I've lost abou 10 lbs this last week. . . . .9/6/10

lots of stress and worry have been getting to me and i think ive let the adversary bother me too much but saturday was more than enough spiritual strengthening that yesterday and today have already been so much different due to the necessary changes ive made in my mission life. other than my companion being someone who doesnt apply what he learns and letting all the strong things the Spirit told us in our meeting with Elder Christofferson go out the other ear, we are doing good and were able to receive revelation for our investigator Paul, who we were able to help with his doubts about the Book of Mormon, and all is clear for him, realized that he isnt reading his assignments that we leave him although he tells us he did. Elder Christofferson said that if a person is praying and reading the Book of Mormon, they are almost 100% converted just for those small acts. i know that the same goes for us as members of the Church, which is why the 3 basic answers in all classes are read the scriptures, pray, and go to church. i have to send a bunch of pictures to my zone leaders which is taking forever and i only have 20 more minutes so im gonna start trying to send some to you all!

So, feeling different this week!!! August 20, 2010

happy to be able to receive inspiration this coming saturday by the mouth of a living Apostle of the Lord. Last Friday morning hermano Máximo (which means "the best") got baptized. he asked that i realize the ordinance and was glad to, and when he came out of the water, even though it was ice cold, said he felt warm like he was covered in clothes ha. he also shared with me as we were changing behind some bushes that he is so happy that after 2 years he was able to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized in the same and correct way. also shared how he used to be hard hearted and didnt think it was necessary to become closer to God and obey the commandments and how it is so much better and happier doing the Lord´s will and what He asks of us. pretty much his name explains him. going to be a great leader in the church.

sorry i didnt write a whole lot. it has taken forever to download the pictures

.....ridiuculous amount of iniquity! 8/16/10

this month is the festival of the virgen here in huamachuco and people from
all over south america come and friday, saturday, and sunday were the
central days with concerts and 40 firework castles in the plaza which was
the root of literally tens of thousands of drunks, and its horrible to see
how an entire city can become a place where Satan is present. i really felt
like i didnt want to be here those days. last week i had to go to trujillo
thursday night for a meeting friday morning where i got to start the
training and teach the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, i felt the Spirit very
strongly and was able to learn a lot. then after we went to the
dermatologist for my companion, and a miracle, last thursday the branch
president and mission leader from Otuzco, my first area in the mission, came
to Huamachuco to repart materials and fill out the inscriptions for seminary
and institute.......i dont know for sure, but i think that its a 1/1000000
chance that a family group has the church educational program in such little
time. the members are so excited, and our pensionist who served his mission
in chile, is going to teach institute, and a convert sister will teach
seminary. im pretty stoked to see the testimonies and faith of the members
strengthened! tonight the assistant to president with another elder are
gonna come visit us which will be sweet. they havent come for like 5 months
since president mora made his last visit here. not much else in news right
now cuz my brain is frozen i cant remember anything right now, maybe cuz the
cold. but ill attach some pictures!!! love and miss you all, and hope all is
well back home in your family lands as they say here in peru. i sent a box
of beanies for mom, my 4 sisters, peter, for their birthdays, dont worry
tyler will come! and audrey, lucy, and elyse for being the older neices, my
neighbor only makes small enough for them. ha.

Miracle after Miracle August 23, 2010

irst things first, thank you so much dad for being worthy of inspiration and revelation for me, i know and testify that the Lord works in the strangest and most unexpected ways, but a great part of the Lord's work that i am doing has been moved by you so thank you. Hermano Máximo, who is the most humble, nice, faithful, and righteous man, has worked here in a mine for 3 years, and the last 2 has come to church, but his struggle was that his wife lives 15 hours away and they werent married, so my companion and i visited him about a month and a half ago for 2 weeks and got him animated to go to Piura and get married, so like a great man, he did all that was possible to animate his wife and plead her to prepare everything, so she did, had all the documents ready, and miraculously came here to Huamachuco, something she said she would never do. sadly, when she came a member that works with him who is also from piura, disanimated him and his wife saying that it would be better for them and their family to get married there and that there is a strong ward that would be happy to baptize him. (the brother that said all this also teaches apostasy at church, which is a struggle for us) anyways, as the Lord had planned, hermano Máximo went to Piura and got married, and came back here, and i randomly was talking to him about another baptism that we are going to have this friday for hermano Paul, and he mentioned very calmly and privately that he wanted to know if he could program his baptism for this week so that he could go home saturday with the news that he got baptized. like any missionary, especially one who knows how great and powerful potential this man has in the church and his future, i laughed/screamed/cried and called my companion over and some brethren and we planned it all for friday! also, paul, who is someone who has listened to the missionaries for over a year, came here about a month ago to live with his sister pamela, our old pensionist, and last week, even though he knows all the lessons by memory and said all the missionaries wanted to baptize him, i knew there was a reason he came to live here and be in a much greater environment, last thursday i taught him something very simple, prayer, and although he said he had prayed and never received an answer, i felt like i should share Moroni 10 and to my surprise, none of the missionaries had ever shared it, so he was so impressed that he prayed that night and friday had a testimony of the BoM and Joseph Smith, and passed his baptismal interview friday, (the first interview ive seen longer than an hour and a half) but after a call to President Turk, he was able to feel the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and is now ready for this Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cant express how happy i am in these moments, and how thankful i am to all of my brothers and sisters including in-laws for your kind and strengthening words always that give more power to your examples. also for my parents and grandparents for the love and support you all give me. last great news, september 4th i will be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord! we have a conference with Elder D. Todd Christofferson and it will be more than uplifting and motivating!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will send pictures following right now as you all read! love and miss you all. tell christian he is obcviously and definitely going to receive his beanie and if he would like he can tell me colors, a name he wants on it, a number, etc. maybe one for his club team that matches? i can make him one for that and another to add to his flavorful style ha. anyone can make pleads if they would like! oh yeah cant forget....garrett holsenbake sent me a letter that made my whole mission worth it to be honest, he amazed me, and hopefully brandon as bishop(congrats! haha) can help him and all of you as well in meeting his goals!!! mom call him and tell him i love and miss him and am responding to his letter! did you give him the last one i sent?

