Balancing Act

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                                      

Mom´s in a boot again? I guess the rose bushes just have to have their yearly vengeance, right? Well, I hope you are obedient to the doctor and keep off of it for a while. I know it´s tough, but maybe Melissa can go with Dad to get blizzard´s for just a little bit ;)

Going to do room revisions isn´t the crack down you would think it would be. The thing is that we advise that we will be there about a week and a half early and everyone that is disobedient enough to have things is also tricky enough to hide it well or lend it out for a week. The majority of the things that we take from the rooms are things like extra books of Preach My Gospel or language study books that previous elders or sisters have left behind, as well as clothes. Mostly what I have seen this past week has been a lot of really inspiring rooms. Rooms that invite the spirit by cutouts from the church magazines or quotes from church leaders, things that motivate missionaries to go out and do the work of salvation. Some of the rooms are huge and others tiny, but the thing we find is that the missionaries are happy as long as they spend very little time in their rooms. As long as they are teaching and learning, developing and growing, they are happy. 

I think that´s true of almost all of us. We crave progress. We need change in order to keep ourselves occupied and bettering. We are creatures of habit it´s true, but it´s the changing and rectifying of those habits that makes us children of God. He made us and sent us here, to a state of probation, where we are expected to change and morph, grow and progress. When we don´t, we are stuck. We get uncomfortable, we feel antsy just for the small differences, then we try to look for things to change in the routine. It´s also true as missionaries that our routine is fairly set. The difference is when a missionary begins to take full advantage of the time given in order to benefit others. They focus less on the same and try to live in the very moments that are different or make it so that the moments we pass every day aren´t just passing, they are being there.

The missionaries in this mission are so incredible. Though there are a few that haven´t fully realized their purpose in the mission yet, they know that the Lord has entrusted them with a lot of responsibilities, and expects them to carry them out completely.

This week we finished San Juan de Lurigancho with the room revisions but we still have about 2/3 of the mission to go. Next week we´ll keep going, but now we won´t have to get up so early, just right around 6 ish:)

I hope Melissa´s nose isn´t broken, but if it is, she can just tell the guys that it´s how they will be if they mess with her after her big brother is around :) Also in family news, you can let Darci know that the email is still marked as an email to reply to, I just haven´t gotten around to it. Maybe I will try tomorrow in between informes, but I can´t promise anything, sorry. 

Love you all, sorry it´s a little short this week. I am writing on the computer that doesn´t have my photos on it, and so I can´t even add a few of those to make up for it. I went on a little bit of a writing spree up there in the letter, so I hope it gives a little food for thought. I have been thinking a lot about what it takes to make my life into a fulfilling part of me, full of individuality but at the same time submissive to the will of He who´s given me the right to find that individuality. That was a really weird way to state that I have been thinking about the balancing act again haha. Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Nelson