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

Training and Preparing the Way...

Hola Familia!!

Well, I officially passed the 6 month mark on Friday. It is kind of weird that 6 months has really gone by because I feel like I left you all on the curb at the MTC yesterday. A quarter of my mission has gone by...that is a lot, and I don´t know whether to feel excited or sad. I burnt a tie to celebrate the 6 month mark in keeping with tradition, I would send photos but this computer doesn´t have a port to connect my SD card. I can´t find any of the other SD cards that I had, I don´t know if I sent them home and didn´t get them back or what...but I´m going to buy one this week so that I can send my SD card home this week. There are about 420 pictures so that should keep you busy for a while.

In response to the questions about the bike, well we don´t use them any more. We only had permission to use them for one week when we didn´t have any money and still had to travel to appointments. My bike was borrowed from the dueño, and Elder Garcia borrowed his from some members. I took a picture, so you can see it. O yeah, and you can put my pictures on facebook if you want.
Ok, now for the big news of the week...cambios! (that is the word we use for transfers) I don´t have cambios, but Elder Garcia does. We have a district of 4, the other 2 elders finished their missions this cycle, and Elder Garcia has cambios, so I will be the only one left in the district. I have been assigned to be the District Leader, and I am going to train a new missionary. I don´t really know what to think. I am way way excited to train and it makes me feel good that Presidente has enough confidence in me to make me District Leader....but I have never even been senior companion so I really don´t know how I´m going to do it. I guess the answer is just to trust that God knew what He was doing when He assigned me to these two responsibilities, and that He will help me to fulfill them in the way He wants them fulfilled. I´m feeling excited but overwhelmed at the same time. It was weird to hear the cambios because I thought I was going to be transferred to another area, but God wants me to stay in Teotihuacan for a while. E Garcia and I will go to Aragon tomorrow to the cambios meeting and I will receive my "hijo." I still feel like I am learning how to do all this missionary stuff, so it will be an adventure to be a papa, but I am just going to be obedient, work as hard as I know how, and trust that everything will turn out ok.

On Saturday we took the family that we baptized last Sunday (Pedro and Concepción and their hijos Daphne and Caleb) to the Centro para Visitantes at the the Temple. (By the way I found out that Daphne has epilepsy, not autism) It was soo awesome to watch people, that up until 3 weeks ago had never even thought it possible to live with their family after this life, see the Temple for the first time, and make goals for a forever family in a year. The video they were showing Saturday was The Testaments, and it was so powerful. There is a scene towards the end when Christ comes to the Nephites that I love so much., There is a prophet named Helam who, in the search for his wayward son during the catastrophes that preceded the coming of Christ, lost his vision by a tree falling on his head. His wayward son brings him to where Christ is blessing the little children. Helam says "I have waited all my life to see Him, and I can wait a little longer....tell me about Him, tell me every detail, what He is doing..." At which point Christ walks up to Helam and says "Helam..." and puts His hands over Helam´s eyes and heals him. That part when He says his name, I just imagined Christ saying my name and such an incredible and poignant feeling of joy and happiness hit me. I have waited all my life to see Him, but I can wait a little longer. I can learn of Him, and strive to become like Him, so that when the day comes that I see Him, I will recognize Him and I will have His countenance engraven on mine. How incredible will that day be? I can´t even imagine how joyful and marvelous that day will be. I know that He lives and loves each of us. I know that He is my King, and I want to be able to do anything for Him. I know that He will come again, and we as missionaries are preparing the way before Him...how fantastic a calling is that?! Preparing the way before the Lord.

