After the trial of our faith, then come the blessings.

Hey fam!!! Oh man, always I'm short on time, because I just love reading everyone's emails and pictures! So glad to hear everyone is doing well, and mom and dad had a good time in Brussels.  This week, well both of our baptismal dates fell through because both of our investigators still need to attend to church to progress. :( so sad, but it is okay, sometimes we have to leave investigators who aren't progressing because it is not their time.  Hna McKrola and I put in a ton more lessons with members and contacts this week! It was awesome to see that, but still are lacking investigators that are progressing.  We are working right now with what they call the Simi.  Its a list of all the members in our ward.  We are breaking it up into neighborhoods here in our area.  So then we can contact all of the inactives and less actives and hopefully activate people while also baptizing their family members.  We are also trying to get more of the ward involved in working with us visiting our list.  Its a genius idea.   The 2 other elders here in the other ward are geniuses, and we have been trying to work in a more efficient way lately rather than just working crazy.  But in all, its been a good week with Hna McKrola and our district here! Our friend here who helps teach with us a lot opened his mission call to Mexico this week, and it made me remember when I opened mine.  And also remember we are called to a specific place for a reason: to find those people that we were called to find specifically!  Not much to report new this week.  I miss you all! I wanted to send you a video of me chopping one of the member's grass with this machete because everyone here uses a machete for almost everthing... haha instead of using a lawn mower, they cut the grass with machetes.  The video is pretty funny... I only did it for a little while, and then passed off the job to the elders haha. 

miss you all! 

Love,
Hermana Nichols 

PS  I want to start a new thing, and every personal study for a little bit switch it up, and study a talk in English.  One elder gave us the idea, and I really like it.  So if you guys could send me your favorite talk from conference next week, I would love that! or any talk you really like from the Gen. Authorities! 

loved the talks from Jas and Kristine last week, and would love to read the rest of those talks

Meet My New Companion

Hey family! aw I miss you all, and love hearing the updates always!! Well what a week... Where to start?! My new companion (my hija) :) se llama Hermana McKrola.  She is from Colorado and is almost 6 ft. tall! haha she is super cute.  We both went to a year of BYU before coming out here, and we both played bball in high school.  She is super athletic, and we have a lot in common.  Oh man, all of my companions have been awesome!

But also this week has been harder than most because we are in a slump of teaching people.  Our investigators that Hermana Garcia and I have put baptism dates with have all fallen through because everyone is worried about jobs here and work a lot, and can't come to church.  Working on those inspiration questions because I know its more about that, but we have taught a lot of only one lessons with people instead of with people who are progressing.  I feel bad, becuase poor Hermana McKrola has come into the mission with no investigators that are progressing right now. :( A lot of changes in our district...  all of the missionaries left for others areas besides me and an other elder.  And they closed one area of sisters in my district.  So Hna McKrola and I are the only sisters in our district. haha but its normal.  Its also crunch time right now for zona flores!!!! Presidente Fortuna talked with our leaders and said that he has to close one zone, and since our zone hasn't had much progress lately after this cambio if there's not more progress,  will have to close our ZONE! yikes.. we are working so hard right now! This means that after our 6 weeks change, if there's not much progress we will all be reassigned to different areas.  Not the end of the world, but keep zone Flores in your prayers that we can find more people and further the work here! Hoping and planning to finish my training with Hermana McKrola here in La Paz in January!! This week we made plans with the leaders of Relief Society, Primary, and YW to help us contact! We are trying to find different ways to find and teach more people! Also, this week still having trouble with our water situation.. haha Juan Chavez is my new best friend via telphone... he is our owner of the apartment, and super grateful he can understand my broken Spanish. haha but everything is fixed now! whoo hoo! I am so grateful for the Lord. This week Ether 12:27 really has come true in my life.  Because Hna McKrola is from the states too, its time for my Spanish skills to pick up. haha but I know the Lord is helping me so much.  I can understand so much better right now! Not everything.. but just enought to know what to say to communicate with people, and this is something that I am so grateful for right now.  Sometimes I doubt myself in being able to do everything that I want to do to fullfill my calling to the fullest, but althought I have been humbled this week, I know the Lord strenthens our weaknesses just enough for us.  He knows us, and He knows what we are capable of.  We just need to put all our trust in Him.We arent perfect, and He knows that.  I know that when we humble ourselves like it says in this scriptures, recognize our weaknesses, and like the Father of President Hinckley said, Forget ourselves and go to work, is when we can accomplish all that He expects of us.  

I miss you all! and am grateful for all I am learning here. 

Love you! 

Hermana Nichols 

this is our genealogy line.. haha she trained the hermana in front.. and then she trained the hermana after.. haha

Camping...

