Little-Big Things Happen Literally Every Day!

Yo Fam, this week was a good one! :D

That's awesome that you got my box!!!! That makes me way happy :DDD  Hahahaha I saw the shirts and I just thought 'what would look cool with some white converse?' hahahaha and sorry I totally forgot that I wrote it all in Spanish Hahahaha (I kinda forgot that not everyone speaks Spanish, I'm sorry ;)!!!!) Just wait a lil bit and you'll get a full translation :D It'll be worth the wait, I put my soul into it ;D Hahaha

Okay where to start... Well I forgot my agenda, and that's where I write everything cool down from the week, soon I'm just left with my brain, nothing more... soooo we'll see what happens :P

Okay, first off I was thinking a lot this week about how God changes our plans, a lot!!!!!! Like a lot a lot. Here in the mission we do planning in the morning, but sometimes everything changes and we just have a great day anyway, thanks to God's planning. Let me give an example.

We went to eat with a family this week, and they offered us a ride after the meal, (because our area is HUGE) and we had an appointment and everything to go to, but I felt 'let's go to the chapel' so I asked my comp, lets go to church, and he said uhh okay lets go! and we told the brother. He dropped us off, and literally, he drove away, we turned to open the gate, and someone shouted 'ELDERES!!!' 

Turns out that it was a girl who recently got baptized, and she knew my comp!!! So that was nuts, and she asked us, 'what missionaries are the ones in charge of the area 'la cantera'' ? (it's a part of our area)  And we said we do! and she was super happy, because her niece lives there and she wants to listen to the missionaries!!!!! She said she was trying to find missionaries to talk to for like a week and she finally found us 2.

So, we talked with her a little more, and then she left, and my comp and I were left like 'oh, well, that's why we had to come to the church :D

I swear the mission is so full of experiences like that its nuts. Little-big things like that happen literally everyday. They're little reminders to me that I'm doing okay out here :)

But yea, that happened :D 

This week I heard a great analogy, from an arquitecto. Here they build houses with concrete, but they always put rebar in the frame of the houses too. He said they do that to give the house flexibilty.  He told us that concrete can only sustain .01% of bend before it breaks, but with the rebar it endures a lot more! the house is strong, lasts, and can deal with what gets thrown at it because of the rebar. He said we need to be like that. We cant be like just plain concrete, because when life throws something our way, we'll be too rigid and just break. We need to be able to go with the flow just a little bit, but never compromising who we are our what we stand for. I hope that made sense because when he told us that I was likie 'Woah... life changing.' La neta :D

But yea, this week was super good :) Good week, good times here in the mission field :)  I'm loving it here :)

I hope you guys are well, remember that God loves you! He lives and we matter to Him :) if you want to know just about any other truth of the gospel, thats kinda it's root (doctorine of Elder Fardos) 

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till next time :D

Nicki

I had a bolero made :D It says Elder Fardos on one side and 'el pibe' (the kid) on the other... it's super cool :DDD  #recuerdos

"I'm Not Wearing Socks"

Hey guys!!

Okay Mom I totally got the box and it's only one of the best packages I've gotten in the mission!!  And I don't know if I told you that I love Elder Uchtdorf`s talks or what, but you nailed it!!! (Nick's Easter package arrived with basket goodies for he and his companion, new ties for Easter Sunday for both, Girl Scout cookies to share, and a pile of recommended reads from General Conferences over the last 20+ years, and we knew Uchtdorf was his favorite! ;) Haha!!)  I've read SO MANY of them already. I've learned an INCREDIBLE amount putting the talks of the apostles right next to the scriptures and finding stories, parables, and teachings that show exactly what they're talking about. It's been incredible. 

The shirts are also really good!!! They dont even look that big when I get it all tucked in and everything. And the extra space in the neck will NOT be a bad thing at all in about a month!!! Everything's great. Thank you!! Also let me know if you guys get another package yourself :D Hahahaha!  This one has some things for you guys!!!

Okay, this week was a good one! Everything chill, just been working the missionary daily grind :)  But like I've said before, this is a little harder area, so even if I'm not seeing the 'success' I'd like to, I'm sure learning a lot! I feel like the Lord wants me to learn something very specific! One thing I've been learning about is the difference between humility and not knowing  (like in that talk you sent me Mom, The Power of Not Knowing by Liz Wiseman)  It's something I've been thinking about for a while now.

