Dec. 27, 2010

So before I forget i do want to ask you if there is anyway that you could possibly send out a giant vocabulary list of spanish words, because that would be awesome. But i don't have much to say that i didn't want to say on the phone, other than Nelson's in the front, let me hear you grunt; Nelson's in the back, show me where its at; Nelson's all around let me hear that sound, Nelsons hu Nelson's hu Nelson's hu hu hu! But for P - day it has been different in every area I have served in. Here the Elders our die hard frisbee golfers, seriously die hard. In my last area I mostly just balled people in basketball, because that is kinda just what I do, pretty much. I also tried to do a back flip for the first time since the mtc, but I almost killed myself, I might just wait till after the mission to try again...but probably not. But that is pretty much it for right now. We didn't end up going caroling so that was good, haha. what a shame. But we did have an awesome dinner and so that was good, although we did have cereal for Christmas eve...lame haha but it was good cereal. Alright I will write you more next week, and possibly get that one letter in the mail. LOve yall tons, have a good week.

Dec. 13, 2010

Well this week has been awesomeness! 3 people came to church! Milagros! I was so excited, heck I am still excited. But of course I will be leaving, down to Spokane to be district leader down there. So I am really excited for that as well. Holy cow I have just learned so much this transfer. And I know this is what God wanted me to learn, and that I wouldn't of been able to learn it in a different area with different members or a different companion. I have learned so much from this transfer, such as: there is so much joy in the gospel, and there is no need to be frustrated; That procrastination is one of the biggest tools of Satan, if we procrastinate extending the baptismal invitation, we are thereby procrastinating the days of their repentance, and thereby breaking a commandment pretty much. That really hit me hard these past couple days, and it is something I will be applying for the rest of my mission. Now does this mean that success comes from having people say yes and pulling through with it, yes and no. Baptism I think would be a success for that specific person and somewhat for me as well. But real Success for me simply comes from, remembering my purpose and remembering why it is my purpose, and then going out and doing it. Knowing this brings joy. The field is white already to harvest. God will make sure there are people prepared in every city, and it is my purpose to find those people, and help them and invite them to prepare even more, until they make the commitment to be baptized. Oh and yes mom I got all the packages I think. But if you want to go ahead and send the package just send it to the mission office and they can send it to me. Because i won't actually know what my address is till next p day. Holy cow I am just so excited for what is in store for this mission and for the people I am going to come in contact with. But I love yall so much and no I have no idea about anything that is happening on Christmas. But I will definitely open one of those presents tomorrow.

Dec. 6, 2010

It turns out that once again we did not have anyone technically at church. I say technically because I guess two of them came and because they could not find us in the building they left. So that was pretty lame. But I will definitely acknowledge the miracle of a nonmember just showing up for church, even though we did not know her. And so we will hopefully be teaching her this week. And so that of course was awesome and just another one of those moments where you know God is watching over you and is helping you in his work. I guess we were to dumb to find her on our own and so God just placed her right in front of our face or something. But it was awesome cause our branch did a really good job on fellowshipping her and everything. So we will be teaching and inviting her to be baptized sometime this week. We also are teaching this awesome girl named Andrea Pruneda now. She is like 17 and has some really good mormon friends, only problem is that she lives with her grandma who is anti. And she goes to church with her. But she is reading the Book of Mormon and writing down questions she has, and researching stuff online( might not be the best way) but at least it means she is interested and taking it seriously. And so she will be baptized as well. Mom you want to send me your conversion story. I think I know it pretty well, but it would still be cool to read it. I love yall so much. We get our transfer calls here this coming Sunday, so I really am praying that I will be able to help this area a lot more. And so I guess we will see what happens. But I love yall so much and have a good week.

Nov. 29,2010

Well it would seem like most everyone wants to know about my thanksgiving and so i will talk about that. But before i forget, I thought it was way funny to read amandas cartita sobre las personas in Paraguay, because the dad gum hispanics here are the same way almost. Except here instead of being afraid of rain, they are deafly afraid of the snow. Which seeing how it has been snowing for a straight week and a half now, it makes getting people to come to church un poco dificil. And they are always saying its feo tambien. In fact we went to see if we could get one of the hispanic members to come out team teaching with us and he just told us that he was not going to because it was too cold outside and he didn't like the snow. We were like our car is right outside your house and it is warm. nos digo, nope not going it is cold outside. And finally after 20 min of begging he finally came. It was actually way funny. But ya for whatever reason the adult hispanos just hate the snow, but the kids like it. Oh and also a crazy story, my companion has the tendency to drive through stop signs, little did i know that he would develop the habit of running over stop signs. Ya that is right. I almost died because we tried to make this turn on this snow which was truly all ice, and were fixing to run into a phone poll, but were able to turn away from that and run straight over a stop sign and into a ditch. It was pretty crazy. so mom if you could hurry up and send my driving record to the mission office that would be muchly appreciated haha. Granted the worst part was just standing in the snow for an hour waiting for the tow truck. But anyways. thanksgiving... It was just a normal day for us, probably cause our president didn't want anyone playing any turkey bowls or something no se. Pero we did get a thanksgiving dinner with a family named the Hughes. Extremely nice family, but it didn't quite compare with some of Big Mammas cooking. Haha jk mom you are not big. Or that ephraim one, that one was so good. But it was a pretty good thanksgiving. Most of the day we just spent planning for the next week and doing service and stuff. Friday was just crazy though. We went over to Guadalupe's house for his baptismal interview... and holy cow! I was just blown away. Now we had taught him earlier in the week, and he was having some doubts about his baptism about how he dind't want to cause any problems in the family and he wasn't sure if he was ready and stuff. And so I just knew i needed to bear my testimony. And it was just so powerful, and he agreed to go through with his baptism, cause he knew it was the right thing to do. Well so we are there to interview him and see if he is ready, and once again he is just like i dont think I am ready. But this time I kinda had the impression that he was not telling the whole truth. And so while the ZL is doing his little interview questions I realize that his wife is kinda easedropping. And I knew that the problem was something to do with his wife. So then I started talking loud enough so she could hear me, just about how he needs to be a leader to his family and everything, just to see if she would come over and tell us her view of the story and everything. Well come she did, and with the look of the blasted devil on her face she exploded, and continued to explode. It was crazy. She basically said she would divorce him if he was baptized. ANd how we don't even realize that kind of man he really is and how he had cheated on her in the past. And she just went crazy lady on us. But needless to say he is not getting baptized, although he did still come to church. And one other investigator came as well. Which was kinda hard, because we made sure to invite everyone to come. And so we only had one investigator make it out of the 20 that we invited. Especially since all of our lessons were way strong this week, but still they did not choose to come to church. But I learned a valuable lesson about how not to do something. I was sitting in church when someone was praying they mentioned to please bless the missionaries that they might have success. And for whatever ever reason this kinda got me mad. And I just thought if i went up on the stand and put a seed in a cup and told everyone to pray that this seed would grow. No matter how hard we prayed and no matter how often we prayed that seed would most likely not ever grow. Because we still need to do ou part by nourishing it every day. But i got to go so I will leave my thought unended. But I love yall so much. And i have no idea what i want for christmas. Money maybe. And prayers that I will know what to do to help our investigators.

Nov. 22, 2010

This past week has been pretty good. We had some really good miracles happen. One of our investigators Guadalupe is supposed to be getting baptized this week and so I am praying that this will go through. But he did not come to church this sunday, and so we went over there later last night to see what had happened. And his wifes sister told us that he was on the phone because I guess his dad is way sick and possibly dying down in Mexico and that he has been talking with all these people in Mexico the entire day. So I guess that is why he missed church. So I hope everything goes alright with that and that he will still be ready to be baptized this week. Because in all reality this would help him out more than anything else. But I have a feeling that I am going to have to whip out some loving boldness and let him and the Lord do the rest. But hopefully he is already turning to the Lord right now and so we wont have to remind him of that. But also I had one of the coolest experiences in my mission happen to me this week as well. We went over to teach this couple named Fransico y Maria. And they invited us right in and everything, and we had planned to watch a movie with them about Joseph Smith. But then he pointed to his eye and how he had gotten all these chemicals in it and everything at work. And so it was all swollen and red and just looked pretty nasty. And so he was just like asking us to come back another day cause it was kinda hurting him and he couldn't see or anything. And so we just decided that we needed to ask him if he would like a blessing before we left. And he said he would like that and asked us if it was better than medicine. And so we gave him a short lesson on the priesthood and about healing and how the most important part was his own faith. He told us how he had faith to move mountains and that he was ready. And so my comp annointed him with oil and I sealed it and pronounced the blessing. And I was pretty nervous cause this is my first blessing in spanish, but I remembered one of the teachers at the mtc told us how he once had to confirm somebody when he didn't know spanish and how the words just flowed from his mouth. And even after his mission he said that his spanish was not as good as it was that one day. And so I said a quick little prayer and I told God I had faith and I knew that God was with me. And so I stood up and I waited for the words to come. And come they did. About 2 sentences long was all that I could think to say. But even though it was not a long blessing there was just so much power behind it. My words did not come with eliquency or in a long drawn out blessing. They came with power and with a simple promise that he would be healed. Such a testimony to me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not in word but in power. I then closed the blessing. He thanked us and we pretty much turned to leave, when his sister stopped us and was like I too would like a blessing, can you please give me one. Honored and touched by her sincerity we told her that of course we would give her one. My comp said the blessing for her. It was definitaley spirit filled. She thanked us and told us how good she felt. She then went up to her other sister and told her how she felt and that she too should ask for a blessing. She did and she sat herself in the chair. I was then allowed another opportunity to give a blessing. This time the spanish did actually flow. I doubt it was perfect but it was God wanted me to say nonetheless, and I wasn't even thinking in english when I said it. Extremely touched and humbled by this experience we thanked them for their faith and their time, shook there hands and left. Fransisco's eye was no longer puffed up, only red. The Priesthood power is definitely real, and he really must have had a lot of faith. We then offered a prayer of gratitude to God for this awesome experience. And i was reminded of the story in the Book of Mormon when Christ came down, and how all the people gathered around and asked him to bless them. And he was able to bless everyone. I told my companion this, and he said what makes it even cooler is that these are the descendants of those people. I was like wow that is so true. What an honor it is that I get to serve among these people. The very descendants of those who Christ blessed nearly 2000 years ago. I love yall so much, and thank you so much for your prayers for me and for the people here. Have a good week. And Alena you better put your so you think you can dance on and get an A in your class! After the graduation of Elder Nelson, Nelson's don't get B's anymore or anything lower. You better step up your game girl! Be prepared, be prepared, oh always be prepared...I got horns that open pickle jars, I got horns that hold my keys, I got horns that have something that let me watch tv!! I was prepaaaaared! Ya I have no idea why that song just popped in my head. Ok love yall have a good week!

