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

Hey everyone!

Thanks for writing.  Thanks so much for the pictures and candy. They were great :)

I'm really glad to hear about everything going on back home. The mission is going great. We're currently teaching our latest convert's mom, who is very catholic, but seems to be progressing.

 

Most of our time is spent looking up potentials/formers in certain areas. We do very little tracting except in high-density spanish speaking areas such as Hamilton City, which is basically like Little Mexico. Chico actually reminds me a lot of home. There's a ton of trees here like in Heber City, and it's pretty nice. Thankfully we get to stay out of the college area since Chico State is a really big party school.

 

We have two other investigators now. They used to be 7th Day Adventists, so their biggest challenge was having the Sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday, but they've been progressing a lot. I feel like it might be a challenge getting them to commit to baptism though, even though I think they're ready right now. They just seem set on studying the Book of Mormon. I'm worried that they might just become "intern"-agators instead of investigators. So yeah. But whatever happens will.

 

So far I've only had two doors slammed in my face, and they were both white people. Spanish speakers are super friendly even if you're bugging them so much they can hardly stand it. They just act really disinterested. White people on the other hand like to yell and swear. So that's fun.

Spanish is coming along well enough. I can essentially say anything I want now. My problem is when people start talking really fast. But I'm learning!

One more transfer and I'm an entire 1/4 of the way done. How crazy is that? I've realized how fast time is going to go by, and how much I need to focus on working, because it'll be over before I know it.

xoxo

Jake

A Baptism!

Dear Family,

 

So. We had a miracle this week! Our investigator, Luis, hasn't been able to get baptized because his mom wouldn't let him until he's 18. So we were talking about him, and I asked if anyone had just gone over to talk about this situation with his mom before, to see if she wouldn't change her mind.

 

We decided that this would be a good idea, and set up a time to meet with her, along with a member of an LDS family who are his cousins and also fellowshippers. At first she was very reluctant, being a strong Catholic.  But then we started testifying. 

 

I've never felt the spirit as strongly as I did in that home, that night. We were all speaking Spanish, and I was speaking better than I ever have before. Our lesson that day with Luis had been the same - we were all on the same wavelength the whole time.

 

We told her that baptism was going to be the first step in him living a better life, and that it would only increase his faith in Jesus Christ. Luis shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon too, and I couldn't believe how much he's changed. His mom even admitted that she'd noticed changes in him. 

Long story short - Luis got baptized last Saturday and confirmed yesterday which we were able to do because he's been attending church. His mom came to church yesterday too! 

It was awesome to see this kid who has been receiving lessons for over a year now finally get to enter the waters of baptism. He's going to make an awesome member and priesthood holder. 

 

Love,

Elder Nichols

2 September, 2013

2 September, 2013

Hey!

I'm sure Swiss Days in Midway was just as much "fun" this year as it is every year. This week has gone by like lightning for me. I'm glad that Grandma Madelyn is taking advantage of the home theatre!

I'm glad to hear that you're retiring the old red battleship (our old Weber grill) in favor of something new. Maybe you'll have to mail me some of that bbq sauce so I can use it to work on my writing skills.  (The boys in the Nichols family have a strange obsession with good BBQ sauce).

It's great to hear about how everything's going for Sam, Kate, Libby and Jess.  I'm really proud of Sam. He's going to do fantastic on his mission.

This week we picked up a new investigator!  We're going back to talk with him later. Yesterday we tried to take another investigator to what we thought was a fireside with the Arrevolo brothers (they're all great members). Turns out it was actually a rehearsal for the upcoming Stake Youth Musical.  So, after almost getting pressganged into joining a musical, we thought it best to just find an empty classroom and teach him a lesson.

Two of our investigators, a husband and wife, came to the fast sunday meeting yesterday, which was awesome. We just need to get them on date for baptism - they know the gospel is true, they're just reluctant. The husband has told us that he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Sometimes people confuse me.

Thanks for sending another one of your missionary experiences, Dad.  I definitely don't know the scriptures as well as I would like - and learning a language is tough. But it's awesome that one of the other interns in your story was baptized because you and that other RM were able to share the gospel with people. I guess that's just a trade-off.  I've come to realize that missions change everyone depending on what they need most.

I'm glad to hear that the Priest's quorum is doing well. I hope they're preparing themselves the way they should be.

Mom, I'm working on my Spanish as much as I can. I've learned quite a bit. Thanks so much for the recipe!  I'm going to try the banana muffins this week and then another one the next. I'd like to improve my cooking skills. I know you're doing a great job as the primary president. You're you.

Tell Jess thanks for the picture, I loved it!

I love and miss everyone. I'm having a great time though.

Love,

Jake

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 August, 2013

Dear Family,

 

The work has been great. We've picked up two new investigators in the past few days, one of which was a really cool experience. We were tracting, and just didn't feel productive/focused. So we decided to go to another area and start again, only this time we prayed before starting. We walked into the Lincon Apt. complex and the first lady we saw we started talking to. A few minutes later her husband, Juan, showed up from work. It's the cosecha (harvest) right now, so a lot of hispanics have crazy work hours because our mission is a big farm area.

 

Anyways, we taught the whole lesson of the restoration there on the porch. We were about to leave, and I remembered that I had a Spanish Book of Mormon in my bag. I wasn't sure if I should give it to them since we hadn't said anything about it yet, and I was worried that they would just ask a ton of difficult questions about where it comes from, etc. because they're catholic (like basically every other Spanish speaker in Roseville). So I prayed. Immediately I felt an overhwhelming feeling of peace, so I pulled it out and said "We'd like to leave this with you too." in Spanish. Then we explained how it's another testament of Jesus Christ. They accepted it right away, and said they would read it! The both seemed very interested in it, especially Juan's wife, Aurora. We have a return appointment next Saturday.

 

My first area is Chico, Cali. It's a college town. It's pretty nice here. I like it, even though it's pretty hot out. We go to a Spanish branch in Orland. We have a car.

 

I'm really happy to hear that you got home all right. I'm sure Costa Rica was a blast! Thanks for sending me the pictures!

 

I love you all, and miss you. I'm having a fantastic time on my mission!

 

Love,

Jake

P.S.My address is 101 Risa Way, Apt. 114 Chico CA 95973