Hands on the Plow and Looking Forward

Dear Family,                                                                                                                                                       

I would send lots of pictures this week.....but I decided to keep you on your toes so that you will read my letter next week. Just kidding...actually I left my backpack that had my scriptures and my camera in it in the house of the secretaries and have been without it for about a week. But I will get it back on Thursday in the Zone Leaders Council so I will send lots of pictures next week. It was kind of hard to be without my scriptures...but I learned a lot from just walking around with a blank Book of Mormon. It tested my knowledge but I kind of like it. My back it pretty much 100 percent better. I am just scared of hurting it again but today we played soccer with some elders in the zone and it felt fine...I just kind of took it easy.

The earthquake was kind of crazy. We were in President`s van driving to the stake center in Aragòn for the changes meeting when the van just started to rock back and forth and side to side. Sister Hicken said "I`ve never felt that before...I wonder what`s wrong with the car?" Then we saw all the people start streaming out of the buildings and standing in the middle of the street and noticed that the street light poles were swaying back and forth quite a bit and it hit us that it was an earthquake. The power was out in a large portion of the Aragòn area but I didn`t hear of any deaths so it must not have been that bad.

 
The drive to Tulancingo was about 3 or 4 hours...usually it is about 2 and a half but we had to go to Pachuca and then over to Tulancingo. Our zone has all of stake Tulancingo which takes up a large portion of the state of Hidalgo and part of Puebla. My apartment is really nice. It is two stories and almost new. It has a large kitchen with a bar and an oven and stove top. The upstairs has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and I spent most of today cleaning it so now it is clean and feels good. I will send pictures next week. There are two pairs of missionaries assigned to our ward (Ward Insurgentes) and the majority of the members live in the other half of the area. It is a ward that has had some trouble with disobedient missionaries in the past and so we are working really hard right now to gain their confidence, starting with the bishop. It is a good ward but they are not very used to working in the missionary work so we are going to help them feel the love and joy that comes from serving non-members and less actives.
 
The area is huge...well I guess anything is huge after being in an area for 10 months that was about 20 blocks by 20 blocks. But it reminds me a lot of Teotihuacan. The people are a lot humbler, and a lot more afraid of commitment. They have a funny pueblo accent and there are a lot of hills. The life style here is a lot slower so I am trying to adjust after being in the superfast paced life of DF. Your success always depends on the way in which you adjust to the people. We have been knocking a lot more doors because the population density isn`t nearly what it was in DF. I got to the area and they had no investigators at all which was a little disheartening...but we have been working really hard and have been finding some good people. Please pray for us that we can find families that are ready to accept the gospel. Prayer is a mighty tool.

Elder Cataldo was a zone leader for 1 change before I got here...so we are learning together. He is from Ovalle,  Chile....sort of the middle. He lives in the mission Chile Viña del Mar. He is about my height and a little chubbier, he only has about 9 months in the mission so he is making me feel like an old man. Mom, you`re probably right....this is probably my last area. I am planning on buying some souvenirs from each place in which I have served and I already have a couple. I will probably go back to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids one last time and buy a couple souvenirs and things to help me remember. But I still have 4 whole months left so I will probably do that in my last change.

Family....I want to tell you about the experience I had this week. After the changes meeting I rode back in the changes bus and I just couldn`t believe that I wasn`t going to back to Campestre. I just wanted to cry.  10 months and so much learning and growing...so many memories...I wasn`t an assistant anymore and that was weird because my whole mission I had been. I just began to feel so useless. I got the Tulancingo and there was no investigatoers...nothing. We went out and started knocking doors but I was just so frustrated because we weren`t having any success and I hate knocking doors. I just kept thinking "I hope I have changes again so that I can go back." In my prayers at night time I almost cried everytime. I was just so frustrated and so useless. I walk fast and my companion walks slow...he was being very negative about the ward and area and I just felt so frustrated. Then I was studying one morning and I read Alma 17 about the sons of Mosiah.