Nov. 15, 2010

It is amazing to me how much I can the feel the love of God right now. Just from reading yall's letters and feeling the love and spirit that resides in our family and in the gospel. I had chosen not to think about the death of Justin's dad when i got the first letter. I realize after reading these letters now that this was a mistake. That blessing that was given to Justin about his testimony growing and becoming one of the best missionaries and a future leader in the church is so true. My testimony has grown so much in these last couple of minutes. The one thing I have lacked and feared these last couple weeks was about fearing my potential. I thought that being a leader by example would be enough, that I did not have to tell somebody they were doing something wrong, just worry about myself and doing what is right. I realize now that that would only be reaching half of my potential and half of the man that God wanted me to be. I feel like i could have done so much more knowing this before now; but it is such a motivation to me to change now. I am so grateful for the testimony I have. I know that Justin and the rest of the Ence family is going to make it through this. Justin was always an example and leader to me. I will wirte him today and so forgive me for not making this letter as long as usual. But if you could please pray for Alex Pruneda and his family as well as Charity Butler and her family, and the Medina and Cuintero family. I love yall so much. Have a good week

Nov. 8, 2010

Yep I got everything mom. Thank you so much. This week was good; a lot of what we did was help the Bishop and try to do everything he asked us to do. Crazy thing happened again this week as we had this bomb older couple who we were going to invite to be baptized, dropped us. Another incident where he came outside w/ the Book of Mormon in his hand and told us he was basically not interested anymore. And so I bore my testimony to him, and I told them that even if we didn't come over again I wanted him to continue reading in the Book of Mormon and pray about it. And so he took his book back and that was that. I am not gonna lie that was a pretty hard blow, but at least he agreed to keep the Book of Mormon. But don't worry grandma, I am not mad or depressed, I just want to share the Gospel so bad and I want these people to know just how important this gospel is. And if anything, my faith has increased. You know I read this talk and it said something to this affect about faith. When Mishac, Shadrac, and Abednego stood before the king he told them that if they did not deny their God that he would throw them into the furnace. They then responded that they would not deny their God but knew that their God had the power to deliver them from the flames; and that he would deliver them from the flames. A lot of us may read this part and say wow now that is a lot of faith, but this comment that they had made was not the faith part; but what they said next. And even if he does not deliver us from the flames we know that he is the one true God, and he had the power to do so. A lot of us may look at challenges and say I have faith that God will deliver me from these challenges, but when they don't go away we feel like we have lost faith or maybe we don't have enough faith or else God would have removed these trials from us. The Book of Mormon says something similar when it says that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. I mean sure I have seen my share of trials these last couple weeks, but I know that God will provide a way for these trials to be overcome, and if he does not I still have faith in Him that He will help me learn from them, and that he has the power to remove them, but he knows the bigger picture. I love this work with all my heart and I know that it is truly God's work. If something isn't going a hundred percent all the time, well maybe God is giving me an opportunity to make my weaknesses become strong and to exercise my faith a little more. Besides it does no good to complain about things, it will only make those things stick in your head, and become who you are. But I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, and I have been called of Him to declare his word among his people. In the midst of these trials there has been so many good things that have happened, and are still yet to happen. If yall could pray that we might be able to teach Alex Pruneda's family and also Charity Butler's family that would be so awesome. Tell cha chi that I am going to write him, in fact i did write him but i lost the letter so I will wirte him agian. I love yall so much have a good week.

Nov. 1, 2010

I am irate at Nicks comment! I don't even know what the word monotonous means. But ok I am done saying that word. It is out of my vocabulary. Also Mom i am in some dire need of some winter stuff aka gloves and thermals. But as for my week, it was pretty good. Although I must admit I got rightfully/spiritually IRATE i mean disappointed at one of our investigators otra vez this week. So His name is Pablo and we found him about 3-4 weeks ago and he was way receptive and we put him on date on the first lesson. And he wrote it down and he put it where he could see it and was just so awesome. So we called him that Saturday night and were just reminding him of church and well to make a long story short he had talked to his Pastor. He then told us how he owed his pastor alot and how there is no point in switching over and all this stuff. And so we asked him if we could stop by and see him and he said we could. So we tried probably like 4 or 5 times but never found him home. But this week we found him and he invited us in and started listing off these scriptures that apparently his Pastor had given him in case we came back. And he was just way confused because the pastor had told them that this is what those scriptures meant, and well we cleared everything up and told him what everything really meant. And we told him that ultimately the only way he would be able to find out if what we said was true; was to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it was true. And even though he was still confused he said that he would read it and ask. Mission accomplished right? Apparently NOT! When we went to check up on him and see if had read this is what happened: We knocked on his door...he asked who it was... le dijimos, los misioneros... he responded that he was to busy...in which we said that we werent here to teach him but just told him that we had a question for him and it would only take a second... Once again he told us he was to busy, in which we chose to tell him otra vez that we only wanted to ask a question. He then opened the door with book of mormon in hand and said that he was no longer interested in our religion and that he did not want the book anymore. And of course we said, "You havent read have you?" And it went back and forth, us telling him that he needed to read it and him telling us that he wasn't interested. And I can't even explain how like dramatically intense this was. Like my companion and I just wanted him so bad to read it, like the spirit was like actually way strong. But in the end he was like the book of Mormon cannot be true it says so in apocalipse (Revelations) and he put down the book of mormon on his steps and shut the door. And so he had most definately talked to his Pastor again. But as weird and crazy and dramatic as this was. It was just a testimony builder to me, as i recalled a scripture that tells how there is going to be false teachers and prophets and that many will fall to their prenicious ways for reason of which the truth shall be spoken evil of. And so in all honesty like the reason why we were the way we were was because we loved this guy we really did, and we wanted him to know the truth. And afterwards I still loved him and I actually wasn't mad at him at all, I was mad at his pastor, for he truly fulfilled the prophecy written in the book of Timothy. And when I left his house I left with a burning desire in my chest to just go out and start bearing my testimony to the world that the book of mormon is true. And so we went to one of our investigator alex house and taught him about the book of mormon. And it was just solid. we were able to listen to his concerns, address them and bear testimony to the book of mormon. He then committed himself to read it, when before it always had been that he would try. And the whole night was just solid after that cause I knew the spirit was with us. I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart. I know that it is true, that it is the most correct book here upon this earth. I will stand in front of those that are poor and those that are rich, the servant and the King, The Pastors and those that are in the fold, The learned and the unlearned, and I will bear witness to everyone that I come in contact with that this book is true. That we have a prophet here on this Earth that leads and guides this church by being a mouthpiece to God. Let me be a mouthpiece as well to all those who do not know the truthfullness of the book of mormon. And they will know without a doubt that i know that it is true. I love this work and I thank yall so much for your prayers. And I will pray for all those who are in need of it now. Have a good week.