So I got to meet my New Mission President this week!

so the Lord has blessed ME, HIS WORK, THE FAMILY GROUP, AND MY DISTRICT! so last sunday we met with the members and made so plans and training and the normal assistance of 43-50 people in church boosted after a week to 67 yesterday! im so pleased and happy to be able to rely on the Lord and love Him for all He does in my life to make it easier! lots of crazy stories from this week but all will have to wait until you read my journal ha. our president is awesome and his wife is a crack up she seriously is like a mix of aunt linda, stephanie, and dana faulkner plus a very spiritual additive! theyre from mesa where he just ended a 10 year calling as stake president. he studied at penn state, byu, and arizona state, is a banker, and owns a few businesses, one being many chains of JAMBA JUICE!!!!!!!!!!!! ha. but yeah, we dont have much time today because we got back from our little adventure late because it was raining, thundering, hailing, and lightening so bad that we got stuck on the mountain waiting for the taxi to come get us. ha fun times. few pictures will be attached! we went to markahuamachuco, which is like machupicchu but pre-inkan and a little more deteriorated, but look it up its awesome!
fotos

satan is good and won't ever get tired of doing his job -

o everything here is getting better. we had a planning meeting with the members and we are going to go out on visits with them to visit inactives. we have 3 families that are gonna get married the 23rd of this month and baptized saturday the 24th. familia cruz is doing awesome. theyve brought us twice now things to eat at night after we get home at 9 or so. my companion has progressed so well and im so proud of him. the other companionship in our district is doing better as well, the older companion started to take down the other but sunday after church meetings we got together and had a companionship inventory as a district and fixed everything. not gonna lie, i cried and its second time ive cried, first when i left my first area, and the Spirit was so strong that we all hugged after and were all animated to work. yesterday we were in trujillo to go to the doctor with my companion and get some paperwork for a couple thats gonna get married and also recoger una DNI, like ID. we went to eat hamburgers for lunch! and then mexican food for dinner before we left again at 11 last night to get here this morning. just finished our district meeting and our focus this week is to obtain the Spirit of truth(STUDY), teach by the Spirit of truth(NOT RELY ON OUR OWN KNOWLEDGE), and then invite by the Spirit of truth(CHALLENGE TO BAPTISM). love and miss you all. pray for Hermano Humberto Aguirre, his wife wants to go to the river this instant and be baptized, but theyre not married and he doesnt know if God is the Christ´s father or Allah, so today we´re going to visit him and hope that he can soften his heart for the benefit of his family. also Familia Cruz is doing well, just need prayers to help them feel and recognize the truth as the understand what we teach them. and lastly, pray for Roman Asto so we can teach him, he´s AWESOME and married, just is never home cuz he is a busy man that works as a teacher at night and in the day as some kind of director in the city council. oh yeah, speaking of the which, he invited us monday night to a welcome meeting for a group of students and 2 professors from michigan state. theyre here for 6 weeks...a change! haha, its wierd cuz they each have different tasks in social works that theyre helping with around the area so i see them a lot and it makes me miss home ha. thats all for this week, but i love and miss you all, and am doing the best i can to make you proud, so dont worry for me, just keep me in your prayers because Satan is good at what he does and won´t ever get tired of doing his job.

A Long Week - working, working. workiing 6/28/2010

so this last week has been extremely tough. my companion and one the elders in the other companionship have been acting inmature in lots of ways and they havent been representing Jesus Christ as they should be and the work has reflected that so although we are seeing miracles and working well the fruits are not showing well and i got so stressed that i was so sick friday saturday and yesterday that i could only drink water and so i came out nice and thin but im working with them, its just tough because as young adults they obviously dont like someone who is straight forward with them and is telling them they need to do things different, but im figuring out better ways to help them and am praying to the Lord a lot so can only ask that you all do the same for me at home. We had 5 investigators in the "center of meetings" as its called yesterday and Familia Cruz is doing great, now have there own gospel principles book and their second sunday in church he husband Santos insisted to pay tithing for the work and blessings he is receiving! the family is just having trouble with receiving an answer and as much as we have explained and helped them with that, they still dont have a testimony that the gospel is true. they can be baptized this saturday a family of 5!!! also hna. Flor, the doctors wife, had a dream and wants to get baptized, but they arent married so its a little tough here! church is running smoothly and we are seeing growth in the members and we are doing some cool training with them about financial preparedness and food storage next week and they all love it. yesterday we talked about the role a father plays in the family. well times up but the pictures are from a lake we went to today and president turk comes wednesday! love you all

Thanks to the Lord's hand in His work! June 14 2010

so key indicators this week have shot up thanks to the Lord´s hand in His work and the efforts we have been putting in gaining trust and becoming friends with the members AND the investigators! we had an investigator family of 5 in the make shift chapel which we call meeting center Sunday and have accepted to get baptized!!! as a group we did a little fathers day activity on friday night and we had 3 families come we were so stoked! Familia Cruz is so humble and the young ones are really smart and grasping well to what we teach. reading their BoM´s and everything! the dad makes wood coffins and other little carpintery things carved by hand that are way legit, but at first he wasnt to interested and we were struggling all this week but we kept working with them making sure to visit them everyday and what do ya know...the Lord blessed us for our diligence. well anyway i gotta go times up here, but know that i love and miss you all and am in the process of writing letters, its just so hard to find time honestly. i spoke and taught gospel principles sunday and it was very fun. keep praying for me. we walked 3 hours and 3 back to the place where those little llama things were called vicuña. ciao

well another HUGE change that i NEVER thought would come

so i got called friday night by president mora and he asked and assigned me to head to Huamachuco!!! here it is a family group, and we are 6 hours away from anything way out here in the middle of the beautiful mountains of peru. im the family group president so i will be doing the interviews to the members as well as the district leader of us 4 missionaries. the assistance is at 40-50 a week, but WAS at like 65 almost 70. the missionaries came for the first time here the end of 2009 and the progress was great until this last change when a very inmature elder came here and after interviews would spread rumors about things he had received knowledge of in the interviews and that left two families in-active sadly and the missionaries also have just been screwing around, waking up late, doing things they´re not supposed to and now the members have lost a bit of confidence in them.so now the two older companions were pulled out, an elder with 6 months was sent up here, and then i came alone saturday night at 10 from cajamarca and came up here after church in trujillo. it was very sad to leave such an awesome place with such great investigators and new people we had just met, and the baptisms we were gonna have before church sunday, but i know the Lord has put great trust in me and im here for a reason and my only desire is to please Him by working as a true servant and helping these members see how much the gospel really blesses lives. i proselited for 2 hours last night and some awesome lessons, we will be baptizing next week in the RIVER!!! its freezing cold up here but a blessed people and land. i miss and love all of you at home! hope all is well. will be writing letters this week to some of you and garrett. attached are some photos of a waterfall that we went to today walked 2 hours to get to it. dead tired now.
Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