The words "prayer, scripture and fasting" kept jumping out to me so I began to fast that God would help us. In verse 16 it talks about how God prepared the hearts of the people to receive the gospel with gladness.....and I realized my great error....pride.  I realized I had been trying to do everything myself...and I can`t. Elder Nelson can`t do anything...but God can. I tried so hard to put all the negative thoughts out of my heart and the words from the Book of Mormon penetrated me.  God chastised me pretty good. Finally I left the house with a new perspective...I can`t but God can and God wants more than anything that we find the people that He has prepared for us. That day we taught 7 lessons and found 5 or 6 new investigatores. Now I like my area, we talked about a lot of things that I can change and that he can change (my companion) and I love him. I know now...nothing can stop us. He who puts his hand on the plow and looks backward isn`t worthy of the work...or the blessings of it. We will find teach and baptize...I don`t know how...but we will.  I don`t care what it takes....I am here to consecrate myself to the work and no one and nothing will get in our way. Of course that is always when we know who is in charge and to whom we give the thanks for the blessings we receive.

 Thanks for your prayers this week because I felt them. I know that all of you prayed for me but I had the distinct feeling that Mom was praying extra hard. Thanks.   I love you all. I`ll send pictures next week.

Hoorah for Israel,

 

Elder Nelson

More excerpts from letters to Melissa and Brett:

Dear Melissa-

Thank you so much for writing me. It always makes my Monday when I get a letter from you. Yes I do like my new area and my new companion. It is very different and I am adjusting still but it is a good are and my companion is very good. The temperature is a little hotter here than in Aragon (Eragon is the book). It is also colder in the night time and there is always wind. Only the really rich people have T.V.`s that have general conference and there are not very many rich people in my area so pretty much everyone goes to the church to watch it. I am excited for your Time Out and I love you so much. Keep choosing the right.

Love, Elder Nelson

Dad,                                                                                                                                                                                 

Thanks so much for your letter. I`ll try to answer your questions and if I forget anything then I will include it in the big email. Tulancingo is a lot smaller than DF, so the people are a little different. The food is different also. The people have peculiar accent, it is the accent of the pueblos in small town Hidalgo but it`s nothing I can`t understand. It is actually really similar to Teotihuacan. It is a lot more dusty and windy here so it reminds me more of home.

About three months ago the mission got cell phones for every companionship, so we do have a cell phone. The difference is that the assistants have unlimited calling minutes. To everyone else they give about 400 pesos and it charges us a couple of pesos per minutes so we always have to be really quick on the phone so that we don`t run out of credit. Public transport is good. It always is in Mexico because no one has their own car. The public transport are like little hippy vans that drive a specific route....you just have to know where you are going and which combi to take and where it passes. When we go on big trips like to Pachuca and DF we take greyhound type buses....it`s not that bad except that I get car sick sometimes.

I am walking about the same seeing as how I went to the offices about 4 times in my whole time as an assistant but it is different because the area is so much bigger it seems like we walk more. Elder Bringhurst is in a little pueblo about 2 hours away and actually I am going to do divisions with him on Tuesday.

Tell Grandma I love her and that I am excited to see her in about 4 months. I think about her sometimes and I pray for her. Thanks for everything Dad...after seeing the amount of dysfunctional families and domestic violence that goes on in the world I am really grateful for the family that I grew up in. I guess you just don`t appreciate things until they are gone. You really are a good father.

Love ya,

Elder Nelson

Goodbye Campestre Aragon, Hello...






This is what I do...



As for the question that everyone is asking "where is Braden going?" Well I actually knew about 2 weeks ago because we help President with the changes. I am going to Tulancingo as a zone leader. Elder Bringhurst goes home in 6 weeks and is one of the district leaders so I will be able to work with him a little bit before he goes home…



Campestre Aragon Ward

My companion is Elder Cataldo from Chile. He has about 8 or 9 months in the mission and I don´t actually know him that well but all the reports have been good. Elder Chambers is going to replace as assistant. He is from Benson, Utah...a little hick town off of Logan. His accent is great and he will be an awesome assistant. I have learned that it is never good to get comfortable because that is right when God sends trials and changes to make us learn more and stretch further. This week has been really hard as I have prepared to leave Campestre. It is like leaving home all over again. It was so hard to leave my converts...but I know that I´ll see them again when they go through the temple and in the Celestial kingdom. I love these people and this area so much. At the beginning of my time here I went about trying to put a little bit of heart in all of the people I met and all the things I did...but now as I frantically try to piece it back together again I guess I´ll just have to leave half of myself here in Campestre.



