kind of gave up, a bit like Peter and the apostles. Hearing Elder Holland was a bit like a chastisement from the Lord, and reminded me of my duty. My nets are gone forever. I can't turn back.

I've also been trying really hard to teach from my heart, and listen to what the spirit wants me to say, not just what I want to say. There is no specific right answer for a specific question. And I'm trying to do it in spanish. Its so hard though. It's like I'm fine tuning one radio station with my right hand, and another with my left hand, trying to get them both to sync up and be clear. But every so often, when I get them synced up, it just flows. The words just come, the testimony is from my heart, and its such a powerful feeling. I'll admit I'm a cry baby.

That's all for this week I believe, 

P.S. I'm not getting any dear elders, so if you are using that then make sure you are picking the Dominican MTC and not the Provo one.

Love you guys,

Elder Nichols

I am in the Domincan Republic. 8/19/11

Dear Family and Friends,

So I'm here in the Dominican Republic. The food is really good. There are only about fourty of us here at the MTC. Actually here its called the CCM. Centro de blah blah Misioneros hahahahaha. Had to take 3 flights to get here. Traveled about 15 hours yesterday it was great. I don't really know what to expect. It's really hot here and our teachers are natives that speak very fast. It's going to be tons of fun though. I got a new companion (again) and his name is Elder Van Tussenbrook. He is pretty cool. I don't have a whole lot else to tell you guys. We get dear elders once a week which is cool. But I don't know how you get it here. I'm sure some smart people can play around on the website and figure it out.  

 

Love you guys.

Elder Nichols

My visa cleared. I will be leaving this Thursday. 8/13/11

Truth Restored. 8/11/11

Dear San Diego

It's been another crazy week. I have 25 minutes to type so here goes. Four square is great. Volleyball is great. Cleaning toilets on service days is great. I've gained 15 lbs (honest),  and there is no end in sight to the food. I switched districts (finally) and my new mtc box is 314. You dont need anything else to write me. Mike neal has sent me 3 dear elders, and andrea has sent me 1. Thanks to the stake president as well for writing me, it meant a lot. Same with Heidi Oliver. PLEASE WRITE ME :) I love you guys a lot. i want to write you guys individually by hand, but i need your addresses!!!!! I got my final hep A shot, and typhoid. The nurse gave me typhoid for free hahaha. The MTC President, yes president, called me into his office to congratulate me on my return to the MTC, and we talked about my family a little bit. It was great. Oh and I'm supposed to leave the 18th, but my visa hasn't cleared yet, so its going to be down to the wire on this one. Otherwise i'll continue to train here for another 6 weeks.

Spiritual thoughts. In my old district, I was struggling. I've read the Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, and had more life experiences to help me prepare. I feel ready and pumped up. But my companion was just here to joke around with the other elders, and no matter what i tried to get him interested or focused nothing worked. I set up lesson plans, wrote scripts, quizzed him, tutored him, shared spiritual thoughts, talked about his life and mine, and nothing was making any change. I was so mad. I was thinking he is wasting his time, he is wasting my time, and he is wasting the Lord's time. This isn't fair. He is holding me back. I can't do any of this stuff without a companion. But the most aggravating part for me was how even when i thought i was justified in my anger because I'm trying to be obedient and he is holding me back, all i could feel was this frustrating guilt for being angry at him. I know that the Holy Ghost was telling me to have compassion, patience, and most of all Charity for this young elder. I realized that right now, maybe he needs friends here to goof around a little bit to keep him here, and that I was being too hard on him. Sometimes the hardest people to love are the ones that need it the most. I knew then that I needed to repent. Funny how the spirit works some times.

I want you all to know that I know this Gospel is true. I'm doing everything in my power to study not just the Gospel, but myself, and figure out who the Lord wants me to be. Throughout my whole life the main objective after spending a few years in a place and moving again and again has been to just fit in. To constantly reinvent myself and my interests just to make friends and belong somewhere. This is no longer the case. This Gospel makes me confident and strong. I don't have to lower my standards or be a chameleon to fit in with other Elders.  I can stand up and stand out without a problem, because I know that I am backed by the Savior and legions of angels. I have found myself in the Gospel.

We are learning to teach people and not discussions. I have a great memory, but it can only help so much. I have to learn how to tailor lessons to individual people, and help them to liken the scriptures to themselves. It's a very interesting experience, and I am so excited for it.

Brothers and Sisters, the Gospel has been restored, and its more than just a little blurb about having a prophet. The truth has been revealed about the nature of God, the purpose of the family, the role of prophets, priesthood authority and so much more. God is not some mystical being that is everywhere but nowhere he is our father. Literally our father. Families are eternal and satan is doing everything he can to destroy them. That is why we need prophets. They give us direction and help us understand the gospel and defend what is sacred to us.

Yo se que Dios es nuestro amoroso padre celestial. Yo se que nos envió a la tierra para aprender y progresar. Él tiene un cuerpo de hueso y carne, y quiere que tenemos esto tambien. Quiere que regresamos con Él. Yo se que el Libro de Mormón es veradadero, y si le leerán y orarán, el espíritu santo confirmará el verdad en sus corazones.

con mucho amor

Elder Nichols

"When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of your future." 8/4/11

August 4, 2011

 

Dear San Diego,

It's been a crazy week for me. My life has been turned completely upside down. I want you all to know, that I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord answers our prayers. I know that he knows my heart, and has given me a second chance to serve him. I have really been struggling here the last couple of days. I wasn't using my time very wisely before I left, and I have been wondering whether or not I'm prepared to be here. How and why did the Brethren approve me? My companion and room mates here are pretty rowdy, and its hard for me to focus. I've felt the spirit, but I've been having trouble feeling happy, and feeling that fire of missionary work. Right after I was set apart, President Morgan told me "Your past is your past", but i was still struggling over my mistakes and wondering why i'm here. But then a miracle happened. There is no other way to explain it. My teacher Brother Toone, pulled me out of class. I have only seen him two or three times now, and I am pretty quiet in class. I try to wait to be prompted by the spirit before opening my mouth, and i spend a lot of time thinking. So Brother Toone pulls me out of class and starts talking to me in spanish, asking me how my spanish is, and how I feel about being with the new elders and such. I told in some spanish some english that i had studied 2 years and school and worked in a restaurant with hispanics and such. But i was fine with teaching the other new elders, and that i just figured it was good practice for me to review, and preparation for when i would be training others out in the field.  This whole time we are walking around the hall down the stairs... and I'm talking back in the little spanish I know. Eventually we end up at some desk where he says something to a lady, and she asks me to sit down, and starts asking me in spanish to tell her about my family, what i like to do, what i did yesterday etc. I answered in spanish, kinda wondering what the heck is going on. Then she tells me in english that she thinks i'm ready for an intermediate spanish group! I've been here two days! They want me to switch districts, residence halls and everything! On the way back up to class I told Brother Toone that i had been struggling to feel happy, focus, etc, and he said "I don't know why i feel like i need to tell you this, but when Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of your future." Kind of like President Morgan had said. I'll admit I broke down. I know that the spirit prompted him.

Leaving last year was the most pain I have ever felt, and has left a mark on me emotionally and spiritually. I'm grateful too for everything I learned and I know it was the right thing, but its hard now that I'm back to not be a little afraid or paranoid of it happening again. To know that the spirit prompted Brother Toone and told him that I was doing well, and ready for an intermediate group was just emotionally very powerful. I'm still not sure how its all going to happen, but my mtc box will change again hahaha. Wish me luck.

con much amor

Elder Nichols