More About My Island

Ya ok so I have a little bit more time today to finish my letter.

So on Thursday we packed up all of our stuff and sat in the office
until 1:30. At that time we loaded up and headed off to the airport,
and something that was funny is that Elder Wilson my companion from
the MTC was there, and helped take me to the office.  It was pretty
interesting to see him, and to get to have him drop me off at the
airport. When we got to the airport, it was just a bunch of hangers
with little planes in them, so we found our place and checked in.
They weighed our bags, and we were both within the weight so we didn't
have to pay any extra. It's a good thing they weighed our backpacks as
part of us because that was really heavy too. From there all we had
to do was wait for the captain and we were good to go. It ended up
just being my companion and I on the plane with the pilot, so my
companion got to be the co-pilot. But I sat in the back all by
myself. I got a video of the take off and landing on the plane. In
the air we had a little bit of turbulance, but nothing much. The
plane only had 4 seats in it, so that's how small it was. When we got
to the island to land, the runway has cliffs on both sides of it, so
you have to be careful. The pilot landed hard and fast and then
instantly started slowing down. It was a little bit scary, but
everything was ok. Once we got off the plane we realized how cold it
was going to be with the wind, so we put our coats on and stood there
for a little bit. From there they loaded us up and drove us down to
the little dock thing. There were a bunch of sea lions just sitting
on the rocks there. Some of them came over to see what we were doing.
We then got on a tiny fishing boat, and headed off on the hour ride to
get to the people. It was fun, and one of the only times I´ll ever
get to be on a boat in my mission so i enjoyed it. When we got to the
city, Elder Waldron was there waiting for us. He and his wife were the
couple missionaries that were on the island for the past 10 months.
So he took us up to the house, and we unpacked a little and then had
dinner. FISH!!! The fish here is amazing. We live with the familia
Lopez, and we call sister Lopez, Nana. She is an amazing cook, and
everything I have eaten from her has been amazing. All of our meals
are made for us;  breakfast, lunch, and one (snack dinner thing). So
we don't have to buy food, and the church pays rent, and pretty much
it's like we live in a cabin hotel, it;s so amazing!  We are definitely
spoiled here. We also have a dog named Maupo, that will follow us
everywhere if we call him. The only bad thing is that they have fleas
here, so all of the animals have them. Pretty much we just followed
Elder Waldron around all that night looking at stuff.

Friday we studied in the house, and ya there were always people coming
in and out of the room that we were studying in, so we decided next
time we were going to study in the chapel. We have our own keys to
the chapel, and so we can use it willingly. After studies, Elder
Waldron took us up to the library to set up a time for email, and to
get to know where it is.  That's where I am now and it's free. A lot
of stuff is free for the people here.  The doctor is free, the
dentist, and soon I think they are going to get free wifi for the
whole island. I'm not sure, but the people here are really blessed.
There really aren't any poor people here.  They are all fairly well
off. Nobody is super rich, but nobody is poor.  To buy stuff in
the stores here it is very expensive. Good thing we don't have to buy
much,  and we can only pay with cash, so I have a lot of cash and no
where to put it. The people here are pretty much all related, and so
nobody really locks their doors, because it would be pretty obvious to
know who steals your stuff, so they don't even worry about it. Pretty
much the rest of the day we just went around learning where people
lived, and where all the stores are, and all the basics of the island.

Saturday we went and studied in the church. I liked it because there
was a heater in there that we turned on. The weather here is a little
bit chilly in the mornings, and then perfect the rest of the time,
not too hot and not too cold. Elder Waldron continued to show us
around. He took us out to the five star hotel that is on the island,
and we got some really good pictures. Let's be honest I can't think of
a view that isn't beautiful, but you don't walk here on the island, you
hike everywhere you go. It's either straight up, or straight down. So
I´ll be in really good shape here. Also you can breath here! The air
is so clean and fresh. I love it.

