18 Wheelers and Goatheads

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                                 

I just got the package from Vanessa yesterday, though with permission, I might open it before leaving the offices because changes are coming up and I may have to pack it into a suitcase. It might fit better once opened. I´ll wait for permission from you first though. I think I will call Vanessa this week to see about sending instructions and when she would be able to take it. I´m going into center of Lima today to buy a few things to put into it, so if there´s a charge on my card, then you´ll know why.  

I will likely go one, possibly two more times to the temple before leaving. I plan on trying to go sometime next week (before leaving the offices) and then maybe once more in January before finishing. I love going to the temple. Here, I have been able to put more emphasis on what´s said in the presentation because of the language, and being able to focus on the dialogue helps me to recognize some little things. I think of all the things that could happen in life, establishing a habit of going to the temple often is what stands out as the number one indicator of a strong church member.

I think that I actually prefer being in the field. Administering for the mission is good, and I can definitely feel that I have grown tremendously as a person since coming to the office. I know that I have tried to help a lot of missionaries and more than anyone President and Sister Erickson, but being in the field can´t be matched. I have been able to see that I am happiest out of the spotlight haha. If there is a mission assignment that is all of the analytics and the work visits and the responsibility of being an assistant without the trainings, I´m there. I feel a lot of the time like mom. I love learning and studying, and even the person to person interactions, but the actual training or the actual giving of the class "me es dificil". I know that God gives each of us weaknesses and talents and sometimes I feel like He wants me to develop some that I feel don´t come as naturally as to others. I will welcome the challenge of being back in the field and being able to work more seguidamente (subsequently) with investigators and members. That´s where I want to be, helping people to reach the spiritual progress that they need.

Congrats to David and Rylan. What´s Kenny think of the marriage? He must be ecstatic that they´ll probably stick around the Tri-Cities. Congrats as well to Josh and Tyler. The mission is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone, and I know that it comes to be a part of you. There´s things that I have learned here I will never forget and people I have taught here that I´ll never forget either.

I did a work visit with Elder D and Elder M this week, waaaaayy out in Los Angeles Zone. It was so great to spend some time with a couple of missionaries that I have known practically my whole mission and to go out and teach with power to a humble people. At one point, we stopped to buy some Gatorade knockoff at a tienda because it was actually a pretty hot day. We walked down the street talking about patriarchal blessings and the next lesson we were going to teach when from out of nowhere a glass bottle hit the street a couple of feet from Elder D´s foot. We kept walking but I could tell that a young man from the park had thrown it at us. We weren´t in any real danger, but it was a very real reminder that we are constantly in opposition. The gospel moves forward like a giant 18 wheeler, and the devil is doing his best to stop it. His problem is that the most he can put out there are a couple of goat heads before we pass him up and keep on down the highway. 

I love you all, I know that everyone is anxiously engaged in a good cause, but this week, try to think if all of the causes we engage ourselves in are as good as others. There´s a really great article about the science of happiness on the church website. Go and read it!

Love,

Elder Nelson

The other picture is of me and Elders C y W on a work visit in Canto Chico. That happened last week, but I wanted to send some photos :)

Bringing Them Home

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                             

First off yes I pulled S/. 100 out of my card and I may pull 50 to 100 more out this week in order to buy a few recuerdos (souvenirs)  before leaving the offices. I think I will coordinate with Inka Envíos (Vanessa) to send them home in a package before leaving. To do that, I may have to pull out an additional amount to pay the shipping. I´ll let you know when I send it so you can be expecting it. As for a Christmas package, I am absolutely fine haha not a thing I need for sure. If you still feel like you need to send me something you can send me a tie perhaps, in one of those bubble envelopes so it won´t cost anything. I was brainstorming with some of the office elders about what to bring down in that suitcase that we can give away. Winter does get kind of cold for people here, but I haven´t really seen many people use hats gloves or scarves unless they are the knit variety from llama wool they have, and to be honest those are probably better than we can bring. Then, Elder U had this great idea. He said that the majority of the people he knows only have maybe one white shirt to go to church in, or two ties max and they stay that way until they have been members a good two years. As well, the women usually don´t own skirts or dresses to wear to church. If we brought down a suitcase full of Sunday clothing to give away, I know it would get put to good use, and I also know that it would be a great subtle reminder for them to stay active in the church.

As for this week, we continued with the interviews and work visits, this time going to Independencia, Collique, San Felipe and Canto Grande zones. The week goes by super fast when we have mission activities going on, and even faster now that we do visits after the interviews. We usually get back to the offices around 9 or 9:30 now and have just enough time to figure out the agenda for the following day and then head home. One of the good things I have been able to do this week is head out into Tahuantinsuyo more often and try to drum up some member support for the sisters. I went out on Thursday night with Elder S because I decided not to do a visit to Collique that afternoon and we went to a couple of less actives houses that I know. Nobody was home, so we went to the Elders Quorum president´s house and asked if he could help us find someone to teach. He had actually just gotten home after work in the early morning when his dad told him one of the elderly members of the ward passed away in the hospital and they were going to have the viewing and the burial that day. So he went with his dad, and saw a lot of the members of the ward out to support the family of a really faithful member who had passed on. He had just gotten home and eaten dinner when we knocked on his door, and he was hitting maybe 24 hours of being awake still but he agreed to take us to a friend of the deceased who had actually been the one to invite him to church many years ago, now inactive. 

When we got to his house, he invited us in, mostly in virtue of that we had Hno E with us. We sat down and we started to talk about the plan of salvation and remind him that his friend Hno C (the member who had just passed away) was where all faithful members go to wait the second coming of Jesus Christ. We explained just that and invited him to come back to church the following Sunday, shared a glass of soda (very very typical) then left. I felt that we were supposed to have been there and shared exactly that during the lesson, that it was no surprise just after the passing of his friend whom he had invited to church, we should come to his door to invite him to church. We left and the days went by, I got the duty of staying with Elder Y, an elder who fractured his ankle playing soccer and now has to stay in the office while he recovers. Saturday night, after Pday, I asked Elder U to accompany me to one last appointment at 8:00pm to visit Hermano A. We got to his door and he welcomed us in, this time without Hno E. We came in and started to teach the plan of salvation from the beginning and were able to get to the atonement before I just couldn´t keep going with the lesson points. I looked at him and said "Hermano E, usted puede acercarse más a Dios solo por tomar el primer paso, yendo a Su Iglesia, este Domingo" he responded that he was in the proccess of that and that he eats breakfast at 8 on Sundays. I told him "Hermano E, Dios le está esperando con brazos abiertos, y no piensa que es demasiado tiempo que usted está tomando desayuno a las 8 en vez de la Santa Cena (sacrament)?" He looked at me with very changed and very sad eyes and whispered, "Hermano Nelson...no sé si me van a aceptar con tanto cariño si voy este domingo." Y en seguida nos compartió porque se había alejado de la iglesia. Estaba en la hospital hace años por una operación importante y había comunicado con varios miembros para que le donen sangre para la operación (no hay bancos de sangre donada aquí, simplemente tienen que pagar otros por donarla o traer amigos de su tipo de sangre) y cuando la hora de la operación vino, nadie estaba. El hermano tuvo que comprar sangre de otros ahí en la hospital y se sentía muy decepcionado con los miembros del barrio. Sentía que por ofenderse con los miembros no le iban a aceptar de vuelta después de sus años alejado. Le aseguramos con toda la certeza del espíritu que si le aceptarían y que aunque no, él va a la iglesia por su propia salvación y no por sus amistades, sean tan cálidos o no. Nos miró a los ojos y dijo "Hermanos, mañana voy a la iglesia...a las 8 de la mañana me parto por allá". 

