December 24, 2018

Thoughts of Christmas

This week we had a zone conference and we watched a video of Christ´s birth and I had some thoughts on it that I wanted to share with everyone for this Christmas!  I thought about what was close to Christ when He was born. A manger, a stable, sheep, shepherds, etc. Those are all things very humble and very plain but nowadays, when we think of a manger, we think of Christ and the very image of a manger has power to bring the Spirit. Before Christ was born, the image of a manger would have just made people think of where pigs eat. What I´m going at is that through Christ, the plain and simple- the humble- becomes something sacred. He can take us in our weakness and plainness and he can make us into something far greater. As a missionary, I have learned that God sanctifies the weak and simple to become great and mighty. Just as He did with the manger and shepherds through Jesus Christ. We should be representatives of Jesus Christ. The Manger brings the spirit because it makes us think of Jesus. We should live so that when others see us, the think of Jesus too.

Sorry that was kinda long. I love this time of year and I love each one of you. Oh yeah and something kinda cool is that one of the girls that sings that really famous version of "If You Could Hie to Kolob" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" mixed together is in my zone actually so we got to hear her perform too and that was pretty neat!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

Elder Nixon

1. Me and my two "sons"2. Me and Presidente y La Hermana in our Zone Conference 

3. Lunch at the Zone Conference

December 17, 2018

Transfers

Well, this transfer has turned into a bit of a nightmare but has been full of great miracles too. We lived in my old area for a few days and then we got called down here and picked up everything within one hour and jumped on a little bus with 5 suitcases and through many miracles and LOTS of stress guiding a new missionary with lots of luggage, we showed up safe at the house of the ZLs here. Now we have to travel an hour each day to get to our ward. Each day is an exercise in trusting in the Lord that we will have food to eat and people to teach. 

My comp is Elder smith from Texas. He still has to learn Spanish so it’s been a lot of fun. Luckily for my family right in time for skype this Christmas, I have been able to practice a lot my English and it is much better than it was a few weeks ago. I hate speaking English though and am trying to avoid it. 

My area is amazing though. The ward is super supportive and i love it a lot already. It’s a big change from the big city. We still are trying to find a place to live there though and has caused lots of headaches. 

All is well though :)) Love you all lots.

Elder Nixon

Saint Nic

Also I just have to add that I hope you can all appreciate the fact that I will be in the zone ´SAN NICOLAS´ to spend Christmas. SAINT NICOLAS!! that is just awesome.

December 10, 2018

Fiaca

Well, I am just about dead physically and emotionally right now but I´m doing great. But anyways this is gonna be short and sweet. We had transfers today and we´re actually still in the middle of the switching. Lots of bus problems :(

I´m leaving Rosario after one year and a half here and will head out to Buenos Aires actually! There’s a little town called San Nicolas where I will be serving in a small part called Villa Constitucion. It´s a big change from the big city life I know so well but I´m excited for the change of pace. There I will be training once again and will be the District Leader as well. The only problem right now is that I don´t have a place to live yet....I´m opening up the area and there were a few complications with the contract of our pension so right now I´ll be in Rosario in my old area waiting for the keys to the pension and the green light from president!! I´m super excited about it all. Especially being able to train once again!!! Love you all lots!!! 

Elder Nixon

December 3, 2018

Why We Serve

This week I had my interviews with President and also our Stake Conference! I had a few thoughts that I thought were worth sharing, especially for those who are considering serving missions. (listen up little brothers;))

We should serve the mission because we love the Savior and love our neighbors. And if we really LOVE the Savior, we should be willing to choose to give our life to Him. I think I always knew this but hearing it spoken out loud helped me realize how true it is. The mission is literally a decision to give our whole lives to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. It is giving our life, not by dying for them, but instead by living for them. My presidente helped me see that this is a battle for Life. Eternal Life. Ours and everyone around us. And that includes more than just missionary work. It includes every member and the responsibility we have to fight for the eternal life of our loved ones and neighbors. And we do it because WE LOVE THE SAVIOR. There simply is no other reason. I am super happy to be out here in Argentina giving my life for Him. The only way to really find our life is to give it over to God!!