Sunday, we had church! There were 12 people in the church, and that
includes the 4 missionaries. The branch president here has been
branch president for 27 years, and there was only one other guy in
church. When we met the branch president, he told us that we were his
counselers, secretaries, teachers, and pretty much everything else in
between. The church also has a computer, but right now it is in the
branch president's house. Don't worry, I'm getting it out today, but he
is a really good guy, and church was good. The sacrament took all of
3 mins., then the Waldrons talked a little because they were leaving,
and then we talked, and then there was one other talk that she had
forgot she was supposed to give, and then sacrament meeting ended...
half an hour early... so we started our next class, and pretty much
it's just read out of the book, but it was still a good lesson, and I
learned something. But they are going to finish the lessons 4 weeks
early because they don't have general conference, or stake conference,
but we brought general conference in audio, so that's what we are doing
next sunday.

P-DAY!!! finally p-day, and the first thing we did was go down to
welcome the boat that brings all of the food, and also there were some
islanders that built a boat and sailed all the way to the continent in
it from the island in rememberance of Nana´s grandpa who had done the
same thing when he was lost at sea in a storm. So we went to meet
them because the capitan was a member! He is a really awesome guy!
and I'm going to get to know him today haha.  Ya pretty much we are
going to go around and deliver Liahonas to all of the members today so
we can get to know them, and to know where they live, but after that
we had lunch, and then did one of the shorter hikes here on the
island. It was incredible. There were giant leaves and the craziest
plants I have ever seen. It was so beautiful! This place is
amazing!!! But ya it was fun. Our internet time was cut short, so we
got permision to come Tuesday and finish writing, and ya here I am!
On an island! With only my companion, and limited comunication from
the outside world! but I'M ON THE ISLA JUAN FERNANDEZ!!!!!!!!! Don't
worry I have taken a lot of pictures!

I l;ove you all and miss you, but I'm having a blast!

I'm on an Island

FAMILIA Y AMIGOS,

I'M ON AN ISLAND!!!!!!!!!

Ya don't have much time and the internet is really slow, but  my plane
didn't end up leaving until Thursday, so I sat in the office for 2
days, we then got on a tiny little plane and rode for 2 hours over
the ocean.  My companion and I were the only passengers so that was
fun.  The landing pad on the island is small with cliffs at both ends,
so that was fun, but the pilot landed hard and braked fast.  We then
went down to a little bay thing where there were a bunch of sea lions
and a tiny little boat.  We rode the boat for an hour until we got
to the town. It's a tiny little thing. We then went up to our house,
which is more like a cabin and is very beautiful.  We met the members
there. The mom is named Nana, and she made us some dinner, and fish.
It was really good, and everything is really good she makes. She
makes us every meal so we don't have to worry about food. Then I have
been pretty much wandering the island for the past couple days
figuring out where everyone lives and pretty much I hike everywhere,
there is no walking, but it's fun. The branch is tiny, and ya I'm out
of time so... there is so much I want to tell you but ahh there is
not enough time. The island is very beautiful, the people are really
nice, they only get a big boat of food and stuff that they order once a month.
The birthday or something of the island is next week.  Everything is so pretty.
I'm going to try to send some pictures next week, but I love it here, and
I'm very glad for the opportunity that I have to be here. I have taken over 3 hundred pictures in the last 3 days haha so I have a lot of stuff for you guys to see. But ya that's all for now.

Love you tons and miss you!

BIG NEWS!

¡Hola familia y amigos! Ya this week is beyond crazy so here we go!

First, I HAD A BAPTISM LAST WEEK!!! Her name is Belén, she is 9 years old and her family is less active. I have pictures and all, but I can't send them right now because I am writing this letter in the mission office, ya more about that to come.