I also had an experience that strengthened my testimony that God loves and watches out for His missionaries. We were in Nopaltepec this week on Thursday visiting one of my conversos that is struggling a little bit and checking some old investigators. Nopaltepec is about an hour away from San Juan (where we live) in bus. The last bus apparently leaves at 6...but we didn´t finish until 6 15, and we were trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get back to San Juan. We asked an older man when the last combi passed for Otumba, because from Otumba we can take a combi to San Juan, but instead of telling us he offered us a ride. He happened to be in Nopaltepec and happened to be going to the exact spot where we needed to go and happened to have a car, and happened to be nice enough to give us a ride. So we got in his old rusty red Datsun and he took us back to San Sebastian where we had an appointment and where we could walk home in less than 20 minutes. It was a show of God´s loves for us. I was a little nervous about getting in a strangers car in the middle of nowhere in Mexico, but I didn´t feel anything bad, and the Spirit will warn us of dangers if we are willing to listen. That was my cool experience for the week

Also, to answer Mom´s question about keeping the commandments versus enduring to the end...there is a huge difference. Our journey to the Celestial Kingdom is like climbing a mountain, there are checkpoints a long the way such as baptism and the temple. If we keep all the commandments and make all the covenants we will reach a certain point on the mountain, but we will not reach the top. Enduring to the end means that we must "seguir adelante con firmeza en Cristo, teniendo un amor perfecto de Dios y de todos los hombres..." (2 Nefi 31:20 i think...it is towards the end of the chapter) I can keep all the commandments and maintain my spiritual standing, but to reach the summit we have to keep pushing and "improve until the end." We cannot be satisfied with simply keeping the commandments because we have to, but develop a love for Christ so that we keep them out of love and so that we can always be "abounding in good works." Keeping the commandments implies complacency and stymied progress, persevering to the end implies action and a relentless search for ways to improve and do better. But those are just my thoughts...take them or leave them.

Jason Mills I got the letters from your family and I loved them. It sounds like everything is going well for you and that makes me happy. I am happy that you are enjoying Chamber Choir...be sure to keep Cameron in line. I appreciated and use dthe advice from your parents...it is always nice to get advice from former missionaries. I don´t think Jason would like Mexico very much because there are a lot of bugs...and everything is very dirty. Keep choosing the right Jason!

Well, my time is short. I love you all soo much and I learn a lot from your letters. I had an awesome experience this week with one of Darci´s letters, but I will have to tell you about it next week. I love you all soooo much, keep choosing the right and keep reading your scriptures, praying and practicing your piano.

Love,
Elder Nelson

Tank of Gas=Life of Luxury

A Mexican Water Heater :)


Christmas arrived in Mexico for Braden!


The Gingerbread House tradition lives on in Mexico! (But it is a kinda pathetic looking house....)



Elder Nelson and Elder Garcia playing soccer on P-day



Elder Nelson near the Cathedral that plays Simon and Garfunkel music
from it's tower


Mole Rojo...not Braden's favorite


Artistic Graffiti in Teotihuacan


Woman at Old Folks home on Christmas Day--she hugged him "like 4 times!"


Typical sight after Christmas--a drunk man asleep in the streets



Hola Familia!!

This is an email of pictures....I tried to remember all the things you guys wanted to see. I included a picture of my Christmas, Elder Garcia and I playing soccer on P Day, the gross looking thing in a bowl is not what Kolby just said it looks like...it is called Mole Rojo and I ate it. It really doesn´t taste good. There is also a picture of me next to graffiti that I thought was really cool. There is a picture of a guy sleeping on the ground...he is drunk. That is really typical around Christmas time. Also a picture of when we went to an old folks home on Christmas day to sing hymns and give gifts. This little old lady hugged me like 4 times, and the majority of them started crying because no one ever visits them. It was an awesome experience.

Ok, first thing is first. We finally baptized this week!!!!I haven´t had a baptismal service since November and I was starting to forget just how awesome it is to baptize. We baptized a couple named Pedro and Concepcion. He is in the army and they live on the army base that is in San Juan. They have an incredible story. They have a daughter with autism, and one day they were walking home when she started to have a seizure and convulse on the ground. She, Daphne, is only 5 years only and they didn´t know what to do. One of the members of our ward happened to be walking by at the exact moment when she started to convulse, so he rushed over took her in his hands and gave her a blessing. She stopped convulsing and returned to completely normal. Before the blessing she had been having emotional problems also, she didn´t want to talk or walk or play or even eat. But now she is running and playing, still autistic but much more normal. That is the power of the priesthood. From there the family started talking about the church with the members of our ward, and then they invited us to come and explain more.

