Julia

Julia

Dear Family,                                                                                                         

So for a time reference, I just got the dearelders from Melissa and from Grandma and Grandpa Andy. I loved getting them especially because they are the first written mail I’ve gotten in country. Things travel pretty slowly especially because I am in the farthest zone in Lima from the offices.  Clarification of mission rules. They can write me, I just can´t respond. I love getting news and reading from them, but I’m not able to reply and I don´t want them thinking I’m just being rude. So yeah totally whoever wants to can write, just that I won´t be responding unless it’s a paper letter. If you could explain slash reexplain that to whoever has sent me emails that would be great, and I think there’s a couple more emails in my box from other people. :)

Our Apartment.  My bed is in the foreground.

bistec a la pobre.  An elderly sister made this for us.
She is a lot like a Grandma Nelson to the missionaries.

(*From Peggy:  It is best to send dearelder letters to Elder Nelson so he doesn't have to use his precious computer time to read multiple emails.  The dearelder letters are printed off and he can read and respond to them when he has time away from the computer on P-days.  He gets them easily and loves receiving paper letters!) 

I had my first baptism yesterday, it was Julia, and her whole family that are members were able to make it. I did it because Elder Arce said I would be doing it, and that Julia chose me because of the similar circumstance of her son. I felt the spirit super strong through the program even though things kept going wrong (no extra white shirt, a speaker came 30 minutes late, Peru Mormon Standard Time, there’s no heated water for the font) I just felt happy that she could start to be an eternal family in just one year and that she chose this first step. She bore her testimony about how her missionary son had always been telling her she needed to get baptized and how she is always thinking of him now after the ordinance.  Attendance was really great, we filled up the room that they have baptisms in and there were people standing in the back. Here, the people go by Sister Julia or Brother Frank. It’s kind of cool to think of how that’s how people called Brother Joseph whenever I get a chance to reflect.

This is to show Kolby how hard I work at soccer on P-days.
  I scored a goal, too.

Foreign currency is super easy, and I always make sure if I reference it in my journal that I put about how much it would be in dollars and cents so I can remember. Also I write every day in my journal...that’s super important. It’s one of a few things that I plan on not leaving in the mission field. I will write a journal throughout my lifetime because not only do I want to remember but I want others to learn from it. I have plenty to last each month, and I haven’t tried to access my bank at all, so if there’s been a change...yeah that’s bad. We have contact every 3 months with President and Sister Blunck more or less and so I don´t think I will see them again during the mission because they go home in July. They are strict, but for good reason, and I understand the rules they have. All of it is inspired and for our good. My zone is a lot of fun and we spend every Pday together as a group playing soccer or going places.  I have a lot to learn from them.  

Three Generations:
Elder Nelson (l), Elder Arces (r), and his trainer (c)

Travel is in taxis and buses, no mototaxis (jeepnies) here because of safety, but in the jungle yes, because there aren’t as many cars and buses on the roads. We walk everywhere within the zone and only use transportation to get to the offices, like I did this week for finalizing my ID with Interpol...I have a Peruvian ID!!! It pretty much says I’m a missionary and I'll leave when I’m done, but it’s pretty cool anyway. The temple was all in Spanish no headsets, but I was fine. There was even a sister going through to go on her mission sometime! It’s a pretty huge temple with a distribution center below where I was able to buy a bunch of things for teaching in Spanish. There’s a hotel inside the compound as well as the cafeteria. Just our zone went, but we ran into a group of missionaries coming out so I get the feeling that there are missionaries like every other session or pretty even all day.

IMPORTANT PARAGRAPH:

For Skype, if you create an account and send me the info I can Skype you from a member’s home or from an internet cafe. There will be a pre-call and then the Skype call and I’m not positive how much time I will have, but I will be getting all the times and things down. I will coordinate with my companion when we can do it. I don’t have a ton of questions for you all, other than does life go on haha, but I’m sure when I see you there will be. Also my CROSS pen is running out of ink a little, and I wondered if when you get the chance to send an envelope you could send refills, the info is in the pen box on my desk.

The conference with Elder Christianson was great if I haven’t mentioned that. The choir went smoothly and Elder Christianson greeted everyone after it was all over. He said that you would be proud of how it went and that he could see me directing motab someday. Ha yeah right :) I took a ton of notes that I will have to share when I get the chance, but the biggest few things were to not leave your mission here in Peru, and to remember that our job is to apply the atonement to everyone we meet.

I Love you all, I hope that the blessings from my mission reach you, and I pray for you individually often. Please pray for those people that don´t believe in the book of Mormon. There’s a lot of that here, and it’s only because they won’t even open it up to read the first few words. Read it every day, it’s the most powerfully life changing book ever to come from the hand of man through the inspiration of God.

Love,

Elder Nelson