Monday, February 22, 2016

Hello again!

Hey guys! Sounds like it was a crazy exciting an awesome week! Congrats to Anneke and Tyler for the new baby! That sounds so awesome! I'm glad everyone seems healthy and I'll be praying for you guys! And happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Hope you guys had an awesome time in Disneyland and enjoy the day! Sounds like Disneyland was fun and not too crowded which always makes things pretty good. And everyone got home with only minor problems so that's good too. Anyways my week was actually pretty good. 

We had a good week and found a lot of new people to teach.  We found two new people named Ruth and Yesica and they are super positive. They already came to church and accepted to be baptized so we just have to help one of them get married and the other drinks coffee. We opened up a neighborhood that had been closed for some time here and it all seems pretty chill. Its just too big of a place not to enter so we are trying to get references there. We are finally having success working with the members and we have found a lot of positive people. We had 6 investagadores in Institute this week which was awesome and its mostly because the members are helping us bring them. We also have a family of 6 that is progressing a lot. its just hard for them to wake up and come to church, so we trying our best to get them to come too. 

That's basically all that happened this week. I learned a lot about the importance of having Faith. Its such a powerful concept and when we have it we can do miracles. Also we had a service project where we set a school partially on fire. That was fun. Love you all. thanks for the support! Love you guys!

Elder Nelson



Monday, February 15, 2016

Haaapppyyy VVVV DAAAYYYY (plus pictures!)

Hello everyone! Well Valentines day passed I didn't even realize it. I wasn't sure if it was the 14th or the 15th of February... To be honest Im still not 100 percent sure. Anyways I got packages Mom!!! Thanks for the candies and heart attack and everything else that was in there. It really does make my month when i get those packages. But it was awesome thanks so much. I have to apologize for the email last week apparently the Internet has been super bad in the whole country basically and I'm not sure why but i hope it gets better. This week had its ups and downs... and ill explain why. I'm officially mad that you guys are going to Disneyland without me. its just not the land of magical dreams without me there. So you guys wont get the full experience without me there, sorry to break it to you. 

Anyways this week was really hard. Its been a little cooler and pretty windy and dry. Nobody wanted to talk to us this week... and we spent a little more time walking than I wanted to. Also Antonio's baptism got delayed... but we are still hoping for the best. My companion got a little discouraged but he seems better now. Tyler told me before the mission the that mission will consist of some of the highest highs and lowest lows and everywhere in between. I testify of the words of my brother. Amen Tyler, amen. 

But something really cool happened. We had a multi Zona with Elder Duncan! I love how so many leaders come to visit us. It was probably the best and most powerful meeting i have had so far in my entire mission. Never have I felt such a strong spirit testify to me of so many things. I think of the time when Christ came to the Americas and it says that parts of his teachings could not be written nor understood because they had to be heard with the powerful spirit that was there. I feel it was the same. it will be hard to communicate the magnitude of the meeting through email, but ill try my best to give you my highlights. ( I hope you guys don't mind when I give summaries of when people come to speak but I just love the leaders so much i cant help myself.) Anyways Elder Duncan is one of the 70 and also the presidency of Area here in Central America. Also now he is one of my favorite General authorities. He gave us a lot of cool advice and council on how to improve in our areas and how to work with the members. It really changes our perspective and I understand now how much we can change to meet out potential. So that was cool. He also talked about how the Lord is accelerating his work here. He explained how in the last 8 months there has been something like 12 new stakes here in central America compared to the last 2 or 3 years there had been about 4 in total. He then showed a graphic of all the world and it was cool to see how the work is moving in the latter days and all the prophesies are being fulfilled. he also talked about who we are as missionaries. That's the part i cant really put into word, but ill just say there wasn't a dry eye in the room. He also talked about how our mission was different than every other mission in the world because of the situation that the country is in and how we have to live, and gave us awesome consejos on that. Also he talked about the importance of the Sacrament, which blew my mind and opened my eyes. So those are my highlights.

