Tal Vez: One of The Funnest Weeks of My Mission

Dear All,

It was a good week. Today we have cambios (transfers), and it´ll be fun to see what my next assignment is. As always, I am ready to accept the Lord´s next assignment; I know that if I am obedient and do what I am asked, the Lord will provide the way.

We had a funny moment on Saturday that I will never forget. We were on the way to clean the church in the morning, when this guy stopped us from his window. He came down and talked to us about a bunch of random stuff (he was drunk). Well, we see and talk to drunks every day but we decided to leave him with an invitation to our activity later that night. He said, "Okay, I´ll be there. But do you guys want any juice or food?" We kindly denied his offer and told him we had to go.

The best part: He told us he was coming with us, and that he was going to buy us some sandwiches. To make a long story short, we took a good 10-15 minute walk with this drunk guy to the nearest negocio where he bought us sandwiches. But--oh wow--was it the greatest! I was laughing SO hard. You should have seen it! One minute, I am with three elders talking to this drunk guy...the next minute, we are walking up the street with our arms around each other saying things such as, "Yeah, we´re number one, we´re number one!¨ with this drunk guy! Haha. I think it´s one of those "you had to be there" moments, but wow...I am not quite sure I´ve laughed so hard in my life.

Anyways--I had to get that out of the way. :) I went on intercambios a few days ago with Elder Castillo. It was my first day with a Latin. It was pretty sweet! I was surprised by how easy it was to work with him. At first I thought I would struggle because I´ve never worked with a Latin, but...I understood most of what he said, and we had a great time! Except:

A)I forgot my pajamas. I ended up borrowing some things from the other Elders. (See picture of me brushing my teeth.)

B)I forgot my shaver. It´s never a good feeling walking around without shaving! :)

C)We talked to this lady, and Elder Castillo asked, pointing to me, "How old do you think he is?" I was hoping for something like 17 or 18, because every one here thinks I am 22 or 23. But I was REALLY surprised when this lady said, "30!" HAHA. I was laughing so hard, and just said, "Really?? Um, I´m 19." To make a long story short, she wouldn´t believe me that I was only 19, and she probably still--to this day--thinks I am 30. Which is pretty unfortuneate. :) Haha.

We had another zone conference last Thursday, and it was the best! Like last month, I was able to see Elder Hawkes from the MTC, and it was the greatest talking to him and having lunch with him. We talked about more mission stories, and it was the greatest! I also saw Elder Tabares again (Elder Briones´s trainer), and that was great because he goes home soon, and I may not see him ever again!

I don´t think I ever mention this, but....when Elder Birchall trained me, he was only in his fifth transfer. (That is where I will be in six weeks!) So yeah, it was his first change as senior campanion, and he was still super new in the mission. But he is a stud, and he´s a great missionary. Well, while I was at the conference, I decided to ask one of the AP´s how Elder Birchall is doing (he´s still up north in a place called Ovalle). Well, this AP just told me, "Elder Birchall is great. He´s a district leader, and will be a zone leader soon, probably." My first thought, "No way! Wow."

Well, to make a long story short, I ended up talking to the other AP, and he told me that Elder Birchall (who trained again this change) had NINE baptisms this change, and that he was probably going to be a zone leader next change. He is now a legend in the mission for that! Getting NINE baptisms in a six week change with a BRAND NEW missionary is just awesome. Everyone was talking about Elder Birchall at the conference, and all I could think was, "Wow. My trainer! A legend." Haha. So yeah, who knows! It sounds like my trainer is already moving up to Zone Leader starting tonight, maybe. I just thought that was cool. :)

Well, Elder Mann and I had more sucess this week. We had two investigators at church yesterday, and Pedro (one of our investigators with a baptismal date) is making major progress! It´s been sweet! It´s good to be refilled with good, solid investigators. I am excited to see what happens with all of them. :)

Well, I am out of time. I promise my e-mail will be better next week. But I just wanted to thank everyone for their love and support. I love you all, and I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change lives. So let´s share it with everyone that we know! :) It´s worth it; I promise.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Estamos Abriendo Las Puertas Del Reino Celestial

Dear All,

Well, here we are again in Week #6 of the transfer/change. Crazy, eh? I can´t believe how fast time flies in the mission!

