Thanksgiving Celebration

December 1, 2013

Hello everyone,

It's great to hear from you!

Also, thanks a lot for your letters. It was exactly what I needed that day. Tell Jess I hung her turkey on my wall, and give her a hug for me.

I've been doing really well this week. Thanksgiving was fantastic. Lots of really good food. The day before we went out to the church farm with Elder Manning and spent some time filling in holes with sand in order to make a horseshoes course.  I missed out on candied yams with marshmallows. It seems that they're being given up in favor of various other yam dishes, which is a shame. But Sister Whiting did cook come with apple slices and syrup that were an acceptable substitute. Actually, Sister Whiting's cooking was delicious. she made pumpkin ice cream pie, pecan pie, and the best rolls.  She also made a dish called broccoli puff that's a mix of broccoli, mayo, and cream of mushroom soup with crumbled up cheeze-its on top that you bake in the oven. It was really good.

On Friday, we went to a flea market (fajuca) in Orland. Lots of loud mariachi music and haggling over chickens, but all in all it was fun. I bought an elote - corn on the cob with mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and chili sauce on it.

Tuesday, we ate with the Jones family. They're some great members in our ward. Brother Jones speaks Spanish. He and his wife weren't converted until just after they had their first son, who had a priesthood blessing that restored his hearing when he was little.

On Wednesday I challenged Ghost Peppers in the form of "Ultra Death Sauce" and was severely chastened for my audacity. Fun fact: Ghost Peppers are 900 times hotter than jalapenos.

t tasted pretty good after I stopped crying.

I can't believe Sam is a 16 year old. I can hardly even wrap my mind around the thought of him driving. Time is definitely going by fast.

Can't wait to talk to you all for Christmas!

love,

Elder Nichols

 

 

Dear family,

 

Life has been rough this week. There have been a lot of people talking about the holidays and their families, etc. plus Elder Edwards is going home in two weeks. It's been really hard to avoid feeling homesick.

 

My week went as follows: 

It was cold and rainy, we had all of three lessons, and nobody wanted to open their doors for us. But we worked through it and picked up a new investigator. Her name is Dianna. She lives in Hamilton City. 

 

It's unlikely that our strongest investigator is going to be baptized on December 7th. We've discovered a few problems with him that he's going to need to take care of before baptism. But I still have high hopes for him, and I feel like he was prepared to receive the gospel. 

 

Transfers are in a few weeks. Apparently we're getting four Spanish sisters but no elders. So it seems likely that either Chico or Orland will be taken over by a sister companionship and we'll be shipping out for another area (if it's Chico at least). I'll let you know about that when I find out. 

 

We're going to be eating with the Whitings and the Mannings (two senior couples in our branch) for thanksgiving. I'm sure it'll be great. 

 

Love you all too.

Jake

 

suspicious Krispy Kream sales

November 18, 2013

Dear Family,

This week was really slow. First off, we got two calls last Sunday. One from Alonso's mom saying he couldn't meet with us for two weeks, and the other from Maria and Miguel saying they were going to be in Mexico for two weeks. So with our teaching pool drastically reduced, we went ahead and tried to find some new investigators. No dice. We had an experience with a kid whose dad wanted us to teach him. He's into gangs and had his jaw broken by a baseball bat at one point. His dad was understandably worried about his future. But when we showed up, it turned out that his dad was basically trying to force him into talking to us. He didn't want anything to do with it. It just goes to show you that agency is a huge part of the plan of salvation.

In other news, we found a weed farm  in Chapman Town - little house surrounded on all sides by nopales (cactus), fences with plywood nailed to them to make them higher, and to top it all off, barbed wire on the tops. The smell was overpowering. I don't know how they manage to do business if a couple of missionaries can spot their hideout, but whatever. I guess the police force here is too busy investigating krispy kream sales to bother themselves with drug pushers. We saw a meth house too. It had a gang symbol spray painted by the door. You know when you're in drug territory when you see tennis shoes strung up on electric wires too. Lots of secret signs, etc.

Exactly like the robbers of Gadianton. That's why I really like the story in the BoM where it talks about the Lamanites preaching the gospel among the robbers in their part of the land - and that the entire group of robbers was disbanded as a result. Pretty cool.

We had a great lesson with Manuel. He's been so prepared, it's incredible. He actually understands what we leave with him to read in between lessons, and constantly says that what we teach makes a lot of sense to him. He told us that he knows he needs to be baptized into the "restored church" which was great first of all because he has that conviction and second of all because I've never actually heard an investigator use those words before. He just understands. So we feel blessed to be teaching him.

