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

Doing Great! March 21st-April 25th

March 21st:
Hey Fam,
Well I know you`re anxious to know about changes.. I`m still here! which is good. And my companion had changes, which is also good. haha. They shipped him out to San Miguel haha poor guy.... he is going there right about the hottest time of the year.. we`re coming up on "Semana Santa", and it`s also just blistering hot that time of year here, but especially San Miguel. Well guess who they sent me? Does "chor sun ees okay he ess no sik" sound familiar? haha yup! Elder De Leon from the office. I was super surprised because he was only in the office for three months and they usually take them out when they are in there for a good 9 months or so! But yeah he has six months in the mission and is from Guatemala. My fifth Chapin(Guatemalan)! But yeah he`s a good kid. It`s pretty funny though, the house that the office elders live in is pretty much a palace compared to any other house in the mission. Pretty big, a washing machine, decent kitchen etc. So he came to the house and was pretty shocked, haha anyways long story short we are going to change houses. We`ve been looking around and haven`t found much so far but we might move farther away than where we are right now, which means we would have to change our cook. But there are some houses for rent by the cook of the other elders in my ward and she is soooo awesome. So we`re hoping that we can get one approved over there and change cooks. I`m scared to tell my cook that I have right now though, she is a return missionary with a very strong character.. haha everybody in the ward is scared of her. But yeah it`ll be good, she doesn`t cook very well, especially for breakfast she pretty much gives us nothing. So wish me luck!

It`s funny that Reese like`s Dora so much, because the little daughter of my cook is also obsessed with Dora! It`s so funny to see it Spanish because it`s the exact same idea, just her throwing in some English phrases. But yeah, other than that everything is going well here in Conacastes. Our investigators are doing well. We are teaching a guy whose son is on a mission who never wanted anything to do with the church but while his son has been in the mission a lot has changed with him and we`ve had some really cool experiences. I'm way excited for general conference coming up!!!!! I`ve grown a new love for general conference in the mission.

I can`t believe Mom and Brooke went to the lady gaga gaga concert..... haha yikes. Concerts are so sweet though, I love them. You finally got to see what it`s like at a crazy concert with literally no room to move! love it. But don`t know if I would have gone to lady gaga... haha especially with the crowd she pulls in. Well you had your experience, no more concerts like that! haha just kidding, kind of...
Well i hope everybody is doing well, tell everybody hi for me and thanks for all of their prayers and support!!! love you all have a good week.
Love Nick

March 28th:
Hey guys,
Well sounds like Utah is being its normal bipolar self haha. People here think it is SO cool that we have all four seasons. Its nice to live in a warm climate, but after a while It gets tiring... believe it or not snow sounds pretty sweet right now! But I'm sure I'm going to eat my words when I'm crying in November because it´s 50 degrees. I´ll die! Well everything is going well here, just getting used to my new companion. He´s pretty cool, and everyone thinks he is from the states cause he is really white and has a weird accent haha it´s pretty funny. Well we had a meeting with President Pérez on Thursday and he announced some new things that are going to be happening here in the mission. We are going to be recieving two new stakes in the mission that used to be part of the other mission. "la Libertad", and "Los Heroes". On the 26 of April la libertad will be ours (next change), and the next change will we have los hereos. But what that means is we are going to have to take out all the wards that have 4 missionaries in them (aka my ward) and just leave them with two so they can fill the new zones. The area will be huuuge! Anyways, knowing that, I pretty much know for a fact that my area will be closed down this next change and me and my comp will be outta here.

Also when the new mission president comes because of those changes the mission will be "mission el salvador, san salvador", and the west mission will be "mission Santa Ana, Belize". Pretty crazy! But it's good because that means that the work is growing and moving forward.
That´s crazy about the Ogden temple, are they really going to actually demolish it..? I can´t imagine that they would do that. I'm sure they will just remodel it a ton. But who knows I guess. The date for the temple dedication here is getting closer and closer, I'm way excited. I really hope the President Monson comes and talk to the missionaries, that would be unforgettable. I just saw the movie "the lords errand" about his life, you guys should watch it if you haven´t already, it´s impressive. Man one thing that I've really come to appreciate and gain a testimony of here on the mission is the divine calling of an apostle and prophet. So cool.

But yeah, I forgot to mention that because the area will probably be closed here next change that means that we are not going to move houses because president didn't want us to get a new house and then have to turn it in 4 weeks later.. makes sense. So yeah I guess we are just going to have to stick it out here for a while haha. Oh well, I'm not complaining... just mostly my companion. Well thanks for everything guys, I miss you all and always pray for each of you. I hope you are all doing well and doing what you should be doing! Have a great week talk to ya later.

