4: The Slow Hand Quickens

Dear All,

Here I am again. That number gets lower and lower, and it seems like the time is passing quicker and quicker. I must take advantage of these last four weeks.

All is well here. We're progressing here in Los Vilos. We had a great week. We taught a lot of people, and we continue to do our part to fortify and strengthen the members and the converts here. We are still on a hunt for God's elect, though. We have a good pool of investigators, but a lot of them have to take care of a few things before they can be baptized. We have lost contact with other investigators, and like I said last week...That makes me a little sad. But I know we just have to keep working hard, and we just have to seek the Lord's help. And we have to accept His will. So we'll continue to do our part here, and I am confident that it'll all work out.

Like I said a few months ago: Los Vilos has been my toughest challenge yet. It continues to be so. But this week my testimony of the power of prayer was strengthened. With all the trials and difficulties that we face here in this area, I was about to "explode"--for lack of a better term--last week. But I found great comfort through my prayers to my Heavenly Father. And the tough times have become bearable! And at church yesterday, I pondered about that. I asked myself--like Enos of the Book of Mormon--"How is it done?" The answer is found in Enos and many other parts of the scriptures. But I found a scripture in James that I really liked. In James 5:15-16, we are taught:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent eprayer of a righteous man availeth much.

I am a witness that these verses teach us the truth. We CAN be healed through our prayers of faith. Each and every one of us has dificulties and problems in this life, but God loves us, and He desires to hear us. So it's obvious that if we talk to Him through prayer, He will heal and comfort us.

Yesterday I was also taught again the importance and the sacredness of the Sacrament. I blessed the Sacrament with our ex-branch president, and when he was blessing the water, he said the prayer with so much reverence and humility that the Spirit hit me harder than it ever has before during that Sacred Ordinance. It made me want to be even better, and I remembered the words of Christ to the Nephites when he introduced the sacrament to them in 3 Nephi 18:10-11:

10 And when the disciples had [partaken of the sacrament], Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.

11 And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.

I felt that my imperfections and my mistakes that were weighing heavily on my mind during the week were washed away. How grateful we are to have the authority to administer the Sacrament! It is the only way that we can renew our covenants with God and to maintain the Spirit completely in our lives.

I love you all. Enjoy the pictures. You can also visit the following link to see pictures that were taken at last week's celebration. :)

Until next week!

Con Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

6: TOTAL SURRENDER: Moriré En Los Vilos

Dear All,

No time today. The negocio closes at 2PM. It's 1:54 PM. :)

I'm ending my mission in Los Vilos! This is it. My companion is out of here. He's training in El Belloto. My heart is full because the Lord has called me to serve with a great friend of mine. :) Elder MacIver! I was there when he started the mission, and we always told each other, "One day, we will be companions." I love him, and I've always felt that we would be working together. I cannot think of a better companion to end my mission with. :) He's SO humble, and he's always happy. He's from Arizona, and he will complete a year in Chilé with me.

All is well here.

I want to end my mission with the attitude of "TOTAL SURRENDER." The Fourth Missionary explains it better than I can. It says:

Unlike the Third Missionary, the way of the Fourth Missionary is what I call “unconditional surrender”. In addition to giving his time, talents and energy to the Lord, the Fourth Missionary gives himself. He gives his will to the Lord. He surrenders all of his desires, his dreams, his ambitions, his wishes to the Lord. In his heart and in his head he lets go of what he wants to do. His wants to do the Lords will.

Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, the Lord says to us: “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.” (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p.167)

Let me be clear that I am not talking just about giving up evil desires, but rather all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams, whether good or evil. All of it together. For example, I desire to provide for my family; I want to be with my sons when they get married; I would like to be with my parents in their last years; I like snow skiing and water skiing. I enjoy rock climbing, ice climbing and mountaineering; I enjoy being with my family; I like being the teacher’s quorum advisor; but I am called to serve a mission. These are all good desires. You have other desires equally good or better. The Third Missionary gives up doing those things. The Fourth Missionary gives them up in his head and in his heart as well. It isn’t that he stops caring about those things; he just doesn’t dwell on them. His mind and heart are focused on other things. His wants, his wishes, his dreams are overcome and swallowed up by his predominant desire to fulfill the wants, the wishes and dreams of the Lord for him.

I'm going to give it my all these last six weeks so that I can say: "Lord, I gave Thee my all. I have no regrets."

I love you all. Until next week!

Con Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

5: ¡Fuimos A Pichidangui! Y A Santiago, Tambien.

Dear All,

It was a fun week. It's been great with Elder MacIver. I love it. We love being together. It's been fun catching up with him and what not. We didn't have the greatest first week, though, as far as the work goes. All of our investigators that I thought were gold have suddenly gone cold, and they seem to have lost a lot of interest. It makes me sad because I love them a lot. But I have to follow Preach My Gospel's counsel and not get discouraged; because discouragement weakens our faith.

