Another change and Trump

Well. Trump won. Ill refrain from my political comments even though i have many. The people here are less than enthusiastic about him winning and its actually pretty funny and eye opening to me to see the influence that America has in the whole world. Always Proud to be an American. Well anyways in the El Salvador life we just finished another change.... and ..... I am going to be staying here. My companion has changes. I was pretty shocked but its not too bad because I like this area and ill be in the Navidad here, for my long term followers (aka. mom) this will mean that i spend my two Christmases here in Apopa..... and half of my mission. I feel a little tired of being Zone leader but It should be fine im excited to keep working and the time is passing by fast... (shout out to getting my plane ticket already). So anyways this week was pretty good. We have a super cool family, Familia Chicas that we contacted a while back and its crazy to see their progress. they were super catholic and had a high position there but have gotten their answer and are just waiting for some legal situations to get baptized. Probably some of my favorite inv. and super positive. Other than dodging a bunch of trump haters here it was a pretty normal week. We had a lot of success from our activity we did last week and contacted a lot of the people that took photos and its cool to see how the Lord prepares people. We had a couple intercambios and I spent a lot of time traveling. The good thing is that I already got over the flu that I had and feel a lot better. I have the goal to lose 7 pounds before I go home so i have been trying to avoid the Pupusas but hey its kind of hard... they are soo good. The mission life is good, its hard but really rewarding. I feel and see so many blessings in my life and the lives of the people around me that it almost makes me not want to come home because I don't want the blessings to stop. I am super excited to see who my new companion is and to get working here in Apopa and hope for the best next companion. I have the goal to complete the "12 week" training program in these last twelve weeks so I can stay focused in the work here. Hope everyone is good back home! love you guys thanks for the support and emails!!!! God Bless America.

Elder Nelson

What a week

Hello fam. First off.... Election. Prayers going out for America right now hope that whatever happens is for the best. I feel like America is going to be way diferent by the time I get home. Oh well, I guess nothing lasts for ever. I am sure I will hear what happens here because pretty much everyone in the world hears when there is big news in the states. Hey i got two packages! One happened to be my birthday package.... (I havent opened it yet!) and another from Tyler and Anneke! Thanks guys you're the best! So anyways this week was quite the crazy one, one that just gets you thinking... ill try my best to explain even though somethings just cant be written out in an email. 

We had an activity in the cemeteries on the 2nd for Dia de los difuntos. We took pictures of families and we offer to go to their house to drop them off. We have found a lot of really positive people. Also, I have the flu. So that's fun. 

So anyways last Monday in the night we went to go visit a 9 year old girl that is part of a huge less active family that we have been Visiting. Her name is Keiri Reyes. She was what i surely believe to be a little angel here on Earth. She was going to get baptized a little ways back and is super smart, absorbed everything we taught her. Her baptism got delayed a bit because her Mom kept taking her to the beach on Sundays so we wanted her to have a more consistent church attendance. Anyways so on Monday when we went and visited her she was sick, and was going to go to the hospital the next day to get some tests done. She asked for a priesthood blessing and we gave it to her... blessing her that everything would go well and she would be cured from her illness. The next day we got a call from her Grandpa saying that she had a lot of built up liquids in her head and it was pushing against her brain and needed to have an operation. We kept her in our prayers. The next day we called and heard the bad news that her operation had gone wrong and her brain died out. Keiri died on Wednesday. Its hard to explain exactly what we felt as we watched this wonderful family go though the grieving process that they are going through. I was asked to share some words in the viewing and I felt way out of my league. Sometimes it is ridiculous to see the trust people put in us in things so personal to them. We gave many priesthood blessings that night and saw many miracles, but it was a night I don't think I will ever forget. Here, death isn't something uncommon, actually way more common than what I would like to admit, and I felt as though I was getting immune to hearing of it. Like it didn't affect me. But some times it hits harder than others. I guess I am happy for the gospel knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation. Knowing where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going is some of the most important knowledge and peaceful feelings one can have in this life. Sometimes you just have to sit back and think, why does all this happen? Yesterday we went to see the Reyes Family and obviously it was hard. But her grandma told me that she, and I, had received spiritual confirmation that Keiri was in a peaceful place, and everything was going to be all right. She said a couple nights before she went to the operation  she found Keiri reading the book of Mormon on the couch. She asked why Keiri was reading and she answered because the Elderes told me to read this part. She also said that she learned in Primary that she had to read the book of mormon to have a pass into heaven. I dont think I have felt a greater feeling after wards. Thanks for all the prayers and support you have given me up to this point, I just ask that you remember the great people of El Salvador in your prayers as well. They are a very blessed people.  

