A One Hit Wonder: ¡Hay Que Hacerlo No Más!

Dear All,


If I've learned anything in the mission it's humility. I've learned that our ways aren't the Lord's ways. I've had many moments in the mission where I've wanted "this" or "that", only to find out that I get neither. As far as transfers go, I've realized that the expected NEVER happens. But I've learned and I've accepted that we just have to be obedient and do what's asked of us! :)


With that said...We were surprised on Saturday when the zone leaders called us to tell us who was staying and who was leaving. They were on speaker phone, and they started with Elder Repetto. "Elder Repetto...¡Se Queda! (You're staying!)" Well, my first thought was, "Okay, great! We're staying together for another transfer." Well, I was surprised when the zone leaders announced my name. "Elder Nelson!....¡Se Va! (You're leaving!)" I was expecting it at all. Haha. I laughed a little bit, and Elder Hunsaker (who is also leaving) and I started packing our bags. My first "One Hit Wonder" in the mission! (Where you stay in an area for only one change; it's actually not a known missionary term. I actually just came up with it myself. ;))


So yup! I am heading to the Achupallas Zone. It's in Viña del Mar, and I am really excited to be close to the ocean again. :) It'll be fun to be in Viña for the first time, too. My companion's name is Elder Judd. No one in my zone really knows him, so I can't say much. Although I did hear that he plays the bag pipes and that he's starting his third change. But my guess is that he's from Utah. ;) If so, he will be my first companion from Utah, and he will be my first companion from the United States since my 3rd-4th transfer (almost a whole year ago!) And it'll be fun to be with someone that doesn't speak Spanish fluently. ;) Haha. I am pretty excited!


The mini mission was good. I was with a kid named Alexander, and we had a blast! He's 16, and he's so excited to serve a mission. After being here in Quillota with us for a week, he told me, "You know what? When I got here, I thought a lot about home. But now I don't even want to go home!" I just put my arm around him and said, "Brother, multiply your one week by 104, and that'll give you a pretty good idea of how long the mission is and how much harder it is for the missionaries to go back to their houses after being gone for TWO years of this." He just laughed. Haha. But yeah! It was great except my back really hurts. I slept on a few couch cushions on our cold stone floor for six days. (I gave my bed up to Elder Repetto's mini missionary.) But I slept in my bed last night, and I slept SO good. :)


I have a testimony of the blessings that come as we live an obediente life. When we are obediente, the Lord blesses us. When we aren't obediente, we have no promises. That's something I've definitely seen here in the mission! I think something we can improve on (for me anyways) are the little things such as daily prayer and scripture study (both personal and as a family). As we keep all the commandments--including the small, simple, hard ones--the Lord will bless us. :) So I'm going to be more obediente


So all is well here. :) I don't know what else to say though! But I hope all is well back home! I love you all.


Con Mucho Amor,
Elder Nelson IV

Una Mini Mision

Dear All,

There is no place like the mission. I was pondering a little bit this morning, and I thought of my 17-year-old self. It was at that age where my desire to serve a mission sky-rocketed after attending EFY in the Summer of 2007. I did everything I could to prepare. I was surprised in July of 2009 when I opened my call and learned that I would be learning another language in another country. The truth: I was scared to death, but I was excited! I entered the MTC in November 2009, and I learned there that the mission would not be an easy task. I struggled there. I got to Chile a year ago, and I struggled much more.

But I am writing today to let each and every one of you know that there is NOTHING like the mission. I love the mission, and I am excited to be here serving the Lord. I have made a lot of choices in my life. Some I've regretted; others I am not quite so sure what I was thinking. But I do know this: My decision to serve a mission has been the greatest decision that I have made in my life thus far. I've seen miracles here in the mission. I've formed friendships that I'll never forget. Best of all, I am turning into the man that the Lord wants me to be. I am honoring my Priesthood, and I am learning to follow the Spirit. To all of you who are still able to serve: As President Monson said....THE LORD NEEDS MORE MISSIONARIES! I challenge you to prepare and JUST DO IT. It's the best.