Oct. 25, 2010

Hola familia! To answer alisa questions, yes i know about those band things, cause Alayna sent me one a couple weeks back and told me about them. Pero i have not worn them cause it is against the mission rules. And to answer your question mama, about my baptism, I will tell you the things I remember. I remember the day before my baptism I was playing baseball with pops, and I got hit in the eye and so I had a giant black eye on my baptismal day. And I wish I could remember more of the actual day but I don't really remember the day at all. But I do remember that after I got baptized and I was changing back into my clothes, just how happy and warm I felt. I remember dad and, not exactly his face, but I just remember that I could tell he was so proud of me. And that I was so happy for that. I remember thinking along time after my baptism, about dad being happy and proud for me, and I realized that he was not the only Father I pleased that day; but how happy I had made my Father in Heaven. I also remember thinking about my baptism; here on my mission when I was at the MTC and for about two seconds I was jealous of those who had been baptized converts. They seemed to remember their baptisms really well and always had a cool story; and I was almost upset at the fact that I had been baptized then with no way cool story to go along with it. And I remember that it was then I realized how glad I really was that I was baptized when I was. And how much easier and better my life really was because from the time I was 8 I have been able to live worthily to have the H.G. with me. I remembered how when I was just a kid in Texas that I was able to stand and testify of the things I knew to be true, whether that was to my friends, school teachers, baseball coaches or baptists priests at a baptist camp. And how not once was I ever confounded by anything anyone ever said; sure maybe I didn't know the answer but I knew that I was part of the true church of Jesus Christ, and that if I prayed that God would give me the answer if I needed it. And I have had that same knowledge grow with me and stay with me till now and into the future. And now I am here now trying to teach people things that I had born witness to me ever since I was 8 and testified to all my friends about. But I hope that will do for my answer to your question mom. But now for my week. It was good with some major bumps and Irateness from Elder Nelson. We met with Catalina this week and she tells us how she now thinks she does not need to be baptized how she was already baptized into the catholic church and how really all the churches are the same because they are all good and worship the same God. So we talked to her about the authority and how that is the purpose of Joseph Smith and the role of the Book of Mormon and how in order to get an answer you need to read it and pray about it. How hard is that!!!!! Granted you have to do it with a sincere heart and with real intent( Both with the belief that you are going to receive and answer and with the intent to do what ever it takes to act on that answer) And so we invited her to read and pray every day this week, and that if she did this she would receive an answer from God. So we went over ther on Saturday to see how she was doing and she chupatized us! We saw her in her house, and she ran and hid, and told some guy to tell us she was not there! I was so IRATE!!! needless to say she had not kept her end of the promise. So Octaviano y Catalina will not be getting baptized this week. But we still want to talk to Octaviano and see what is really going on because he is always way cool and honest and will give us a straight answer. This week. But other than that dissapointment the week has been really good. We taught a couple way awesome people, and had some really way powerful lessons. In fact this girl named Leti after a really powerful lesson just completely opened up and told us how she just wanted to feel the way she did right then forever. But she couldn't come to church this week because she has a chupa boy friend how has got to go. She told us beforehand that she had already planned to go up to Pasco with his family sunday morning. Lame! Pretty sure there was no happiness in that trip haha. But I love the people here and I am so excited, and pops your right everybody has got there agency, and it wouldn't be the plan of God if it was any other way. It just makes it a little sad some times. But the times they excercise there agency in the right way is equally happy and 10 times more rewarding. Oh and a side not, my comp Elder Pound got his visa and will be heading off to Mexico tomorrow. So it will be back down to two full time missionaries here in warden. Love yall so much! thanks for yall's prayers and letters

Oct. 18, 2010

This past week was good. Octaviano y Catalina failed us by not coming to church this week and we taught them about the sabbath day the night before! I was so Irate! cause they are on date to be baptized this next coming week. Ahh! In fact our only investigator that came to church was a 8 or 9 year old boy, of a part member family. Which is good because he is on date to be baptized with the rest of his family later on down the road. But other than that we had a couple awesome things happen to us this week. Including an awesome rejection by this lady. We knocked on our door and tell her we are the missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter days and she just starts busting up laughing and says that she is sorry. And so Elder Gillespie is like what are you sorry for? And she starts laughing even harder and starts shaking her head and shuts the door. It was kinda way funny, because it just reminded me of something Alena would do or something. But then we also had an awesome surprise where we went to this one potential named Velma's house. And we actually skipped over her house a little earlier cause we noticed the cars of both her husband and son there, who have already told us that they are not interested and to come not by when they are not there. But then our appointment fell through and so we just decided to go back and try her. And so we talked to her a little bit outside and it is pretty darn cold outside and so we ask to come in and she starts telling us how she can't let us in because the dogs will most likely attack us and they can't take the chance. And so we talk to her a little longer outside and our fixing to leave and then her hater husband comes to the door and tells us to come inside. And we are thinking that this has to be a trap or something. Like guaranteed anti or they are going to sick the dogs on us or something. And the next thing we know they are asking us to sit down and the son comes over and is like what can I get yall to drink? Here take this seat, and we are just all way confused. And so we just start teaching them and are just waiting for some anti stuff at every turn. But nothing came and they were just agreeing with everything and acting like they just really wanted us to be happy and comfortable and stuff. And the lesson went really well, and they just seemed like an awesome family. And I don't think they were acting because the whole countenance of both the dad and the son had completely changed from last time. And so I guess God just really blessed them and humbled their hearts. And so that was awesome. And then also we had an awesome miracle this week with the wife of Guadalupe. She actually tore her acl last week and so she is bed ridden for now and so when we went over to teach guadalupe this week he was not there but she was. And this is the guy who would have been baptized but he won't until his wife agrees and everything. But she refuses to sit down to the lessons and everything but this time he is not there and she is just sitting on the couch and can't move so we decided that this is the opportunity we have been waiting for. So we ask if we can come in and she is like ya; and so we ask her how she is feeling and she is in quite of bit of pain. So we end up bringing up the power of the priesthood and the ability to heal the sick and afflicted. And to make a long story short she agreed to receive a blessing. So Elder Gillespie annointed her with oil and I administered the blessing. And pretty much just commanded her that by her faith that she would at that very moment be able to get up and walk and that the pain would leave. And then she stood up and she could walk like it was nothing. Swelling gone and completely back to normal. Actually i didn't really say that and that is not what happened although I was just waiting for the inspiration to come and so I could say it. But apparently that is not what the Lord wanted, but as I waited for the things to say the words of God came to my mouth and I gave his will to her and not the blessing that I would have given her if this was my work. But I knew the words I said were not my own and by the power of the Holy Ghost the blessing was delivered and even though she was not miracously healed; I knew that I had the ability to do so if God had commanded me. And so the Spirit was so strong and maybe even more importantly than her leg being healed right then, was hopefully the healing of her own heart and humility and a bigger possibility of listening next time we come over. Thank yall so much for yall's prayers and letters. I love yall so much and angela have fun at the house. And momma pops and grandpa have fun with the fish! If yall could also pray for the ability for us to get more investigators to church that would be awesome. Love yall so much

Oct. 11 *FINALLY*

*sorry I've been a slacker at updating Ty's blog. Here ya go everyone:

Crazy story! I just read that scripture in Romans like 3 days ago and I thought the same thing you did mom. I like that one a lot. This week here in warden was really good! We taught a lot of people and I had an opportunity to rebuke the ward in sacrament meeting and it was awesome and then Bishop got up there and rebuked the ward after me; double awesome. My talk was based on John 17:15-19 or something like that. It is where Christ asks Peter if he loves him 3 times and then every time after Peter says he does Christ says Feed my sheep. Awesome scripture. I can't remember really anything i said in my talk, because I never write my talks out but i basically just told them to look into my eyes as I told them that I loved them, and that I could say that because I knew that Jesus loves them and that I loved Jesus. And then of course I asked them if they loved Christ; and repeated the scripture of how Chirst told peter to demonstrate his love; Feed my sheep. Ahh! I just love bearing my testimony to people so much! Member, non-member, non Christian, everyone! I have been praying every day in order for me and my companions to have opportunites to share our testimonios y it is just so awesome to me when they share their testimonies, and then one of us will just come in with a second witness. And we really have had so many opportunites to do so these past couple weeks. We also taught a new family this week, and I really think they have a lot of potential and will most definately be baptized one of these days. The parents names are Arnoldo y Maria. We have actually Arnoldo a couple times, but the lessons are always ten times better if you can teach the parents together, and that was the first time the wife was there, and she is so awesome. And then also this week we found a new ganster investigator, he actually reminds me a lot of my roommate Shae, but man he comes up with the wierdest ways to 'liken the scriptures unto himself'. It is way funny. But he is a really good guy and has the desire to change. He told us that he loves listening to the word of God because he remembered this one time when he was smoking his weed in the park and this little Jehova's witness boy came up to him and asked to share him a scripture, and he was like man i can't say no to a little kid, and so he decided to listen to it. And afterwards even though he didn't feel to different; he saw how happy the little kid was for coming up with the courage to share this scripture with him. And so from there on out he will just listen to people. And so he let us in to listen, and like i said when we read the scriptures he likes to compare and liken the scriptures to him. So he really likes reading the book of mormon, but now we got to work on the applying part. Please keep praying for Octaviano y Catalina tambien porque ellos no vinieron a la iglesia ayer, and right now is the time they need to make sure they are being consistent and so the devil doesn't have to much room to work with them. As well as the other investigators here. I love yall so much. And I don't know what I want for Christmas yet ma, because it is not even halloween. Oh and I thank angela for sending me Tylers and Kylees drawings, for I muchly enjoyed them. Oh and you better watch out ma cause it looks like Alisa is getting better on her arts and crafts. Thanks for yall's prayer otra vez.