Hey fam!! Hope everyone is doing well! I decided this time to write my weekly email first before reading emails.  Things are going well here in La Paz!  I am super sad to say goodbye to my companion Hermana Garcia on Wednesday. :( She has taught me so much, and mostly just through her example.  I'm so lucky I got her as my trainer!  Im a little nervous because Presidente Fortuna called me last week and I will be training a new missionary on Wednesday!! whooo... I'm super excited, and nervous! I know this is a big responsibility, and I'm really grateful for the trust of Presdiente and the Lord.  But I'm also nervous because I can't understand completely everything that people say.  I can understand the majority, but oh man I've learned that little details really matter!!! Hermana Garcia has explained so many things for me later that people said in our conversation, and I'm shocked, because I didn't hear that part! haha oh man, Im definitely a little worried, but have so much faith and trust in the Lord that He will help me.  I'm not sure who I will be training, but I'm pretty sure it will be a Latina, so at least someone can speak to the people.  There are 7 of us training sisters.  And 5 of us just finished our training and are the sisters that came with me from the CCM.  Aw, I always love seeing the sisters and elders that came with me from the CCM!  This week was a little sad because pretty much all 4 of our investigators that we put baptismal dates with fell through, because they need to go to church 3 times in a month's period before they can be baptized, and none of them will come to church. :(  We are working with one family right now, that we love, but the wife grew up Catholic and she said she knows that this church is true, and knows that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, but since it is a big change to change churches, she said she needs more time because everyone in her church knows her, and she is hesitant to be baptized.  Her husband is ready, and says he wants to be baptized but with his wife. 

Super grateful for the members of the ward who help us out!  I know that you all are helping out the missionaries in your ward, and I know they appreciate you soooo much, because that is how I feel with the members that help us out or feed us! haha 

This weekend I'm super grateful for a shower... I dont even mind the cold water anymore! Unfortunately, our vault of water is empty, and long story short, we have a small pila filled with water still to use, but haha I'm living the ultimate camping trip right now. hahaa But the Lord is helping us out, because this weekend one of the members who has a laundry machine said we could use her machine each week! whooo hoo! aww so happy!!! 

Thanks mom for the package with the skirt and shirts, and hichews!! :) and your letter! I miss you all, and love to hear the updates! if you have any good comments or favorite parts of conference let me know, I would love to read more in English about it.  Grateful to be serving here in La Paz, and since I will be training I will be here until January... but its normal to be in your first area for 6 months I hear? anyways, things are good here!  Working hard, and learning a lot every day. You are in my prayers! 

Love,

Hermana Nichols 

Friends from the CCM also becoming trainers.

Elderes y Hermanas que estarán entrenando los misioneros que recibiremos la próxima semana.

Training Coming to a Close

Wow, hard to believe time is flying by! And I hope you all had an awesome conference weekend! Unfortunately haha I couldn't understand most of it... I was trying super hard, but it was hot, and the translator was speaking pretty fast. haha But from my companion's notes later, and when she explained her favorite parts after, wow, there were some great talks! and how cool that some of the talks were in different languages this time.  I thought my Spanish was coming along well, until conference came along. haha But it's all good, working on the language! Oh man, I was super bummed that our investigators couldnt make it to conference at all.  Because of what I could understand, it was perfect for them.  But they weren't home when we tried to get them at their houses, or when we did arrive after walking 20 minutes to their house, had excuses of why they couldn't come.  Super sad, but we did bring one of the brothers of our investigators with us to the afternoon session of conference. haha We went to get our investigators... a family we are working with, and while we were waiting for them to come to the door, the brother of the investgator family was walking up to us...the sister answered the door, and said that her sister and brother-in-law weren't home... but she was like winking at her brother who was standing next to us. haha anyways we invited them to come along to conference with us, and the brother who is about 24 ended up coming with us! haha He liked conference, and knew a lot of the members already.... but lives in the area of the other sisters in the other ward.  But hopefully they contact him soon.  Other than that, not much new... Cambios they say here, Transfers are in a week and a half.. and its almost for sure Hermana Garcia will leave and I will be here... kind of nervous for Hna Garcia to leave! But I feel like I'm beginning to learn the ropes around here.  Miss you all! Oh Kristine I got your bday cards!! thank you Ben, and Ella also! haha loved the pictures, and I took a pic with the cards, and will send it next week! Miss you all!  Super grateful to be here, and my testimony grows everyday that this gospel is of the one true church that Christ established here on earth for us through Joseph Smith.  

Also, thanks grandpa for the letter and spiritual thoughts! I loved them! 

Love you all, 

Hermana Nichols