Querido Familia, November 22, 2010
Snow!!! That is really weird for this time of the year. It isn´t going to snow here. They say it is going to get colder, but really it is only cold in the mornings. Speaking of cold, this week the baptismal font was really cold. We baptized a woman named Sonia this week. She is a former Testigo de Jeovah, which means she knows a lot about the Bible. Her sister is a member of the church and has talked to her multiple times about the Church. Her husband died about a year ago, and this kind of sparked her interest in the Church, because Jehovah´s Witness don´t believe that families can be together forever. She basically only needed us to give her the opportunity to be baptized, because once she found her testimony of Joseph Smith asking her to be baptized was like giving candy to a baby. She has two kids, and both are still Jehovah´s Witness, but I think with time they will accept the gospel too. But anyways we baptized Sonia this week, but the boiler (heater) for the font was broken. Usually the water is cool, but not cold. This week it was like ice. But she went all the way under, and now I can say I baptized in ice cold water.
No, I have not received the package. But if you sent it the 1st of October then it should get here around the 1st of December, or the next time after that when we get pouch mail.
Transfers happen every 6 weeks, cada cyclo, or cycle. We don´t use cycles here, we use months, but changes happen every 6 weeks. If we have changes then we get a phone call on Sunday night and we have to report for changes on Tuesday. I think what will happen for Elder Llanos is we´re going to get put into a trio because Elder Llanos leaves 2 weeks after changes are supposed to happen. Then when Elder Llanos leaves I will stay in Teotihuacan with my new companion. But I don´t really know, anything could happen.
For Kolby, there are 3 ways to eat using tortillas, 1 is where you tear the tortilla into pieces and drop it on whatever you are eating (there are tortillas for every meal here) and then use the tortilla to take a handful of the food, kind of like edible gloves. The second and most common way is to put salsa on the tortilla and roll it up all by itself, then use it in between bites of the food...we use a fork in this method. The third way it to put whatever it is that you are eating on the tortilla and roll it up like you would a burrito.
For my pictures, I don´t know...I will research it this week and get back to you.
Knocking Doors is not a very effective way to find people that are truly interested in the Church. The best way is references from members. But the truth is we do a lot of street contacting, people walking by on our way to an appointment. It is not a miracle that people let us in when we are knocking doors, that happens a lot, it is a miracle that they weren´t just being nice and were actually interested. But there is a story to go along with this one. Last week we baptized Sarai. She is 17 and lives with her aunts and uncles...(here in Mexico families live together or really close, lots of times the entire block will have the same last name). We found her by knocking on the door of her sister, who lives in a different house. Lisbeth let us in and Sarai just happened to be there. The first time we taught them we asked Sarai to give the closing prayer, which she did, but she broke down in tears half way through. I felt the Spirit so strongly that night. Then we set an appointment to come back and check on their prayers about Jose Smith and The Book of Mormon. But when we came back they weren´t there. We tried to find them all week, but we couldn´t. Then they showed up to church (Lisbeth and Sarai) all by themselves! We talked to them about why they came to church, and Lisbeth said that she didn´t intend to go to church. But when she was getting ready to go play soccer with her friends something inside her said, "No...you ARE going to church instead." So she called Sarai and they went. Everything went well, they progressed really smoothly until the baptism. They both passed their baptismal interviews and we made plans to pick them up for their baptism, but when we got there to pick them up Lisbeth wasn´t there. We called her and she said that she had stayed the night at her Dad´s house in another city and wasn´t going to make it to her baptism...we were kind of dejected. That was an understatement. But Sarai made the decision to go forward with the Baptism without Lisbeth. Since that point Sarai´s testimony has grown soo much. She was confirmed this past Sunday and I am really excited for her.
That is really exciting that Jase is finally in Mexico. I don´t really know where his area is, but it is not in my zone. Presidente likes me too because I knew Elder Rhoten. I´ve heard stories about Elder Rhoten, he was one of the "great ones." He was assistant until he left. Oh, and don´t worry about me being humble. I was severely humbled the first couple weeks in the mission by the language and even still I have problems with it. One thing I have a perfect testimony of is that God knows each of us. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths. He knows what we want and what we need. He knows what we can become someday. I know that with out Him we would not be able to do anything, literally anything.
I had an incredible experience last week I wanted to tell you about but I didn´t have time. Last week in our District Meeting Elder Llanos gave a lesson about the Atonement. He had us close our eyes, and he put on music. He had us imagine our family. One of the best memories we had, I thought about the Cabin at Thanksgiving, and he had us think about the love and feelings we had at that point in time. I´m not very homesick anymore, but that made me start to tear up. Thinking about all the incredible experiences we have had as a family, and about the amount of love I have for all of you. I never knew how much I loved each of you until I left for my mission. I don´t know how to describe it, but we will be a forever family, we will live in peace and happiness in the Kingdom of God someday. I will make sure of it. After that he had us empty our minds and think of white, then in the middle of the white he had us picture Christ in his Glory. He had us imagine Christ embracing us, I cannot describe the feeling I had when I imagined that. Overwhelming joy, peace and more than anything love. Love so strong and so pure I cannot describe it. I felt the spirit and love. I lost it, I cried for the first time since who knows how long. Then he had us imagine the crucifixion, and how our sins must have pained Him. It changed my mission. It changed my life. If we truly understand the love He has for us, and is we truly understand the Atonement, we do not have a reason to sin. We do not have a reason to even want to be disobedient. I want to make it back to Christ, I want to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. I don´t ever want to sin again, because I love Him so much.
Well, time runs short yet again. There is never enough time to write everything I want to, to tell you about all the incredible miracles that happen everyday.
Please tell Aunt Janet that I got her DearElder and loved it. I wish I had time to write back, but for now I only have time to say thank you.
Also, I want to hear how Darci is when she has time, I know she and Joe are really busy right now. I love you all. Read you scriptures everyday, and say your prayers. Know that you are praying to someone real. I love you all so much.
Sincerely,
Elder Nelson
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