(Brother E, you can get closer to God just to take the first step, going to his church this Sunday. He responded that he was  in the process of that and that he eats breakfast at 8 on Sundays. I told him "Brother E, God is waiting for you with open arms, and not think it's too long you are taking breakfast at 8 instead of the sacrament (sacrament)? "he looked at me with very sad eyes and very changed and whispered," brother Nelson ... do not know if they will accept me so fondly if I go on Sunday." And then he shared it was because  he was away from the church. He was in the hospital for years for a major operation and had contacted several members to donate her blood for surgery (no donated blood banks here, just have to pay others to donate or bring friends to your blood type) and when the time of the operation came, no one was there. His brother had to buy blood of others there in the hospital and was very disappointed with the ward members. I felt offended.  The members they would not accept him back after years away. We assure you with all the certainty of the mind that they will accept and if not, we go to church for our own salvation, not our friends, so they are hot or not. He looked into my eyes and said, "Brothers, tomorrow I go to church ... at 8 in the morning before I labor over there") (sorry, very rough translation from google translate)

We left the visit absolutely burning with the spirit after finishing out the lesson and I called the elders quorum president to make sure he knew the situation. Today they welcomed him with open arms and several members from before came and talked with him during the several meetings without having been asked to do so. Things are starting to happen here in Tahuantinsuyo, slowly but surely. The immense sadness is that I won´t be around to witness it unfold.

I love you all, I know that there has to be members of our ward that don´t go. Look them up, do whatever it takes and make a couple of visits to them this week. Seeing someone twice in one week makes a huge difference, and if a less active member sees two different friends from the ward during one week that both encourage them to come back, I´d be willing to say there´s a greater chance they come than that they don´t. 

Love,

Elder Nelson

Parable of the Sower

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                          

Well, about conference. The announcement went out and that was all the talk so that´s what I thought, that we wouldn’t be able to see it because the law is against congregating on that day. However, it isn´t congregating if the office elders get together to watch conference on a projector in president´s office, so we watched all 5 sessions in there in our office chairs. I loved it, and this weekend my goal was to watch it in English, but that didn´t work out too well today. I think maybe tomorrow I´ll watch them in English though.

This week we did a ton of work visits, trying to visit someone in each of the zones that had room revisions and interviews to try and see how they are doing in their area. This week it was Magnolias´ turn on Wednesday and I got to do a work visit to Buenos Aires. Wow. Things had changed but really not all that much. There are a few more paved roads than before, but the people are the same. It was an absolute joy to be able to visit them and see how they have progressed. The G family had been more or less active for the last couple of months so we visited them and we talked about the importance of going to church and being grateful for the blessings that they have received in the last year and a half of being members. They have progressed a lot both spiritually and temporally and they just needed a little push to remember to be grateful for the temporal blessings. The G family (S y C) have been married now for almost a year and their daughter L is already walking and babbling...she was born just before I left the area! They passed through some trials like S losing his job in the past year but C was grateful to have the perspective of the church and the eternal familia because she said before something like that would have been enough to separate for a couple of months. 

The bishop´s familia is doing great. I think I told you about Hermana V. Well she´s something like 65 but her dad was murdered in Cusco and they really don´t know what happened. She was in Cusco for the last three months or so taking care of her mom. She is an amazing woman. The whole family has moved forward. Bishop lost probably 20 kg and he and his wife are both in accounting school so that he doesn´t have to work as a taxista anymore. He has been a bishop for going on 9 years, but they just keep going at it. The L family is doing really well. They have been pensioning for the missionaries still and the youngest of the babies are now walking and talking.

I think one of the most impacting things that has happened in the last year and a half in Buenos Aires is seeing that the parable of the sower is being fulfilled. Sometimes we are those that plant, others we water, others we harvest, but what is important is that we are working. A lot of the people we had worked with in my time there that hadn´t accepted at the time have been baptized or are set to be baptized in the next month or so. Some of them were barely just a one time lesson that we didn´t continue teaching because we couldn´t find them again. Others were long time investigators that finally overcame their difficulties and were able to repent and be baptized. I absolutely loved seeing all of the progress. I know that there’s a time for everyone to receive the gospel, and sometimes it´s when I have been able to participate in the end product and other times no. I am so grateful for the opportunity to help them along even!

I love you all, congrats to Darci and Joe on their soon to be son (a nephew!!!) I hope you are all able to see the spiritual progress you are passing through and what the Maker is molding you into!

