Dear All,
It´s an exciting time here in South America. The World Cup has begun, and that is all everyone talks about down here. My guess is: No one has heard very much up there in the States. Soccer´s just not as popular up there. :) And from what the people of Chile tell me, the USA is in trouble. They´ve tied twice, and they NEED to win their next game. (Something like that.) Chile played this morning, and it was very obvious that they won. We were walking down the streets this morning, and people were going NUTS. It was pretty wild.
I have found the key to missionary work. Well, it´s nothing new, really. My Dad told me before coming on my mission (in my fathers blessing) that I would need charity if I wanted to teach the people here. As my Dad said, "Because you can´t teach the people unless you love them." Also, in the MTC, President Nelson talked about charity EVERY week.
I now know that charity is indeed very important as a missionary. (Heck, as members of Christ´s church.) I have struggled a little bit here in the mission with that! There were many days where I was putting myself BEFORE these people. But it´s something I´ve been working on. And this week, I was really amazed. I was putting the people BEFORE myself. Every time we taught a lesson, I would look into the people´s eyes and then tell myself, "You are looking at a child of God. God loves this person, and He needs YOUR help to get them home to Him that created them. Love this person and teach/testify what you know about the Gospel of Jesus Christ." I felt the Spirit very strong during a lot of lessons this week as I started each lesson off with those thoughts.
I learned a lot about charity from my good friend Elder Yost, too. On Friday, we had an activity in the church. At the end of activity, we made completos for every one that attended. Well, as you know, Elder Yost and I LOVE completos. And so I was looking forward to this activity all week because we were going to eat completos! Haha. But I was surprised when Elder Yost refused to eat a completo. We were running low (more people showed up then we had thought), and he was making them and handing them out as quick as he could. We asked him, "Elder Yost, don´t you want one?" And all he said was, "I don´t need one. Just make sure every one else has one." I was blown away. I, for one, couldn´t avoid the temptation, and I ate two! Haha. But Elder Yost was putting OTHERS before Himself. And I learned a lot about charity and self-less service from him then.
We had a cool experience with this lady named Sariah. We´ve stopped by her house a bunch of times, but she was never there! And when she was there, she would give us excuses to not let us in. However, we showed up on Saturday, and she had changed. She was a much happier person, and she let us in. We taught a good lesson with them and set up another appointment. And right before we left she said, "Can I ask you all a favor?" My first thought was, "Dangit. The husband doesn´t want us to come back and teach them." (Earlier on in the lesson she had told us that her husband doesn´t like the missionaries very much.) Her favor really surprised me, though! She said, "Can you sing that song to us again? I Am A Child Of God." We then remembered that we had sang that song to her and her family at the doorstep one day. As we sang that song to them again, I felt the Spirit really strong. I had to fight back the tears. That song was what changed that that woman and her willingness to finally invite us into her home. That hymn invited the Spirit, and she and her kids felt the Spirit. As I´ve said before, I KNOW music is something powerful that DOES invite the Spirit. My testimony of the power of hymns is something that was planted in the MTC and is something that continues to grow as I have experiences like that here in the mission field. :)
I am now a big fan of President Uchtdorf. We got Liahonas last week, and I´ve been reading a lot of the talks. Wow. Uchtdorf´s talk "You Are My Hands" was just powerful, wasn´t it? I recommend it! Also, President Uchtdorf gave a really good talk called "Happily Ever After" in the Relief Society session, and I absolutely loved that one. Haha! His little romantic story sounds (see the talk) reminds me of similiar efforts I had attempted with girls before my mission. It really gave me a good laugh. President Uchtdorf is sweet!
Satan is real. Manuela (my convert that was baptized in May) hasn´t attended church in a long time. She now has a lot of doubts about the church and does not believe it´s true anymore. We are going to keep working with her, but wow--when I heard that from her, I was just heart-broken. It is definitely the sadest tale of my mission thus far. But...she still has the desire to clear up her doubt, so we are going to keep working with her!
I want to close my e-mail with the following story. We contacted this guy a few days ago, and when we told him we were respresentatives of Jesus Christ, he said, "Jesus? That guy died a long time ago? Can we forget about him already?" And then he closed the door on us. I was sad that he said something like that. But...I felt the Spirit strongly afterward as I thought about that. The answer is: No. We CANNOT forget about our Savior and Redeemer. He will FOREVER be remembered for the Atoning sacrifice that He made for each and every one of us. That sacrifice was infinite times greater than that charitable act that Elder Yost made a few days ago. Through His Sacrifice, through His Gospel, we can live with God and our families forever. NO, we CANNOT forget about Jesus Christ, and we NEVER will! I testify that Christ is our Savior, our King. I love Him and the blessings His Gospel has brought to my life.
I love you all. I am always praying for you.
Yours Truly,
Elder Nelson IV
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D&C 122:7
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