Gringooo

Dear familia,                                                                                             

As regards to prayers. I pray for each of you individually, and I’m firmly convinced that the only way that a missionary´s family is blessed during his mission is when he really recognizes how much he loves and appreciates each member and prays for them because of that love.

When you forget that you have supposed needs and begin to fill the needs of those around you, you will find that your needs disappear or that you have someone else filling them for you. That’s the challenge this week; fill the needs of someone else....also visit grandma and say hi to Aunt Judy if she´s around.

Thanks to Brother Larsen making sure I’m not forgotten around there :) Really he was a good teacher and really helped us to see too the teaching program of the church before the recent changes could be utilized in a more updated way. We don´t use facebook here or the Mormon messages, but that’s incredibly effective in the USA. 

I had a funny experience this week in the hill in our area. We had climbed to the very top and knocked on the door of a part member family who we had an appointment with, Luz and Edwin. They weren´t there, so we started to go down, but this voice came from behind us ´´gringooo´´.....we turned around, nobody.  ´´´gringoooooo´´´we turned around, nobody. Two more steps down ´´´vas a morir gringooooo´´ we turned around and Elder Gaibor caught the corner of a head ducking inside the window of a house super high up on the hill. ´´vas a morir gringoooo, voy a matarte gringoooo´´ we turned around one more time and didn’t catch him. Really it was just a super drunk person, no worries. Following that, we had a family that we hadn´t been able to contact for a while come to church and we had a member give us a reference for her daughter in law.

The daughter in law is pregnant, but not married to her boyfriend. They are living together in the girl’s mom’s house and she gave birth to a baby girl just two days ago, so we haven’t had contact since. Oh yeah, she’s 16 and he´s 19. That little detail was incredibly shocking, but then not, because missionaries from the jungle have told me that sometimes 14 year olds have two or three kids. So basically that was my first personal experience with a teen pregnant here in Peru. I did notice however that this sister, in spite of the situation she is in, has a strong desire to get her family back on track. She wants to get baptized soon and she’s working on convincing her husband to get married.

Elder Gaibor is from Ecuador, he’s 22 years old and only has a year of school left after his mission before he can be an electrical engineer. He wants to come to BYU to finish up schooling or get his masters. He’s Jewish descent, but from Ecuador for generations, and he´s definitely got the knowledge to back it up. He reads constantly and seriously knows a lot of deep things about the gospel. He meditates in place of exercises, and has served a year and two months now. He knows a ton of English, just misses how to pronounce things occasionally, and needs help to start talking faster. We complement each other well, and I hope we have a while longer here together because I have been learning a lot from him. He does believe in evil or wicked spirits and that can be a little strange. We are teaching a schizophrenic and Elder Gaibor says after the lesson to me that it can be something mental or a wicked spirit. I lean towards the mental imbalanced opinion haha.

Well, Dad received the other half of the letter for this week, so you can ask him about it when you get together for lunch. I mentioned about Elder Christofferson’s talk about the plaque or nametag to him. I hope that all of the ex missionaries have followed that counsel. They have more or less here and it’s incredible to know how much the church is helped by RMs.

Love you all, and as always I’m praying for you.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Baptism Fotos!

Dear Family,                                                                                                                      

This week you get baptism fotos! The YM is Daniel, the one with her suit rolled up is Briseyra and the other one is Narda. That was all last Saturday though, so I won´t comment more on that one.

Briseyra

Daniel

Narda

This week we had a couple of experiences contacting that were kind of interesting. We contacted the father of a murder victim, and he told us the whole story, how his son was murdered was pretty brutal, but he was strong as he told it. When we told him about the plan of salvation, it didn’t affect him too much. It seems like that would be new doctrine to a lot of people, but the truth is that a lot of churches preach that nowadays, or more accurately, that they will return to see their families again, but not necessarily all of the details in the restored gospel that we know. We are returning to teach him again soon, but really we just hope that he can find the peace that he’s been looking for. When he opened the door to let us in, he was pretty surprised because he said that he had had MMM (Lutherans) knock on his door, as well as JW and Adventists, but never Mormons. He’s really a good man, just with a rally heavy load on his back.

The other experience was on the same street, the man opened the door and basically said, ´´finally!´´´ He had been contacted about a week and a half ago by elders from a different zone, but they forgot to pass us the reference, so he just waited and waited for missionaries to pass by. He borrowed a Book of Mormon from his sister’s friend and started reading from the beginning. He read the introduction and the witnesses, and the first few chapters of first Nephi. How incredible! So we taught him where the Book comes from and about the Restoration for the first lesson. We are returning for him too, but really its incredible what the gospel does when someone puts their effort into learning it. 

The other one was a reference from a relative that was leaving the house. He told us about his relative that was an inactive member and so we knocked on the door. Out comes this woman and she invited us in without too much of a wait. She told us she had been inactive for 16 years but wanted her son to be raised in the church. She still prays our way, but she’s been baptized catholic to avoid conflicts at work. Her Book of Mormon actually had a few words different it was so old, actually that was kind of weird.

Questions:

Yes it’s cold even though it’s like 60 degrees out. It’s pretty humid, but I don´t notice that anymore, just that it’s really cold. We proselyte in sweaters or coats every day.

We had a conference with the mission president and his wife this last week and will have interviews tomorrow. They are really two incredibly prepared people and I felt immediately that they will affect the way that I live my life from here on out. She served here in Lima North and he served in Chile. He’s a convert from 18 years and older who had parent trouble when join the church. He waited for her after being in a serious relationship with her at BYU. While he waited he studied law and they married when he got back. He wants to participate in the work with us, attending sacrament meetings and baptisms and even teaching lessons with us when possible.

Transfers next is at the end of the month, but here it’s usually 3 to 5 transfers, so I’m in the target zone to get transferred, who knows? We have a transfer meeting the day before where the zone leaders announce who has transfers immediately after writing home, then who ever leaves has the Pday to pack and the next day it’s a bus to the offices to wait for your companion.

I haven´t received a handwritten letter from grandma yet, but it could be here soon I think.

Yes I went to Camp Easton.

Melissa is the best, she´s incredibly strong willed and really her testimony in the Book of Mormon that I have is impressive. She´s a spiritual giant housed in the physical body of a little girl (she hates it when i call her that) and she´s righteous to the core.

We saw just about 15 minutes of the conference while we were eating dinner, it was broadcast via internet, Magdala Stake isn’t in my mission, but they broadcast the feed to all of the stakes. The facebook thing hasn´t been implemented here and I hope it doesn’t happen. It takes away a big part of being a missionary in my opinion and to be honest I don´t think a lot of missionaries can behave themselves with it. It´s sad but really true, the best way to do missionary work here in Peru is through the members.

I love you all, I know my letters aren’t very long, but really it’s because so much happens in one week I can only remember two or three days’ worth when I am writing. There’s no way I can say it all, but know that I’m safe and happy and praying for you all. 

Love, 

Elder Nelson

PS still waiting on the personal account from Braden of his proposal ;)

Daniel

Dear Family,

How incredible, I loved that story so much! Next week when I am on a faster computer I will print it and keep it with my other ¨´special letters´´ 

(Here is the story Cameron is referring to:

It is super hot here, too.  Summer just decided to show up with a vengeance, no easing into it at all!  Yesterday, there was a thunder and lightening storm here.  Between 3 and 4 am there was enormous claps of thunder...I have never heard it so loud!  Along with it there was a fierce show of lightening.  Then Saturday morning, we were getting some things done around the yard before the heat of the day set in.  The clouds rolled in and the thunder started.  I was watching the lightening show over Badger mountain thinking that the antennas might get hit.  The thunder and lightening were pretty simultaneous.  Then the lightening struck the side of Badger Mtn.  The fire spread quickly across the moutain.  Then another spot was struck and it merged into the first fire.  Thunder and lightening all around us....we were all standing in the yard watching the hillside on fire and counting how far apart the thunder and lightening were when there was one at the same time.  We could almost feel it in our bones.  I screamed and we all ran inside.  Chika was the only smart one that was found hiding under Melissa's bed!  I guess it wasn't so smart to stand in the middle of our open back yard to watch the storm, but that was the only spot we could see the mountain on fire.  Within about 10 minutes of the mountain catching fire, the rain began.  It rained soooo hard.  We couldn't even see Badger.  It flooded the cul de sac and pounded the house like a thousand hooves.  Then just as quickly as it came, it left.  And the fire was completely put out.  Now there is just a black eye on the side of the hill. It was a miracle.  The rain never even touched Richland proper...just around Badger mtn and where the lightening had been striking,near our house.  It made me realize how powerful the forces of nature can be.  It also made me think of when the Savior was crucified, how terrific the thunder and storms must have been.)

Most of my internet time this week has been spent in waiting for it to load. I drew the short stick this week and have to use the notorious slow computer. Just a quick story and then I will answer all the the questions I can before times up.

Daniel this week told us Thursday that his dad forbade him to be baptized, or required that he would be baptized Catholic first and then Mormon. Daniel knew better and wasn’t having any of that (ps he’s 15) and because of this conversation he had with his dad, we weren’t able to contact him all week for his final interview. his phone was turned off and we couldn’t get anything through to him. Then on Friday we finally found him leaving his apartment to go to school and he told about what had happened, he was in tears. This baptism has been his dream for 4 years and it finally looked like he might make it because his dad hadn’t said anything about it for a while. Well, we told him that his member mom had signed the paper for his baptism and he could get baptized but really only if he wanted to deal with what his dad decided later. Very much like Casey Garland or Bridgette. Well he showed up for the baptism twenty minutes late with tears in his eyes, but when he came up out of the water I felt his relief pour into me. He came to church in time to be confirmed by his member uncle with terminal cancer and I just felt the love His Father has for him even if his earthly father doesn’t understand yet.

I love Lima mom, I couldn´t think of being anywhere else right now. The jungle is pretty, but it’s more of a vacation than a mission for me, so I’m stoked to be right here. The 100 stakes has all happened in a little over 60 years from one branch, that isn’t mentioned, but it’s incredible. One companionship from each zone went, but not me and Elder Gaibor, it was in a huge soccer stadium with Elder Christofferson.  (*They celebrated 100 Stakes in Lima this past weekend.  We saw it from Braden's former companion who is in Peru on his facebook page and asked Cameron about it.)

I love you all, and will send photos and a much longer email next week.

Love, Elder Nelson

CUY

Dear Family,                                                                                                                         

Well this is it, last Monday after we wrote home, the zone leaders read us the transfer sheet. Drum Roll Please.....the whole zone stayed less one from a triple that was a temporary in the mission. Nobody will ever again get the fateful call to the jungle because the mission divides on July 1, and transfers next are July 30. I´ll never know the jungle, but the cool news is, in the jungle they don´t eat cuy (guinea pig) they eat monkey and bugs and turtle instead, but this week I had cuy. It´s a lot like pork but with kind of a natural seasoning to it that makes it a little more savory.  It was so good and the sister even showed me the head in a bowl, cue the ewww from Melissa ;) I had a foot still attached to mine, but it was fried pretty good, so the meat around the achilles was tender. Haha alright that’s all the gross I’ll give you, but really its super good.

I received the package last Thursday, about 2 and a half weeks right? Thanks soooo much for everything, I am cherishing each part and writing a bit for those in the ward who wrote me notes.

Elder Gaibor and Elder Nelson help cook
cow heart kabobs and entrails

I´m so glad to hear trek was a variety of experiences once again. My memories of the trek are all inspirational and teach me that I can do hard things no matter what might come my way. Those experiences prepare the young men for missions and the young women for missions or college or being a mom. That can be tough too, and we don´t give moms enough credit.  Mother’s day here is like New Year’s, its huge and theres festivals everywhere, that’s how it should be worldwide really.

This week is the second to last week of preparation for a triple baptism of primary and youth aged converts. Daniel is still having a few troubles with scary issues, but he is finally going to get baptized after wanting to for 3 years. He´s taught me a lot about the power of perseverance.  If we make an effort constantly, if we are anxiously engaged in a good work, it doesn´t matter how long we have to try, the Lord will reward us according to our faith. Narda is a dry Mormon, she turns 10 in a couple of months, and she has been coming to church with her grandparents for a year or two. She shows me the positive power of good grandparents, like the ones that I have. Thank you so much Grandma Nelson and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, you´ve all been the best a grandson could ask for. Keep on being good members an honoring your covenants. Briseyra turns 10 today, and she has had a tough go of it already. When her grandparents moved out of the city, her aunts and uncles and her mom (single mother) all pretty much went inactive and her uncles started to drink once in a while. She shows the maturity of someone more like 13 or 14 years old, but she’s only 10. She is personally helping her mom to reactivate in the church and that’s incredible to me. They all get baptized on the 29th by relatives or friends in the church after having received their missionary lessons. 

Other than that, we have had really great experiences the past few weeks with references. For example we had mission correlation meeting with the bishop in our ward and as part of it we explained how we are trying to work with less active members in order to complete their families and also gain references from them. The bishop right there gave us 5 names of people who have been baptized, gone inactive and now have spouses or children that aren´t baptized. He had two or three more names even as we were closing the meeting. Pray for names to come to you for the missionaries, It´s so important I can´t even express how much for us to share the gospel with everyone. This week we visited one of the families and this week the kids went to church. The husband isn´t a member, but wants to change his life. He has a baptismal date for next month. I have been writing a lot more detailed in my journal, so really my journal and these letters will end up being companion volumes that show in parts my testimony of the mission work. First, that Jesus is the Christ, the living son of God, and that he has paid for our sins whether we accept Him or not. Second that the Atonement is more profound, more extensive than we will ever ever know. Third, that the family is the most important thing you can ever develop, and more valuable than all of the work or friends or "fun" anyone could ever have. This gospel is the only way that we can return to live with our Father again and remain happily forever with our families.

I love you all, I pray for you daily, I hope that my experiences her in the mission benefit you spiritually and that the blessings are forthcoming for each of you.

Love Elder Nelson

PS Read the Book of Mormon this week, I don´t know why but that´s really really important for me to write.

Kebabs and Entrails...yum

Dear Family

Well the truth is that I lost my first USB drive, but I have two more and that other drive only had a few pictures of the temple and of the choir that I directed, and the video of the choir. I´m totally okay with that and today the letter will be a touch shorter because I spent some time backing up photos on USB number 2. 

Yes mom I heard about Braden being engaged, I just thought I would play a little trick like Braden with Rosi, haha. (*Braden never responded when we told him we got a new dog, Rosi) Ashley by all reports seems like a wonderful girl and as a prospective missionary she probably is really deeply rooted in the gospel, which is really the foundation of a good marriage. With the several talks Braden and I had in between Utah and Washington,  he´s ready for marriage and I´m extremely proud and excited for them both. Please welcome Ashley into the family as warmly as Joe. The news had me distracted much of Pday, but now its only when it comes time to pray. I love to hear wonderful news like that.

News about Lima East: all of the ward members have told me it includes the majority of the sierra, so expect a frio fuerte and lots of mamitas like the tradicional pictures of Peru. That's a bit for Christian.

