Feliz Navidad. 12/26/11

Hello again,
This new card reader I bought works great, so I still have 15 minutes. I heard that some of you are calling my emails home ¨epistles¨. Hahaha. Not sure if it´s a good thing or a bad thing. Just wanted to say that I know there are many people outside the church, members I have never met, and all other types of people that do, can, or will read these letters. I am determined to be a witness of Christ always, in all ways. My call to be a missionary does not stop at the borders of this island, and will not end in July of 2013.
Something interesting that I read this week in the Book of Mormon is found in Moroni 7. I have read it before, but it now has more powerful meaning for me. Moroni is teaching us how to judge between good and evil in our lives. He counsels us to no confuse the two, mistaking that which is good for evil, and vice versa. We met a lady who told us that God does not answer prayers, because Satan is in the air spreading lies. I testify that God loves his children, and that Jesus commanded us to pray. He said he would send us the comforter to teach us and bring things to our remembrance in John 14, verse 26. We read in Galatians that the fruits of the spirit are love and peace. I give a firm witness that God is listening to our prayers, and will answer them through the power of the Holy Ghost, as long as we have real intent and faith in Jesus Christ. Moroni 7 explains repeatedly that everything that is good comes from God, and all that is evil comes from Satan. Satan will not testify to you of the divinity of Jesus Christ, tell you to pray, love one another, give service, or anything like it. When we do these things we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. That is exactly what Satan does not want. Remember that the Pharisees accused Jesus of using satanic power to cast out demons, to which Jesus responded ¨a house that is divided against itself cannot stand.¨ Furthermore, Moroni says ¨ For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil.¨
You will know the servants of Christ by their words and deeds. The Holy Ghost will confirm it if you are seeking with a sincere heart.

Elder Nichols

Christmas, I think. 12/19/11

Dear friends and family,

Last Saturday we had a baptism! A couple and 2 kids from different families. I´ll show you the pictures next week because this shop doesn´t have a card reader. It was great. The couple showed up thirty minutes late. But they showed up! I had to baptize the wife 3 times because she kept popping her feet above the water. The third time my district leader told me to step on her feet. So I did. It was tricky, but worked like a charm.

We also had a service project. The mother of one of our investigators was telling us about how she wanted to paint her house, so we said we would do it. She didn´t believe us until we showed up the next morning with 4 other elders ready to work. Took 6 hours but we got it done. One of the other elders and I placed a Book of Mormon with one of her other daughters too. So now 2 of her daughters are investigators. Score one for God´s army.
I had another interesting experience. The boyfriend of one of our investigators never wants to talk to us. He is always ¨busy¨... But we caught him chilling in the street one day sitting in his plastic chair like they all love to do here. I´m still green and naive so I said let´s go convert him and be his friend. Needless to say it didn´t turn out the way I had planned. He immediately told us he didn´t want to talk to us or waste our time, said Joseph Smith was a crazy person, and, well.... A lot of other rude things too. To be honest I left in tears and we went home.

Then during our weekly planning meeting 2 days later I had revelation. This man saw us as representatives of Joseph Smith and the church he started. I don´t really blame him, because that´s normally the first message we tell people. The Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. So for those of you reading this blog that are investigating or something close, members who want to share the gospel with their friends, or anyone else, let me set the record straight.

I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church that He is directing. My purpose is to invite you to follow him, help develop your faith in Him, invite you to make changes in your life in accordance to God´s will and standards, help you to make the sacred covenant or promise of baptism by one holding the authority, help you receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and teach you how to endure to the end, standing as a witness of Christ and developing His attributes. Everything else that we preach is but an appendage to that goal.

I´m out of time, but its good to say that I have a stronger sense of purpose, and when I focused on it during my lessons, I saw and felt a huge difference.

Much love
Elder Nichols

Long time, no see. 12/14/11

Dear friends and family,

Well it´s only been 5 days since my last update, we are now back to the original schedule. This week we mainly just tried to get people ready for their baptisms. We should have 5 this Saturday. Here are the details

Flor and Rafael are married. She loves to sing under the stage name la pluma sutil, which means the subtle feather. She... Is... Interesting... But her husband is super excited about the gospel, and one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Jesu angel is a 9 year old whose parents are members, he just never got baptized. Kinda just fell into our laps when we went to visit his family one day.