Oct. 4, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandpa! And before i forget i will answer the question that pops has asked for the past 3 weeks but I have always forgotten to answer. Well i should have rode my bike a lot more than i have so far . Like in Chelan we probably should have rode them quite a bit, but Elder Acosta was not exactly the bike riding type. Haha we rode it once down there for about a mile and we kinda went up this hill but it wasn't steep by any means; and by the end of it he kept on complaining that he had a heart attack, as well as having his system messed up the whole rest of the day. And so to make a long story short, we never rode our bikes again. And here in Warden we would ride it every day but since Elder Pound is a visa waiter for Mexico he does not have a bike and so we have not rode it here that much either. (Although we just got him a bike this week from somone in the ward and as soon as we can get him a helmet we will start riding them here.) Oh and also thanks so much for yall's prayers for the people here. Both Octaviano y Catalina showed up to conference, and so that was so awesome. Besides conference we have been so blessed this week with finding some really solid people. Alex Pruneda is so awesome! he is about 40 probably and has a family and everything, and we have had some really powerful lessons with him this week. We taught him the whole restoration and he was just loving it and opening up a ton. Both my comp and I bore some powerful testimonies and he started sharing all his experiences that he had and stuff. And then I invited him to be baptized and he was like ya! And right after we were at our spiritual high his whole family just walks in the door and are just so loud, and boom the spirit kinda left a bit. But we talked to him a little bit and he went on to explain how he would be baptized one day, whether that was in his church or our church he didn't know. Needless to say, he is not on date to be baptized, but he will be in the future, we just got to keep on bringing that spirit to him. So later that week we taught him again, and he starts telling about his long week at work and how he was talking to this guy he worked with and for whatever reason they got on the subject of religion. And he told this guy how God had blessed him so much by sending him over the guys, the mormon guys to talk to him about the word when he needed it a lot. But then this guy started telling him how the Mormon faith was not bad that they worshipped the same God and everything, but how it was totally wrong because the Bible says you can't add to it and if you did you were going to be cursed, and so basically if you ever became a Mormon you would be cursed. And so that really bothered him, and he didn't know what to think. And just some backround information for this day, because you can just see throughout the day God's hand was there and just making things happen at the right time. It was so crazy how everything worked out. There was twice where we showed up to someones house and they were not there, and right as we were fixing to leave they pulled up and we got to teach them. There was also twice where we felt like we needed to go to someones house at a specific time. And the first time was to a girl named Leti, who is so awesome and doing so good, and so we showed up at our house about 2 hours earlier than planned, and it was perfect because she had actually had something come up where she would be leaving in half an hour and so we would have missed her if we would have gone when planned. And then it was like 10 min before we had our scheduled lesson with Alex and we were debating if we should go over there right then or to go somewhere else for the next ten. And so we decided to look for a refferals house in which we did not have an address. And so we went to the managers house of this one apartment complex and they invited us an we taught them. But now we were half an hour late for Alex but we went over there anyway even though it is 8:35 at night and really hoping they aren't asleep (It gets dark here at 6 now and by winter it is supposed to be around 4. so lame, but its all good.) But we get there and his wife lets us in and like 52 seconds later he walks in having just gotten off work really late. And so once again it ended up being perfect timing. And he starts telling us about this guy at his work who had told them this. And I was like wow this really perfect timing and I knew that God had made everything happen and that if we had decided to not follow the small whisperings of the spirit we could have possibly left this question of his unanswered and too much time for the devil to work on him, because we would have never even seen him that night. But because we did we were able to read the verse with him in the book of revelations and address his concern, and just explain to him the importance of the Book of Mormon. And by the end he was like ya that makes so much sense now, and he was like I think I really need to watch this Prophet of yall's speak. Problem was he had work and so he was not able to watch it right then but we are going to watch it with him online here in the near future. But I am really excited for him and Leti and this other girl named Kayla whom we found this week as well as Octaviano y Catalina as well of course and Guadalupe too. The Lord has really opened up some doors here for him and his wife and us, and I think that if we capitalize on those he should be able to be baptized pretty soon as well. So keep up yall's prayer for him. Oh and by the way I think that one 70 should have had yall on the stand for mazizo parenting and being courageous parents. He was like reading off what the parents should do, and I am like yep they did that, oh yep they did that too. Although Mom i think you have gotten too soft. You are going to have to go Mazi on Alena again. Keep that girl in check. But that is all I got time for. I love yall so much. Keep praying for this area for me.

Sept. 27, 2010

Yep I got the package but I just sent the dmv paper thing to the mission office a couple days ago so I should be getting it signed and everything next week or so and then I will send it back to you. So funny about Nick! It is good to get an email from grandma and grandpa again. Although I feel like somebody forgot to write me this week. (Alisa). That is so crazy that Grandpa Bill is 91 already! And is Alena really practicing to drive with pops cause I don't know if that should be allowed, nor dating! Alena are you 16? I could of sworn you were 15! Chiste! Ella Mientes! No es Verdad! Yo espero que mis padres No Permitan mi hermana menor para salir la casa!
Anyways back to me. This week was really good. Javier was Baptized and confirmed! IT was so awesome. Octaviano and Catlina are on date to be baptized together on the 30th of October! and came to church! And this week was really awesome because I have been praying in order to have muchas oportunidades para compartir mi testimonio y Dios ha contestado mis oraciones. It has been so awesome cause nothing brings the spirit in like a testimony and so I really have felt the spirit so strong this week. And I think it is just so awesome how you can bear your testimony on the same thing every week and the spirit never gets any weaker in fact it feels like it gets stronger. And that is just a witness in itself about our message being true, because anything else that you had to do every day would most likely get old, but a testimony just keeps growing as your desire to share and your love for the people grows. And I learned that this is the key to being bold this week. I know it says that in the scriptures it teaches us this about love, boldness, and testimony. It is one thing to read it and it is a whole other thing to feel it connect when you are teaching. Because we were teaching the Garza family here in Warden; and basically they would be baptized most likely except they aren't married. And they aren't married because if they get married then the wife will lose the aid that she has, for the 14 different types of pills she takes and they don't have the money to pay for them. But I love Elder Gillespie (He is the new Elder with us) cause he is a stud and told them our purpose and then Elder Pound who is also a stud reads 1 nephi 3:7 and I know that the spirit is telling me to bear my testimony. And it was so powerful and they knew exactly why we were there and that we wanted them to be baptized because we loved them and that God was gonna make everything work out. And I told them how I realized that this is something that is a lot to ask for; to put all your faith in God and the things that we have taught, (I mean becasue if we were wrong she could literally die because she needs the medication) but I told them how this was something that I would not ask of them if I did not know it was true. I would not take that risk because that is just not me. But how I knew it was true with all of my heart and how I would put my life on this book being true, and of course I was crying, but I knew this is exactly what the spirit wanted me to say. And so we invited them to pray about it as a family. And I don't know what is going to happen there, but I do know that God was working through me, and I knew that I truly loved them afterwards and I know they felt my love; and that is all that matters and the rest is up to them. I am really hoping they pull through. And there is of course a lot of stories like that, but I kinda felt like that one started my recognition that there is no such thing as fear in love, and faith. But that is about all I have time for. I love yall so much and thank yall so much for the prayers. Keep them up for the people here. Have an awesome week!

Sept. 20, 2010

Yes mom I got the packages but no there was no journal. Alena is a joke she didn't even write me! Tell sister Almquist that the president is mazizo and I like him a lot. He really cares about you as an individual, and he does interviews with you every other transfer. But thanks mom for the spiritual journal I liked it a lot and that was awesome to hear about Payden bearing his testimony. If you see him again let him know that one thing I have realized on my mission is that I don't have enough knowledge to convince people to believe and change their lives, or even to turn down the anti-mormon stuff they throw out at me; but every single time with every single person, they cannot deny the fact that I know and cannot dispute the contents of a true testimony. It is so awesome for me to witness the power of God going through me as I bear testimony to people, and it is awesome to see that more often than not that all their objections are withheld and they can't seem to say anything else after you have born it. But anyways news for this week, it is transfers and I will be staying here in Warden with Elder Pound and we will be having another Elder come down named Elder Gillespie. We will be co-senior companions. Elder Oliver is moving to Othello as a district leader oh and I believe Elder Schvaneveldt is a district leader now in East Wenatchee. So that is pretty cool. But back to the week. We had another cool thing happen with Javier this week. We were teaching him and he is just way excited for baptism and so he decided that he wanted to be baptized this last Saturday. But on Friday he was like actually I probably shouldn't rush it, so he will be baptized this Saturday by his best friend. And so he came to church yesterday and he found out that sam his friend was coming out to teach with us that night so he asked us if he could come out and teach as well. Mazizo! And so I went with Elder Pound and they went with Elder Oliver. And we taught some people and when we came back and asked how everything went with them they told us how it went. And it turns out that Javier just called the shots on this one kid who stopped going to church about a year and a half ago and just bore his testimony to him and told him how he was being baptized this week and stuff. Is that not so awesome! Catalina and Octaviano didn't come to church today,but we have an appointment with them tonight and so hopefully we'll find out why. But they are still an awesome family and need yall's prayers. As well as Javier with his baptism coming up this week. Please pray for my Spanish as well, I am sure yall are already doing that but if not if yall could start that would be awesome. I don't think I realized I had been out 6 months already, but I think i am supposed to be pretty much fluent and I am terrible still. But I have faith, and just need to work harder and I know it will come, but extra prayers never hurt anybody. But I love yall so much and I think that is all I have for this week, cause we did a ton of service and didn't really teach as much as we normally do. But thanks so much for your prayers. LOve you bye!

