October 22, 2012--Week 34

So!  Hello all :)

Brief updates.  First of all, this was kind of a tough week.  We worked pretty dang hard, and we taught more lessons this week than I have since I entered the field.  And, we were super psyched Sunday morning because we had like 6 awesome investigators who were going to be coming to church and then afterwards to Ana´s baptism.  It was kind of a rotten surprise to get there and sit through all of sacrament meeting without anyone arriving.  INCLUDING the sister we were going to baptize.  So, that was super lame. Sometimes the way people decide to use there agency reallllllly frustrates me.  But anyway, we left after sacrament meeting to see why Ana didn´t come.  We got to her house and her parents told us that she just decided to take off Saturday afternoon for Motozintla (like 2 hours away from here by combi), but that she was going to come back Sunday morning to go to church and then her baptism.  So that would have been all good and well and everything except that she didn´t come back at 8 in the morning, nor by the time when she was supposed to be getting baptized.  So, we´re going to find her today and see what happened.  So, we finished the week on the note of a tad bit of frustration, but that´s ok, because stuff like this happens in the mission (the same thing actually happened with Elder Perez and Elder Scott this week, so we´re not the only ones), and we´re ready to start a new week and make it a better one.  

Next, onto a much brighter note.  Being district leader has been great.  It has helped me a ton to focus harder on the work, and to broaden my scopes from just caring about my area to also the other elders and sisters in the district.  And, it really hasn´t added any stress at all, which is strange, because it has required a lot of time (in calling the other missionaries, preparing for district meeting, taking and giving the weekly reports, calling the zone leaders when  I don´t know something--which happens a lot--so that I can pass it on to my district).  This Wednesday in district meeting I decided to talk about charity. Which is a highly recommendable attribute to have as a missionary (actually it qualifies us for the work --> D&C 4:5 and no one can help in this work unless they have it --> D&C 12:8).  It went really well.  Before, I was kind of freaking out wondering how I was going to fill and hour and a half with useful material for the other missionaries, but we definitely had the Spirit with us, and we set a goal as a district to work with more charity for the people, and to pray for each other that we can be filled with more charity.  

So, that´s basically all I´ve got today :) I hope you´re all doing well!  I love and miss you tons!

Con amor,

Elder Nickerl

P.S.  
Dear Mom, 

Yes, the package with the CD´s did get here!!  Thank you so much!  It has been wonderful to have music in the house again (especially in the mornings!).  And that is crazy about your Spanish verbs!  I think I knew a total of 40 (maybe) after my 3 years of high school Spanish.  Really it is really tough to learn them unless you just start to speaking and practicing them a lot.  Sorry I can´t offer a more helpful way to learn them or anything...  

I know you were worried, but all the CDs that I´ve tried have worked fine.  That CD about the missionary next door is awesome.  We´re going to be working to try and help the members here (all 5 of them haha--not really, there are more) understand some of those simple principles.  Also, another huge fave of mine has been "This is Jesus".  I don´t think I had that one before.  I love the song that talks about the pre-existence.  I am very grateful to know the true nature of the Godhead, and be able to understand the purposes and roles of them in our life as such (instead of thinking that Jehovah is the Father and that Jesus Christ is just a lesser god, or that they´re all one person, or that the Holy Ghost is just an "active force", etc).  The restored Gospel is such a blessing. 

Also, I really like that song about the pre-existence because I miss going to the temple a lot :( but that´s ok, because like Presidente says, we´re doing the work for the living right now, and there will be plenty of time to do the work for the dead after the mission.  And, things like that really do have a ton more significance after gaining a deeper understanding of the Gospel.  You don´t really notice how much your understanding deepens because it is "grace upon grace", but I´ve had a few moments in the past couple of weeks that I just said to myself, "I definitely did not understand/know that a year ago." And it´s really cool to see.