Getting the Rug Pulled Out...

Hi Familia,

Elder Toth and our turtle

This won´t be my last letter! Next week I will still go into internet to write the reports of the zone and then afterwards I´ll write you guys. I´m going to have to write this afternoon quickly because I spent all of my time in internet today saving my USB drive from a virus attack. I also have to get on to send pictures to the personal secretary and he wants pictures of the family that I am in...could you send me 5 family or personal pictures from before the mission to send to him for a memory video before let’s say 5 this afternoon? If not that´s cool, I can look for a couple in my USB drive. Love you guys have a good day and I´ll write later!

Love,

Elder Nelson

Dear Familia,

Ya okay so sorry for the difficulties earlier on today. What happened is that I plugged my USB in to get a few photos from another elder and his USB was full of viruses. Who knows how to get rid of viruses? This kid, so I spent the next hour battling this virus and couldn’t write you guys. Just know that now I don`t have a virus and bonus, because the personal secretary needs those photos I can write while they are uploading, cause they weigh a ton in computer terms.

This week went by really fast, and sometimes I feel a little like a dog when you are pulling the rug out from under it. I claw and I claw, but the time just slips away and I wish it could be a treadmill in reverse. That said, I feel like we are doing a great work in Trapiche, such a great work that it can be hard to think about going on work visits to other areas in the zone to help the missionaries in their areas. In spite of that, this week, we went on 3 different work visits, two of which I was out of the area and Elder N stayed and one where I stayed. One of those was with Elder L and the two where I left was with Elder F from Utah and the Sisters from San Carlos. What’s been happening in the zone is that our area is really really strong, but the other areas not so much, so we are trying to visit more often to give an example of strong work to the other missionaries and hopefully help them to get things going in their areas.

In the first visit with Elder L, well, he is an Elder that is finishing as well, and we can see that he knows so so much. I was really surprised in the morning studies when he told me that he wanted to finish the Book of Mormon before going home. What was surprising wasn’t that he wanted to read it, it was that he had read the book 11 times in the mission. I was shocked by the sheer amount of effort he had put into the study of it and it made me want to read it more. Every time I read it and finish I feel empowered to go out and ask someone else to read it as well, and I think for Elder L, it could be one of the reasons he asked President Erickson to let him stay in the mission one change longer.

Then with the sisters, we had a short visit in the afternoon with a member accompanying me and really could see the knowledge of a member that had as well studied the Book of Mormon since a very early age. He was an RM maybe 45 years old, and he hadn`t stopped studying, in fact, he had read several books additional to the standard works that helped him to reach a Filosopher investigator that we visited. The sisters teach differently than elders do. Both have very different styles and both are very successful only because both styles depend on teaching with the spirit and helping the person not necessarily the situation.

With Elder F, I was mostly there because in their area, the ward is suffering a little of a down time, but we are helping to put a better focus on retaining the recent converts and helping new members to feel like they are part of the ward. Part of that is helping them to understand doctrine that they didn’t understand when they were baptized. I hope the work there continues to progress like it did when I visited. Elder F will be a great missionary; he really focuses on how to help the people understand. He is from Kolby`s group, but I don`t know if he ever met Kolby. That whole group seems really preparado and spiritually sensitive to the needs of the people that they teach. I am continually surprised by the way he (Kolby) is developing as a missionary and I hope that this new opportunity as a district leader helps him to grow and develop in ways that the Lord would desire. Every assignment has a great purpose in the lifelong scheme of how our mission affects our lives.

I love all of you and I hope this week goes well for you. Any last details you should ask me before this coming Monday as that will be the last day that I will sign in and be able to work things from inside the mission.

Love,

Elder Nelson

What is in your hands?

that may or may not be a turtle shell...that had been gutted by the nice lady that made us lunch