Happy Day After Mother's Day!

Hello people! It was great to be able to see you guys yesterday. It's always is an emotional experience for me but a good one. This time it felt a little bit more normal and I was able to get my mind back to the reality of the mission a lot quicker which always is a really big blessing. Thanks for being there family and Im glad it all worked out good! This letter probably wont be too long because I just talked to you guys and explained a lot of things but we will see what happens. 

Oh and thanks for all the advice that was given. I have been thinking about it a lot and feel a lot better. This week was a little difficult but good. We had our leadership meeting in the capitol this Friiday so we got up early and traveled all day. Today we all got together for Pday and I made hamburgers!!!!!!! It was fine and after we played futbol... lol what else is knew. But other than that we are pretty much just starting from nothing. Most of our positive inv. have problems with things we have no control over and other than them we dropped everyone else. We are kind of out of ideas so we are just doing service and visiting members trying to get them to share their referencias and work with us. EVERYONE AT HOME PLEASE HELP THE MISSIONARIES IN ALL THAT YOU CAN. IT IS REALLY HARD TO WORK WITH OUT YOU GUYS AND WE HAVE ALMOST NO SUCCESS. okay done. Anyways thats basically all that has happened this week. 

Well I just want you all to know that I am really happy here. I have been working a lot on developing christlike attributes and I'm shocked about how far I am from being like Him. I have never seen so many weakness in myself, but its not a bad thing. I know exactly what i need to fix. I know the atonement is real and it helps bad people become good and good people become better. it has power that is unimaginable and that can release people from pain they didnt even know they had. I love my Savior and know he is always there for me. Well this week should be a busy one that I'm not really looking forward to, but its going to fly by. it always does! Love you guys! 

