Ooops. 7/30/12

Dear Family and Friends. Well i spent a lot of time trying to send a video of me burning a tie for my one year mark. it was a really ugly tie. The highlight of my week was having 12 investigators in church. When i got here I had 2. Our baptismal goal for august is 3, but there is a high chance for 3 or 4 in addition to that goal. Keep us in your prayers, we are working hard. love elder nichols (unfortunately, video transfer was unsuccessful)

Photos!!!! 7/23/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well we had a great week and i am out of time cuz i wrote a few of you personally and I still have to write President. I hope you enjoy the photos. This week we baptized a geat lady named Olga Adames. She had spinal surgery about 8 months ago, so we had her sit on a metal chair in the font and my companion and I tilted the chair back. It was great. The sanchez family is progressing well. We hope to baptize them all at the end of the transfer. Right now 3 of them have a set baptismal date, 2 have to get married, and the dad still has to come to church hahahaha. But i´ve got faith. I know that I was called to this area for this family. God put me here and he confirmed to me that they are the reason i´m here. Spiritual Thought Alma the younger, The sons of Mosiah, and Samuel the Lamanite were all discouraged at one point, but the Lord encouraged them. With alma he sent an angel and promised him a mission companion. With the sons of mosiah he personally promised them success. The point is that the lord does not forget those who are on His errand. He knows it is tough, but qualifies those of us that He has called. He promises that he will go before our face, and send his angels on our left and right to bear us up. In his own way, at just the right moment, when we think we can go no further, he swoops in and says "my son, dont give up. you are doing so well and have great cause to rejoice. keep your head up and stay strong." I testify that we can trust in Him. We need not fear because he has overcome the world. He has overcome death. He loves us and is always with us if we have our heart inclined towards Him. Love, Elder Nichols

Photos, (Cont.) 7/23/12

Photos, (Cont.) 7/23/12

1 year... 2 areas. 7/16/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well transfers were last night and I am staying in this tiny little area for 6 more weeks to finish training my companion. My district is being put back together which makes me happy. Elder Smith returns and is training. Elder Mejias is being put with Elder Lefevre, who was my room mate the first time in the MTC, so im really excited about that. We recently found a family of 6 and they are progressing well. 3 of them have a baptismal date including the mom, maria, and 2 younger siblings jose and mayerling. The dad hasn´t come to church yet, but occasionally reads with us. We watched the restoration, a video about joseph smiths first vision, and convinced him to say the closing prayer. it was short but sweet. ¨God, i saw your video. it was nice. in the name of jesus christ amen.¨ Still i was happy that he was participating. Yesterday the oldest son finally came to church with the family, including his Girlfriend, who is expecting a baby. They are both willing to get married and baptized, but haven´t accepted a specific date. We are also getting a lot more cooperation from the ward, including the bishops wife, which is the key to working with the bishop. When he saw that we have the Sanchez family coming to church he started helping us out a lot more and was happy to see us and talk to us. Things are really looking up. I love you all. Elder Nichols De las muchas cosas que he aprendido en mi misión, y mi tiempo entre este pueblo, la cosa más importante es el poder de amor. Por lo menos una sonrisa y una saluda sincera son suficiente para cambiar una corazón. Recuerde mis amados hermanos que caridad nunca deja de ser. Y es la clave de cualquier discípulo verdadero de Cristo. Si hemos recibido todas las ordenanzas, pero no aprendido de ser amigable y amar nuestros vecinos más que nosotros mismos, testifico que no somos candidatos para el reino celestial. Translation: Of the many things I learned on my mission, and my time among these people, the most important thing is the power of love. At least a smile and a sincere greeting is enough to change a heart. Remember my beloved brethren that charity never faileth. And it is the key to any true disciple of Christ. If we have received all the ordinances, but not learned to be friendly and to love our neighbors more than ourselves, testify that we are not candidates for the celestial kingdom.