I love you all lots!

Elder Nixon

Here are some pics. One is me in a service activity on splits. The other is a nice little dinner we had me and elder Mathias. The last pìc is the toilet we broke and then planted potatoes in. they are growing super fast!!

November 26, 2018

Dia de accion de gracias

One of the pics is me and my comp cooking our thanksgiving lunch in spite of the rain. The other is us and the aps on divisions. The last pic is us at the table to eat!  And other than that I don´t have time to write more so just enjoy the pics this week and I´ll get back to you next week!

November 19, 2018

This week was just like any other! Super good and full of miracles ;) We had one morning that was pretty difficult and when we went to visit our best investigator Laura, she had a panic attack or something and wanted to leave everything. That was a pretty scary moment but the Spirit guided us really well and she was in church with us yesterday!! 

The spirit will always be there to guide us if we are worthy and searching for it! 

I love you all lots!

Elder Nixon

its the only pic i took this week. Well my comp took it. These are all the missionaries from our ward!! 

November 12, 2018

An Unconventional Way to Learn

Well this week was our zone conference and it was unique. My mission president is something of a sports fan and recently has used lots of sports analogies to try and motivate us. Well for our zone conference we ended up watching a football movie that talks about a team winning by embracing God. It´s called facing the giants. All of us were shocked that we were really watching a movie from the outside world. It´s pretty unheard of for us! But I really did learn a lot. I like the quote "I´ve determined to do my very best and I´ll leave the results up to God" That and "Actions follow beliefs" We talked about lots of themes but those are some that I can think of right now. What do we really believe. Do our actions follow that?

Other than that, we contacted a TON this week and are focused on helping our Zone increase the amount of references we ask for. Boring mission stuff ;) This week we will be working so that Laura can feel ready for an interview this weekend!! We are excited!!

Love you all lots

Elder Nixon

some pics from these last two weeks. The pic of our service activity was on Halloween. You´ll have to zoom in on our name tags if you wanna see what i dressed up as for Halloween! The other picture is us in Subway. We had to travel 40 minutes to get there as it´s the only one in Rosario but we wanted american food. It was the first time in over a year that I´ve eaten ranch dressing. 

November 5, 2018

Well just like last year, this year for Halloween I stole my comps name tag so this year for Halloween I was Elder Mathias!! Pretty scary stuff ;) That was a joke, I love my comp! I feel pretty ripped off though. I knocked on more doors this Halloween than any other in my life and I didn´t get even a fraction of the candy... ;(

This was the first week of the transfer and as always the first week is one of my favorites. We had a leadership council and our president showed us some clips from the movie "facing the giants" Something I loved from it is that our true character only is shown when we´ve given our all and are tired. That´s when we have to keep going and give even more.
 

Something cool this week was that Newell´s old Boys and Rosario Central (the two big soccer teams here) faced off this week and it was so crazy they didn´t even let us leave the pension. I live in a pretty rich quiet neighborhood, but there was definitely lots of loud cracking noises that I will not identify what they were because I know my mom will read this (it´s possible she´s the only one too that makes it this far in the email ;)) but let’s just say that people take their soccer seriously here!!

Love you all lots,

Elder Nixon

October 29, 2018

Why We Serve

Well, this week was transfers and it was very surprising! Absolutely nothing changed! So I´m going to have a fourth transfer in this ward and 3 transfers with Elder Mathias as zone leaders!

This morning I was listening to the general women’s session because I was jealous there was no Priesthood session this year and I heard a talk I really loved. It talked about remembering who we really are serving and ministering when we complete assignments in the church. It´s between us and the Lord. No one else. I really did love that thought!

Well, that´s all I got. Remember that when you are out ministering as the Savior did, we are doing it because we Love HIM and His children. Not because the Bishop asked us to or anything like that. Love you all lots.

un abrazo, (a menos que seas una hermana. En tal caso te extiendo la mano. Pero para mi mamá un beso!)

