Monday, December 14, 2009

Fruit Cake

So growing up everybody in the family always joked around about how gross fruit cake was and how nasty it was and all. But I never knew why I just thought it was cake with fruit on it and didn’t understand why everybody thought it was so bad. But I UNDERSTAND NOW its so gross. Every time we go into a house I hope they don’t offer us fruit cake because its that bad. I am kind of starting to get used to it but I still don’t like it at all. I don’t really know why I started off talking about that but I just felt like saying that.

Well the climate is changing here and it’s getting much warmer and I am getting a really nice tan its pretty sweet. My comp has been sleeping really bad lately and so he bought some sleeping pills and then his nose was all stuffed up and he was so loud when he was sleeping so that was fun to deal with haha. Also yesterday was the day the Chileans voted for a new president and so everything shuts down its nuts, at least in the morning, and we could only have an hour of sacrament meeting and that was it because it was a group gathering and you are not supposed to have any of such the day of the elections. But they do it weird here, the winner has to win by 50 % or more or they have to have a revote so on the 17th of January they are having a revote because the winner only won by 44% but I was like holy crap 44% that is kind of obvious who the people wanted right haha.

So this past couples of weeks has been really rough because my comp is all sector turnkey or area. He will probably get transferred because he has been here for 6 months at the end of the month and Dichato is really small but he has basically given up on the people here as in with the ward or lack there of because we only have 2 active members in our branch. And it is really hard because we have almost no support and it’s rough. I just hope my new comp has a really positive attitude so things can turn around here. We have lost 2 really good investigators this week so that was rough, they were the two I talked about in last weeks email Rosa and Tamara, we lost them because they have to work all day everyday now since it’s the summer here and this is a tourist town. This also makes it hard because tons of people are just here for the weekend. I guess that the Lord is trying to teach us something. I am not sure, but on a positive note hopefully we will be having 2 baptisms on the 27th if all goes well and according to plan.

Also this week went on a mini cambio or a mini splits for one day. A missionary that has the same time out as me came over to Dichato and I was in charge of the sector for the day. It was cool but I am defiantly not ready for that yet. But if everyone could pray for this guy who cant get baptized yet because of some problem he has, but the problem is not in his hands, it’s in someone else's so if you could all pray for him that would be great


Well this morning I made a great breakfast my comps grandma sent him from dear elder some blueberry pancake mix and so we made some pancakes and I made some really good scrambled eggs with 5 eggs and 4 pancakes and ¨it was tasty but it was filling¨. So yeah I really don’t have anything that cool to share with you this week, but all I am gonna say is that I miss American food and how you can buy anything in the stores there, like its no problem, but I did find some milk this week that is pretty good. It tastes like half and half its like straight cream, but I bought some chocolate milk and added the cream into it and it made it taste like real chocolate milk so good.

Love Elder Nichols

Monday, November 23, 2009

Another week

So another week has gone by in the mission of mine and time flys by. It´s crazy how it truly does. So since promising my AP´s with the 10 contacts I have done about 90 contacts this past week all by myself and it has been really good for me. I was never entirely scared but in a sense I kinda was at the same time. But now I'm not.
We have these pass along cards that we use and people call this number that they can get the Together Forever video, it's pretty cool. There have been a couple of contacts that I did that we set up appointments with them, so I was pretty stoked about that. Also last night I taught my first lesson in the street while my comp was on the other side of the road contacting, and watching me do it alone. It was kinda scary but I did it and I was going to commit her to baptism but I forgot, oh well. It´s kinda funny though when you walk up to people and you ask them if you can say hi, and they keep walking and just ignore you. I love it, it makes me feel great. :-) Also when people say that they have enough and they don't need anymore because they have already been saved. My comp and I were walking to an appt. the other day and I stopped to contact this lady with the Together Forever card, and she said I have all I need, I accepted Jesus as my Savior for 40 years now, and I don't need anymore. Then I kinda went off on her with and said this is the only way you can live with your family forever and I kinda bore my testimony about it. She kinda got mad a little, and in the scriptures it talks about with the sons of Mosiah how people got angry when they heard the truth. It honestly hurts me when people are like that because I just feel bad for them. Also this week we had 3 family home evenings with people and my comp made sugar cookies 3 times this week. I was kinda sick of them by the 3rd time. But then on friday we had another family home evening with our recent convert. Her mom made us fresh pan aka bread, it was so good.