So this week started out normal. Same problems as last week trying to get my companions out of the house and ya pretty much the same old struggles. We had some very fun lessons, the first was with a new investigator we found named Angelica, (as of right now we are teaching 4 different Angelica's). So we had taught her up to prophets of the first lesson, and we went back to teach her a second time, and we decided to repass over the first stuff. As we were repassing we realized that she didn't remember anything. No joke it was like teaching a little kid, even though she is 30. But ya that's the thing about a mission we get to work with all types of different people. So while teaching her there is a song that says pretty much "give me more patience". After teaching Angelica we went to teach Belén, she is always fun to teach, and always a trial of patience. ya but it's always fun to try and teach here.

Also I learned that my companion is a braggoholic. No joke he brags about everything, how many contacts he has, how he brought his jacket when it was going to rain, and then never did, no joke whatever thing that he could brag about he does. But ya now time for the big news, I don't have to deal with them anymore! Haha!

So one of the dreams of every missionary that comes to this mission is to go to a very special place. That dream is to go to one of the islands. The thing is that President only calls Senior missionaries there to take care of the islands. Well... one of the senior couples is leaving and there isn´t another couple to take their place, so 2 lucky missionaries are getting to go to the island. So... out of the 200 some odd missionaries in our mission... I am one of those 2 that get to go to the island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW FREAKING LUCKY AM I!!! I´m going to the Island Juan Fernandez! President called me Saturday and asked me if I was willing to go the the island, and that he was only sending missionaries that he trusts will continue to be obedient and do the things to take care of the island. My companion is Elder Beeson from Arizona. If you ever want a repeat of the feelings of opening your mission call, a phone call saying this will do it!

There are about 1000 people on the island, so I have a 4 hour flight to the island, and then a boat ride to the people. I can only bring 22 pounds of stuff with me to the island, and the rest of my stuff will stay in the mission office. I am only taking the necessities. We will be living with a member that will cook and wash our cloths and stuff. I will be there until another senior couple comes to the mission. It shouldn´t be more than 2 changes, or about 3 months for a maximum, kinda. So I will be there for Christmas and stuff. I'm super excited and all, but I would still appreciate your prayers for a safe trip. I leave tomorrow morning some time, and ya I'm going to the ISLAND JUAN FERNANDEZ!!!!!

Love you and miss you tons!

If you want to take a look at Nate's new home check out these YouTube Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCgITT5QTJs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_vurlfXkEM&feature=related

Will the Drama Ever End?

¡Hola de nuevo mi familia y amigos! The Lord wants me to learn something from this right? Oh boy here we go with another drama story!!! AND A BAUTIZMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya so Monday we were told we were getting a new companion, so they were going to send a bunk bed and all this stuff. No problem except for the fact that our house is a disaster, and I was buying the stuff to clean it that day. Ya well one of the senior couples came to drop the stuff off 10 mins after we got back from the store so I didn't have time to do anything minus hide some of the worst of it. But they came in we put the top bunk in, and while we were doing this the husband accidently turned on the space heater that we have, that a tie had fallen over. We went to get the mattress for the bed and when we came back in I pretty much got chewed out for leaving the heater on, and how that could start a really big fire, and if we would spend some time on p-day to clean the house it wouldn't be so messy, and what ever other thing she could say. So I explained politely that it wasn't on before, and that I'm careful about all of that stuff and that we would clean the apartment that day. After I finally got her to leave, I cleaned the entire apartment and that night we got our new companion Elder Lemo.

The first 2 days were good. We were working hard and doing the things we were supposed to be doing. We taught a lot and we found a lot of good people to teach. It was Thursday when things started to go down hill fast.  We pretty much stopped planing as a companionship, which left me to plan for the day by myself. So when we didn't have plans in the afternoon before lunch we started to leave later and later in the day. We would find stupid reasons to go back to the house, and then it would take us another hour before we would leave again, or they would fall asleep and so I would study.

 Friday we had a lesson with a family that one day will get baptized. We went in to teach them, and we started asking them questions trying to figure out what this family needs to get baptized, and that's when it hit me, I knew exactly what to ask, how to respond, and what scriptures to use. The lesson was amazingly spiritual, and in the end they said they were fine where they were for now, but one day they will get baptized. I don't think we will be going to teach them any more, but it was cool to be able to teach. After the lesson, my companions asked how I knew what to say, and the answer was simple, I didn't... the Spirit did.

