May 3, 2010

Hola everybody

Well my time is officially up in dichato I am getting changed to a place about 3 hours east called leanaras. And I am happy and sad to leave Dichato but I and excited to see new things and to meet new people and help new people who are waiting for me.. I hear where I am going it rains a ton and that itś freezing also and itś in the country.So the other day my comp and I were hitchhiking like we do everyday to our sector and because there are not many buses that pass by but we got picked up by someone from Australia and it was way weird speaking English but cool also.

Yesterday Was as of this point the best day of my mission. I have been In Dichato for almost 7 months and had not seen much success and it has been a long tunnel to keep following. But as they always say there is light a the end of the tunnel and yesterday I was a witness of that and I finally reached that light. First the 3 kids we are teaching showed up for the first time who are related to the family that we baptized yesterday and they showed up to church obviously also. Then this other family showed up and missionary's had been teaching them for like a year and it was the dads first time coming to church. I could not believe it. In total we had 12 investigators in church and there was a total of 52 people in church. Now for those of you who don't know Dichato is a little small branch and in the past we have had 8 in church before, so 52 is AMAZING. It was fast and testimony meeting and it was so good there are some members that are progressing so much in Dichato and men are getting the priesthood and things are getting done. I bore my testimony and later on that night my comp told me when I got done a lady next to him said she could understand everything I said and I said it all correctly. I was amazed and thanked the lord for his help. But after that came the best part of the day the FAMILY BAPTISM!!!!! The dads name is Victor and the oms name is margarita and the son is Benjamen and they have a 3 year old daughter who is the cutest little thing. But anyways this was my first time baptizing somebody personally. The service was really good a guy from the stake young mens gave a talk and then I baptized the mom she asked me to do it and that made me feel good. then 2 other missionary's sang abide with me tis eve tide in spanish and english. And then our branch president gave a warm welcome and did an amazing job with that it could not had been better I teared up a little bit. Then the last song we sang was family's can be together forever and I couldn't even sing that song because the spirit was restricting me and I was crying kinda but it was tears of joy for the family and knowing that they can have that goal in the temple. Also it made me think of my own family and hope and pray that I can be with EVERYBODY in the in the celestial kingdom and at this point that cant happen and I pray for every night. But I had never been so happy in my life and just so full of joy , just like the scripture says about how great will be you joy by bringing one soul unto Christ. I love being a missionary and love sharing this message of truth and of salvation with everybody and how they can live happier in this life, there is no better calling in the world.

Love Elder Nichols