We went and looked at a new house to move into because we were getting kicked out of our last one because 3 years worth of missionaries lived there and it needs some repairs. The new house we looked at is way nice and we will find out today if we can move into it or not.

Also we had a really fun activity on Friday with the youth. What happend was my comp and I bought flour and then our branch presidents daughter bought us some panty hose and we cut the panty hose and filled them with flour and tied them up to make a imitation snowball, it was so much fun. At first we played dodgeball, but then it just turned into a all out war. With enough power these things kinda hurt if you throw them well enough. I was running and my comp was a good distance from me, he came a little closer and I started running and I jumped in the air and well the inevitable happened, I got nailed right in the SWEET SPOT, and then I just dropped like a bird from the sky. It hurt so bad I started yelling and then like 6 girls that were there all came over and started throwing them at my back, and I was yelling "stop" but they didnt understasnd cuz I was yelling in english. They all thought I got hit in the stomach at first. Then I told my comp if I cant have kids I am killing him haha. It was fun for the most part, then we went back and had cookies, chips, and soda. I have some pics of after so I will try and send them. It´s crazy how flour gets everywhere and I mean everywhere. We got permission to change into to regular clothing so just incase anyone was worried, we weren't getting our nice clothes messy.

Earlier that day, this guy who makes missionaries lunch in the next city over, came to our house and made us a whole chicken and french fries, and wow it was amazing. I'm not gonna lie, it was so good. Then he made some flan and by the way flan is pretty good, but the only bad part is that we ate the flan at like 1030 on sat night and my comp and I had to both get up and to to the bathroom at the same time in the middle of he night, it was really funny.

So we made some real progress this week with some investigators it was great. The family that I was talking about last week the we went over there again and they gave us this bean soup thing, it was way good and then eventually talked about the gospel. We left them with the commitment to pray and ask God if the things were true that we had taught them, but they said they didn't. So we had to talk about that and how you receive an answer, and the dad is very stubborn and by the end of the night he said he will ask, but he wont truly ask. His wife (not really his wife because they are not married) she said she is afraid to ask, but she will and their daughter is Evangelical and she was asking lots of questions, but she said she would ask. She also asked us when we meet for church so we told her and gave her the website for mormon.org. We saw her last night and she said she asked and has not received an answer, and went to the web site to see what she needed to do to get an answer I guess. It was great I really hope they can feel the truth of it.

Also the next person we made a huge jump with was this lady named Kris and Cessar we have been teaching. They have a child and they are not married either. When we first got there she told us she had a bad dream about how God was laughing like the devil at her and she was really creeped out by it and so we were talking about it and she didn't jump to any conclusions, so that was good. She asked us if we bless homes or stuff like that and we said yes, and also she asked us for a blessing of comfort. Because she asked her Evanglical friend to give her one, but he said no because she was sinning living with this guy Cessar and breaking commandments. So we did and by the end of the blessing she was crying with joy and was telling us nobody wants them to be together and they have tried so hard to make their relationship work. But we asked to to come to church and they did. I was SO HAPPY it was great. She really enjoyed it. The branch presidents son who is 6 years old, was running around on the stage and during the end while he was up their talking about who knows what haha. I was a little embarrassed but oh well she really enjoyed the meeting. I am really excited but kinda scared for when we teach the 10 commandments and the law of Chasity so if people could pray for them that would be great.
Well I love you all and pray for all of you.

Love Elder Nichols


Chile Concepcion mission
O´higgins 940
oficina 502
Concepcion Chile

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

HOLA

Hey family!!!