Link to BYU Devotional with Liz Wiseman, The Power of Not Knowing

But as I continue to work hard, I've been thinking about a testimony from a great person I like and respect... it was shared a SUPER long time ago, but I totally remember it like it was yesterday!

You remember when Brother Callaway gave his testimony? And when he shared 'Im not wearing socks?' and he told the story about having a choice to make about going home or coming without socks... he said the important thing was that he was there, he was present, at church, and that he was doing it, even if he wasn't the most 'prepared' por asi decirlo (so to speak). 

 

I've carried that testimony with me for quite some time now! It's one of the special ones that stuck and I've always had with me. And here in this area, sometimes I feel like maybe I'm showing up here a little less 'prepared', like maybe I don't have my 'socks on' but I'm trying, I'm working hard, we're giving it all we've got, and we know we're getting blessed for it! The important thing is that we're here, we're present, we're trying, and we're doing it :D

Also, something awesome in one of the Uchtdorf talks that I like :D

God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!  

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become.

It's sweet to think about. God only does things for us because He loves us. He doesn't need to help us, but He wants us to be happy, so He gives us commandments for our good, and our happiness and protection -- out of love for us. :D

But yea, I hope you guys have a great week!!! I love you all, and God loves you all too!

Be good! MAKE it a good week!!! :D

Till next time!!

Nicki :D

(Our neighbors taught us how to make rice balls a while ago... and I'm not gonna lie we make em pretty bomb. We make em ourselves every once in a while. You guys are gonna love em!!!)

Loving the People and the Purpose!!

Fam!

Bueno, pues this week was a good one - again! :D Learned a lot, worked a lot, and just had a good week :D We had a lot of cool experiences this week, we are talking with a lot of cool people, and a lot of people here have a lot of potential!!!!

But, I think the coolest thing about being here, with my comp, is that (humbly said) we teach reallyyyyy good together. I don't think I've had another comp that I've been so balanced with as I am with him! It's pretty nuts. It's cool, I dig it, and we're working hard trying to take advantage of that gift to be able to teach as much as possible. It's pretty rad! :D

This week we went to Ojinaga again, to help out the missionaries out there just a lil, it was really cool, we had good experiences with them. :) 

But one of the coolest parts of the week was when we ate at the home of our Bishop! He and his wife are just loves. They're amazing people and we really love them!!! And well, they told us that we'd be able to make a video for you guys and it was like super in the moment, so if it came out awkward it's cuz we didn't plan or practice or anything! Hahahaha But yea, their family is incredible!! Their kids are amazing, and one kid, R, is SOOO CUTE, HOLY COW! I took a video of him, and I'd love to send it to you guys but we're in a *meh* ciber, and all the computers have viruses... sooooo, maybe next time! But, R is just about the best kid I think I've ever seen. He's awesome!

Something I thought about this week was in John 17:3 :)

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

It's cool because literally the key to receiving eternal life is getting to know our Father in Heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ! So our job is getting to know them :) and I think one of the best ways to get to know someone is talking with them! So, I think a pretty big trick would be prayer. We need to have significant and meaningful prayers, and we need to be able to really get to know the personalities of God and His Son :) Reading and studying the scriptures are also important keys. There's a lot of things that we can do, right? But the trick would be to ask, "What do WE need to do, to be able to know them more"! There's a really good chance that we all need something a little different... Some of us may know actually know God and his Son pretty well - but we all need to get to know them better :) After all, it's the key to eternal life with them :)

Bueno, I hope you guys have a great a week and have spiritual moments this week! Don't wait for spiritual moments to happen either... MAKE them happen!!!!

I hope you guys have a great week!! I love you guys a bunch!!!

till next time!!!

Nicki

Confrencia y Pachanga!!

Hey Fam!

Bueno pues this week kinda flew by... Time flew while we were in conferences preparing for the arrival of the Elder Valenzuela. He came and taught all the missionaries and we had a special leadership meeting and it was pretty rad! When I get back in 7 months I'll have more to share with you on that, Hahahah, Another story for home. :D

But yea, it was super cool, really, this was a cool week! One of the coolest things that happened was when we went to eat with a member. She invited us to knock on the door of her neighbors, just my comp and I, and see if they´d like to have a lil family night as neighbors. We went, and nobody was home. So, the member invited us to come back the next day in the evening and try again. 

