Elder Nixon in Rosario, Argentina: 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