Tal Vez: One of The Funnest Weeks of My Mission

Dear All,

It was a good week. Today we have cambios (transfers), and it´ll be fun to see what my next assignment is. As always, I am ready to accept the Lord´s next assignment; I know that if I am obedient and do what I am asked, the Lord will provide the way.

We had a funny moment on Saturday that I will never forget. We were on the way to clean the church in the morning, when this guy stopped us from his window. He came down and talked to us about a bunch of random stuff (he was drunk). Well, we see and talk to drunks every day but we decided to leave him with an invitation to our activity later that night. He said, "Okay, I´ll be there. But do you guys want any juice or food?" We kindly denied his offer and told him we had to go.

The best part: He told us he was coming with us, and that he was going to buy us some sandwiches. To make a long story short, we took a good 10-15 minute walk with this drunk guy to the nearest negocio where he bought us sandwiches. But--oh wow--was it the greatest! I was laughing SO hard. You should have seen it! One minute, I am with three elders talking to this drunk guy...the next minute, we are walking up the street with our arms around each other saying things such as, "Yeah, we´re number one, we´re number one!¨ with this drunk guy! Haha. I think it´s one of those "you had to be there" moments, but wow...I am not quite sure I´ve laughed so hard in my life.

Anyways--I had to get that out of the way. :) I went on intercambios a few days ago with Elder Castillo. It was my first day with a Latin. It was pretty sweet! I was surprised by how easy it was to work with him. At first I thought I would struggle because I´ve never worked with a Latin, but...I understood most of what he said, and we had a great time! Except:

A)I forgot my pajamas. I ended up borrowing some things from the other Elders. (See picture of me brushing my teeth.)

B)I forgot my shaver. It´s never a good feeling walking around without shaving! :)

C)We talked to this lady, and Elder Castillo asked, pointing to me, "How old do you think he is?" I was hoping for something like 17 or 18, because every one here thinks I am 22 or 23. But I was REALLY surprised when this lady said, "30!" HAHA. I was laughing so hard, and just said, "Really?? Um, I´m 19." To make a long story short, she wouldn´t believe me that I was only 19, and she probably still--to this day--thinks I am 30. Which is pretty unfortuneate. :) Haha.

We had another zone conference last Thursday, and it was the best! Like last month, I was able to see Elder Hawkes from the MTC, and it was the greatest talking to him and having lunch with him. We talked about more mission stories, and it was the greatest! I also saw Elder Tabares again (Elder Briones´s trainer), and that was great because he goes home soon, and I may not see him ever again!

I don´t think I ever mention this, but....when Elder Birchall trained me, he was only in his fifth transfer. (That is where I will be in six weeks!) So yeah, it was his first change as senior campanion, and he was still super new in the mission. But he is a stud, and he´s a great missionary. Well, while I was at the conference, I decided to ask one of the AP´s how Elder Birchall is doing (he´s still up north in a place called Ovalle). Well, this AP just told me, "Elder Birchall is great. He´s a district leader, and will be a zone leader soon, probably." My first thought, "No way! Wow."

Well, to make a long story short, I ended up talking to the other AP, and he told me that Elder Birchall (who trained again this change) had NINE baptisms this change, and that he was probably going to be a zone leader next change. He is now a legend in the mission for that! Getting NINE baptisms in a six week change with a BRAND NEW missionary is just awesome. Everyone was talking about Elder Birchall at the conference, and all I could think was, "Wow. My trainer! A legend." Haha. So yeah, who knows! It sounds like my trainer is already moving up to Zone Leader starting tonight, maybe. I just thought that was cool. :)

Well, Elder Mann and I had more sucess this week. We had two investigators at church yesterday, and Pedro (one of our investigators with a baptismal date) is making major progress! It´s been sweet! It´s good to be refilled with good, solid investigators. I am excited to see what happens with all of them. :)

Well, I am out of time. I promise my e-mail will be better next week. But I just wanted to thank everyone for their love and support. I love you all, and I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change lives. So let´s share it with everyone that we know! :) It´s worth it; I promise.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Estamos Abriendo Las Puertas Del Reino Celestial

Dear All,

Well, here we are again in Week #6 of the transfer/change. Crazy, eh? I can´t believe how fast time flies in the mission!

I received the greatest news ever via our mission website...about two minutes ago. Haha. Manuel (my investigator) up north in La Sarena got baptized last week! It looks like Elder Dupre baptized him, and I am super excited for Manuel. Although I wasn´t there to witness the baptism, it feels good to know that I was able to teach him while I was up there. It´s the greatest! :)

Well, it was a crazy week. We are having a hard time right now finding good, solid investigators. We have four investigators with baptismal dates set, but...none of them are really keeping their commitments. Heck, none of our investigators are keeping their commitments! We had one investigator at church yesterday. But...we are going to continue working with our investigators, and we are going to continue working on finding more good, solid investigators. The best thing about it all: The work still goes forth!

But yeah--it was a crazy week with a lot of weird, crazy days. It seems like you can have two kinds of days here in the mission. Either our days are normal days with a lot of sucess or they are REALLY weird days with a lot of weird stuff that comes up. Well...we had a lot of weird days this last week. :) It all started when I went on intercambios with Elder McManamom in my area. Well, we went to a few places that I didn´t know too well, and...to make a long story short...we spent our morning super lost. We were WAY up there on this one hill, super lost. And we finally stopped in someone´s negocio to ask them for directions, and the guy just laughed and pointed to another hill WAY the heck out there, and said, "That´s where you want to be!" We talked to the guy for a while, and that was fun because he actually said that he lived in Salt Lake for a few years back in 2000. Pretty cool! But yeah--we ended up finding where we wanted to go, and we were a good 1.5 hours late to that appointment. Oops! A good zone leader of mine, though, once told me to focus on the positive things at the end of the day. That day: I learned my area pretty good. Definitely a positive, I think. :)

Elder Mann and I had a really weird day on Saturday, too. I´m not even sure that I can describe it with words. It was just so weird and out there it wasn´t even funny! But I´ll share one thing: This guy stopped us in the middle of the street, and talked to us for 20-30 minutes (not even kidding!) about how we need to worship the virgin Mary, etc. Well, yeah, that´s normal here, but wow. He just went off on the most random stories and random things. He kept using analogy questions (I think that´s what you would call them) on us, and he used this one analogy on me where the answer obviously was "my mom." And to ruin his example, I said, "¿Como? Pero mi madre murió cuando yo era joven." (What? But my mom died when I was young.) Haha. The look on his face was priceless, and he eventually left us alone. I felt bad for lying to him, but...the fact is: We worship the Savior and what He did for us. We respect Mary as the earthly mother of our Savior, but...she isn´t the one that Atoned for our sins. Therefore, we don´t worship her. Common sense, I think.

We watched a good documentary called "On The Lord´s Errand." It´s about the life of Thomas S. Monson. I absolutely loved it. I recomend it to every day! It really helped me gain that firm, strong testimony of Thomas S. Monson as our latter-day prophet. Because--I will admit--I was super attached to Gordon B. Hinckley, and when he passed away two years ago, I had my doubts. Obviously, with the conferences, I´ve gained a testimony of Thomas S. Monson, but wow...that DVD was just powerful, and I KNOW--with no doubt in my mind--that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Through him, we can receive direction from the Lord Himself! I am grateful for Thomas S. Monson and for the guidance we receive from him.

I know the Savior lives. He loves us more than we can comprehend. Let´s press forward in this Gospel and be obedient so that our Heavenly Father can bless us!

I love you all, and I thank you--as always--for your love and support. I am grateful for your letters and e-mails, and I look forward to hearing from everyone again next week! :)

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Siempre Recibimos Muchas Bendiciones Del Señor

Dear All,

Update: My bottom is back to 100% health and a lady in my ward even sowed my pants! Most excellent. :)

Happy Birthday Tara and Tori this last weekend! :)

It was great talking to my family yesterday. Even though it was short with them, hearing their voices helped me a whole lot. I have been worried about my little brothers a lot, but after talking to them for those short few minutes, I knew they were okay. And for that, I am grateful. My talk with them was a booster for me (afterwards, we went and taught a lesson, and I had a lot more energy than I usually do, and it was easier for me to focus.) It was good to hear from all my parents, and I know our family is being blessed for our great faith and obedience. I hope everyone had a happy Mother´s Day. :)

Manuela ended up getting baptized, and it was the greatest! It was such a good baptism, and I was honored to baptize her. My companion was actually supposed to baptize her, and I was supposed to confirm her, but...I kind of hesitated when she asked me to do it (because the confirmation is much harder), and then she over heard me tell her husband that the baptism is much easier to do. HAHA. And so, of course, she said she wanted me to baptize her and Elder Mann confirm her. The water was much colder than usual, but it was a lot of fun as usual. (See pictures.) There is nothing greater than baptisms; I have seen Manuela´s life change right before my eyes, and it is definitely the best part of being here--seeing people progress and change. And seeing them so happy! There is nothing greater.

