Just a little story - 10/25/10

HERMANO FERNANDO ALVARADO:

53 years old, single(but as he says he has his dog) ha.

we contacted him about 3 weeks ago in the plaza, elder cosiguá and i, and about a week and a half ago, i went to find his address for the first time while visiting the other area. we taught him, and since that day, he has now come to church twice, has stopped drinking coffee, and gone from smoking 20 cigarettes a day to 9 in just a week. He has 5 Liahona magazines that he is reading, also reading Jesus the Christ, and the Book of Mormon. He is the definition of a golden investigator, and we feel that we have found a FUTURE BRANCH PRESIDENT!!!

Thanks Dad - 10/18/10

so pretty much this last week was GREAT as far as the work goes. we are now teaching 7 families and between them there are amazing people who are prepared to receive the restored gospel! i loved every single talk in the conference and continue re-reading my notes. my companion is doing well, just is very feminine and often acts like a little girl with his attitude and body/facial language ha. jorge and julissa who were planned to be baptized saturday, somehow disappeared saturday morning early...their grandma came and stole them and took them to her field to work for the weekend. pretty upsetting but yeah. have a baptism planned for the 30th, hermano absalón. great calm little man who has a bunch of cute little kids. will have to send pictures. thats pretty much it for now, the power went out due to the rain and wind so now that we have to go eat i cant write too much more, but i love and miss you all. send me pictures of your families! tell jordan to send me some pictures from his mission. 2 or 3! forward him my emails. ha. chao

pictures

1. im guessing that tie is from you dad? africa?

2. great view from up on the ruins of markahuamachuco(might remember that same spot haha from a while back)

3. the walls of the coliseo

well im extremely uplifted and ready to return to my area! 10/11/10

getting ready to leave trujillo tonight in 4 hours to return to huamachuco. glad to inform you that all you have helped me in and told me as words of encouragement and strength, i have applied, and have seen the Lord´s hand literally change my companion. he now doesnt want to leave my side(for example work visits) and calls me his best friend. i can testify that the power of acceptance allows even enemies to be best companions. the obvious little twirks are still there, but thanks to the Atonement and repentance, i have been able to soften my heart. saturday and yesterday were amazing and i felt the Spirit so strong. we will be having 2 baptisms for our area this saturday, and have found some great families, who are miraculously married! received an email of gratitude from Pres. Turk today and know that He is called of God to help us as servants and representatives of the Lord. i love all that we know as members of the true church, and am comforted by the power in the words of our living prophet and apostles of Christ. i wish to reiterate(dont know how to spell that) the words of one of the Apostles that in this moment dont remember who, but talked about not overbearing ourselves with tasks and things of the sort, and focusing on the necessities for now. and as i listened, i thought of ALL my sisters and mainly my mother! also to my brothers, and father...please analize what your priorities might be, spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional, and i know that the peace and guidance of the Lord will accompany you all more steadily and often, to calm our worries, and in place, give us solutions! i love, admire, and acknowledge you all for your examples, love, and guidance you give to me. i know that God lives, His son Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that the Holy Ghost is a divine witness and guide for us, and that the words of our living prophet Thomas S. Monson are more vital and more important to us than any other written or spoken word in these days. with much love and devotion - Elder Kyle Favero Nichols

welp thanks to all who gave me advice and words of strength!10/4/10

ive been able to enjoy this last week a little more and get the Lord´s work accomplished. my companion is learning a lot, up to him to apply and accept that its for his benefit, but i know our companionship studies help him a lot. very overpowering and likes to do things his way but im not giving him much space to do that. last sunday, a week from yesterday, we were ending the night, and walking down a dirt road a young man was walking in our direction but the other side of the road, and with a fast pace looked like in a hurry. i felt the Spirit tell me we should talk to him, and as he got closer i felt the impression stronger, so as he almost passed us, i awkardly jutted across to get in front of him, and as the Lord had planned, i contacted him, and he was very happy to give us his address of his family, and also the house where he was at a lot of the time...and without asking, gave us his cell phone number and said call whenever to come visit me. Cosme, 19 years old, after daily visits with him, now calls us every night after our visits, to tell us he said his prayers, and to remind us to come the next day. we sadly found out he is living together with a young girl, but we taught him the Law of Chastity, and he not only accepted to get married, but said he was going to go today and get the papers in order. he also last week, had a physical check by the doctor for a job in the mine he is trying to get, and although he had to do the breathing test 3 times, due to a little bit of lung difficulties, he passed, and said that he has a debt to the Lord, and wants to do everything we tell him so that he can show his appreciation and love to the Lord. awesome, amazing young man who was definitely prepared and another way to see how a simple feeling that the Holy Ghost gives us, can cause great impacts in moving forward the Lord´s Kingdom on Earth. no baptisms last week nor this week to come because we are going to trujillo to watch conference :( keep up the prayers for me, my companion, and Cosme! love and miss you all. have 30 more minutes in internet, and ill be writing president turk, and sending photos. chao!

