Monday, August 31, 2015

blessing from Elder Nelson, baptisms, volcanos and more + picture!

Hey everyone! Great to hear from you guys like always on Monday. I am so thankful for my family and the chance to talk with you guys once every week. Sometimes it is what gets me going into the new week. Mom, I loved your story about the Wifi in Canada! Such a cool story and I know Heavenly Father always looks out and cares for us. Something like recieving an email isnt a life or death situación but it just goes to show that Heavenly Father cares about us and wants us to be happy and have joy in this life. I'm very grateful for you Mommy and love you very much! And Jessie and Kevin your kids are getting so big! I may have shed a tear or two when I saw the picture of your kids. I miss them so much and love hearing about the stroies when they pray for me. I think those are the most powerful prayers going my way. Thank you very much. And I'm glad they enjoy the picture of my wrestle and victory with the giant lizards. And Tyler and Anneke I'm jealous you guys get to spend so much time in Yellowstone, Its on my bucketlist. Take Pictures!

Anyways, this week was quite a busy one! I have gotten the hang a little bit of training but there is still a lot i need to learn. This week we spent a lot of time in San Salvador, we had to go thursday to immigration for my companion and Friday we went for the Multi Mission. It was such an awesome experience! Elder Nelson was here and it was such a powerful experience. It was something i will never forget. He talked a lot about the importance of missionaries woking together with the Bishops. Its the key to missionary work in the ward. As missionaries we are here basically as assistants to the bishop, and we need to be willing and eager to help him with anything he needs. Also, the most powerful of all was at the end. Elder Nelson can be a funny guy, but at the end he got very very serious. He felt impressed to leave an apostolic blessing with us. He said he felt there were many of us in the room worried about sickness and the danger of El Salvador, and felt impressed to leave a blessing. He blessed us with many beautiful things, and said more or less, "With the Holy Priesthood of God that I hold, I leave with you an Apostolic blessing from God himself here with you as missionaries in El Salvador"... and he blessed us with health, saftey, Success with the people of El Salvador, and, my favorite, "The Blessing to return home in safety with your loved ones back home". The spirit was so strong. it was a physical presence in the room, and I know Heavenly Father is here with us in El Salvador watching out for us.

Also this week we had a Stake Conference in San Miguel! They divided the stake into two! That means the missionary work is going forward here in El Salvador! I am so very grateful to witness such a blessing for the people here in El Salvador and a huge step forward for the work here in this area. This means they will probably change up all the zones in the mission and most likely more missionaries will come to this mission! Very excited, there are big things ahead.

This week we have a lot of work to do, We have a couple families that are really positive. One is Miguel and his family. This man told us that he had never gone to any church or listened to any teachings from any church, but when we came to his door his heart was touched and said it was his time to change. Little by little he is making big steps in the Gospel and has come to church two weeks in a row. He has a baptismal date for later this month. We have many investigadores and are very excited for what lies ahead. We are hoping for two more bautismales this week.

I also want to say how much I am thankful for this Gospel and the Knowledge of Eternal Families. It is by far the most important thing in this world for me. I said it before and will say it again. Mom, Dad, I love you so Much and am so grateful for everything you have sacrificed and taught me to get me where I am today. It hasnt gone unnoticed and i hope to one day be the kind of parent that you guys were to me, there would be no greater honor. I am very grateful also for every one one of my brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends and everyone in my life that has guided me to this point. Love you all! Till next week!

Elder Nelson

Ps here is a picture with me and some CCM friends I saw at the Multi Mission!

PPS The volcano is still smoking everyday and there are a lot of rumors that it will erupt soon. Its changing the weather patterns! People are saying its eating up all the rain because it rains everywhere except for here is San Miguel!




