6 Months to Go! May 16th, 2011

Hey fam,
How are you guys? Sounds like you all had a pretty good week, especially with dinner at Grandma Reids..... You´re killin me! haha tell Grandma that she already has to start to plan a return dinner for me haha. Well today we are going to have Pday here in Ilobasco so I don´t have to travel, which is awesome. That means more sleeping time! haha. So guess what? My companion's Aunt lives in San Salvador and so when my comp talked to his family for Mothers Day, they arranged for her to drop him off a package here in Ilobasco! Well I was thinking that my package had to be in the office by now, and that I wasn´t going to be able to get it until the 31st... and needless to say that´s way to long. So we called her and asked her if she could stop by the mission office and bring me my package too! So she came with the packages on Tuesday and took us out to lunch and everything. Very nice lady, and not too bad off financially, haha. I'm not exactly sure what she does but I know that she lives in the richest part of the country (Escalón). But anyways the point is I have my package now! I'm loving it thanks a lot! Everything in there was a great idea and tastes so good. The Grifindor shirt you sent is way sweet, I love it! And of course the Barcelona :) but yeah thanks a ton I loved it all!!!!!

Well I'm glad the lesson with Kris Tanner went well. I was kind of surprised that you guys liked so much of what I wrote, because I actually felt a little bad that I didn´t take more time to think about it and write it down ahead of time, so I was worried it would make a lot of sense because I was rushed, but I'm glad it was of some use! I liked what you said in the lesson Mom, it sounded really good. It´s so true about the bell thing. Everybody responds differently to the spirit and hears it in a different way. So as a teacher or a friend or whatever, you have to be able to discern how it works for that person and be able to adapt your teachings accordingly. It's a little embarrassing that you had a blown up picture that I sent and put it up there the whole lesson, haha by what can ya do.

Hey I haven´t heard any talk about the Bleaks or the Hunts these days, what's going on with them? Well this week or the next, we will be baptizing a twelve year kid named Samael. Short little chancho haha, he´s hilarious. Well sad news, a ladies son in our branch was killed on Friday. He´s inactive and was drinking supposedly and started wandering around, and happen to wander in a zone of MS. They ask where he came from, and him being drunk and not thinking, responded from the "elen" which is a 18 zone... so him being from an 18 zone and crossing over to an MS zone, and being 23 years old, was reason enough for them to shoot him. So his funeral is tomorrow. It´s weird how numb I have become to murder.. not something I´d ever thought would happen.

Well love you all thanks for everything, I hope you all have a great week! Cuídense!
Love Nick

Mothers Day Call- May 9, 2011

Well, Nick wrote a small letter this week because we were able to talk to him yesterday on Mothers Day. It was our last phone call with him until he comes home in November! He sounds fabulous and is living up the missionary life. He sounds a little scared that he only has 6 months left! He's definately in full missionary mode and loves every minute of it. He wanted to pass on his thanks and love to all of his friends and family. He also said hand-written letters are getting few and far between now that he has 6 months left, so if you have time write him a letter, he would love it! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!

May 9th email:

Hey guys, Well it was pretty sweet talking to you guys yesterday. The next time that we talk will be face to face! Pretty weird huh. Time flies I can`t believe it. Thanks for all the advice and everything, I`ll have to start making some decisions here pretty soon and let you guys know which school and all of that. I couldn`t get that number for you guys that I wanted to get, but I will for sure get it for you by next week. Well today we are going to go out to Zacatecoluca for P day which is pretty far away and kind of by the beach, so super hot. Should be pretty fun though. Well I think we pretty much covered everything yesterday so I`ll talk to you guys next week. Love you all have a great week! Nick

Almost 6 Months Away! May 2nd, 2011

OY!
how`s it goin guys? Man I can`t believe that it`s time to call home again, that was definitely a quick 5 months! I don`t know about you guys but it definitely was for me haha. But yeah everything is going really well here, we actually have a ton of people right now that we are teaching and that are progressing. It`s been a little tough being in a branch though. With less people in the branch, it means less people to choose from to be leaders.. Which means quite a bit of apostasy and a lot of correcting to do. But it`s fun at the same to be able to help so much and almost feel like I`m in the branch presidency haha. Yesterday I blessed the sacrament with my convert Pedro which was pretty cool. He was so nervous haha it was funny but he got it on the first try. It`s pretty cool to watch him progress and everything. He had an interview with the branch president and I'm pretty sure he gave him a calling.. but I guess we`ll see Sunday. His Mom has also been coming to church and talking to us lately so hopefully we`ll be able to baptize her soon. We are also teaching a lady whose son is on a mission in the branch. It would be cool to able to baptize her with her son in the mission, I'm sure he would be way happy. We also had a lady in our branch die last week, and the branch took care of the funeral and did all the arrangements and we went there and spoke at the funeral and sang some hymns. It was prety cool. But she has 3 daughters, all older women and her husband that weren`t members. They were so grateful for everything that we did and were impressed with it all. Yesterday we went with them to the cemetery (which by the the cemeteries here are SO weird), and wanted to know more about where their mom is and what she is doing. So tonight we`re going over there to do a family home evening with them with some members of the branch. Now`s the time to get them going while it`s all recent!

Osama Bin Ladin... IT WAS ABOUT TIME! Gosh I can`t believe he got away for 10 years.... well I hope he enjoyed those ten years because he is suffering right now that`s for sure. So my President is from Orem? I hadn`t heard that that`s sweet! Im excited for him to come. Im hoping he`ll maybe take out some of the rules that we have right now.. AKA no coke. haha. Man I cant believe how much everybody has changed since I`ve been gone. Josh looks way old!

So about calling home, I think I`m going to call around 4ish.... would that work? I can`t believe its my last phone call. The mission is so weird, I can`t belive that I'm getting to that time, it seems like just a little bit ago that I was home. But at the same time when I look back to an old area or when I look back to the MTC I think wow.. that was an eternity ago! haha. Im sure that`s how it has been for you guys as well. Well I guess I`ll sign off now so I have some stuff to tell you on Sunday. But have a good week, love you all! Talk to ya SUNDAY!
Love Nick