Good old fart Bobby, can´t tell

Grandpa Bob! Robert! Roberto! Bobby! 6/8/2010 "84"

Good old fart Bobby, can´t tell you how much time I spend thinking of you. All of my companions and those around me have heard so many good things about you from me that I am pretty sure they want to call you their grandpa as well. I appreciate the great example you have been to me Grandpa and the wonderful help and guidance you have always given to me. I remember you daily and try to put in practice all that I have learned from you so that I can become a better disciple of Christ. Fom the smallest things you always teach like having good etiquette, being friendly, smiling, joking, and respecting the women in our life, I have been able to see in you a great and worthy Priesthood holder, father, brother, friend, and most of all Grandfather. I love remembering the little trips to Boorgor(Burger) King we used to take to get our 99cent Whopper, Wendy´s for baked potatoes and chili, and the thing that was most important of all, spending time together mowing the lawn and cleaning the yard up, and becoming a guide of Bakersfield as we went on deliveries for Bakersfield Envelope. I just want you to know and remember Grandpa that you are a beaming example and strength to me always, your smile, kind heart, and loving self who always wanted to serve others, has left in my mind and heart, the kind of person I want to be. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth, and that I have come to love the Restored Gospel more and more every day for the great missionary that you were and are today. May the Lord be with you always and give you the peace and comfort to know that you are a man of God, with the ability and strength to continue onward in these struggles you are know fighting.
I love you with all of my heart,
Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

Each day brings new opportunities 6/8/2010

yesterday we went to a place called ¨Cumbemayo¨ which means weaved river. Its a stone forest that was a place of adoration for pre-Incan people. The intelligence that they showed in making the little creeks work is crazy. their canal systems are so advanced that they had water move uphill. they had altars where they sacrificed animals, and they had a portal where they passed from this life to the eternities and they inscriptions in the stone are awesome they believed in the 3 degrees of glory and the highest had 3 glories in itself which historians make things up to explain but thanks to the gospel we can understand and secure the truthfulness. leading to the portal there are 2 staircases, one thats normal sized with large steps(wide) and the other is very skinny and tons of small steps, and supposedly those who did good things in their life were on the straight and narrow and entered there, and the other was for those who didnt do the which. it was a great experience and beautiful and we got into the van to head back just as the rains started to pour.
anyway, this last week we struggled a little with the people that were planning to be baptized, who had even passed their interviews, only 1 was baptized of 4, but we ended the week all finding awesome families, and that is the recent new focus in the mission...all the companionships holding a medium of 8 families a week teaching and we are all there, and now that we have met the goal, we can see progress and that they are accepting. Especificamente, the familia Chavez Huamán are doing awesome. The dad who suffered an accident about 5 years ago is way catholic(doesnt mean much, especially after sharing the Restoration) and he lives 45 minutes away in a little pueblo watching over their terrain and comes on the weekends but sometimes just saturday afternoon til sunday morning, so its been hard to meet him. so at last we went to teach the mom Rosa who we had met a few days before and taught, with Julie and Veronica the 2 daughters who have been coming to church the last 3 weeks, and with the Lord´s hand, the dad Concepción had arrived(Friday night!). we had taught the Restoration to the mom and daughters thursday night and they understood it PERFECT and prayed and knew it was true, so we got to the dad and he tells us about how hes devout catholic and is gonna die catholic and we just started teaching away and the mom and daughters helped us teach him(it was the lesson we dream of as missionaries ha). as we progressed in the lesson he began realizing the way things really were and the thing that struck him the most was when we talked about the Priesthood and the authority of God. he was amazed and so happy telling us that in all these years he had never heard of such a thing, but that it is so important and necessary. from then, he was more interested than ever, and by the end when we asked him if he believed the Church of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith, he gladly said yes. But as necessary, we explained to him the importance and need to pray to ask Heavenly Father if it was so, and as we explained the correct manner to pray, he was stunned(like any catholic) and was like ¨Now this is what we´ve needed to learn our whole lives...how to really communicate with Heavenly Father¨ and then continued to joke and say that Heavenly Father must be upset with him and not want to listen to him now that he´s repeated the same thing for so many years. all in all, we are seeing miracles as we focus on only finding and teaching whole families, and i am loving this work more than ever. Hermano Concepción gave me much more reason to appreciate the Priesthood and as well i have been able to realize how much the Lord loves each one of us by restoring His Church and Gospel to the earth. Now as members, if we don´t share it, we´re keeping all those who don´t have the knowledge we do from feeling that same love from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We all know how much we benefit from the restored gospel, and i invite you all to meditate such, and analize what you are doing to show your gratitude to the Lord for those benefits.
Love, Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

