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.