Love,

Elder Nelson

Conference Highlights

Dear Familia,               

                                                                                                                           

Well, I just finished watching the priesthood session of general conference. We have Pdays Saturday and well on Sunday there is literally nothing until 3 o clock, so I think we will actually watch conference here. If I wasn´t there with Dad in body I was definitely there in spirit. Conference was excellent. I can´t believe just how good and spot on these last conferences have been. I did what you suggested and came in with a couple of written questions and two of the three have been answered so far. Hopefully tomorrow I´ll be able to know what the answer to the third is and be able to recognize it more than anything.

Today, I especially enjoyed Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk about focus and not pleasing man but pleasing God and Elder Jörg Klebingat´s talk about achieving self-surety through the atonement. I can´t really not mention Elder Holland´s talk or Elder Perry´s talk...or the entire priesthood session. Ha I guess it all just rang really true to me and being able to watch it was a really pleasant surprise. (In Peru, this weekend was elections.  This meant that congregating for any purpose, even church, was illegal.  So they watched in the offices or in members homes when they had internet. Next weekend, the congregations will gather and watch at their buildings.)

First about Elder Robbins talk. Wow, it was like he had been listening to President Erickson for the last month and a half or something. President has had this HUGE focus on making sure we are direct when inviting investigators and not fearing but just completely losing that fear of man so that we can focus on being the best missionaries. Something else that was common between Pte Erickson and Elder Robbins theme is that Pte has said basically the whole mission that we cannot short sell or offer discounts on the price of salvation. There´s really only one way in and that´s through faith, repentance, baptism, following the holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Elder Robbins said something similar to (translating) lowering the standards or the doctrine to the level of personal conduct leads to the self satisfaction, but not to growth or spiritual progress nor repentance. I thought that was so important. We cannot become satisfied in the gospel, once we feel we are comfortable in the church it means we have stopped feeling the spirit because the spirit always urges us onward. 

Elder Klebingat´s talk came off as a little bit of a "quemada" like a lecture in Spanish, but I could really rescue that he detailed a self evaluation on how to attain success. It was supercomprehensive and something that honestly you could print off and use as an abbreviated life plan. It echoes a lot of personal philosophy and will help me continue to develop Christlike attributes here in the mission and afterwards. I felt a little like he might have been quoting something like 6 habits of highly effective people but I know that what he said was so applicable and true, I just have to do it (I have somewhat lost a good focus on the physical health what with the package and all haha).

All in all I just came away from conference (during which I never slept not once) excited. I can´t wait til next weekend when I think we will watch them again but in English so I can go from getting doctrinal principles to connecting them with the absolutely genius linguistics of the general authorities. That´s something that I miss and I know my English has died a little bit while here. I figure there´s time enough to figure that out later, and that it´s better right now to focus on being able to communicate the gospel clearly and with power that´s only possible through excellent language skills. I still learn more about Spanish every single day. I learn new words and correct my grammar a little bit more.

I love general conference because it gets me excited to participate in the whole gospel. In some ways, as a missionary, we participate in a very large part of it, which is the obra misional. I mean if we think about that in Peru it also means the Sunday school program ( a lot of times we are the teachers for classes) and also serving in ward councils and helping form the church. However, those that are living in their own ward or in their own branch have a very often overlooked responsibility to live the whole gospel. When I say that I mean to magnify their callings, establish good spiritually edifying habits that aren´t mandated by a schedule, make meaningful visits to assigned families for home or visiting teaching, and all the other wonderful parts of being a full-time member of the church includes. Being on a mission has taught me soooo much about the actual value of those things, especially as pertains to how important it is for the Aaronic priesthood holders to participate as much as Dad helped me. I remember that he was faithful to a T about visiting every single month, and that it was never an option to go to the priesthood sessions of conference. Being here, I realize that even if I wasn´t the type to resist very much those things, that´s because I saw that Dad just did it. He never really stopped to question if he had time or if there were other things to do, he would just go and do it because that´s what a priesthood holder does. I am so grateful for your example.