THIS WEEK. . .6/1/2010 THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

was the best ive experienced in my life even though i always say that be
ast thursday President and Sister Mora came with the assistants to visit Cajamarca and have the monthly(each change) interviews with the missionaries and so amidst all the fun of going young again and doing sleep over with them in our small bunk bed, eating out at awesome restaurants, and feeling their spirit, we also did training and stuff all friday and saturday minus a few hours each day to prep our baptisms, and president also held some meetings with leaders of the which hardly anyone in the stake showed but thats the struggle and our assignment here is to strengthen the leadership and just in this last weekend we did so much awesome planning and training and were all animated. saturday there were 3 awesome baptisms with 3 FULLY CONVERTED adults and each one was held separate but all the zone attended as well as president and elder hunsaker (AP) and i sang ¨I Know That My Reedemer Lives¨ and it literally sounded amazing and the Spirit was so strong. yes im bragging. we baptized Diego who is 28 and literally ALL DAY as he sits at work is reading his Libro de Mormón or Gospel Principles studying next weeks lesson! one of the other baptisms in the zone was a little old woman, Juana Rosa who is 79 but looks quite younger...she had been waiting 3 months to get interviewed by President Mora so she could get baptized. so one of the elders who teaches her went with me to bring her to the chapel friday night and when we arrived i peeked through her front door into her room(house) and she was sitting with her hands neatly on her lap with her Libro de Mormón, gospel principles, and hymn book stacked next to her waiting for us. i knocked the door and she came to the door with a huge smile on her face telling me how happy she was because ¨today is the day i get to get my interview so i can get baptized, ive been waiting since 6¨ (it was 8:30 when we got there!) when she came out of the water at her baptism i was a witness and so i was close enough to here her say ¨how precious, im a new person, and i got baptized JUST LIKE my savior Jesus Christ¨ i cant tell you how great those words made me feel and how well she understands the Plan of Redemption that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have layed out so we can be blessed. this morning our districts had their meetings and it was the best district meeting ive ever been in because we were so on top of it not wasting time getting plans made, practicing how to help investigators keep their promises, and then making personal plans to help their investigators. sunday night we had to send an elder off due to an emergency change(his sister works here and she came to see him!) and yesterday after we saw an awesome movie with morgan freeman and matt damon that just got approved about rugby, president called our cell phone to talk to one of our elders Elder Quimi who is a convert with 2 of his sisters, and received the news that his sister died sunday so i just want to ask that you pray for him. (he is doing great seeing him this morning but obviously needs lots of strength) i love all of you and miss you a ton. sorry for the bad sloppyness of this letter but i kind of just was going with the flow of what i remembered.
im so thankful for all the news and stories from home! they make me feel closer to you all so keep me updated.
ps. finally the thieves got to me when i traveled to Trujillo last week through the night for the zone leaders meeting but i tried my best to figure out who it was and have their address here in cajamarca so right now after we leave internet were going to ask them to return the things that we know they have but all everyone tells me is that theyre just gonna deny they have it so please say a little prayer that they can humble themselves and we can also baptize them after they repent and return my things. ha ¡CIAO FAMILIA NICHOLS!
- Elder Kyle Favero Nichols
cause being a servant of the Lord just keeps getting better! .

Cajamarca - Land of Milk & Cheese... . .5/24/10

the Lord has blessed and trusted me to call me as a zone leader and im now deep into the beautiful mountain town of Cajamarca which is a 7 hour bus ride from 10pm til 5am!(land of milk and cheese) my area is sweet cuz we live like in the city but on the edge so we have city and country side in our area. this is a rich city because of the gold and silver mines. i have constantly thought of you dad here because its the kind of place you and i would both love to travel. it rains literally drops big enough to fill a cup(photo attached). my companion is a guatemalan and is one of my best friends in the mission and i love already the things that i am being able to do in the Lord´s work. i feel so blessed being able to sheperd my companions in this zone and help them fulfill there purpose as i too am trying to do so. the days are going by so much faster, but although we have the little administrative things to do, we feel like the Lord is helping us so much more and were moving forward meeting, teaching, challenging, and preparing families for baptism. we are teaching 7 families and i know the Lord is preparing every step we take :) President Mora this morning in our 2 hour phone conference as zone leaders talked about Alma 42/43 and i know the Lord was helping me realize why im working hard, (42)so that the Lord´s atonement can take effect in my life and (43) that the fight that im putting up against Satan and his army like the Nefites is to protect my family, myself, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It uplifted me so much that i want you to all read those chapters and apply it to your lives so that the struggles we go through have more meaning and we have more strength to overcome them.
I miss and love each and every one of you (all who read this)
May the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ bless you all in your daily struggles
Ether 12:27,37 / Alma 8:15 (Mom and Dad I LOVE YOU)
Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

May 17, 2010 was a very good week!

so its been an amazing week. ive been in a trio if you didnt know. me, elder malara, and the most recent assistent to president elder lemmon who is from texas. ive honestly have had more fun, laughed more, and felt the Spirit more in this past week than any other time in my life. in such little time ive made eternal best friends and its been a great experience. we have met and taught SO many adult men that can be future priesthood holders, re activated the ex branch president and his whole family, and 3 other priesthood holders who were inactive. the miracles that the Lord is working through us makes us so happy and feel so good about our efforts. the assistance is an average of 55-65 and sunday there were 81 present!!!!!! im so pumped. so many awesome little stories.
#1 Francisco: Little old man whos losing his sight and hears very little. elder lemmon and i were alone and our comp was doing splits, and elder lemmon felt we should contact him. we did and long story short, hes never talked to missionaries, but one day he was walking by a house and the way it sounded was a member family was having family home evening and invited him in and gave him a Book of Mormon. we started talking about it and he busts it out and told us he was in 2 Nefi 3 and explained to us the WHOLE story of Lehi and his journey, Nefi getting the plates, all in detail!!!
#2 Humberto: So we were looking for an address of a young man we had contacted last sunday and set a time to visit him saturday(2 days ago). the address he gave us was wrong and was the address of humberto. to explain humberto, he lives with his 2 brothers (all single in their 40´s and 50´s) alberto, and santos...their sister died last year and just after their mom. at first he didnt want to let us in and said he was catholic but we heeded to the example of Christ and were diligent, just askeing to be able to say a prayer and sing a hymn. we entered in, his brother alberto came in. we taught them the first parts of the plan of salvation and about the Book of Mormon. at the end of the lesson, he told us his doubts about us were all gone, and he was so glad to have us there and that he felt like he has 3 more friends that care and worry about him. in his prayer he thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to bring him his salvation and said he felt like the Lord was there.
we went back the next morning(yesterday) just to say a prayer and sing a hymn with him, he had stuff planned and couldnt come to church but it was fine and asked us to come back at 4 in the afternoon. once again elder lemmon and i were on splits so we went yesterdeay at 4 and finished teaching lesson 2 and to start he explained it ALL cuz he read his pamphlet. then we challenged him to be baptized once he knows the church is true and he told us once he knows the church is true he wont every part from it. so much more to say about him but yeah gotta go! love and miss you all

HELP has arrived. . .MAY 10, 2010

so sorry i couldnt talk to you all yesterday but thanks to all those i DID talk to for giving me strength and brightening the days. miss and love you all dont have much to say since i just talked to you all but THANKS FOR THE PICTURES! haha our zone leader is going to be assistant to president today and the assistant who is from texas who ends his mission next change is coming today to be in a trio with us for the last week of the change to help us meet the goals!!!! im so excited he is the greatest, most loving guy. elder lemmon is his name!