April 4th:
Hey guys! so how`s Orlando? Sounds like you`ve had a pretty good time so far, thinking back to when we went to Disneyland made me laugh! Haha I guess I was kind of at a whiny age. So where have you guys been today? Another theme park? And tomorrow Harry Potter Land? Niiice.
Well this week has been interesting. I got a call from President Friday Morning and 6:30am on the dot, telling me that there was an Elder in San Vicent that was having some problems there. So they had to take him out, and I was going to go there in his place. He said I had to pack my bags and leave by 9 in the morning to catch the bus to San Vicente.... which means I didn`t get to say goodbye to anybody!! I was pretty bummed. So now I'm here in a place called Ilobasco, it`s pretty sweet. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. To meet up with the rest of the zone, I had to hitch hike here for an hour. I went in 4 different trucks haha. This town is pretty famous for tourist because there are a TON of souvenirs and cool shops. I`ve never really been in a little pueblo like this so its pretty cool. My companion is elder Carpio from Honduras and has about 3 weeks in the mission, so pretty much I'm training again! He `s a pretty cool guy, and is amazing on the piano which is sweet, I`m gonna have him teach me some stuff! But yeah I was a little bummed to have to leave Soyapango. The day before I left I had kind of a cool experience. All our appointments had fallen and we had nothing else to do so we starting knocking doors. We knocked probably 35 houses and nobody would let us in. We were about to finish and knocked on a lady's door who kind of looked at us weird but immediately let us in. We sang a hymn had a prayer and then I asked her if she had any questions for us and the first thing she asked me was "who sent you guys here?" I told her nobody, that we are just missionaries and this is what we do-go around talking to everybody about Christ, and then asked her why she asked that. She just kind of looked curios and said "nothing I was just wondering". So anyways we had a sweet lesson about the plan of salvation and set an appointment to come back. At the end she said that the reason she had asked me that at the first was because she had been going through some really tough trials with work and having to watch after her 4 year old son and she didn`t know how she was going to do it. So she was on her couch thinking and praying for help about how she was going to be able to through it all, and right that second we knocked on her door. Pretty sweet huh! So that was kind of a bummer to leave her, but I'm sure she`ll get baptized in the future.
Well you guys will have to take a bunch of pictures for me and send them. I hope you all have a good time, I wish I could be there! I`m glad you got the package that I sent. Did you get my plaque and key chains that were in the package too? One of them is for Amber.
Well be safe and have fun everyone! love you all thanks for everything you do. Talk to ya next week!
Love Nick

April 11th:
Hey guys!

Well sounds like the Florida trip was pretty shweeet. You guys are all looking good, thanks for sending the pictures, I'm going to load them onto my camera!

Well I´ve just been getting used to my new area and branch. It´s pretty dang different being in a branch instead of a ward. Yesterday at church I blessed the sacrament, bore testimony, taught the Sunday school for all of the youth, and then taught the priesthood lesson.. followed by a leadership meeting to try and get the branch going and assign people to visit some families. Pretty hectic! But pretty cool at the same time to be able to help out so much. This place is pretty cool, I honestly feel like I'm living the 40s. That´s what all the streets and little stores look like. We´ll have to visit here for sure when mom and dad come... Mom you´ll go nuts buying stuff! haha. But yeah I get along with my comp well, he is an amazing pianist. Insane. He can play these classical pieces that just leave my mouth open. He wants to study music at BYU when he gets back, but he can´t speak English at all so I'm teaching him. It would be way sweet if he could go! Well my cook is pretty good, we just have her for lunch and then a different sister makes us dinner for free which is always nice. But we are trying to look for another cook because at the end of this month she is going to move to Honduras. My apartment is huge compared to my last one! But still kind of dumpy, but there is a shared balcony above the house and I hung my hammock up there. Pretty sweet at night time! Yeah, to tell you the truth we still have no idea who our new mission president is going to be. The whole "to be announced" thing has been up there for a while which is weird because all of Central America has their mission president already assigned except for this mission. I´m guessing that they called somebody but he´s probably trying to work out some work issues, or something like that before he can accept. Just an idea. -But other than that everything is going well! We have a few people that we are working with right now and if everything goes well we should have two baptisms this weekend. Pedro and Idalia.

So on Tuesday we had a multizone and I got the package you sent mom! Loved it as always. Especially the video! Reese is getting huuuge. It´s insane that she is walking and everything and screaming all over the place haha. Pretty dang cute. So how´s the rest of the fam doing? The Jensen drama sounds hilarious, hahah Kirsten would pull a prank like that! How´s Grandma and Grandpa Reid? and Grandma Kirkbride? Tell them I say hi and hope they´re doing well. Well love you all I better go now. Talk to you next week!!!