I have been hugely impressed in this conference with the tidbits of advice, one after another that show me how very blessed I am for living and having lived in the circumstances that I did and do. In short (because it´s late) I love my family because it´s the best and I empathize with those who haven´t had the awe-inducing familiar experience I have been blessed with.

I love you guys so much and I know that the rest of conference will be written just for the needs of each of you. Listen up and don´t doze off because you´ll miss something important for sure. I think the temptation to sleep comes right when we are supposed to pay the most attention!

Love,

Elder Nelson

God is our Father and is Mindful of us

Dear Family,                                                                                                              

Sometimes the weeks in between mission activities can feel a little like that, another week come and gone, but one thing I have done in the offices is that I have tried to find ways to make my time more valuable. Time becomes to a missionary something that rises and falls in value as we use it wisely or foolishly. When I am able to focus on helping someone else, or I do something that helps me to develop a Christlike attribute, I feel that my time is of great worth, but when I find myself with mixed up priorities that end up robbing time it´s not very valuable an experience. I want to use all of my time to become more converted, all of my time isn´t even mine, so I had better use it right?

You mentioned Ashley does ranger training? What´s that? The two options I can think of don´t really seem to match her: park ranger and power ranger. Well power ranger is out, since I´m fairly certain that show was limited to the 90s and early 00s. Park ranger...well unless Braden wants to go to medical school to become a wilderness trauma doctor I don´t know that it would be too great an investment. Whatever it is, I wish them success in their endeavors!

Conference actually got moved to the following weekend due to elections for regional and local mayorships. Elections are mandatory and require people to go to whatever region their state ID says they are from. Also all meetings (God´s true, restored church or not) are cancelled with heavy fines in place for those that don´t obey. This week that´s coming up, attendance for investigators counts if we take them to a members home to watch the priesthood session together, and the week after if we get them to come to the stake center to watch the sessions of conference. I´ll probably watch it in English this time, just because we will watch it on the office computers and the financial secretary Elder U wants to watch it in English as well. I imagine with the language change deal there will be a few Spanish speakers as well though. Did Presidente Uchtdorf give his talk in German?

Transfers went smoothly and we welcomed a group of 9 Latin elders, 8 American elders, 2 Latin sisters and an American sister to MPLN. These recent groups we have been going to the airport the night before to pick up the North Americans coming in from the Mexico CCM then sorting them into the nearby zones to stay the short night before the training that starts the next morning at 7:30. After the world-wind night it definitely makes me remember my first night in Perú and so I try to keep an open mind and answer as many questions as I can. They definitely come in with a deer in the headlights look and it doesn´t go away for a week or so haha. On Friday we welcomed them back with their trainers to do a training focused on the 12 weeks program and a few of the aspects of the mission manual and studies we want them to implement (strict adherence to the mission schedule and a guided study for their first 6 weeks).

In between the two trainings, we visited district meetings of four of the zones (two per day) and did a work visit on Thursday. I went on the work visit to Wiesse 2. It´s one of 4 areas in the Wiesse ward and one of two that doesn´t include part of a further city region called Jicamarca. At 5 after the afternoon district meeting I left with Elder N from Bolivia and Elder P from Arizona to get to work. While we were walking we talked about their area and a little of what their plan for the day was. Well, Elder P got sick after eating a few too many mandarin oranges the day before and so during the hours of the visit they planned to try to recuperate a few of the fixed appointments they had missed. With that in mind we headed to a shoe shop and found the first appointment Hermana E.  Hermana E doesn´t really have a really firm interest in the church yet, but her son, I think it is, is a member. We taught her why it´s so important that she come to church, focusing on the fact that she also has a younger son (4-6 years) that will be entering a pretty formative period in the next few years. That was a pretty good start and I was excited to be teaching new people and helping the elders to organize a little better their teaching. Next we took a moto out to one of the further parts of their area and taught an older woman whose husband is a member of the military as well as her two adult sons. They are all investigating, but it’s hard because the men are only there every 15 days due to their assignments in the base. That makes it difficult to come to church every Sunday especially because the Sundays they are home, they usually have a ton of things to do around the house. Same kind of lesson in that house.