I really am excited to be here, and I really do love the mission. We had our baptism this last Saturday. It went extremely well! Valeska is really excited to be a member of Christ's church now. :) She told us (after her confirmation), "I just felt....energy when you guys put your hands on my head." It was great. She loved it. And so did her daughters! We hope they follow her example and are baptized soon. We can't pressure them or force them to do it because--as our mission president taught us in our training meeting--if we force people or pressure them into being baptized, we are leaving Christ's plan behind, and we are carrying out Satan's work as we take away the agency of the people. It really made me think, and it really is true! So...Hopefully we can just help them feel the Spirit so that they'll have the desire to be baptized. :)

Speaking of the training meeting...It was a two day meeting, and it was great. I learned a lot there! :) It was good to see Elder Birchall (my trainer) again, as well as Elder Mann and Elder Dupre. They will both be going home next week. Wow. I can't believe it! But it was a great meeting. We talked more about the Eight Principles (see picture of new MTC curriculum), and we did a LOT of practices. I even had to do a practice with President Gillespie himself! I don't know why, but...that was extremely nerve-racking. But it went well. :)

Well, sadly I will not be spending my last week of the transfer with my companion Elder Repetto. :) We received a call from the Zone Leaders a few days ago saying that President Gillespie chose us to have mini missionaries for a week! So yes, I will be with one of the young men from Villa Alemana for a week. I am so excited. I love going out and working with the youth. There is nothing greater than getting someone excited to go out and serve. :) So tonight we'll be traveling to Villa Alemana to pick up our "mini missionaries." It's going to be sweet! :) I'll tell you all about it next week.

I love you all. Thank you for your examples and for your testimonies. I've been influenced by each and every one of you.

Until next week, then! :)

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

La Contención: No Está En Los Cielos

Dear All,

It's Summer, and I am once again reminded of just how hot it is here in Chile. A whole year ago this week, I was getting off the plane in Santiago, and it was burning HOT--especially after freezing in the MTC for two months. The fall and winter came shortly after I arrived, though, and I really forgot how hot it gets here! But...it's actually not all that bad compared to Las Vegas. It's a little less hot. 

And a few days ago we had a scary moment when we kept hearing a bunch of fire trucks and what not while we were at the church. There was SO much smoke that it blocked the sun, and it was actually nice and cool that day, thanks to all the smoke. (See pictures.) We later learned that there was a forest fire that burned a hill COMPLETELY and that it took a TON of fire trucks to take it out. I can't remember the exact number, but it was something like 50 trucks. Yikes. My companion was scared and he kept asking me, "Is that normal? Is the moon supposed to be red like that?" I tried to explain to him that it was the sun, and it only looked like that because the smoke was blocking it's light. It took him the LONGEST time to realize that it was the sun and not the moon! Haha. It gave me a good laugh. :)

We had a good week. Valeska will be baptized this Saturday, and we are excited. She was at church with her whole family yesterday. Her daughters are more receptive now, and we are hoping to invite them to be baptized sometime this week! :) 

Speaking of this week...It's going to be fun. We have a Leadership Training this Thursday and Friday. Normally, it's for all Zone Leaders, Trainers, and District Leaders. But this time President Gillespie is inviting all the Senior Companions because a lot of Zone Leaders and District Leaders are going home, and a lot of Senior Companions will be filling their spots. So I will be spending two days in Villa Alemana (my old zone) with Elder Hunsaker (one of the Elders that lives with me; he's a District Leader, and he has the same amount of time as I do in the mission.) We're excited. :)

We had an interesting, cool experience a few days ago when we went to go teach Valeska. Our appointment was at 7 PM as always, but we actually showed up a little bit earlier. To our surprise, Valeska's friend was there with two "missionaries" from her church. We greeted each other, and they said, "Oh, we're just teaching Valeska a little bit about the Bible!" I told them, "Great! I love to learn." We sat down, and we began to listen. They started off by saying, "Let's agree right away that we won't contend." Haha. We agreed, and we continued to listen to their message.

As they talked, Valeska asked me out of nowhere, "Elder, where is that scripture that talks about how there will be more scripture? In Ezikel, right?" I told her yes, and I opened it up to tell her exactly where it was at. Well...to make a long story short, that was when these two gentlemen decided to break their promise, and they started to contend with us. They went off on ALL this stuff, and they were trying to prove to us (using the Bible) that the Book of Mormon isn't the word of God. 

They read a scripture to John about how there wouldn't be any more "Gospels." To them, that meant there would be no more books. I said to them, "Actually...The Gospel is Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving The Gift of The Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. And it's not that the Book of Mormon is a NEW Gospel. The Gospel is the Gospel, and it's taught in both the Book of Mormon and in the Bible." Haha. They had nothing to say to that, and so they tried to destroy me with another scripture.