Elder Nixon

I want you all to really look at the picture of my desk and just appreciate the fact that there is a cow hoof on my desk that the people here have turned into a cup to drink grass out of! #culture

October 22, 2018

Awkward

Well this week was great. I love the new schedule. I feel more focused on Sunday and more relaxed on Thursday. It´s great. This last Thursday was quite possibly the most awkward situation of my whole mission. We went outside the zone with permission to visit an aquarium but it was closed. We were close to a soccer stadium here of a club called Rosario Central. We wanted to go in and take pictures but the dude didn´t let us and was being kinda dumb saying we have to call and make a tour. Well we called and the lady told us if we gave her 100 pesos each, she would let us enter a tour with a group of elementary schoolers on a field trip. I dunno if they looked at the stadium or at the 4 foreigners more. We laughed the whole time and tried to make the most of it. Good times.

Other than that, this week we found Angel. He is super cool. He accepted a baptismal date and when we went back to visit him for the second time, he had searched our church on Youtube and had watched tons of Mormon messages and the general conference. That was pretty awesome.

Well the last thing is this week I saw the most gigantic shooting star. It literally burned for a solid 5 seconds and was one of the prettiest things I´ve ever seen in my life. I saw it after a harder day so I’m convinced it was a little boost from God encouraging me to keep on keeping on!

Love you all lots,

Elder Nixon

October 15, 2018

New Schedule

Well today technically isn´t my pday. My mission is trying out a new missionary schedule. Monday is administrative day. We have to do our weekly planning, write the family and have a district meetings all today. then we leave for a normal afternoon of working. Then Thursday is going to be our pday and we buy the stuff we need and can do whatever like a normal pday but it ends 2 hours earlier. at 4 we have to leave and work. So that's all that´s new out here!! 

wow that was incredibly boring i´m sorry for boring you all with my mundane life. Other than that this week I got to do divisions with the APs again. one of our APs has literally been there for a full year and I learned a ton from him. Something i learned is that we need to always give our best effort to God and nothing less. As a missionary, I must completely consecrate myself. Nothing else is worth it if I´m already going to sacrifice 2 years of my life, I might as well take advantage of it!!

Elder Nixon

October 8, 2018

Why We Watch

Well conference rumors spread even to Argentina and it made me think a lot. Why do we watch general conference? For me, the best moment of the weekend was not hearing that we will have only 2 hours of church. The best part was hearing the Lord speak directly to me, whispering counsel that I need in my specific situations through the Holy Ghost and His prophets. That is why we should watch. I loved the theme of staying on the covenant paths. If I´ve learned anything out here, it’s the need to make and keep covenants with God. I invite you all to reread all the talks given this weekend. That´s how they will help us most! I also thought about the need to always keep an eternal perspective. If we can see things how God sees them, we will be in good shape!

This week was super packed. We had conference and interviews with president and I did some splits with Elders in my zone. We found lots of good new people to teach and I´ve never been happier to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Con amor,

Elder Nixon

October 1, 2018

Asadito

This week was super good. I´m writing later and less because today we got together as a zone and played soccer in the morning and then came over to our pension to cook a good Argentine asado. More meat than you can imagine. We had a zone conference this week too and that went super as well. I dunno what else. We talk with just about the whole world out here and some people are really cool and some are really dumb. But that´s just how it goes. 

Love you all lots,

Elder Nixon

September 24, 2018

Pioneer children sang as they walked...

I wrote a new verse to a classic primary song this week.

Missionaries sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked ANNNNDDD WALLLLKKKKEEDDD. So yeah this week we did a lot of walking and contacting and it went really good. We found lots of people who are interested in learning more but other than that it was a very normal week. Not much to comment on. Just that my calves are pretty darn chiseled after so much walking.

We did have our leadership council this week as well which was good. We´re trying the change the way we work as missionaries to involve the members more and it´s not easy to change a culture but we´re in the process!! Other than that, we´re just getting a few things ready for our zone conference this week and are busy preaching the good word!!

love you all lots.

Elder Nixon

sorry I don´t have pictures this week :(

September 17, 2018

Bonus Pictures

playing soccer with the zone, our last district counsel and the baptism!