We had an activity after the baptism and our objective was to get references from the members and what not. Haha. Well, actually the objective was to show them how uneffective "contacts" are. And so we did a skit of us doing contacts and getting rejected, etc. It was an awesome activity, and guess what? Elder Mann and I got 4 references yesterday! Four more than I´ve had in a very long time. :) Haha. But yeah, I included some pictures of the skit, and a video of me backstage. The greatest.

It´s starting to get a little colder here, and it´s even rained a few days. It really stinks working in that kind of weather, but...the best part is: The work still goes forth! :)

I´ve really learned how to LOVE people on my mission. I´ve developed a lot of charity, I think. A lot of that I owe to the Book of Mormon. That book has blown my mind away the last few weeks, and I have challenged myself to finish it by the end of this month. We really can learn a lot from that powerful Book. I testify that it is the word of God, and that if we read it and ponder its words, we will see blessings come in our lives. We will become better siblings, parents, children, etc. Our lives are just MUCH better when we consistently read the Book of Mormon and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I testify that that´s true!

I am involved in a great work. The mission changes you; I am no exception. We are being blessed for our obedience and our righteous desires to follow in Christ´s footsteps. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. Let´s be obedient and press forward in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I love you all. As always, thank you for all your love and support. I have been blessed with a great family and great friends. Each and every one of you have a special place in my heart. I am who I am because of you all and your examples. Thank you.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

--

D&C 122:7

Una Semana Loca

Dear All,

Happy May! A year ago this week, I started filling out mission papers. Tara was also baptized a year ago! Does that amaze anyone else how fast time really does fly? Wow. I can´t believe it!

I forgot to mention last week--because I am in Valpo now, I get letters once a week, opposed to twice a month. So don´t be afraid to write me snail mail. :)

It was an interesting week. We had our zone conference on Thursday, and I had one of the most emotional reunions ever with my good friend and brother, Elder Hawkes from the MTC. (See the picture.) When we saw each other, we just flipped! And we enjoyed our few hours together, updating each other on what we´ve experienced in the mission thus far. It was the best. He´s lost so much weight, too! Just like me! Haha. We are completely new men than we were in the MTC. It´s amazing how fast the mission changes you. He and I both speak the language much better now, too, which really was awesome to see. (Not saying I am fluent or anywhere new it; just better. :)) But yeah, it was the greatest!

Elder Mann and I had a weird week. We had a lot of weird lessons on Saturday. I won´t go into too much detail with all of them, but I will share a lesson that we had with this lady named Nancy. She is a nice lady that we met one of my first days here; she was really interested, and we were excited to teach her! But then we could never find her! We finally found her again on Saturday, and when we asked her how she was doing, she said, "Mal!" (Bad!) She then explained to us that she lost a daughter a few months ago. And then she broke into tears. My companion tried explaining the Plan of Salvation to her, but she just kept saying, "No! God doesn´t exist. It´s all a lie." Stuff like that. And it was just strange because she seemed so interested before, and she believed in God when we first talked to her, too. :/ She wouldn´t let us teach her very much because she didn´t want to hear anything about God! It was really sad. :/ She was so hopeless, and I just felt really bad for her. But...we explained what we could, and she has the agency whether to accept it all or not. We are teaching her again today.

But it really got me thinking about the blessings I have. I am so grateful for my testimony of this Gospel. It has saved me thousands of times in my life, especially here on the mission. :) I am especially grateful for my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know that we can live with our families and with God FOREVER! But he presented a plan, and we have to follow the plan--The Gospel of Jesus Christ--if we really want this eternal life. And I know it´s only through Christ Himself that we can acheive this eternal life.

Manuela should still be getting baptized on Saturday. Some complications have come up, and it´s all pretty sad. It´s personal, and so I won´t share everything with you all at this point. But I know the Lord is involved, and we´ve done our part. Now we just have to wait and see what happens. :) I will keep you all updated on her baptism, though!

I get more confident here every day. I´ve had my hard days--days where I´ve just wanted to give up--but then I remember the tender mercies of the Lord, and I have no choice but to press forward in this great work. I know the Gospel is true, and I know we are blessed according to our obedience. We will all face our own trials here in this earth, but if we endure with obedience and faith, the reward is great.

I love you all, and I am sorry my last two e-mails have been so short. :) But I promise the next one will be full of more news! Thank you all for your love and support. I will continue to work hard and fight off the dogs. (I´ve nailed a few this last week with rocks to avoid being bitten. I carry a rock with me at all times now; no worries!) Haha. I will talk to you all next week!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

Tengo Miedo De Los Perros Ahora :/

Dear All,

Happy Birthday, KT!!

This week flew by. But it was full of a lot of fun times and even a few trials. I have to start with the big one first. First of all, let me explain something. Here in Chile, there are TONS and TONS of stray/wild dogs. And so I made a goal to never get bit by a dog in my mission.

That goal didn´t last very long. On Saturday, Elder Mann and I were leaving a lesson, and we turned a corner. As we did so, five dogs started barking and followed us. That happens a lot, and so I figured they would just follow us and bark at us. No problem. But nope--they attacked us! We started to run, but...sadly...the dogs got to me. And so yes--I almost got eaten alive by dogs. But the Lord was protecting me, of course, and so it wasn´t as bad as it could have been. To make a long story short, I went back to the apartment with ripped pants and a big chunk of my bottom missing. Yes, I got bit pretty bad on my behind. :/ Haha. I bled pretty good, but...I know it could have been a whole lot worse! And chances are, I am going to be getting some shots and what not. But yeah--it wasn´t fun, and now I actually get scared of dogs for the first time in my life. :/

I went on intercambios with Elder Yost a few days ago, and it was really fun. (See the pictures I have uploaded.) It was fun because I am actually older than him in the mission, and so it was fun to be in charge and to do all the talking. Haha. However, we ended the night unpleasently when we ran into these girls who spoke both English and Spanish. I have never been so frustrated in my life! First, they tried to talk us into coming into their apartment. I told them we couldn´t unless their was another man in there. They tried to lie to me and say there was, HAHA, but I didn´t fall for it. And so we just talked to them outside. And the part that frustrated me was that they were mocking God, our religion, etc. They said some really unpleasant things to Elder Yost and I in Spanglish, and I was just getting mad. Haha. I testified that the only way to know the truth was to ask God. And then one of them laughed and said something like, "You´re telling me that YOU can talk to God?" (Dumb stuff like that.) I told them about prayer and how we can receive answers from God and that God couldn´t lie to us. One of the girls kept asking us dumb questions that didn´t matter, and so we eventually just left them with a pamphlet and called it a night. But yeah--for the first time in my mission--I actually got really frustrated with people. Haha. But...despite all their mocking and talking, I never felt so proud to be a member of the true church of Jesus Christ! My testimony has definitely been my strength here in the mission.

But yeah--it was a good, fun week full of lots of adventures. Manuela attended church again, and she will be baptized for sure May 8. :) We are excited for that!

Well, I am sorry this is so short, but I need to send off one more e-mail after this one, and I only have four minutes left. I love you all, and I know this Gospel is true. The mission has its ups and downs, but sometimes the downs are the greatest parts. :) It´s been an adventure thus far! I look forward to hearing from every one next week!

Yours Truly,

Elder Nelson IV

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D&C 122:7

From North To South

Dear All,

The hardest thing about the mission thus far was probably leaving La Sarena. :/ And so...greetings from Valparaiso! :) I basically went from the Northern-most city of the mission to the southern-most city of the mission. It was another long bus ride. But it´s good to be here.

Elder Boyd and I were finally separated; it´s weird not to have him around. Haha. The saddest part, though, was leaving my good friend Elder Briones. The night I left, he said (in perfect English), "You are the best missionary that I know." And then he started crying his eyes out. :( I shed a few tears, too, and it was probably one of the saddest things I´ve ever seen. Elder Briones was miserable! (He ended up staying up in La Sarena for a third change in a row.)

And although I do miss all the Elders from up north, I know this is where I am supposed to be, and I AM enjoying it thus far. It´s very different, though. For example--wow--this is basically a city build in the mountains. There are SO many hills, and we are walking up hills/stairs to every lesson. Timmy, you know the hill at Foothill that we run up every day for volleyball? The hills here are three times steeper. :( Haha. It´s a challenge to walk up and down hills/stairs every day for 10+ hours. But I am getting used to it, and I am going to lose a lot of weight. :)

Also, I am in a branch down here. It´s actually kind of sad. I was told that there are 1000 members that live in this area. But guess how many are active? 50! It´s a lot smaller than what I had up north; up there, we had a ward of 200 or so, which was way good. Especially since it meant that we had lunch with the members every day. ;) Haha. Here, I´ve eaten more in the pension than anywhere else because the branch is a lot smaller. But it´s not too bad. Now I don´t have to force myself to eat all that food every day. :)

I was surprised by the amount of English-speakers in my branch yesterday, too. We four Elders speak English, and then there is a sweet RM from Utah here (he´s here for school), and he speaks English obviously. And then there is even an investigator that speaks English, along with this visitor from Austraila. It was a little weird hearing all that English yesterday, but it was kind of sweet at the same time. ;)

Anyways--this is a kind of random e-mail. But yeah--my companion is Elder Mann, and he´s cool. He´s from Texas, and he´s been here just as long as Elder Dupre. So...about a year and a few months. :) We´re already having a lot of sucess, and we are going to have a baptism May 8. Tara´s birthday! ;) And then she will be confirmed on May 9--Tara´s LDS membership birthday. :) The greatest! (I still can´t believe we are almost in May again.)