To make a long story short...We didn't Bible Bash with them, but they were really immature about it. When I told them that I received a witness from the Spirit that The Book of Mormon was true, they told me that the answer I received was from my imagination! And it was great because Valeska even told them, "But we do read the Bible every week in Church! And I've read the Book of Mormon, and I know it's the word of God." Haha. After that...they just left. And one of them was rude enough to even say, "A pleasure, Elder Nelson....READ THE BIBLE!" I didn't let it bother me too much, though. And Valeska was great because she kept saying stuff to us like, "Wow. Elders! Thanks for behaving yourselves. You two handled that a WHOLE lot better than they did." 

The truth: We can't contend or Bible Bash with anyone. Because when we do that, the Spirit isn't present. And without the Spirit, there is no conversion. But the cool thing about the experience is that it really helped Valeska and her daughters with their testimonies. It actually REALLY helped us out! And it helped me build upon my own personal testimony! It was awesome.

I know the Gospel is true. I know that The Book of Mormon and the Bible together contain the word of God. They compliment one another. And by studying them both, yes, we can learn and be inspired. But what is really important is LIVING the Gospel and SHOWING to God that you are really willing to follow Him. I know that by doing so, we will be blessed. I have no doubts. The Gospel has changed my life, and it continues to change my life every day here in the mission.

My challenge: Read the Book of Mormon and prayer and ask if it is true, even if you have before. You WILL feel the Spirit! :) I promise.

I am sorry this e-mail is all over the place, but I hope you enjoyed it. I love you all, and I will talk to you next week.

Con Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

Otro Bautismo: El Proposito De La Obra Misional

Dear All,

Well, I actually pre-paid for the Internet here, and so that means I have a set time. I have 19 more minutes left! Yikes. :) Hopefully I can type this up quick!

I wanted to start off by saying Happy Birthday to Landon! Uncle Ben loves you.

We had a good week. :) Our baptism went well. Kabriell was really excited to be baptized, and it was fun teaching here everything in four days so that she could be baptized on Saturday. :) Her family was really grateful that we did that for her and for them. Her grandparents are going back up north tomorrow, and they wanted to be here for the baptism. And they were worried we wouldn't be able to do it. But we did. And they are happy.

We will have another baptism on January 22, 2011. :) Her name is Valeska. She listened to the missionaries for the first time back in 1989, but she never was baptized. After a good 20 years, she's decided that she wants to be baptized. But she had doubts about Joseph Smith and Tithing. We had a lesson with her on Tithing a few days ago, and it will go down in history as one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. She had all these doubts and questions, and I had NO idea how to answer them. But then I remembered something that a Zone Leader once taught me: "If you're faced with a hard question, revert to testimony." I remembered that, and I felt the Spirit telling me that that was all that I had to do. I said, "I can't answer all your questions. But I KNOW that we receive blessings as we pay our tithing." I then told the story of how Dad was able to find a new job immediately after losing his job at Hilton, thanks to us always paying our tithing and fasting. And as I shared this testimony with her, the Spirit was SO strong. And it ended with Valeska in tears as she replied, "Forget all the questions that I asked. I KNOW that the blessings are real." I know I've said it the last few weeks, but I will say it again: Miracles are still preformed today. They don't need to be something spectacular or amazing. They can be simple and powerful. And that lesson with Valeska was one of the many miracles that I have seen here in the mission. And it was something simple! I followed the Spirit. And because I did that, she felt the Spirit testifying to her that what I was saying was true.

I love you all. There's not much else to say this week. But I want to let you all know that I love ya. I pray for ya. And I am grateful for every good thing that you've ever done to help build the Lord's Kingdom. I love Him. And I am striving to become a better diciple of Him each day.

Until next week!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! (Surprise Baptism)

Dear All,

It's interesting how different countries can be SO different. When we had New Years back home, I don't ever remember celebrating it like the people here did. Haha. They are just more excited about it and what not. But maybe I was just really boring before the mission? I am not sure. But we had a good New Years Eve. Okay, well, we didn't do anything special. I actually just went to bed and listened to the fireworks. Haha. But I enjoyed it. However, I didn't enjoy New Year's Day. Yikes. This place was DEAD. I really felt like I was in a ghost town. No one would come out of their houses, so we decided to stop by and visit a few members. But nope! None of them were home either. So we spent our New Years Day walking around pretty much. It was interesting. Haha. But it was a good first and last New Years in Chile. I enjoyed it.

