Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week five: August 15th 2013


 Things are going great! Everyday I’m amazed at how happy I am. The Spanish is still coming along; it’s amazing how the lord blesses his servants. I have that song (called to serve) practically memorized in Spanish now because of how many times we sing it hahaha.  Well I know that if you pray and read the scriptures the lord will tell you what you need to talk about. He does it for me daily, it’s amazing how every time I prepare something, it fits the investigator in some way, shape, or form. I WISH I COULD GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!! hahah but seriously it’s been a few weeks since I have been and I want to go so bad!! I don’t even care that it will be in Spanish I want to feel the amazing spirit that is in every temple! I’m so glad that I can enter the lord’s house! There is NO other feeling like the temple, it’s so amazing and I just want to be there all day every day. Or toda dia catta dia, as we like to say here which means that. Well I’m so glad that you like your job, being with kid’s everyday would be so fun. I miss seeing babies, there are a few of the mission people’s families that lives on campus and they have a baby but that’s the only one I have seen in so long!! Things are going so great; I can feel the lords help every day. I have classes pretty much all day, Spanish to how to teach and stuff and then more and more Spanish. Love you too!!! Have a great week
Elder Park 

well I hope you can get it all done in time for school! Well thank you so much!! I can’t wait to get state side and open that beautiful bag of Doritos... I want them sooooo bad you have no idea hahaha. Well I’m looking forward to opening my fun package haha. Well you can keep telling everyone that I am doing amazing, better than I ever have. Well I’m sorry that you cried, I will have to call you when I have a layover in Atlanta, hopefully you will be with everyone so I can talk to everyone. Well good job mommy keep working hard like me and we will both be different people when I get back.

 I really miss the lake right now I just want to jump in some water and go swimming. Well I want a cheeseburger so bad right now it’s crazy!!! I really miss Steve fries too, they have like no sauce here besides salsa and you know I don’t like salsa so I’m dying for some good Steve sauce. They have a ton of food here so I don’t really get too hungry it’s just not too good sometimes, it’s getting better though.( Bishop Jones bike wreck) OOOOO that doesn’t sound good!! That sucks in fact. Well that’s good that he is doing good still though.


Well this week was quite an event full week. Sunday we watch a movie every night and we watched the story of John Tanner. He is an amazing man, I don’t know where they got the movie from but I would encourage anyone to watch it, he did so much and had so much faith. In the end when Joseph smith was crying I lost it and may have teared up a little. It was an amazing story and I don’t know how I have never heard of him before. Being out here is some kind of next level stuff. Being surrounded by the gospel 24/7 is so great. It’s amazing how happy I am all the time. When I’m focused on the Lords work there is almost nothing that can bring down. I know it will be different in the field because all the people won’t be so nice and it will be a whole different experience but it is so amazing in here. Every morning I wake up and Instantly have a hymn in my mind and I just start humming or singing it, and everyone knows that I’m not a singer. But it’s so amazing how hymns bring the spirit so fast, I love the hymns they are the best music anyone can ask for. 
This mission has already changed me so much and made me appreciate life and the gospel so much more. Once that happens it’s amazing how happy a person can become, all I can say is the gospel is pure joy, when you’re having a bad day, get on your knees and pray because I promise you that he will help you, he has done so for me. One day I was having a pretty rough day and it was just bad and I prayed that heavenly father would give me something to be happy about or help me to be happy and for the rest of the day I had an amazing day. Prayer is such a powerful thing and I never really took advantage of the opportunity I had to talk with my Heavenly Father. The teachers tell us to not loose ourselves while teaching Spanish and the teachers are so glad me and my companion show our personalities. Not trying to brag at all but the few other companionships in our district and even in our zone ask us for help, because we do such a great job in our lessons because we connect with the people so well. Our teacher had us demonstrate a lesson in front of the class and stuff to try to teach the others. Before class started when we were sitting there our teacher read her notes about where "the investigator" is, which she said she never does, and it was great. After she said when she finds out that we are going to teach her a lesson she gets so excited because she said that every time we teach her she feels the spirit so strong and she just loves it. That was all yesterday and then after that we had TRC in which members come from the town and we teach them. While we were there some people were taking so long so we just taught our teacher. The lesson was about receiving revelation through the book of Mormon and while I was bearing my testimony in the lesson she leaned back (she was leaning forward and looking down so I couldn’t see her eyes) and I saw that she was crying. It was so amazing. It was a really powerful lesson. So now instead of having one teacher pretending to be and investigator we have 2. The lessons are going so well with them, one of them has committed to be baptized and the other we are going to ask tonight, but that’s the teacher we talked to earlier and after the last lesson when we were back in class she asked us why we didn’t ask last time, so I’m pretty sure she will agree to be baptized. We are doing so good in our lessons it’s so great. there is so much that I have learned already and I’ve only been gone a month  so one more thing is that the language is going great, it’s getting so much easier now. when I’m using the computer for tall,” idk” if you know what that is so it’s just a language assisting program the church uses, so I have never been able to do any grammar things because you have to know what the sentence says to even try to do the grammar for it, and this past week I have been able to do so much grammar because I can pick apart so many sentences to find out what they say. I’ve noticed that I’m really good at reading and listening to Spanish, but ask me to speak it and that’s a whole different story. So the language is going well love you guys sooo much and miss you all. talk to you in a week and next week I’m going to the temple again so I won’t have much time but I will try my best to make them as long as possible. So this is the last week I can be on my email as long as I want because next p day is my last one here. Nic

