TOOLS. AND. INSTRUMENTS.

Hey!!! 

This has been a good week. 

Today we were able to hike this mountain behind our house, haha!!! And I found this huge ant.

We had zone conference in Feire De Santana and it is a 12 hour bus ride one way. The bus is very bumpy and we didn't get much sleep. The zone conference was really great and the best part of the week is I finally received some mail. 

This week we were able to find a couple families and will teach them this week. It is always exciting finding new families and people to share the gospel with.  It is really what makes your mission. 

My companion and I were walking down the street this week.  I asked if he want to catch a bus because it was getting late.  He said lets walk. So we walked! And while we were walking we found this family and talked to them. We asked them if they belonged to a church and they said not yet, but they were looking and was really interested in ours. 

My companion said he just had a feeling that night that we needed to walk. So that was pretty cool. It was a huge testimony to me that the Lord is aware of all of us and that as missionaries we are really just tools and instruments in his hands. 

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.  - John 7:17

The gaining of a strong and secure testimony is the privilege and opporutnity of every individual member of the Church. Service in behalf of others, study, and prayer lead to faith in this work and then to knowledge of its truth.  

Well, that is about it for this week. Talk to you guys soon.

Much love,

Elder Nickerson

GRATEFUL. FOR. THE. OPPORTUNITY.

Hey!!

Hope all is well with you guys!!!

This week has been kind of slow. My companion had an infection in his foot and had to get a shot. We had to stay in the house for a day.  I was able to read my scriptures and write a couple talks.  It has been more cool here this week from the rain.  It has been so nice. I also had an allergic reaction and am getting over a rash on my back.  We were supposed to go hike the hill again but it was close to raining and we were all tired this week.  We decided to stay home and get feeling better. 

I am pretty excited for general conference.  I am not sure how it works over here and when we get to watch it.  This will be my second general conference on my mission.  I look forward to watching what everyone else is watching back home.  There are always great messages to learn from general conference.

On Sunday we randomly had this guy stop up to church and want a blessing. So we gave him a blessing and got his address and will start teaching him this week. I don’t know how he knew about our church, but he just showed up out of nowhere, so that was pretty cool. We are hopeful about teaching him the lessons. 

This week we have zone conference in Feira de Santana; 10 or 12 hours from here. So we will be sleeping on the bus again. But I am excited we should finally receive some mail. It is also nice to do something a little different, see other parts of Brazil, and spend time with the missionaries out here.  But most importantly there are great lessons to be learned at zone conference. 

The language is getting better and better. The companion I have now, Elder Machado, is helping me a lot with it. I can see more improvement day by day. When we teach lessons I can feel the spirit a lot stronger because I can finally understand. I’m grateful to be serving our Lord and the great people here. I am also very grateful for the members. I have made some very close friends. 

I have also learned how important my family is to me.  Sometimes it takes going to another country to appreciate all everyone did for me! :) I love you all.  I hope life is going well for everyone and I hope you know how much the Lord knows you and loves you. 

Talk to you guys later.

Eu sou muito grato pelo oportunidade eu tenho de estar aqui. Eu amo voces. (I am very grateful for the opportunity to be here.  Love you guys)

Much love, Elder Nickerson

President Hinckley's daughter, when asked how her father has accomplished so much, stated; "He doesn't worry.  He has removed worry from his life and trusts the Lord so much that he has no worry. He says that when we free ourselves of worry, we have so much energy to do good."

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.  It all works out.  Don't worry.  I say that to myself every morning.  It will all work out.  Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future."  President Gordon B. Hinckley

I. MY. FRIEND. WILL. MOVE. THE. ROCK.

Hey!!

How was everybody’s week?? My week was pretty slow.

I got a new companion. His name is Elder Machado from Rio Grande Do Sol. He has been out 10 months. He speaks English a little so we help each other with learning the language. We had to stay 2 days in our house cause he hurt his foot.  And I am going to check in with the doctor this week to make sure I am not having an allergic reaction to something.  

This week has been very hot!! I don’t think the weather ever changes here, it is just hot. We taught some cool lessons this week though where the spirit was really strong. On Sunday none of our investigators came to church, so that was discouraging.

But that is about it for this week! Hope you all have a good week.

This shirt I’m wearing is a present from one of our investigators. It is a kind of sport they do here in the Bahia. Thanks for everything.

Talk to you guys next week.

Love Elder Nickerson

Here is one of my favorite stories.

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock pushing with all his might.

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture placing thoughts into the man’s mind such as: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn’t budged.” “Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it?” etc. Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. “Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.” And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

To this the Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.

“And now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock.

“But your calling was to be obedient, to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

VOCE. VAI. FICAR. AQUI.

Hey Everybody.