The other baptism we had was Jose. We found Jose when Elder Llanos and I were checking former investigators. Turns out he has a girlfriend in another ward and has been attending her ward for a while. We started visiting with him and decided after a while to drop him because he wasn´t ready to make the commitment to be baptized. Then when I was with the Zone leaders after E. Llanos left we were giving a fireside in the stake center to the future missionaries of the stake and Jose happened to be in the building at the same time. He approached me and told me he was ready to be baptized and gave me the date he wanted to be baptized.

There is such an incredible feeling in baptisms. The feeling is different, it´s not a fiery spirit like when we talk about Joseph Smith, nor the solemn respectful spirit like when we talk about the Atonement....it is just gentle and sweet. It´s like Heavenly Father is giving them a gentle and loving hug, getting them ready for the battle that will follow. They are clean, completely and fully clean. That is such a fantastic yet abstract thought.

Life is good here. Today we went to the Pyramids again as a zone, I took a bunch of pictures. I need to find my other SD card and then I will send this one home. I really worried though because this card has 350 pictures on it and I don´t want to lose it.

As for the weather, it is windy sometimes and I love it. I miss the wind and it reminds me of home. The weather is pretty nice, but I have become acclimated to it, so I get cold in the mornings and nights. Good news!!! we finally got a tank of gas, so after a month of bucket showers we are living the life of luxury with hot showers. I sent a picture of the bucket and the thing we use to heat the water.

This week I played piano for Sacrament meeting, way scary. I played two of the hymns with only the top hand, but they thought it was better than the CD player we usually use.

Darci I have been studying Hope like you suggested in your letter. I love this topic, it is so awesome for missionary work. ´´Faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to the glory of god qualify him for the work...´´ (D&C 4) Hope is an optimism that the principles of the gospel are true and real, not just abstract ideas. It is an enthusiasm for life that comes from a knowledge that God will fulfill His promises. I don´t have enough time to share everything that I learned because I filled up 5 pages in my study journal with this. Hope is an abiding faith in Christ and His atonement that leads us to do charitable things and love the people that surround us, and these good works lead us to glorify God who has used us as an instrument to bless His children and others to glorify God because of our acts. It is sooo awesome.

Mom, for the scriptures to come alive.....that is a good question. The truth is for little kids that stories are the best becuase they don´t really care about doctrine. The thing for you to do if you want to bring the scriptures alive is develop an extensive knowledge through daily study. This knowledge and testimony that you develop will lead to enthusiasm for the scriptures and ability to teach from them because you know them soo well. You have to be enthusiastic, that is the key to making the scriptures real. I have really developed a testimony of the scriptures, we are really wasting a day if we go without our scripture study.

Well I love you all sooo much. I am soo happy that all of you are really trying to live the gospel. The gospel, when lived right, will occupy all our time and thoughts and efforts....and will fill our lives with the pure love and joy of Christ. It will give us a taste of the eternities, and will take away or diminish our pains and discomforts. I love my Savior, I love Him so much. He is more important than the air we breathe, and He loves us with a love that we cannot fully comprehend. I love you all so much. Until next week,

Love,

Elder Nelson

Zocolo (Town Square)

Hola Familia!!

I hope everyone is feeling better soon, there´s not much I can do for you except to say that at least you can be at home when you are sick. You guys still have Mom to look after you and tell you what medicines to take, so although being sick isn´t very much fun,it could be worse.

Yes my banking situation has been taken care of. I can withdraw money and everything, thank you soo much for fixing that, not that I use money of my own very much, but in case of emergency.