April 18th:
Hey!
Sorry Im writing a little late today, we decided to play soccer first thing in the morning today and write later because it is unbelievabley hot right now. But yeah everything is going well in my area, im really enjoying it. When I first got here three weeks ago, we starting working with the Melendez family which consists of Pedro, Rosa, and Claudia. They are all great but Pedro, 19 years old, is the best and has been progressing the most. We had been teaching him over the past couple of weeks and put a goal for baptism with him for the 16th of April. We watched the movie The Testaments and he loved it, super powerful. The next day he had his baptismal interview and passed! Everything was all good and he was ready to go. We visited him on Thursday and he was having a lot of second thoughts and doubts all of the sudden. We couldn`t figure out what his real fears were for not wanting to be baptized. Well we came back the next day, but he wasn`t there and we couldn`t get a hold of him.... the day before his baptism. That night I got a hold of him super late and he had gone to the beach with his friends. He told me that he wanted more time getting to know the church and he wasn`t ready and not sure. I told him that we were just going to stop by the next day in the morning to talk and try and resolve some of his concerns. Well we showed up and there he was waiting for us, which almost surprised me! We starting talking about his doubts and concerns and trying to get to the bottom of the real problem. I knew he was ready and that he knew the church was true, and this was something that he needed to do. Time wasn`t going to help, he just needed to have faith and act. Well turns out that his uncle had been feeding him a whole bunch of lies about the church and saying we don`t even worship God and we are just a sect fallen off from the Johovas Witnesse... that really got me going. So we started throwing out scripture after scripture clearing his doubts. He explained that that`s why he wanted to investigate more so that he could learn how to be able to defend himself before he got baptized. We explained that he needed the gift of the holy ghost to be able to really learn and understand the "meat" of the gospel; that waiting wasn`t going to help, but actually make things worse. More time waiting would just put more doubts in his head and block out the feelings of his heart. When God talks to us we can`t wait to act.. if we do the impressions will leave. We explained how he should think about his future. Earlier he had explained his desire to be a missionary someday and how cool it would be, so we starting talking about the blessing of a mission. How sweet it is and how it chnages lives. We explained that all these blessings could be his if he just decided to act and claim them. That he wasn`t a boy anymore and that he needed to start preparing himself for the rest of his life, and the church is the way to do it and a mission makes and shapes you into the man God wants you to be.

He accepted, still with a few worries, but he accepted. We baptized him later that day with his mom there at the service. After the baptism when he was changing we asked him how he felt and he said with a huge smile "incredibley happy!" My comp asked on a scale of 1-10? and he said "9.5... ok maybe 10 but I just don`t want to accept/admit it!" haha. After the baptism he hugged his mom and they both cried for a good 4 minutes just hugging, it was awesome. He was confirmeed yesterday in church and the immediate change in him was awesome. He made comments in Priesthood meeting that made everyone speechless! He was so excited after church and just kept saying "you guys were right about everything" "I'm on cloud 9 right now I can`t even explain it!" Then later that day Elder Rivas from the 70 had a little meeting for the district to talk about the upcoming temple, so we took Pedro along. The meeting was awesome and Pedro said after "I`m completely absolutely convinced" with a huge smile "I had no reason to wait, I was just wasting time!" In the course of 24 hours he went from being shy, timid, and unsure about things, hesitant to leave behind 20 years of Catholic tradition and beliefs, to energetic, excited, and as happy as I've even seen anybody. Willing to do anything asked of him. I can`t wait til he serves a mission! I almost gaurentee he will. So yeah it was a good experience!

Sounds like everything is going well at home! Sounds like the weather is starting to calm down. It`s been so hot this week it`s a joke. Where I live is like 98 percent catholic... its insane. This week is holy week so there are a bunch of parade-type things that they do in the street. It's pretty much just a huge group walking around carrying a crucified Christ singing a weird song.... It makes me want to kick a dog every time I see it. haha. I can`t believe I'll be calling home soon! weird! The last phone call. Today I have 17 months in the mission. whaaaat?! Well have a good week everyone, love you all thanks for eveyrthing you do! talk to ya later.
Cuidense mucho.

April 25th:
Hey Fam,
How´s everyone doing? Sounds like you all had a good Easter, I´m glad! Here in El Salvador, and I'm pretty sure anywhere else where Catholicism is big, the whole week is important. "Holy Week". Pretty interesting.... haha. During the whole week they do something called "vía crucis" where there is a whole big parade of people following a crucified Christ while singing some sort of weird hymn and having the pastor praying. I had to go right through the middle of one of those to get to where I was trying to go and all of the sudden everyone knelt down to do some sort of prayer, and me and my comp were the only ones left standing... in the middle of a group of like 200 people.. going the opposite direction. haha it was awkward to say the least. And then some guy was in my way so I said excuse me and tried to get through and he just looked up at me and said "you´d be better off staying" in the most condescending, cocky way. I almost hit him in the face. haha the Catholic church.. bless their hearts. But yeah and then on Friday they do these huge paintings in the roads. And then Saturday on my street past a huge group of dressed up Roman soldiers with a man leading the group screaming "Wanted! Jesus of Nazarth!" and then the whole group chants "Wanted! wanted!".... haha I tried to get video but my camera was dead.

Somebody asked me the other day why we don´t wear the cross in our religion. And I pretty much just answered him by asking why they focus so much on the death and crucifixion of Christ when he was resurrected and that´s what we should be focusing on. That´s a big difference in our religion. It seems like they focus and worship a dead God and Christ, when we worship a living God and Christ. Anyways that shut him up real quick :) haha. But yeah other than that it was pretty good week. We have changes on Wednesday, but I'm pretty sure that me and my comp will just stay together being that I just got here a month ago.

So guess what? I know who my new mission president is. His name is David Glazier!! GRINGO! Haha I'm not sure where he is from but the president just sent us all an email saying that he is going to be the new mission president. His wife is named Beverly. So yeah, he´ll be coming at the end of June. Look him up for me and give me a little background on him!

