Dear All,
I wanted to say thank you to all of you who wrote me e-mails, letters, and packages. :) I got letters/e-mails from good friends and family, and as always, it´s good to hear from home. :) I received a package from Shayla, and it was the greatest!! Muchas gracias a todos.
Well, just a few little updates before moving on to the good stuff: A few days ago, I got sick, and I had to stay out for a day. It was the same kind of cold/flu that I got while I was in the MTC. :/ It wasn't fun at all! I´m getting much better now, though, so no worries! I have a runny nose, but that's about it. I lost my voice, too, but I am starting to get it back, which is great.
I also wanted to apologize if I worried any of you when I sent news of my fall. Haha. My trainer "cut" me the other day during our zone conference. He said, "Elder Nelson! You don´t send videos like that to your family. They are going to worry about you." Haha. I told him I would send an apology to any of those who were worried, so for that reason, I am apologizing. Although, I am sure none of you were THAT worried. :)
Well, our good friend Robert (the exchange student from Utah who was studying here) is leaving this week, and he will be missed! He has been a great help in the missionary work, and he´s been a great example to us as well. He´s a really cool and funny guy; and I´m going to miss having him here in Cerro Alegre.
Just an update: Manuela still has doubts, and she hasn´t attended church in quite a while, and we haven´t been able to teach her in a while. It´s sad to me, but I know that we have done all that we can as missionaries for now. They know what they need to do to resolve their doubts, and now it´s their job to DO what we´ve invited them to do. That´s the cool thing about missionary work. We don´t FORCE or obligate anyone to do anything--that would be taking away their angency, of course. We simply invite people to DO things that will draw them closer to Christ. We will continue working with them and praying for them, too.
As humans, change is something dificult for us. But when our inspired leaders make changes, we have two choices: to obey/do or to disobey/complain/etc. Well, we had a zone conference last Friday that consisted of a few changes--not only in our mission, but in THE mission--including every mission in the world. But first, I want to share the changes that happened only in our mission:
-Every companionship now has a cell phone. Neat, eh? It is something that is really going to help us out. Instead of rushing to a pay phone to call our investigators before church or before an appointment, we can now call them from our very own pension. It´s going to help us out a whole lot! (This change...I don´t think too many missionaries complained about it. Haha.)
-We are had 23 missionaries share their "dying testimony" during the conference. Yes, a good 23! And that was not including the other 7-10 going home, either. There are a TON of great elders going home next month (one including my good friend Elder Wallentine), and it´s going to be different once they are gone. They will be missed.
Now, I want to share the changes that are happening in THE mission. First of all, the first presidency has changed the interviews and zone conferences. Instead of having zone conferences once a month, we will now only have them every three months. Instead of having interviews with the mission president once a tranfer, we will now only have them every three months. Interesting, eh? It´s weird, because before that change, I had 16 conferences and 11 interviews with president left in the mission. Now, with that change, I have five more left. Yikes. It´s going to be a weird change, but...President Gillespie said it best when he reminded us that it is our job to be obedient, especially if we are receiving the changes from the First Presidency themselves! :)
Also, they are changing the MTC curriculum! The MTC missionaries will no longer use Preach My Gospel in the MTC--instead, they will learn a few other news things, and then they will start using Preach My Gospel once they get to the mission field. What does that mean? Well, it means that we, too, have to learn these new things (I am saying "things" because I don´t know what else to call them; haha) so that when the new missionaries arrive, we will be on the same page as them. Something like that. I can´t explain is quite as well as I thought I was going to be able to. Haha. But basically...it´s a new method that is going to help us focus more on following the Spirit and teaching people according to THEIR needs, opposed to teaching just LESSONS from Preach My Gospel. We are going to start learning it all right away, but the MTC will not start until May of next year. Interesting stuff, really. I will keep everyone posted as I learn a little bit more! :)
The mission is an exciting thing--especially with changes like these. I am learning a lot, and I am loving it! :) I love you all, and I am grateful for your examples. I know that this Gospel is true and that we have the FULLNESS of the Gospel today. We have a prophet who leads and guides us today. We will always have this guidance, this direction, and this authority to perform sacred ordinances because of one simple fact: God loves us, we are His children, and He WANTS us to return to Him after this life. Without the Priesthood, that wouldn´t be possible. I have gained a powerful testimony of the priesthood since beginning my mission those many months ago.
Hasta la proxima semana, entonces.
Con Mucho Amor,
Elder Nelson IV
--
D&C 122:7
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