Through the struggle to be the desire and energy for my companionship I have seen the blessings from being obedient. I know what to say when my companion is floundering because I have listened to the investigators, and then to the Spirit. I can see the lack of Spirit in my companions because they are struggling to teach, and their studies aren't as good as before. Obedience is important in the mission!!! I had another lesson where my companions were trying to put the people with a baptism date, but they hadn't listened at all to the problem of the investigator.  They were way too focused on the date. So finally I jumped in, answered the question, and they accepted the date. I'm not saying this to brag about myself.  It was all the Spirit, and what I had studied in the morning that was able to help me know what to say.

Now I am trying to come up with ideas to animate my companions.  I am talking with my district leader to try and find ways to get them excited.  I know that my loyalty is first to the Lord, second to the Mission President, and third to my companions. It's not my time to waste so I will be doing what I know I need to do to keep the Spirit. That's all for today and once again I am out of time... oh well.

Love you and miss you all tons!!!

Learn to Speak English by Watching Friends

¡Hola familia y amigos de nuevo!

So my first week in a new sector! Ya so the first day was interesting.  We went and pretty much wandered around, and I tryed to get to know my new companion a little.  His name is Elder Concha, he is from Chile, and we get along really well. The strange thing was he knew a lot of random English words, ya well Tuesday I figured it out... HE SPEAKS ENGLISH!!! Haha ya he finally told me that he speaks English, and the best part is how he learned it, ya by watching Friends with Spanish subtitles! He speaks freaking amazing!!! Oh and I also found out that he is 26 and already has graduated de universidad. So that was crazy!

Next, the house that I am now living in is tiny, but at the same time it is an actual house thing, so that is ok.  It has a bathroom, a bedroom, and study area, and a kitchen area.  The water heater is different here than in my last apartment.  Before all I had to do was turn the hot water on and it turned on and did everything, but here we have to attach the gas, turn on the gas, and light the fire to get the water working  The thing was my companion and I didn't know how to do it, so we went 4 days with a freezing cold shower until the other elders showed up and taught us how to do it, and now the shower is wonderful, a little getto, but wonderful none the less.

With only the 2 of us living in the house I have found a lot more time to do nothing haha. Before there were 3 other elders to keep me busy, and now there is just my companion who usually goes to bed early, so it's interesting, and in the mornings with only 2 people to shower we have extra time to sit around and study more.  It's interesting.

One thing amazing about my companion is that he literally asks for references from everyone! This is good because when we contact them we get more numbers which is good, and we have found some really good people that way.

Ya so this new sector has a lot of little streets, a lot of parks, and not as many druggies (but all of the druggies here are like hard core druggies that are scary), and the dogs. For some reason the dogs here are a lot meaner! I don't know why but they all want to eat us, and ya it's fun.

So we have lunches with the members, or the members make us lunch, the first 3 days we took the lunches back to the house and ate it, so when we finally had a lunch that we were going to eat with the members we were very excited, that was until we got there haha. They are a great family, but ya we have to work with them... first there was a lady with cuts all over, like self-inflicted cuts, that was a little scary, then we watched them as they tried to sneak beer past us, the little kids were entertaining as usual, and one of them had a mini skirt on that was ya... don't know if you could classify it as a skirt even... so it ends up that pretty much all of them are members, but there is only one of them that is active.  So after we finished, everyone scattered except for the active grandma, and one of the grandaugters, and that's when I shared my scripture. To be a missionary you learn to love people really fast, so you want to share with them the happiness that you know they could feel. Well this lady kept saying someday she was going to go to church and read the scriptures and all of this stuff. Well ya that's when the spirit starts working and I know exactly what I need to share even though it's kinda harsh, but then the other scripture comes to mind that the wicked take the truth to be harsh, so I shared the scriptures anyway. Alma 5 is really good for less active members, especially when it asks "if you died right now would you be able to lie to God?" but then it goes on and I make it really spiritual with the shepherd is calling you, and is still calling, and in the end she was in tears... and then the grandma started talking and would not shut up... everything I did to invite the spirit was ruined, and so I had to do it all over again... and then the grandma started talking again! Ya phrase of this week, Obuela, SHUT UP!!! Ya that was the lame fast version of this story, I'm almost out of time so...