Monday, August 24, 2015

Another busy week

Hey everyone! Great to hear from you all! I cant believe you guys are in Canada already. that's so crazy. I always wanted to go there. Sounds like a lot of fun. make sure you take pictures and save some stories for me. It must be nice to be with the whole family. And coming up with another Lake Powell trip! ive been itching lately to go snowboarding and wakeboarding again so its awesome that you guys get to go. I hope Tyler finally lands that backflip.
SO this week has been a very busy one! For starters, this upcoming friday Elder Nelson (the much more important one from the quorum of the twelve) is coming to El Salvador! Right now he is in Honduras i believe, but we will have a giant meeting with him and all three missions here in El Salvador. Also there is a rumor he will be here here for the Stake conference we have here in San Miguel! It will be really cool and  great experience to bring invistagadores to. I am looking forward to it a lot. So Like i said last week I am now training Elder Burgos. It is a great experience. I had little mental breakdown this Thursday. I woke up and realized that not only was I training someone, I now have the most time in the ward I am in out of all the four missionaries, and the most time in the mission out of us four. I was super stressed and thing after thing was being put on my back on top of all the work we already had to do in the area. I remember just having to stop, went into the room, knelt down and prayed my heart out. i poured out all my feelings and troubles and doubts that were overwhelming me to the Lord. After doing this I got up, and had the unmistakable feeling that My heavenly Father was listening to me. He heard me and was telling me he would be right there with me every step of the way. it was what I needed, and we went to work. My companion is kind of shy to talk to people in the street, so i have found that my spanish skills have been pushed to the limit as I have gotten in the habit of just sharing the gospel with everyone and trusting the Lord will put the words i need in my mouth. Man, he has fulfilled that promise. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. Although at times its hard, he will always be with us in our trials, and he helped me every step of the way. Despite all this, we were about to bring nearly 11 investigators to church Sunday and about 4 new really positive baptismal dates. I am so grateful for these blessings.
Other than that, these days are pretty normal! I am getting used to the responsibilities of being comp. mayor and have learned to trust in the Lord more than anything. Thank you everyone for the love and prayers!
Elder Nelson


Monday, August 17, 2015

Cambios, Giant Lizards, Volcanos, and Bautismales

Hello Everyone! Its always such a blessing to hear from everyone on Mondays and I am glad everyone is doing so awesome. Loved hearing about Grandmas Surprise part. sounds like everything went great and the book was a big hit! Wish I could have been there to enjoy it with you guys. But just as it goes down here it was a pretty eventful week.

TO start the volcano was was going off! Its an active volcano that i live at the base of down here and a lot of days it is smoking pretty visible which is cool. But on Friday we were walking to lunch and my companion pointed out that the smoke seemed to have a red tint to it... Hmmm.. thats odd. Later we received  a call from the Zls and they told us to confine ourselves in the house, because apparently lava was spilling out of one of the sides and they were worried of an eruption. After about 4 hours we were cleared to leave but we had to carry 72 hour prepped bags and had to buy masks in case of an eruption. later it settled down the next day.. But how cool is that. Also last week we went with some crazy farmer type people that may be the coolest people i have ever met. They took us to this river and they were hunting these giant lizards and iguanas. THey would shoot them out of trees like 50 feet away with a sling shot and rocks! They let us try and it was very hard but a lot of fun... And i have a picture of my attempting to eat one. Fun times. 

Anyways  this week we had two of our bautismales. one of them Jose has such a strong testimony and has a desire to serve a mission. He also wants to baptize his whole family and got all 5 of them to come to church this weekend! it was very cool to see them all there and we feel like they have a very good chance of progressing. The other bautismal, Flor, went through and we were very excited that she finally made the step. The Other two baptisms we hope to have the first week in September. 

Also today is the first day of the new changes! Annndddddd...... I am staying here in the same area. Yay! I am actually happy to be working here we have a lot of good things going here and after this change i will have almost 6 months in the area. I will be here with Elder Burgos! I will continue as his trainer, which i love to do and am honored to do it, and Elder Perdomo will leave to a different area. Looking forward a lot to these Next couple weeks. I have been so blessed to see the impact this Gospel can have on the lives of people. This includes the investigadores, other missionaries, and my own. One of the missionaries I have been with my whole mission, Elder Coc leaves tomorrow to go home. Its sad to see him go, he has taught me so much. I have also looked at how much I have grown, and i cant even comprehend it. I am so grateful for this Gospel. I invite everyone everywhere to find that happiness that can only be found in the Gospel. It is literally life changing once you become truly converted to the teachings of this gospel. I love you all thanks for everything!

Ps. We have set rat traps around the house, but unfortunately Mr rat took the cheese but didnt spring trap. Stay tuned...

Elder Nelson






Monday, August 10, 2015

happy Monday!