This week it rained a couple times super hard, so it looks like we are finally entering winter here! I love the rain, except that´s when all the bugs come out. There´s a bug called a sonpopo that is a GIANT ant with wings. You´d love it haha. But yeah other than that the rain is good, is cools everything down. Well this week we will be getting the new areas of La Libertad, which is a big part of the country. Hopefully I'll get the chance to head over there before I finish! We´ll see though. Everything is going well with my companion and all of that. We have been making some killer breakfasts lately. There is a dish called Baleadas in Honduras that is the main dish, like Pupusas here. They're pretty much like breakfast burritos if you ask me haha, but my companion will swear to the death that it´s not. Well have a good week everyone thanks for all your support! love you all.
Nick

Getting Caught Up!

Things have been crazy this past month, and I'm so behind!!! Sorry guys, here are Nick's last few letters! I promise to be better!!! -Brooke

February 14th:

Hey guys! How´s everyone doin? HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! haha not too big here in El Salvador.. but I guess it´s not really that big in the states either right? We are going to do a little gift exchange in the zone so maybe I´ll get lucky with a rose and some chocolates.... keep your fingers crossed. haha Well this week has been pretty good. Tuesday we had that meeting with Elder Falabella, it was way good! I told you guys that they have the date for the dedication of the temple right? Im way excited. It kinda stinks though because I remember when i got my call the church website said that it would be done around november of 2010, and it´s not going to be done until August of 2011! I´ll only be able to enjoy for like three months. But last monday I told you guys that i had to go to migration to renew so me of my papers, so on the way back we stopped by the temple! I´ll send you some pics it´s looking pretty good. I also got a bit of some inside info... I know who is going to be the new President! Supposedly his name is President Wilson from Texas. It´ll be way interesting to see what changes he makes to the mission and just the way he goes about all of it. We´ll see if he is a little more relaxed than Papi Pérez. I don´t know if you already know but he finishes June.

Well things in the area are pretty good, we have a couple new people that we are starting to teach so we´ll see how it goes. It has been pretty cold here relatively speaking, I have no idea about the tempurature but I would guess around 70 at night... freezing huh?! haha. I´m glad Jaxon is finally going to get his call, that stinks that it has taken so long! Hey how long has Mark been bishop for now? seems like forever! I´m glad you guys are going to take a little vacation, that´ll be way nice.

So how´s the ward doing? I´ve learned a lot about the inside works of the church and all that really goes on with the leaders and stuff being on a mission. I´m excited to have Darrell as my bishop when i get back! Well im going to hurry and try and send some pics but love you all thanks for everything you do. Love Nick p.s. i did get grandmas card so tell her thanks a ton for me!!!!!!!!

February 21st:

hey guys! Well mom and dad sounds like you had a good time in hawaii, i´m glad!! Be sure to send me some pictures of the whales and stuff! Well things are fine here, this week I was able to do 8 baptismal interviews. I love doing them, probably one of my favorite things in the mission to do next to baptizing haha. I get to here all the conversion stories and be a judge whether or not they are ready and worthy to be baptized, pretty cool. Well we brought quite a few people to church this week. During sacrament meeting my comp had to go to the bathroom so we went out and we saw the 17 year old kid clearly not a member, looking at all the paintings. Especially the one where Christ appears to the Americas. So we went up and talked to him and asked him which painting was his favorite, and he said "this one by far" pointing to Christ in the Americas. So we explained it a little bit and took him into sacrament meeting. After that we went to gospel principal and for priesthood we just took him into a room to teach him the first lesson. It went way well and we have an appointment tuesday to go to his house and talk to him. I guess he is a friend of a member and was embarrassed to actually go into sacrament meeing for some reason. But yeah we´ll see what happens with him! Well I´m a little sick today, I think the flu is coming on. Hopefully it doesn´t get bad! I´ll just stock up on some meds haha. But hey I know for sure that I have a package waiting for me in the office, so hopefully it´s the shoes! I´m finally going to send you guys my memory card so watch for that and a few other little surprises. Let me know when you get it. That´s so sweet that Jaxon is going to Mexico City! That is the biggest city in the world I´m pretty sure, or maybe just most densely populated? I know that when I went to China the beijing had 32 million... So if it´s the most populated it has to have more than that! crazy. A lot more than the 7 million that are here haha but then again it´s about 20 times bigger. But yeah tell him congrats and that he´ll love it! Just tell him not to pick up on there bad language haha mexicans are famous for having absolutely filthy mouths. Sounds like Angie is doing really well, good for her! That´s sweet that she is going to speak porturgues. The other day we were watching a church movie at a members house and we switched it to portugues for fun and it´s actually super similar to Spanish, I could understand quite a bit! We also switched it to French for a bit.... and I´ve decided that I´m going to learn it when I get back, seriously! Hey did you guys ever ask Nicole about that one elder? I took some video around where I live to show you guys a little bit. I wanted to go into some of the poor areas (more poor than where im filmed), but It´s too dangerous I didn´t want to risk pulling my camera out there! But hopefully you guys like it. Kinda boring to me but I´m sure it´ll be kinda cool for you guys. Well guys love you thanks for everything, I always look forward to getting your emails. Best part of the week! Have a good day. Love Niko

February 28th:

Hey everyone!

Im glad you guys got my package! I paid a little extra for it to get there fast and safer so that´s why it got there in four days. I acutally forgot to send a few things so I might send a small little package sometime soon. Im glad that the scripture covers fit though, i was a little scared that they would be too small... Did the big ones fit the big scriptures? I hope so! how about the top have you guys mastered it? I´m glad you enjoyed the videos, pretty funny haha. Those hawaii pics are way sweet thanks for sending them!! Those are some huuuuge waves those guys are on... nuts. Well things are going pretty well here, things with my companion have taken a dive.. I really might hit him soon. I´ve never met anybody like him. After this I´ll will be able to withstand anybod haha. ahh.

So how´s little Reese doin? I loved seeing all the vidoes of her, I can´t believe how big she has gotten! So the package that I got last week was from Aunt Leesa, tell her thanks a ton!! I loved it, that was way nice of her. Speaking of Aunt Leesa, how is Kelly doin these days? Tell that slacker to write me.

Well this week is stake conference here, usually pretty hard to take investigadors because it is further away and jam packed so it´s hard to sit them where they can here cause there is usually always sound problems! but hopefully it goes well. I also heard a little something about my new president by the way.. i heard he´s from Texas... i hope so! that would be so sweet. We´ll see what happens, president only has like 4 months left. Man a mission president is an incredibly hard job... and three years. How´s John Robison doing by the way. WEll love you all thanks for everything. Talk to ya next week!!!!

Nick

March 7th:

Hey Fam!

How we doin? This week has been pretty good for us over here! We have found a ton of people to teach all of the sudden its awesome. We found an awesome family on tuesday, a couple with a 6 year old daughter and a 1 month old baby. The Dad doesn¨t have a job and is really worried about it (obviously), so hes really humble and told us to come in a soon as he opened the door. So yeah hopefully things will go well with them. Stake Conference was yesterday and we got a decent amount of investigadors there! Elder Castro from the seventy was there and spoke which was really good. He was super direct and came down on the stake pretty dang hard but thats what these people need a lot of the time haha. For example right now there are a lot of people that are going to other wards that they arent assigned to because it is closer to there house (and really they are both really close so they shouldnt be complaining). But anyways he was kind of joking about it and making everybody laugh and then all the sudden just kind of non shalant said well I hope you change that before the temple because if youre not going to the ward where you are assigned that means you arent paying your tithing there which means you will not be going to the temple when it is dedicated. Everybody stopped laughing real quick.... haha I laughed though. At the end he wrapped up with tithing and I had one of my investigadors, Aida 64 years old, sitting next to me. At the end she started looking through her purse, pulled out a dollar, and said where can i put this for the tithing? I about hugged her! haha it was awesome.

Well changes are next Wedensday! Well see what happens there. Things have been better with my companion this last little while. We have a weird relationship.. one minute we will be laughing and joking and the next about to punch each other haha. So thats crazy about Angie! sounds like she is probably in Florida right now....

So hows the ward doin? hows bishop welling? haha itll be sweet to have him when i get back. hey hows sam godfrey doin? you should hook me up with his email address!

so hey i got both packages last week!!!!! ah so nice to have the shoes haha i feel like a new man. and the garments soooooo nice. i loved it all thanks a ton! that song that has Michael and his wife is way good i was way impressed tell Marilee thanks for sending it! and the other cd was way good too. It was way good to get the news letter from my friends. its so cool that we are literally all over the world. Well love you all thanks for everything!!! talk to ya next week tell everybody hi for me!!

Salú pues

March 14th:

Hey guys!

How´s everybody doin? Sounds like everybody has been super busy lately, I bet you´re looking forward to the Florida vacation that is going to be so sweet! I love how all the boys just say "Im going to drink a ton of butterbeer" haha eeeeeeeeeeasy fellas. Well this week has been pretty good, a little slow but not too bad. My comp is almost sure he will have changes so he´s been wanting to go around and say goodbye to everybody and all that stuff.

Something kinda crappy happenend though. We sent our clothes to the sister´s house who washes for us like we do always, but it took a little while for her to get it back to us. So I called her to ask and she got super nervous and said well.... Elders somebody robbed a lot of your clothes. So we went over there and my companion got robbed worse than I did but they stole about 5 of my shirts (my best ones) and some regular clothes that I had. Luckily the ward was going on a temple trip this last weekend and my companion let his mom and know so she sent him back with new clothes so that´s good. But that sister felt so bad and gave me some shirts that her said had on his mission that she bought for him towards the end so they are in good shape so im good to go! Don´t worry about sending me anything, but maaaaybe just a shirt. yeah Im freaking skinny these days... I hate it. There is no way to stay in shape in this country with the food i eat. It´s like it´s so bad or so much that i get fat, but it´s nowhere near healthy that I could put on good weight if i wanted to haha i hate it. But oh well what can you do así es la misión.

So Grandma had her big moment huh? that´s so sweet! sounds awesome thanks for taking some video im excited to see it. That´s cool that she played you raise me up I love that song. Gosh it sounds like Reese is getting huuuge! It´s so weird how fast babies grow. I can´t wait to see more video of her! I hear she is walking and everything now. Its cool to see the steps through the videos you said. like the first one you guys were all excited because she was starting to move around and make noises, the excited but she was "so close" to crawling and saying "bye" or more just moving her hand, and now walking! nuts.