Allen is the son of a couple that is waiting on their papers to marry. Bishop said it was a good idea to baptize him, because they are having a lot of legal trouble with their papers.

Devid is a few years older than me, and was waiting to finish school to be baptized. The problem is we can’t get a hold of him to have his interview. Wish us luck with that.

Other than that, just another week in the field. Had a guy tell me he is a prophet and had a vision concerning the United States and that I need to deliver a message to Obama. He was serious. Drunk, crazy, and crazy drunk people all love to speak English to me.... Or at least try.

Oh and I don´t know if I told you all but I’m teaching an English class every Saturday at the church. Its nuts. I teach the intermediate class... Which is just about everybody, because nobody wants to join the kids class and admit they don´t know English.

Pasan buena,
Elder Nichols

It's about time. 12/7/11

Dear Family and Friends,

Hope all is well in... well... everywhere. Today we went to the Temple and had Pizza Hut afterward. It was great. That´s why i´m doing email on a wednesday, cuz the temple is closed on mondays. This week I forgot my cable, so still no pictures. sorry. But I´ve got some good ones I´m just dying to share.

Unfortunately this week we had to drop 4 people because they just won´t come to church. It literally breaks my heart. I hate giving up on people, because the Lord didn´t give up on me. The problem is that we just don´t have the time or energy to spend with people that don´t understand how important this is and don´t want to keep commitments. There is a difference between trying hard but coming up short, and just plain not wanting to act. It´s been tough to learn again and again that my purpose is to invite, and the powers of the priesthood can only be exercised through patience and long suffering. It´s hard because the people I listen to the spirit, pray, ponder, study, and fast the hardest for are the same ones that we had to drop. The ones that are closest to being baptized are the people that have just kind of fallen into our laps.

However, I refuse to let it get me down. I studied lately in chapter 9 of Mormon, which reminds us that God is a God of miracles today, yesterday, and forever, and that his servants will be recognized as doing the same. I was called of God through a prophet and set apart to do this work. These are his children. I was endowed with power in the temple. I was given the gift of the holy ghost and promised through the scriptures that he will guide my thoughts. I am not a casual or social missionary. I will be a sacred missionary. Miracles are not out of reach if I maintain my faith and obedience.

To close, I would like to repeat more or less what I shared with Rosana the last time I saw her. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church this week either, so we will probably have to drop her too. She has had trouble deciding which church, this or her evangelical, is true. Our blunt discussion on authority didn´t seem to get through to her, but I later found out that she has yet to ask specifically in her prayers about this church. She just says that she prays every day. I said, more or less, the following...

¨Rosana, I´m very glad that you say your prayers every day, but this is not what we have been inviting you to do. We have been inviting you to ask your father, through prayer, specifically about this church. This is the most important question that you could ever ask him. Also, prayer is not just you talking on one end. He truly is listening on the other end. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord, which means that as you pray, you have to be listening for his response. This will come through your thoughts and feelings, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Think about it for a moment. Other pastors are confident enough in their own interpretation of the scriptures to try to convince you that they are right. But we are are saying to ask God. Would I tell you to ask God about this church if it was a lie? No. In fact, I can stand here as a witness and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and promise you that if you ask the Father he is going to tell you that everything we are teaching is true. I can do this because I know, without doubt, that this Church is led by Jesus Christ himself, is the kingdom of God on the earth today, and is inviting you to be a part of it. It´s not a copy of his Church led by a group of men. It is the kingdom of God, and as your loving Father in Heaven, he will comform it to you if you just ask him in sincere prayer.¨

My time is up this week. Thanks for your letters and thoughts. If there is anyone reading this that is not a member of the Church, please, don´t ask your pastors, families, friends, neighbors, or even the Mormons themselves if this Church is true. Are you willing to put your salvation in the hands of fallible, imperfect men? I would hope not. Ask God. He is the source of all truth and light. He will not lie. He cannot lie. He does not want to lie. He wants you to be happy in this life and the next. Ask him the most important question of your life. Eternity hangs in the balance, and blessings are in store. I leave this with you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Plain and Precious Truths. 11/21/11

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week come and gone. My companion celebrated his one year anniversary, and I made him guacomole again. Today we played basketball of course but also we played bitilla which is like baseball with a stick and a giant bottle cap. It was ridiculous. This week we also had a cat burglar break in to the house. No literally.... a cat climbed up to our porch and then jumped in through an open window. I´ve got pics of its paw prints to prove it, but I forgot my camera at home this week.

