Dear All,
Elder Gasik and I are hanging in there. Our week was alright! There's a lot of room for improvement, but we're giving it our all. We've really struggled with finding good, solid investigators. We're finding a lot of people, but we've struggled with inviting the people to be baptized! Even our district leader "cut" us once or twice this week. :) That was a first for me. But we've got a good companionship, and we're excited for a new week with new opportunities. An atitude of faith is the key to missionary work!
Today will go down in history as one of my greatest P-Days. This morning, we had the opportunity to visit Brother Parada in the hospital. He just had his heart surgery. We met up with his wife in front of the hospital, and she was REALLY happy that we came to visit. She told us that Brother Parada talks about us almost every day, and how he really wanted to see his "angels." (He always says that we are angels to him.) So we just got back from that visit. :) The hospital only let one person visit at the time, and only two people could visit. I visited with him for a good 10 minutes or so while Elder Gasik stayed behind with his wife.
The first few minutes he was sleeping, and I didn't really know what to do. I tried to wake him up, but it didn't work. I knew it was a visit that he had been waiting for, and I didn't want to waste the visit by just watching him sleep. So I tried again, but he didn't awake. After a few minutes, he finally opened his eyes, and he saw me and smiled. We talked for a while, and I was happy that he recognized me! (His wife told me earlier that he was so nervous before his operation that it caused some brain/nerve problems, and he was forgetting people and things very easily.) It was a great visit. In tears, he said, "I'm so grateful for you. I knew you would come. You continue to be angels for me." It was a powerful experience for me. The visit came to an end, and I made my way back to Elder Gasik and his wife, and I told them that he was doing great. :) Elder Gasik was really happy to hear that! His wife than took my place to eat up the last five minutes of his visiting hours.
In a few hours, we'll make our way to another hospital to visit Olfa (my convert that has cancer.) We're excited for that. It's been a few weeks since we've seen her! And it'll be great to see how she's doing. :) I love P-Days!
We had a few funny moments these last two weeks. We were outside of the church doing tours. That's when we talk to the people outside of the church, and we invite them to enter the church so that they can get to know it from the inside. We were having very little luck! But we noticed that a few kids had snuck into the church grounds through a hole in the fence in the backyard (to play soccer). We could hear them. And so we had the great idea to go and contact them all. We took a few pamphlets and Book of Mormons with us, and wow! Were there a ton of kids back there! It was fun as we began to talk to a bunch of them about the church and what not. Some were interested and wanted to know more. Other declined our offer some-what politely. And others evacuated through the hole in the fence! :) By the time we were done, there were only a few kids there. (Most of them were scared of us and thought they were going to get in trouble for sneaking into the church grounds. Haha.)
Other funny moment that we had occured this last Wednesday. We got to lunch, and Hermana Garcia said, "Elders! I have to leave. You two just eat nice and slow. And when you're done, be sure to lock the door and put the key through the open window. And if you want more, don't be afraid to take more out of the oven!" Haha. (See pictures.) It was a little awkward eating lunch by ourselves in a members' home. But hey! It shows that they have their confidence, right? :) (And just so you know...We did open the oven and take "seconds.")
I've reflected much on the power of the Priesthood--especially with the talks that we heard during General Conference. On Saturday night, we were in the middle of a lesson when Fredy (an investigator; he's the only non-member in his family) called us and said, "Elders. It's urgent. My wife needs a blessing." I told him we would be right there. Elder Gasik and I finished up at the home we were at, and we sped-walked a good 15-20 minutes to get down to Fredy's house on the other side of our area. There, we learned that Sister Marisol had a tooth taken out. And at first she was okay! But there was a complication the next day, and she was unconcious when we showed up. Elder Gasik anointed, and I sealed the annointing. Fredy thanked us, and we left. And on our way home, we felt good! I just thought, "Wow. We hold the power to act in God's name. How blessed we are!" And it really is true. I've seen the Priesthood bless many lives--including my own. I know it's a real power, and I'm grateful for all the worthy priesthood holders that I have known in my own life. The Priesthood is real!!
All is well here. We're loving the mission together, and I'm grateful for the opportunity that I've had to serve in the Lord's vineyard. Nothing has ever brought me greater joy!
I love you all. I'm praying for you all. Thank you for your examples!
Con Mucho Amor,
Elder Nelson IV
Picture explanations:
206:Sunset!!
211:Me and my broken dictionary! :( It just broke out of nowhere. Not sure what happened.
212:This is a great invention! It WAS a washer. But a lady turned it into a fire oven, and now she uses it to make and sell home-made french flies. They are pretty good. ;)
214:A video of me and my companion at lunch. All alone!
216:Me and my lasagna!
217:Me and my soup.
218:Washing the dishes!
230:Elder Gasik on a "Micro" (bus.)
231:The Hospital where Brother Parada is at.
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