August 26, 2017

Loving, Cringing, and Eclipse(ing)

I swear starting these emails is always the hardest thing I do on P-days. I struggle so hard to remember what all I've done throughout the week but for some reason I just can't seem to come up with anything! This was definitely one of my favorite weeks here though. The language is starting to really pick up for me and I'm getting unbelievably excited to head out for Argentina on the 4th. I got my flight plans yesterday and it's starting to get so real to me that I'm about to start really serving my mission. Also, I've officially been in here for one month so that is a pretty impressive statistic in it's own right I think!

Probably the highlight of my week was teaching Rosa again. If you remember when I asked you all to pray for my 45 minute Spanish lesson a couple weeks back, I've been doing those with Elder Fugal three times a week, every week since then and we can fill the time without breaking a sweat now. It's awesome. Anyways our investigator's name is Rosa, and how the program is set up is there's about 50% real investigators and 50% members just acting as investigators, but either way we teach like they're real and it feels like it too. This week while teaching, we focused a ton on baptism and in our second to last lesson, we got her to commit finally! So now we hand her off to the real missionaries in Provo to actually finish the job but it's been awesome getting to teach her and help her come unto Christ. In our final lesson, Elder Fugal and I didn't want to leave because we were so sad we wouldn't get to teach her anymore! I can't wait to go to Argentina and just love the people there as much as I have loved Rosa! I know that this gospel is centered on Love and I have nothing but Love for this gospel so I guess it all works out great!!

The solar eclipse this week was pretty neat I guess. We all ran out and shared some glasses around which was fun. It was pretty eerie to see the world get so dark and cool during the day but it was really fun and we definitely had fun taking pictures with our fashionable glasses. 

Our devotionals this week were interesting. After 3 apostles in a row, we had Christian singer Kenneth Cope come on Sunday and it was....well flat out weird. He went off for like 5 minutes about how much he likes to kiss and I don't think he portrayed what he wanted to very well cuz the entire MTC just had their heads down and were cringing. That's just one of the weird things he said but pretty much the whole hour I was just sitting there and wondering why the heck the MTC presidency thought we needed to be punished like this. Thankfully on Tuesday we had Weatherford T Clayton and he made up for Sunday and then some. Listening to the word of God day after day has been an amazing experience. I love the MTC, I love this gospel and I love being a missionary!

Well, there'll be one more email from the MTC then I'll be off to Argentina!! I love all of you so much and can't wait to tell you all about my adventures down in Argentina!!!

Con Amor

Elder Nixon

Tucker enjoying the eclipse

Tucker, investigator Rosa, Elder Fugal

Elder Nixon and Elder Fugal enjoying a birthday celebration

August 19, 2017

Shaking Hands, Exercise and Rosa

Well luckily this week has been a lot more eventful here at the MTC than the last so hopefully I won't have to think too hard what to write about! 

The first cool thing is that we had 2 more Apostles visit us this week. Elder Ballard and Elder Anderson both came this week for our Sunday and Tuesday devotionals. That means we've had 3 Apostles come and talk to us in the past 10 days. That's pretty crazy if you ask me! I've loved every minute of it though. The best part of it was that after Elder Anderson finished his talk, he came down into the crowd and shook lots of people's hands. He even shook mine so I finally got my first time shaking hands with an Apostle! It was awesome and I know that they are men called by God to guide us!

I'm not sure if I've written about this yet but exercise time here is literally my life. It's such a nice change of pace and a great opportunity to not think about anything but just run around and play sports. That being said, Elder Fugal and I are pretty much legends at beach volleyball and soccer. Our teamwork is unreal. We even use exercise time to tell what time of day it is. For example, exercise time is every day at 6:30 pm, so if I were to ask Elder Fugal what time it is at 3:30, he would respond with "3 hours until exercise time!" So yeah, you could say we look forward to it!

Elder Fugal and I have been teaching this lady named Rosa three times a week. They're 45 minute lessons all in Spanish and we actually do it pretty well! Like we can fill the time and not have too many awkward pauses. She's definitely speaking slowly and simply for us but it's still a great confidence booster and it's awesome to be actually teaching someone already. My favorite part is bearing testimony in Spanish. It just sorta makes me happy that I can if that makes sense. 

I'm doing well here! Thanks for all your prayers. If you could pray the cafeteria could miraculously start making food I actually want to eat would be awesome. Also pray for me in my afternoon classes because it can be hard to stay awake when you start getting around your fifth out of six hours of class for the day! It's all so good though. I wouldn't want it to be any other way here! The time is soaring by. It's hard to believe I leave for Argentina so soon! September 4th can't come quick enough!! I love you all!