No, we still don´t have a refrigerator....but don´t worry about fruits, that is one thing that is super super cheap here. We bought a bag of mandarines 4 kilos for 10 pesos. People are always giving us fruit, and that is usually the dessert after the meal. I am taking lots of pictures, I am going to send some this week that is coming, and as soon as I find my other SD card I will send a package with the 300 other pictures I have taken....to satisfy your curiosity.

I feel really bad..but this is going to be a really short letter again because today we went to the Zocolo, look it up Mom will like reading about it, but we got back late. This week that is coming I promise to dedicate the full hour to writing to you.
Grandma Andy I got your letter and package, thank you soooo much!! I love getting mail, and I loved your card. It means a lot that you made it yourself, and I love the socks also. They are keeping my feet warm at night.

We have 3 baptisms scheduled for this week, Jose, and a family (the parents are the only ones old enough to be baptised). I will send pictures and stories next week.

I also need to repent because I got letters from some people a long time ago that I haven´t responded to. Saydi Ostler, thank you for writing me, your letter helped me through some of my homesickness. I hope you are having a blast in Hawaii. Lindsay Slocum also, thank you for your letter. Sounds like everything is going well in Idaho. I´m glad you are getting to teach, teaching is the best...especially things of eternal significance.

Well I love you all, I hope I get your package Mom at changes.....I´m having this feeling that I´m going to get transferred, but who knows. I love you all soo much, You never know how precious something or some people are until you can´t talk to them except 2 times a year. I pray for you everyday, I hope you all are working hard towards being a family that will be happy together forever. Practice your piano Kolby, Melissa and Cameron. It will bless your lives more than your think. I love you all.

Elder Nelson

Dirt Biking!

Hello Familia,

How is everyone doing? Thank you everyone for your letters, they were a nice surprise when I opened my mail today. Well Happy New Year!! It is 2011 already, kind weird. Time passes really quickly, I remember when it was the year 2000 and everyone thought that the computers were going to crash and Mom and Dad tried to trick us by showing us the ball drop in New York at 10:30....telling us it was 12.

New Years here was a little crazy, we were supposed to be in the house by 6 unless we had a member that was going to bring us to the house in their car because the streets are crazy. People here light off fireworks, alot a lot of fireworks. We were sitting in the house of the family that fed us dinner and we heard a firework start screaming, it got louder and louder and louder until we heard a bang. Someone had launched a firework airborn and it had hit the window of the house of the family. It startled me. There were a ton of drunks walking the streets, but we haven't had any problems with drunk people yet.

We actually went to the Pyramids today, and we left a little late, so this letter might be a little short.

This week we got permission to use bikes until the first of January because we didn't have any money and the area is huge. I got to ride a bike down unpaved roads in Mexico, how cool is that? It is also a lot more fun to ride bikes than walk. I will have to tell you more about it next week.

This week for music I heard ACDC Thunderstruck, and I thought of a younger version of Dad and of Brother Hare. I love you all so much, I want to respond to your letters but it will have to wait until next week. Darci, I am so happy for you, I was praying that you would find a good job. Cameron, that is awesome that your friend is taking the discussions.
I will study the scriptures that Mom and Darci gave me. Melissa I love you and miss you sooooo much too. Be good for me. Practice your piano. Cameron and Kolby I will respond next week, but I love you. Dad I love you soo much for your example. Be Good, all of you. Read your scriptures and do something nice for someone you don't like very much.

Sorry it was sooo short, but I love you and I know you love me too.

Love,

Elder Nelson

Christmas in Mexico

Hola Familia!