Well, I found out this week that I will be staying here in Barreiras for another transfer, so another 6 weeks. President said he doesn’t know why I’m staying here, but he said I still need to be here. It makes me feel extremely blessed to know that there is a higher power looking out for me.  I couldn’t believe when the President said, “voce vai ficar aqui.”  It means you will stay here.  My companion will head to Salvador to be the zone leader tonight at 6:45.  He has six more weeks in the mission and then he is heading home.  I think I will get another Brazilian companion on Wednesday this week. At least that is what President told me.  I am pretty excited to stay because I have grown so close to and fond of the people in this area. 

This week President Lisonbee came from Salvador and we had a zone meeting.  That was cool!! I’m just really excited that I get to stay here and work in Barreiras for 6 more weeks. There is plenty of work to be done here. Ever since I have been here, there are some investigators that are still not baptized. But maybe they will be while I am here.  It made me feel good because there are people here that were so excited I was staying in this area.  Some wrote in my journal that said, “ja tem falta para voce.”  It means they already missed me even though I hadn’t left.  

The President told me they have a package waiting for me this week.  They will send it out with my new companion. I talked to Sister Lisonbee and she told me that a lot of missionaries get pains in their sides from the change in appetite.  It was nice to be able to speak English with President and Sister Lisonbee.  I heard from my first companion, Elder Bailey, and he is doing well.  It is nice to keep in contact with him.   It is still just really hot here and the streets are really dusty.

I have been making bracelets for people, even the wife of a counselor in the bishopric asked me to make her one.  They love the bracelets here.  But I only have 3 more buckles left. 

That’s about all for this week. Love you guys!! Hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you guys next week.

Eu amo voces (I love you guys). Obrigado por tudo (Thank you for everything).

Much Love,

Elder Nickerson

"Sometimes a single phrase of a testimony can set events in motion that affect someones life for eternity."  President Uchtdorf

From Nick's Family 

We wanted to say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all the kind words, love, and prayers for our son and brother.  We are so proud of him and know of the blessings he is receiving for serving a mission and the blessings our family also receives.  We feel so loved and strengthened by all your support.  Nick wanted to make sure that you all know he feels of your love.  Thanks again for everything you have all done for us and everything you continue to do for us.  We love you and appreciate all you do for Nick and our family.  

I. KNOW. HE. HEARS. OUR. PRAYERS.

Hey!

This week has been a little more slow than usual. I think I am down to only one week left in this area.  The mission president is coming to visit this week, so I will know more about transfers when he comes. 

I am pretty excited because this week we get to watch a film.  The mission president gave missionaries the ok to watch Disney films.  We are watching a film with an investigator this week.

I can’t believe it is time to get my hair cut again today and we are going to buy groceries.  I am hoping to get a package of my things shipped this week before I transfer out of this area.

This week I have thought a lot about being called to be a missionary.  President Henry Eyring said, “You see, there are no small callings to represent the Lord. Your call carries grave responsibility. But you need not fear, because with your call come great promises.  Your answers comes by the Holy Spirit. You will need that guidance often. To have the Holy Ghost as your companion you must be worthy, cleansed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So, your obedience to the commandments, your desire to do His will, and your asking in faith will determine how clearly the Master can guide you by answers to your prayers.  There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer a call to represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work alone.”

I think my favorite lessons to teach are the restoration of the gospel and the gospel of Jesus Christ. My favorite scripture is still John 3:16.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

All of our investigators that were close to baptism left town for the weekend. But we had a cool experience yesterday. So my mom sent my paracord rope to make the kids here those cool bracelets.  Yesterday, I had a second, so I made one really fast before we had to go to work. I just sat it on my table and right before we left, I had a feeling to put it in my pocket, so I did.

Then we started walking and I forgot about it. After we had been walking for about 15 minutes, we got a phone call. The man on the phone said that he needed us at his house because somebody needed a blessing. He said the boys kept saying he was about to die. When he called, we were literally 30 seconds from his house. 

So we got to his house and the boys that needed our help were a little further down towards the canal around here. When we got there his mom met us at the door and immediately started crying. We went into the boys room and he was curled up in a ball rubbing his head like crazy and making a weird sound.

We couldn’t get him to talk at all, so we said a prayer. He slowly got better and better.  We were there for about 2 and a half hours. By the time we left, he seemed like he was better. But I remembered I had put the bracelet in my pocket.  I gave it to him and it made him excited. I think the kid has some problem with his head, but I’m not sure. He kept saying “sono” which means dream. I sure hope he is better now.

It made me realize how strong of a influence prayer has on people. He had been rubbing his head and making that sound for about 1 hour before we got there. As soon as we said the prayer, you could tell he was a lot more calm. I am grateful that we are able to talk to our Father in heaven and I know he hears our prayers and answers them as well.

That is about it for this week! Hope all in well with you guys. Talk to you next week.

Eu amo voces tanto. tchau.

Love, Elder Nickerson