As for fathers day, this one might strike a chord and I´m sorry if it does. Has anyone visited Grandpa´s grave for a while? I´d like someone to do that sooner than later. It seems like he occupied my mind for a while on Father´s day. He provided well for his children and even afterward provided for his Grandchildren. I know I don´t even realize the privileges that have come to me as a result of his decision to work hard all of his life. I love him now while I am here in the mission field that he loved so much more than ever. Dad I feel the same way about you. You have worked so hard for our family and I´m positive that I didn´t say I love you or thank you or I´m sorry enough while I was home. You always chose to be the bigger man in any disagreements we ever had. This may seem a little small to you, but if my other blog doesn´t have an entry on Fathers then it was on my list of subjects I wanted to write about. You are my biggest example of a righteous man and a covenant keeping father and I love you.

My experience of the week for this email is more of a group of experiences. We are working right now on completing a few less active families with the hope that completing them also activates them. The investigators are two 9 year old daughters a father a 16 year old son and a 17 year old cousin who lives close. Each one is a different family and each one has specific challenges. Teaching the youngest ones is giving me a chance to really fine tune my Spanish and explain the gospel in a simple, easy to understand way. It´s helping me to get back to the basics. The best part is that in all the cases except the dad, there is a worthy priesthood holder whom we've asked to do the baptism. It´s the best of all worlds and I know that in that way these kids will remain active in the church. The father is a really interesting one. Arturo is an adventista, which usually means that he would want to bible bash a while before opening up. I don´t like that because A it gets rid of the spirit in a hurry and B I can´t do it because I don't know the bible well enough. The difference with him is that although he has a beer every once in a while like maybe two times a month, he's a really regular guy, he has seen how those who know the church have less complicated lives and that appeals to him. He has had a lot of things going badly lately and that bothers him, but he knows that when he prays he feels calm about things like that. Basically he's the most prepared you can be to getting baptized, he's just missing the lessons and attendance. We have had one lesson with him and one with the rest of his family because of the work schedules, but already his family has come back to attend at least once. I love that he knows what a difference the gospel makes in life, and I hope he continues in his good decisions.

That picture at the coast is actually me and a zone leader, Elder Tana, or Elder Tanita because of his height. He's about 4´10´´ I think. He´s so great. Our mission president gives permission to zones to visit specific parts of the city for Pdays because our mission doesn´t cover any of the historic parts of the city. For that reason we made it to the coast on that pday. No, my companion is about my height and has about 40 pounds on me. I´ll send pictures next week of us cooking anticucho (cow heart on kebobs) with a member. They also cook the entrails with a vinegar baste. Its a little of a delicacy here, and its soooo good :) We do get a long better than Elder Arce and I, and he actually spent ten months in Lima before the jungle, but he definitely prefers it here, which is a real blessing because he will likely stay here. He says the jungle was really cool and great to look at, but the work isn´t the same, people inactivate quickly and its just different.

Well time is short and so´s the letter this week, I promise I´ll write more next week. Tell Aubs it´s okay, parked cars can really jump out at you from my experience. I love you all and pray for you constantly.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Satan's Subtle Tone

Coastal Lima

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                   

So much mission news! Megan will do great in Provo, it’s been her dream to serve for a long time and I´m excited for her to be in P-town, where memories are made. Tanner Gill is too young to serve a mission, wow time flies there doesn´t it.  And Christian, if there was one youth in the Tri-Cities that exemplified temple worship even before he understood the full importance of it, it´s Christian Burrup. He´s going to be a Seventy someday or something. Such an example to me of a spiritually minded young man.

Sorry for the lack of explanation, but the museum was a museum of the Catholic Church history in Peru like all of the museums here haha. All of them have some kind of connection to that church but yeah that was the confessional of Peru, hace muchos años. torture them until they admit that they aren´t a Catholic, it was really sad, especially the one with lash marks, that made me think of what Christ endured for us and the fate of the martyrs of the ancient church. Center of Lima is all the buildings, it’s the old part of Lima but all of it but the palace and the Catholic church that fits like thousands have been converted into a shopping broadway.