Week six: August 22nd 2013

Yeah I got the email and I sent a few back lol but the one with me and the temple in the back is the one I want, if that’s okay if not I can send one later. My favorite scripture is john 16:33. It’s about trials and peace because of the lord. It’s so weird to hear that you guys are going to school and all that. It doesn’t seem like it should be that time again already. Well I’m glad that you guys redid that room because that was too old for all of us ha ha. Well that’s good the garden is going great. I’m glad that’s all going good, then you guys can eat all the salsa you want. Well I’m probably going to get that letter in the states because I leave Monday morning (I’m pretty sure because that’s what my flight plans say) but I’ll know for sure probably tomorrow. I’m pretty sure you have a copy of my flight plans so you and dad can be ready for calls when I have a layover in Atlanta. So have your phones on when I should be there. Well I’m pretty sure I will because I have like 200 bucks and I’m sure the MTC will make sure that we are all squared away. Ha ha ha I will remember to obey the rules lol

Well I’m running out of time because I went to the temple today so I didn’t have as much time to email as usual so this one will be shorter. This week has been really great so far, but I just want to leave. The days seem so long because all I want to do is get out in the field and teach a real investigator. I don’t care that my Spanish is pretty bad, I just want to have a real lesson, plus my companion will be fluent so he can help me out with the language. I can’t wait to fly back to the states in four days, I’m going to eat like 4 cheeseburgers and a million Doritos ha ha. It’s funny how everyone in the family has said I bet you are going to eat a lot of Doritos, you bet that’s so true. I’m like having with drawls ha ha. I’m going to somewhat miss it here though, the CCM is so great, there are so many great people here that i have become friends with. I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss being surrounded by the gospel 24/7, and how everyone here is nice, there are no swearing or crude things here. I absolutely love it here how spiritual it is. I’m sure I will have many spiritual experiences in the field, but here when you’re walking down the street people say hi and love you, out in the field sometimes people are going to swear and spit and hate. It’s surprising how happy I am here, when you’re surrounded by the gospel, you become so happy. I got my ministerial certificate yesterday  Nic

Oh yea I love the draper temple is so beautiful! I think every temple is beautiful though. Oh well I’m excited for you to go to the salt lake, that one is sooo amazing! The inside of that one has been my favorite so far of the 4 temples I’ve been to. That one is truly amazing, and when you go you get so much more love for the people who sacrificed everything to build it. well I just got back from the temple so I’m doing pretty good right now, this week has been pretty good too, it’s just long because I’m so excited to finally leave and get out into the field. The only thing that scares me is that it will be a real person that I am teaching, I can make or break their testimony and if I mess up I will feel so bad because some ones salvation is at stake. But on the other side if I do the right thing then I can’t even imagine the joy that I will feel because I helped someone come to Christ.  Well the same blood that I have runs in your veins so I know you can go out there and talk to those people and befriend them ha ha. I love you so much and miss you.
This is pretty much how the weather is everyday