While we were at home that night my comp and I were talking and we both thought it would be really cool if the member could be the one to do the inviting, but it was just something we thought about and talked about between ourselves, we didn't plan to actually ask her to do it. But, when we came back the next day the member asked 'You guys ready? Lets go' and she totally did it pretty much all by herself!! It was so cool to see a member reach out to her neighbors!! It was a super sweet moment for me, and for the member!! She left super strengthened and she realized how easy it is to do :D That made us superrrrr happy! :)

Oh and another thing we did, who knows whats gonna come of it right, but we felt the need to pass by a young couple that we absolutely love (pictures to come next week) and we left them a note in their door. We just felt like we should do it, so we did it :) 

But yea, good stuff :D

We've been working a lot, trying really hard, and always learning new things. Something we talked about this week is really classifying what is a sacrifice. It seems like sometimes we call things sacrifice that really aren't, or at least shouldnt be. It's something that caught my attention :) As Christ said in Matthew 13

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." 

We have to treat the gospel like the pearl of great price that it really is. :D

Okay, something else kinda cool this week: We live in like a little apartment constructed above the house of a member, so we live above members and next door to members, and ALL these members are family... and one of the sons turned 25 this week... soooooo we had a pachanga (party) on our porch estilo Chihuahua (style). :D

I hope you guys have a great week!! Everything's chill here, we're just doin our thang :)

Until next time!!!

Nicki

My companion is a fan of the albiceleste

If Casual Friday Was Really a Thing in the Mission?!

Okay the last week of the cycle, First week of the new one begins!

This week was super cool :) My comp and I don't have changes, so we're still doin what we're doing on the daily. We like being together and we like being here, it's super fun :) There are a lot of changes in the zone, and well, it's cool.

But yea this week was dope!! I FINALLY GOT TO GO BACK TO CERRO GRANDE!!!!!!!!!! that was incredible on it's own!!! I saw so many familiar faces, so many people that I totally love, it was so sweet!!!! I got to see the familia Campa, pero no tomamos una foto (we didn't get a photo) but I think we're headed back there again this week to help out the missionaries there.

We've seen a lot of blessings here, it's been awesome, and we're excited to keep going :) 

Something that I really liked this week in my studies was in Matthew 9:10, when Jesus ate with the 'sinners'

10.  And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

I like it because it really showed how charitable Christ was and is :) but what I also like is that the people had to come to sit with Him. And it's the same with us! He is always there simply waiting for us to take a step toward Him. I hope that in this story there wasn't a sinner that felt too ashamed to sit with Him. It doesn't say, right, but it shows that Christ was so accepting if the people only had the courage and love to be able to go with Him without being worried by what He would think or say. We need to do that too!  We can't let our own worries or fears make us feel that maybe Christ wont accept us, because He always will :)

It's a little scripture, right, but I feel like theres a lot of meaning behind it :) We need to come to the table :)

A couple of pictures for you -- starting with Zaragoza!  Always fun to see friends and former companions at conferences!

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​If 'Casual Fridays' were really a thing in the mission... Haha!! :D  The Star Wars socks are sublime!  Thank you Lauren & Julian!  They are mazing!

​And yes Mom, my comp and I laughed a bunch with divertio!! (igual felicidades mama siempre tendremos el mismo humor jajajajajaj) 😘 

(From the moment Nick finished his training as a missionary, he has been a leader... first a District Leader then a Zone Leader and for almost 18 months that's what he's done.  Nick has mentioned that he would love to train a new missionary... and in the mission, when you train another missionary, he refers to you as his 'father'... There is a mission life span, you're 'born' into the mission when you arrive, your trainer is your 'father', his trainer is your 'grandfather', and other missionaries your father has trained are your brothers, etc...  and as you age in the mission you have occasion to gather with your 'posterity' at conferences, during changes and leadership meetings - creating opportunities for 'family pictures' - before you 'die' in the mission when you complete your two years and return home.  And since Nick is approaching the fourth quarter of his mission, he's been wishing more and more that he might finally have a 'son'... Haha!  So we got him a Funcle shirt, Funcle stands for the Fun Uncle, defined as 'like a dad only cooler' and it totally translates to Spanish: Fun - Divertido and Uncle - Tio = Divertio!!  Haha!)