Sept. 13, 2010

But now for the week. I will start off with a funny story first cause I don't think I have given one in a while. It was about 8:50 something at night and we were walking back to our car along this path with a little iron fence right next to it. And then all of a sudden this kid runs up to us and starts beating us with one of those inflated baseball bats and just yelling Mormons over and over again. And so I do the reasonable thing and move to the other side and so that way he can't reach me. But Elder Oliver is just trying to kinda like bat the bat down and ignore it. But a swing to the face I guess broke the camel's back and the next thing I know he is asking Elder Pound to hold his bag and lifts his 220 pound self over the fence. And I am just like thinking what in the world is going on here. As I watch him chase this kid across this little park. And this kid is just yelling like bloody mary and running as fast as he can. And finally Elder Oliver stops gives this insane sounding laugh and walks back to us (the kid is still running though). And I am just hoping that nobody saw this, but wow it was just so random that I could do nothing but laugh.
But now for an inspirational story. We were on comp exchanges and I was with Elder Weidman and we were just tracting down here in Warden. And not many people were answering, and not having that much success, and Elder Weidman just kinda stops and says that he doesn't understand why we tract like this because we are missionaries and should be able to have the Holy Ghost guide us where to go. And how if we go door to door we are more salesman than missionaries. And I was like you are so right, because I remember getting mad about that same thing in my last area. And so I stopped and I asked him to give a prayer about where we should go. And we decided to just finish this street and then to go somewhere else. And a little bit later a girl steps out of this van and we start talking to her and she tells us how she is just like us and how she goes door to door as a salesman. And was I like holy cow that is just God pretty much slapping us in the face. So we stopped and got in the car and just started driving hoping that God would guide us. And I saw a girl walking and I just felt like we should pull over and talk to her. Which is most definitely weird I know but we got out and started talking to her. And she just told us about all these tough things that she was going through and how she didn't think it was by chance that we stopped and talked to her. Miracle fo sho! Hopefully we will be able to see her again this week because she doesn't have a house so she is just living in random spots everyday.
And final story before I have to go. We taught Octaviano and Catalina this week and we just felt like we needed to teach them about temples and eternal families. And this family has been taught for a long long time almost what we call eternal investigators, and had never came to church or accepted the baptismal invitation. And so we taught them about families and the temple. And it was like a light went on and she was like what do I need to do to go here and have this. And to make an awesome long story short. She is on date to be baptized and he would be too but he was sick and in bed during the lesson, But all of them and their grandkids came to church! So if you could pray for them as well as Javier, and Leonardo Davila that would be so awesome! I love yall so much and thank yall so much for yall's prayers.

Sept. 6. 2010

Hola! Pues esta semana fue bien. Y that is awesome about byu! Not that it matters but we ate dinner at a members house that night and they told us they were down 14-13at half. And I was like NOOO!!! That is awesome. But I will tell you something even more awesome. We are teaching a 17 yr. old named Javier Tapia. And he is on date to be baptized on Sep. 25th! Both Leonardo and Guadalupe are off date but we are still teaching them so that is good. But back to Javier. So we have taught him a couple times and is just a stud. He had been taught by missionaries antes pero that was awhile ago I guess. He remembered everything that they taught him almost. I was pretty impressed. But after we got done teaching him for either the 2nd or 3rd time we invited him to both come to church and to be baptized and he said yes to both. And so we then went over to one of his best friend's house named Sam who is a member. And we told him that he had to make sure that he came to church and just follow up with him and stuff; and he agreed. And then boom! He came to church. And I was like awesome! And mis companeros both went to the English ward and I and a priesthood holder both went to the spanish branch. And Elder Oliver usually translates for the speakers, because we have some english people in there to give it a little bit of a bigger feel, and we always have at least one english person give a talk as well. But of course Elder Oliver is in the English ward this week and so I am waiting for his backup translator to show up, but she pulls a no show on us and so now I get to do the translating. And because it is fast and testimony meeting and we have a small branch everybody pretty much gets up and shares their testimonies. So I have to translate for like 15 different people now. I was sweating bullets, but I said a quick prayer and I actually got through it alright. For the times where I didn't know what people were saying, I kinda just acted like I did and added a little of my own testimony in haha but it went better than I thought it would. And towards the end of the meeting, I stood up and bore my testimony about how I knew the book of mormon was true. And the meeting was coming to close and almost everybody had given their testimonies and the spirit was really strong. Which is good because some times at those meetings you never know what you are going to get. But it was way good, and the spirit was there, and then all of a sudden Javier stands up and walks up and starts giving his testimony! He was like I know I am not a member of yalls church but I am going to be baptized on the 25th! YESSIR! and then he started bearing testimony about how he knew that God was real and about the experience he had when he prayed and asked. And about the feelings he had when the missionaries came over and he came to church. And how it was a totally different feeling than all the other churches he had gone too. And I was like YESSIR! and I was so happy and excited for him and I just wanted to give him a hug. But I got to go now. I will write if I have more time later today. But I love yall so much. I will pray for you mom. And if yall could keep Javier Leonardo and Guadalupe in your prayers that would be awesome! Alena do good in school, go to the temple, and you don't suck at tennis. And if you do, esta bien porque i suck too. (I was on homecoming though) Just keep having fun. LOVE YALL

Corny Pictures of Elder Nelson

I received these pictures today from an oh so sweet sister who lives in Othello, WA.
Her and her husband house the missionaries and Ty is with them on an exchange. How kind of her to send these pictures!! I'm ever so grateful! For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that Ty lost his two front teeth in a basketball mishap back in June. I have not seen a picture of him since that time and so it was really comforting to see his smiling face and him eating corn on the cob! The dentist who did his dental work obviously did a fabulous job! yeah!

August 30, 2010

This week was way good. We were able to teach a lot and find a lot of new people. But I can't remember last week at all so we are going to have to stay with only half of the letter. And oh my goodness that is crazy about Skylar. holy cow! That is a good motivation for me to start learning my spanish even more. I can't have him speaking better spanish than me now haha. That would be legit if I got to train him! Alena awesome job on your math test! Keep it up and work hard in school. And that is hilarious about Nate and the potty training as well as Mike and Kevin losing all that weight. I have actually lost seven pounds and just started gaining it back. That is only because I have no muscle and am just getting rechancho (chubby). Anyways this week was way good. We found a kid named Chris who is way golden except for the fact that he is leaving to college here pretty soon, and so he won't get baptized here but hopefully we can get him to start coming for church the next couple weeks before he leaves. We also found a girl named Syndi who is like fifteen but is way interested and so there is definately some potential there. Pero no se que es no correcto in mi mente porque mi habilidad para to differentiate between ages has gotten terrible. I could have sworn she was like 20 when we started teaching her. Then I asked my other companions and Elder Oliver was like ya I thought she was like 23 and Elder Pound was thinking she was 18 or so. So apparently it gets worse the longer you've been out. Pero Alena don't you dare talk to a guy that is above your grade, in fact just don't talk to any guys. We also taught a girl named Victoria who is also going off to college, but it is a local college so she'll still be living here. It was an awesome lesson though. We taught her the gospel (Lesson 3)( By the way I think that ya'll should start studying PMG like for FHE or something) and so we mentioned how the first step is to have faith, that leads to repentance, that leads next to baptism and as soon as we mentioned baptism she pretty much just freaked out and said that she was not interested in being baptized and that she had her own beliefs and stuff. So then we asked her what baptism was; and she told us how it is when someone wants to show their willingness to unite with a ceartain church. And so we explained to her why that was not necessarily correct, and kinda explained what it was to her. And then I just bore my testimony to her about how we weren't changing her beliefs at all, and how in fact that she already believed everything we believed it was just up to her to remember. And how I received my answer to my prayer about the Book of Mormon 2 weeks later after I had prayed and how the Spirit bore testimony to me that it was true and brought back to my remembrance of the time when I had gotten on my knees and asked. And the spirit was just so strong, and I just felt prompted to ask her is she would follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. And she just kinda looked at the ground for a while just thinking. And then she responded that she would think about it. We then extended a date to which she said no to. But the fact that she had gone from a definate no, to saying that she would think about it after taking some consideration; is truly a manifestation of the power of the Spirit. So please pray for her as well. I believe that she has a lot of potential and as she follows those feelings of the Spirit she will know that this is true. Also thank you so much for the prayers for Guadalupe and his wife. We went over to teach him this week, and he told us to wait outside while he got his Book of Mormon, pues su el libro de mormon. And while we were waiting for him to return, his wife opened the door and told us to come inside cause it was cold outside. May not sound big but it is. Last week according to Elder Oliver was the first time she had said hi to us. And this week was that and hopefully next week she might just sit down in the discussions. But that is all I have time for today. Keep praying. I love yall so much. I pray for yall every day, as well as Chach, Payden and Steve O. Now I will pray for Skylar, too. I love yalll so much and have a good week. Alena do good in school.

August 24, 2010

August 25, 2010

Dear Familia,

So there was quite a few good things that happened this week. We got a new elder and we had a visit from a 70, and we have a guy named Leonardo Davila on date to be baptized on Sept. 25th. The visit with the 70 happened on Monday of this week so that’s why I’m writing on Tuesday. It was so awesome. He mentioned that he believed that the thing that made the missionaries the weakest was their prayers and then he read all these scriptures about prophets and missionaries wrestling, laboring, struggling with all their heart in mighty prayer and such. I think that probably goes for every person in the church excluding the prophet, apostles, and Mom & Pops. He talked about how the Spirit should direct our prayers. In fact I think he used the scripture D7C 100:5-8 and said that as we pray by the Spirit that God should give us the words to pray. Then he read 3 Nephi 19:24 about how the people were given the words that they should pray. It was really interesting and it is something I never really thought about before. We also need to pray for specifics in order to get specific blessings. It was an awesome talk. I actually can’t finish this letter because I have to go, but I love y’all so much.

Love,
Elder Nelson

August 16, 2010

*sorry we just got this letter...it got lost in the mail for a second, but made its way to us

**Just got this today. It is not his email. I have not gotten one of those today. It is the letter he promised us from last week. It was unfortunately delivered to the wrong house and they just got their mail today and brought it over.
Here it is:
Hola!

I am trying to thinkg what to write about the good old Warden (the city where he is at). I guess the 75% Hispanic is pretty accurate. Did it also say on the web page that on different sides of it, it has a potato factory, a cow stockyard, a pig farm, and something else? Haha! It stinks really bad if it ever gets above 85 degrees, but it makes you wanna work even harder to get into the door. Holy Cow I saw Kylee's pics and she has changed soooooooo much! She kinda looks like Angela; which is too bad. haha! Just kidding sis. Seriously, it is all good, she is cuter by far. Anyways back to Warden. It is way small, but as far as the English Ward goes the LDS population is pretty big. Spanish not so much, though. So we definately need some prayers there. We already have met a lot of new Spanish people here that are looking pretty good. One named Guadalupe is going really well, and is on date to be baptized on Sept. 18th. The only problem with him is that his wife wants nothing to do with the church and so he does not want to get baptized until his wife softens her heart and is willing to come to the baptism. So pray that his wife will softer her heart. There is alos a really awesome guy named Carlos who is really golden. We taught him and his girlfriend Perla. Perla lost all her faith in God and stuff a while back. So we talked to them about the loe of God and prayer. She started opening up and she told us how when her partents got divorced when she was 8 and so slowly by slowly she just started losing all her faith. Then we started taling more about prayer and everyday miracles. Then Carlos jumped in and pretty much bore his testimony on prayer...so bomb! And my companion asked her to name all the miracles she had seen in just the past two months. She just started listing them off and afterwards he was just like "wow, I've just never thought of anything like this before." It was awesome. The only problem there is both soccer and work on Sundays. So if y'all could pray for them that would be awesome. There are more awesome people as well as crazy people (one guy tried to tell us that the popes were before Christ, had written the Bible and that they even started the Mormon Church. But it is definitely a good area.

Love y'all so much!!

Love,

Elder Nelson

August 9, 2010

Hey Familia! ya sorry yall might not of gotten the letter because I just got it back in the mail on Thursday. Apparently i forgot the stamp. haha. sorry. But you should be getting it either today or tomorrow. But wow there has been some miracles and challenges this week. We were doing awesome in the beginning of the week. We found a lot of good people and were able to teach a lot of lessons. But then the challenges hit on thursday, as absolutley nothing happened. We didn't find anybody or teach anybody. But we kept our heads up and we knew that Friday was going to be awesome! We had four lessons set up with our four most solid investigators. Dustin, Missy, Jazmin, Jesus. All have been progressing so much and doing so good. So we went over to Jesus house to teach him at 4:30 and we find out from a neighbor that he had gone down to Wenatchee to drink! he has a terrible drinking problem, and always is telling us how he just wants to be clean. And that he just wished that he could go to sleep at night with no bad things going through his head. And he is pretty sincere about it because everytime we have had gone over there he is ready to go. So i was pretty mad when i heard the news. But i kept my head up and said, just gotta go to the next lesson. Well a 5:30 we go to teach Jazmin and it turns out she had an emergency call to california. And so I was like well this is lame. And so 6:30 rolls around and we get a call from Missy who tells us how her sister just came in town and so she is not goiong to be able to do it a afterall. I was getting irate by then. But I knew we had Dustin at 8 so i kept my head up. But to no avail we got a call around 7 from his wife( who i don't know if it told you, but she is a member and really cool) and she tells us that they kinda got in a little fight and so he left to go fix his motorcycle or something and so we went 0 for 4 and it was pretty depressing. But that night i just prayed really hard, and the next morning I studied Moroni 7: 27-33 i believe and it just really hit home to me. And then the next couple of days miracles started happening again. We were able to meet wi th Jazmin on Sunday. And she related to us how she was really depressed and having a rough day, and how she had gone into the juerta and had read the one section of the pamphlet we had given her about how to know these things are true. And she prayed about it ! and she just told us about the immense peace she felt. And to make a long story short she is on date to be baptized Aug . 28th! But transfer calls came and so I am moving to Warden with Elder Oliver! so i will do work over there! Love yall.

Letter dated Aug. 2, 2010

*we just got this letter this week because Elder Nelson forgot to put the stamp on it (some things never change) and it came back to him and he had to send it again...it was worth the wait, though.

Hola Familia,

So this week was a little different because my companion left down t o a meeting for the leaders for the 1st part of the week. He is not a leader right now, but the actual district leader, Elder Sessions, is going home this transfer and asked President not to go to the meeting. (Mostly because he had 8 people of date to be baptized and had a bunch of appointments set up with them that he did not want to miss) So my companion went down there and I went up to Brewster with Elder Sessions and Elder Hash (I love them both). So I was with them from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday night. Monday night was ridiculous though because from 6-9 we were supposed to be out working on p-days, but my companion had not yet called anybody for a ride and as you can guess nobody was answering or just couldn’t go and so finally we figured something out about 7:15 that night, except our ride is like 30 minutes drive to their house and we would have to spend the night. So we get all packed and I get done packing about 7:45 and he is still packing. So I am thinking, “well at least I will try to set up an appointment for when we get there so today hasn’t been a total waste”. As I am making the call, he asks what I am doing and just gets mad claiming that we won’t have time to do that. I am like “why not?” He tells me how we have to drive in the total opposite direction to get a signature from the Bishop. (a paper that was supposed to be signed the week that I had first arrived in the area) It is a good think that I am a pretty mellow guy because I was able to hold in my frustration without complaining, but man was I irate. So around 8:45 we got to the town where the people lived and he is just driving to their house like he was perfectly fine with not doing anything that day. So I just told him that we should go do some tracting for the last 15 minutes and so he agrees and we go out and tract for the remaining time. Well, nothing happened. The moral I learned is that procrastinating is NO BUENO. I would rather work way hard and be rejected at every door than only work for 15 min and have something good happen, because it doesn’t matter who rejects me because I refuse to reject the Lord and by procrastinating that is exactly what we are doing. We are rejecting the Lord’s time. On a new subject, he left at like 5:30 am on Tuesday and my companion for the afternoon was the people who we stayed with 16 yr. old son. It is so crazy to see how much I have changed from the time I was 16. Alena don’t ever say no or complain about doing something mom or dad ask. (at least not when people are around) It looks SO BAD! So I got a ride up to Brewster with him to join Elder Sessions and Hash and it was so fun. We were getting in everyone’s door and were just doing a triple testimony threat. I loved how Elder Sessions would switch over the lesson to Elder Hash and I; even though our Spanish is terrible. It made the lessons a lot more unified and powerful. We ended up getting a lot of NI’s and having 3 more on date for baptism. I just love bearing testimony so much. I think the difference in all my companions has been this. With Elder Jacobsen we basically had a routine going on so I always knew when I was going to speak and every so often bear my testimony, so I was fine with that. With Elder Acosta it doesn’t matter if it is English or Spanish I don’t get the chance to speak or bear testimony very much. Mostly that is because we don’t have very many people we are teaching, so that is hard sometimes. I think he thinks when I pause that I am at a loss for works, but in reality I am just trying to allow the Spirit to tell me what I need to say. So every time I pause, he just gets on his horse and never dismounts. With the Brewster Elders, we were all three just testifying all the time and is was cool because we just knew not to step in when the other person was trying to receive the promptings of the Spirit. Then Thursday rolled around and I came back into Chelan and I was pumped to get things rolling. The cool thing was that I could see a change in Elder Acosta. We went out Friday morning and started doing our thing. From then on everything went pretty well. So as a summary of the big couple of things that we had happen in just the past couple days: we had an amazing lesson with Dustin, the finding of a truly prepared woman named Missy and some finding of some less active members that could help the work out. The thing with Dustin is that he has been taught for years and all the missionary reports say that he is very nice and says yes, but just can’t keep commitments and never talks or opens up. So we went over there just hoping that he had read; but he had not. It was frustrating. We skipped our plans and decided to just read from the chapters he was supposed to read from. After we had done all that, I was just quiet the whole time just waiting for God to tell me what to say and then I simply asked him what he wanted most in his life. To which he responded, “happiness”. So I bore my testimony how the Book of Mormon could do just that. My companion then told him that he was not just a baptismal statistic. I then bore my testimony about how much I love him and as my eyes filled with tears and as the Spirit bore witness of everything we said, he opened up. He muttered with his voice cracking that he wanted to know the truth and just how hard it was. It was just this one sentence that he said, but it was a sentence of hope and desire that caused him to shake when he said it. He then said the closing prayer something that he had said he didn’t want to do the past couple of times. It was so awesome. As far as Missy, she has a 2 yr. old and a 5 yr. old. Her husband is in jail for the abuse of her kids and we found her tracting. She just kept on saying how she wanted to see us and how much they needed us in their lives right now. So we should be teaching her this Friday. She has met with missionaries once before, outside her door and mentioned that there was just a different feeling when she was talking with them. So cool and totally prepared. I think this is all I have time for and I love y’all so much!

Elder Nelson

Ty's Letter

So this week went pretty good. We have a guy named Dustin Elis on date to be baptized for August 15th and I am excited for him. He is actually the husband of the bishop's daughter. Me and Elder Hash just tracted into them and taught him, and had no idea that he had been taught in the past. So that was fun and he is really going to need some prayers. We also found a really nice family. We taught both the husband and the wife, once on separate occasions. He believes in God, but not that he answers direct questions and he doesn't believe in organized families. The wife, Guadalupe, is a really strong Catholic that reads the scriptures a lot, but what she wants most is her family to come together and believe in Christ. So we are just praying that we can get an appointment with their whole family at once. I loved pop's analogy about the work being compared to the ball game. I mean God's team is going to win no matter what. Granted I am not a player that wants tosit on the bench. If He allows, I want to get a couple of interceptions for the team and help get the win. I think sometimes, it is hard to realize that the scout team is often what makes the starters as good as they are, and a good player has to accept His rule, but yet always strives to do his best and become the starter. Maybe that is the concept of life. Working as hard as you can to:
A. Make the starters better
B. Make yourself better in order to become the starter if the coach allows and then work hard to remain the starter and to keep confidence in the coach.

