Sincere Prayer

Dear Familia,                                  

I like that Idea as well. (Writing the top 12 things you have learned on your mission…) I´ll have to put some thought into it and see what I come up with next week. Oh before I forget, thank Aunt Janet for the Dear Elder. I got it last week and forgot to mention it! It´s really great to hear from family members.  Know that I read your letters and feel great knowing all that´s going on even if I don´t find the time to write back specifically!  I´m really glad Grandma’s doing great. An Elder here in the offices had a family tragedy last month and had a rough time after having lost his grandma, and it made me think a lot about just how fragile things really are and how we honestly don´t know what will happen. I´m happy that you are all safe and happy and leading productive lives.

It´s true the Ericksons have been going to the lake (Twin Lakes, Washington, where we have been going every summer) for around 30 years or so now, or at least that’s what I seem to remember from our conversation over lunch the other day. Their group isn’t all members and so he didn´t show too many photos of his group (Hermana Erickson said it probably wouldn´t be too appropriate due to swimwear) but it´s definitely the same lake. He even mentioned a few good spots to go look for huckleberries though he also mentioned they would be picked clean probably just two weeks prior to getting there ourselves (that’s their week...somewhat). On a side note...did Braden go to the lake this year? I feel like he didn´t because of school or something, but I don´t remember if he and Ashley went on with Summer term because the seasons have me all backwards here. You should all be in the middle of winter term already.

Funny story. Today we went to a place called Lomos de Lucuma. It´s super cool and a good hike (about 3 hours in a loop). We went because the tourism site that the mission uses to take missionaries to Interpol and immigrations gives a prize trip to missions that buy more than 15 services in the month. We had a lot of missionaries using their services this last month, so they took us on the trip (approved by President Erickson of course). Well, the driver is someone we know fairly well, but this was the first time he had driven the offices on the trip and so we were asking him about his family and where in Lima he lives and things like that (they are all members). Well it turns out he is from the same stake and knows him pretty well. (I am not sure what the connection is here.  It didn’t make much sense the way Cameron wrote it.  I will try to find out in the next letter.) It was cool to see how the world is even smaller than we see it when we see it as a small, small world.

According to the schedule (i.e. if I don´t stay in the offices to the end for a strange reason like another weird Central American style change like what happened to Elder A) I should be leaving the offices on November 4th. For Christmas, I will call and we can talk about mission related things and try to keep as focused as possible while acknowledging that I might get home soon after. Honestly I used to like planning ahead for things and projecting into the future in order to be more efficient or make things happen, but the more I do that now, the more other missionaries remind me how close I am to finishing. IT´S STINKIN 6 MONTHS AWAY! I will be staying here a good long while and I like that haha. They can try, but they won´t get me trunky. As for birthday plans, I think I should be fine, I actually don´t know the status of my bank account other than that you are trying to maintain it at whatever the amount it is that we decided on with my savings account. I don´t pull money out very often, but I am thinking that I will try to get a few things for recuerdos while I´m still here in the offices, probably closer to the end of my time in here.

There’s a massive marriage offered for here in the offices the 22nd of October. The municipality of Center de Lima has been working really nicely with us for the last couple of months. They were the organizers of the marriage in the water fountain park a month ago and they let us organize this one here in the offices at no additional cost and included they would drop the cost of the marriage to absolutely nothing. The only things that the couples are buying are the copy of their birth certificates, their medical checkups, and their documents that say they are single. It´s literally a third of the cost of the regular marriages we do. We are SOOO grateful to them for doing that and it´s been a miracle to see that the Lord opens doors for us on a daily basis so that the work can move forward.

I love you all, I hope that you are working on developing a sincere relationship with Him and trying to looking for His will constantly. That´s my goal for this week as we get ready for changes and the multi-zone conferences this month!

Love,

Elder Nelson

PS I will try to upload a few fotos of PDay tomorrow, no time tonight!