Thanks a ton for writing. I love hearing about how everyone back home is doing and how your weeks are. Time is still racing by. I can hardly believe it's been another week already. I want to make the most of every day I get.

Love you,

Jake

November 4, 2013

November 4, 2013

Dear Family,

Great to hear from you this week!

I have a miracle to share: 

We went to visit Manuel for the second time on Saturday, and started off our meeting after the prayer by asking him if he had any questions. He said: "Yes, where's your church?" (This is all in Spanish). We explained to him that the branch meets in Orland - about 20 miles away. He paused for a minute, and then said: "Well, I've ridden my bike to Hamilton before (about halfway to Orland), so I think I could make it there. It would take me a few hours, and I might get there a little bit late. I don't have a car. But I want to be at church." His faith is incredible. He's already prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and he knows that the gospel is true. He accepted a commitment to be baptized on December 7th!

Right now we're trying to coordinate some way to find him a ride to church next Sunday since we don't want him to have to ride his bike. So now we have three investigators with baptismal dates: Alonso, Clarisa, and Manuel. We're really excited. Right now Clarisa's Mom is unwilling to give her permission to let her daughter be baptized. We're still not sure exactly why, but we're going to meet with them this week. Hopefully her mom comes around. 

This week was great. Other than all of that, I blessed the sacrament for the first time in Spanish, which was kind of cool. 

In other news, we got a new car! The mission replaced our Malibu (which I had grown to hate because it turned about as well as an aircraft carrier and bottomed out all of the time) with a 2014 Toyota Corolla. It's amazing how well the church is able to take care of missionaries, and I know it's because of our faithfulness in keeping the Law of Tithing. 

I've heard that BYU has changed a lot since the mission age-change. I hope it's back to normal when I get back. I feel bad for all of the RMs who are coming home right now and not really meeting anyone. 

For Halloween we had to be in by 6:00 because of all of the stuff that happens in Chico that night, so we just sat around and played board games. It was pretty fun, I guess. We got In-N-Out to eat for dinner too, so it wasn't all bad. 

  

Tell Kate congratulations on her basketball win for me! 

Mom, how's being the Primary President going? I can't imagine that. I don't remember if I told you, but we've had to teach the primary class in our branch a few times because of lack of teachers, and it's AWFUL. I know that's probably bad, but teaching in Spanish is hard, and teaching kids is even worse. I'm not well cut out for it. And doing both at the same time? Bleh. 

 

I know you do a fantastic job using your mom-skills though. You're great :)  Thanks for being my mom. You put up with a lot while you were raising me, and I'm where I am today because of that

Good on you, Dad, for talking with Pedro. A lot of people undervalue the connection that speaking someone's native language can make - especially when they don't speak English. Even when it's not perfect, I know that they tend to appreciate someone communicating with them. That's a great missionary opportunity too.

Love you, 

Jake

Miracles...in Spanish...at 90 miles an hour

October 21, 3013

 Hey family!

It's been another week as usual - except for that we experienced a miracle. A while ago, a guy named Manuel approached us and asked us for a copy of a bible in Spanish. We gave him a Book of Mormon instead, since we didn't have any copies of the Reina Valera (Spanish Bible) with us, and told him we'd come back. We did, but he wasn't home, so I jumped the fence (since his trailer is surrounded by a fence made out of various gates and we couldn't figure out which one actually opens to get onto his property and which ones are just bolted to the others) and left a copy on his porch.

Then, we went back a few days ago and he was there! He invited us in (turns out you have to take a hidden board out of the gate-fence to open it) and had us sit down. He wanted to know how to use the Book of Mormon and the Bible together, so we explained the origin of the Book of Mormon to him and why they support each other. He then told us that he had read the pamphlet about the Restoration that we left, and that he had followed the suggestion in the back to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. He said he received an answer in the form of a comforting, peaceful feeling. It was awesome! And then, as if that wasn't enough, he asked us if he could bring some other people to listen to our next lesson because he knows a lot of other Spanish speakers who want to learn more about God. It was awesome! We're excited to see how he progresses from here. He seems very humble and hard-working - and he speaks Spanish about 90 mph. But yeah.

Also, this week we tracted into a lady who looked hispanic, but was actually from eastern Africa. After some confusion with language, we figured out that she spoke decent English. We ended up referring her to the Sisters, but it just goes to show - the gospel is for everyone.