Elder Nelson

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween!!!! Unfortunately NOBODY CELEBRATES HALLOWEEN HERE ugh people just ask about it. Lame. When we knock on doors here instead of candy we usually get a door pushed back in the face. But ya know some things are sweeter than candy. Anyways this week was pretty normal. I don't know i feel like everything is normal for me even though for you guys its not. I cant believe November is already around, i wish I could say I'm waiting for a white Christmas but.... yeah I'm in El Salvador. Oh well. This week we did a lot of divisions with other Elders. We have 25 elders in the zone so we can be stretched pretty thin. 

I went up to Reubicacion on Tuesday.  I was with Elder Belanger which is one of the only missionaries that was in my group in the CCM here in this mission. So it was pretty awesome to work with him and see how much we have improved in this time. Its pretty crazy to think how stressed we got to do a simple practice in Spanish in the CCM and that we spent the whole day contacting people in fluent Spanish. Its pretty amazing when you really think about it. But yeah that was awesome and then Thursday I worked with Elder Garcia that is from Mexico.  Actually not too far from Arizona and said he has been to AZ a couple times so it was cool to work with him. Other than that we also had Stake Conference here. President Vasquez came and also The temple Presidency and also Elder Perez who is an Area 70.  It was cool to hear from all them and to see them all talk mostly about the family and the blessings of the temple and the importance of serving everyone. Also a fun surprise... Our Bishop's Uncle, who investigated the church 30 years ago and then stopped going, showed up to church and seemed interested again and we went to his house and he seems pretty positive. That was really needed because we are looking for everyone we can to teach. I think that sometimes God just tries our patience and diligence before letting us see miracles.  And see we keep working. This month was kind of hard on the mission, but things are looking up from here and we should have a lot more success in November.

well that was pretty much the week. Oh and you remember when i got those pictures taken of me in San Vicente a few weeks back? Yeah well I got a call and aparently they were going to use one of those pictures in one of the newspapers here in El Salvador that's called "El Diario de Hoy" and send it could be printed any day from last Saturday on. Unfortunately with my lack of seeing the newspaper I haven't actually seen it yet so I am not sure if it has been printed out yet but I just want you all to know...... ya boy Elder Nelson is going to be famous here in El Salvador. Taking over the world one step at a time. Thanks for everything love you guys!!

Elder Nelson

Hello everyone. Well this week was alright. I guess every week has there ups and downs right?  Well we had a multi zone this week that was alright. We basically just put a bunch of goals to try and find people. We also had the baptism of Josue! That was pretty cool. He is a pretty solid guy and i feel like he will do good in the church. I actually found him back when I was with Elder Markham and after dropping him for a time we found that the Lord had been preparing him and he hasn't missed Church since. And well the coolest thing that happened i guess is that we saw Elder Oaks. Yeah we got permission to go there and it was pretty awesome. We went to the national gym here and there were 16 thousand people in attendance, Elder Oaks said that it was the largest group he had spoken to outside of the united states. So that was pretty cool. He said the President Monson had sent him there specifically because of all the problems that the member face here in this country. He said that the people here were blessed for the problems they were facing and also said that we need the Gospel of Jesus Christ here in El Salvador more than any other place in the world. He gave a really good talk and also the people that came with him were good.

Well other than that we keep working. We are kind of having troubles finding people here in our area and we are really trying to work harder with the members and also doing as much as we can with our own effort. But its hard. I love the people here a lot and love to be with them. It was cool to be able to see some of the people I knew from before earlier in the mission and see that they are doing good. I know this church is true and that what we are doing out here is a good thing and we are being blessed as we serve others. Love you guys thanks for everything!!

Elder Nelson

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