Another Elder in my Ward, our ward has 2 areas, always says the funniest stuff. His name is Elder Allen. This week he said ¨Sometimes I wish Satan had a body so I could punch him in the face as hard as I could¨ and ¨I´m sure there are worse countries in the world, they just don´t send missionaries there¨.

The highlight of my week was that we finally got the conference issue of the liahona, and I was super excited to have my very own english copy. I am very confident in my priest leaders, and they speak the words of Christ. So when I read the liahona I feel like God himself is telling me about all the things I need to hear, including the answers to my prayers. It´s a great feeling.

In our district meeting I was asked a little before hand to speak for 5 or 10 minutes on the Restoration. Normally this should be in spanish, and we all just rely heavily on Preach my Gospel since four of the six of us are still training or just barely finished training last transfer. Anyways, as I was thinking about my tema, or theme, I didn´t feel like speaking spanish. Before you think I´m apostatizing, remember that my companion is the only native in our district, and is only one of two fluent spanish speakers. I didn´t feel like spitting out the same comfortable key phrases that I say to my investigators, because I knew my fellow missionaries wouldn´t get anything out of it. So I thought for a few minutes on how the restoration effects me as a missionary, and what I could say to help my fellow laborers.

I remembered a talk from conference that I had studied that morning by Elder Jeffrey R Holland, and just kind of went by the spirit I guess. I testified that one of the tactics of Satan is to bind our tongues. If we don´t speak up we can´t testify, or teach. We can´t perform miracles. We can´t invite people to come unto Christ, and without these invitations they can´t repent. The importance of our ability to speak up has been paramount ever since the Pre Existence. We have all heard about the War in Heaven, but have any of us stopped to think what that means? I don´t imagine a war of swords or hand grenades. I imagine a war of words. Those of us who chose to follow the Savior testified of his divinity and the perfect plan of our Father. I imagine a great debate in which we fought to maintain our agency and save our brothers and sisters who were enticed by the allure of Satan´s proposal. In fact, this was the war that STARTED in Heaven, but is being fought every day here on Earth.

Satan would have me think that I don´t know enough spanish to testify clearly. He wants me to feel embarassed or too ashamed to speak up. But this week I have learned that it is wisdom in my Heavenly Father that I have to preach in Spanish. Let´s be honest, I like English. It´s comfortable, and I can be fairly persuasive. But in Spanish I can´t worry about the connotation of my words or illustrating an elaborate speech. All I can do is testify of the plain and precious truths that have been so distorted and corrupted by philosophies of uninspired men. I know that God is my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is his Son, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. The more I think about this simple testimony, the more I realize how complex and vibrant it really is. This clearly defines the nature of God as our father, and not some mysterious everywhere but nowhere being that only wants us to worship him. If he is our Father we can become like him. This testimony also destroys the theories of the trinity, or that revelation has ceased. It tells us that God has reached out in love once again to provide us with all that we need to return to him and find strength in a decaying world.

Open up your mouths. Stand up and stand out. Declare with vigor what you believe in. Remember that the God of Israel himself is directing this Church. Billions of Angels are watching intently, taking notes, and aiding us in our endeavors.

Love
Elder Nichols

A Sure Witness. 11/14/11

Dear Friends and Family,

Today was a much needed pday. We played basketball, and later a little bit of RISK. Then we went to the local supermarket for lunch, and I got a ¨Tres Leches¨ which always cheers me up. Don´t worry I had rice, beans, and fried chicken too. My companion told me jokingly in our inventory this week that I need to eat more food. What can I say? I like to eat, and there are no rules against it. I made Mac n Cheese last night with a little bit of queso dip, you know for like dipping chips, and it was delicious.