I'm glad that you've had a great week. I'm doing well. It still seems like time is flying by, and I'm trying to keep it that way by working hard. I'm glad to hear that the primary program went well - we've had to teach a few primary-age classes in our branch, and it's torturous. I've come to respect people who can work with kids. I guess that's something I'll have to learn.

We had dinner with the Whitings yesterday (like we do most Sundays). It was delicious. Elder and Sister Whiting are a senior couple in our branch, and they're awesome. Neither of them speaks any Spanish, but Sister Whiting is an excellent cook. I'm being taken care of.
I have yet to eat anything as different as squirrel gravy (like Dad did on his mission) , but I'm sure I will. I've heard much talk of stomach and lengua (tongue) since I got here. Even things like kidney. I can't say I'm looking forward to that with any measure of excitement, but hey, it'll be an adventure if that ever comes along in the dinner calendar.

Thanks for sending me a package. Getting mail is always great.
Also, will you send me a soccer jersey for Christmas? That would be super cool. Preferably Chelsea (Frank Lampard).

- Jake

P.S.
It's awesome that you got so much cider this year! We'll have to do that again when I get home. The BYU game sounds like it was awesome. Another thing we'll have to do when I get home.  I've been thinking about what I want to do when I get back. Patent Law might be something I look into. BYU will be awesome as well - and I'd love to go do stuff with you while I'm there. The way I see it, the harder I work through my mission, the more enjoyable everything else will be.  

 

Hey Mom & Dad!

I'm doing great right now. Time is flying by.

It's really great to hear about how much everyone is changing/progressing. I miss you all a lot.

We have another investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is Clarissa. She's planning on being baptized on the 9th of November. So that's cool. We're just hoping that everything goes well, and that it works out. We have a new investigator named Aureliano as well, and we've been trying to contact a guy who wanted a Spanish bible from us and who agreed to take a first lesson, but he hasn't been at his trailer. I jumped his fence to leave his bible there though - since we couldn't find a way in through the apparently locked gate.

 

On Saturday I was asked to give a 15 minute talk in our branch on Sunday. I feel like I did all right considering I didn't have an excess of time. I talked about President Uchtdorf's conference talk "Come, Join With Us". My Spanish is coming along pretty well.

My companion's name is Elder Edwards (I don't know if I already told you that). He's from Alpine. He's only one transfer away from going home. I don't know how I'm going to feel about sending him home, as I most likely will. It'll probably be pretty hard to see someone else leaving.
He's a great guy, and an experienced missionary.

Halloween is coming up next transfer. We have to be in by 6pm that night, Chico being a college town and all.

I feel like I'm learning a lot - especially how to be responsible and live in a world that's becoming increasingly more wicked.

I need a new oil vial - I lost my old one. Other than that I'm doing well.

Love you all,
Jake

General Conference Weekend

Dear family,

I heard about the BYU/Aggies game. I'm glad to hear they managed to win. It's hard to be a Cougars fan sometimes.   I've definitely learned that over the time I've been out here. A part of that has been me learning to be more outgoing and talkative around people.   I've made a few pretty good friends here in the mission field already.

I'm going to miss the snow and skiing a lot - and cider making too. I'll miss grandparents too. But it'll all be there when I get back, and I think I'll be able to enjoy it all the more having served a mission.

I loved General Conference!  I have to say I really enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the priesthood session, possibly the most out of any of them. I also liked President Holland's. I spent most of Conference taking notes on all of the talks. It's surprising how much faster that weekend goes by in the mission field!

We haven't been eating dinner with members much lately, which stinks. Since we're a branch we get juggled around between the English speaking wards every month. This month the ward has been pretty lazy about getting us signed up for anything, so we've been eating at home a lot.  Usually we play basketball on p days, but I like soccer a LOT better. I'd forgotten how much I used to like playing.  

Interviews with President Weston are next week. It won't be anything unusual, just a few minutes of talking and then back to work.

Foreordination is actually something that I had been wondering about. Sometimes I wonder why I've always had things so easy. I don't feel like I've ever experienced a really hard trial, and I've always had everything I needed thanks to you guys. So I guess that's just something I need to figure out. I know that I've been greatly blessed though, and I want to live up to that.

I've recently started reading the Bible all the way through for the first time because I feel like I don't know it well enough - especially when investigators talk about it. I want to be able to connect it to the Book of Mormon because, like Dad shared in his mission experience, there are times when you need scriptural knowledge there and then in order to teach.

I'm doing pretty well. There are good days and bad days, but I know that time will keep going by fast.

Love,

Elder Nichols