We had a good week, though. Wow. Last Monday, our plans fell through and so we decided to knock on a few doors. The first door we knocked...A man comes out, and he let us in his house. We taught the whole family, and the Spirit was really strong in the lesson. We applied all of the new eight principles that the First Presidency released a few months ago, and it was an awesome lesson. For the first time in the mission, I truly felt like I was following the Spirit and teaching according to the needs of the people. We were really excited afterwards, and we found a lot more people during the week, and we had lessons that were similiar. :) It was a great week.

We're going to have a surprise baptism this Saturday. We ate lunch with a family last Friday, and they informed us that one of their daughters hadn't been baptized when she was eight, but now she wanted to be baptized. We were planning on taking it slow, and we were going to baptize here later in the month. But we were surprised yesterday when her grandpa asked us, "Hey, can we have the baptism on Saturday? I have to go back to Antofagasta next Tuesday, and we want to be here for it." Well, I was worried because I didn't think we'd be able to get permission to baptize someone so quick. Well, to make a long story short, we got permission from our mission president, and Kabriell will be baptized this Saturday. We couldn't believe it! But we are really excited to teach everything to her this week so that she's ready for the baptism this Saturday. :)

I'm always so strengthened by the testimonies of the members here in Chilé. Yesterday, Elder Repetto and I blessed the sacrament, and so I was able to see all the members stand up, walk to the pulpit, and beat their testimonies. I witnessed one of the most Spiritual things that I had ever seen in my life as I watched a deacon help a blind man partake of the sacrament. And then afterwards, he was helped by another priesthood holder who helped him get up to the pulpit to bear his testimony. As the blind brother bore his testimony, I felt the Spirit so strong.

And seeing the Deacon and the other brother helping him just really hit me hard. It was a perfect definition of the Gospel. We love Christ, and we follow Him. We do so by serving our fellow men. A Primary kid explained it perfectly yesterday when he said, "I came here to learn about Jesus Christ. He brought me here so that I could learn about Him." I know that Christ is our perfect example. No, we will never be perfect like Him. But by following His example and by living His Gospel, Eternal Life can be acheived. I KNOW that is true.

I love the mission and the things I have learned here. I wish I could write about EVERYTHING that happens here every week. Sadly, that's no possible. :) But I will say this: This work is a work of miracles! I literally see miracles every day. I've seen the Gospel change lives. I've seen it change my own life. Let's set goals for this year to share the Gospel and to live it. So that all of us can witness the miracles that come from being a true diciple of Jesus Christ. That is my challenge for you all.

I love you all. Thank you for everything. If you need anything, let me know.

Happy 2011. I can't believe we are here already.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

Un Bautismo: Un Milagro En El Mundo De Hoy

Dear All,

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas. Mine was a little different. Being in a new area in a new zone and what not. But I enjoyed it. We had a Christmas Conference on Christmas Eve, and I was surprised to see that ALL seven of my companions were there in the conference. It was a great gift to see all my companions gathered together (see picture)--especially Elder Dupre and Elder Mann, as they will be going home the end of January. It was the first time I had seen Elder Dupre since April, and it was so good to see him. :) It was a great conference.

Christmas Day, we had a Zone Activity. We ate breakfast together and we watched The Gordon B. Hinckley movie. Afterwards, we made our way to the hospital to sing to the people there. It was a good activity. We enjoyed it a lot. :)

The new ward is good. Just a lot of readjusting and learning my way around and what not. I've enjoyed it thus far. We're going to have a baptism on January 15, too. We're really excited for it. :) Her name is Valeska, and she's a nice lady. I'll keep you posted on her progress!

Speaking of baptisms....Elder Zorrilla and I were talking last week before I got transferred, and he told me something that really made me think. He said, "Elder, it really is a miracle for someone to be baptized in today's world." I then thought about how bad the world is these days, and I agreed with him. But the Lord's work is a work of miracles. And there ARE elect people all over the world who are just waiting to receive this glad message. :) I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be on the Lord's errand for another short 11 months. I am just going to do my best to find these elect people so that I can do my part to build Zion.

There's not much else to say. I love you all. I will have more to say next week. Until then, take care. And keep the commandments. The blessings will come. I know it!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV