Hello Fam

Hello everyone. May be a short one this week because well i cant really remember anything that happened this week. oh well.. Sounds like Dads birthday trip was fun! Fishing all weekend, that's a good kind of birthday right there. And yes i do remember when we went camping there at Apache! i remember the Gila Monster more than anything hahahah a good old welcome to Arizona. miss that ole desert. Anyways here in Apopa things are chugging along. Apopa is basically my second home since i have been here almost half my mission hahah but its all good i actually do like it here and I love my area and the members and the people i teach. We have a baptism this week of Josue Valladares, he was an old investigator that me and Elder Markham dropped but we decided to go back about a month ago and he was way more prepared. That should all go down on Saturday. Other than that we just worked. we actually had a pretty good week and got a lot done, and found out new and better ways to work with the members here so we are pretty excited to see the outcome of it. i really do love these people here in El Salvador, yes there is a lot of problems but this has made a lot of really good people out of it. its going to be really sad to have to leave them one day because they have treated me so well here. We have a multi Zona tomorrow so that should be interesting. The work always goes on but we have kind of dropped down a little this month as a mission so we have to go look for the revelation to see what the Lord whats us to do with His mission to be able to keep progressing. A lot of families have been coming to church. we have an average or 10 or 11 every sunday so i cant complain. I cant believe the time is flying by and I am trying to make the most of it. Thanks for all the support and love you all!

Elder Nelson

NEW CHANGE FAM

hellllooooo  everyone!!!!!!!!!! Well i don't remember if i told you guys last week or not but i am going to be here another change as ZL. I think i already said that. Anyways this week was crazy busy but at the same time seemed a little slow. We didn't have a whole lot of time to work, we were opening up two new areas in the zone and spent 2 days getting there houses ready and doing their contracts and getting are their stuff in. Then on Friday we had a leadership conference. It was AWESOME PRESIDENTE VASQUES IS THE BEST MISSION PRESIDENT IN THE WORLD NOBODY CAN CONTEND WITH THAT. But really he blew our mind with what he taught us, I really enjoy every chance we have to be with him. Bad news of the week is our baptism that we had for this week got moved to the end of the month, but good news is we should have 4 more baptism this month if everything goes off well. Also Elder Oaks is coming to El Salvador!!!! He is coming on the 23rd and the whole country is going to a giant stadium to watch him. Everyone except us... sad. But our President challenged us to bring 50 investigators in every ward to this event so we are working super hard with the ward to invite everybody! It should be pretty epic- Other than that nothing other than zone maintenance was done this week. Also I got robbed this week in a bus. That was fun- (sorry mom for pulling a Tyler on you) (at least it wasn't the first time)(or the second time) (or the 5th time). Anyways I have a goal to lose 10 pounds before i go home, too many pupusas. So i have trying to eat better here which is basically impossible. but anyways It seems like everyone at home is good. love you all! Congrats Jessie and Kevin for being awesome and running a lot. I'll sign up with you guys next year hahah and Tyler and Anneke i will definitely learn how to make pupùsas so you guys can try them! Cant wait to meet the family members i dont yet! Yes they are old now. yes i have been here for a long time. Love you guys!!!!

Elder Nelson

Hello Fam and Friends!

Well hello everybody. As I started this email I just recieved a call from President with the changes and I was just informed that I will be staying in Apopa as Zone Leader another change with Elder Guzman!!! I am actually excited. I really like this area and I am ready to work with everything I've got! This week was AWESOME I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE IF YOU DID NOT SEE ALL THE SESSIONS GO WATCH THEM PEOPLE THERE IS A REAL LIFE PROPHET AND APOSTLES THAT JUST TALKED TO THE WHOLE WORLD DONT MISS IT. Okay but really how cool is that? I loved all of them. Especially Saturday morning.  I thought it was really good. I received strong impressions to make my prayers better and I have seen huge blessings already. We need to pray, not just say prayers. There is a difference. Also Like Aunt Lori just wrote me and said, I loved the talk about having joy. Its really true, in any circumstance we can have joy. Even on bad days and bad weeks and bad years we can have joy. Also the part where Bednar said we have to not only believe IN Christ but BELIEVE CHRIST. Believe that his promised blessing apply to me and to my situation no matter what is happening. Also Elder Rasband, I feel a lot of respect and sense of duty when I look at my tag and see "Nelson". I always want to honor that name my father gave to me and remember the great Nelsons that have gotten me to this point. Those were just some of my highlights. i also liked how various people talked about how members are essencial to sharing the gospel, and not just missionaries can work by themselves. 