It was soo good to talk to all of you, I loved hearing all of your voices. I felt a little bad that there wasn’t enough time to talk to each of you individually, but I had my picture of the family and I was thinking about all of you. Talking to all of you made me think about all the things we do together as a family for Christmas, and it made me realize how much I love all of you. I really missed hearing the Polar Express, but there will be plenty of time for that when I get back. Thank you sooo much for the Christmas package, I loved everything in it. Music will be nice, it really does help bring the Spirit, I listened to Donny Osmond’s Christmas music and it reminded me of home. I listened to Go Climb that Mountain too and it made me think of Mom. This week was a little hard just because of all the Christmas things I was thinking about, and all of the things we do on Christmas involve my family, and that’s really the only thing that I miss. A special thanks to Melissa for the muddybuddies.

Mom asked me what I like in care packages, and the truth is my favorite candies are tootsie rolls, chocolate covered raisins and star bursts, and muddybuddies. In relation to the pants that I said I needed, I want non pleated, pleated are hard to iron everyday...also there’s no rush because the truth is I have everything I need for now. At about the year mark it would be nice to have a few new shirts and garments because the one’s I have are already starting to be not so white. The truth is the best thing that you can send me are letters. I don’t know if I haven’t been getting them because of pouch or what, but Cameron you asked me to tell you if you missed a week and I haven’t gotten a letter from you for a while. I prefer that you (my immediate family) use email so that I can respond quickly, and so I know more or less when you wrote them.

Ok, to answer the questions this week, no I don’t carry PMG with me everyday, my bag isn’t big enough and we only carry the things that are essential to proselyting. I carry my triple and bible in Spanish, but most days I just carry my triple. I also carry pamphlets on the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and some of the commandments. I also carry my hymn book and a flashlight. Sometimes I take notes for my emails, but I don’t really use the little notebook, I should though, I think I’m going to start carrying it in a bag so that when something happens that I want to write about I can write it down.

Speaking of things that I want to write about I thought you would like to hear about how Christmas is in Mexico. For Christmas Eve, I ate Mole Rojo, I took a picture. It is really not good, but there isn’t really a choice so I ate it. There is a lot of drinking around Christmas, and a lot of drunk people in the streets. It is really sad, Christmas is the time when people should be with their families enjoying their company, but so many people get so wasted that they can’t find their way home for days, and don’t spend any time with their families at all. But on the upside, there are Christmas lights, not so many Christmas trees and Christmas music. I saw my first Mexican Santa in the plaza in San Juan the other day, it was kind of weird for me. On Christmas Day (it didn’t really feel like Christmas because I was wearing short sleeves) we had a Zone Activity where we went to a Retirement Home to sing and give gifts and visit with them. It was sooo cool, but soo sad at the same time. There were about 25 residents and all of them were so lonely. Some of them started crying when we started singing, and it wasn’t because we were singing well. Their families just kind of left them there and don’t visit them. Their teeth are decaying and their nailed are crusty with infection. They just can’t take care of themselves anymore and there isn’t really anyone there to take care of them. We sang Christmas hymns and them visited with them. I felt the Spirit really strongly, they are sons and daughters of God too. He loves them just as much as he loves us. Some of them have been there for 20 years. I felt sad, but at the same time happy that we could give them a gift on Christmas day.

As I was saying of the phone, we do not realize how blessed we are. We have a family that loves each other, we have our relative health, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have carpet, and heating, and an oven. I never realized how materially blessed we are in the US, but it is incredible. I can’t describe how blessed we are after some of the things I have seen. We don’t have to worry about our kids playing outside, we don’t have to worry about our house getting robbed or our husbands being held ransom. We have been given sooooooo much.

Another thing I wanted to write about will make Mom smile I think. On Sunday we were walking down the deserted street when out of nowhere Simon and Garfunkel started playing, the Sound of Silence. (Note from Peggy: How ironic...when Braden first called us on Christmas Eve we were cut off mid-sentence and all we heard was the sound of silence! That was the end of the phone call. We were blessed when he surprised us on Christmas day and called back to finish the call!) It was awesome, it was coming from the bell tower of a cathedral, and it made me think of Mom. I love Simon and Garfunkel. It also made me think of Casey.

