Andrew Update - 4 July 2010

Si - 28 June 2010

Ok I want to respond to the dear elders I got.

Carolyn: I used to HATE reading too. Ask Mom and Dad. But now that I am on the mission, I WANT to read, but have almost no time to do it! Weird huh? Ya big changes. And here is Chile, there are lots of people who can not even read or write. They do not know how. Sad huh? So you better practice and get really good so you can have a good job, and have a good family like ours that Mom and Dad have made for us. We are such an awesome family because Mom and Dad are really smart. I have a little flute I bought and a companion, and the B of M. Te amo mucho!

Kristen: So how many total minutes of DVDs do we have? I used to do stuff like that too. Random weird things. Like I used to make dominoes with all the VHSs that we have, and remember when I alphabetized the DVDs? Haha. I love how you started off your email to me: Hi Andrew I love you so much... That is an awesome way to start off an email. And I like your phrase "I love you like chocolate." Because it's cute and creative and I know that you LOOOOVE chocolate!! Well I love YOU like alfajors! An alfajor is a cookie thing that is packed with a caramel cream called manjar. Google search "Chilean alfajor" and learn a little about them, and make them in the house! They'e easy! Yes I love you, so don't even worry about that! And you know what? I use your name in lessons that I teach, because I love you, and am prideful of you guys, my sisters! You're awesome! Liam and Carter are so big now! I'm missing out in so much with them... That is so awesome that you are playing piano! That is also an awesome skill to know. When I get home, you're going to be so much better than me! I love you girl!

Mom: In the good bye speech from Pres. Resek, he mentioned something about Mothers that reminded me of how true this is in my life. That when a child gets home from school, the first thing they say is, Mom? You here? they might not even want to say hi, or ask her anything, they just want to know that she is in the house present. That is so true! The first thing I did, and what everybody does is come home, and say Mom!? And I am so glad to have a Mother that was always there to respond to my call growing up. Always there.

And do not be so hard on yourself Mom. You are such an awesome Mom. I have seen lotsa of Moms here, so I know the difference. Sometimes, one experience in particular, I heard a Mom literally SCREAMING at her little 10 yr old daughter, and it made me so so sick inside... I called the Mom out, and tried teaching a lesson, but got rejected, and told her to calm down and be more patient with her daughter. But when we were leaving, she was screaming and I heard things being beaten and thrown. I left that house feeling so sick, and horrible. I seriously couldn't believe what was happening in that house. I love you so much Mom! Keep being awesome and writing me!

Dianna: You are so lucky to have such a sweet experience. I love you. Keep working hard, and keep that love. It's hard for me sometimes, but when I love, the work goes faster, and pregresses better. Love you! Chao!

Dad: I have to give talks and participate a lot here in this branch. But I give cool talks. Like I had somebody turn out all the lights, and I used to flashlight to talk about "Ye are the light of the world.... Cannot be hid..." And it was awesome. I always try to make the talks not so boring, and super easy, so they can remember it. Well I am totally out of time. This week was so lame, because it rained a lot, so we didn't get accepted. People rejected us because we were wet, and didn't want to let a wet person in their home., We only found 2 news, but are super cool, who know an Hermana here. Well I love all of you, and hope to hear news soon! LOVE YOU!!!!

-Elder Nicholls

Chepica po - 21 June 2010

So my new companion is Elder Gomez and he is from Osorno Chile. He´s awesome. And knows almost no English. Our branch here has about 15 people attending, and that is WITH our 4 investigators that went. Really small. I had to play piano, bless the sacrament, says prayers, clean after the meetings, AND give a talk, all in the same meeting! Basically, in this branch, the missionaries do everything. An Elder is the branch President. There are 4 Elders living in my house, and we all work in the same sector, and it is HUGE! I forgot to tell you guys last week, but this sector has bikes! Woot! The sector is so big, you have to ride your bike 3 hours just to cross it. It is tight.
I am getting so much better at teaching. Not saying I am better than anybody, just to myself. But I have been studying a lot about how the Savior taught, and have found he always using examples, or tangible objects that are super common. The parable of the hen protecting her chicks appears like 7 times in the scriptures. So I have been using a rubiks cube I bought, to explain how the truth slowly got lost, one twist at times, but after many generations of people, the truth was so lost, and nowhere to be found. But people are born, being taught that the truth is like the messed up rubiks cube, and just do not know any better. Then I put it back together, explaining the restoration. Well that is one example, but I try and use some kind of object, or situation in every lesson. I am trying to get people to understand the great apostasy, and that there was a need for a restoration, and Joseph Smith was simply another prophet, and WE DO NOT PRAY TO HIM!!!!

