My 14th Week With Elder Gasik

Dear All,

It was a tough week. I loved it. When all is said and done, I will have a TON of weird, ironic stories to share. I liked to share them in my e-mails at the beginning of my mission. But after having so many, I kind of gave up on sharing them in my e-mails. Although the other day Elder Gasik and I had a funny moment when a drunk named Juan Carlos came up and started talking to us in the street. He went off on the WEIRDEST things, and he kissed my companion's hand and he kept saying that he loved us. It was strange, and we eventually decided to just keep walking. We did so, and he followed us. We explained to him that we had to continue and that he couldn't keep following us. But he did anyways. Elder Gasik turns to me and whispers, "What do we do?" I said, "We should run!" So we did, and we got away from him. Or so I thought. Our appointment was busy and couldn't receive us. And as soon as he goes back into his house, we turned around and there he was again!

He asked us, "Why did you guys run from me!? You're making me sad!" We explained again that he couldn't be following us around everywhere because we had people to go and visit. He insisted. We were close to a hill, and I turned to Elder Gasik and said, "We've got to run up this hill. There's no way that he'll be able to keep up with us." And so we ran again. But to my surprise he ran with us!! And not only did he run with us, but he passed me up! It was SO weird. To make a long story short: He chased us for a good hour or so before we could finally get rid of him. It was probably one of the strangest experiences of my mission.

We're on a search for God's elect. We dropped all of our investigatores that weren't progressing, and now we're starting fresh. It's been tough, but we've enjoyed it thus far. We just have to maintain a good, positive attitude, and everything will work out. :)

Our good companionship studies have given us a lot of hope. It definitely makes a difference in the day when we have good, inspired studies. I love studying with Elder Gasik! We learn a lot from one another, and we've had a blast with our studies. A few days ago, we acted out Alma 18 during companionship study. I was King Lamoni and Elder Gasik was Aaron/Ammon. It was a blast. We've developed a lot of unity by having good studies like that together.

Despite all the hard times, the last few weeks gave been some of the greatest weeks of my mission. We're missionaries and we're out to Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater!

After hearing Elder Holland's talk a few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to study a little bit about God so that I could love Him more. I took about a week to study about God. His creations, His Attributes, His role, etc. And by doing so, my love for Him truly has grown a lot. By doing so I have realized that there really is only one reason why He is who He is and one reason why He created all that He created. And it's because He loves us more than we can even comprehend. I know that He lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I know that His creations are His and they we created by His Son under His direction. I know that He is merciful, He is just, and He is omnipotent. I know we can live in His presence again as long as we strive to keep His commandments as we go about our lives here on Earth.

My Dad told me in a blessing that he gave me before I left on my mission: "You cannot serve the people unless you love them." Elder Holland said that we couldn't serve unless we loved God. And it's so true. We can only serve God's children only if we love both Him and His children! And I've learned that here in my mission the last few weeks. I am grateful for my mission and for the experiences that I have had here. The mission will forever be known as the turning-point of my life.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and for your support.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV