Wow! What a Week!!

Hey fam!!!

Wow, Okay, WHAT A WEEK!! 

Hey hey... I'll try to make sure I don't forget anything...

First off, my comp and I are doing really well!!! He's really awesome and super funny and yes, now I have photos of us!!!  And well, guess what happened this week???

It snowed!!!!!!!!! Like a lot here in la Sierra!!! The pictures from Madera were crazy!!! It literally started to look like Tahoe!!!  We were with some of our recent converts when snow began to fall, and we went outside for a snowball fight! Haha!! It was way coool!! :D And when we came in to Chihuahua for our Mission Conference this weekend, it even snowed there too!  And that never happens!

I also got the package from Aunt fer!!! Thank you so much!!!!! The jersey is awesome!!! And my comp said I definitely look like I'm Mexican in it!! Hahahaha -- so that makes me SUPER happy! :DDD

We went to Chihuahua this week!!! That was way awesome. Friday we had a leadership conference and it was one of the best we've had in a long time! :) Really, I enjoyed it so much. I felt like we got back to basics. I like simplicity, and I've found that everything goes better when things are simple. 

And then Saturday we had a special meeting with Dallin H. Oaks, the Apostle!!! That was way cool, and my first time meeting an apostle. Everything he said was incredible, but a few things really caught my attention... one, was when we were waiting for him. When he finally arrived, I felt like a wave hit me. The thing was, I didn't see him first, I felt it, then I looked up and saw him and everything made sense. That man definitely had the spirit with him, and it was made clear to me without even seeing him. I literally felt him before I saw him, and that doesn't just happen.

The other thing that was cool was that when I shook his hand he told me 'hola'... He thought I was latino at first. That was neat! hahah :)

But the other thing I really enjoyed was the way that many times he seemed to be speaking to me directly. Something I really liked was that when someone asked him a question, he almost always took a moment to listen, both to the question and to the spirit before answering. It's something that I'm going to reflect in my life, and I'm gonna do it much more often. :)

It was also awesome seeing every missionary in the mission!!! I saw so many familiar faces and that was just fun to live in for a moment. I think in all my time as a missionary I wont again be able to see all the mission together like that. It was something cool:)

Then Sunday, was also really awesome!! All of the areas in the mission didn't have services, and we went to a huge conference center to listen to Elder Valenzuela de los 70 and Elder Oaks. The messages were incredible and direct and on point, so that was great, but it was also so cool seeing SO MANY MEMBERS THAT I KNEW!!!!!  Seeing that I was in the City a full year as a missionary, and that the conference was in the city, I was able to see so many members!!! I saw friends from Cerro Grande, a bunch from Girasoles and Centro, and some from the north of the city too!!! And the best part for me was seeing and talking with so many people that I love so much!! It was an incredible experience honestly.

We heard a lot of good stuff, and received a lot of advice, but something I liked a lot was what Dallin H. Oaks said. He gave us the simple advice of 'just do your best.' It doesn't really matter what happens as much as what we did to make it happen, if that makes sense. If we try our best and see the results we want, perfect. And if we dont, pues ni modo, we gotta try again. I really enjoyed his frankness and simplicity of speech. It made it easy to get to my heart.

Everything is really good here in la Sierra -- it's cold and amazing. I really like the cold. :)

Everything's good, and I hope you guys have a good week!!!! 

Just do your best and everything will be alright :)

Till next time, I love you guys!!!

Nick

Changes!

Hey! 

We had changes! I'm still here in la Junta, but my comp is leaving... And he's going to my hometown Chuviscar! He's gonna be in Centro, one of my favorite areas in the mission. He seemed excited, and I'm sure he'll do well there. 

My new comp is still traveling from Chihuahua, so I don't have pics of him yet. His name is Elder Mamani, and he's from Bolivia. I already know him and he's really cool, so I'm sure we'll get along great. He likes soccer, he's shorter than me, and super funny. He was comps with Elder Templeton and Temps told me they got along great, so I don't think well have any problems. hahaha! :)

But life has been really good here, We've been working a lot with the youth here in athe Junta... They need a lot of help. We thought we were gonna get another companionship here in the Junta, because before us there were three... Now we're just 2, so it gets hard to divide the time between members and our new friends and investigators that we're talking with. :) We've continued to meet a lot of cool people. Not as many as we'd like, but we're meeting a lot of em! It's really cool to be here, and I really like it a lot. 

But time for a spiritual thought... :D

This week I was thinking a lot about how we do things as missionaries, and I was reading the story of David vs Goliath. And a couple things called my attention...

Something that I like a lot is the faith David had. He was so sure that he was going to obtain his goal, but what I really liked his motive... When he explains himself, and his cause, he says that 'This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand...  that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel'.

Somthing I really like is that he wasn't worried about getting rich or becoming known, like the other soldiers were - He was simply determined to do the will of God and be His servant.

It's something that I admire and simply try to reflect. Anything that I do I just want to do for the cause of Christ. 

This week has been a good week, and we've seen a lot of progress. I think we're gonna keep seeing miracles here in the Junta, just like David did against Goliath. We're excited, and we should see miracles!

A couple of promised photos from our travels in la Sierra.

I hope you guys have a good week.. 

I love you guys a bunch!!!! 

TIll next time!

Nick

Sorry I'm Late...

Hey Fam,

Well we were in Chihuahua AGAIN so we were traveling and busy all day yesterday, so, I didn't have time to do just about anything.  But now I can write you guys :D

This week has been crazy awesome!!!!! We had baptisms!!!!!!!!!!!! SO AWESOME!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING!!

So that happened!!! It was the first time I had the oportunity to baptize a whole family. It really was the coolest thing. The feeling of love and support there was incredible!

I really loved it, and I love them, and God loves them even more! :) Incredible really.

But that's starting with the end of the week!

The beginning of the week was awesome too! We went to Madera, and we stayed there a day to visit the missionaries there. They're great and I love being in Madera. It's really a cool town. But getting there was fun, we manged to stop by some places in between! There are members in some towns in between so we stopped by to see them. Pictures to come :D

But this week realyl was a good week and I learned something cool!

 

Its Matthew 8...

23 ¶ And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

The interesting thing is how we apply this story! the first thing the disciples did was follow Jesus. Then, came the tempest, and then Jesus performed a miracle.

I stopped to think for a moment, and I wondered if some disciples thought in the moment, 'why on earth did I ge ton this boat??? If I didnt, I' still be safe on the beach!'

and well, a lot of us have the misconception that upon following Christ, life becomes super easy. It'd be cool if this were the case, but it's not. Many times we follow Christ and then comes a tempest, trials or tribulations or temptations or whatever, and sometimes it causes us to doubt. But, if we stay on the boat, Christ can perform a miracle in our lives. If we jump ship, or never follow Him to start, we'll never see the miracle. And it's always worth seeing the miracle! :)

This was something I liked this week, and I hope you guys have a good week!!! I love you guys a bunch!!! Send me questions, let me know what's new, send me photos, and fill me in!!!!

Till next time, I love you guys!

Nick