Till next time,

Love you all,

Nicki

A Short Update, But Another Great Week!

Okay this week was sick!!!

We went to Aldama, and there we visited Elder Josse and Elder Gomez, Elder Josse is the same one that I started the mission with in Cerro Grande -- and we had a great week :)

We've been working hard, and actually last night we went to the mission call openening of two youth from our ward! They're twins that we've gotten to know well and they invited us to their opening (I'll try to send a video of it), but they sent their papers in at the same time, they opened their calls at the same time, AND THEY'RE GOING TO THE SAME MISSION AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SOOOO COOL!!!!!!

And it totally reminded me of when I opened my mission call... Holy cow that was such a sweet experience... I'm never gonna be able to forget that! :)  (For anyone that missed it and would like to see Nick open his call, just click the following link... Nick's Mission Call )

But yea, something I liked this week was a message from Elder Marx, the same one that was my comp in Girasoles :) He shared a spiritual thought in our Zone Meeting and he talked about Enos, and how he went to hunt, but while he was hunting, he received a lot of spiritual inspiration! Elder Marx applied it to our daily lives. He said that it's so important that we always have the spirit with us, because we never know when personal revelation or inspiration will come! It's really likely that we wont be hunting, but maybe we'll be in the bus, or we'll be in the car, or we'll be on the road, or walking, who knows! But if we don't have the companionship of the spirit, we're not gonna be able to receive the inspiration we could have had.  That's cool right?  So I encourage you to live your life and make choices with that in mind every day.  

But yea, that's about it for this week! Short, but it was a good week! 

I hope you guys are well and good and happy - and OH I TOTALLY got your box!!!!! Thank you so much Mom!!!! It's awesome! :DDDD I love it all!!!!!

Till next time!!!

E. Fardos

Another Awesome Week in the Mish!!

Hey Fam!

You got my package?!!!! That's so good!! That makes me super happy!!! Hahahaha! I'm glad your'e loving the pictures and videos...  I don't remember all the videos that I have on there so I hope everything's good Hahahahaha, but yea, the mission really has been a blast so far!!!!! :D

This week has been nuts! And wow we've seen miracles! Elder Gonzalez and I get along great and that makes it super easy to teach, and the members tell us that they feel a lot of confidence with us, which makes it so they always wanna work with us! It's been such a cool experience being in this ward, and I'm honestly loving it. I don't want changes! Hahaha I've had a lot of luck with my comps and areas lately!!!

But yea, back to this week - we've been visiting a family lately, and we've been doing it with her neighbor that's a member. It's a family she's been trying to get to church for a really long time. She told us before a family home evening this week that shes wanted to send missionaries to her neighbors for a really long time but she was waiting for 'good' missionaries, and she said when she met us she had the impression that we should go with that family. I felt really honored to hear that she felt like she could trust us. It was a cool moment for us :)

Um so yea I get to go to Ojinaga now, I'm not a part of that whole mail/package delivery system, but it makes it easy for me to send stuff to you guys :D hahaha -- and also Presidente Julio Velazquez says thank you for the card and the gift :) I don't know what you guys sent him but he was very appreciative.

Something I liked a lot this week was something we heard in our Zone Conference. We were listeneing to a missionary conference by Elder Bednar and he shared something really cool! He said that us as missionaries can't be so distracted by HOW we are doing that we lose track or focus of WHAT we're doing. There's a lot of missionaries that freeze up if they feel like they aren't 'good enough' and I felt like it was really good for all of us!! I find myself thinking about that a lot too, like if I'm 'sufficiente' or if what I'm doing is enough, and all that time I spend thinking I could be trying to keep moving forward! So yea, I dig it! :D

And well that's kinda it.

Love you guys!

Till next time :D
Nicki

The district pics, note that Elder Molina is in our district!!!! He was my comp :D He goes home in May!!!!!!!!

And my comp had never had Carls Jr before, and since our area is more affluent then the rest of Chihuahua, we have Carls Jr here!!!!  We went to go eat there on P-Day!!!!