Elder Nelson

Mother's Day Call

Chad’s call on Mother’s Day, May 8 th , 2016

2:54 Chad logged on to Skype…
2:55 Chad went off line and back on again (mom is jumpy)
2:56 Off again.
2:58 Back on.
2:59 Calling..
Mom: Hi!!! You look great. We’re going to call Tyler.
All: Hi Tyler!
Mom: Hi! Oh, you look so great. We have some questions for you. We want to know
a little bit more about the town you are in.
Chad: It’s a little town.. very, very catholic. More catholic churches than anything.
Lots of farms, cowboys. We are on the edge of San Vicente. There are little tin huts
(houses) and we walk door to door.
Mom: Do the members treat you well?
Ch: Not a lot of members live here. The members can’t cross the ‘lines’. The gangs
will ask for your id and if they see that you belong to another area where a different
gang might be, they may kill you on the spot. The members are scared to go
anywhere outside their town. They don’t like to walk to church because it is across
those lines and they are worried they will get hurt. We believe them. That is our
biggest struggle; not many investigators or members will come to church.
M: The gangs leave the missionaries alone right?
Ch: Yeah, they ask what we are doing. Sometimes they’ll follow us around. There is
one group in particular and they’ll just walk into peoples homes and just sit in on
the lessons. It’s a different atmosphere. We don’t hide from them. We just deal
with it.
M: Is your comp there?
Ch: Yeah, but he doesn’t speak English so he doesn’t know what’s really going on.
M: Can you see Evelyn?
Ch: Yeah, She’s sleeping?
M: What’s a typical day?
Ch.: Uh… wake up.. Study. Our zone is really spread out. We usually go and visit
other districts. We don’t go to members homes for meals. So, we just work till
about 9:00 and eat papusas off the street.
M: What’s your favorite kind?
Ch: We can’t eat meat. Pig meat.. anything like that off the street. So we usually just
have the cheese and beans. If you saw the meat you wouldn’t want to eat it either.
M: Do you keep food at your house? What’s it like at the grocery store?
Ch: Yeah, usually just milk and cereal.
Tyer: I was looking at the map. You don’t have many towns right by where you are.
Ch: There is one about 15 minutes from us. That’s the other half of our zone.
Tyler: As zone leader then, you are spending most of your time traveling?
Ch: Yeah, we usually take a bus into Zacate. On Friday, we had a meeting at
President’s house. We woke up at 4:00am and got back around 4-5 in the evening to
our area. We do that about once a week. We don’t get a lot of sleep.
M: So, as zone leader you are over your district and one other?
Ch: Yeah, right now there are just the two.
M: What are your tasks as DL?
Ch: Glorified house keeper. Just making sure things are good. Check on
missionaries and make sure they are being obedient. Sometimes catch them
sleeping.
Kevin: You got to go to the temple right? Did you get to listen in Spanish? Isn’t it
cool when that catches on for you?
Ch: Yeah, it’s awesome when you understand and it’s just like your own language
now.
M: What is your housing like?
(Connection really bad. He’s going to call back.)
Ch: yeah, the wifi went out on my end.
M: Okay, you are good now. I think I was asking about where you are living.
Ch: It’s pretty similar to my house I had before.
M: So it is a house?
Ch: Yeah.
(trying to figure out the video. We can’t see you Chad.)
Ch: Does Dad have crutches?
M: Yeah.. as a prop. Okay, so your house is like you had before?
Ch: Uh huh It’s just a house. We don’t share with other missionaries. Just me and
my companion.
M: What do you do on your p-day?
Ch: We play soccer. We don’t really go anywhere, which is why I don’t send many
pictures. We can’t walk with a camera while teaching. More than once my pack has
been jacked. So, we just don’t walk with it. Some days I will, but I know which
certain places that I wouldn’t take it.
D: So, how does that work with your transfers? Do you have to watch your bags?
Ch: There is a bus that takes you there. They don’t search our luggage. We just say a
prayer and hope we find the other guys with the white shirt and tie.
M: How are the buses? Still crazy?
Tyler: have you had to hang out of the bus?
Ch: Yeah, it’s crazy. There was one time… around 5-6:00pm and everyone is coming
home. Someone comes in and yells, “We need to get more people in! Everyone sit
on the windows!” So we get up and everyone is hanging out of the bus. And it’s
crazy and fast. Someone was saying that the buses here are the scariest.
Kevin: Are they all decorated with beads?
Ch: Yeah, it’s fun.
Daddy: Did you get your arm taken care of?
Ch: More or less. I called the doctor like 6 times, no one answered. Well, so I went
to the pharmacy and they gave me something and just said to drop the liquid on it.
It’s pretty common because of bad pollution and nutrition. They will just pop up on
your skin. They eventually need to get cauterized.
M: How are your clothes?
Ch: Pretty good. My shoes and pants are good.
Tyler: Here’s Evelyn. She’s awake.
(Cute little baby is “waving”)
Ch: Hi Lexi! You look really big. Thank you for writing me on Monday. How old are
you?
Lexi: You are welcome. I am 5!
M: Here is Kai.
Ch: I like your shirt Kai. Is he eating an apple?
M: Yes, he’s eating an apple. We’re making him wait for dinner.
Kevin: So I have to teach on the first 10 pages of PMG. These are people that will be
leaving on a mission soon. Do you have like any 15-second advice on what direction
I should take?
Ch: I feel like our teaching purposes have shifted a bit. Instead of focusing on the
resoration or something, our purpose is talk repentance, repentance, repentance. If
you do that you’ll reach both converts and less actives.
Bean: Hi!!
Ch: Did you cut your hair?
Bean: No, just up braided.
Ch: I don’t recognize any of you. You all look different.
M: I remember Tyler saying that. We are getting her ready to leave on Wednesday.
