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

Hello everyone... the earth says hello!

Hi friends and family and that occasional unknown person that somehow finds their way to reading this letter, you are all welcome. WEEEELLLLL this week has been a busy one. Where to start............ well first off thats cool that BYU is playing U of A in the home opener. hope they can make a good start to the season and stand their own out there against the big boys from AZ. Cant believe its already football season again... thats crazy. Anyways its a new change and a week has already gone by. My companion is Elder Guzman from Guatemala and he is a pretty cool guy and has a lot of energy which is fun. He has one more change (6 weeks) more than I do so he is getting up there to about the 20 month mark. Yeah... Im starting to feel old here. Anyways Elder Markham went home on Wednesday and Tuesday was basically just full of saying goodbyes. It was hard to see him go but hey thats the mission life, time moves on. We are working super hard to try and get these baptisms to go through and hope for the best. We have a lot of people that are just so close to making the decision so we are pretty excited but patient. All in its time. This week we are going to be able to go to the temple to do a session which is awesome!!!!!  We go 2 times a year so this could be my last time going with the zones..... baggy moment. Not really. im not too baggy.  i still have a lot of drive so im hoping it lasts for these last months. Also we will have interviews with president which is always awesome. he always teaches great things that keep me animated. Other than that we worked this week. Tomorrow we hopefully have two baptism interviews so thse next couple weeks we hope there are baptisms. We are just really working hard becasue I see too many people being baptized and then falling away so we really just want to baptize true converts. Its been a hassel dealing with the zone because its one of the biggest in the mission. so we are usually up pretty late doing verifying which starts to wear one down week after week. But are zone is pretty fun and with the change it should be good. I really want this family Sanchez to get baptized this month. they are some of my favorite investigators and are so close.  They just lack a little bit of the desire but have already come to church three times in a row so we know that their answer will come. just got to keep praying and working. Prayers and faith and work mixed together make miracles. Love seeing God's hand in every little thing. Thanks for all the support love you guys!!

Elder Nelson

Sending home Elder Markham, baptisms, apartment searching and Pictures!

Hello everybody! Hope everyone is doing good as always. Happy Birthday Bree!!! hope you enjoyed your birthday and wish I could have been there. WEEEELLLLL not much that I have to say this week it went by pretty fast. This is the last week of Elder Markham and it was pretty good. We did a lot of divisions as always on Tuesday and Wednesday and we were able to get 11 baptisms in the zone this week. This week we worked normally but we didn't have quite as many people come to church like other weeks but hopefully this week they all come back. Its been really good working with Elder Markham this week and I'm going to miss him.  I'm worried about who my next companion is going to be. i should get him on Wednesday. I believe it is someone from Guatemala but im not certain. These last couple days have been a lot harder because everyone is saying goodbye to my companion and it makes you think a little more about home than you would like. Im now officially starting to feel old in the mission and cant tell if the time that is left is a lot or a little. But in the meantime, there isnt much to do but work so thats what I will do. We pretty much have all the same investigators but we did get a baptismal date for the 10th for a girl named Emily that seems pretty sure. I am hoping for a lot of baptisms in the month of september if everything goes well. 

Today we went to the office and then I went with my companion to buy some gifts in San Salvador. I have eaten sooooooooo muuuuuhcccchhhhhh recently and officially feel pretty fat. Im gonna try to get myself into better shape these next months. Welllllllll thats about all I can think to write. We are opening a new area in our zone this change so its going to jump up to about 22 elders in the zone so we will probably spend some time this week looking for a house for the new elders to stay because if not they will probably stay with us. Hope everything is going great.  Love you all and love the mission and love my Savior! TIll next week!

Elder Nelson

Hello! (and pictures!)

Hello everyoneeeeeeee. First off im glad America is kicking butt in the olympics again. MERICA. Still got my American pride going on down here. Sounds like that was the highlight of the week. Glad everyone is settled in from being at the beach. Hope everything went good there! Anyways this week was pretty good. it seemed to fly by even faster and all seems like a blur but ill see if i can pull out some of the highlights. SO it was a pretty good week we actually spent a lot of time in other areas doing baptismal interviews. I did a two day interchange in Quezaltepeque with Elder Bingham which was really fun and always makes the time fly by. As a Zone we should have about 11 baptisms this week and most of them are from the district leaders so thats why we have been doing a lot of interviews this past week. THE BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK: we had three sure baptisms for this week..... and they all fell through. It was a little sad because its all because of legal problems that we had no way of seeing and its going to delay the process at least four months. We were going to marry Jaqueline and Benedicto and had everything ready and we were talking to the lawyer and turns out that Benedicto was married before and didnt even know it. His old Girlfriend I guess payed off a bunch of money to someone to do an illegal marriage without him knowing (Girls are crazy man) and so its going to be really complicated to get them divorced. The other baptism is going to be delayed about a month. SO that was really the only bad, other than that it was good. We had about 16 people in church again so it was crazy and we are teaching a lot of FAMILIES. Thats always the best. They are super awesome and pretty sure baptisms for the next month, so Im excited for that. My companion is getting into the last weeks here in the mission so its going to be hard to see him go and im nervous about recieving a new companion next week, but it should be good. I really like this area and Apopa is starting to grow on me. Also it was my companions birthday this week. Happy 20th Elder Markham!

We had a cool experience that last night after hearing about the baptisms we were kind of sad. but we went to this family that is huge, there is like 20 of them and they were less active and this month we have gotten them active and a date to go to the temple. They all went to church this week for the first time this sunday and it was the collest experience to see them there taking up like three rows there in church (big familys are cool). So we passed by in the night and after setting up a family night for them the dad started bearing his testimony randomly about how thankful he was that we helped him andhis family and the change he has had. He used to hide when we came and now he greets us with the biggest hug all the time we see him. Off all his family, only his youngest daughter who is preparing to go on a mission and waiting for her call said how sad she was to always go to church by herself and that she didnt want to leave her family inactive. She shared her testimony too about how happy she was for the gospel and each person started sharing it too in the family. The spirit was so strong and there were many tears that night. Love this work. Love this Gospel. Love my family. Thanks for everything guys!

Elder  Nelson