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
Friday, November 4, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
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
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
Monday, October 17, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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
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
Monday, October 3, 2011
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
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
Sunday, October 2, 2011
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
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
Friday, September 23, 2011
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
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
Friday, September 16, 2011
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
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
Friday, September 9, 2011
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
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
Thursday, September 1, 2011
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
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
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