Miraflores area of Lima

This week for Pday we went to where the money is in Lima, on the coast to a place called Larcomar. The differential of money is astounding. We even went bowling, but my score was pretty rank, I came in second with only 109...I going to have to relearn a few things. In the next email I’m going to try to send a panorama that I took of the coast, super cool. The Marriott is to show dad that there’s a space to the right that he could build and we could visit....;)

Dinners are exactly the opposite, now we have pension and that means we have a sister that cooks for us for dinner. It´s perfect we go buy like 60 cents of fresh bread an maybe an empenada for breakfast and have that with the evaporated milk drink (they call it leche de gloria) and then dinner is something that the hermana fixes up for us. Also I need the recipe for pancakes stat, a sister wants to treat us to pancakes and homemade pizza and I don´t know how to do pancakes other than a mountain of flour and eggs and milk, but flour plus what is like bisquick? Anyway, a recipe would be nice, thanks :) I mark the receiving date on all the mail that I get, and it looks like on average it´s three weeks, this time with grandma´s dear elder a little more, if you send a dear elder please put the date, there’s no stamped date usually and so I have no way to know when you sent it.

This week we had this crazy experience with an investigator who went to seminary for two years and then stopped going to church and seminary because his parents stopped him from getting baptized. In the past year, he started listening to metal music (note: be careful of the things you let Satan suggest to your mind through the subtle power of the musical word or tone...that’s an original) and he felt powerful when he listened to it. Lo and behold he started to see a dark figure in the streets but never face to face, only from behind. Then he and his family heard noises after leaving their apartment with nobody inside after one of our visits, like someone pacing on the metal roof. It gets freakier, but the end of the story is that we dedicated the home against the power of the adversary and he (15 years old) gets this super strong headache after the prayer. We gave him a blessing and it subsided to this feeling like a wrestling match inside of his chest. Friends and Family, the power of the adversary is real and strong, but it is absolutely and unequivocally insignificant in comparison with the magnificent and God-given power of the holy priesthood. Guard yourselves against any slip that might carry you down this path that leads to nothing but misery and regret. Our friend Daniel erased all of the music from his computer, all images of darkness and even his facebook account. He has a very long road of recovery to go, but you all don´t even have to glance at the other fork in the road for a moment to know that you don´t want what´s at the end of it.

Super glad they are on the other side of the fence :)

I am having experiences that will shape and mold the rest of my life here in Peru, and it´s all thanks to my Heavenly Father, who has blessed me with family, friends, teachers and leaders who helped me to see who I could become. Now my companion helps me to learn more and more every day. He understands quite a bit of English and is super super obedient, it shows in the results we are having in the area. We get along really well except for that he walks a little slow...we are fixing that bit by bit :)

I love you all and hope that your decisions bring you closer to that awesome Being who created us.

Love,

Elder Nelson 

Switcheroos

Hola Familia!                                                                                                               June 3, 2013

Switching apartments

Elder Arce as he leaves for Argentina

Things got a little crazy here this week. As a result, I have a new room, a new companion, a new laundry sister, and now we have medio pension which is pension just for Dinner. So from the beginning, last Thursday I think it was, Elder Arce got a call from his trainer, Elder Garcia, who is leader of a zone in the offices area. It was a warning that the other elders destined for Argentina were leaving in the morning for their mission and that we would likely get a call soon from the zone leaders. Well, he was dead on, but we had already started moving rooms because of the twice weekly fiestas above our old room. So half of our stuff was in the old room and half in the new room. Well the end of the month was approaching pretty fast, so we called the bishop and we moved all of the stuff except a desk and a couple of things for hanging clothes, and the water heater for the shower to the new room. It´s a pretty small space, so we played “tetris” for a while. For a reference, the two rooms are like my old bedroom with a bathroom that’s probably about 10 square feet. Also we fit two beds and two desks and an armoire in the space. It´s a little cramped, but cozy and easier to clean than the other one. So elder Arce left for Argentina early on Thursday morning and then there was a conference with President Blunck all day on Thursday. I was in a trio for a day and a half and then waited at the offices for three hours for my new companion from the jungle. His name is Elder Gaibor, from Equador, yes it rhymes and is great fun to say under my breath :)

