Dear Family,
This week we taught 17 lessons to various people! We picked
up a new investigator named Arturo. He's our English student. He hadn't been at
all interested in the gospel before - just English lessons. But last class he
came and said that he wanted to know more about the church. We taught him the
whole first lesson and gave him a BoM. We agreed to teach him English every
other class, and the Gospel during the ones in between. We're also teaching
another investigator named Luis who want's to be baptized but can't until he's
18 because of his parents. So right now we're just trying to keep him
interested. He's been fellowshipped by a great member family the Arrevolos.
They always take good care of us.
Our problem right now is getting solid appointments with people.
The problem with teaching to Mexicanos (which is 80% of the Spanish speakers
here) is that they're super nice when they find out that you speak Spanish -
even if they're not that interested in the gospel. So we keep getting invited
back and then finding out that nobody's home, or that they won't return calls.
It's frustrating. But we've planted a lot of seeds and handed out a lot of
copies of the BoM, so that's good. I'm loving the work. It's not easy, but it's
not impossible. This week has gone by in a blur, too.
Dad, I've actually thought about that time I spent working at your office a lot. It was great. I
loved going out to get lunch with you every day and then sitting around and
talking for awhile. For my first working experience I can't imagine a better
place than at the office.
I don't feel like I'm 18 anymore, even
when we're teaching kids our age or older. Having a calling from the Lord to
preach his gospel changes you.
Dad, that's an awesome mission experience. Thanks for sending it to me. I hope that I have some like
that during my mission that I can share with my kids in the future. It just
goes to show that the gospel has something to offer everyone. It's hard to hear
people say that they're "good" with God and dismiss the gospel
without even realizing what they're passing up.
My
Spanish is improving. It helps that one of my trainers, Elder Correa, spoke
Spanish at home in Miami because his mom is from Colombia. I've come to learn
that Mexicano and Spanish are two very different languages. I'm trying to keep
my Spanish clear and free of slang, which is hard at times. But I'm doing all
right. My only concern is that I'm not progressing as fast as I'd
like to. But I study hard and my speaking is way better than it was when I was
in the MTC.
This week has gone by in a blur. We're working hard and doing everything we can. Today
I bought two suit jackets and a bike pump - we have suit coat season here since
it cools off in the winter. They were $10 each (I got them from Goodwill because I'm trying to be really careful with my money).
Thanks for sending me the root beer
barrels! Thank Jess for the picture. I love it!
Love you all,
Elder Nichols