Anyways other than that this week was normal. We spent a lot of time traveling and i spent a lot of time in Chaltenango this week which is really far away and eats up a lot of time so really we didnt get to work as much as we wanted to this week. We do have an awesome family in our ward that just got activated and took a whole other family to two different sessions of conference, so that was pretty awesome.  Also a family that I love more than anything but are SUPER catholic came to General Conference and they are warming up a lot to the gospel. I definitely think they can be future baptisms, even though its a process. Anyways im ready to work and give it my all in these last three changes I have! Thanks for all the support!

Elder Nelson

Hi (from Elder Nelson)

Hello everyone. I want everyone to know that I am extremely tired. Like, I can barely keep my eyes open right now and just want to sleep. Just so you all know. Loved seeing pictures of everyone out there in utah for Ellie's wedding! Wish I could have been there to see everyone. Everything is going good here in Apopa EL Salvador. Actually everything is pretty much a blur right now. This week went all right.  We had an activity that we planned with the other Elders in the ward. It was like a museum of the church and I think it went down pretty well. We had participation from all of the organizations and some of them prepared better than others. But we spent a lot of time putting that all in to place. Well I will be real honest with you guys because I have never really been one to not just say how it is. I feel like I have hit some what of a wall. Some weeks are just easier than others. Not that its been really hard but as the time winds down, i have those days that I feel a strong urge to keep working and never never stop and other days that are just mehhhh. But Im pretty excited for General Conference this week. its much needed to hear from the prophets and apostles of the church and I know its going to be awesome and a lot of revelation is going to be received. I was thinking about the last session in April.  Wow the time has passed by super fast. Looking back at the notes I  took... I can really say that we have a prophet living today that talks and receives revelation from God. Everyone should pay special attention this weekend. Other than that things keep rolling. My companion is awesome. Super fun,,,,, just suppeerrrr baggy. Ill admit it, he has the countdown of days going. Trying to get him to break the habit because it makes everything so much slower. Well thats about all that happened this week. This is the last week of the change so next week I should be able to stay here if there's not another change. Hope everything is good back home thanks for all the love and support!

Elder Nelson

Happy Independence Day!

Hey fam. Happy week. I cant believe we are already blowing through September. I am trying to remember what happened this week but it is all honestly kind of a blur so I will try my best to pick out some of the highlights. Jose got baptized! It was really cool to see, he is an older gentleman and live by himself and has nobody, but seems so happy to have a family here in the church, He has come for almost two months now to church and never misses even though he has a lot of body problems and it is hard for him to walk. It was a really cool service and we were able to get some good support from the ward to come and congratulate him. ill send some pictures of the baptism. also this week we had an activity for the 15th of September! Thats independence day for central america,.... we went to the central park her in apopa and took photos of people holding a flag of the country andthen we go print it out and drop it off at there house and share the gospel at the same time, its actually really effective. Actually last night we found a super awesome family of a lady that was baptized as a kid in Soyapango but lost contact with the church in her teens. Now she has a family of five and the first ting she told said to us when we dropped off the photo was, "Elderes! Youre here! I want to be sealed to my family. come and meet them!" yeah, thats a positive family. So that was fun. I spent a couple of days in Chalatenango as well which is  a pretty cool place up in the mountains. Pretty far though. This week we are hopefully going to have two more baptisms, but they are having some problems so we must postpone it until after general conference. Well thats about all i got right now, today we are going to go to see some waterfalls that are close by. So, hopefully that is cool. Hope everything is going great back home and thanks for all the support!!!!

Baptisms, Hard Work and pictures!