Welcome Little Camille May 4, 2010

SO YOU WONT BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IM BACK IN THE VALLEY OF CASAGRANDE!!!! I LOVE ALL THE NEWS AND THE BEAUTIFUL LITTLE CAMILLE :) So i along with 3 other missionaries got a special assignment from the Lord through President Mora. Thursday night president called me at 10.30 and i with the 3 other elders had a little tele conference and we were explained that friday we would be traveling north to find 15 men 18 years or older to baptize or activate so that the district of Casagrande can become a stake the first week of June. its really relying on us 4 missionaries but thanks to prayer, faith, and fasting i know the Lord will fulfill His promises. we have a month to complete the Lord´s will and we are already seeing miracles. just visiting saturday in the afternoon, we found a family with two future melchezidek priesthood holders, reactivated a family with 2 melchezidek priesthood holders, reactivated a guy who got baptized about a month ago and sadly se inactivó, and Sunday morning met a little old man who just came with us! the only thing i have to say is I LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL MY HEART, MIGHT, MIND, AND STRENGTH and know that all that i have been able to see happen in these few days is all happening through Him and i am just an instrument. i know that when we are faithful and do the will of God and not ours, not only is our Heavenly Father happy, but we are happier than we could otherwise be. i lvoe this work and cant wait to talk to you all Sunday. ill pre-call you guys today later. ciao!

HAPPY BDAY April 24, 2010

well i cant express greater thanks for all the amazing emails that i receive that are very spiritually uplifting. cant thank you more MOM and DAD for your beautiful words of wisdom and care. im glad to have a mom whose words ALWAYS bring comfort and happiness and for you DAD who keep my head up and give a great shot of energy and animo(cant remember the word in english). im serving in two wards right now so our area is big but we are working more with one ward that is actively engaged in the work. of the MANY stories i could tell, i just want to share the one of a little old man we met last week. his name is juan javier and he was sitting in his doorway reading a newspaper when we passed from the other side of the street...i felt strongly the spirit tell me we should talk to him, so i told my companions and we walked over there. al final, he was blown away with the love that God shows to his children by bringing about the Book of Mormon, and he was like, "i need one if i want to know if its true" and surprised us again at the end by telling us he would be in the church sunday...WITHOUT US INVITING HIM. great little experience that strengthened my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.
love and miss you all! my birthday was great ill attach some fotos! the ladies where we live threw me a little party ha

Short & Sweet April 24, 2010

OKAYy y y
lots of things to say but only 3 minutes
because we only have 15 minutes today.
im in a trio right now with a bolivian and a peruvian from lima in trujillo in an area called esperanza. we had a baptism sunday before church and it was awesome to be in a ward with so much apoyo en the mission work. the new mission leader just returned from his mission in mexico 2 weeks ago and is helping us a lot. were having a sweet activity friday night so ill celebrate for you stacie! love and miss you all and hope all is well at home. let me know how everything is. send me pictures so i can see how its going back home.
ciao!
Elder Nicho

...well, my new area iss AWESOME.

we opened the area after some time of not having missionaries so the members are just extremely happy to see us. they are a branch but the chapel is one of a kind and the members are so involved with the work of the Lord that we will be able to harvest lots of fruit here(example:we havent proselited a minute without a member with us!) my companion is from lima and is 25 years old. were happy to be where we are and have already had great experiences being guided by the Spirit. i cant explain how amazing conference was again and hope all could enjoy the words of the prophet and apostles. it is ridiculously hot here im the furthest north companionship in the mission. my area is CHEPEN and its pure rice fields up here. our investigator who we are going to put a baptismal date with tonight is named ana maria who is about 25 and has come to the branch on her own 3 weeks in a row and is showing a great desire. keep her in your prayers. all have lots more to tell you next week but the city im in is awesome because its small but has everything a big city has. im buying a harmonica today and thats gonna be my new thing i think ha. love and miss you all. take care and keep me in your prayers as i do you all. thank you so much for all the letters heidi nikki stacie peter shelly and fam. i feel like a woman when people pass my computer in these internet cafes and im teared up but i really enjoy the spirit of all your letters, especially dad

DAD:thank you for everything and the kind words that honestly keep me going. keep your focus on studying the scriptures and all your worries will disappear. hope you have been able to pray together with mom wwhen you get the chances and also share your love for her. she needs the motivation from her eternal partner and i just want to thank you for the GREATEST example ive been able to look to my entire life.
MOM:every little email note that i read of yours makes me cry and feel a warm comforting to hear your loving words of care. i wish i could and would have shown and expressed my love for you more because i cant much now but i want you to know that if it werent for you, your example, your love, your care, your watchful eye, your good cooking, and your daily help in staying in order from school to church, i would not only not be here, but possibly in a dark hole facing big problems. i feel so strongly your kind spirit although im far from you and i cant hold back the tears right now. love and miss you mom

I know that the pain and the struggles that I encounter only strengthens me!