JUST . . . . . . 9/27/10

want to tell you all how much i love and miss you! honestly i have been comforted by my great thoughts and memories of each and every one of you this week

and am gonna read all in the inbox and reply. dont have too much to say about my new companion, just that im struggling a LOT right now so keep me in your prayers. he is very feminine and has a bad attitude like a female and doesnt respond to us 3 missionaries when we ask him things so he has a lot to learn and develop, just as i do. thanks nikki for the quote of mother theresa! helped a lot. you always seem to lift me up with your words and quotes, so thank you.

Well, lots of changes and blessings! 9/20/10

returned to huamachuco last week safely but sadly came upon some problems that had occured when i was gone, and i had to callpresident which i dont like to do obviously. so thursday my companion had to pack his things and go to trujillo for an interview with president and now will be there in a new area this wednesday at changes. its obvious when the Spirit is with you more and as we have been in a trio these last 4 days, we have seen MIRACLES!!! one of which took place at 8 this morning! pictures to follow! the elders in area huamachuco 2 have 3 baptismal dates for this saturday, as well as 3 in my area, and another 1 which is a 8 year old son of a member family! the work is awesome!!!! i love the Lord and all that He has done for me and all of you, which allows us all to be an eternal family. i constantly think of how blessed i am to be sealed to my perfect family and always imagine you (mom and dad) working in the temple and i feel so close to you by accompanying in the Lord´s great and marvelous work. due to the problem with my companion its more likely that i will stay here now and train my new companion!! still anxious to find out who he is but its probably going to be a gringo seeing that President Turk has put new elders with companions of their same race ha. keep praying for me and the work here in Huamachuco...its progressing more than ever and i hope the same story goes for all of you in your homes and wards. love and miss you all and cant wait to hear from you all next week and give another update even better.

. . . .Welp. . .9/13/10

its been a different week these last 7 days. a week ago i left huamachuco to come do a visit in trujillo for the whole week! it was pretty awesome and i was able to learn and grow a lot. i gave a talk in the ward down here, and sunday night, the stake president invited my zone leader and i to the stake leadership training meeting and we gave a training on ward mission plans. lots of great thoughts and ideas were passed, and most of all, we were able to help them understand the purpose, need, help, and blessing a mission plan is. president turk called me saturday night to personally tell me that i am gonna train a new missionary this coming change which is a week away, and also said that he had a special assignment that he will be giving me at the time of changes. kinda worried of what he might ask me to do, but also anxious to work more and put as much effort as i can to what the Lord asks of me. the area im in right now (zone leaders) is the reddest zone in the mission, and just last week there were about 10 killings, and i personally saw 3, 1 being the death of an investigators daughter. so thursday night, we had a special little message my zone leader and i, and 5 sisters from the ward came and sang 4 hymns, and then friday was the burial service, where we were also present. very sad due to the things that some of the people said to the family(like words of hopelessness and negativity), but it is easy to understand seeing that they dont know of the restored gospel, but we were able to bring happiness to the family and the mom is amazing, practically bore her testimony at the burial service and didnt take part in the catholic rituals that they do when someone dies. in huamachuco, the missionaries did a great job of bringing 2 people to the waters of baptism, and although i couldnt be there, i am happy for them. what else????? um, looking for some pictures to send! love and miss you all. hopin to hear from tyler and steph! miss hearin about your families, most of all the pictures that fill me in on the kids ha. thanks nikki for that video. i love it