Instruments in His Hands

Elder Nelson and Elder Ramos with Omar and Edgar


A 6 month Tradition :)



Near Teotihuacan....Nopaltepec

Hola Familia!

Happy Birthday Kolby and Darci! 22...that´s a lot. But then again I turn 20 in June so I shouldn´t be saying that. 15 and driving, that´s way exciting. Don´t crash, and don´t do anything dumb. Congratulations to the both of you, another year went by. Time goes by way too fast, aprovechen el tiempo que tienen. I can´t believe that everyone is getting so old. Sometimes I just wish I could go back and watch the tractors....but that is not what God has in store for me or for any of
us.

Well, this week we had two more baptisms, Omar 14 and Edgar 13. They are the children of a lady who had been inactive for a long time. She recently became active again and her children wanted to be baptized, and we were more than happy to help. Teaching them a little different from teaching other people because kids are so innocent and pure. When they pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet they really want to know, and there isn´t any other motivation. Then when they receive their confirmation that he was indeed a prophet called of God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ again in these latter days, it is such a spiritual and uplifting experience. That is my favorite part about this whole missionary business, when people who really are searching for truth receive their answer. When they know it is true, they are so happy and so free.

Well, my new companion is Elder Ramos. He is from Ensanada, Baja California, Mexico. He is the only member of his family that is a member of the Church, and only has 2 years as a member. He has just under a month in the mission. We get along well, and he is really anxious to become the best missionary he can be. He is really good at loving people, and is very humble. I feel like we are going to have a lot of success together even though I still really don´t know what I´m doing, I still don´t really know how to train or lead a district, but I´m praying a lot and working really hard. This week was a little hard because we worked really hard, and we didn´t really see much success. Getting people to come to the Church is the hardest part. But I am just going to keep being obedient, studying PMG and taking all the advice I can get from my Zone Leaders. God will provide the way if we will trust in the process.

This week we saw miracles. Wednesday we contacted a woman and her two brothers in the street and put an appointment for later that night. When we went the house was really hidden, but we found it. Then they let us in (that is a miracle because most of the time we put appointments and then the people are there or don´t let us in). The woman we contacted was on dialysis, and her brother was suffering from burns on his legs. We taught the Restoration and explained what a blessing was and gave each of them a blessing. There ended up being 5 people there to listen to us and some of them were crying after the blessing. After we left that night I just felt our Heavenly Father´s love so strongly. Even though when we went back the next day to see how their prayer about Jose Smith went they weren´t there, and the next day when we went back they weren´t there again I know that God used us to bless His children. It is disappointing when people don´t keep their appointments, but we just have to be diligent and ask ourselves why God wants us there.

It is such an exhilarating experience to see how God uses us everyday. Many times we will be in lessons and I won´t know what to say to help a person, but then I just start talking and the Spirit takes over. It is almost like watching myself teach because we are just instruments in the hands of the Master Musician.

O yeah, I was going to tell about my experience with my letter from Darci. A few days ago I was really struggling with the concept of how in being exactly obedient, we must be exactly obedient to the whispering of the Spirit. Sometimes, like in the case of Nephi and Laban the Spirit prompts us to do things that we wouldn´t normally do. Sometimes we are asked to do things that we doubt that we can do. But Darci wrote "Sometimes we have to step into the dark to fully trust God. The dark is scary, but we need it in order to learn to depend fully on the Lord. Braden, have the courage to step into the dark and allow Heavenly Father to take your hand, He will make sure you won´t fall." It was an answer to my prayers and my worries and questions. We just have to be completely obedient to the whisperings of the Spirit and trust that God will allow us to become to people that He wants us to be, even if that is not who we thought we were going to become. You guys are inspired in your letters and I love reading them so much.

Thank you so much for your support and love. I love each and everyone
of you so much. More than I ever thought possible antes de mi mision.
Each of you are important sons and daughters of God and He has a plan
for you. I love you all, read your scriptures everyday, say your
prayers and practice the piano.

Love

Elder Nelson