well its very great to hear from you all. miss and love all of you very much. this last week was so much better because we worked, worked, and worked some more. found a great couple THATS MARRIED!!!!(1%of couples in peru are married) and some great younger men who are single and ready to prepare to hold the priesthood of God. obviously we wont have baptisms this week due to conference but we are going to travel to trujillo to watch it in a big stake center so thats exciting. sounds like audreys birthday was a blast and the kids in vegas are happy and healthy which makes me happy as well. hard to hear that grandma has to suffer even more with health and hope that you can all continue helping them. im so thankful to a family(brothers and sister in law included) who are such great examples to me and live the gospel as the Lord nos manda. i keep you all in my prayers day and night and hope you do the same for me. very thankful for the wonderful experiences i have on a daily basis and am thankful to you dad for you wonderful emails siempre. i dont pass a moment when i dont wish you were here with me to be able to share your strong testimony because i know it would help the poeple here so much to see the way the gospel blesses families. keep up your hope in the crisises that are taking place back home in work and the community especially you mom and dad so that the Lord can bless you as He always has. Hold strong to the basic things you know such as praying daily, solo and as a couple, studying your scriptures, and obeying the commandments to the last little ones that seem to slip our mind from time to time. those run of the mill answers that we respond in our church classes our that way for a reason...because if we just focused on that we would not have to suffer the way we do at times. i want to share my testimony that i know the Savior lives and loves each and every one of us. Our Father in Heaven also desires that same success as parents do for their children and he gives us the formulas for happiness through the living prophet Thomas S. Monson. I love this work and know that the pain and struggle i encounter only strengthens me. I promise all who read this as a servant and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ that if we heed the counsel of our leaders, study the scriptures and pray daily, and strive to live the commandments, we will be blessed more than you can imagine.
i love and miss every one of you and hope you can be uplifted by my love for this work and the Book of Mormon. until next week!
-Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

THE BIG MIRACLE - March 15, 2010

o love to hear all the news. hope pepper comes back! i love to hear that you've been able to get more on top of your RS lessons. i think if we focus on our church callings more we are not only more blessed but more in tune with the spirit which is something WE ALL need. we don't eat in the members houses, we accept little snacks if we are passing by but its not too sanitary here so we´re advised not to. we have now been training all the members in the new plan that Elder Tom Perry presented and its helping us not knock doors and work solely with member references. its not totally in effect yet but we are seeing a change and will see a lot more success every day. but as far as my news for you all...my companion has improved a lot after interviews we had last week as a zone. the mission also just completely reorganized and we had emergency changes last week and we went from 13 zones in the mission to 9. i like it better because our zones were getting smaller. THE BIG MIRACLE:so last week the plans for manuel and lucy were to get married friday an hour north in guadalupe where it was gonna be cheaper and not too far. thursday night came along and we were waiting to give them the last instructions on were they needed to go with their witnesses and we call the elders up in guadalupe and they tell us that the mayor who has to realize the whole deal hadnt returned from his trip to lima but that he would friday afternoon so saturday morning would be better. we let manuel and lucy know all that and manuel had asked for friday and saturday off of work and so friday he had nothing to do so us 4 elders went with the mission leader and an awesome convert of one month (mario) went and helped all morning til 1 making adobe so they could get the most out of the lost time from work. friday night comes around and the elders up north call us and tell us that the mayor didnt know anything about it so he wasnt liking the idea, and monday would be the soonest he could realize the marriages. we didnt know what to do so we panicked and called our zone leaders asked if there were any mass marriages in trujillo saturday(13th of march) and 30 minutes later they said the soonest in anywhere in the mission would be the 20th in trujillo. at 10:30 we all decided to kneel down together the 4 of us and say a prayer to ask for the Lord to help us find a solution to this problem so that Manuel and Lucy could be blessed and not live in sin. we kept calling and got permission to call old areas and ideas we had and in the end after 92348752093 calls we heard of a bishop in Las Robles ward in trujillo who had a friend who is a registrator (dont know if thats a word in english). so we call him although its 11.30 and his wife said he was sleeping but to call at 7 in the morning. so we go to bed a little sad but still with the faith to know there was a way. we all wake up, exercise, and call at 7 in point, and the guy like nothing says, yeah sounds good i can do it at 11 in trujillo in the Esperanza Stake Center(mind you esperanza means HOPE!) we call right after to our zone leaders with the good news, and then up north to tell the elders to rush down to us to give us the papers that we had sent there for the marriage and they got here at 10 with everything. we rushed to manuel and lucy and they went and got ready and we sent them off at 11 when they were supposed to be in trujillo...but we called the guy who was gonna do the marriage and he said it was fine he would arrive at 12. we thought everything was good then, and we relaxed enough to eat lunch, then headed to the chapel to fill the baptismal faunt and what do you know, Satan didnt give up! the water stopped at about 10 inches and there was no more...so we thought, we called the sister who does cleaning and she came and miraculously fixed the pump so that we could continue filling it and in the end it got about 3/4 filled when he finally got baptized. just want to share my testimony that i know that Satan and the opposition is real, and that we need to keep up the faith and be diligent until the very last moment! hope you can all enjoy this short story and feel my gladness. love and miss you all.