Ch: All the questions go out of my mind when I see you guys.
M: Tell us more details.
Ch: The town is a little boring.. in the middle of nowhere. It’s hidden unless you go
there. It’s actually pretty chill here compared to where I was before.
Tyler: What is it known for? Like job-wise. Where do people work?
Ch: IF they work.. most are just really, really poor. They work in a sugar factory.
Most hardly have houses. A lot of people go into San Salvador to work. A lot of
farmers, basically.
M: Our wards are doing this thing where they take the pre-missionary YM and they
take them to go to the member’s homes and have them practice teaching. It’s
actually a little hard because we are trying to respond as investigators. Afterwards
they ask what they can do better.
Ch: the youth in this ward.. there are very few active. None of the priests are active.
There is one active teacher. That is the hot age for gang members. Some of them
can’t even cross the street in front of their house. It’s hard to include them in
lessons because they can’t leave their street. Our ward just got denied from being
made into a stake. We have about 120 people that come to the ward on Sunday. No
one does their home teaching/visiting teaching which is why they got denied. The
church is so simple. People don’t come to church because someone “looked at me
weird” but they’ll come back if they someone is nice to them.
M: How is Antonio?
Ch: He is in my other area. It all (investigators) changes week to week.
Tyler: Is the volcano active where you are?
Ch: Yeah ,technically. It’s not as active as San Miguel.
Ch: My mission has been extremely difficult. As far as success, when it comes to
numbers I have very few baptisms. I can count more than 10 people who have
committed to baptism but who can’t because they can’t get past the #4 interview
question.
Jessie: How have you changed after a year of being a missionary?
Ch: I’ve learned that I tend to stress my self out that I need to develop Christ-like
attributes. I’ve seen a lot of pridefulness and I’ve been working on that. Stuff like
that has helped me. I’m not going to say it’s been easy. It’s been hard, really hard. I
know the success isn’t in the baptisms, but I had really high expectations. I know
that there are successes.. For example, our mission has progressed a lot. When I
came here a year ago we were 16 th as a mission in central America. Now we are
number 8. An average good missionary that works hard usually leaves the mission
between 25-40 baptisms. I know I shouldn’t compare myself, but sometimes I have
to ask myself what I’m not doing right.
Jessie: I’m sure you can see relationships that have developed and are strong. You
can recognize those right?
Ch: I do. Yes. I see that I can get a long with people really well. I cry and they cry. I
don’t usually have terrible numbers, but I want converts. I have to teach people how
to baptize. But, it’s hard that I’m not able to get there. But, I get a lot of compliments
and leaders that want me to progress.
Ch: It truly is hard. I don’t want to be a downer. I really am doing well. But, it is
really hard. We actually have a lot of missionaries going home right now—being
sent home. Just it’s hard to handle and we have some disobedience.
M: I know you can handle it. It’s one of the reasons you were sent there.
Ch: Thanks. I am doing well. These last few changes have been fun. They have
flown by.
M: So do you have anything big coming up soon?
Ch: Not really. Just normal stuff.
M: Do you get to meet with your mission president often?
Ch: He comes by a lot. He is in charge of this district. Even today, one of his
counselors was here. My President is awesome. We had a general authority come
and say that he is one of the best presidents here in Central America. I’m happy to
have him here. He goes home in July after I leave.
Ch: We are in the dry season right now. We are moving into the wet season though.
Tyler: Do the streets flood?
Ch: Yeah, sometimes.
M: Did you ever get new running shoes?
Ch: No. I don’t really care.
Jessie: What kind of cereal do you buy?
Ch: I buy plain corn flakes. When I go to the store I just usually buy milk and fruit. I
usually get served other fattening stuff other places. I try to avoid that stuff when I
buy my own food. I’ve been buying the milk in jugs. The carton goes too fast. The
powder stuff just takes longer to make. It’s not too bad.
Kevin: On my mission, I would buy a bag of cookies in a pack and pour them into the
milk. That would be my breakfast.
Bean: Are you wearing sunscreen? Wear your sun screen!!
Jessie: Are there tourists?
Ch: One time I saw a big bus full of white people. A long time ago when I first got
here and only that one time. There’s not a lot of touristy places here. I’ve never
been to the beaches. I guess they are really pretty, but I wouldn’t know.
M: Do you hear from Hunter at all?
CH: Yeah, he’s doing great!
Dad: Something you said about not wanting to be an AP. Something to think about..
there might be a reason you need to be an AP. You have a great work ethic. There
may be something you need to teach other missionaries.
Tyler: You seem really converted. Your conversion is more and more towards the
Gospel, I can tell. That is probably something you are teaching your zone.
Dad: A good leader does more missionary work than a missionary. You have great
leadership.
M: I have more people comment on your testimony. We can feel it and it blesses
those that read.
Ch: Okay, I have to finish up here and start saying goodbye.
M: The hard one. You are doing great. We’re really proud of you. I don’t want you
getting down on yourself.
Ch: Thank you. Okay, bye Lexi and Kai and everyone.
M: So you are doing okay?
Ch: Yeah, I’m good.
M: We sure love you!
Ch: Happy Mother’s day! I love you too. Bye everyone! Thank you for being here.
M: We are very proud of you. We love you.
Ch: Thank you. I’ll be fine.
M: You are doing so much good work there.
Ch: I hope so. Thank you. Okay, I’m going to go now. Love you!

