New Changes!

Hello everyone! its good to hear from you all. I cant believe that another change has come to a close. I feel like i just got to San Vicente! But every time I feel like Im getting a decent amount of time i remember that all my friends are pretty much going home this summer... sad. But oh well. This week was fun because we got to go to the temple! It was fun because I was really able to do everything pretty self sufficient and in Spanish. It seemed so normal to me that I think it will be a little shocking and I may not understand what is going on when I do it in English again. But it was fun to be able to go through with the whole zone. Also with this change my companion is leaving! We just got notified like 30 minutes ago and so I will be receiving another companion here. Also they are opening another area here in San Vicente and are going to put sister missionaries here.  So tomorrow we have to go look for a house for them to stay, which is going to be fun. But other than that, life goes on as always.

This week work was was pretty normal. My companion got pretty sick one night with vomiting but he is better now. The hermanas in our zone baptized a family of five and one of the sons who was baptized about a month ago did the ordinance for his whole family. It was really cool to see and to be a witness of the ordinance. As each one got baptized they were freezing cold but huddled around the font before changing so they all got to see each other getting baptized. It was a pretty cool experience. We have a couple really positive investigators but not as many as we would like, and finding people in this area is always the struggle. But i look forward to the changes because its always nice to get fresh ideas in the area and about the work.  Even though I'm nervous about who I will be receiving.  Whether or not you get along with your companion makes a huge difference. 

Well thats all I got.  Not a lot of big news other than that. The time passes by pretty fast most days. But I still feel very new and try not to get daunted or overwhelmed by what is going on and what i still need to do in all the time that I have left here. But I have felt a lot of comfort through prayer.  I have also been thinking a lot on some of the talks given this GC. I learned that its okay not to be perfect and to have struggles. Its okay to feel like you just cant do it. Through the spirit we can retain a remission of our sins and a lot depends on the desires of our hearts. If we really desire to get better and keep falling short, the atonement is and available to everyone. Not just for bad people trying to be good, but also for good people wanting to be better. 

Thanks for all the support family and friends!

Elder Nelson

Video of the Bell Tower in San Vicente

(LOUD. Turn volume down.)

Happy April!

Hello everyone happy April. The time for me is so weird and flying by actually really fast. I am super jealous of you guys getting to go to the new Provo temple! It looks so beautiful. I cant wait to be able to go there one day. Also mom I think I caught a glimpse of a selfie stick that you had and I have to admit I had a moment where I was super proud of you but also dont think I will be able to be seen in public with you if you have it. sorry not sorry..... hahah just kidding. I loved the pictures. And, question.. is that the El Salvador restaurant right south of BYU?! Is it closed?! NOooo we had so many plans to go meet up there with people from the mission. I hope its not actually closed. Anyways this week seemed to fly by despite being a kind of hard one. It was just one of those weeks with a lot of problems and I felt so emotional and physically drained. it was really hard to keep pushing on at some times. But like every problem, it all passes eventually. I had a good fast this week that really helped me get strength. Our investigator Eliseo was super positive but we learned there might be complications with the law and things with the law in this country aren't the easiest to deal with. So right now we are waiting on answers from Presidente and we may have to postpone his baptism but we are hoping for the best. 

Also country problems.. the government cut all the cell towers down close to the prisons because they were having trouble with the communication with people inside the prision. The thing is we have 6 missionaries in a city an hour from us that have a giant prision in the middle of the city and we lost all contact with them. So that was a fun time with a lot of sleepless nights trying to get verifications every night to see if they are all okay. Many times we had to go down and search the city for them. But we did get communication established a couple day ago so things are getting back to nowmal on that. Also we had a zone conference this week that I feel like went alright. OH and I got your package mom! Thanks for the candy and Nutella and PB.  You are the best. 

Anyways this week we have a temple trip on wednesday which is AWESOME. My first time going to the temple for a long time. We have an early session so we are going to have to get up at three to get out there in time but Its worth is. I love the temple and crave the spirit that is felt there. It is such a holy place and I am in need of the spiritual revival it gives me and the chance to really ponder and talk with the Lord. I love all you guys and thank you for everything! TILL NEXT WEEK.

Elder Nelson 

photo: a family invited all of us in San Vicente for a Birthday dinner

Photo:"

Zona San Vicente... una zona diferente

Hello everyone! This week has been quite the crazy week I am not going to lie. I hope everyone had the chance to listen to conference, I thought it was really good. I wont share a lot of my notes but I loved the one in Saturday morning about us all being children of God and what that really means. Also Elder Bednar with the retaining a remission of your sins was stellar. And that tender moment I loved was after the talk on helping the refugees and President Uctdorf got all teary eyed. There was a lot of great talks, but it was kind of weird for me being a missionary because almost all was on the family and things that don't pertain to me as much here in the mission. I guess that's why its good to take notes for the future. Anyways I'm trying to think of everything that happened this week. I had so much to say but in the moment you kind of just forget it all you know. Anyways on Tuesday we had interviews with President which was pretty good. It was kind of hectic to get everything all set up for when he comes but we got it achieved. That same night though one of the hermana missionaries in our zone got really sick and got rushed to the hospital. She is okay now but ill just say we missed a lot of sleep that night because we had to be ready and up for anything. The rest of the week we went hard at contacting people and trying to find new investigators. The Lord really blessed us and opened a lot of new channels that we didn't see coming and we are starting to see some good progress in our area. Eliseo is still doing really good. Its crazy to see how the Lord prepares people. We are still panning his baptism for the next week and hope everything goes through. I'm not sure what else to really say. A lot of weird things happened this week that i really have no words for. I have adopted a new motto for our zona here in San Vicente.... "Zona San Vicente.. una zona diferente". It fits well because I have had some of the weirdest experiences of my mission and maybe life in just this short time. i love it here though and there is a good chance ill be here for a long time. Me and my companion get along well and are working hard. I loved general conference and am excited to go back and review the talks because that's when I seem to get the most out of them. Anyways I hope everything is going good back home Love you guys and thanks for all the support!

Elder Nelson

PS here is a sneak peak video of when I got lost in a giant sugar field/jungle.

Happy Semana Santa!!

Happy Semana Santa everyone! Its been a pretty normal but good week here in San Vicente. This week was pretty good, it was a little different because most people didnt have work for the holiday week but just about everybody here celebrates by going to the beach. So it was interesting to see how everything was celebrated since last year I was in Guatemala during this time and didnt get the full affect of everything. One of my favorite traditions that the Catholics do here is they make these giant carpet things in the street made of salt and paint and sand and they look really cool. I didnt get a picture of one but you are welcome to search it on Google because google has all the answers. Anyways that was basically the only cool thing that happened other than trying the food they eat here. Thats always an interesting experience. Also this week we were informed very late on Saturday night the President Vasquez and his whole presidency was going to come to our ward the following morning so things got really hectic for us trying to prepare everything for them to come. But church was really good.

We had a cool experience this week. We had been struggling to find a lot of positive investigators and we were working so hard in contacting and working with members and everything we could think of in order to find more. We weren't having a lot of success and we were praying so hard for someone that was willing to accept a baptismal date. On Sunday we were sitting in church and about to start when a random guy named Esileo walked in and we went up and talked to him. Apparently he was an old investigator of the missionaries about a year ago but they dropped him because we never wanted to come to church. he told us he woke up one day this week and the spirit came over him and he made the decision he was going to come to church this week. He also had a dream where God told him he needed to change his life around. I felt such a strong impression that it was a huge answer to prayer. That same day we found his house and he accepted to be baptized on the 17 of April, and we are going to work a lot with him mostly so he can keep the word of wisdom. I know that god hears and answers our prayers and if we really do all that we can do and then reach out for divine help He will always be there. We still have a lot of work to do but we feel as if the Lord had blessed us with a sweet tender mercy. 

So this week should be an interesting one. Tomorrow morning we have interviews with Presidente Vasquez and we also have a temple trip coming up. It will be the first time I will have the chance to do a session in the temple since about August so we are really excited and hope it goes through. Oh yeah and on Thursday we also had another temple activity like we always do where we take invt. to the temple. It was pretty good but we got home late because we had to help clean up and then wander through San Salvador looking for a bus to take us cross country to San Vicente. That makes for some fun stories. I love the gospel and love being a missionary. I have found joy in the mission work when I am working hard and giving my all. I know that if we consecrate ourselves to the Lord's work he will bless us and we can be His tools in the work of Salvation. I love you all and am thankful for all that you do for me. Till next week!

Elder Nelson

ps here is me eating food.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! Im happy to hear from all of you and hear that things are doing great. I totally didnt even realize we passed St Patricks Day recently, I'm starting to forget how the culture is back home. I thought I would tell a little bit more about where I am i really don't remember what I wrote last week so I apologize if some things are repeated. I am in San Vicente and the zone I'm in covered a lot of distance, covering the whole district of La Paz. This past week or so we have traveled a ridiculous amount of time going to San Salvador or San Miguel almost every day. Also to get to some parts in our area we have to travel in a bus for about an hour so my body feels very worn down from constantly being on the move. This area is really small but the ward is large. It is a district so we are technically a branch but the average attendance is about 150, which is by far the biggest unit I've ever been in in this country. The chapel is a huge building which is nice. We share the ward with Hermana missionaries but their area is a lot bigger and has just about all the members because they are girls and sometimes life is just unfair. So we mostly teach the more humble parts of the city. Me and my companion are basically the same person, its kind of freaky. We love to study doctrine and any free time we have we just listen to Bruce R McConkie and Hugh Nibley talks and anything else we can get our hands on. News flash, I love listening to modern prophets and apostles. My mind and understanding of the gospel has expanded to levels I had never really thought possible before and it has completely changed my outlook on life. I am so thankful for the guides we have today. My companion also went to BYU before the mission and played lacrosse there. So we have that in common too.