I received the greatest news ever via our mission website...about two minutes ago. Haha. Manuel (my investigator) up north in La Sarena got baptized last week! It looks like Elder Dupre baptized him, and I am super excited for Manuel. Although I wasn´t there to witness the baptism, it feels good to know that I was able to teach him while I was up there. It´s the greatest! :)

Well, it was a crazy week. We are having a hard time right now finding good, solid investigators. We have four investigators with baptismal dates set, but...none of them are really keeping their commitments. Heck, none of our investigators are keeping their commitments! We had one investigator at church yesterday. But...we are going to continue working with our investigators, and we are going to continue working on finding more good, solid investigators. The best thing about it all: The work still goes forth!

But yeah--it was a crazy week with a lot of weird, crazy days. It seems like you can have two kinds of days here in the mission. Either our days are normal days with a lot of sucess or they are REALLY weird days with a lot of weird stuff that comes up. Well...we had a lot of weird days this last week. :) It all started when I went on intercambios with Elder McManamom in my area. Well, we went to a few places that I didn´t know too well, and...to make a long story short...we spent our morning super lost. We were WAY up there on this one hill, super lost. And we finally stopped in someone´s negocio to ask them for directions, and the guy just laughed and pointed to another hill WAY the heck out there, and said, "That´s where you want to be!" We talked to the guy for a while, and that was fun because he actually said that he lived in Salt Lake for a few years back in 2000. Pretty cool! But yeah--we ended up finding where we wanted to go, and we were a good 1.5 hours late to that appointment. Oops! A good zone leader of mine, though, once told me to focus on the positive things at the end of the day. That day: I learned my area pretty good. Definitely a positive, I think. :)

Elder Mann and I had a really weird day on Saturday, too. I´m not even sure that I can describe it with words. It was just so weird and out there it wasn´t even funny! But I´ll share one thing: This guy stopped us in the middle of the street, and talked to us for 20-30 minutes (not even kidding!) about how we need to worship the virgin Mary, etc. Well, yeah, that´s normal here, but wow. He just went off on the most random stories and random things. He kept using analogy questions (I think that´s what you would call them) on us, and he used this one analogy on me where the answer obviously was "my mom." And to ruin his example, I said, "¿Como? Pero mi madre murió cuando yo era joven." (What? But my mom died when I was young.) Haha. The look on his face was priceless, and he eventually left us alone. I felt bad for lying to him, but...the fact is: We worship the Savior and what He did for us. We respect Mary as the earthly mother of our Savior, but...she isn´t the one that Atoned for our sins. Therefore, we don´t worship her. Common sense, I think.

We watched a good documentary called "On The Lord´s Errand." It´s about the life of Thomas S. Monson. I absolutely loved it. I recomend it to every day! It really helped me gain that firm, strong testimony of Thomas S. Monson as our latter-day prophet. Because--I will admit--I was super attached to Gordon B. Hinckley, and when he passed away two years ago, I had my doubts. Obviously, with the conferences, I´ve gained a testimony of Thomas S. Monson, but wow...that DVD was just powerful, and I KNOW--with no doubt in my mind--that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Through him, we can receive direction from the Lord Himself! I am grateful for Thomas S. Monson and for the guidance we receive from him.

I know the Savior lives. He loves us more than we can comprehend. Let´s press forward in this Gospel and be obedient so that our Heavenly Father can bless us!

I love you all, and I thank you--as always--for your love and support. I am grateful for your letters and e-mails, and I look forward to hearing from everyone again next week! :)

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Siempre Recibimos Muchas Bendiciones Del Señor

Dear All,

Update: My bottom is back to 100% health and a lady in my ward even sowed my pants! Most excellent. :)

Happy Birthday Tara and Tori this last weekend! :)

It was great talking to my family yesterday. Even though it was short with them, hearing their voices helped me a whole lot. I have been worried about my little brothers a lot, but after talking to them for those short few minutes, I knew they were okay. And for that, I am grateful. My talk with them was a booster for me (afterwards, we went and taught a lesson, and I had a lot more energy than I usually do, and it was easier for me to focus.) It was good to hear from all my parents, and I know our family is being blessed for our great faith and obedience. I hope everyone had a happy Mother´s Day. :)

Manuela ended up getting baptized, and it was the greatest! It was such a good baptism, and I was honored to baptize her. My companion was actually supposed to baptize her, and I was supposed to confirm her, but...I kind of hesitated when she asked me to do it (because the confirmation is much harder), and then she over heard me tell her husband that the baptism is much easier to do. HAHA. And so, of course, she said she wanted me to baptize her and Elder Mann confirm her. The water was much colder than usual, but it was a lot of fun as usual. (See pictures.) There is nothing greater than baptisms; I have seen Manuela´s life change right before my eyes, and it is definitely the best part of being here--seeing people progress and change. And seeing them so happy! There is nothing greater.