The "Miracle"

Puerco

I sent some pictures of our area...of the buildings called "The Miracle"...of "puerco" the dog of a family in the ward because I knew that mom would like it...of the baptism of Marcos and of the family that was baptized this week. Their name is the Family Florez Sanchez. We had been working with them for about 3 months....which is a lot longer than we usually stay with people but we just felt like they would get baptized and so we stuck with it. Only the mom and 2 of the daughters got baptized....we still have the Dad and a sister to go but they are almost there. They are a really special family and I am sure that once the dad and sister get baptized they will go to the temple in a year. We received them as a reference...it was a phone call from San Luis Potosí. A temple worker had found them outside the temple looking and invited them into the VC to have a tour. they felt the spirit a lot. They wouldn´t accept a baptismal date for about 2 weeks...but finally Celilia (the middle daughter that was baptized) said that she had picked her own baptismal date for the 16th. After some good strong and hard lessons her Mom and sister were on board also and the ward has really reached out and fellowshipped them.



Familia Florez Sanchez

Marcos´s wife finally went to church this week!!! And she liked it a lot!!!! She will probably be baptized the 1st of April.

Marcos and his family

We had another miracle this week. This week we had Zone conferences or other capacitations every single day and I think the earliest we started working was about 4 pm. That makes for a rough finding week...but on Tuesday we were contacting and we contacted a younger man Oscar and his wife...they said we could pass by the next morning...our mistake was that the next morning we had a zone conference and we wouldn´t be able to make it to the appointment. We also forget to tell him we weren’t going to be able to and stood him up. But we remembered on Saturday and we called him. He said that we could pass by for him in the morning to go to church. We picked him up and his family went. We went by in the afternoon and taught him and his wife the restoration because they really wanted to know more about the church. At the end we invited him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if José Smith was a profet of God. He replied "I already know that it is true...but if you want me to pray about it I will...!!!"

I am excited but also a little scared for the challenge of lifting Tulancingo...I know that I can´t do it by myself. I can´t...only with help from above. I will just have to start by working...trying to put a little piece of my heart into all the people I meet and all the things that I do. Pray for me that I can be humble...the expectations are so much higher now that I have more experience and I will need all the help in the world (and above it) to be able to meet them. I love you all and pray for you. I´ll let you know about everything next week.

Love,

Elder Nelson

PB & J Sandwiches

Dear Family,                                                                                                                         

This week went by soo fast because we were soo busy all week. We had zone conferences in Tulancingo and Pachuca on Wednesday and Thursday so Tuesday in the night we went and stayed at President´s house to be able to leave early in the morning. We did divisions those two days with the zone leaders and then on Friday we finally got to work in our own area except that we did divisions with the zone leaders from Azteca so I didn´t get to work in my area until Saturday.

So as I said last week was super busy and we didn´t really even get for than 2 days to work I was a little worried going into Sunday. Usually it takes a little time to find good new investigators and when Sunday came we really hadn´t found anyone. But the whole way to the chapel we were praying for miracles...but when we passed by for one investigator that we had found he wasn´t there. But miracles do happen.  After sacrament was over I saw a man in jeans and a tie

talking to the bishop so I thought I would check it out. Turns out that he hadn´t been to church in 7 years and had finally come back of his own free will. He happened to bring along his 8 year old son and 11 year old daughter that aren´t members of the church and left his 14 year old son at home. He expressed his intention of coming back and

his desire to see his children baptized. Then we went to Gospel Principles and a recent convert presented us to her friend that she had brought to church. Her friend had come to her of her own free will and asked that she invite her to church!! To someone else those things might seem like petty details and interesting consequences but to me I

recognized them as a prayer answered. Sometimes we can´t control everything (even though we would really love to be able to). Sometimes the answer is to give it all you got and then sit back and pray for a miracle...but one thing I know is that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and He never ever leaves us out in the dark. He wants even more than we do that we bring souls unto Christ.

In the zone conferences Elder Jordan and I capacitated (taught) about the first lesson (or in other words the first lesson contact with the investigator). There are three things that are essential in the first lesson and those are

1. The invitation to church (bread),

2. The invitation to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true(PBJ) and

3. The invitation to act upon that answer an being baptized into the true Church of Jesus Christ (bread).

We compared it to a PBJ sandwich. If someone comes in and just throws a piece of bread (invite to the chapel) without bringing the spirit or finding a need it is simply just throwing a piece of bread and no one wants a piece of bread

thrown at them. (Elder Jordan demonstrated by throwing a piece of bread at me). Then we presented a nicely made PBJ sandwich (strawberry) that was cut up into triangles and presented on a plate. I tried to invite Elder Jordan to eat the sandwich...unfortunately he was allergic to strawberry.   After starting the lesson (like PME says in Como Comenzar a enseñar) we need to ask questions and find the need of the investigator because if we come in with a pre prepared

memorized lesson they will more often that not reject the gospel. Then Elder Jordan started asking me questions like what kind of bread I like and if was allergic to any sort of fruit or what kind of sandwich I was truly looking for in my life and made the sandwich while he was talking to me...much more appealing. But the important thing is that he can make a perfect sandwich...but if he does not invite me to eat it I will never truly accept the sandwich...if we never invite them to be baptized they will never do it and will never truly understand our purpose. Everything according to the spirit.

Also we played basketball today on the wooden court and I hurt my back a little. I was just jumping for a rebound and "poom" something went in my back. Not quite sure what happened yet because I am going to ice it and use icy hot and take ibuprofen for a couple days to see if that takes care of it. But it hurts just like it did when I hurt it Freshman year in basketball. Just though I would be honest and let ya know about when I am sick and things.

 This week we have 3 more zone conferences and so it is going to be a super busy semana. I guess we just take the waste and wear out our lives bringing to light hidden things scripture very literally in the mission.

 Day light saving doesn´t happen until the 1st of April...so I don´t know what time it is there but here it is 4:50.

Well....love ya...praying for ya....until next week.

Love,

Elder Nelson

My Banner is Clear

Dear Family,                                                       

Well, glad to hear that all is well on the housing front. Sounds like finally everything fell into place like it should have. Funny how God makes us stress out until we act...then everything falls into place.

President Hicken doesn´t allow us to extend. He always says "your mission is for 24 months...then you have to move on with your life." So no I will not be extending. As far as requests for packages...the only thing I can think of is socks. I always run out. My shirts are still good, my pant are still good, I just barely had to start using my other pair of shoes (19 months took its toll on the first pair) and my garments are still in good working order so the only thing I can think of is socks. I don´t really care what kind. I like gold toes...but really you could buy Wal-Mart socks and I would be happy.

Graciela and Diosilyn

This week Graciela (the older woman in white) and Diosilyn (the younger girl in white) were baptized!! Graciela we found about 4 weeks ago. Elder Jordan found her with another elder who was here with us for a couple days. They contacted her 4 times on the same day...and she finally accepted. They just kept running into her...I guess if God wants somebody to accept He will put them in our path as many times as is necessary. She was really having a rough time because her 16 year old son had just barely found out that he was going to be a father. Her son and husband are actually members of the church...but very inactive. Actually her husband didn´t even come to the baptismal service. She has truly seen how the peace and joy of the gospel can change someone´s life. She told us that she was happier Sunday than the day she was married. She is just so happy...and that makes me happy. Diosilyn is the daughter of an inactive woman. We found her and started teaching about the Book of Mormon. She wanted to be baptized because she felt how much peace entered her life when she started reading the book. Her mom is now fully active and very grateful to have returned to the church. It is interesting because I had taught this same family several times months ago with Elder Bringhurst and they had never wanted to go to church...I guess some people need a little more preparation.

They have had some crazy opposition. Last Monday we received a phone call from Diosilyn asking if we could come over. We went over and everybody was a little freaked out because her mom had left on a business trip a couple days before and one of the tires on her truck had exploded going 80 miles an hour on a busy highway. They fixed it and then a couple minutes later they had another tire blow out. They didn´t think anything of it until they got home and started drinking water with ice cubes. The water tasted horrible...and made them throw up a lot. They discovered that someone had put poison in the fridge...they had painted the inside of the fridge and where the ice cubes are made with cockroach poison. We gave a couple blessings and the spirit entered the room. Everything turned out ok...they fired a couple of people who worked in their house and things seem to have quieted down for now. Of course they can´t call the police because they wouldn´t do anything anyways. The police’s policy is that they won´t investigate until somebody is dead....good policy.

Marcos received the priesthood and is really excited. His wife accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of March!!!!



I also attached a couple of pictures of my area to try to give you a better idea of what I see everyday. I really do love this ward and this area. There is an incredible amount of people in the streets waiting to be taught the gospel. I didn´t write in my journal very much this week because there was so many things that happened that we were soo busy all week. So I don´t really know what else to write. But I will do better this week.

I love you all and I pray for you everyday. I love the gospel and Mexico and there is no other place on the earth that I would rather be. I read a quote this week by Henry B. Eyring that was really inspiring:

"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast; I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won´t look back, let up, slow down or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I´m finished with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly walking, cheap living and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, or popularity. I don´t have to be right, first, recognized, praised, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted in prayer, and labor with power. My pace is set, my gate is fast, and my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my Mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won´t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go until he comes, give until I drop, preach all I know and work until He stops me. And when he returns for his own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner is clear."

The apostles are so powerful aren´t they? 26 days until conference!! I love ya´ll and hope that all are determined in the cause of Christ.

Love,

Elder Nelson

A day in the life...

Dear Family,

Pachuca overlooking Elder Nelson's old ward

This week was really crazy again. I don´t think I´ve ever been so tired in my life, but I wouldn´t have it any other way. This week we went to Pachuca to do divisions (The picture of the houses is from the upstairs window of the zone leaders’ house looking out over my old ward) and to pick up Elder Perez. He is the only missionary who was scheduled to finish his mission this change and so President sent him home 3 weeks early to make the process easier. We left at about 8 in the morning on Thursday from Pachuca and got home about 11...when President called and asked that we bring Elder Perez to his house so that he could have an interview with him. (President has been really sick and couldn´t leave his house). We left then and didn´t get back to our area until about 5 when we ate really quickly and left again to go do a baptismal interview...we finally started working about 7:30 at night. The next day Friday we started working like normal until about 12 when Elder Jordan rubbed his eyes after touching a plant...his eyes were apparently allergic and started swelling up and getting all puffy and burned so that he couldn´t open them. We went to the doctor and got some drops for him and finally got it all sorted out. We started working again about 4 in the afternoon and finished the day well. Then on Saturday morning we dropped Elder Perez off at the airport at about 6:30 am and went from there to President´s house where we had a planning meeting. Then we got news that a new Elder was going to be coming on Monday (today). So we woke up at 5:20am today to go get him and bring him to President´s house for the training and breakfast. We finally got back to our house at about 3:45 and got about 2 hours of P day....so I am really excited to go to bed tonight. At the beginning of my mission I would think..."if I am this tired for the next two years I think I might die." I guess you just get used to being tired.



Elder Crown, Elder Pukahi, and Elder Jordan

The other picture I sent was of Elder Jordan and Elder Crown (financial secretary) and Elder Pukahi (visas secretary) before we left for President´s house this morning...and of the computer I am using to write this email to you.

 Well to answer questions we only have 1 ward. Campestre Aragon (the best ward). I haven´t spoke for a while but usually when the speakers don´t show up they ask us to speak about 5 minutes before the meeting starts. As for my retainer...I started doing really well at the new year, but then I got really sick and I got paranoid of everything and thought maybe my retainer had something on it that made me sick...so now I´m not so good. But I will clean it really well and try again...but if I get sick again I´m never wearing it again.

I have a couple souvenirs...but I am not going to buy anything until the end because I don´t want to have to carry it around with me in suitcases until I know that my next transfers will be Richland. The temple is still open.

 

This week we had a cool experience on Sunday. We were working like normal Sunday after church just street contacting and looking for new investigators when a huge black man yelled us over. He was bigger than Elder Jordan. His name is Carl and he is from Haiti. He said that he had gone to church a lot of times with his uncle in Haiti but had never gotten baptized. He speaks French and Haitian…and is learning Spanish. He didn´t speak too well and it was kind of weird. But he lives in a little room and moved in about 4 months ago and was excited to come back to church with us this week.

 

I am happy and healthy and trying to get better. Also...I´m not dying (far from it) or anything but I´ve accepted that I will have to know about BYU and other plans and so feel free ask questions and to let me know what is going on and what classes or whatever you signed me up for.

I love you all so much and I pray that God will do according to His will with each one of you...it is the only way to be happy. Tell me where Laurel goes.

Love,

 
Elder Nelson

Week of Miracles

Dear Family,                                                                      

This has been a week full of miracles. Really every week is full of miracles but this week we had more than normal. But first of all I will answer the questions so that I don´t forget. The basketball court was in a deportivo. They are places that the government builds for people to have fun and play sports. There are baseball fields and soccer fields and running tracks....sort of like a huge community center. Since there is no safe place to run or do exercise in the city (everything is concrete) the government builds green areas for the people. It was free...actually we played there again today. The reason why Elder Jordan was missing shoes and I wasn´t dressed to play is because we had just finished and I had already changed and was just waiting for Elder Jordan to finish. Don´t worry I not hurt. I did get the SD card. Thank you very much. I still have like 3 quarters of a gig left on the one I´m using....but I would have to buy a new usb drive to back up the pictures before I sent the other one home. So I don´t know. I don´t really want to buy a new usb so I will probably just bring it home with me. Yes I loved the tie. I wore it on Sunday. Elder Jordan is getting the hang of things pretty well. The trick to being an assistant is doing things in the moment they are asked of us and always being one step ahead of President. 

We also went to Tepito today with a brother from our ward that works there. Tepito is a huge huge place where they sell everything imaginable. It is in the center of DF.

A week ago we were knocking some door is a habitational unity called "El Milagro" when we contacted a lady named Magdalena. She said she lived in an apartment building A-28...one that is always always locked and that we can never get into. She said she would be back in 20 minutes because she was going to the papelería. She said she lived all the way to the top in the apartment 402. So we came back in 20 minutes to see if she was good for her word and just as we got to the building someone came out of the huge gate locking the building and let us in. So, taking advantage of the opportunity we knocked every door in the building...arriving to the door where Magdalena lives we were met at the door by a lady who was not Magdalena. She said that there was no one named Magdalena who lived in that building...weird. She let us in and we found out that she was a less active member from Oaxaca who was making a come back to the church. She was here in Df for only that day visiting her son who had moved into that apartment about 2 days before. Her son was also a less active member. She told us to come and visit her son and non-member wife. On Saturday we went back to find him. Just as we got to the building a man who was listening to loud music and smoking weed leaned out the window and asked us if we wanted to enter the building. He tossed us his keys so we could get in. We found Pablo (the less active son) and as soon as we knocked on the door he opened it and said "come in." He started to cry and said that it was time to come back to church but he just needed someone to invite him. He went to church yesterday and bore his testimony in Principio del Evangelio. God knows and loves each one of us and really truly will put the medios para que podamos regresar al camino verdadero si estamos dispuestos a poner nuestra parte.  (the means by which we can return to the true path if we are willing to do our part)   I was touched by how many miracles had passed just so that he could come back...I think that each of us has had experiences like that if we will just look for them.

Also on Thursday of last week we received a call from Elder Haslam who is the secretary. He was in the offices when he received a call. The man on the other end of the line said that he wanted to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and wanted to join the church. It just so happens that he lives in our area. Jorge worked in a pasterlería in front of the temple in Aragon. He passed by so many times and had the curiosity to know the church. He had stopped going to his Christian church for several reasons. We went to go visit him and he told us of how he had went to the temple and asked for the number to the offices...it just so happened that they gave him our office number and that he had the courage to call. He went to church on Sunday. We are teaching the family but his wife couldn´t go to church on Sunday.

Also we were checking some old investigators when we knocked the door of Mercedes. She is about 75 years old and reminds me a lot of Grandma Nelson. She told us that when we had come before she was too caught up in her traditions (Catholic) to really listen to us. But she had realized that she had never been baptized in the Catholic Church and she knew that she needed a baptism to be saved. She said she just really didn´t know anything about God and had a need to know about Him. She went to church on Sunday too. We have working really hard with the members to accompany us in visits and this week we didn´t have to pass by for anybody and we ended up with 12 investigators in church because the members went and picked them all up.

We also contacted a family this week who were baptized about 2 years ago in a different ward. They moved and lost contact with the ward. They were so excited to come back to church. The best part is that the father lives with a different wife now who is not a member of the church and his mother is not a member either and they are excited about being baptized to receive a remission of sins. So many people are just waiting for us to talk to them. I know with all my heart that God and his angels are preparing people as I write this to be found as soon as we leave from the internet café. This work can never be stopped until Christ will declare it done. It has the potential to change our very self...because the real purpose of missionary work in conversion, conversion of oneself and then conversion of many others. We are shaping our souls. There was a quote in the quote book Aunt Janet sent me that says "It makes all the difference to eternity whether we choose right or wrong today." I know that choosing right puts me where God can bless and protect me.  I love this work so much and I am so glad that I was called to this mission.

Tell Mitchell that I am way excited for him!! He will be an awesome missionary. Obedience and work are the secrets to a successful mission. I will be excited to know where Laurel is going. Mom, I love you too but hugs can wait 5 months. I love you all so much and I pray for you. I just want to be the kind of missionary that my mother thinks I am...we can never go wrong with that attitude. I love you.

Till next week,

Elder Nelson  

Acorns of Faith

Dear Family,                                                                                                                                                                      

I am still with Elder Jordan for at least another 5 weeks. I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have changes this next time around...but I guess we will find out in 5 weeks. Our week went well. We found a couple good families...but they didn´t go to church so we will have to make some plans to get them there next week. I got my package!! Thanks for everything. The fruit by the foot are soo good. Tell Aunt Janet and Uncle Rick thanks for the quote book. I started reading it an there are some good ones there that I will probably use in capacitations and things like that. Grandma thank you for your card and letter and candy. Also tell the Priests’ Quorom that I finally got their letter from Christmas.

As for going to the temple there are a couple families that look like they will make it there before I go home form this ward. The Garcia family and the Carrapia family. One goes in June and the other in July so we will see if they make it before I have to go. There are several others that will go to the temple for sure....but I will be home before that which is too bad. But I guess that´s just a part of life. We used to get a couple referrals a week from the visitors center...but they closed it in January for extensive renovations and won´t open it again until November. We used to take people there almost every Sunday. It is only about 15 minutes away in micro...walking would probably be about 45 minutes.

This week we had a baptism. His name was Marcos and he is incredible. Elder Bringhurst and I taught him about 4 months ago...but since he couldn´t go to church because of his work (he is a professional soccer coach) we never went back. He seemed pretty interested so Elder Jordan and I went and taught him and his family but he still couldn´t go to church so we invited him and didn´t go back. Then about 3 weeks later he showed up to church all by himself. He said that he was looking for a change in his life and that he felt good about what we had taught him. We are still working with his wife. She has been Catholic her whole life and is having some trouble leaving behind her traditions...but there is nothing the Book of Mormon and the Spirit cannot do. It felt so good to baptize a future priesthood holder. For some reason most of the people I have taught and seen baptized have been women...probably because they are more sensible to the whispering of the spirit. But we are going tonight with the ward missionaries to start the hand off to the ward and I really believe he will be a strong addition to the ward. He was so nervous his first time in the church and so nervous for his interview baptismal...but after his baptism he said "I am now more convinced than ever that this is what I should be doing."

By the way I did not forget the birthdays of Darci and Kolby....I remembered them when they happened but then I forgot when we went to write. But Happy birthdays anyways.

Stockton and Malone???

Today for P Day we went and played basketball on a wood court! It was so awesome. I had never heard of a wood basketball court in Mexico but there happens to be one where we can play for free about 10 minutes from our area. All the courts in the churches are outside and concrete with metal back boards that don´t have nets. It was nice to have a glass backboard and a nylon net for once. We played 3 on 3...but there were 11 so Elder Jordan and I were a team of 2. Sort of like John Stockton and Karl Malone. We beat everybody.

Well...I wrote really well in my journal this week but I can´t remember anything else that happened so I guess I will have to write things down for next week. I love you all and I pray for you. I want to know when Cameron gets into BYU and where he is going to live and stuff like that. I read a quote in my quote book this week that I liked a lot. I may have modified it a little bit..but it says "The power of 1,000 mighty oaks lies with 1 acorn." Shall we not go forward in so great a cause? What we are doing right now will change everything. The ripple effect will go out of control if we just do what´s right. "It makes all the difference in eternity whether we choose right or wrong today." We cannot even see the mighty effect our efforts will make...but some day we will. We have to give everything to the Lord, we must do everything in our power to serve Him and save His children. It makes all the difference in eternity. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Trying to plant some acorns,      

Elder Nelson