So I am sorry about not emailing all of you last week the comp I was using was weird and the time n my card was running out and it was just a huge mess. So some cool stuff happened this week but on Friday we had interviews with the mission president and that was good. And I was made AP haha jk. But The ap´s committed me to doing 10 contacts a day all my myself which has gone pretty good. My spanish is improving a little. But we found like 9 new investigators this week and they are all legit.
And also on friday we were trying to see if this lady was home who we had visited a while back but she wasn't home, so I had the idea to try this other house on the street who this lady said we could come by and teach her sometime, so I thought why not. So we went over there and this guy comes out and he said yeah can I help you and we said is so and so here, and he said what's it to you, and we told him the lady said we could come by, and he said let me check. He came back out and we went into the house. This lesson was so great the old mans name is Nano, and he was asking tons of questions, but they were negative and they progressively got better. It´s hard to explain over email but at one point in the lesson I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith and how the only way to know if the words we were saying were true is from the spirit and not from us, and how you have to pray and ask God if it´s true. And then I gave an an analogy, about how it´s like when his daughter has a question to ask him for ask advice it´s the same thing with our Father in Heaven. And I said all of that in spanish some how. It was amazing how strong the spirit was. I felt so much joy like an excitement of joy. The family committed to pray and ask if the message is true and we told them that they have to listen to the spirit. We have an appt. with them this Friday I am excited.

Then on saturday we walked into a evangelical church and started preaching. Actually we didn't, but we went in there for this girl who we just baptized her nephew. It was pretty different. They sing so much and they all yell during when people pray and such. It was just weird. Its sad to see how satan has blinded so many of Gods children and how the pastor of that church has no authority. It´s sad, it truly is. Then on Sunday I gave my first talk in church only 20 people were there but we did bring 4 investigators there so that was great. We are really trying to improve how many people we bring to church. But my talk went alright it was on keeping the sabbath day holy and the branch presidents son speaks english kinda but after he told me that he understood everything I was saying. So that was good.

So today was really sweet because one it´s p day and 2 we played dodgeball with out zone it was sweet. It was way funny because people asked me if I had played a lot before my mission and I laughed and said nope. I played really well today it was cool. Anyways things are going pretty well if I hadn't mentioned the milk here is way gross and so for breakfast I eat frosted flakes and put yogurt in it with bananas. So i am going to send my address in another email with the pictures I send. But I love you all and miss you all so much, take care.

Love Elder Nichols

Sunday, November 15, 2009

1 month in Chile

HOLA!!!


So this past week we had a baptism. Her name is Denise and she is 17. It was rough because she had a smoking problem and she was having issues with that, but what we did to help it was we stuck 2 cigarettes in milk and let them sit for a day and then had her smoke both of them the next day. It is supposed to make you never want to smoke again. And for the most part it worked. So this past Saturday my companion baptized her and I bore my testimony at the end it was really great.

This past Tuesday it was pretty scary because we had a mini combio or exchange. And I went to this other area called tome where the other missionary went to my area and the missionary that I was going to be with had only been out the same time I had. He is from Hayden Lake his name is Elder Cockrell. Anyways it was crazy because neither of us know much Spanish but somehow we were able to teach like 7 lessons, and contact people and kind of understand what was being said. But it was a great learning experience and we really had to listen to people more carefully. It’s really hard to understand people still but its coming kinda I think.

That night we taught this guy named Sessar and his girl friend who live together or as they call it in Chile their partner, but and they have a little boy. But we have been kinda teaching them and we had taught about the first lesson the lesson before but we had not yet gotten to how Joseph smith became a prophet and so we told her about that. I know she felt the spirit. I could feel it and I could see it in here eyes it was great, but she said she didn’t have much faith. She used to believe in God a lot but not much anymore. My comp put it well he said it’s like a muscle, you have it there, you just have to use it. Then I showed her the promise in the Book of Mormon in Mormon. Also how you can come to know if these things are true. Then we committed her to read some scriptures and to pray it was cool.

Last night we found this cool family that we taught and the mom is Catholic and the dad is Evangelical and one of the daughters goes to church with her dad who is like 10, but she liked what we said. The other daughter is 17 or so, but She committed to get baptized this month but we will see what happens. My comp is really good with the scriptures and used the bible a bunch because they wouldn’t allow the book of Mormon. But by the end of the lesson my comp asked for permission to use it just one scripture and it was great. We will see what happens but yeah pretty exciting.