You know what I really do not understand? Why do people pray to the virgen Mary? Dad probably knows what I am talking about, but everyone else in the family is probably confused. But in many lessons we extend an offer for the investigator to pray, and they pray loudly to the virgen, in a very strange prayer. I have no idea what they are thinking. So here we found 12 investigators in 2 days. It was so rad! But then we found like nobody else, but that is really because it was raining for 3 days straight and nobody wanted to open their door, or let two muddy missionaries in their house. Ya riding a bike is sweet and everything, but when you have to ride it through deep, thick mud in the pouring, and I mean, POURING rain, it sucks. Sorry for lack of better words, but this week was basically just that. 3 days straight of pouring rain, and nobody letting us in. But oh well, things happen, and I am still happy as ever. My comp says he also has a feeling that we are going to be together two changes, and then he is going to leave, and I will train here in Chepica for one or two changes. Oh that would be soooo awesome! I want to train so bad! My Spanish is getting better almost every second, and I pretty much understand every word, and a lot of times, my comp does not understand, and I do! That is so cool when that happens!

Well we have 4 baptism dates, and two for sure are going to happen. The other two would happen, but since they are younger than 18, they can not decide for themselves. And their mom is saying no. Dumb. So we are working with their Mom, and we will probably baptize her too. Well Elder Rodriguez was in Chepica like a year ago, and every single one of his converts are inactive. We found one of his converts yesterday just by knocking doors, and she is VERY uninterested in going back to church. So lame. I hope that does not happen with my converts in my last sector. Now that I am in a new sector, with totally new people, I have so many stories that I can share with lots of people! Examples of investigators, and how we solved their problems. So working is easier, and better, because I have a lot more experience.

Everything is so far away here. We have to take a bus for like 30 minutes to go to district meeting. But the chapel is right by the house, but that is because the church is good with finding good houses for the missionaries.

Sorry I could not write more for Fathers day, I really had no time. We got to internet at 5:45, and we have to be working at 6, and we were in p-day clothes. So I literally had no time. And boy do we work in this sector, or at least, my companion and I work like dogs. The rule is to be in the house at 9:30, unless you are in an important lesson, then we can be out for the latest 10:00. But every day this week, we had so many appointments, and lessons that went on forever, because they were struggling to learn, but really wanted to learn, so we stayed for a while. And everyday this week we returned at about 10:15, planned for 45 minutes, and the time to be in bed sleeping is at 11. But at 11 we finished planning, cooked some food, and got ready for bed, finally entering it at about 11:30. Plus, a lot of times we get up like half an hour early to study of plan lessons a little extra. We are working like crazy!

So you guys know that a white wash is? It is when do new people come to the sector at the same time. We basically had that here. Elder Gomez only had 2 weeks in this sector before I got here, so now he has 3, and I have one. So we basically started everything anew here. But It is awesome, it really is. People here are a lot better with fulfilling their commitments and everything, and let us into their house more. I heard Chile won a game in the Mundial today. And everybody was going crazy for a while, with cheering, tooting horns, and driving crazy. Oh speaking of that! People here are such bad drivers! I have almost gotten hit like 12 times! My brakes were not working at all hardly, so I worked on them a bit during lunch. (We eat lunch in the house about 6 times a week, because there are no members to feed us.) And about 20 minutes after leaving, I was super close to getting hit by a car, but I only avoided it because I had worked on my brakes. If they had not been working so well... Something else might have happened. It made me learn that as missionaries it is always good to be prepared, and to keep everything in order, and proper.

Well nothing much to say, but I am sure there are millions of things I can say, but just can not remember them. But that is what my missionary journal is for. I already have more than 6 months in the mission! It seems like nothing, but at the same time that is a quarter of the mission! Still a whole lot to go... Oh! Please send me in your next email a list of everybody about to leave on the mission, where they are going, and their arrival date for the MTC. I want to include something for them in my next email. Well thanks a whole lot for everything guys! I hope I am making you all proud! You guys are going to be so surprised with who I am after the mission! And it will be so awesome to have Spanish to put on Resumés and find a job super fast, and live life!

I remember those old home videos EXACTLY! I love them! So classic humor. And natural, not acted. I miss american food. Like peanut butter, and pizza. The pizza here is bread with cheese and lots of tomatoes, and something a few slivers of meat. But lots of bread, rice, and noodles!!! Anything else I want to say...?? Thanks Dad for your bits of wisdom every week, and a scripture that I can apply to my arsenal of Christ like attributes. Patience is definitely the one I have the most trouble with. Or better said, the one I have to try the most at. You know what I mean? I always show patience, but inside, I am dried up. But reading these emails everyweek is like filling up my tank with gas. And sunday afternoon, my gas runs out. It is like a system in a car. My gas lasts exactly for 1 week, and I need more. They probably planned that like this, huh? One more complaint: I miss music! I do not mean just music, like Metallica, Goo Goo Dolls, or bands, but just plain old music! Nobody plays piano, and nobody has music! I need music to live! So we are keeping the piano in the house, and I am going to be getting up early, or sacrificing time during lunch, to play piano for the branch, to help people get more motivated. Oh I can not believe I almost forgot!

Saturdays I teach an English class! This week, only 3 people went, because we started notifying people 20 minutes before the class started, because a sister called me asking to do the class, so we did. But now we tell everybody about it, and like 12 people are going to go this next Saturday, and we still have a whole week to find people. It is so awesome! I love teaching! Well, got to go. Absolutely no time left. About 1 minute. Well I love you all soooooooo much! Until next week! Chao!

-Elder Nicholls