Mom, sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I am sure you will love your new calling. Maybe this will make the time that I am gone pass more quickly for you.

I am so glad I got to hear Grandma’s voice. Grandma you have to keep doing all the things you are supposed to, I want to see you again when I get back. I don’t know if you can, or if you already do, but go to the temple every week. You will find answers and comfort there. It will make life easier.

Darci, Mom told me a little bit about your job success, I want to hear more because I was praying for that like you asked. I love you so much. Congrats on graduating, keep doing what your doing because you are obviously doing things right.

Dad, thanks for your email. I love you, thanks you your example. Children learn from their parents and the reason your kids are doing the right things is because they saw you do them first.

Melissa, I love you too. I loved hearing your voice, sorry I didn’t get to talk to you very much, but there will be more time later.

Kolby don’t waste all of your Christmas vacation on the computer. Practice your piano, read your scriptures, say your prayers, and do something nice for Melissa this week. Computers and friends will still be there after the break, enjoy the time you have with the family because it is short.

Cameron keep choosing the right. Be like Captain Moroni, bold and daring in keeping all the commandments because of an intense love of Christ. You are an awesome kid, just keep going.

Well, I love you all, I hope you had a merry Christmas because you deserve it.

Love,
Elder Nelson

Simba and Mufasa

Querido Familia,

Well, it´s almost Christmas here and I´m still wearing short sleeves. It is usually 70 or 80 during the day here, but in the nights and in the mornings it is pretty cold. I sleep with a pair of shorts, my long pajama bottoms, socks, two shirts and my sweater. I use 4 blankets, it gets cold because here in Mexico we don´t have heating or cooling, and the heater that we have doesn´t work very well. But we make do. To answer Cameron and Kolby´s question, I am the same weight as when I left the MTC, 145 pounds, but I am getting fatter because we don´t really have time to exercise, my gut is growing instead of my muscles. Not that I´m obese, just not as defined. My bronchitis is doing well, I´m taking my pills and I feel normal again. I knew when we had to go get it checked out when Elder Llanos got tired of not being able to sleep because I was coughing all night, also my mucus was yellow and I just didn´t feel good. Yes there are farmacies here where I can get cough drops, but I don´t buy them...the cough syrup here is 96 pesos, I know that´s not a lot in the U.S., but that is a ton here.

Ok, here is the important part, I am going to call Friday, at 7 o clock here...I don´t know what time that is there. I am soooooooo excited to call. We got an announcement today that said we could use skype, but it´s too late to try to coordinate so I will just call on the telephone instead. (Note from Peggy: ARGHH!)
I can´t wait to hear your voices. I am at the point where I can deal with not being with you, but the thought of hearing your voice is just way awesome. I will use the card.

Elder Llanos was an awesome trainer, I have heard some stories about other missionaries and their trainers that make me really grateful for Elder Llanos. My new companion is Elder Garcia Capella, he is from Tijuana. I am not training yet, Elder Garcia is the new district leader here in Teotihuacan. The truth is I really didn´t get along with him very well the first couple of days because he likes to leave large chunks of time open ¨for God to fill¨¨. I like to always have plan, but he is teaching me a lot about learning to trust the Spirit and not our own plans. I still don´t agree with him on a lot of things, but I am learning. Our styles of working are very different and it was really hard. But I am working on my humility, he was assigned by Presidente, who was inspired by God, to be my companion. I still have a lot of things to learn, I only have 5 months in the mission, and only 2 in the field, and I think part of the reason why it is hard is because I miss Elder Llanos. But Elder Garcia is a good elder, and we are going to work hard, I am going to love him and we are going to baptize. He talks really fast, and mumbles a lot so I have a hard time understanding him, but I think this is going to help me because if I can understand him I can understand anyone. I saw Jase at Transfers, he looked a little tired, I think his trainer isn´t helping much. I have never eaten cow blood, nor have I been sick from food.

