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

April 26, 2010

Hey everybody hows it going up there in the good ole USA? I hope it`s going good for everybody. Well not much happened this week we had interviews with the president and I am pretty sure I am finally changing areas and I really want to get a latino comp so I can finally learn spanish haha because I really need it because my spanish is horrible. At the same time it will be sad to leave and especially since things are going really good in Dichato and I think in the month of May we will have baptisims every week so that will be cool. I am so excited to baptize this family this next sunday I might cry im not kidding but we are going to buy a picture frame and put a pic of the temple in it and give it to them and tell them this is there goal in one year so they can go get sealed together. I am greatful for all that I have learned in Dichato and know that I was sent there for a purpose.

So the weather had flipped a 180 and it is freezing here, I don't like it at all and I am not looking forward to the rain at all. It rains non stop here and even the Chileans hate it, but yet they still live here haha. My comp has been sick this past week but I have stayed strong because it`s all in the head you gotta have mental thoughness haha. Well not much else, my comp and I got invited to a baptism of this kid we are teaching his mom just wanted him to get presented as they call it, but he knows that the true church has a prophet and apostles and his cousin we are teaching also and they understand that really well and it`s really cool. Well not much else happened but I gotta go but I love you all. The pictures I am sending next week are of all the kids were teaching and the little girl is from the family that we are baptizing she is so cute. Anyways love you guys.


Love Elder Nichols

April 19, 2010

Hola!!!!

YO estoy muy feliz sobre esta semana passado, I am very happy about this past week. First of all we had this really cool family home evening in one of the encampamentos with an investagator and her sister in law who is a member and we taught the restoration using candles and and the apostasy it was really cool. Then that day we put up a tarp above her tent so it would not get hit by water when the rain comes. It was really cool how powerful the Book of Mormon is, it truly has power in many ways. This woman Laura who smokes and we have been teaching the other night she told us she was going to smoke and then read the part that we gave her to read and so she was about to smoke then she thought she would read first then smoke, but after she had got done reading she said she had no desire to smoke and felt so much better. This was before teaching the word of wisdom. It put such a big smile on my face when she told us this. She has changed for the better and she understands now and it´s so great. Then on Saturday we taught this man Miguel and his wife who is a less active member and we have been sharing with them for about a months and a half now. He works every Sunday and sometimes he gets a day off but has not been able to come to church. We taught him about keeping the Sabbath day holy and such, like every time we had come we invited him to come to conference and he was going to try to come but he didn't then the week after that we fasted for him to come and have faith with his job and we taught him such a strong lesson and promised him blessings and we told us that we speak beautiful. And I was really caught off guard by that and the spirit was so strong and we promised him better work because if he misses one more day than he will get fired. As set apart representatives we have the authority to promise blessings and that's what we did because he needs to get baptized. But he didn't come so we didn't get to teach him until this past Saturday and we read either 12 which is all about faith and promised him if he just had faith then the Lord will provide the way. So he shook our hands and promised us he would come. So we came to look for him and his wife the next day and he was waiting ready to go but really nervous it was cool. And at church we had all the stake leads there and they spoke and the spirit was great and things are getting done in our little branch which is not so little anymore yesterday we had 45 people in church it was so great. The record is 55 but we just need a few more people to come and we will break it.

Also we have 4 baptisms set for the 2nd of may 1 more we will set after today and we will get 5 on may 2nd I am praying. Also we already found work for the man Miguel. We have a family of 3 and the lady Laura and the man Miguel. If everyone can pray that all goes well that would be great. Also I got a couple of complements about my spanish which was really cool even though I still fault a lot.

The pictures are from Dichato the fire one is pretty sweet we are holding the Book of Mormon in our hands and the cake is from a sister who made me that for my b-day.


Well not much else to say but thanks for all your love and concern about me.


Love Elder Nichols

April 12, 2010

Hey everybody hows it going hope all is well with everyone. I had some really good experiences this week with some lessons and felt the spirit so strongly and Love being able to share this message with people and how they can enter into the kingdom of God and can live forever in happiness if they follow the example of our savior Jesus Christ. I don't have much time so I will just bear my testimony that I know this Gospel is true with all my heart and that Jesus suffered for our sins and he loves us so much and that if we don't participate in his atonement through baptism then we have to suffer alone and suffer all the pain that he suffered if we don't follow him and be cleaned of our sins. If you have Not done this then there is NO WAY you can enter into the kingdom of God. I Am grateful to be here in Chile and to help people in Dichato and it makes me feel so good. Well don't have much time but I'll write more next week.

Love elder Nichols
ps Somebody found my original plaque from the tsunami and we had a dog that walked into the church pretty funny.