September 17, 2018

Hola Todos!

This was a really great week. We had transfers today but nothing changed for us. The whole mission basically got rearranged but somehow my zone made it through untouched. The best part of this week was yesterday. We had the baptismal service for Ayelén. It was a super, super special experience. The ordinance was super spiritual and Ayelén was just so happy. When she came up out of the water, she was just beaming and I felt the Spirit showing me just how much people can change and the joy that comes from following the covenant path. After her baptism, she bore her testimony and I could have sworn she´s been a member for 20 years. She bore it with such power and testified of all the important things- the reality of our Savior, the church is
true and so are the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It was kinda like a proud dad moment but more a proud missionary moment. But honestly, I know it was 100% the work of the Lord in her life, I was just lucky enough to get to see Him do His work and be his voice.

Other than that we found a really good family with lots of potential.  Umm I´m not sure what else. I love the mission and find it easier and easier to lose myself here! I love you all lots!

Elder Nixon

dinner with some converts, divisions with the assistants and lunch at an all you can eat buffet

September 10, 2018

The Book of Mormon = 500 Pesos

Well this week was a good one. Ayelen passed her interview and is super excited to get baptized this week!!! Finding and teaching her has been one of the great experiences of my mission. I wanted to tell a quick story about her. She was in a group yard sale that the people do here to raise money and hadn´t gained anything. She had brought the Book of Mormon and started to read it. She told us that before she knew it, she had gained 500 pesos in a few hours and realized that the Book of Mormon really was true. She then demanded Sundays off and came to church. 

Other than that we´re spending lots of energy and time in looking for new people to teach. This week we have transfers and I´m just hoping to stay here and keep on going. I love my comp and the area and the work and it´s a great time to be a missionary!!! 

Love you all lots

Elder Nixon 

1. picture in the car with Hermano Schaub. He´s retired and loves the missionaries and is basically our personal taxi

2. waffle party with foreign imports. There is no maple syrup here :(

3. I bought a mini mate souvenier cuz it was so cool

September 3, 2018

Highs and Lows

Well this week following our conference with Elder Rasband has been awesome and filled with miracles. We´re finding lots of new people every week (our average is 10 for now) I put the subject as highs and lows cuz I learned a lot about that this week on Monday after writing you all. We went to the house of Ayelén, one of our progressing investigators and we talked and she told us that she wanted to get baptized no matter what. We left flying high and went to the house of our other best investigators, the Celestino Family. Well we got chopped down hard. She explained to us how she didn´t like the church and she bagged on the members for a solid 40 minutes before we could get her to quiet down. It was awful. We left and felt pretty down. I felt a new kind of sadness in that moment. Something I had never felt before and I believe it´s the kind of sadness that God must feel when we, his beloved children, chose not to follow Him. I hope I am never the source of that sadness for Him and will do everything to bring Him joy. It´s a good way to live :)

Other than that the work goes on. It´s starting to warm up here so wish me luck. I´m not excited about another summer in this type of heat!!!

con amor,

Elder Nixon

August 27, 2018

Apostolic Blessing

This week we were blessed with the visit of Elder Rasband in our mission. It really was one to remember. Our whole mission has really come together and come alive even more. He told us he was leaving an apostolic blessing on our mission and the people here to awaken the house of Israel and help us Gather it and let me tell you that those priesthood keys are real and the blessing was felt immediately by all. Missionaries in my zone that were sleeping through their time have woken up and we are finding people more and more. 

One of my favorite things about the conference was actually something his wife said. "How deep is the smile in your heart?"  This is a gospel of joy and we are called to hold up His Light to the world (3 Nephi 18:24) In fact we are called to BE that Light (Mathew 5:14-16). That Light is the Light of Christ and we need to have that part of His image in our countenance. (Alma 5:14). That is how we are going to help people come unto Him and receive the blessings and ordinances of the Gospel. 

Among other things we talked lots about following the First Impressions of the Holy Ghost and we based lots off his conference talk "By Divine Design."