This week, tomorrow actually I get to go to the temple!!!!!! I´m a little nervous because it is going to be in Spanish, but I´m not that nervous. I love the temple sooo much. I miss it, in the MTC we went 20 times, but here the work is for the living. The temple is probably my favorite place on earth besides my home. Cameron, Kolby, Melissa, you want to go there, you want to experience all the blessings available. Prepare yourselves to go there, don´t let anything or anyone get in the way. It is a little piece of eternity.

I got your package!! The first one you sent. Elder Hall told me that packages only take 2 or 3 weeks to get here, but the secretaries take forever to send them out to us the the field. Thank you so much for the razor heads, I have been shaving with just one for 3 months and it is way nice to have them. Thank you so much for the fruit snacks, they were delicious and the candy corns too. They made me think of all those times we went to the corn maze as a family, and all those Halloweens in Richland. I think I will probably get the Christmas package you sent tomorrow, but if not don´t worry. It is still kind of surreal for me that I am actually in Mexico, that I am actually serving my mission. It doesn´t really seem real, like I might go home tomorrow and see all of you in a house that has hot water, and with food that isn´t way spicy. But something I do every night is look up at the stars. The stars and beyond has always been something that captured my imagination, the cosmos and all the secrets that it holds. How deep and profound the works of God are, and how I yearn to know every detail of the creation and the secrets of the universe one day. But there is a principle in that. You and I look up at the same night sky every night, you and I are connected by that. God in the heavens is our connection, and I am serving that God. When I am tired, or depressed, or I miss you guys, I look up at the sky and wonder what you are doing, and that you are probably looking up at the same night sky. Kind of like Mufasa and Simba from the Lion King. I love you all so much. That is something I never realized before my mission, how much I love you. But that is one of the many blessings that I am experiencing. I didn´t appreciate all of you enough before my mission, and that is one of the many things I am going to change when I get home. Cameron I have told you this before, but I wasn´t always the best brother, I didn´t treat you the way I should have...but I realize now that I love you, and we are going to hang out when I get home...but there are a lot of things that you and I have to do before that happens. Dad, I don´t think I asked your advice on enough things. Most of these things, in relation to Cameron and Dad were because I was a pretty prideful person, I didn´t need advice or brothers, but now I realize how prideful I was and how many things I missed out on as a result of it. I realize that family is the most important thing, there is nothing more important to me than living, and helping all of you live in such a way that we never have to be separated. Although we are separated now, we won´t be in the eternities, that is an awesome awesome thought.

My mom and dad on the trek were the Amparans, Jeff Perry and I pulled that stinking cart the whole trek, until it was flat and on asphalt, then the others decided that they wanted to help. (Note: this story has been told MANY times)

The work here is still a little hard. I am adjusting to my companion, and we are trying to get back to where we were before Elder Llanos left. I had to spend a week outside my area, and that is really rough for investigators. But the good news is that a family of 5 that we have been teaching showed up to church Sunday!! I have faith that if we work hard and give every effort, we will be rewarded with success.

Grandma Andy I got your letter, and I loved it. Thank you for your encouragement and love. I love you and Grandpa. I know that we didn´t get to see or visit each other as much as we would have like when I was growing up, but I love you both. I always loved going to visit you two. I pray for you two, and Uncle Dave and Uncle Doug also.

Well, It´s time to go again, but I love you all sooooo much. I pray for you everyday. I loved the picture of Cameron and Harrison, it reminded me of the good old days in Richland, sleep overs on the trampoline and man parties...which were always better than parties with girls. I got Sis. Ostlers letter and I am sending my letter to Jackson, and I sending one to Casey also, but who knows when it will get there because pouch is kind of unreliable. I love you all, read your scriptures every day, as a family and personally, say your prayers every day, as a family and personally. It is a commandment 3 Nephi 27:19 (I think, I don´t have my scriptures right now), and if we want to be a forever family we have to follow all the commandments. Talk to you Friday, give Chika a belly rub please.

Elder Nelson