November 13, 2000

Dear Family,

[He's pasted a drawing of Christ on the letter] Surprise! Just thought I'd spice up the letter a bit with one of my favorite pictures of Jesus, taken from a "Venid y Ved" pamphlet. Life in Puerto is great, as always. I just got my hair cut by Elder Fuentes, who doesn't do too bad a job at all. I'd gone 3 weeks without one . . . ouch.

The work here is progressing really well, and we're receiving lots of blessings. For example, the mom of a member, who's been investigating and has had continual contact with the church for more than 3 years, all of a sudden told us that she wants to get baptized; we're going to give her the 1st charla in 3 days. Working directly with the members and receiving references in this manner is fantastic. It excites the members, helps them to fulfill their responsibility with "Proclaim the Gospel," and reference investigators are well prepared and readily accept these truths, they have less doubts, and already have a friend at church. So now, instead of tracting, we visit the houses of the members, less actives, non-actives, and investigators and ask and teach them for and how to prepare their friends or relatives to accept an invitation to listen to the discussions.

Also, these past 2 or 3 weeks we've been blessed with many opportunities to give sick people priesthood blessings. On several days we gave 2, and one Friday we gave 3 blessings. We really felt like the disciples of old, ". . . [praying] over [them], annointing [them] with oil in the name of the Lord . . . " (James 5:14) Knowing that the Lord has this confidence in us and that he's giving us these opportunities to act in his name is such a great feeling! I made up a saying, "Dignidad es felicidad," which means in english "worthiness is happiness." And knowing, too, that if at any time I do something that would make him angry or disappointed in me, I can always ALWAYS repent, apply the atonement in my life, and erase whatever error I committed. Teaching the charlas so often that are so basic has really helped me see that, in fact, the plan of salvation is really very simple. It's also helped me realize the importance of and the freedom that we can receive from the atonement, and now I don't have to think twice about the steps of Repentance: (1) recognize that I've done something bad, and (2) feel pain, regret, guilt, or some type of sincere remorse for what I've done. Then, I can (3) pray and ask my Father in Heaven to forgive me of my sins. My next step is to (4) correct any problems that I may have caused, and then to (5) never repeat it again. I remember that when I was like 14 or 15 or 16, I just wasn't happy. It felt like I was just going through the motions, like a piece of driftwood among the waves of the ocean. I remember looking for places that would help rid me of this gray that seemed to hang over my head, fog my vision, and slow my movement. I looked for help from my friends, music, computer; I tried ignoring it, or trying to hide from it; but it was always there. It wasn't until one day I was thinking about life and the plan that God was using for his chilrden that I really figured out just what the atonement did for me, Nicholas Onken, and the importance of it in this plan. I had never really repented before and so I didn't know really how it could make me feel or what would happen, but what I did know is that Christ died for my sins. I remember going to my room, shutting the doors and kneeling down all alone and just praying and praying and praying so hard that I would just be rescued. The peace and light started creeping in at that very moment, but I really didn't recognize it. But for days after I just kept thinking about that one afternoon and kept thinking about Christ in Gethsemane and kept having faith that somehow my sins would be forgiven. Little by little I noticed that I was being changed and that that fog that had covered me for so long was being blown away by new winds. From that point on, I've known how to find true happiness and peace, and I've known that Christ is my anchor among the onslaught of the latter-days.

Well, I'm looking over the last letter that I received, written October 22, and postmarked . . . can't tell. I can hardly believe it, because mom barely asked any questions at all! And the ones she did ask, I've answered in previous letters (the ones you haven't received yet). Has the [draws picture here] "Bottomless Pit of Questions" filled up? Have I answered ALL the questions? :P To tell you the truth, I love the questions. Helps me to know what to write about.

Well, Elder Fuentes wants me to accompany him to Centro, and since you didn't write any questions, I've run out of things to say.

Doritos . . . yummmmm 800 BS= $1.07 for a 200 g. bag!

I found the negatives I misplaced, so here they are :).

With all my charity,

Nick