Con Amor

Elder Nixon

P.S. Well sorry for the obnoxious amount of emails but I thought of something else I wanted to say! This last Sunday Elder Fugal and I were called to be Zone Leaders! So now instead of being in charge of 15 people, I'm in charge of 50! It's great fun! ;) I really do enjoy it though. It provides us lots of opportunities to meet people and serve them so that's all you could ever want I guess! Except we have so many more meetings on Sundays now so I guess it's not all fun! Love you all!

Elder Nixon and Elder Kade Smith

Elder Nixon and Elder Jonathan VanAusdale

Tucker's MTC District

August 12, 2017

Limbo, Bednar and Nada

Man I might struggle to keep you all entertained while reading this week's email. I'm finally in the groove here at the MTC and sadly, once you hit a groove, all the interesting things kinda stop happening. It's not boring here, just monotonous and boring to write about. Every morning I get up, eat food, go to class for 3 hours, eat more food, go to 3 more hours of class, eat again, exercise and of course have study time in between that all. So yeah that's what an MTC day looks like if you were wondering. And it happens every single day to the point that I couldn't tell what happened on Wednesday apart from Monday if you were to put my life on the line over it. They all just blurrrr together. It's like I'm living in this weird limbo state with no perception of time. 

There was one really noteworthy thing this week I guess. This last Sunday, the entire MTC watched a talk (prerecorded, not live) of Elder Bednar. It's called "The Character of Christ" and I 10/10 recommend it. It's incredible. The idea of it is that the Savior was perfectly selfless, and therefore in order to come to Christ and become converted to Him we need to be as selfless and charitable as possible as well. Anyways, after the talk we were asked to stay in our seats because Elder Bednar was there to do a surprise question and answer session with all of us. It was amazing. He had so many super insightful things to say and I loved it. I want you all to know that I know we are led by living prophets in the world today and I sustain them with both hands. They're inspired God-sent men. 

Well I guess my emails are getting worse and worse as the weeks go on. I can't for the life of me think of a funny story or something interesting to tell you all! Remember how I was supposed to teach for 45 minutes on Monday? Yeah, the lady didn't show up so that didn't happen. Don't worry though we did it on Thursday instead. Elder Fugal and I have gotten the point that 45 minutes in Spanish doesn't even phase us anymore. Only thing is we can only teach lesson. We have random people try to chit chat with us in Spanish and we never have any clue what they're saying or how to respond so there is definitely still room to improve (obviously).

I've literally sat and looked at this screen for five minutes trying to think of a story to entertain you all but I legit have nothing so I guess I don't have anything else to say. Sorry ‘bout that! I'll try and do something funny this upcoming week so my email isn't so lame. Also on a happy note I have ear plugs now so I don't have to worry about my tank of a roommate!!! Every now and then he overcomes the 33 decibels reduced by my plugs and I can still hear him so I guess that gives you an idea of how bad it actually is. I love you all and love hearing from you!!!

Hurrah for Israel!

Con amor,

Elder Nixon 

Here's the pics for the week. One is my district at the temple. The rest are all the people I've ran into during tours. It's kinda crazy seeing people I know but I guess when they invite all of Utah County to come to the MTC I'm bound to see a few people I know!

A mural in the MTC that Tucker loves.

Another MTC mural.

August 5, 2017

Shower Bars, Tanks and Becoming

So long story short the computers here are janky today so imma try to write this on my iPad but I dunno how to work an apple product (cuz they're dumb and I'm triggered they forced one on me) so this might be a bit ghetto. Also I can't get any of the pics off my camera so I just have a few from my iPad.

So quick update on the lack of a bar in my dresser catastrophe. I went a full week and a half without anything to hang my clothes on when one day I was waiting for the shower and I had an epiphany. We have one shower without a curtain, but there's a bar hanging across so one night I went in and pried the bar out of the wall which was not easy by the way. Then I crammed it in my closet and it works like a charm!!!! So yeah I hang all my clothes on an old ghetto shower curtain bar. I guess you could say I've had nicer living conditions but I expect they'll be worse in Argentina so I'm trying to stay thankful. 

I really struggle thinking what to write in these emails cuz so much happens so me each day. You don't know what it means to pray until someone asks you to teach a 45 minute lesson in Spanish to an investigator. I have to do that Monday so please, please pray for me. I can't speak Spanish 😂. The good news is I know how to bear my testimony in Spanish, so if I can bring the spirit then that's all that matters cuz the spirit is the real teacher. Throughout all I've done here, I know now more than I ever have that God is aware of me as an individual and that He is involved in my life. I have seen him bless me each day right when I needed Him most.

The great trial of my life right now is my roommate at night. He snores like a TANK!!!!!! I finally snapped last night. I was lying in my bed for over an hour and couldn't sleep because he was so loud and I lost it. I set my alarm off and he wouldn't wake up and no amount of noise would wake him. I was too lazy to get out of bed to wake him so I decided I'd have to block the noise. I had my companion toss me my belt and I strapped my extra pillow around my head. It didn't help. :/ Please pray that night I can lose my hearing. I'll send a pic of that if I can figure out how to!

So here at the MTC, we learn the language by getting thrown in the deep end and having to actually teach lessons each day. They can be really challenging and Elder Fugal and I had a pretty rotten lesson on Wednesday. The language didn't come and neither did the spirit. That night, we talked a lot about what we needed to do differently and we came to realize we were so focused on trying to script our lessons out word for word, we weren't leaving any room for natural conversation or for the spirit to come. We decided that the next lesson, we would teach with faith in the gift of tongues so we went into it without a Spanish script and just trusted ourselves. The spirit was so strong and we were able to finally see that this is gonna be possible for us. It was such a powerful feeling and I'm very thankful for it. 

I love life here at the MTC though. I can see how it'll be old by six weeks but I should be fine up until then! Thanks for all the letters and emails and love! They make my days so much better! I think the one thing I've learned the most while here is that the most important thing each of us can be doing is working to bring ourselves closer to Christ. We need to BECOME AS HE IS. This last Sunday we watched Elder Bednar give a talk called "Character of Christ". It was just a video though. Unfortunately, he wasn't actually there. It was all about becoming like the Savior and understanding. Time and time again we are reminded that in order to teach people to follow Christ, we must first be doing it ourselves. I know that is true. Power in the gospel is found through living its teachings day in and day out. Also sorry if this is too long or too short again, I'm still new to this whole email thing. I love and miss you all! Send me some pictures!

Hurrah for Israel

Con Amor,

Elder Nixon

This is the view from my favorite study area.

My district

Trying to find a solution to the snoring Elder.

July 29, 2017

Socks, Hangers and Spiderman

HOLLLLAAAA AMIIGGOOOSS!!!!! Greetings from the distant land of Provo! I heard lots of scary things about the MTC before I came and how terrible it can be, but let me tell you, it's not bad at all. Actually, I'm quite enjoying myself. We'll have to see how I feel after a month of this, but the first couple of days have been awesome. Quick note to everyone, when you come to the MTC you sometimes focus on all the church clothes you need and forget you have exercise time every day. That's what I did at least so I've been working out in church socks for the past couple of days. Hopefully I can buy some normal ones soon!

The days here are packed with stuff to do, but we have lots of accountability to make sure we make the most of our study time. If you don't stay focused, it's easy to waste the day away. My companion is Elder Fugal and we're super similar. So much so that it's a bit creepy. We both played soccer and were center backs. We both LOVE "The Office" and reference it quite a bit. We also both love to ski although he doesn't know what the phrase "send it" means so I'm questioning the extent of his skiing skills. When we first got to our residency (what we call our dorms) we started unpacking and everyone was lamenting forgetting hangers except for me. I was on top of it and feeling pretty good until I opened my closet. I literally have the only closet without a bar going across it to hang stuff on. That's what we call cruel irony. The only guy with hangers is the only guy without a place to hang them. :/ Another fun thing in my room is I get to be on the top bunk but there's no ladder to get up there. At first this bummed me out quite a bit, but then I realized I get to start and end each day feeling like Spiderman so it doesn't bother me anymore. Actually, if someone offered me a ladder, I'd probably politely decline at this point. 

So the first couple of days in the MTC are kinda like being a freshman at a new school. You're always lost and confused on where you're supposed to be. For me, it's worse. My brand president made me District Leader on the second day, so it's kinda like I'm a freshman at a brand new school and I'm supposed to give all the other freshman the tricks and tools necessary to be successful. I absolutely love my district though. Lots of us are going to Rosario. My entire room is actually.  

I don't know if this is too long or too short or just right or whatever on length or if anyone has made it to this point. Hopefully you did and I'm not too boring. Please write me, email me or use Dear Elder for me. Hearing from all of you makes it all a lot better over here! The work is real friends. On our second day they gave us an investigator who didn't speak English, so they definitely go for the whole throw you in the deep end approach. I could use all your prayers I'll learn the language! 

IF YOU STOPPED READING EARLIER AT LEAST READ THIS PLEASE!!! I'd love for you all to send me your favorite scripture for my personal scripture study and what it means to you so I can learn from all you. The scripture I'll give this week is D&C 121:7-9. There are hard times, but it'll all be good in the long run and we always have our friends and family to support us. Thanks for all the support you all have given me!!!!

HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Nixon

Elder Nixon and Elder Fugal

Official name tag