Still haven´t seen German. I guess that is a good thing. When we found him last time it was cuz he had nothing better to do than sit on his porch and drink and smoke. So it´s kind of a blessing that he is always busy i guess.

I studied a lot about how the Book of Mormon and Bible support one another. I made a little cheat sheet with the help of last month´s liahona. It contains major points of doctrine and references from the Book of Mormon and Bible. Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses shall the word be established right? Mormon himself says in chapter 7 verse 9 that the Book of Mormon was written to convince people of the Bible, and that those who believe the Bible will believe the Book of Mormon as well. 2nd Nephi chapter 29 is a lot of fun for anyone who says that ¨we already have a bible, and we need no more bible¨ The Lord basically says that the testimony of the book of mormon is meant to run together and join the testimony of the bible. He also says that since he is the Lord, he can talk to whoever he wants to, whether they be in asia, the americas, or the isles of the sea. The Lord remembers all of his children, and we should not complain when we recieve more of his word.

I´ve struggled a bit this week. I´m wondering what is the point of all this studying of the scriptures and testifying of the truth when the majority of the people I talk to don´t want to change and will interepret the scriptures according to whatever is convenient for them. I know I´m supposed to be out here, and the Lord needs me specifically in this place specifically. I just feel some days like i´m talking to deaf people. This lady told us how much she prays for guidance and help, believes we should have prophets, and a bunch of other stuff. My companion and I preached to her until we were blue in the face. I straight up told her that God hears her prayers and has sent us to her to help her grow and bring her family back to church, but it didn´t even phase her. She just wants to be right. Even when we explain everything clearly, even when we ask her a question she doesn´t know how to answer and she just changes the subject. It seems like everyone here is just comfortable with what they already believe because it´s safe and doesn´t require them to be accountable or grow. I don´t know... I guess it´s just one of those days. There has to be opposition in all things, yeah? I can´t appreciate my baptisms unless i get a few nutty people. I just wish that I could see that I´m actually helping someone, that someone is truly searching and willing. I know i´m serving the Lord, and I know I´ve served my companion a lot. I guess for now that is enough.

On a brighter note, I had a pretty awesome personal experience this week. My companion told me a really amazing personal story. It got me thinking, and I´ve never had anything quite to that extreme. It seems a little unfair, like in the scriptures when Laman and Lemuel see an angel and they are complete jerks. Why have I not had any powerful visions, dreams, angels or such things. Am I doing something wrong? Am I unworthy? But then, almost instantly, ¨Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe¨. I think this was said concerning thomas, I need to research it. Later I watched ¨The Testaments¨ this week with my companion, Eddileka, and her boyfriend Javier who is a member. It was pretty good, but in the moment after the movie, I just had this powerful feeling concerning the divinity and truth of the Savior´s existence. I´m running out of time, but its sufficient to say that I have a rock solid testimony that he lives, and nobody can take that from me.

Elder Nichols

Bitter sweet. 11/8/11

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was crazy. The bishops dad died and so i went to my first dominican open casket funeral. On halloween. spooky eh? Also saw a crazy lady running through the street in her underwear throwing rocks at people right in front of our church. Today we played lots of basketball, or at least the dominican version, because they don´t like to take it out to the 3 line when possession changes. Transfers are this week too. I´m staying here with my companion, but another elder who has one more transfer than me is training! I´ve also had to remind a lot of people that i´m ELDER Nichols, and not just hermano, or brother nichols. I feel like Jack Sparrow reminding people of his title of Captain.

I´ve got to take back, or at least clarify, a statement I made last week. I said ¨dont tell me that you read the bible¨. Well this week we found our first Jew, who said that Jesus never existed. So.... yeah... please read the Bible. What I meant last week was that I don´t like when people say they don´t need us because they read the Bible. The real reason you don´t want to talk to us is that you are comfortable where you are at, afraid of change, or heard something false about the church. I´m sure there are more reasons than this, but these are the most common ones i´ve run into so far.

