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
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