Our first actions on the night after he got here (Friday night) were to teach a few lessons. But the morning after, we moved the rest of the stuff. I´ve taken icy showers for about a week, but it was the same my first week here, so no biggie. We also spent some time making our beds so that we aren’t sleeping on the floor on mattresses. The zone leaders are finding pieces to a bunk bed for us so that we can have a touch more space soon as there is only a foot in between the two beds and at the foot for movement. The climate change from the jungle to Lima and the lack of clean air here messed with Elder Gaibor a bit and so he spent a day laid out in bed and I spent the day studying and prepping lesson plans and organizing the room. I gave him a blessing in the morning and he started to feel better toward the end of the day, so we went to mission correlation meeting and taught some less actives a lesson then headed home. Sunday however, was great, Elder Gaibor is really teaching me to ask EVERYone for references. With him we are having a lot of success with the members, even less actives. He has about a year in the mission and it shows.

 

Juan and Maritza and us had a lesson last night that was really good., They told us about some miracles that happened surrounding their baptism that we hadn’t known about, and I bore testimony of the importance of keeping a journal of the blessings that our Father gives us.  Juan told me that he will plan to do that starting that night. However, here’s a couple of the miracles that happened for them.

Juan is a machiner, he builds machines for companies that hire him to a specific purpose. At his job site this week (in between his baptism and his confirmation) he was cutting some steel pipe (about 4 inch width) and he had this thought come into his mind to be careful. Well he thought to himself that he was always careful with this particular machine because of the dangerous nature of the beast. He was checking the sides of the cutter when the steel pipe bent in half instead of cutting. The pipe passed on the side of his arm not even but almost grazing it. But his head had been in the spot at the same moment seconds early and it would have crushed his skull. How incredible is that! He said he knows now that the same feeling came over him during his confirmation that came over him when he had the thought to be careful.

The two parents have seen some incredible changes happen in their home because of their listening to the missionaries, and they’ve also noticed that during fast and testimony meeting, almost all the testimonies have the usual common things and in addition they mention the change that’s happened because of the missionaries (almost our entire ward are converts of varying times in their lives) Juan and Maritza say that their daughters are always kind to each other but now, they are extra careful to serve one another. Also their daughter Yubiza left her work, which was a stress on the family and on Sundays, specifically because she wanted to spend time with the family. It’s incredible the things that they have done even without us asking, and its evidence to me that our Heavenly Father works in us constantly to mold us into the people we have the potential to be. 

The family even have introduced us to the brother and sister in law of Maritza to teach. They attended the marriage, baptism and even the confirmation. He’s a former Jehovah´s witness but left their church because he watched his aunt get shunned by his grandma for committing a single sin. The whole congregation apparently doesn´t talk to you ever again if you sin. You can attend but nobody will acknowledge your presence. It’s super sad, but its opened a door for this brother and his wife to be able to listen to us with open hearts.

So in answer yes, we are always  working with new investigators and with less active members in order to gain new investigators. We do a lot of work trying to reactivate converts who aren’t quite fully converted, but he majority of our work is with less actives and investigators.

Questions:

Yes my pen is ballpoint.

Hooray for cocoa, its super expensive here. oh and a drink you ought to try: Evaporated milk with a couple of spoons of sugar like a third of a cup or less of the milk with the rest of the mug filled with hot water. That’s super common at breakfast here with nesquick or milo (fortified nesquick) if you want some other flavor to it. It´s super good, but I’m sure super fattening haha. 

 

I love you all and pray for each of you often, just know that I am safe and happy and working in the Lord´s vineyard to brings souls from the harvest.

Love,

Elder Nelson