I´ve been bummed about people not keeping commitments. You are probably all thinking ¨welcome to the mission field¨ right? At the very least it´s teaching me patience, and I have a better understanding of how Heavenly Father feels when we break our promises to him or don´t do as well as we should. I just wish that I felt I was accomplishing more. Not just the baptismal number, but actually helping people understand. Helping people that are truly looking and willing to act. Almost all the people we are teaching seem to have the same bland, comfortable attitude, as if they are all spiritual zombies. I just wanna scream ¨WAKE UP!!! Don´t you realize how amazing and important this message is?¨

On the other hand it also depends on how we preach. I´ve seen a difference when we ask more questions and try to break out of some of our ¨safe¨ routines. I have to challenge myself to grow right?

So this week I had an interesting experience, and it´s the reason for the title ¨bitter sweet¨ I wanted to wait to share it, but this way you can appreciate my situation more since perhaps you will feel as i feel and learn as I learn. Our ward is split into 2 areas, each area has 2 missionaries, and each has a trainer. Well this week our trainers and leaders had a meeting with President Hernandez (btw eickbush is just an elderly missionary). So I went on exchanges with elder Allen, who was in my group at the MTC. We were scared to death and when we saw our bishop we jokingly said we could the look of terror and sadness in his eyes as he saw two greenies together.

But anyways it actually went pretty well. we contacted new people for 2 hours in my area, and had 3 lessons. The cool part was the third lesson. A guy was smoking on his porch and we said hello. He just looked at us kind of funny and then we said ¨we´re missionaries from the... ¨ and he got up before we could finish the sentence. He let us in apologized for the open container of alcohol, offered us juice, told us that he had friends in the church and left. Then he came back with an 8 year old photo of 2 missionaries holding his baby girl. Then he told us how he wanted to quit smoking and drinking for his family. He told us how his mind and heart were willing but his body was weak. He said how hard it was to quit, and he always feels like he has demons with him tempting him, and how its just easier to pick up the bottle. Now to be perfectly honest, he was probably a little drunk. But not so much that he couldn´t walk, and a greenie missionary could understand his spanish. He recognized us as his friends, as someone who cared, and could help. He begged us to visit him often and help him. And I believed him. I felt he was sincere and my heart went out to him. I had been wondering if anyone truly needed us, and now here was this man begging for our friendship and help.

So I gave him a Book of Mormon. I told him whenever he feels those demons he needs to pray, and pick up that sacred book, and that the temptations would leave. We testified that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and would do our best to help him, but he needed to give it his all. We even gave him a priesthood blessing for comfort and strength. After the blessing we had the following conversation

I said ¨Alright now Germán, you have to throw this stuff away¨
¨I can´t I´m not ready. I´ll start tonight when you two come back¨
¨No Germán you have to start now. You can do it¨
¨No no no I can´t do it¨
¨Germán, do you have faith in Christ?¨
¨Yes¨
¨Do you truly want to leave this behind?¨
¨Yes¨
¨Germán... In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to throw this alcohol in the trash¨

When I said those words, I felt an electrifying power. It wasn´t just a 21 year old kid saying it. It was the Savior. and the Holy Ghost testified of it to me with that feeling. I felt like I was taming the raging seas. Like I could have moved a mountain. I felt like Nephi in front of his brothers while he was building his ship, or Abinidi in King Noah´s court. There was a tangible power in those words.

Germán looked at me with wide eyes, poured out the bottle, and threw it out the window without a word. as he did this i felt more joy, then i have ever felt in my life, and fought to hold back the tears. I told him to give me his cigarettes, which he did. I asked him if he had more and he promised me he had nothing else in the house. As we departed i reminded him he was able to do anything with the help of the savior, and promised we would return.

Sadly, I went back to his house 8 times in the next 4 days, but we always just barely miss him. I´ve prayed and fasted for him, and I have no idea how he is doing. But every time I wonder or doubt, I remember how I felt, and I trust that did what the Savior wanted.

Elder Nichols

Contradictions. 11/4/11

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

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

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