Just got off the phone with the mission president, and I am now in a trio... but it's ok. I'm now with 2 latinos!!!  This elder is returning to the mission, he had to go home because of some knee problems but now he is back.  He is from Argentina.

Sunday I got to talk in church!!! But before that happened... I got to... CONFIRM SOMEONE!!!!!!!! That's right my first blessing ever, and in Spanish... it was interesting to say the least, and the best part is we only had one lesson with her so I didn't really know her, but that the whole loving people really fast thing. not going to lie being a missionary is awesome!

 

 

Nate, Oscar, and Elder Nichols

 

Out of time!!!! AHHH I have more to write about so hopefully I remember next week, but chao for now!!!

Special Face?

¡¡¡HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!

Ya first of all, this week has been absolutely crazy! Ya where do I
start? Ok I don't have my list of cool things that happened this week
so it might be a little fome, but that's ok, and fome is a Spanish
word for like a lot of things. so ya get used to it haha!

Primero! OSCAR WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Oscar was my very
first ever lesson in Chile, and he was baptized last week with one of
the strongest testimonies I have ever seen. Pretty much it was, "Hey
Oscar we have this commandment that we are freaking out about you
accepting" within 3 minutes of the lesson he just says ya I understand,
it's a commandment, I may not know exactly why I have to do it, but I'm
going to do it. Can you say OH MY GOODNESS!!! Ya, but I love that man,
and am so glad that I was able to see him get baptized!

Segundo! We had a conference with Elder Bednar, and it was amazing! I
learned so much, and let me just tell you, first they do not look the
same as they do on TV during conference, and second, they do not talk
or act the same as they do on TV during conference.  I swear they are
competely different people! But none the less it was so much fun, and
he really knows how to teach people, which in turn is going to help me
teach people.

Tircero! We had a recent convert of before I got to the sector say
that she was done going to church. So we spent a long time with her
trying to figure out why. Then after about an hour of trying to
explain where these feelings were coming from (aka Satan), I went all
blunt on her. I asked her some questions, figured out what she
thought the importance of the sacrament was, and she said the first
time she took it, it was like a forgiveness, a salvation. So with the
fact that she recognized this I told her straight up that she was
exactly right, and that when she didn't go to church to participate in
the santa cena (sacrament) she couldn't receive this forgivness, and
in the end, she couldn't get the salvation. Now of course all of this
I was getting from the spirit, but I think it worked pretty well to
kind of make her think about what she was doing.

Cuarto! Ya I don't know what else happened this week cause I don't have
my list, but today we had changes!!! Ya so my new companion, his
name is Elder Concha, he is Chileno, doesn't speak very much English,
but he is very nice and I think we are going to get along very well.
Now I don't mean to sound mean when I say this, but I think it's
important for all of you to know. He has a little bit of a lazy eye,
and a problem with his leg so he walks a little funny, and a little
slow, but that just means that I will get to serve him that much
more! But he is really humble and I really do think we will get along
well!  I am in a sector called Dorsal 1.  We are now living in a little
house thing, but the best part is, I'm opening the sector, which means
both of the elders in the sector are new so pretty much we have to
start over with everything!

I finished with the rabies shots today, so I'm good for the next 3
years with that.

I need you to tell people that I love getting letters, but it's really
hard to write back, but I will write back eventually. To send letters
home we have to go into the center of the city, and we can't do that
every week, and we haven't done it for several weeks now so I haven't
been able to send anything to anyone yet, but tell Sister Kanaval that
I got her letter, and the letter from the little girls in the ward, and the
book from someone, and yes I got Brian's Diablo letter!