But for me I am hanging in there I am going to attach some pics of the baptism. The weather is getting really nice except for yesterday it was rainy and crappy so we had only 12 people at church. It’s starting to heat up which is kinda bad because we live in a huge tourist town and right on the beach and where I am at all the girls in the summer walk around in bikinis. So I am really not looking forward to that. It will take a lot of will power to stay focused at times but I know that lord will help me have strength but I will be ok. Well I must say I LOVE CHILEAN BREAD it is the BEST EVER end of story. Without bread Chileans would starve. They eat it with every meal. It`s so good though. We have two days out of the week where we have to make lunch for ourselves and I have been making egg sandwiches they are pretty good. But that and breakfast are the only meals we eat during the day. Their dinner they call it once. It`s basically bread and coffee or postum equivalent. I had my first real tea this past week with mint leaves and sugar it was pretty good. If anyone has any questions or anything about Chile just ask. Love you all so much I truly do and miss you all A LOT more than I thought I would haha but take care and your always in my prayers.
Love you all,
Elder Nichols

Monday, October 19, 2009

Week 2

HOLA



So I have been here for 2 weeks now I can`t believe it. Things are going pretty well here. The only problem is that the members don’t help us at all and it`s so hard without there help. We have a lady in the ward who is pretty old who just tells gossip about everyone and that makes people not want to come to church so it`s kinda frustrating. But anyways we are probably going to have a baptism this Sunday with this girl Denise she is 17 so that will be really great. The other night we were standing in the street contacting people and my comp was like, ok elder your going to go contact the next person all by yourself and I was so scared but I finally got the guts to do it, and it was some semi drunk guy, and I really didn’t make much sense with what I said but my comp jumped in and made it make sense. But we set up an appointment and usually 1 out of every 30 people who you set an appointment with are actually there when you show up. But we went over there and he was waiting there and had a little book we gave him in his hand. So we taught him and it was cool. In lessons I don’t say much but I say what I do know. I still can’t understand really anything people are saying it’s so hard. They talk so fast and I can never say what I want to say. But it’s pretty nuts here because our mission president wants us to commit people to baptism on the first lesson and even in contacts in the street. It seems like things are so focused on numbers here. My gets all number happy but it`s all good. We are also teaching this guy Juan who is ready for baptism but I guess he has some problem so he can't yet but it is fixable so if you could pray for him that would be great. I don’t know what it is but that’s just what our district leader told us from the interview.


So I ate something really nasty I had to eat prunes and they were huge and I also had to drink the prune juice. It was so disgusting. Also we ate some soy meat this week and we ate it twice, it was ok but twice in the same week with out eating real meat, kind of sad. But I did eat something really good called a tirasco. (Picture below)


My comp is miss Betty Crocker, he made some way good cinnamon rolls and then last night made some sugar cookies that were amazing!!! We made burgers the other day for lunch it was way good. This investigator made us some home made bread the other day and wow it was so good and so with that I fried an egg and had an egg sandwich. But that’s the updates with food.


So like a week ago my comp and I had to make a trip to where he got robbed in one of the other cities and I got to go to the prison it was great fun, kinda scary, but fun because we got to wear our p-day clothes and it wasn't Monday. I love you all so much and I will have some good stories to come I hope. One person said my Spanish has gotten better so that was good to hear, but I love everyone so much.

LOVE ELDER Nichols

Friday, October 16, 2009

I made it!!!

Well family I did have a really long letter that I had typed out but LDS mail decided to erase it while I was still in the process of typing it, so here is the summed up version.