Anyways this week was good. Tuesday we had a meeting with President and Thursday we had a zone conference and I think it went pretty good. I have found that i love teaching and I always volunteer to teach Gospel Principles when the teacher doesn't show up.... which is pretty common thing here. Funny story, my mission President is crazy and awesome. Tuesday we got a call late at night from the assistants telling us we had to get the zone to San Salvador in the morning . We get everyone there just to find out that President was going to take us all to the movies. Yeah... never thought I would have gone to the movies in my mission. Hahaha it was a lot of fun and I think it was more than anything to excite us because of the situation in the country. We don't get a lot of chances to do fun things. We saw, "The resurrection of Christ" which was.... interesting. Also we had a baptism Saturday. I forgot to mention an old investigador we found when I got here and found she wanted to get baptized. Now we are working on getting the family sealed. They are awesome. I love the members here. They make me feel so welcome and I get along great with them. They are already family. We are struggling finding new investigators.  We have hardly anyone to teach now so that is the focus we have. 

I know this chruch is true and that its a life time calling to serve the Lord. I love the scriptures and know we are living in the latter days. I know if we base ourselves in the gospel we will be able to withstand all the troubles that will surely come into the world. I know the family is the basic and most important unit of the gospel, and we should try with all our might to strengthen the family against all the many temptaions in the world today. Love you guys and I am thankful for everything!

Elder Nelson

Chad's zone in Apopa

Big Changes

Hello everyone! It is so good to hear from all of you! sounds like it was a pretty good and normal and hot week. here in El Salvador A LOT of things happened this week and I hope I can remember everything to tell you guys so here goes! Ps.. Mom and Jess.... I'm digging the hair cuts.

So on Monday last night I got the call that I don't get very often... changes! I was told I would be moving areas. Only my third area in over a year, which is little for this mission. Anyways I had to move out on Wednesday morning. It was kind of nerve racking because without change meetings they still don't tell you where you are going. they just tell you you have to get to a certain meeting spot at a certain time and Good Luck! I was kind of nervous because i was put in charge of 6 other missionaries getting them and all their stuff to San Salvador in time for a bus. And just so you guys know traveling in public buses in this country with all your bags in the place that just got rated the most dangerous place in the world (Woot Woot!) is quite the experience. Anyways I said quick goodbyes to my area and when I arrived they told me I would be in.... San Vicente! Yes I am here in San Vicente which is weird because its like in the middle of no where. Not really part of Central or the East and the zone is really spread out so we take a lot of buses to travel from area to area. My area is really small but its good. I am excited to work here. My companion is Elder Xallace and he is from Idaho. He has about 17 months in the mission and he is really good. Actually we are exactly the same person which makes things kind of weird but cool. we get along really well. Oh and I am here as Zone Leader too. That makes things interesting. I am learning how to do that and I already went on divisions with the assistants to President in San Miguel. I saw a couple of people there from my first area and it was cool because they still remember me. Anyways that was my crazy week. Basically just going back and forth from my area to San Miguel to San Salvador all week. Tomorrow we have leadership meeting with Prez and then my first Zone Conference on Wed. 

The branch here has about 150 members which is huge and the church is really nice. Its a branch because we are in a District but its in the process of becoming a stake so I am honored to be a part of that transition. Note... Missionaries in this country play a big part in the decisions of the church. Anyways that's all I have time to say.  love you guys so much and thanks for all the support. I love my Savior and all the trust and help he has given me; with him all is possible. Love you guys!

Elder Nelson

One Year Mark!

Hello everyone! Sorry for not writing a big letter last week, im still alive. Dont worry. This week was good and bad. we had a lot of things to do this week so we didnt have as much time as I would have wanted to work. This is actually the last week of changes and they were supposed to tell us last night if we are staying or moving to a different area but they werent ready and will tell us today. Its likely I'll be moving areas but nothing is certain here. Ill let you guys know this week. We have had success getting our people coming to church but we lack support from the world and so its a struggle to get them baptized. There has been a rumor that they might close down our area again but I hope its not true because we really do have a lot of good investigatores. Thats basically all that went down this week. Our area has been a little more agitated recently with the conflicts here so we have been a little more on edge but we feel very protected. 

Im glad everyone is safe and sound. Loved seeing picture of Tyler and Anneke's baby. She looks so good and im sure you guys are so happy and very busy. Wish I could be there to share it with you guys. And also I passed one year in the mission! On Friday was my year mark, I cant tell if it has gone by fast of slow honestly. Time has flown by but to think I'm only half way is kind of daunting. I love the mission but it is also very hard and I miss my family. Sometimes I get down on myself becasue I feel I am not having as much success as I should but I try to stay positive. 

This week I have learned so much about the atonement and gratitude. I have found that if we give thanks its such a powerful tool to put our minds right and get the spirit. I listened to a talk from Elder Eyring that says we should practice saying prayers throughout the day just to give thanks and not to ask for more blessings.  Just give thanks for the many blessings we already have. I have put that into practice and felt great power. 

I love you all very much! Ill sent a 15 second cut of the video of me doing the traditional shirt burn (sorry mom). Turns out fire is hot and when you light things on fire it can get out of control fast.  Also, when you get a year in the mission sometimes your pants just kind of tear... ooopps. Love you guys thanks for all the support!