April 5, 2010

Hey everybody I'm now one year older and wiser to but maybe not wiser but it´s apart of the song so I had to keep it in. Birthdays are pretty cool on the mission because I had a cool experience I like to call it my spiritual birthday present. So after lunch we went back to the apartment where we are living with the other two elders in their sector, and they decided to fast my comp and I were very opposed to the idea considering it was my birthday and everything, and I wanted to eat my candy I got in the mail, when I got home for my birthday. But I sucked it up and tried to think about all our investigators and the help they needed and such. So I went along with it and we all fasted for each others investigators. So we made our way to dichato and we had a lesson scheduled with this old investigator who really didn't understand baptism and then in the middle of something we were teaching her she asked us when we had a baptism scheduled and we told her, and she said that's what I need, I am missing that in my life. I could not believe it, it was so cool. Then a lady that was sitting in the same area, but a little ways away came over and said she needed to be baptized also and be cleaned from her sins. It was so SWEET. But I know that was because of our fasting and that the Lord works in his time and in his way. It was a great birthday present to receive. I did get a birthday cake More or less from this lady who is so great she made it but we ate it the day after but it was really good.

So conference was Amazing and I loved how it was all about the family because we had our golden family there on sunday morning watching and they loved it and after they had a mini baptismal interview to check on their progress and they are doing awesome and they will most likely be in white in the end of the month. Well I am doing good and just trying to help these people here in Dichato and trying to love them.

Love Elder Nichols

March 15, 2010

Hola todos

Wow what a week it´s been. We have been doing a lot. First on monday we went and started to clean the church from about 11 until 7 pm and took out the carpet and tons of people were there from other parts of Chile helping to get the chapel ready for sunday. People were working on it all week. On wednesday we were there and cleaning and then some guy ran in and said tsunami alert and at the time I was outside cleaning stuff so my comp and I walked in and got our backpacks because everything we own is in there and some guy was yelling at us and said hurry this is no joke, but we had plenty of time because we went up on this high road and waited there for 2 hours just waiting and nothing happened. There was an after shock in Valporazio or somewhere but ya nothing happened in Dichato. So anyways we got to make some visits and I gave my first blessing in spanish this past week and I was so scared but it worked out pretty good so I was grateful for that. I just wanna say how Much I love teaching people and bearing my testimony and feeling the spirit and having the spirit teach. So my comp and I did splits with the missionaries were living with the other night and went into this persons house and this lesson was really weird, but really good, and some how it got onto the Book of Mormon because my comp shared a scripture from it and my then the questions came. My comp tried talking about all the ancient facts of the Book of Mormon and how people lived here in the Americas and such. And he really wasn't taking the bate. So I stepped in and basically just told him How I knew it was true how I prayed and asked God and how God CAN'T lie and I asked him if he would ask in a prayer if it is true and he said he would. I don't know if he did But I know he felt something as we were there.

So as for Dichato tons of people are living there in tents and it´s really sad but in a way the people of Dichato really needed to be humbled. I know that this earthquake happened for the benefit because God does nothing that does not benefit his children. So the chapel was ready for this past sunday and we had a special guest and Elder Amaddo came he is the president in the area presidency of Chile. This past week we were inviting everybody to church and went around to all the members and asked them what there needs were. But usually in church we have around 16 or 20 every sunday and for 3 sundays we had 8 but this sunday we had 45 people at church. It was AMAZING and I really hope that everyone keeps coming. I really hope that the people will be more receptive now and people will want to come unto Christ and follow his example in the correct form. I am grateful for everyone and your prayers hope all is well take care.

Love Elder Nichols

Great Week-March 29, 2010

So this week we did so much service it was great and there were tons of missionary's. We went into some houses that were destroyed and took out everything and it was crazy and really sad at the same time. I just want to say that I love being a missionary and letting people know they can change and that through Jesus Christ anything is possible. There is this lady who hasn't come to church in a long time and so right after the earth quake she was on her way to church the first Sunday we were holding meetings and as she was on her way down she was stopped by someone who told her her son just killed himself. So we visited her that week and we have started to teach her husband he has a date to get baptized on the 25 but this past week we were coming down from their house and it was really dark and we heard this voice say, Mormons Mormons and so we went over there slowly. It was The older brother who is 23 of the guy who killed himself. He is not a member but he asked us why would someone kill them self. And I had no idea how to respond. We told him we cant always understand everything but we know God loves you. Long story short he told us he wanted to change and be better but he has done a lot of bad stuff and that you can through Jesus Christ and that you can see your brother again. I told him about my parents and how that has been hard for me. The spirit was pretty strong even though he was drinking a little, he was crying. My heart went out to him and it made me hurt inside. But we went back the next day and taught him and it was so awesome and I know once he prays and asks God some things he will be truly converted.


Well We had 41 People at church this past week and I was SO STOKED it was great. We have found some great people and if everybody could pray for victor and margarita they are the golden family. Also my comp and I got to go to the mall here and buy some new clothes and wow let me tell you it was so weird we felt so out of place but it was good to buy some new things. The best part is that we bought MCDONALD'S it was AMAZING no other words to describe it. Things are going good here not much else to say but the pics I sent are from Dichato and the people are members that we had some kits that we were sending around. There is this guy with this sweet moustache. Well I gotta Go but if anyone has any questions just ask. Next week I will try and send some pics of the camps that people are living in so you all can get an image of what people are living in. It is really sad and it´s hard to see.


Love Elder Nichols