Pictures of everything to come next week, of the baptism, my old
companion, my new companion, the new house thing, all of that fun
stuff. Oh ya how could I forget!!! So I went on an intercambio this
week with Elder Hjelm. It was an interesting little change, and
pretty much all we did was contacts, but I got a new nickname, we
knocked this one door, and halfway through our conversation she looks
at me and says, "you have a special face"... WHAT!!! Ya I didn't know
how to take that, I still don't know how to take that, but ya apparently I
have a special face! Ya so it just gets better, we were waiting at
a bus stop, and this guy comes up and gives me this newspaper, so ya
I start looking at it, and next thing I know this lady comes and
starts taking pictures of me reading the paper. Not that I really
care, but ya special face moment number 2. But ya after that I kept
being called special face!

That's all I can remember for this week haha, love you all and miss you tons!!!

Earthquake!

¡Querido Familia y amigos!

 

Ya so straight to my week.

This week was crazy! First of all we finally found someone that let us help them!!! This is a big accomplishment here because nobody wants your help, but we finally found a lady painting her fence and she just so happened to have 2 more brushes.  Talk about following the spirit, but ya we helped her paint her fence, taught her all of lesson one, and part of lesson two because she was asking questions about it, and we are going to go back Wednesday to teach her again. The problem is, the paint she was using doesn't come out of clothes so... one shirt down, not many more to go haha but it was totally worth it. Her salvation for my shirt, sounds like a good trade to me.

Ok ya so we are teaching this guy named Oscar, I love him to death! He is this really funny guy that I doubt I will ever have an investigator like him again! So we taught him the restoration like 6 weeks ago, and since then he has watched probably every single movie the church has made about Joseph Smith ever! Like on his own, he just goes onto the church website and reads stuff, and watches movies and stuff it's crazy.  We were worried about teaching him the law of tithing, so we fasted for him the day before we taught it, and we went in and within 5 minutes he had accepted it! Talk about prayer and fasting testimony booster! We also taught him the Word of Wisdom.  He thought it was ridiculous that he couldn't drink tea and coffee, but he was willing to do it, and now for the bad news... he was supposed to be baptized this past Sunday... but because of a miscommunication on our part we didn't know he was drinking wine everyday for a heart problem. His doctor prescribed it for him and we never taught him it was bad so we had to pospone the baptism, but he is completely willing to give it up, and he understands that we are not perfect so he is getting baptised next week!

We were led by the spirit a lot this week. For some reason we just always seem to be in the right place at the right time. One day it was with an investigator that is 8 1/2 months pregnant and she isn't married, so we are trying to get her and her boyfriend married. They work every day, and one day I said to my companion, hey we are close to Dalila, let's stop by and see is someone is there, and she was. We talked with her for a little, and then had her say the prayer, and in her prayer, she said thanks for sending me someone to talk to, I really needed it. AHHH!!! Ya the Lord knows each of our circumstances, and what we need. The same thing happend with another guy last night, but he lives out of our bounderies so the other missionaries are going to teach him.

Now for the craziest news! I officially can say that I have been in an earthquake!!!!!!! That's right, on Thursday there was an earthquake. Ok ya so apparently according to everyone here it was only a tremor, but to me the ground was moving and I wasn't doing anything so it's an earthquake! But apparently it was a 5 something and ya pretty much I was just a little freaked out, but everyone else acted like it was normal. Guess it happens a lot so don't worry I'm ok, nothing even fell over. It was boring,  but it still was an earthquake haha!

 

(The earthquake epicenter was off shore 130 miles away from Santiago.  It was a magnitude 5.2)

But ya I think that's all for now. I only have one more rabies shot left next Monday! So that will be over with. Changes are this next Monday so we´ll see where I am next week. But I love you all, and miss you tons!