July 26, 2010

You are very much welcome for that dance class alena haha! (Ty talked Alena into taking a Social Dance class) And now that i think about it, it is a probably a good idea that you are taking more spanish, because my spanish is still horrible. But no we did not kill the mouse we just let it go. Although one of the grandkids of the people we are staying with just straight up stabbed one. I was rather impressed but yet a little saddened out at the same time. Mom i loved the mail and the talks you sent, and I loved the story about tyler praying not to be scared. I love the faith! Thanks for all of yall's prayers; family Grandma and Grandpa, chach and everyone else that is. I will take your advice and just write a letter to yall. So you don't have to worry about making your e'mails shorter. But ya if you could send me those stamps and if Alena could like burn me a church cd or send the alex boye cd that would be awesome. And i will send you the letter when i get the stamps. Love yall so much. Tell Payden to write me too. I think i am going to write steve o too. K bye!

*I'll post the letter when I get it...I know this is a little sparse

July 15, 2010

Hey!

So my letter for this week. This past week has been a pretty difficult week. Pretty much all of the investigators that we hoped to be progressing dropped us. Ironically, they all had something in common: their family had come down this week and would be staying for another week or so. Also, the one person we had a date for baptism was evicted from her house and we don’t know the address to where she is staying. As the saying goes, you need to teach to find and find to teach. The problem is that all the lessons we have taught have been one lesson and then no answer on the door on the next visit. So we have been trying to find those people whom the Lord has been preparing, but they have been eluding us for now. It is all good, cause I know they are there. I just need to work harder on trying do listen to the Spirit. I know for a fact that the Lord sent me here to Chelan for a reason…that is His work, and that if it is not progressing it is something that I am doing so please keep praying for me so I can know what to do. Sorry I couldn’t write this all in an email, but I only have 30 minutes on the library computers and by the time I get done reading everyone’s emails, I have only three minutes left to write. I Love y’alls emails. That video of Nate was hilarious! I always love Alena’s emails they make me so proud, and of course yours mom’s are what I look forward to, Dad’s just keep me so motivated and ready to work, and I love Angela’s and Alisa’s too. I love y’all so much!! Keep praying. I can feel them and I know they are helping.

Love,
Elder Nelson

From Chelan, Washington

Dear Familia,

Alright, so there is a lot that has happened here in this past week. I am glad to say that I am not quite as savage as Amanda, as far as finding and cutting a chicken’s head off. Funny! That is so crazy to think she has been through half of her mission already. As for me, this past week has been awesome. My companion, Elder Acosta, although a native is from Provo and speaks perfect English so it is not like a native companion with Amanda. He is way awesome and this area here is so beautiful. The only somewhat of a letdown is that it is both English and Spanish here, so I might not pick up Spanish as much as I hoped. The Spanish congregation here is a lot smaller than the one in East Wenatchee, with only a couple of families that are members. However, the new Stake Pres., Pres. Huntsaker, told us that he had a vision or a goal that in 18 months that this area would actually be an individual branch. This Sunday we had 1 Spanish family come and 3 other people. So overall I think there were 6 or 7 people that showed up. Yea, that is pretty sad, but I know that with our faith that in 18 months that this area can truly have a branch with all the priesthood authority needed to run it. So I guess this is something y’all can pray for is just the overall growth of the Spanish work here in Chelan. We did have a baptism here this week of a boy named Reuben. He is 9 yrs. Old and is part of a part member family. Hopefully with this baptism we can get his whole family fired up and get the members in his family active again. So I am praying for some miracles this week. We have already seen some, too. We found 6 new investigators this week., 2 of which come from an area where past missionaries have declared as dead. It was way sweet. In this same area I also had a big testimony builder. We found a guy named Jim Johnson. This older man was not born Christian but was converted in his 20’s and for the past 40 years has been studying the Bible. He told us how he had received inspiration from the Holy Ghost about certain things. These things which he told us about were what we believed. He quoted scriptures left and right and summarized chapters and was just a historian of the Bible. I then felt prompted to ask him a simple question, “Well then to you, sir, what is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He then replied that this was a hard question, and that he didn’t know. Throughout our discussion he had mentioned faith, repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, but his 40 years of searching the Bible and his 40 years of knowledge could not put these principles together to form what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. With a 5 minute read in 2 Nephi 31 or 3 Nephi 11 or 27 we read exactly what His Gospel is. Although at this time he did not accept the Book of Mormon, he said that he would like us to come back. It was really awesome and a testimony to me of the divinity and the importance of the Book of Mormon. We also taught some really crazy Anti’s. Man the Anti’s drive me insane. It is a good thing that my testimony is based on Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, cause they sure come up with a bunch of crazy stuff. Here is the last story for today. We had 2 mice come into our house, and my companion was all scared…haha. I acted like I was scared for his benefit. But anyways we tried to kinda catch it, but man that little mouse outsmarted us so bad. We caught him on camera and the video is pretty funny. If you ever see Anna Nygaard tell her thanks for the letter.

Elder Nelson

June 28, 2010

Hola Familia! Well as you may know it is transfers this week. So my companion should be arriving back in Layton Utah sometime today. crazy! His full name is Elder Benjamin Jacobson. It was way wierd when he left but I found out who my next companion is going to be, and i will meet him tomorrow. His name is Elder Acosta. Apparently the Lord realized that i needed to learn spanish really bad so he sent me with a native. So i am excited for that. But i am not going to lie i was depressed for like a couple of minutes because i am going to be leaving East Wenatchee as well, and there are so many people that we are so so close with and are progressing so well. BUT LUCY WAS BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY AND TO BE APART OF THAT WAS SO AMAZING! to see her so happy, and to feel the light in her and see it in her eyes was just so amazing! AND THE CONFIRMATION WAS SO POWERFUL! she was crying and i was like, now this is what the mission is all about! I love it. But i am excited for the other missionaries coming to my area here; Elder Collier and Elder Lively, they are the Zone Leaders and they are going to do work here, I know it. And i know also that the Lord is going to bless us in Chelan, which is where I am going now. I don't think i ever understood what Amanda meant by it being hard to leave an area, but now i realize what she meant. It is hard to leave the people that you have come to love. But on the other hand, I am glad to meet some new faces as far as missionaries go. I don't know why i get so irate about little things that some missionaries do, but i do. I mean they say that they don't understand why they are not having as much sucess as some and its because the little things are so important, and it is the little things that they are not doing. so i want yall always to remember the words of Alma, by small and simple things are great things come to pass. The greatest coaches will always take there teams back down to the fundamentals if they ever see they are struggling. Here is another analogy that i just thought of. In football a wise man once told me to hit them hard and hit them low. I was always a small guy and this was my only way of being able to knock down the bigger opponents. Without comparing myself to the works of satan haha satan tackles us in the same way. In the pre-existence we chose to follow the plan of our Heavenly Father, and with this came both the ability to chose and to receive mortal bodies. This is very important because with these gifts from God we were made stronger than satan can ever become or hope to become. Which is why the scriptures teach us that there is not temptation of affliction that we can not overcome through Christ. Christ is our Coach, and he has taught us all the fundamentals and the plays to defeat the foe that we have once already defeated. We have the advantage, we are a bigger and stronger team and if we execute what we have been taught by the coach we cannot lose. However the opposing team also has an advantage, they have the film from the last game and know what we like to run; they know are weaknesses and strengths; they also have all been perfectly instructed on hitting low. They have learned that when they hit low that the greater part of the man will fall with it. The Film that they own is simply the pre-existence in which we all knew each-other and were truly spirt brothers and sisters. It is here they learned our weaknesses. We as the bigger and stronger team do not have this memory, we have only been instructed by the greatest coach of all time, and can decide whether to do the things he teaches or to do it our own way, as many athletes do. He has taught us the fundamentals of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and Enduring to the End. He has taught how to excercise these principles, by going to church (practice), Reading the Book of Mormon (Learning the plays and the situations of the game) and Praying (realzing that you can't do it on your own: humility) As we do these things are foundation is strong and we don't have to worry about getting knocked over. However if we do not our foundation is weak and endanger of us getting hit low and being knocked over. This is exactly why satan has coached to hit hard and low. Because if you knock on leg off of a three leged table it will fall. Satan attacks these small areas because he too knows that it is by small and simple things that great things come to pass. And so if he can break down your fundamentals eventually he will win the game as well.
That analogy hopefully made sense because i was just typing as i thought. But i kinda have to go now. But I love yall so much. It was the front two teeth that go knocked out. and my address will not be the same so if you wanna write me wait a while for the right address. Love yall bye!
**You can still write Elder Nelson at the address on this blog. It is the mission office and they will get his letters to him.