Great and Amazing News - March 2010

so first the great and amazing news...Yuliana was allowed to get baptized on saturday after 3 weeks of struggles and her 22 year old sister who is inactive more or less, came to the baptism with the mom and signed up for institute classes and has been coming to church the last 3 weeks and staying all 3 hours so we are happy about that. but even BETTER news, Manuel Alexander Herrera Segura is getting married on Friday in a town like 50 minutes north because theyre doing a mass marriage which only means like more than 3 but its just investigators from areas around here ha. they are the most humble people! they live in a little like 8ftx5ft thatch house with plastic on top and eat only rice and sometimes beans but always plain. manuel is only 19 and doesnt know how to read because he comes from deep in the mountains and never went to school but hes learning know JUST THROUGH THE HYMNS AND BOOK OF MORMON. hes the greatest example to me and works hard making adobe brick to save his money and progress in life. they have a lot that they just bought for like 25 bucks (30 meters by 10 meters) and they only came here 4 months ago with nothing! theyre amazing and cant wait for you to meet them in 2 years. its so cute cuz their two little daughters are always excited to see us and last night we went and sang in english happy birthday for the daughter who turned 6 and i sang for dad and spencer as well! dont worry EVERYONE in paijan knows it was your birthdays cuz i was celebrating all day. but then Lucy, the wife, told us this morning before coming to internet that she talked to her neighbor and explained the gospel so were going to teach them this afternoon! cant explain how great they are and will be happy to show you pictures of them next week. as far as the work outside of that goes we have another baptism for the following saturday 20th of march for a 20 year old girl Ney so keep her in your prayers so she can prepare and continue praying to know the truth. i still struggle with my companion but i know the Lord is giving me the strength to not get upset or say the wrong things but its sad because he doesnt progress with his attitude and his patience is extremely little and although all our leaders have tried helping him he likes to think in his way and trust in himself but i know with all your prayers as well he will be able to humble more and i will too.
also some news, we now live with the other 2 elders from the branch in our own house thats new and made of noble(brick and cement) material. but its far from our area so thats the only downer but its a lot more calm and the Spirit can dwell more easily there so im happy. im gonna send a picture of the baptism with Yuliana(short) and you will see Elder Martinez(in white) who is in his first change in the field, My comp, and Elder Gonzalez from Guatemala. The taller girl is Maritza and was their investigator who got baptized.
hope all is well at home, miss and love you all and cant wait to talk to some of you in 2 months. you are all kept in my prayers especially grandpa bob and you mom and dad! i love you so much and cant thank you enough for all that you do and have done for me, from feeding me, to allowing me to enjoy the blessings of the gospel in our home by your obedience and worthiness to invite the Spirit.
and dad we dont have couple missionaries, but if you didnt hear our new president who comes in june, is from Draper, Utah and is named Elder Turk. also peru is getting 2 new missions...Cusco y Lima West and the 1st counselor of our mission presidency was called to be president of the Cusco mission. pretty cool!
bryan and i, the son from where we used to live, cut that tree down with pure machete until the trunk and it took 3.5 hours

I am better off here than anywhere else in the world at this time in my life!

good to be informing you again! our room was nice and fullof water for a few days this past week. last week it rained three days straight where it NEVER rains so just imagine all the houses and the chaos with the people! we were on top of roofs all of the first day helping people and gained good friendship and confidence with lots of people through that and amid the problems still had 4 investigators come to church! the Lord is so amazing and doesnt let you down EVER if youre doing what youre supposed to. i have been able to realize how little i am in this work that i am doing and how easy my part is! sarita is getting baptized saturday and were now teaching the other 19 year old son who is great and i love how were working step by step with this family. melissa and sarita filled out the paper to start SEMINARY!!!! im so happy for them and they are different people now with personality and unlike before leave their house now to participate in all the activities. i gotta headback to my town now but ill email you peter from there and as well the little note to uncle marc! hope you all keep me in your prayers and you all need to pray hard for grandpa bob and put all your trust in the Lord that he will help grandpa because our help is little in comparison to the Lords´. hope all is well at home with you all family and friends, miss and love you with all my heart, but am better off here than anywhere else in the world at this time in my life¡CIAO!

THE GRAND RESPONSIBILITY WE HAVE. . .share the gospel!

so for all you back at home, the Lord has blessed me a ton and the best convert ive ever seen in my life is now going to get his papers to get married from the pueblo he is from so he can get baptized, we had 4 people in sacrament meeting, plus another that came for the last hour, and i was able to see the amazing 15 year old miguel make a sacred covenant with Heavenly Father. dont think i could ask for anything more! im still in paijan with my companion elder takishita but the first week already flew. this past sunday the 4 of us elders spoke, which makes twice in 3 weeks, and i talked about the grand responsibility we have as members to share the gospel and how it is that we can beat the fear of sharing our feelings with others and ways to open the door of sharing. it was great, i kind of went direct with them to start with Jacob 1:19 and then told them they wont have to worry if they do as Alma 6:6 says and pray fervently for the opportunity to share. this coming weekend is the district or stake conference and the 2 zones that are incorporated in this stake will be doing a big special musical number and all the meetings our president is talking so its going to be AMAZING! im stoked. anyways, keep me in your prayers as i do you in mine. especially for Hermano Renee, su hija Melissa, Manuel(most humble guy on the planet!other than my brother Tyler), y Julio.Thanks a ton for everything mom and dad, brothers and sisters, i thank the Lord every single time i pray for the wonderful family i have. you are what keep me going. love and miss you all! ill be sending letters these next 2 weeks with pictures!

JANUARY 11, 2010 so for all you back at home, the Lord has blessed me a ton and the best convert ive ever seen in my life is now going to get his papers to get married from the pueblo he is from so he can get baptized, we had 4 people in sacrament meeting, plus another that came for the last hour, and i was able to see the amazing 15 year old miguel make a sacred covenant with Heavenly Father. dont think i could ask for anything more! im still in paijan with my companion elder takishita but the first week already flew. this past sunday the 4 of us elders spoke, which makes twice in 3 weeks, and i talked about the grand responsibility we have as members to share the gospel and how it is that we can beat the fear of sharing our feelings with others and ways to open the door of sharing. it was great, i kind of went direct with them to start with Jacob 1:19 and then told them they wont have to worry if they do as Alma 6:6 says and pray fervently for the opportunity to share. this coming weekend is the district or stake conference and the 2 zones that are incorporated in this stake will be doing a big special musical number and all the meetings our president is talking so its going to be AMAZING! im stoked. anyways, keep me in your prayers as i do you in mine. especially for Hermano Renee, su hija Melissa, Manuel(most humble guy on the planet!other than my brother Tyler), y Julio.Thanks a ton for everything mom and dad, brothers and sisters, i thank the Lord every single time i pray for the wonderful family i have. you are what keep me going. love and miss you all! ill be sending letters these next 2 weeks with pictures!

SO NICE TO HEAR YOUR VOICE - joy to our ears!