But yeah everything is going well here. Its crazy how fast time is going is scares me sometimes. Im just enjoying the last 3rd i have left! It´s going to be sooo weird to have it come to an end. But nah i still have a ton of time left so it´s all good. That´s so sad about the Tsunami and Earthquake. Nothing happend here but there were a couple gentle shakes here. I saw some video of the tsunami it´s incredible how much dammage it did. and they were saying that Japan is like the best country for earthquake protection, imagine if that would have happened in a different c ountry like here? This country literally would not exist anymore not exagerating. An earthquake of 6. something devistated the country like 10 years ago-- imagine 8.9! Well love you all thanks for all your love and support. Keep going strong and be faithful!!!!! talk to ya next week

Niko

Feeling Good! Letters Jan 31st and Feb 7th

January 31, 2011

Hey fam,
Well changes are this week, should get a call tomorrow telling us who has changes and all that. I´m pretty sure that I'll stay and my companion will leave, but we´ll see who knows! But yeah this week has been pretty good, we´ve been doing quite a bit of service lately. We went to a place called las champas to help rebuild a house (I´m not sure if I´d even call it a house). This area is the poorest place I´ve area seen in my life. Over 5000 people live in this colony and all the houses are made out of cardboard, tin, and tarps. The roof broke on the house of this member so we went and tried to fix it. All we could do is put wooden beams across the top and tie a tarp over it. Inside the "house" there is just one bed that looks at least 70 years old and just a bunch of garbage with a dirt floor. Super sad! The thing is the missionarys don´t really go there because they know the church has money and think if they become members they´ll just get hooked up with money and food and that kind of thing. Apart from that it is super dangerous. I got questioned from the police for the first time in my mission there. About five minutes after we entered two police on dirtbikes came and questioned us and wanted to search us! And then on the way to the house I had two people stop me and ask us to build them a house. I told one guy we are just from the church and he grabbed me by the arm and said just come over so I can at least show you where I live. Anyways it was pretty sad!

On a lighter side, the other day I had to go and do a baptismal interview for a young twelve year old kid whose family was inactive. When I got there Elder Day told me that he hadn´t been taught the law of chastity yet so we just went over it real quick to a twelve year old level... ya know you have to respect girls blah blah blah. Anyways at the end we asked "alright Cristian so what is the law of chastity?" He sat there and was like"hmmm how do I explain this.... pretty much like you can´t force a girl into kissing you.. you have to do it gently" hahahah I about died and just said yeah man you´ve got the idea.

Well I got the package last week! It was way sweet I loved it. Those videos were awesome, I can´t believe how big Reese has gotten!!! She´s pretty much almost talking and walking! I can´t wait to see her. But yeah you all look good, and the house looks even better! haha. I´ve watched them all the three times each at least. The food was super good too! All of it was good so thanks. Man that stinks that Angie is having a hard time.... I´m going to send her an email. The MTC is tough especially at the first, but once you get into the swing of things it´s actually pretty sweet! I´d love to go back there for a week. But yeah I knew from the moment you guys told me that she was going to the Provo MTC that that was going to be a good thing. I think it would be a lot tougher in Brazil.

I´m excited to see where Jaxon goes!! That´s so weird that he is already going... gosh the time between when you get your call to when you leave is soooo weird. But pretty sweet at the same time, just livin the good life haha. That´s too bad about Angel.... I always thought that she would live way longer than Rosco just cause she was always way healthier.

Well not much else going on here everything is going well. I´m feeling good and not sick anymore so that´s good. Tell everybody in the ward hi for me and all the fam. Love you all talk to ya next week!

February 7, 2011

Hey!

How´s everybody doin? Sounds like you all had a pretty good week partying it up Super Bowl Sunday style! haha go Packers.

Well today I have to go to immigration to renew my residency here so I dont have a ton of time to write. But this week has been pretty good, just the normal stuff! I didn´t have changes... and neither did my companion.. haha so yeah another six weeks together. Oh well though, I´m sure it won´t be as bad as the last change. So pretty funny story, there is an elder who I came here with named elder Ottohenning, but he was only in the MTC for three weeks because his mom is from Honduras so he pretty much already knew Spanish. Anways, he couldn´t go straight to El Salvador after the MTC because he had troubles with his papers, so they sent him to Washington DC for a month and half. I don't know why I didn´t ever think to ask him but I finally asked him if he knew a Sister missionary Reid (Nichole) and he sat and thought for a second and said.... wait... Sister Reid?! and showed me a picture of her haha he totally knew her. He said that she was so straight and narrow and that everybody called her sargent Reid! haha how funny is that. I just laughed and thought way to go Nichole. So yeah you´ll have to ask her if she remembers an elder Ottohenning in DC.

So I got a package on the day of changes! The one with the pants and shirt and more video with Josh's choir concert and more Reese stuff. It was so good!! I loved all the food too. Packages are the best. Thanks for sending me a shirt I really needed it! The pants are sweet too. So this Thursday Elder Falabella from the 70 is going to come and talk to us so I'm really excited for that. We´ve had a lot of general authorities coming lately and I´m loving it. They also announced the date that the temple is going to be dedicated and the open house! The open house is going to be the first of July until the 21st, and the dedication is going to be the 21st of August! I´m so excited, I really think the Prophet is going to come. That would be sooooo sweet to meet the Prophet as a missionary I can´t even imagine.

