FLOODING. THE. STREETS.

Hey everybody!!

Well, I only have a minute here today. We have a pday with our zone, so we have to prepare the stuff before the others arrive.

But this past week was really good for us. We were able to find over 20 new people to start teaching, and had a couple new people come to church. So I am excited to start working with them more. 

This week has been a little cooler. It ended up raining a few days this week. Yesterday after church it rained really hard and ended up flooding the streets.  There were cars that kept getting stuck in all the water!! It was crazy! 

Well, sorry I don't have much time. I'm glad to be serving the Lord. Talk to you guys later. 

Love, 

Elder Nickerson

As the world continues to ripen in iniquity, our lives of necessity must become increasingly different from the world and its standard. It will be a great challenge for us. We must be better than we have ever been before. As we succeed, we have the sure promise of the Lord that he will prosper us in every way necessary for our well-being. 

NIGHT. BUS. RIDE.

Hey everybody! 

Well to start off . . . . it has finally rained here and rained really hard for 2 or 3 days every night!!!!! So it helped cool it down a lot for a couple days! 

This week there was a leader's meeting in Salvador and we left here 10:30 Tuesday night and arrived in Salvador 7:30 Wednesday morning. The meeting went really well! I learned a lot! 

After the meeting I did a split with the secretaries and taught a few people there. Then that night we caught a bus and arrived back home at 5:30. 

This week has been good for us. We are teaching a family right now and we found out there son was a member of the church and was always going to church.  But he passed away 4 years ago and his family have never visited the church. So we are working hard to get them to church. 

This week we have splits with the assistants and interviews with our President, so I'm excited for that. Well that's about it for the week. Hope all is well with you guys. Talk to you guys later. 

Love,

Elder Nickerson

THE. HAPPIEST. PEOPLE. I. KNOW.

Hey! 

I hope everybody had a good week and Happy New Year! This week has been good for us!! We were able to find two new families, one with 8 people and the other with 3, that we started teaching.  They didn't go to church so hopefully this week we can work with them and get them to church! 

New Years went good here!!! There were a lot of fire works in the streets!! And of course, it keeps getting hotter and hotter here!! 

This week I have a meeting in Salvador that I will go to with some other elders here in Petrolina.  We will have to travel again all night on a bus to get there. Well thanks for all!  Hope everybody is doing well and I will talk to you guys next week!

Love, 

Elder Nickerson

“Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others. By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.” Gordon B. Hinckley, Whosoever Will Save His Life, Ensign, August 1982.

FELIZ. ANO. NOVO. (HAPPY. NEW. YEAR.)

Hey Everybody!!

Well, I hope that everybody had a good Christmas! This week was kinda slower for missionary work because everybody is traveling, but it was still a pretty good week! We have a HUGE area here in Petrolina. So we always have things to do!! We have a lot of people to teach, but this week no one was home.  i hope they return soon! 

Christmas went really well, i was able to skype with my family. It sure was nice to see and be able to talk to them and see that all is going well with them! 

Yesterday, I turned 20 years old so my companion and I made another cake! 

Well that's about it for the week! I hope that everybody has a Happy New Year!! Thanks for everything! Talk to you guys next week. Oh yeah we found this lizard in out house..

Much Love, 
Elder Nickerson

FELIZ. NATAL. SKYPE.

Hey Everybody!!

I don't have much time today, But this past week went really well. We ended up going to Salvador for our Christmas meeting and it was really good. Here in our area they ended up taking out two elders, so now only me and my companion are in the house and our area doubled in size.  So now we have plenty of work to do. 

This week I was also able to talk to my family!  It is such a great Christmas present to be able to see their faces and spend an hour with them.  I can't believe I will only have one more time talking to them before I am home.  9 months is going to go by pretty fast.  It already feels bitter sweet.  I am grown to love this area and the love the people here.  But more than that I love the Lord and the gospel.  I wouldn't change this experience for anything in the world.  I am grateful I still have 9 more months to serve the Lord and the wonderful people here.

This week I was able to make myself a birthday cake and a cheesecake.  It was great to have American food and to share it with my companion.  Sunday is my birthday and I have one more cake to make.  I was able to receive some Christmas packages from my mom.  It is always nice getting a little something from home, especially in the month that is Christmas and my birthday.  

On Christmas morning I was able to Skype with my family and there is nothing better than that.  It is something that all missionaries really look forward to.  It builds up and builds up.  It is always hard saying goodbye, but it means I am one step closer to the finish line. Some members in the ward had a nice Sunday lunch for us.  It is great to celebrate the birth of our Savior and all that he did for us.  

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I am so grateful for eternal families and that I was able to spend some time talking to my mine this Christmas. I am so lucky to have the family I do and I am so grateful for all their love and support. They sure made this Christmas special for me.


I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!  

Love,
Elder Nickerson

CHEGOU.

Hey everybody!!

Well, it has been a good week.

First off our fridge finally arrived after 4 or 5 weeks without a fridge.... but the store sent the wrong one!!!  Inside our house is 220 and the fridge is only 110. The store won't exchange it. So we have to buy a converter.

This week we were able to baptize José, my companion's first baptism. He was excited!!! And so was I. I also made pancakes and hash browns this week.   They didn't turn out how my mom cooks them, but it was good to taste a little food from home!

I can't believe that Christmas is already arriving here. I'm excited to be able to Skype home. Next Monday we won't be able to email home because the mission moved our P-Day to Christmas day. So it will be a little different next week but it will be good.

Well, that's about it for the week. Tonight we are heading to Salvador and will travel on a bus all night to arrive there tomorrow morning.  We have transfers and our Christmas Conference. My companion and I will stay one more transfer together.

Well, I hope that everything is well with you guys. If I can't send another email before Christmas, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Feliz Natal para todos e feliz ano novo. Tchau até o proximo. (Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year. Bye till next time.)

Remember the true meaning of Christmas. Talk to you guys later bye!

Love,

Elder Nickerson

BANANAS. HE. ATE. THEM. ALL.

Hey Everybody!!

Well, I didn't think it could keep getting hotter but it does! This week has been good. When we wake up in the mornings it's 85 or 90 degrees at 6:30 in the morning and at lunch time it's 100 degrees in our apartment.

It hasn't rained since I got here and the river in the middle of the city is drying up!! One day I put my thermometer in the sun and it hit 130 degrees!!

This week has went really fast!! We received new cards that we give to people and it has a site to watch a video that talks of Jesus Christ. (natal.mormon.org) Here is the site if you guys want to watch it...haha, it's in Portuguese so not sure if you guys will understand it, buts it's cool.

Makes us remember our Savior and what he did for each of us! And because of him, what we can become and that we can live forever with our families.

I sure am grateful for this and what he did for each of us! This week we were able to put some baptism dates on a few people and they accepted and one has it for this Saturday so I hope everything works out!!

A family here also gave us bananas and mangos, they are really good. One day when we were walking home with the bananas a guy that stays on the street asked us for a few bananas so we gave him around 10. Haha and the next day we were walking where we gave him the bananas ha and there were a ton of banana peels on the ground.  He ate them all!!

Well that's about it for the week. This month is flying past.  I can't believe it's almost Christmas!!!!

I hope all is well with you guys, talk to you guys soon.

Love,
Elder Nickerson

https://www.mormon.org/Christmas

https://www.lds.org/topics/christmas?lang=eng