Surrender

Dear Family,                    

Here we are again on a Monday writing again. It seems like I just did this but here we go again. The a on this board doesn`t work very well so I might just start omitting it and capitals also. Elder Bringhurst`s mom sent him the zen garden in his Christmas Package and we put up with our Christmas decorations. 

My new companion is great . Elder Jordan is from Ramah New Mexico and is 6 foot 3. He is really happy and excited all the time so I am learning lots from him. It was really weird not having Elder Bringhurst as a companion anymore. I kind of was struggling with it for a couple days but we are gelling pretty well now. It`s just when you are with someone every hour of everyday for 6 months you kind of start to like em. But elder Jordan is a really great missionary so I got lucky. His Spanish is not as good as Elder Bringhurst so I am trying to help him out. We are both learning together seeing as how my Spanish isn`t perfect. 

These weeks have been a little rough since the holidays are Satan`s favorite tool for messing with missionary work, but I have been able to learn several important things. 2 weeks ago we had about 15 people with a baptismal date....now we have 3. I have had to learn the hard way once again that I of myself can do nothing and that all and every success comes from the Lord. To truly be successful you must entregarse a si mismo totalmente. (Surrender yourself completely).

Mom as for an experience where the Spirit has guided me....look for my letter where I talked about going out to Axapusco and finding Maria Elena with her dream. Many times the spirit has not shouted at me to knock a door or to talk to a person....many times the spirit simple tells you what is already written...talk to everyone. I usually don`t know that the spirit was guiding me until afterwards...when I can look back and see the hand of the Lord in my actions. For example this week we were out contacting....talking to everyone like it says in PME. We were talking to a man when we saw a woman cross the street and go behind a truck so as not to talk to us. No one escapes us. We talked to her and she looked really startled and let us into her house. On Sunday in her first visit to the chapel she stood up and bore her testimony saying that she knew that God had led her to the true church. She said that when she  saw us she thought "I don`t want to talk to anyone" but when she saw us in front of her she thought "well if God wants it that bad...I will follow Him." She is so prepared to hear the gospel...yet the Spirit didn`t hit me in the back of the head or appear in front of me telling me to talk to her....we were simply doing what we were supposed to be doing in the place we had planned to be. Maria Elena was a different case. I felt the spirit tell me....go to Axapusco I don`t care if you have never gone I don`t care if you don`t know how to get there...go. I went and the result was exactly the same. The trick is doing what we are supposed to and learning to recognize how the spirit works in us. 

I hope that was enough for a family night. I don`t have much time today because we had to cut our hair. PS if Darci could get me into an astronomy class I would like that too. Well, I love you all.

Love eldr nelson