My comp is from Richmond Virgin. I am in a town of about 1000 it´s called Dichato, it´s right on the coast. My comp is all right, he speaks Spanish really well. This is one of the poorest places in my mission most of the people here have nothing and it´s very humbling. The people here have been pretty patient with my Spanish, my grammar is not correct but I know they can understand for the most part what I am trying to say, but the problem is that I can understand what they are saying. They all speak so fast it´s crazy. Where we live it´s pretty nice for the most part. But we have a hot water heater that we have to light when we want to take a shower, and the shower floor is nasty it needs a good deep cleaning haha. But Anywho I got here on Tuesday and the flight was so long it was nuts. But when I got to the city we got right to work. We taught a guy on the beach, that was cool, also later that night we were teaching this woman and her step daughter and she had a little boy and the baby pulled her shirt down and lets just say I saw more than I probably should have. Then later that night when my comp and I were visiting an investigators family the family liked my tie and he said I had to give it to them to have because if they like it you have to give it to them. So I started to pull it off and them my comp just started laughing and said he was just messing with me. It was funny.

Also there are so many dogs here that belong to nobody and they are EVERYWHERE it´s nuts. Also Chile won the qualifying game for the world cup on sat night so it was CRAZY here. People were in their cars and yelling and waiving flags and honking and it was pretty fun. I just hope they don't get out soon.

The food here is pretty good, my first meal was way good they call it longinisa it´s a sausage thing and then it was wrapped in chicken and then had mashed potatoes in it, it was way good.
So I had to bear my testimony in church on Sunday which it´s a small branch of like 30 but there are like 200 something on the chart but only like 16 came on Sunday. I introduced myself and I told everybody that I had grandchildren when I was trying to say nieces and nephews, I couldn't remember the word for it and the branch president told me the wrong word as a joke, everybody looked kinda confused but yeah good times. As I started to bear my testimony the spirit hit me so strongly like never before and I just started to cry it was interesting and talk about my love for my Savior. Anyways I really wanna say more but I have to go. I love you all so much and hope to hear from you all. Everybody please email me if you have time.
Love Elder Nichols

Garrett with the Mission President and his wife


Dear family,

Your son has arrived safely and securely in Concepción Chile. He has met his trainer and is now working diligently in his new sector. We are excited to have him here and expect to see many miracles through his service. Attached is a letter from him, a photo with President and Hermana Chavez, and a map to help you know where your missionary is serving. Thank you for your sacrifice and support.

Elder Eric Davis

Secretario

Misión Chile Concepción

Pictures from Garrett at the MTC

Under each picture is what Garrett wrote on the back:

Missionary Impossible


Roger, Roger...do you copy? This is a language program that is supposed to help you learn Spanish but the program hates me it always shuts down.


Me in class...So Happy


Sweet light saber pic


First Sunday at the MTC


My companion and I getting ready


My District on the first week


Here is my hair parted. (Kinda creepy/cool that he looks like dad here)

Chile Here I come!

Hey everybody!!!

So I am leaving on monday at 6 in the morning I am pretty happy but really nervous at the same time. I leave Utah at 951 am and fly to LAX airport get there at 10:45 then leave for Chile at 120 pm and we will not get to Santiago until 525 am then we fly to Concepcion at 800 and get there at 905. It's gonna be pretty crazy I must say. It will be really weird to just be sitting there and not have to do anything.
So I just want to tell everyone that I have been so blessed here to have such a great district and it has been so fun. We are all so close. In the TRC on monday we taught a lady from Honduras and I think I spelt that wrong so I'm sorry, but it was so hard to understand her but even though I really didn't understand her much I was able to say what I felt she needed to hear durring the lesson. We taught another lesson to my old teacher and it was cool because she asked me a few questions and I didnt have a clue what she said, but I just started talking, and after the lessson she said that what I said back fit with what she asked and I know that was the spirit helping me. Last sunday we had testimony meeting and I went up and bore my testimony and I felt the spirit so strong it was great.

The fire side on Tuesday night was really good. The woman used to be the young womans president but she talked about some really good things. She focused on how we can do hard things and get through them. She said quote"anything worth doing wasnt easy" and it reminded me of red flag day in wrestling and how I was always so tired and gave it my all and I WANT TO GIVE IT my ALL on the mission and be dead every night from working so hard. I know that I can do hard things and I have to remember that.