After that we proceeded to walk around their area as the fog rolled in trying to find people who would let us teach. Don´t get me wrong, we went to specific houses of people they are currently teaching or have contacted in the past, but nobody wanted to let us in because it was really cold and many weren´t home. Coming up over one of the hills I was praying we could find somebody to share with in part because my being there was making Elder N nervous as their plan fell apart, and we decided to visit an active member´s house. Well, a computer technician let us in, but he turned out to be from the next ward over and an RM, so we shared a quick message about the mission never really being over and asked him if he knew any of the neighbors around there. He said no, but he mentioned a few people from his ward that could use a visit. I passed on that information after the visit, but it was great to just find someone after a long time just walking in the cold. Good spiritual experience just knowing that God is a Father and is really is
pendiente (mindful) of our needs and righteous desires.

Saturday we were invited to go have lunch with President and Sister Erickson (long story short: Elder B and Elder M changed his flat tire at a massive baptism a few weeks back and he decided it was worth a lunch). We took the city bus system to about 8 blocks from their house and then took a wrong turn so fixing our mistake we took a taxi for 5 soles (really cheap and he knew the neighborhood better than we ever would have) to get to residentes door. His house is well outside the mission so generally only the missionaries who are finishing their missions go there for the goodbye dinner. He lives in a penthouse/condo with the floors below occupied by two other Lima mission presidents. The view from 21 stories is incredible and we could see the ocean while Sister Erickson served us guacamole and tortilla chips (first time in 19 months!) After the appetizer, we sat down to eat and President brought out filet mignon cooked medium rare, baked potatoes and mushrooms with steamed broccoli. He offered to cook the meat more if we liked, but he´s a pretty big fan of it that way, and well, he can be pretty persuasive. It was soooo good. He mentioned that he usually cooks that for  the departing missionaries as well. I took advantage of the opportunity to take a picture with the two of them, because I know you still wanted that haha.

I love you all, that was how my week went, I guess a little more spiced up than the regular weeks between activities. Next one are the interviews and room checks again. I can´t believe it’s already been 3 months! Time to clean your rooms there, too. I imagine Melissa´s neater now than before? Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Nelson

p.s. Melissa never was unorganized before, I just like seeing if she´ll react when Mom reads this :)

Myopia

Dear Familia,

You hit the nail pretty much on the head. While it´s true Elder B is my assigned companion and we train together, set up conferences together, eat together, the whole shebang, the offices much of the time is a wash of missionaries in a group. If the financial secretary needs to go to the bank, and his companion isn´t around he can grab any one of us to go with him. The same goes for just about anything. For example, yesterday a sister from the Iquitos mission who had gone to the border to fix some visa issues lost her passport on the plane from the border. Well, being American she can´t travel from Lima to the jungle without her passport, so she got stuck here in Lima. The travel agency got her from the airport to our offices, but the personal secretary was already busy in other things so he asked if the records secretary and I could figure out where she could work for the day until the evening flight came in and hopefully her passport would turn up or she could get a workaround fixed up. So that´s what we did. We called the sister leaders from the closest zone and she went with them to teach during the day, then when the time came she went with Elder M and I to the airport to catch her flight using a photo copy of her passport and a police report saying it had been lost that we obtained through the travel agency (they said they keep copies because about 2 in 5,000 missionaries end up losing their passports the exact same way every year in Perú). Anyhow, all that time my companion had gone with the personal secretary to accompany him to center of Lima. The thing is that nobody ever gets left without a companion, but all of us share in a group companionship until it comes to official things like conferences, meetings and proselyting.

Elder B is an excellent teacher. He can be hard on people, for example someone that supposes we don´t believe in the Bible as much as in the Book of Mormon, he would respond shortly that we do and that he does in fact use the Bible more than the Book of Mormon in teaching. However, he teaches really detailed, and knows the scriptures better than probably any one of my companions. He continues to learn English every day. At least once a day he´ll ask me about some word or another and usually it´s not a basic question. For example, the other day he asked why it´s "everyone believes" instead of "everyone believe" because technically when talking about a group of people, "they believe." The same pattern can be shown in the majority of verbs because "everyone" in grammar is treated as a singular pronoun even though it refers to many. He can speak fairly well, still has an accent but definitely is progressing, losing it little by little and learning new words all the time (last Sunday’s word was franchise or in Spanish concesión and franchiser, concesionario.) 