The Norm 7/9/12

Dear Family and Friends, This week was kind of average. We are just trying to motivate people to do things that are good for them. Its like trying to get a little kid to take vitamins. We are preparing one nice lady for her baptismal interview this week. Her name is Holga. We had a Family Home Evening last week and she invited the entire street. And they all came. We had like 20 people crammed in her house. We started a spiritual thought about the love of God and the purpose of the Atonement, and the few members just took it from there. Then we sang a bunch of hymns, had refreshments, and played a game that i taught them called ¨grunt piggy grunt¨. Basically one person is blindfolded and hits people with a pillow and tells them to grunt. Then he guesses who grunted. Its hilarious. Then my companion taught them a game similar to hot potato, but when you get caught with the object you have to dance like an animal. It was super fun. Transfer calls are this sunday, but i will most likely stay here and finish training elder ccansaya. he is a great elder with a heart of gold. i honestly think he is more of a blessing for me than i am for him. it is rebuilding my faith in the missionaries. Lets just say that my district has lots of problems. Its been a crazy transfer, but i´m staying positive hahaha. Elder Nichols

"Why are you so persistent?" 7/2/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well this week was super tough. We found some pretty hard hearted people that just wanted to argue. I tried so hard to be patient with them but I just get so frustrated when people invent scriptures, or misinterpret them and hold firm to their distorted version. People often tell me that everyone worships in their own way and that we are all searching for the same God. It´s so hard to open peoples eyes and show them that the truth is not something that changes upon perception or convenience. The truth is eternal. The truth is a foundation that cannot be broken nor swayed. One lady asked me this week why we are so persistent on trying to convince her of our religious beliefs. The answer that came out of my mouth surprised me. Normally I say that we know its true, and that it can bless your life. Or I say that its true, and that I know that God knows its true, and I cannot deny it. But this time something new and profound came to me. I hope the spirit can help you understand the gravity of the statement that follows. I taught and testified of the apostasy. Jesus gave his 12 apostles authority to act in His name (lucas 9:1-2) When they died that authority was taken from the Earth. It didn´t exist. Without authority how can we recieve revelations? Without revelations how can we understand the true meaning of the scriptures? We cannot. It is evident today from the plethora of religious viewpoints that men in this world are confused and have different interpretations of the same bible. The authority to act in the name of Christ, to baptize and confer the Holy Ghost was lost. A man cannot choose to be a pastor. He cannot get authority by simply reading the Bible. The apostles were chosen directly by Jesus, as was every other major figure in the scriptures. Here is my point. We are persistent because if the Message of the Restoration is not true, then there is no salvation for the children of men. The authority to administer the saving ordenances of the gospel was lost with the apostles, and any glimmer of hope was shattered in the following apostasy, or rejection of the truth, and distortion of Gospel truths through generations of iniquity. Baptism is a requirement for salvation, and I´m sorry, but we cannot be baptized by the Bible. Jesus Christ was baptized by a man who had due authority, and the same is necessary today. Jesus Christ has personally restored the same church that He established in ancient times during His personal reign and ministry. He has personally chosen a prophet and apostles and speaks to them just as He did throughout the New testament, even after His death. If He has not done this, then we are like ¨ achildren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of bdoctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive¨ efe 4:14 We as missionaries of this church stand as messengers of Jesus Christ, witnesses of eternal truths which have been lost to the world, and beacons for all who wish to follow Christ more than their pride. We have been called of God, set apart, and duely ordained to combat error and open the gates of Salvation to all who are willing to take the steps. That is why we are persistent. Elder Nichols