So last week I was sick I had a cough it was no fun, but I'm all better now because I took some drugs haha. But this week all of a sudden it got cold no megusta tiempo. SO I am happy that I am heading off for Chile but there are some areas where I may be in the Andes mountains so it could get pretty cold:(. Anyways love you all and cant wait to hear from you.

Love Elder Nichols

Saturday, September 26, 2009

One Week to Go!

Hey everybody!!!

So I cant beleve that I will be leaving the MTC next monday. It's crazy the time has gone by here SOOO FAST but I have learned a lot. But I have not gotten my flight plans yet but I do know that I am leaving next monday sometime!! So this week not much happened but funny thing at the fireside was that Whitney Clayton spoke and he is the present of the seventy but the funny part was is that his wife spoke also and she looked like she had botox injections it was hilarious her face didnt move when she talked it was great haha it made me laugh, she was pretty hard to look at when someones face looks like that.
But it was a good fire side and they talked about how were never alone and how when the times get tough the Savior gets closer. Also how important it is to not waist any time and even if it's just 5 minutes you have left to take advantage of it.
This week my comp and I taught the 2nd lesson in spanish and it was the plan of salvation it was great it's amazing how powerful the spirit can be. The scenario was that this man had just seperated with his wife and that his brother had just died and even though it was fake it felt so real. Because even though my spanish is not that great right now I was still able to speak the feeling of my heart and about my situation with my parents, and after we were done the person said they felt the spirit really strong. It was really cool and I am greatful for this chance to share the gospel with the people in Chile. I feel that my spanish has gotten better than what it was so that is a plus. Also I have been much more positive this week so that has been good. It was fun this week again because our district got to host new missionarys again and show them around the mtc. I hosted a elder from hong kong it was cool.

Then that same day I scored a goal in soccer it was a pretty sweet goal I must admit haha Jon you would had been proud!! I hate that I can't remember anything funny that happens during the week that was funny. But I will say that this one elder in the district has some way bad gas and it's bad, but luckily there is a window or we would all die. This food seriously does something to you it's nuts.



LOVE Elder Nichols

Friday, September 18, 2009

2 weeks and a couple of days

Hola,


It's crazy to think that all I have left is about 2 weeks and a couple days!!! The time flies bye here it seems like just yesterday I was getting dropped off. But I head for Chile on the 5th of October!!! I don't feel ready at all, and when I say at all, I mean at all.

Anywho this past week Elder Holland was here it was Amazing!! He talked about how as missionaries we need to open our mouths and how preach my gospel was not made to convert the investigator but to convert the missionary. But also how important it is to teach to the needs of the investigator. But what really stood out to me was when he started to talk about how hard the mission will be and how much it will change our lives. He started to talk about how us being servants of the Lord and how we will never get this opportunity back and to have this apostolic power as Elder Holland does. But as being a servant of the Lord we will feel as the Savior felt in a degree as he was laughed at and mocked and the pain he felt in Gethsemane. We will feel that pain a little and bear that cross upon us. That hit me so strongly and I want this mission to be hard, and it already had been such as on monday when I almost lost it because spanish was getting to me and I just wanted to cry. But it's times like those that help me grow and change me. But this week we are teaching the El plan De salvation on monday so everybody pray for me please that I will do ok.

Anywho on wednesday I got to be a host for new missionaries and and that was way fun.
Well I really don't have much else to say but I hope all is going well for everybody and I miss you all and love you all so much.

Love Elder Nichols

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Hello

Hola como esta!!!