Stubbornness is a dual trait I have come to know very well. I am possibly one of the most stubborn people I know. I think stubbornness is something learned from a sincere conviction of one´s beliefs. I´d love to say that every time I have ever been called stubborn it´s been because I didn´t want to give up a principle of truth, but I don´t think that´s true. Stubbornness is manifested in my life by an unwillingness to change or to consider other views. It´s a blessing and a curse, the latter of which I am slowly trying to get better at. You can think of it like a toddler throwing a fit. He thinks he should go out to play but his babysitter says he can´t because the clouds are dark and it looks like it will rain soon. The frustration builds as the rain starts to fall until he becomes teary and violent in his own toddler way. His mom gets home and he continues to rebel unknowingly at whomever the adult is whose legs he throws his fists against. Even when it´s explained that it could be dangerous, as it´s a full out thunderstorm, it doesn´t make sense. Looking out the window through bleary eyes that suddenly go wide, he sees a bolt strike the trampoline and it finally dawns on him that those he blamed most were those who wanted his safety. He falls into his mother´s arms, exhausted from his fit, but somewhat embarrassed for not having believed.

I think a lot of the time we don´t follow everything that the prophets have said or even what our parents or other leaders have said or even what we ourselves know about our own character. The reason is because we don´t see the problem for what it is. In Moses 6:27 the Lord describes the state of the people in Enoch´s time as having hardened their hearts and closed their ears, and that their eyes cannot see afar off. Sometimes we just can´t see far enough to transcend our own myopia and become what the Lord wants us to be. In short, we seek to council the Lord (Jacob 4:10) when we know that He knows what´s best, only because it´s a hard thing to do.

Anyhow, being stubborn is me, but I know that it´s been something damaging in the past and I am working hard on beating it. Stubbornness in a lot of ways is a manifestation of pride, and in the Lord´s work there is no room for personal pride, only pride in our great God (Alma 26). 

Most of the misconceptions we have in trainings come from not having said it well the first time, or it´s because as time goes on, new missionaries come in and sadly some of the trainers pass on bad habits, and what is knowing rebellion to them is something normal that their trainer did to the new missionary. It´s all a cycle and the answer is to teach well and publically as much as we can and to correct the disobedience always. As soon as we let something slip by thinking it is just innocence (which it well could be) we are perpetuating it.

This week there was another massive wedding in the stake center adjacent to the offices. We got everything set up 4 hours earlier this time around, so we were all much better rested when 23 couples came streaming in the door early on Friday morning. President Erickson was pleased because he saw that we were basically on time with everything that went on. Not one couple came late and all of the witnesses also arrived early. The Independence Zone created a choir and sang several family-centered hymns and the city officials came away impressed at the orderly presentation once again. One of President’s counselor´s wife is one of the public relations reps in the area or something like that and so she interviewed several of the couples for the marriage. She said the last one was posted on the church news website with a bunch of pictures. It´s at the Peru branch of mormonnewsroom.org which is noticiasmormonas.org.pe. In October there won´t be one in the offices and we are somewhat relieved because it´s a LOT of work. The next one is the22nd of October in La Parque de la Reserva Circuito Magico de Aguas, that one park with the lights and fountains I told you about last time.

In events like the marriages we are helping so many people on a bigger scale come to know many more members of the church than on the stake level activities. One of the bigger examples of that is that the zone leaders go to do the paperwork necessary for the marriages. Well, they are really great missionaries and have given a Book of Mormon to N, the lady at the city offices that handles marriage papers, and she´s actually shown a lot of interest in the Joseph Smith story. As well, having the balloon arch and the announcement out about the marriage brings a few curious onlookers into the chapel every marriage. The missionaries are stationed at the door contacting everyone and handing out church literature to read while they wait for the ceremony to start. It´s a marriage, but really it´s a giant proselyting event.