Elder Mann and I live with two other Elders (Elder McMannamon and Elder Yost), and they are sweet. It´s weird because Elder Yost came the change after me, and so I am actually older than him in the mission. Weird. I was so used to being the "new guy" so that really surprised me. Haha.

Well, I am going to continue working harder. I don´t really have any other exciting news because I am still adjusting to this new area. It´s weird because I feel like I´m on a whole different mission now. Haha. I guess the mission kind of is like that. We serve a little mini mission in one city and then we serve another in another city for a time before moving on to the next. It´s fun, and I just need to continue progressing. We had interviews again a few days ago, and the mission president said that I need to be prepared to be a "senior comp" because it´s going to be here before I know it, he said. Haha. And so I have a lot of work to do.

Sorry this week´s e-mail is so lame. :) I know that this work is the greatest, I know Christ lives and this is His only Gospel, and I know that we are blessed according to our obedience. I love you all, and I look forward to hearing from more of you next week. :)

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Nelson IV

Helaman 5:12

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D&C 122:7

3-23-2010: A Handwritten Letter

3-23-2010

Dear Family,

I hope this message finds everyone doing well. I’ve wanted to send a letter home like this for quite some time; I’ve sought the guidance of the Spirit while pondering what I was going to write. I hope this message can help all of you in one way or another. My hope is that it truly will.

The Lord challenges us. We all have trials. I am positive we have trials because our Heavenly Father loves us. If we endure through the trial with faith, we receive blessings. In D&C 58:4, it says, “For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand." I testify that this scripture is truth!

Again, we all have hard tasks and situations we are put in. But we have help! Allow me to compare it to a video game. Back in the day, when a video game was really hard for us, we wanted to get the “Strategy Guide” for that game. The “Strategy Guide” told us everything that we had to do in that game. But even when we used the “Strategy Guide” the game was still hard at times!

Each and every one of us is in a game called “Our Life on Earth.” We have a “Strategy Guide” that we can use to make this game easier. This “Strategy Guide” is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we follow after this Gospel, things ARE easier. I testify that is true. But – just like the video game – even when we use the “Strategy Guide”, the game can still be tough. My message: Even when we are doing everything we are supposed to be doing by following the Gospel of Christ, we will still have those hard times. Why? Because trials and challenges are part of His Gospel too.

The solution is simple: Be obedient and keep on pressing forward! That is my new motto. I know that if we continually do this, blessings will come. I promise each and every one of you.

I have some more advice. My first word of advice: NOTHING can substitute the Gospel. I will demonstrate and example from my life. As you all know, mom and dad’s divorce was hard for me. I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever told anyone this, but I even had days where I really questioned if the Gospel was true! During those times, my solution for happiness was simple: Listen to my music and talk to my friends. And you know what? I worked for a while! But what happened when the music would stop playing or when my friends would stop talking? I would fall into a state of sadness – I felt empty.

I thought I found the solution a year or two later: My family. “If I put my family first, I will be happier”, were my thoughts. And guess what? I was happier! But there was still something missing.

I went through a transformation from 2008 up until the time I left on my mission. I began being OBEDIENT and doing those things I knew I was supposed to be doing – prayer, scripture study, etc. By doing so, that emptiness vanished over time. The Spirit was consistently with me – I was a ton happier!

My point: We need to put the Gospel first. I’m not saying we shouldn’t listen to music, talk to friends, etc. I testify that if we put the Gospel first in our lives and do those things we know we should be doing, things WILL be easier. The trials will STILL be there, but you will have the Spirit to guide you. There is no other way. There is no substitute for the Gospel!

We can’t always control the situations God allows to happen to us. The divorce was hard – it still is. But I know God allowed it to happen because He loves us. He never – NEVER! – puts us in a situation we cannot handle. But how do we handle it? My advice (again): The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way! Christ has been through EVERYTHING; you can’t deny that, otherwise you are denying His infinite atonement. Live is Gospel. Be obedient and keep on pressing on. It is the only way to obtain true happiness. Basically: We can choose to be either obedient or disobedient.

Learn to love these challenges God gives us. The blessings will come, my beloved family. But we have to endure with the Spirit. It’s hard, but it’s possible. I testify that it is. I am a witness of the blessings that come from doing these things. I love you all. I hope, again, that everyone understood the importance of this message. Thank you for your examples, your love and your support.

Con amor,

Elder Nelson IV

D&C 122:7