Hi!

Hello everyone! Sounds like it was a pretty good week for everyone! Congrats to Tyler and Anneke on the baby blessing! Im sure it was awesome to have all the family and grand kids there. And yes everyone looks so grown up its crazy!.... *pause* except mom and dad... you guys look nice and young. *subject changer*. Yes mothers day is this week! Here mothers day is actually on the 10 of may which is Saturday, but we are planning a big mission activity on that day so we will be skyping on Sunday. We are going to be starting at 12:30 my time so I would be ready by then, but it depends also on the support we get from members because if they don't bring laptops and what not to let us use we are going to be stacked up waiting for the whole zone to finish first. So just be ready for whatever. It always works out. We will have 45 minutes,  so have your questions, because you already know me and emotions and crying and time limits and talking just isn't a mix that goes very well with me. Cant wait to talk to you guys!

Anyways this week was good but also very very difficult. We had a multi zona this week that was really good and I received a lot of revelation. We focused a lot on consecrating ourselves which is our mission President's favorite term. President Vasquez is an awesome man, completely inspired of God and a huge role model. When he testifies he can so quickly and powerfully fill a room with a spiritual force. It penetrates at times to the very soul, a sensation so warm and rewarding. Afterwards we worked hard and the week was normal. This area really is hard, (I know that I say that a lot but I have always had those hard areas no one wants to go to, but I wont get into that too much). Elder Letona and i worked really hard, but i have been dealing a lot with stress. I have never felt so much stress and pressure and feelings of inadequacy and fatigue like I have been feeling. i put really high expectations on myself sometimes and get mad and impatient with myself when I don't reach them.  Which makes me at times kind of just shut down. SO I have been really working on that and felt a lot of comfort from my fast that I did this weekend. I hope everyone is doing their monthly 24 hour fast.... its really important. I remember receiving a lot of councils especially from Uncle Gage about how the mission will pull out all of your weaknesses to make you see them and work on them and humble yourself. I've come to know i have a lot of weaknesses. So I have a lot of work to do, which isn't always a bad thing. 

Anyways that was my week, thanks for all the support! You guys are awesome. I am doing great here and love it here and the people. The difficulties are part of the work! See you guys on Sunday!

Elder Nelson

Another Week!

Hello everyone! Its good to hear from everyone again. Although it is always a little bit bittersweet on Mondays because I always look forward to it and then comes the time to write home and it just makes you think of home. But oh well thats life. ANYWAYS. Sounds like everybody is settling in before the summer time hits full force. it will be cool to have a bunch of people in house for mothers day and the baby blessing.  Im sure it will be quite the experience. SO We had changes this week and Elder Wallace went to Ilopongo, the last place he wanted to go. And I received Elder Letona from Guatamala. He is super awesome and was actually my district leader for a change back when I was training in San Miguel. So this week has been pretty interesting.  we spent a long time looking for a house for the hermanas that came in. We finally found one and are finishing the contract on Wednesday so they can move in. SO thats been fun. We also have been working really hard in our area. We have a lot of progressing people right now and are hoping that they make the decision to be baptized. I like the area even though it can be difficult at times, but that's how it goes. Me and Elder Letona get along well.  the only problems can be understanding cultural differences.  

Anyways thats basically it. One investigator finally got his answer from the First Presidency to be able to get baptized after waiting for five months and doing a bunch of interviews. We are super happy for him and now are just working on him getting married to his wife that doesn't want to get married. That seems to be your very typical investigator here in El Salvador. Also there are 4 people training in the zona so we are always dealing with the fun stuff that comes with new missionaries in the mission. Basically thats all i got for this week. This week we have a multi zona so that will be fun. i always love being taught by President Vasquez. Also I got this weird cancer looking thing on my arm that Hermana Vasquez got mad at me for not reporting. So Ill probably be going to get that burned off next week. Yummmmmm, Fried Elder Nelson. Love you guys thanks for everything!

Elder Nelson

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.