On sunday was testimony meeting and it was so powerful the spirit was so strong and it was just great. The spirit testified to me why I came on a mission and that I truly do know this church is true. I was pretty emotional but it was good and I really needed to feel the spirit. That night we had a fireside about how we as missionaries need to go the extra mile with our investigators and how important to let them know that we care about them. Because thats truly what is about is teaching to their needs and following the spirit. Then on tuesday night we had another fireside with elder hinkley from the seventy and he talked about lots of things but mainly I got out was that without faith that this work would be nothing and that as missionaries we cant just do it over night and become a perfect missionary and it gave me a lot of strength with learning spanish it was good to hear. A really cool experience I had was in the RC aka referral center and I was chatting with this less active member and he had not gone to church in a long time and thought God forgot about him and just felt bad. So I told him that he should go back to church and how blessed he will be for going back to church and that he should pray and talk withGod and feel His love for him. I could feel Gods love for him so strongly and I told him that I said God loves you so much and wants to bless you and he will. I committed him and he said he would pray. I felt so good and so much joy knowing that I helped him. Also this week was the first time my comp and I taught in spanish and wow it was way hard. It was a challenge and and we have been teaching more in spanish this past week but I feel like I don't know as much as I should but I just gotta have faith and trust in the Lord. I just have to stay positive and know that I can do this and I know I can it's just this in between part that is hard right now.

Today we went to the temple and I had a really great experience and felt the spirit really strong about something I was praying about and I know the Lord hears and answers my prayers. The Savior truly knows us and knows what were going through I know that is true. I hope everybody is doing well and I love you all so much I will try and send some pics by next week or something.
Love Elder Nichols

1 month

This past week was my 1 MONTH mark pretty crazy I have been here for 4 weeks it's crazy how it flew by!! I have about 5 weeks left it seems like long time but the days and weeks just fly by and they all just blur together it's crazy. When I sit down each night to write in my journal I seriously cant think of anything we did that day it's really weird. So way funny story so on like monday my comp and I were coming back from gym and the door was locked and the other two elders that live in the room were on their way back, but we were waiting to get into the room to shower and we never lock the door but this time we did and I was freaking out about it so they finally came and unlocked the door and then we went to go take showers, and when we came back to the room the door was locked and we were all just in our towels and I just started laughing cuz it was so funny. So our district leader had to go to the front desk and which made it that much funnier cuz he was way mad about it HAHA we have some pics I might send them later.
We got a new teacher this week he name is hermana bott she is really great and I think she will be able to push me a lot. We taught a mini practice first lesson in spanish this past week it was really hard and but it just made me realize how much more I need to study but it also made me feel kinda good to know that I did that. But later we did it by ourselves without our comps I got really down because it was much harder. I am trying to stay positive and be mentally tough and know that I need faith and trust in the Lord. It amazing how much better I can understand the scriptures now it's really cool. I was studying about Gods love for us and how he works and some just some new incite I got when I was reading. Also this past week we had some really good devotionals the one on tuesday was about ancestors and where the conversion story started and it was really great, something that hit me strong was when of the speakers said that we are here to get the 2nd group of people in the sea with the net of the gospel. It made me think of all the people waiting in Chile and waiting for me to come and teach them this gospel and have the spirit testify to them. I have such a strong love for the people in Chile and I am not even there yet. It doesnt make much sence.
I hope everyone is doing great and I am so greatful for this gospel and I know that this is where I am supposed to be and may the Lord bless all of you and know that I pray for all of you everynight.
Love elder nichols

Saturday, August 29, 2009

3 weeks can you believe it...almost 4 I've been gone

Hola family and others,

Hey everyone so this week was pretty good for the most part. The food is pretty good except the fact that it seems like were always eating. So everyone in my district has gotten sick and felt like crap except for me... well I had a sore throat for like 2 days, but it was nothing like everybody else felt. Everyday we play fuitbol and I love it, it's so much fun we saw some deer running across the field and it made me think of home haha. So yesterday I got 3 shots and now my arms are dead, but later that night some guys in my zone did this thing called the dirty dozen which is we start at 12 push ups and then do 12 sit ups and go back down until we get to one. But last night we started at 15 and this was the first night I had ever done this and my arms felt like thy were gonna fall off but yeah it's a good workout!!!! Anyways packages are always nice.