Anyways Thanks for all the support from everyone. Love you all so much and I'm praying for you guys. And i thank you for the prayers! Love you guys !

Elder Nelson





Monday, February 8, 2016

HI FRIENDS

Hello everyone. I am happy to be talking to you guys and hope all is going well. Sounds like some of you were sick this week and if that was you I hope you feel better. I don't have a whole lot to say this week and the connection here is really bad but I will try to get out what I can. This week was a little long for me but good. At the beginning of the week I was really drained of energy and motivation to work. It was kindof hard couple of days but my companion got me motivated and after a good 24 hour fast I was ready to go and feel good. Its crazy how powerful that is. We have been struggling finding people to teach. We hope to have the baptism of Antonio this 13 of Feb and he is super awesome but has some doubts about if he feels ready so we are praying and fasting a lot for that. Also Elder Duncan of the seventy is coming to visit our mission this Saturday so we are excited to hear from him. I love when the leaders of the church come to visit and they seem to be coming a lot recently. Anyways other than that it was a pretty normal week. Like always in my spare time I love to study the doctrine of the Church and the scriptures and I have spent a lot of time studying the Plan of Salvation. Its amazing how perfect his plan it and how everything we do see and learn is involved in the plan. When you can see the world from that perspective it changes a lot of things. Anyways Im sorry for the short email but I need to catch up on some others. Love you all and wish the very best!

Elder Nelson


Monday, February 1, 2016

Time Flies!!

Another monddaayyyyyyy. time flies. honestly it is so hard to think about what happens during the week. Anyways I hope I can try to share the thoughts on my mind. i always have a plan of what I am going to say but when I write it out it all comes differently. It was great to hear from everyone. it sounds like everyone is hanging in there. Everybody looks so different its crazy but its awesome to see all the pictures from people. You guys all are always in my prayers and I think of you guys as much time as i let myself. Which actually isnt a whole lot of time because you've got to focus on all the fun missionary stuff. Anyways so that you guys know... this week we had another change. And....... Im staying here in Apopa! Ill be finishing the training of my companion which I am happy because he is one of my best friends now and we are starting to have a lot of success. Ill be passing that good old year right here in Apopa which is cool because the members love me and already promised me a bunch of food. Ps... Im getting fat. Ugh. but the food here is so good. 

So we have quite a few people progressing. Most of our success has come from the members. We have won the confidence of the members and they are just pulling references out of nowhere so we have quite a few people to teach and they are all coming to church  because the members bring them. When the members know you are servants of God and good missionaries and nice and loving just like them they will trust you with the nearest and dearest friends. Thats something i learned this week. Antonio is going to be baptized this upcoming week and ill send the picure because I couldnt send it before. He is awesome, and we are hoping for various others in this month. This week we had a ward conference and all the stake came to our little ward to it was packed. But they presented the Central America Area plan and i took some notes. i have big plans for what i want to do to serve God all of my life and so every once in a while I let myself take note and plan how i can be a better priesthood holder, son, brother, and future father. They stressed a lot of the basics, saying that we cant fail with daily scripture and prayer. Also the importance of being perfect with tithes and fast. they also stressed a lot of establishing a family home evening, every Monday night and it has to be a priority. There is a lot of work to be done in those areas with families here so I thought it was great. 

Time flies. I had a minor freakout that ill be passing my year mark because i still feel so new here. I also learned about having Faith. If we have faith we will be happy. Faith and doubts cannot co exist. So if im doubting, its simple, im lacking in faith. Faith is basic, but so powerful I think it is impossible for us to comprehend. i have been diving in to studying that and I am just so amazed at the power of faith. Its something I want to improve. 

Love you all very much. I am doing great. Its hard, but nothing worth anything in life was ever easy. And this is so worth it. You all are in my prayers everyday and I thank you guys for the constant prayers on my behalf. 

Elder Nelson