Hello everyone! Its a wonderful Monday morning here in central america and i hope you guys are all happy and healthy.  I received a bunch of pictures of the family this week and of Navy's baby blessing!! That's so crazy she looks so big and the whole family looks great. i wish i could have been there and was there in spirit. Congratulations to the Bell family you guys are awesome! Also congrats to Kevin for Graduating! Awesome things happening in the big AZ. Over here in the little ES (El Salvador?) the work moves on. This week we had the oportunidad to go into San Salvador to the temple. Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to go into the temple, but was something almost just as special. We have been inviting for about a month now investigators and recent conversos to come with us. In our ward we have nearly 40 people come between the two sets of missionaries here. Lots of success! At the temple the went on a learning tour thing where we had presentacions of all aspects of the Gospel. Things like the Book of mormon, los convenios, family history, and what we do in the temple! And i had to give a prayer in front of 300 or so people... Not going to lie i was a bit nervous. Lots of people loved it and afterwards we had more people that were asking us to come and teach them more. 

Anyways this week we have four baptisms planned! 3 of these baptisms we have been working on for a very long time and we are praying they all go through because there are still some parts that need to fall into place. One of our investigators Jose that is going to be baptized, at first told us he had no interest in any religion, and wanted to enjoy his life without "restrictions". Now he has a testimony stronger than almost any member in the ward, and constantly want to help us do missionary work! He is awesome and one of our good friends. Its amazing to see what a change this gospel can make in the lives of the people it touches. Including my own life, the Gospel and this church is the most powerful way to bring happiness joy and blessings in every aspect of the life.  I dream that everyone will be able to enjoy these blessings as well.  I think a lot of the picture of the Savior standing at the door knocking and all we have to do is open it and receive him. All that anyone could possible need is here, we just have to open the door and let him into our lives. 

Also as a continuación of my experiences of joy of living in the El Salvador, this week I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. My friend Mr. Bat had a friend , and Mrs. Rat  was waiting for me. Yes, I screamed. It was bigger than my head. That was my near death experience of the week. Stay tuned for more to come.

Love you all and am so thankful for all that you guys do for me! I miss you guys so much but there is a time for everything, and right now my time is here in San Miguel with these people. I am happy to be in the service of my Lord and Savior. Till next week!

Elder Nelson

Elder Nelson with companions Elder Burgos y Elder Perdomo


Saturday, August 8, 2015

Monday, August 3, 2015

Hermanos y Hermanas

Hello! Another Monday is here, I feel like it was just P day. The time flies by, I feel like I am so new in the mission still (and I still am) but I am starting to put some time under my belt. I realized that Elder McCook, Elder Hunter, and Elder Farnsworth all should be over a year now! That's really awesome, its cool to see people spending time of their lives to better the lives of other people as well.

Anyways news news news... Oh yeah... I am right now currently in a trio! Wednesday I got a call from the asistentes and they told me I'm going to be training! Its a little weird because we are right in the middle of a change, but late Wednesday night I received Elder Burgos! He is from Honduros and I'm honored to be his trainer. Its weird to be in a group of three and we have to get used to teaching in that way but we working through it. SO we dont know for sure yet but since I'm his trainer I feel like Ill be here in this area for a couple more months until I finish his training. Its bittersweet, I love this ward and area but always want to get to know other parts of the mission. But, we are having success in the area, and who would want to leave that?

This week we had a cool experience. We had the opportunity to fast and we are really praying that these bautismal that we have planned in the next couple weeks will all go through. We were really worried about Flor, who we had to change her date a couple times. Saturday night we passed by and she told us that she has a firm desire to be baptized on the 16 of Agosto and has the support of her family to do so. We are very excited and grateful for the answer to prayers! Also another of our investigators Jose is progressing and loves the church so much that we are going to move his bautismal to the 15 of Agosto. Awesome things coming up for us!

Anyways that's most of the news coming from San Miguel. Its awesome to see the protection that is given to missionaries here in the mission. Its no secret that this place can be dangerous but many times the people here recognize who we are and what we are doing and let us do the Lords work with little or no problems. Such a blessing! I love the work, even through its really really hot. Supposed to be over 100 all this week and humid! I love to share my testimony, and i know that Christ is my savior. Through his and his atonement, we can feel the burdens of our mistakes take away from us completely. Through him, we can have all the joys and happiness that we should experience in life, and only through Him and his gospel we have true happiness. The Book of Mormon is the key to this, as it is a testament to him and answers all the questions we are looking for in life. Love you all and am thankful for everything!

Oh I forgot to say this week we have a temple trip this Thursday but for the investigadores! I was assigned to give the opening prayer in front of everyone! Im kinda nervous

Elder Nelson