But alas. It was a fun week. A few days ago we went out to a small town called Pichidangui with our investigator Johanna and her family. They have a house there. It's part of our area, and it's a good 30-45 minutes away in bus. We got there, and they showed us around and fed us lunch. It's really beautiful! We tried going to work there, though, but we didn't have any luck because it turns out it's mostly a summer vacation place. :/ So we had a lot of fun, but we were there for way too long because the bus schedule is complicated and buses don't pass by very often. But the good news is that we know our way around the town just in case we ever need to go there for something. :)

On Saturday we had the great oportunity to go to Santiago for the Cultural Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Misión Chilena. It was my first time in Santiago, and it was great! It was a long trip; we were the only Elders that got permission to go from the North, and we took my two converts with us. I'll be honest, though, that I didn't pay much attention to the celebration because I was too busy catching up with old friends from the mission. And I paid even less attention when I saw my childhood friend Brian Walker walk into the stadium! I called for him, and he came up and sat next to me for the whole celebration, and we just talked and caught up with each other. It was great being able to see him. We talked about some childhood memories, and we also talked about the differences between his mission in Santiago and our mission here in Viña. It's interesting how different the missions are! But it's a sign that each mission president receives revelation according to the needs of the mission. :)

So all is well here. I'd like to share two scriptures that spoke to my soul this week. One comes from the great example of the Prophet Samuel the Lamanite; the other comes from a Latter-Day Apostle ELder Dallin H. Oaks. Samuel the Lamanite taught me how to be a good returned missionary. In Helaman 16:7, it says:

[A]nd [he] did flee out of their lands, yea, even unto his own country, and began to preach and to prophesy aamong his own people.

Samuel The Lamanite's mission to the Nephites was over. He did what he was called to do. And what does he do? He returns to his country and he continues to work and preach the Gospel in his own land. A simple example, but a powerful one.

Dallin H. Oaks taught me this week that sometimes the Lord just wants us to make our own decisions based on our own judgment. It's not necessary that we receive revelation in all things. He teaches:

[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but who unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable.

We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. Persons who persist in seeking revelatory guidance on subjects on which the Lord has not chosen to direct us may concoct an answer out of their own fantasy or bias, or they may even receive an answer through the medium of false revelation.

I know we can receive personal revelation by studying the scriptures--both from the ancient records such as the Bible and the Book of Mormon as well as we can from the Latter-Day prophets that we have today. I testify--with all of my heart--that these men were called of God. The Bible and Book of Mormon were written for our day. We have Prophets that lead and guide us in these latter-days. And I know that if we feast upon their words, we will be blessed with a broader understanding of God's plan for each and every one of us. The words of the prophets can calm any troubled soul; I know that is true because I have been calmed and comforted by reading their words.

I love you all. Until next week.

Con Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

7: A Lot Happens In Seven Weeks

Dear All,

I am sorry about the ending of last week's e-mail. I hope you all understood what I was trying to say; I was in a rush. But all is well here! Last Tuesday I was on an intercambio with Elder Naylor (also from Las Vegas), and that was really great because he was in my branch, and we were celebrating his birthday together. I surprised him at a lot of the members' houses with little celebrations, and it was a great time. Except I was really worried because I got a small stomach flu, and I didn't feel well at all. My biggest worry was that I would be sick for General Conference. But I made a quick recovery, and I feel great. :) But geez. I think I've been sick more here in my mission than I ever was before.

What a Conference!! We are extremely blessed to live in today's world. We live in a time when the Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth! Thomas S. Monson IS a prophet of God, and the Apostles have also been called of Him. I loved this conference. When the conference started I had a lot of questions about my life and my future, and I can say with a certainty that I received personal revelation regarding each and every one of these questions. I absolutely loved the Priesthood session as always. Elder Holland and Elder Waddell's talks were inspiring, and I hope that every young man in the world hears those two messages. :) I loved seeing Elder Hales again after his absence in April; he gave an amazing talk. And as always, I loved hearing from the First Presidency--especially President Eyring. President Eyring always touches me because he is so sincere and humble. I am already really excited for the next conference in April. :)

We have a lot to look forward to these next few weeks. We have my birthday this week (thank you all for the birthday wishes, by the way), and then we are going to have a Special Conference (via satellite) this Saturday to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of having a mission in Chile. Wow. For fifty years the Lord has been calling missionaries to this magnificent country and people! Next Saturday, October 15, we will then have the opportunity to watch a special cultural celebration (also via satellite). I am excited. It's going to be great. I will keep you posted as always.

All is well here. We were sad to learn that Fernanda moved to Illapel! I was saddened by that news, but I know it's the Lord's will. We sent the reference to the missionaries over there, and I just pray that she is baptized there. :) Alejandro is doing great; he is progressing, but still hasn't accepted a baptismal date. We found a new investigator named Artemio and his wife Maria Eugenia. They are great! Artemio attended the Priesthood session and the Snday morning session. I am happy because we have seen a lot of progression here in Los Vilos! It is good to have good, strong investigators that are actually completing with their commitments.

I cried myself to sleep last night as I pondered these last few months that I have spent as a full-time missionary. You might laugh about that, but the way I feel now is an interesting feeling. The way I feel now is the same way that I felt a few weeks before leaving my home and entering the MTC. Yes, you may not believe it, but the feelings are identical. I didn't want to leave the world behind, but I knew I had to because the Lord was calling me. Now, as I approach the end of my mission, I don't want to take off this nametag, but I know I have to because the Lord's call was a call of only 24 months. As I prepared to enter the MTC, yes, it was hard, but I KNEW that I was going to one day return to my home. And now here I am drawing nearer and nearer to the end of my missionary service, and I am struggling to accept the fact that it is very probable that I may never return again to this great place. That is the only difference. It's going to be harder to leave my mission than it was to start because I have no idea if I will ever return to these people who I love so much. They have become part of my life.

*Sigh* But a lot happens in seven weeks, and I am grateful for that. I'm going to continue to give the Lord everything I've got. I didn't come on my mission to only serve 22 or 23 months; I came to serve all 24. And the only smart way to serve is to do it with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. So that's what I am going to do.

We have changes this week. Anything could happen. I hope to finish my mission here in Los Vilos, but I am used to accepting the Lord's will already, and I will do whatever is asked of me. I will keep you all posted. I love you all. Thank you for everything you've done for me. Until next week!

Con Amor,

Elder Nelson IV