Look I got to see some Football LOL
So This is an Elder we call him Father Barrow. Its soo funny

Nic Outside Mexico Temple


This is my district


Sunday, August 11, 2013

Week Four: August 7th 2013

not really it seems like not too long ago that it was p day and i had the chance to email, and had a day to relax more. okay thank you for doing that for me i have no idea where on earth that stupid thing can be. it seems like i haven't even been here that long and im already about to go out into the field with real people. hey im reading it every day too!!! (the book of Mormon)  i started when i first got here and im in Mosiah so you are beating me!! ya it amazes me how fast the people lose faith in the book of Mormon. i have always though that if i ever saw half the stuff that they did then there is no way i could ever do half the stuff they did. its weird to hear that people are getting ready for school and stuff, Sara told me the day i get stateside is the day she heads out for byu. its going to be so weird seeing kids go to school and me not go to school. I miss the lake too.... those were always some of the funnest times with you guys. 
check out this nacho libre bike i got to sit on hahahahahha


My District Leader Wearing the Ugly Tie
 The temple is closed for a couple weeks so i don't think i will be able to go until the week before i leave. but today me and my companion after breakfast took a nap. that was amazing, i love p days so much, throughout the week there is so much stuff we have to do and it gets a little hectic and its nice to finally have a little day off. the mtc is starting to get kinda dull, its the same routine over and over again and it sucks because i just want to get out to the mission field and do work. i know that i need to be here though to learn more, especially Spanish. This past week was very roller coaster like. one day i would be feeling very low and then the next day i would get exactly what i needed and have a very spiritual day. Saturday was a rough day and it sucked, and then Sunday came around and it was my favorite day so far, the day was so spiritually filled it was crazy. in our devotional we watched a video of elder Holland at the Provo mtc and he told the story of peter after Christ died and how they went right back to fishing and how Jesus came to him and told him again to put down his nets and feed his sheep. and it hit me so hard that that is exactly what i am doing, i am going out to feed Christs sheep, and i cannot wait to do it. i know that i wont have a baptism every week or anything close to that but i cannot wait until i can see the joy in someones life when they change their life around and come unto Christ  i have seen how much joy it brings to me all the time knowing the gospel and i cannot wait until i can share that with others. we taught a member from the city yesterday and it was really cool. her name was Angelica. but it doesn't sound like how we say it in america hahaha. what was the really cool part is that when we taught her all we really could do was bare our testimonies because she was already a member so that's what we did. and we asked her how she felt about her savior and she went on talking for like 2 strait minutes and it was very cool. i understood like 10 words of what she said, but i knew that what she said was genuine and sincere. i felt the spirit so much while she was talking and it didn't matter that i couldn't understand her because the spirit was so strong in that room that i didn't need to. well have a good rest of the week and i will talk to you in a week!

Friday, August 2, 2013

1st Day at MTC in Mexico: July 16th 2013

i arrived in the mtc and im okay. my bags didnt make it however. they should be here tonight though. i love you all and already miss you guys. mexico is definitely different then the united states. it is insane  people drive so crazy and there are slums everywhere. everyone looks pretty poor. the mtc is really huge. i met a guy in salt lake who is also going to Raleigh the same time i am and he is in the mtc with me. i havent met my companion yet. sorry this is really choppy i just don't know what to say haha. if you could tell Brittney to try to send me all my friends emails so i can talk to them that would be great. i dont have anyone's email and i have an hour to be on the computer so i think i will have enough time. its so weird down here. i cant read anything and even the keyboard is different. bishop Ponse was right, almost nobody down here speaks English  it took us 15 minutes to explain to the guy who picked us up at the airport to explain that the airline lost our bags. i finally got my name tags, but i cant read them. this is going to be pretty hard trying to learn another language. im just saying random stuff now because i have no idea what to say yet. im hungry, but i guess you could have guessed that because im always hungry. so im pretty sure i left my debit card at home..... cuz i went to grab it on the plane so i could buy something but it wasnt there, so hopefully it is at home. luckily i had that gift card credit card so i could buy something to eat. don't send me any messages in Spanish because i dont understand it.


2nd Week: July 25th 2013

ya i found a few people that are going to Raleigh but they are in a different zone so i never see them most my zone is going to Texas  ya i have made friends with a lot of people and all the classes keep me busy so i don't have time to feel too homesick. i have become really good friends with the guys in my dorm, they are really fun and crazy but not as crazy as me haha. i got my bags the next day but it was just annoying to not have them. there is a lot of weird stuff here in mexico i have a lot of pictures that i took when i went to the temple today but i left that at the house so ill have to send them later or next week. thank you for the emails you are the best. i already miss you guys so much. its so weird here, but it still kinda feels like its just summer camp or something.

Me and my companion and our dorm mates quote nacho libre 24/7 its soooooooo funny!!!!  it has rained every single day i have been here. on the dot for like 5 days strait at 5 oclock it would rain.   most the questions were answered in that.  something that im starting to like is the food, most of the time its weird but im getting used to it. another thing i love is how cheap everything is!!!  we dont get to go outside the compound but there is a store here and everything is so cheap. the temple was amazing!! tell jamie that i love her and miss her big hugs. tell zach i miss him too. hahahaha miss you too and love you all


well i finally get my p day after this long week. i heard someone say on your mission days are weeks and weeks are days and it is so true. everyday feels like a million years but it feels like i just got here yesterday. its weird how it works because i feel like i havent been here long but i feel like i have known all of my roomates for a long time. they are all really cool and funny. my compaƱero is pretty cool. his name is elder steiner. we are gettting along great. it was crazy comming here because some people who work here speak english and some know a little but most dont know much at all. on the first day the teacher only said like 10 words in english. and whenever a teacher is talking to you they only speak spanish. it was definitely a big surprize to me. on the second day we had to teach an "investigator" ,who was just a teacher of another class, a lesson in complete spanish. that was so hard. i feel like i know nothing but at the same time i know so much. i can already pray and bare my testimony in spanish and can kinda told with people but for the most part its kinda hard. we have had to teach a lesson almost everyday. the teacher acts like an investigator that they had on there mission and they will only speak in spanish. its so hard teaching in a language that you dont know. my teacher said however that that is a blessing to not know much because then you cant go off on tangents all the time and most of what you can say is just what you planned. its starting to click so much however. the last lesson that me and my companion taught we had this lesson planned out and knew kinda what we were going to say and had things we wanted to talk about. then this new teacher came in while we were finnishing up and getting ready to go teach our investigator Gloria. so he comes over and says something in spanish which all i got was practice with me. so we taught him our lesson which wasnt very good because we dont know very much spanish. and then he said that it was good but asked if he could give us some advice and we said of course ya. then he leaned over and kindly flipped our papers over and just said think of a lesson like a testimony, then its not so hard. then he said teach me about the things you planned. and he made me and my companion just bare our testimonies back and forth about the things we wanted to talk about. and it felt way good. so then we go in to teach gloria and it was honestly the best lesson we have had. me and my companion said so many things that we didnt have planned and that we didnt really even know how to say, but the gift of tongues was evident in us we could understand what she was saying and what we were saying and then after we didnt know what just happened. it was so great. i am learning so fast and it is pretty fun. i got to go to the temple today. it is such a beautiful temple and it was so great. the only hard thing was that the entire thing was in spanish. the movie was the same though and it was funny because you could tell that the voices didnt match the people because it was in a different language then what they filmed it in. its going really well so far and im loving all the people i have met. its really weird being in a different country though. it smells way bad here. and there is always at least one gun shot sound in the night lol!! but dont worry we are in this place that is surrounded with this huge wall with barbed wire on top, and there is a lot of security personnel always looking out for us, and as always the lord is looking out for us.  the food has definitely been taking a while to get used too. most of it is really weird and of course there is always rice and beans and tortillas to make mini tacos. it is so much different here then back home, being surrounded by missionaries and Spanish  it is really good though. the spirit is always so strong here and had taught me so much. i miss you guys so much love you all

love
Elder Park

3rd Week: August 1st 2013


 i get up at 6:30 every morn and go to bed at 10:30 every night. well i can understand what they are saying most of the time now, its crazy how fast i learned how to talk and understand the basics. we just learn how to teach and how to speak spanish and how to conjugate verbs a TON!!!! ya its gone by super fast!!! no mexico hasent grown on me yet hahahaha but honetly the people are sooooo kind. real mexicans i like. american mexicans are annoying hahahahahahaha mexican food everday all day sept tuesday night is pizza night. we quote nacho libre todo dia catta dia.- all day every day!!! im going to get on again and send pictures and stuff so be on latter but mainly to do that.  ! i love you soooo much
Elder Park

well every day we have gym time and we can play basketball or soccer and they even have a football field but the football they have is flat so we cant play which makes me sad. i would kill anyone here for an egg mcmuffin. or a cheeseburger that sounds sooooooo gooooooooooood. haha  i know that look very well (deer in headlights), i experienced it again because when i went throught the temple it was in spanish and i had less of an idea what was going on that before. well talk to you guys in a week! and there is nooooooo way those are cars. they are way to loud. but a lot of the time they are fireworks, but you can tell the difference because the fireworks are really loud and the guns arent too loud. (in reference to hearing gunshots at night President Bigelow said it was cars backfiring) but police sirens are a constant. ooo i know the cars are junk lol except for this nice mustang i saw on the way to the temple

Elder Park





your letter was really nice to get and thank you for sending my travel plans i was legitly looking for them the day before and it bugged me that i didn't have them and then all the sudden i got it in the mail. so every other week we go to the temple so next week i wont have so much time to email, but i will make sure that i get one to you!! . my companion has a cord that connects to the computer so i can send stuff. also i wouldn't send anything in packages down her or my credit card because the mail is sketch and ya just wait till i get to the states hahaha. but the good part is that i got your mail in 10 days so that wasn't 2 weeks like they said it was going to take so don't send anything to mexico for the last week or so, so that i can receive it. i will be sure to email you. you guys had a family reunion? how was it? so did Braken not go first?  thank you i have been wanting to talk to him but i didn't have his email so i couldn't. frank emailed me but thank you anyways, idk if you guys know but he is going to Denver Colorado Spanish speaking. well i dont have my journal with me so i cant tell you a scripture that was good this week but next week i will write one down to come but i can tell you a story. yesterday we were supposed to teach real members from the city, but they never showed up so then we taught companions from our other district in our branch. and of course we get set up with the very cute hermanas. they taught there lesson and it was good then me and my companion went outside to talk about what we were going to teach because we thought we were going to teach some fresh converts and just kinda go over the first lesson again. but now we had to plan something else in like 2 minutes. and you know me and how i don't like surprises so i was just like awww crap. when we got in there i barely said anything and what i did say 90% of it was in English. so i was pretty upset about it and i just wanted to go back to my apartment and go to sleep but we had class so i couldn't. so we go to class and i just felt bad and didn't want to do anything and i was pretty upset with Spanish. so one of my teachers hermana plowman was teaching and we were going over prayer and why it is important for each of us and for our investigator. and she said that she felt earlier that she didn't really feel like teaching that lesson in Spanish for some reason. so she talked to other teachers about it and they said that they teach it in Spanish of course. but when she got into the room she just felt like she needed to do it in English. so she starts teaching in English and it made me so happy because i was done with Spanish for the night. and then she had us practice being investigators for another person in the room and then switch halfway. as my friend elder Curtis was teaching i felt the spirit so strong testifying of the truthfulness of his words. he was saying how the spirit will testify to you when you pray with real intent and how it is a comforter and it was just an amazing experience. even though we were pretending to be other people he taught me and touched my heart so much. and then we switched places and i was the teacher. it made me so happy i cant even explain to be able to teach in English again. i could say everything i thought of and have no problem saying it. and as i was teaching him i felt so great about what i was saying and the spirit was so strong. before class i just felt like crap and then after that amazing class i was so happy. the spirit truly is a comforter and will bring peace and happiness in our lives. after the lesson the teacher told us that she didn't know why she felt so strongly about teaching in English but i know why. i was having a tough time and god knew that i needed that that night. he really does know each one of us and loves each one of us. so the blogg sounds good with me. you guys can put up all the pictures i take and stuff. i love you too!!!! and miss you guys a lot. i obey most of them ahhahahaa we just usually roll out of bed a few minutes past 6:30
Elder Park




Nic and some missionaries from the MTC