Hello peoples. S/O to the parents for always finding cool and fun things to do within the Great State of AZ. Haha hope you guys had a good time sounds like everything went over pretty good too. And happy Birthday Lexi! I cant belive you are already 6 years old! Ugh im feeling old now. Im just glad im the favorite Uncle. (Sorry not sorry Tyler).Anyways soooo this week had its up and downs. Last monday we went and climbed a mountian and flew kites and that was pretty fun. You got to be creative in this country okay. I was thinking of Grandpa Sheldon as I failed miserable trying to fly the kite and give him a lot more credit, its harder that it looks. And this week was another crazy traveling week. I went back and worked a day in my old area Villa Mariona, love that place. I got to see a lot of the old members there and felt very welcome there. I was always sad that I didn't have too much success there but when I went there I realized that three of the people that I found and taught had gotten baptized since the time I left, so thats always good to see. Also Emily got baptized!!! She is so awesome and has such a strong testimony for being young. She gave me a big hug afterwards and was so happy she could finally be baptized and well there is just nothing better in the world than that to be honest. Also Moises got baptized and although I really didnt get the chance to teach him a whole lot he asked me to baptize him and I was honored to do it. So that was a prety good Saturday. Also this week Josue is going to get baptized. He was unsure about it for a while but this week we went to his house and the first thing he asked was if I could lend him white clothes so he could baptized. I guess he got his answer. We are super happy for them and for all the people that we have had the the chance to teach. Time is flying by and im starting to feel the pressure to work as hard as I can in this time so short that we have. So thats what ill keep doing. Love all you guys and thanks for all the support!!!!

Elder Nelson

In the mountains of Quezaltepepque.  About 35 minutes from Apopa. 

Happy 18 months!!

Well friends and folks i have officially completed what is to be a girls mission. Not saying they have it easy or anything but come on now girls missions go by unbelievable fast. But anyways. Hey happy september everybody and happy football season (the greatest season of the year. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time at the BYU vs U of A game. I'm glad BYU pulled it off there at the end. They always just like to make things as interesting as posible right? AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH CONGRATS ON COMPLETING ------- YEARS OLD WOW YOU ARE SO YOUNG! (Mom, you have the power to edit it whatever age you feel like completing, you're welcome). Hope you have an awesome day and everyone give you lots of cookies because cookies make people happy. Meanwhile life moves on in El Salvador......

This week has been quite crazy i must admit. LET ME EXPLAIN: Tuesday we had to wake up at 4 in the morning to go to a meeting in San Salvador and after getting lost in buses for a couple hours (I dont recommend doing that) we finally made it to our meeting for the leadership council in the temple. It was super powerful. All the zone leaders and President started a special fast on monday and were fasting for the meeting and then afterwards we got to do a temple session with president. (I do highly recommend doing that). I felt so much power and felt like another layer of the veil was taken off in there and felt as if revelation and the spirit came so very strongly to give us answers we were looking for as a mission on how to improve even more. ill never forget the experience. Afterwards we got back late and wednesday was a normal but very sleepy day. Thursday we got up super early again to set everything up for the interviews with President in Apopa. Since our zone is huge we were there from 6 to 5 in the afternoon and it was a long day. But Presidente (probably one of the greatest men on earth), filled us with the spirit as he taught us one on one. He has taught me so much about the Gospel and just watching him i have many goals about how I want to live my life. I owe a lot to that man. So that was an awesome but very tiring day. The rest of the week we spent going from Quezaltenango to Soyapango helping deliver papers for a bunch of weddings they are going to have. So yeah... busy week. GOOD  NEWS THOUGH. Emily passed her baptismal interview so she will be getting baptized on Saturday and we are really excited. For the 17 of September we have like 5 possible baptisms but none of them are set for sure, so prayers go a long way! They have been going to church a lot and are doing everything awesome but doubts have creeped into their minds so we are working really hard for them. We had another fast this week on saturday and we focused on them. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes for missionaries. we are always praying and fasting and studying for our investigators and you really develop a love for them and want the best for them and the best is this Gospel. We've got a lot of work to do. But thank you everyone for all the support it means a lot!!!! ADIÓS PUES 

Elder Nelson