So sounds like you guys are thinking of a little vacation coming up here, that would be sweet! I totally remember the trip to cali haha so fun. The muffins.. hahaha... and those gross jelly fish! I wonder how the beaches/water is here?

That stinks that Jaxon didn´t get his call... ah that´s got to be the worst!! I would have died if mine didn´t come when I thought it was going to come. Remember, my guess is Brazil! Speaking of Brazil, sounds like Angie is doing a little bit better, that´s good. She wrote me and said that the first couple of weeks were super hard but things are getting better and she knows better now what she has to do to get through it. She´ll be alright.

Well things are fine here, things are a little slow with investigadors right now, mainly because my companion just doesn´t want to do anything ever. So I´m going to start doing a lot of divisions with my district and try to get some better work done. Well sorry this is so short like I said I dont have a ton of time but I love you all. Seeing those videos was so good you are look great! Talk to ya next week! love nick

Baptisms always make you feel better! January 24, 2011

Reynaldo's Family at his Baptism

Hey guys, How´s everybody doin? Well this week has been pretty good, super busy! We baptized Reynaldo and Elder Mason and Elder Chavez baptized a guy named Salvador so we had the baptism together. We did a little version of Come Thou Fount at the baptism! Harmonica, flute, and singing haha it was pretty legit. It was way good though, he was way happy to finally be baptized. His whole family actually came to the baptism which was a big surprise. We went to pick him up and were waiting in his house for a couple minutes just chatting with his Dad. We invited him to come and told him it was something really important and that he would for sure enjoy it.. but I didn´t think he would come to tell you the truth. But about five minutes before it started both of the parents and the little sister walked in, his Dad in a white shirt and slacks! I didn´t even know he owned a white shirt haha. So yeah Reynaldo was pretty excited. We are starting to work with his Mom and little sister, I´m pretty sure they´ll get baptized this month.

On Thursday we had a super cool meeting with the whole mission. Elder Jensen, the President of the Quorum of the 70, came and spoke to us. It was the first time in a really long time that the whole mission met together for something. Everytime I hear a General Authority speak, especially in person, it stregthens my testimony a ton! You can just tell that they aren´t normal men. He shook everybodys hand and talked to them for a bit. He talked at first about the power of music in the church and how life would be empty without music. He then talked about how there is a lack of reverance in the church. He said, "where there is reverance, there is revelation." I liked that. He also talked about the Book of Mormon and how we should read it as a big picture rather than chapter by chapter. Anways, he talked about a lot of stuff, I won´t be able to cover it all but it was way awesome. His wife also spoke with a translator and did a really good job. It´s cool to think that he is probably going to be an apostle one day and he spoke to our mission!

Well as for me I'm doing pretty well, pretty much back to normal health wise. We have changes here next Wedensday, it´ll be interesting to see what happens! Im pretty sure my companion will get changed. It has been pretty tough with him this change. That´s so sweet that Preston got called to Paraguay!! There were a couple of guys going to Paraguay in my zone in the MTC, pretty cool guys. But yeah tell him congrats and he´ll love it. So did you guys get an email from Angie? Hopefully she´s doing alright. Let me know!
So the office told me that I have a package that I´ll get today! I'm assuming its the new years one, I'm pretty excited. So if you guys go to Jaxons mission call opening put me down for Brazil. Well I'm going to try and get some pics sent of so I'll end this but love you all thanks for everything that you do. Talk to ya next week!

Nick

January 17th, 2011

Hey guys!

So I went to the consult and I just had a stomach infection mixed with the flu, so just a bad combination. But a couple days on meds and resting a bit and I'm pretty much good now so no worries! I still don´t have a lot of desire to eat, but I do it anyways just so I don´t lose a ton of weight haha. But yeah don´t worry everything is fine here, thanks for all your prayers I know they helped. Don´t worry so much next time if things are really bad of course I would tell you guys. And if the mission knows that things are really bad the office would call YOU and let you know haha.. I got like 4 calls within 45 minutes asking If I was in the hospital or If I was dead or what! First the mission nurse called me saying she got a call from a doctor in salt lake (Doty I assume), then sister Perez, then from the office elder that Mom talked to, I almost just wanted to call myself and say I´m ok! But yeah I tried to tell that Elder what to tell Mom exactly and at the end asked him "do you even speak english man?" He said ummm kind of? haha so I knew the conversation would be interesting. So yeah everything is cool here noooo worries.

So you guys went out to lunch with Angie huh? Sounds like she is pretty nervous! Can´t blame her. She´ll do fine though I know. It will definitely be tough for her at first, just like it is for everybody else, but she´ll end up loving it. Make sure to give her my email address so she can keep me updated on how she is doing. I think it´s a good thing that she is going to the MTC in provo instead of in Brazil. I just hope it doesn´t take an eternity for her to get her papers and all of that stuff.

Well this weekend we are going to baptize a kid named Reynaldo. He has been going to church for a long time, like over a year, but his parents never would give him permission to get baptized until recently. We are going over there tonight to finalize it and talk with them one last time to make sure it´s ok and try to sneak a signature on the baptismal form haha. But there are going to be possibly quite a few baptisms this weekend in the zone so we are thinking about having a "white night" and doing all the baptisms together and a big meeting, kinda like what Dad did for Christmas on his mission which would be sweet! So hopefully there are enough to do it! I´m pretty happy cause my whole District is going to baptize this month which is always the goal.