Shenanigans 6/25/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well... it´s been a crazy week. An Elder in my district decided to go home, so his companion, Elder Smith, has returned to my house and we are in a trio. But then the zone leaders have now decided and confirmed with president that he should be with a less than obedient companionship in my district. So it was more like a 4 day intercambio hahaha. With 3 beds in one room complete with mosquito nets it looks like a giant fort. We started an english class again. Although I´m the only teacher hahaha. It was a lot of fun though and we had about 15 people. The area is progressing, and more people are coming to church. This week the schedule shifts 2 hours, and will be earlier. This will help us have more success since most people here like to be eating and sleeping in the afternoon. I got a shotgun speaking assignment when I arrived at church on sunday. I think it went pretty well even though I had about an hour to prepare. I talked about sharing the gospel through our example, recognizing that we can show our love by sharing the priceless message of the restored gospel, and a few other things I can´t remember. I´ve started marking something new in my Book of Mormon. Every time I see a tactic of Satan I mark it in black, representing mists of darkness, like in Lehi´s Dream. I figure one of the most important parts of fighting a battle is recognizing the enemy, and this life is no different. This is war. Do you recognize the enemy? Another intereesting thought that I had is that judgement is more than just a sum total of all the good and bad deeds we´ve done and hoping that we´re not in the red. Judgement is an assessment of the type of person we have become. The desires of our hearts, the thoughts we think, our attributes, etc. I found myself asking if I, right now, am a worthy candidate for the celestial kingdom. Would Heavenly Father let me in right now? This has given me a lot of motivation this week. So why the emphasis on good deeds in the scriptures? A quote from Richard G Scott has stuck with me since he said it in conference about 3 years ago. ¨We become what we want to be, by consistantly being what we want to become¨ This life is a time to prepare to meet God. We must use this probationary state to become the type of person that God would allow to into the celestial kingdom. We do that by consistantly following the Savior through righteous decisions, and being sanctified by the fire of the Holy spirit. I hope these thoughts help some of you, my beloved friends. I love you and share my solemn testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ, and that none of us kind find our own way back home without Him. He lives. He loves us and is ever so merciful. He invites us to follow, but we must make the choice. It is the wisest decision, with the greatest consequences, that a soul could ever make. Elder Nichols

Who's training who? 6/19/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well its been an incredible week down here in the Dominican Republic. I´ve had some really sacred experiences with my companion and I truly love him. He is so much more Christlike than I am. He´s full of love, always worried or thinking about me, shares everything, and has a rock solid testimony and conviction of the gospel. I´m really the one being taught. He is a great example and the spirit is super strong with him. He is a huge blessing for me and i´m honored that the lord sent him to me We had a baptism last saturday, and we´ll be having a family home evening with them tonight. Her name is Marisol, and she has 2 kids. The younger one is only 5 and was super jealous that he couldn´t be baptized too. I´m not sure why, but it seemed to me that Marisol showed a lot more interest and desire to be baptized when I took an interest in her kids. It wasn´t hard for me because I think little kids are awesome. Especially hers, cuz they are nuts. Jenserd is super smart and Jois, the younger one, talks at the speed of light and you wouldnn´t be able to calm down if you hit him with horse tranquilizers. Antonio has been attending the pentecostal church for 10 years. His wife is a member of our church. We´ve taught him about the restoration and HOW Joseph Smith in our day, as well as every other major figure in the Bible, recieved authority personally from the Savior or one of His servants to act in His name and baptize. According to him, none of the other missionaries from our church that have tried to teach him ever bothered to give him the in depth explanation that I did. Anyone that thinks that personal study doesn´t matter can now eat it. He made the connection himself and started asking how his Pastors recieved authority. He was pretty upset when he realized that for 10 years he has decieved, and even more upset that they are decieving many others with their claims. I felt his anguish myself, but then testified that the good news is we are true messengers from Christ with due authority and power. I´ve got lots more good stories, but no time. So they are going in the journal and you can ask me in 13 months. We are working hard and the Lord is on our side. We gain knowledge by asking questions, and learn wisdom when we know which questions to ask. Elder Nichols

Training 6/11/12

Family and Friends, Well, first week of the new transfer has been great. My companion has a strong testimony and a heart of pure gold. He is from Peru and only has been a member for 2 years. I´m grateful for the sacred trust from the Lord to train, and I am learning a ton. We get an extra hour of study in the morning, so that is a huge blessing. I feel like i´m being retrained too, learning some of the things i´ve forgotten over time, and doing all of this in the Lord´s way. He is a lot smarter than us. Last week we baptized a Haitian named Billy that we were teaching in English. This week we will baptize Marisol and her son Yenson. We have found a lot of good people that i hope will progress, but if not we are at least planting gospel seeds. Love, Elder Nichols