Dear Family and Friends,
Ok, so, transfer news. I´m staying here in La Caleta and getting a new senior companion, who I will have to teach about the area. I still haven´t met him yet, so I´ll let you know more about that next week. Last saturday we had a baptism, a little 11 year old named Edwin, and tonight we are having family night with him and his granny. A lot of our other investigators are warming up, which makes me happy. Yeimi went to a single adult activity, and also came to church. Rosanna has been to church 3 weeks in a row and also was vistited by the relief society.
in other news my ankle is still a little sore, but healed enough to walk normally in one day. I even played basketball today. It was great. I thought about Elder Morgan in bed with a swollen appendix and I couldn´t in good conscience justify staying home last Monday. I hobbled around the city in faith that night, and the next morning was walking normal.
First a spiritual thought. I was thinking about how to more effectively build Zion, and I realized that it starts with us. No I don´t just mean the Mormons. I mean that if we really want to build the kingdom of God on the earth we have to start with truly converting ourselves. Then we can be a light to other people. Remember that the family is ordained of God, and is the smallest unit in his kingdom. Focus on establishing the principles of the Gospel in your homes second. The little things like FHE, family prayer, and study really make a difference.
A great thing that happened to me was in a lesson with a part member family. Clarissa is 15 years old and her parents are members but she isn´t. She has learned all the lessons multiple times, but never commited. After talking a bit, we found that the root of the problem is that she had fear of condemnation. Being baptized, and then being accountable. The spirit told me to talk about repentance. I talked about God´s love for all of us. He is patient. He is merciful. As Isaiah 1:18 says, God invites us to come, and reason together with Him. He promises that our sins can be cleansed, and in other scriptures says that he will forget them entirely. I testified that Baptism is not a promise to be perfect, but a promise to follow the Savior, and to return to him when we make mistakes. I said that God knows our hearts, and that our hearts and desires are more important than just our outward obedience. There are people like the pharisees who obey the law with hearts of blackness, and there are weak people with hearts of gold, who love God with all they have and are truly trying. I´m one of those people. I´ve got a lot of things to change, but I´m making an honest effort, and God knows it. I´m no longer afraid of making mistakes because I know that I can always return to Christ, and that through Him, my weaknesses will be strong.
Clarissa then said she wanted to be baptized. Just like that. Commited to a date and everything. It was my first experience where I truly opened up and spoke from my heart. Most of my other lessons are calculated, trying to find holes in logic and prove that i´m right with the scriptures. This was very different, and made a huge difference. I´m still learning to be a better teacher, how to have charity, and other things. But I´m seeing progress. Focus on how far you´ve come, not how far you have to go, and take it one day at a time.
Love
Elder Nichols