End of December 2009 -so my zone leader is still in my area with me and we are working hard and just ended a fast today in which we were able to see some improvements. we decided to practically start from scratch and found about 6 great new investigators who are all related to members and i have made some large improvements on little aspeects of the work and administrative things as ive had the companionship of elder burrup with me! thanks so much for all the wonderful motivation and great news from home! i feel so much more calm and happy after being able to hear from you all. to my dismay we still havent gotten our packages and wont at all this week, at the earliest next monday or tuesday so thats that. not much else to let you guys aware of. im good and the diahrrea crept back which im a little bummed about. just sweating it up like crazy in paijan and had two women come to church yesterday who were gonna put baptismal dates with tonight! mari y marcela!!! keep me in your prayers and i will be doing the same. love and miss you all and hope all is well at the homefront.¡CIAO!Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

IT's YOUR BIRTHDAY, IT"S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! April 24, 2010 will be the BIG 20th bday -

I am sure you will do something extra fun in PERU to celebrate

Dad and I will be in UTAH like we were last year -

Stacie is graduating from BYU and she deserves a little fan fare!

SO THINK OF HER WHILE YOU ARE CELEBRATING FOR YOURSELF!

We will never forget how much joy you brought into our life from the very first moment you were HERE in our home and as a member of our family. THANKS for all of thesee wonderful experiences and memories and we know you are who you are and in our family for all of us to learn from each other.

WE LOVE YOU ELDER KYLE FAVERO NICHOLS

BE YOURSELF and you will be amazing!

To leave or not to leave. . .I will find out soon! November 30, 2009

well its so exciting to hear all the fun stuff going on at home!! as much as im jealous i wouldnt rather be there!we find out our changes within the hour so i might be headed out of this little town of otuzco or could stay here for another change. the baptisms didnt go through cuz our one didnt pass her interview but shes getting married in 8 days along with another one of our investigators, we just took all their papers to the municipality and just have to wait 8 days so those two will get baptized and 2 daughters from one family. then we have two kids a little 11 year old girl and 10 year old boy who have recieved the lessons and come to church and activities every week but just never got baptized. have some more with fechas but those others are ones im sure of. suprisingly with two less missionaries and two white guys were having a little more success but the branch lacks so much training and needs to motivate themselves more for the work cuz were doing about everything to help them that we can right now. friday we had a great activity like every friday, but we went to the little corral of our mission leaders and had a fire and shared our experiences relating to the church and the gospel and conversion stories, and it was great, our 2 investigators who are gonna get married and baptized, isabel and rosa, shared theirs as well and it was amazing and felt great to hear their feelings. supposedly the members stayed til 11 at night and a few til 12. there are some amazing people in this branch and i can see how the gospel helps families greatly and am so greatful that my family is all in te church, safe from the world and confusion that the devil lays out to trap us. hope all is well and miss you all. cant wait til Christmas to call home!!!

i just found out im headed to the valley de chicama in the area of paijan en casa grande. supposedly its a hot valley near the coast where they only grow sugar cane. im going to be a TRAINER of a new elder and open a new area with him. how exciting?!

Nov. 16, 2009 So, what do you want to hear? The good news or the Bad news?

so lets just start with the bad news. elder granados who is from my group and started with me here in otuzco leaves this friday to go home in the south part of our mission because he wsas only serving a mini mission to prepare but he reports to the mtc in lima on december 3rd. hes awesome, hes the other brown one in those pictures. also our baptism for marleni fell through once again and she didnt come to church saturday. its sad because i came across her the 2nd night here when i arrived and ive watched her as she realizes the truth and importance of the gospel, but she keeps falling. preach my gospel recommends that you let those kind of investigators go for a short time so we will now. but with great news, last week our zone had interviews and talk about edifying and uplifting...ive never been more grateful for my mission president. wednesday was the multi zone conference with all the elders from trujillo mismo and the surrounding closer areas which includes us and that was also very uplifting and motivating. my companion have been doing all we can to be more obedient and i loved to read the story from nathan halling. what power in obedience we can see through that. we also can see that here as my comp and i have also started fasting every wednesday and saturday. amazing to be able to strenthen your faith, and as we walked backed to our room last night i was commenting to my companion how the love i have for some of our investigators and the Lord is helping me have more faith which we always need to nurture and help grow. he then continued in the subject and told me how much i surprise him more every day with my words and how much more powerful they become. i know that has nothing more but to do with my willingness to rely on the Spirit, and am so thankful for the opportunity i have to be doing this work and have experiences that not always result in baptisms, but result in a stronger testimony for myself. also, i have started to only use the Book of Mormon in contacting and lessons and what greater power it has in testifying. our fast on saturday was to find more families and we came across three amazing families, 2 married, which as i always mention is hard to find. also, one of our investigators, Merli, who is about 27 and has the cutest 5 year old daughter came to the last 2 friday night mission night activities we had and two family home evenings in one week at different members homes. shes great and is reading her BoM. also a young lady about 26 years old with 2 little kids who is married, but husband works in lima, was impacted like no other with our lesson about the Word of Wisdom which surprised me because i never thought about that lesson as being one to touch someones heart but she broke down in tears and said how greatful she is that God gave us that commandment through Joseph Smith and how beautiful it is. anyways, i gotta make it fast, but tonight we have 2 family home evenings and all of our lessons we have planned are actually set in stone and are all of our investigators who are the best ones and are progressing so i cant wait, today should be amazing, but keep us in your prayers! i love and miss all of you! the language is not giving me a problem and i dont even think twice now just to answer your question alex! im so glad to hear your enjoying the uplifting learning in the MTC. hope all remains well! jill and family!!! sorry i cant write back to your email as a whole but ill write a letter. im so surprised by the success of your children always and hope to be able to be as good as a parent when im older to have kids who have their priorities straight as do yours. thanks for that nice little testimony about your halloween activity. it always helps to be shown by others testimonies how our work has helped. dad, thanks always for your uplifting words and caring emails. im so thankful to hear that your being a great grandfather and uncle and showing interest with all of the activities. they love and appreciate it. mom, im glad to hear that youre always thinking of me, because, honestly you are the 1 person constantly on my mind and also first to mention in my prayers. thanks to everyone of my family members who are the greatest examples to me and i wish you could all be in my messenger bag as i do this amazing work. love you all and miss you all!
stay strong and keep me and my companion and our investigators in your prayers. Bily, Fermin, Merli, Eudelia, fernando, silvia, marleni y roberto