So sounds like everybody is pretty much done with winter haha. Has anybody else been skiing other than the boys? Im going to die when I get back to winter, I get freezing if I´m in any place with air conditioning (which is rare), haha so I can´t imagine how´s it´s going to be returning to snow. Well thanks for everything and all of your prayers this week, sorry that you were all worried. Have a good week I´ll talk to ya next week! love you
Nick

January 3rd and January 10th

January 3rd, 2011

Hey Guys!
Happy New Years! I can´t believe it is 2011.. so weird. According to the Mayans this is the second to last year ever so live it up! haha not in the sort of eat drink and by merry way though...
Well New years Eve was pretty much just a repeat of Christmas here. But up all night long lighting fireworks (I wouldn't really call them fire works.. pretty much just bombs haha), drinking and blasting music. I didn´t get to sleep until 3 in the morning because of all the noise. But the next day President told us that we didn´t have to leave the house until 2pm the next day because everybody is pretty much hung over. It was pretty fun though we just stayed in the house with the other elders and played UNO for a while. So you guys didn´t even tell me about your New Years what did you guys do?
Well that´s way sad about Jody and Jesse's baby. It´s pretty cool though to think that their baby was one of the more valiant ones and just needed to come and get a body and not have to worry about all the crappy things of the world. And I read just a little while ago that if somebody dies before they are full grown, they will resurrect just as they died but continue to grow until they reach a full grown age. Which means anybody who has a child that dies or dies early will get to watch them grown up in the millenium.. pretty sweet! Man I can´t believe that Nate Naegle is coming home on Wedensday... that is insane! You guys will have to tell him hi for me and let me know how the homecoming went. So something pretty crazy happend this week! I was on divisions and this lady walked up to us and started talking kinda random. She is a member but has lived in California for the last 29 years. Anyways we were just talking and she asked me where I was from, so I told her Utah about 10 minutes north of salt lake. She told me that the missionary that baptized her lived in a place called Bountiful.... I told her that´s where I´m from and I asked her what the missionarys name that baptized her.. ready? She said Elder Milligan!! Tom Milligan, son of Don Milligan! How crazy is that? Even more crazy is that she is going to visit Utah on the 6th of this month which would be this Thursday so I´m going to send her with a little package to take to you guys!! She pretty much worships Tom Milligan, haha pretty cool how much an effect you can have as a missionary. Anyways you guys hopefully should be getting a little visit here soon.

I´m starting to get more familiar with my new area and really like this ward a lot! I´ve never been in a ward with this much member support, they pretty much fight to give us dinner! Haha apposed to my last area where we couldn´t even find anybody to pay to give us lunch. It´s been super hot lately though, I can definitely feel the summer coming... Im just glad I'm not in San miguel like last summer, what a nightmare! Well have a good week everybody, hopefully that lady comes and visits you, that would be way cool. Love you all talk to ya next week!!!!! p.s como les va con la musica latina que les di?

January 10, 2011

Hey everyone,

How´s it going? Well I don´t have much to say this week because I´ve been super sick the whole week! I´m not sure what I have, probably a stomach infection. I get to go to an El Salvador hospital today.... haha wish me luck. But yeah tell me what you think it could be.. my whole body kills especially my head and back, diarreah, threw up yesterday, cold one second hot the next, a fever that comes and goes, stomach pain. Gotta be parasites or an infection right? Oh well I guess we´ll see today! So yeah I´ve pretty much just been inside the whole week, and just managed to make it to sacrament meeting yesterday (with four investigadors might I add) haha but left after that cause I threw up. Pretty crappy.

So sounds like a pretty good week for you guys! It sounds like Angie did a good job, I´m excited for her. Im going to print off her talk so that I can read it. When does she leave exactly? Hopefully she doesn´t have a ton of problems with her papers because when I was in the MTC there were elders there going to Brazil that had been there for 16 weeks! That would be horrible. Also sounds like Nate did a good job with his homecoming talk that's awesome. I imagine he is absolutely dying from the cold haha, although I hear there are some kind of cold places in Columbia so who knows.. nothing like utah though that's for sure. Is he going to go back up to Utah State? So everything is starting to calm down here with all the crazy stuff that has been happening. I´m not exactly sure where everyone is, but I know that they are still in Central America so that's good. So everybody is already sick of the winter huh? haha yeah that's usually how it is by January or February.. that´s why you have to ski or snowboard!!! So how´s the little mouse.. I mean Sophie doing?

So earlier in the week a 16 year old kid was killed by my house so everybody has been sad about that (relatively sad.. people are pretty numb to death and murder around here). Here in my area supposedly has the highest rate of youth gangs.. kids 11-13 years old already runnin with the big boys. Pretty crazy. So what else is goign on with everybody? Same old stuff? Sorry this is short but not to much to report this week. Love you all thanks for everything and tell everybody hi for me!

Love Nick

Everyone please keep Nick in your prayers. We will let you know as soon as we know more about his condition!