I love you all, I know that this is true, and that everything we do has to be focused on spreading it because we still meet people in the street who say they have never talked to a Mormon before. If we open our mouths, they will be filled with the words to say to enlighten the lives of our friends and neighbors. It only takes that first monumental effort of opening our mouth.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Take Time to Prepare....

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                            

Thanks so much for the package, the letter from Grandma N was especially good. I know she goes through an effort to write and so make sure she knows I received it and that I loved reading it. The food is definitely great, haha I started right in on the pretzels and the 6 packages of pop tarts were just perfect for 6 elders in the offices. 

This week we did three more special conferences and we also did a pair of work visits and an ammonita (morning visit to verify studying/obedience/planning). The conference format this time consists of two practices, a lesson about English study and a training about having a firm mind. The two practices were about lesson 4 and 5 and President and I started by giving one and then Elder B and I gave the other. The first week we did it, I hadn´t really had sufficient time to study the lesson plan President had given me and I came in somewhat prepared. The lesson came out alright, but it definitely looked lopsided and I didn’t really like how it went. So the last weekend I dedicated more time to really study out the principle of tithing and fasting and was able to find a few scriptures, for the first time reading it I understood what Isaiah 58 really meant. Maybe it’s because it’s the bible in Spanish or maybe just because it’s Isaiah but I hadn’t really caught what the versus meant other than that they were about fasting before and that if we do it we´ll be blessed. Really, if anyone has ever wondered why there’s a fast offering and why the fast offerings fund the bishops storehouse they should study that chapter. It´s the true law of the fast and it explains it perfectly!  So that was a good experience being able to see that with a little more time and preparation, the lesson flowed really easily and we were even able to vary it a little (other pattern for the investigator, new doubts or other questions to test our testimony of it) and keep it fresh for the zones. The two practices are really good, and it seems to be getting out a lot of questions and common doubts the missionaries have about teaching these principles. 

I don´t know if they are doing it as well in the states, I can´t remember if it is an area wide standard or worldwide, but now we teach lesson 5 before and after baptism. It used to be just for after, how it says in Preach My Gospel, but teaching it before makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of wanting these people to continue active in the church. The lesson is all about how the church works, what is expected of the members and how they can continue to develop themselves spiritually through continued study and covenants. It makes total sense and I´m glad that now they require it. We are seeing an upswing in retention rates since we started measuring it and I think that’s the cause. The saddest "statistic" that I´ve heard while here is that only about 33% of the church members here are active and that mirrors the convert baptism active rate after 5 years. That means that for however many people that we love and teach and baptize, only a third are still active after 5 years and probably many more have passed through a period of inactivity in their first 10 years. I don´t remember how many less active members of our ward there are, but I do know that it´s just as important there as it is here to rescue those who have gone astray. I hope the rescue is happening there as well!

As for getting...heavier. Well, I´m still thin if that´s anything to say, I just seem to be figuring out where to stash another two pounds (on average) every couple of months. I weigh about 67 kilos, which is just shy of 150 lbs. Heavier yes, but outside of the normal, nope. Same old same old. One thing I noticed the other week, sometime in the course of my mission, the mission got a pouch mail box in Salt Lake. The number is 30150 I think. That might be an easier way for those who send mailed letters in just because it'll cost less and come quicker. If you could post that on the blog or wherever the mailing info is posted that´d be great. In the package there was mainly food, a couple of toothbrushes, the photo album and quotes as well as the letter from Grandma N. I already have a calendar that will last into next year, so don't worry about making a new one yet. I´m set for a long haul, don´t worry about me! I love being here, and I wish it could be longer. President asked one of my friends here Elder D to extend his mission the other week (he finishes in March and will extend to April I think) and it sounded really nice to know you have a little more time. 

I love you all, I know things are super busy but I also know there are people that deserve our time when it comes to sharing the gospel. Take the time to "contact" the grocery store clerk or the teachers at school, your friends who haven’t or have heard of why you´re so different, clients at work or whoever else. You´ll be glad you opened your mouth when the Lord fills it with a firm testimony built on experience!

Love,

Elder Nelson