It was definitely one for the books. The Lord is hastening His work and we are all called to Gather Israel. I´m here doing it on this side of the veil with literally everything I have so you guys could all do some of the work on this side of the veil or the other side. I know you´ll be blessed for it. 

Love you all lots,

Elder Nixon

Here's some fotos from the week. One is my and my MTC roommates reunited in the mission conference we had. I even got to go on splits with one on Friday so that was pretty special. One pic is from a lunch we had with a Peruvian sister in the ward and the last pic is some kids of a recent convert and the foosball we played together!

August 20, 2018

Disfruten la escuela

This was a good week! We had a conference with Elder Bragg from our area presidency and I also got to do splits with one of the APs and I learned lots from him. I've learned lots this week about the importance of relying completely on the spirit. We also found a family super awesome to teach and we´re really excited. They came to church and everything and we almost never get  to teach complete families so were pretty excited!!

Also, could someone write my group and excuse the lack of an email this week or maybe just forward on this little blurb I just wrote? Mom can you do that? My computer is kinda wack today.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Nixon

August 13, 2018

Bird Poop

Well, yesterday we tried to open a new part of our area and we got super lost and walked a ton and a bird literally pooped on my forehead but at the end of the day we contacted the house of a member and he gave us cookies and something to drink and drove us home so that was a nice way to end. 

I put that because not every day is the same. We have two sides in our area and one is super strong and the other is completely dead. I think there is a great lesson to learn there. Sometimes we have strengths and weaknesses and the only way to become more balanced is to put some hard work and a little bit of uncomfortableness towards strengthening our weaknesses. Does that make sense? 

This next week we have two general authorities coming to our mission to give us a good old pep talk. It should be super cool. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Love you all lots!

Elder Nixon

August 6, 2018

God Killed the Dog

I have a super funny story this week. We found a super great lady this week named Claudia. We were teaching here and all of her very rambunctious kids the message of the Restoration and it was very hard to keep the spirit there ‘cuz the kids were so crazy. But Claudia loved the message and kept paying good attention so we pressed on. Well we came to the first vision and God provided us the way to get rid of the kids. We heard a thump outside and the kids ran outside to discover their dog had been ran over and killed. Claudia was so engrossed in the message though that she didn´t care and asked us to keep sharing. So with the spirit there, we gave the first vision and committed her to baptism. When we left the house, the dog was lying there stiff as a board and all the kids were sobbing and trying to dig a grave with sticks. I almost laughed out loud even though it was sad. 

Well today was transfers. I’m still in Azcuenaga as zone leader but I’m with Elder Mathias now. He´s from OREGON and I’m super excited to be his comp!

Con amor,

Elder Nixon

The first pic is the baptism we had in the zone. It was kinda weird but i ended up doing the baptism in an area that i don´t even work in. It was the lady we found and taught and then passed over to her home ward. Her name is Angelica and she is kinda my second mom here! The next pic is one of Elder Favila´s going away dinners we had and the last pic is me and my new comp elder Mathias. He is from Oregon!

July 30, 2018

 Hump Day

Alright I did a little better this week and have a few minutes to write :) I´ve thought a lot about this last year of my life. I´ve honestly learned and grown more than I ever thought would be possible. The biggest lesson I have learned is that developing Charity and focusing on others when we ourselves are in pain is the key to understanding and applying the Atonement of Christ to our lives. His Atonement is central to everything. EVERYTHING. His atonement IS charity. That´s why it´s so darn important that we work to develop it so that we can See Him as He is and Be as He is when he comes. (Moroni 7:48) I have also learned that God guides us in every detail of our lives. He knows where we need to be, when we need to be there and who we need to be with. He is in the details of our lives. I know that is true. I have seen it every transfer and every area. He knows us and prepares us. The last thing would be that opposition is necessary to progress. I will always be thankful for the trials of my life because when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12)

I love you all lots.

Elder Nixon

I may or may not have torched the crap out of that white shirt to celebrate hump day. The other picture is Angelica when she came by after her baptismal interview to give us pizza. She was so excited she passed. The last pic is to show off my new cooking skills.