We had an activity after the baptism and our objective was to get references from the members and what not. Haha. Well, actually the objective was to show them how uneffective "contacts" are. And so we did a skit of us doing contacts and getting rejected, etc. It was an awesome activity, and guess what? Elder Mann and I got 4 references yesterday! Four more than I´ve had in a very long time. :) Haha. But yeah, I included some pictures of the skit, and a video of me backstage. The greatest.

It´s starting to get a little colder here, and it´s even rained a few days. It really stinks working in that kind of weather, but...the best part is: The work still goes forth! :)

I´ve really learned how to LOVE people on my mission. I´ve developed a lot of charity, I think. A lot of that I owe to the Book of Mormon. That book has blown my mind away the last few weeks, and I have challenged myself to finish it by the end of this month. We really can learn a lot from that powerful Book. I testify that it is the word of God, and that if we read it and ponder its words, we will see blessings come in our lives. We will become better siblings, parents, children, etc. Our lives are just MUCH better when we consistently read the Book of Mormon and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I testify that that´s true!

I am involved in a great work. The mission changes you; I am no exception. We are being blessed for our obedience and our righteous desires to follow in Christ´s footsteps. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. Let´s be obedient and press forward in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I love you all. As always, thank you for all your love and support. I have been blessed with a great family and great friends. Each and every one of you have a special place in my heart. I am who I am because of you all and your examples. Thank you.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Una Semana Loca

Dear All,

Happy May! A year ago this week, I started filling out mission papers. Tara was also baptized a year ago! Does that amaze anyone else how fast time really does fly? Wow. I can´t believe it!

I forgot to mention last week--because I am in Valpo now, I get letters once a week, opposed to twice a month. So don´t be afraid to write me snail mail. :)

It was an interesting week. We had our zone conference on Thursday, and I had one of the most emotional reunions ever with my good friend and brother, Elder Hawkes from the MTC. (See the picture.) When we saw each other, we just flipped! And we enjoyed our few hours together, updating each other on what we´ve experienced in the mission thus far. It was the best. He´s lost so much weight, too! Just like me! Haha. We are completely new men than we were in the MTC. It´s amazing how fast the mission changes you. He and I both speak the language much better now, too, which really was awesome to see. (Not saying I am fluent or anywhere new it; just better. :)) But yeah, it was the greatest!

Elder Mann and I had a weird week. We had a lot of weird lessons on Saturday. I won´t go into too much detail with all of them, but I will share a lesson that we had with this lady named Nancy. She is a nice lady that we met one of my first days here; she was really interested, and we were excited to teach her! But then we could never find her! We finally found her again on Saturday, and when we asked her how she was doing, she said, "Mal!" (Bad!) She then explained to us that she lost a daughter a few months ago. And then she broke into tears. My companion tried explaining the Plan of Salvation to her, but she just kept saying, "No! God doesn´t exist. It´s all a lie." Stuff like that. And it was just strange because she seemed so interested before, and she believed in God when we first talked to her, too. :/ She wouldn´t let us teach her very much because she didn´t want to hear anything about God! It was really sad. :/ She was so hopeless, and I just felt really bad for her. But...we explained what we could, and she has the agency whether to accept it all or not. We are teaching her again today.

But it really got me thinking about the blessings I have. I am so grateful for my testimony of this Gospel. It has saved me thousands of times in my life, especially here on the mission. :) I am especially grateful for my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know that we can live with our families and with God FOREVER! But he presented a plan, and we have to follow the plan--The Gospel of Jesus Christ--if we really want this eternal life. And I know it´s only through Christ Himself that we can acheive this eternal life.

Manuela should still be getting baptized on Saturday. Some complications have come up, and it´s all pretty sad. It´s personal, and so I won´t share everything with you all at this point. But I know the Lord is involved, and we´ve done our part. Now we just have to wait and see what happens. :) I will keep you all updated on her baptism, though!

I get more confident here every day. I´ve had my hard days--days where I´ve just wanted to give up--but then I remember the tender mercies of the Lord, and I have no choice but to press forward in this great work. I know the Gospel is true, and I know we are blessed according to our obedience. We will all face our own trials here in this earth, but if we endure with obedience and faith, the reward is great.

I love you all, and I am sorry my last two e-mails have been so short. :) But I promise the next one will be full of more news! Thank you all for your love and support. I will continue to work hard and fight off the dogs. (I´ve nailed a few this last week with rocks to avoid being bitten. I carry a rock with me at all times now; no worries!) Haha. I will talk to you all next week!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7