The language has it's hard days and it's good days with learning it, but I know the Lord will provide a way because he called me to this mission and I will have the gift of tongues. So there is this place called the RC it stands for referral center where people go on Mormon .org and can chat with missionaries. So this guy got on and asked me why his baby died of brain cancer and why did that happen and this was a non member but it was so cool to tell him about eternal families and the atonement and that he will be able to see his son again and about the Book of Mormon and how I know theses things were true. This was all over chatting but it's amazing how you an feel the spirit. I felt so much joy and I sent him a link to get a free B.O.M and the "families are forever" DVD. Also on Tuesday night we had Richard G. Scott come and speak with us and the spirit was so strong, he talked about prayer and how it's a privilege to talk with our Father in heaven. And how important it is to listen to the spirit and follow the promptings and how sometimes we might not understand why but we should always listen. The spirit bore witness to me that he is truly an apostle of the lord and that he still walks and talks with the Savior as he did in the days of old and receives direct revelation. I KNOW this is true. I love you all so much and hope everything is going well. I love you all and miss you and I pray for all of you every night in Spanish. May God be with you.

LOVE ELDER NICHOLS

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Second Email....HOLA

Hey everyone thanks for all the letters they are great to get you have no idea!! I never really knew how important they are and how much better they make my day.

So this week has been alright but the spanish has been frustrating. It's crazy how you have no time for yourself and it's just go go go all the time. Everything is all planned here and it's good but just different. My companion is so freaking funny he makes me laugh so hard. It's great he is so sarcastic I love it because I can be myself also with him, I have taken this as a blessing.

I really don't know what to say. I'm just gonna respond to some of Jons questions because it's something to talk about haha. Jon the life on the inside is really different it's hard getting used to having a companion everywhere I go and if I have to go to the bathroom then I have to wait outside the door and wait for him. But the daily schedule is wake up at 630am then we shower, then usually go to an hour of personal study, or on other days go to gym for an hour which means go play soccer which is WAY FUN, then go eat breakfast, then we go to class for like 4 hours, then go eat lunch, then go back to class, or have comp study for an hour. Then dinner, then language study time, or missionary directed learning time, then at the end of the night we plan out the next day, it's pretty intense but my comp and I make it fun.

But anyways back to everyone else lol um we had some good speakers this past week and one of them talked about how how important it is to teach with the spirit and to invite others to come unto Christ because that is my purpose and it's amazing how strong the spirit is, it's great feeling it so often. We teach in this thing called the TRC every week where we teach the lessons in preach my gospel and as you teach and act like the people your teaching aren't members you can still feel the spirit and when you teach these truths the spirit teaches you of it's truth and it has really helped my testimony grow. Today we went to the temple and it's amazing how close I can feel my parents every time I go. That's when I feel most close to them and I just love it. But I know this gospel is true and that the Savior did sacrifice Himself for us and that he loves us no matter what happens. Take care and i love you all so much:).

LOVE Elder Nichols

Saturday, August 15, 2009

First Letter















HOLA!!
So wow this is crazy I'm a missionary it's been a week and two days!!! It's pretty great here my companion's name is Elder Robinson he is from Oregon and is a pretty good guy. He seemed pretty serious at first but he has lightened up a lot so it's been good. It's really been hard getting used to always having to bring your companion with you everywhere like how they have to stand outside the bathroom and all haha.... so the first three days here were really long because they were full of meetings and not that the meetings were boring but they were just LONG hahaha. The food is better than I expected so that's been a plus but it's nuts cuz you can have as much as you want but don't worry i have self control for the most part:) There are 2 other elders that live with my comp and I and one of them i really get along with really well his name is Elder Hardman he is from cali and the other is from draper utah. Ok so im sure everybody is wondering how the spanish is coming and it's ok i can pray and bear my testimony for the most part. But it's pretty hard but i know that if i study and do my part that the lord will do his part in just like in a fireside we had on Tuesday and Elder Snow from the seventy said "He will help me help him" The spirit is so strong here it truly is amazing, the spirit touches me it's just great and very powerful. There is this thing called dearelder.com you can submit a letter and all you need is my mission and when I came into the MTC (Aug. 5th) and I think thats it. I just want to ask for your prayers and letters cuz I need all the help I can get, hope everything is going well for everyone and hope to hear from all of you. Love you all very much. LOVE Elder Nichols