June 21, 2010

Alright well this was an awesome week. As apparently yall already know I had somewhat of an accident haha but it's all good. It was this last past p day and originally we had started of playing dodgeball (companion style) which was way fun and which my companion and i had won 3 out of the last 4 games. But then Elder Lively decides that we should switch to basketball for some reason. probably cause he is a baller. But anyways i am guarding an Elder named Elder Andersen ( Ironic) and as you could guess is not all that good at basketball. haha just kidding nick. But anyways he has the ball and tries to some spin around move, not quite sure what he was thinking but he spins right in to me with his elbow swinging right at my open mouth, and bam! One tooth is on the ground and the other one got caught by my giant lip. And i am standing there thinking well that is not good. haha and apparently the first thing i said was, " Do these things grow back?" i think i was in a state of shock though lol but to make a long story short we ran over to the dentist and they gave me two root canals, some vicodin and some antibotics and glued my teeth back on or something. And my lip had swolen frome a black man lip to a giant balloon on my face and so i didn't look so appealing to say the least. But this work is not about how good i look or even about me at all. This is God's work and His glory so we went got me an arby's shake to eat and went and preached the Gospel. And we had an awesome week! Oh and we had a quorumn of the 70 named Elder Pearson come this saturday and speak. And wow there was some power there. He talked about knowing our identity and who we are. And about how there is no such thing as a bad area, only bad missionaries with a bad attitude. And I was like so true, just let me out of here and i am going to go to baptize someone. And there was a lot more too but i do not have my notes, but it was amazing. And was a pivotal point for me as a missionary. As well as the miracles i have seen this week. The miracle family who had found our pass along card. Araceli, Urtiza, y Lorena and her mom and hermana all came to church again this week. And we set up another appointment with them, and found out that Lorena's brother is coming down for friday, Saturday and Sunday. And this is the brother who got baptized in January and has been bearing his testimony over the phone to her ever since. So i can honestly say that there are no coincidences in the gospel. It is not a coincidence that before they moved here that they had been to church and it is not a coincidence that they could not find the church but went to one of the two stores in all of east Wenatchee where we had placed our cards with our number. It is not a coincidence that we were able to teach them and committ them to baptism on the 26th and i repeat it is not coincidence that her brother who is a member is coming down at the end of this week and could possibly have the opportunity of baptizing her. When you are living righteously there are no coincidences. This is God's work, and we our simply His tools that our bringing the message of Him and His church throughout the world. To everyone that reads this e-mail, I want you to know, that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored here on this earth, by a man named Joseph Smith. Who was called by God to be a prophet to this people. I have never seen Joseph Smith, I have never seen Mormon, Moroni, or God the Father and His Son, but yet I know that they live! And i know this through the power of the Holy Ghost which speaks to all men women and children, and soley testifies of truth. This is HIS church, this is HIS work and I am so thankful to be a part of it. I love yall all so much, and I know that I am in your prayers, and that God does answer those prayers, for i have seen the miracles tender mercies of God for me. Keep praying for me and For Lorena Araceli, Urtiza, and also Lucy. I don't have time to share everything so i am going to have to leave yall with that. LOVE YALL
OH AND POPS AND MAMMA HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 50 blasted years old that is so crazy! 49 is not so bad though. Oh and happy father's day too. YOU ARE THE BEST DAD I COULD EVER ASK FOR AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR EXAMPLE.

June 14, 2010

First off i am sorry Hermana Nelson that my e'mails are not longer but it is simply because I am the slowest typer in the world. And i am so glad that Alena got her patriarchal blessing because it inspired me to read mine and make some goals here for my mission and it is such a help and comfort to know that through God all things are possible if we but have faith, do our best and ask for his assistance. But yall's trip to Logan sounded fun, i am kinda envying the whole coldness though because where we live there is no air conditioning so we have been coming home to an 87 degree house at night and it is just terrrible. And no i didn't mean i had two ties left, I just meant that i am two less than what i used to be sorry. But i don't care the color as long as it is not red or black because almost all my ties fit in those categories. But ya if you could send me some short sleeve shirts that would be heavenly. Walking around all day in long sleeve is not so much fun.
Anyways for this week. This week we had a little bit more success than last week, and i know for a fact that it can still keep improving if we keep working hard and just have faith. The one big trial of the week is just with lucy and her family. Seeing how her husband Omar is most likely going to be heading back to Mexico this week, she has to completely support her family now. Which is extremely hard for her because of the lack of education. So she is working in the fields and selling Mary Kay for her living and for her three kids, and so her time is limited. So basically she was not able to go to church this week becasue she had to work, and so that was not good. And on top of that her husband told her that he doesn't really want her to get baptized until he gets back and then they can get baptized, but he would not be able to get back to the US for probably another 2 years at the earliest. And so we kinda talked to her about that and she said that she was still going to prepare to get baptized for the 26th regardless, so hopefully it will all work out. But now for the miracle of the week. So every two or three weeks or so we go and drop off these pass along cards with our numbers on them down at these latino markets in hope that someone might call. So my trainer has been doing this whole mission and noone has ever called, in fact he has only heard one miracle story where someone did call back, and they actually got baptized. And so basically it is a miracle if someone calls. So on Sunday morning we get a call and Elder Jacobson answers and says Hello this is Elder Jacobson. And then the lady on the other end is like espanol por favor. And anyways to make a long story short they wanted to know what the address to the church was, and so we gave it to them. So they come to church , and tell us that they use to go to church but since they had moved here they could not find where to go so they stopped going. And then one day they found one of those cards at the carnerita or something and they decided to give us a call. And so we had five people show up to church that are not members and we have an appointment with them this tuesday. So awesome! and such a miracle!
I am sorry i am such a slow typer but that is all i got time for this week. But i love yall so much and am so proud to be a Nelson. And i think that spiritual thought with the Nelson cheer and Amandas e'mail were all inspired cause they are something i needed and strengthened my faith. I am always prayin for yall and in know yall are too. Keep doing what is right and having faith. Missionaries aren't the only ones that have miracles. bye!

Ty's First Letter from the Field- May 24, 2010

Hola family! K so my p days are on mondays now. And i am actually in a town called wenatchee now and not in spokane. It is about 4 hours west of Spokane. However i did spend one day there and that was really fun. so i will start from there. It is crazy to think that i am doing the real deal now but it is awesome. But anyways the first thing that happened was that we landed in spokane proobably around 9 or so and walked outside the airport and met our Mission President and his wife. And he is so awesome! He has the coolest accent (New Zealand) and his wife is so nice. So we talk to him for a while and we get a ride from the AP's to downtown Spokane. And Elder Cluff is not an AP but i did see an Elder Cluff so maybe he is a ZL. Anyhow they paired us off with some Elders that lived in Spokane already so we could go do some tracting. and so i went with and Elder named Elder Davila or something and we both were spanish Elders but we went to do english contacting for the first day. So i went with him and he was way cool and we decided to do some street contacting down town. And holy cow i have never met so many strange people in my life. So there was this one lady that was scitzophrenic ( NO SE how to spell it) or she kept on telling us she was, and she was way crazy but we gave her a book of mormon anyways haha. And then she stood up from off the bench she was sitting on and grabbed my hand kissed it and walked off and i was stunned and i am pretty sure that it is not allowed but oh well. Another person we walked into claimed to have seen Jesus while flying thru a cloud in 1957. He said he saw him in his robe sandals and all and that he got a picture of Him. And then i asked him if i could see the picture and he told me that he had not got it developed it yet. Too bad. And the last person i remember from spokane was an african american Jehova Witness, except he couldn't tell us he was one because you can't say you are one until you get baptized and you have to wait a whole year or something. But anyways he asked us if we knew God's name. And so we started telling him all the names there was for God and also for Christ. And he is like NO! God's name is Jehova! all the other names come from the devil. And then he told us how Christ had died at the stake and not on a cross and stuff. And I was like, what bible are you even reading from, but i didn't say that. But he did say something that i had never heard of before, that I was like out of all things you just told me the most pointless and craziest one of all actually makes a little sense. Cause we tried to give him a pass along card with a picture of Christ on it, and he told us that it wasn't Christ because Christ did not have long hair. And he told us how the bible says it is a sin for men to have long hair and it is only for women so Christ could not have had long hair. And i actually knew that scripture and that it was in it 1st corinthians and how it also says that women also should veil their faces and not speak and i was going to ask him if he believed that as well, but i stopped myself cause contention is of the devil and it wouldn't of gone anywhere. But it was still a pretty clever thought he had, so i was somewhat impressed. And so after about an hour and half of that we went to go get luch with everybody, and i don't remember exactly what happened from that time till dinner time, but we had a dinner and FHE at the President's house that night and that food was so good! And Elder Schvaneveldt and i went to stay at a members house that night and we would meet our official trainers the next day. So aroud like 11 that day we met our trainers and the President took some pictures of us, so i think he should be sending those to yall. His name is Elder Jacobson and he is way cool. He actually heads home in about five weeks here. And he always says the word bomb and apostacy, but it is pretty funny. And everyone in our district likes basketball and our good, that is a no bueno haha just kidding it will be fun. But ok so already this week i have had some awesome spiritual experiences. This one day while we are driving to an investigators house( this area we drive and the english missionaries ride bikes, but i did go on an exchange once so far and rode) and we saw an old man walking up the road and leaning against a guard rail thing and barely moving with his cane in his other hand. I am talking about a foot every thirty seconds or so. And so as we are walking to our appointments house i stop and tell my compainion that we should go help him. And he is like how in the world our we suppose to help him? are we going to walk for him or carry him all the way home? and was i like i dunno but lets go help him, and he was like ok whatever. So i walk up to him, and he starts swearing up a storm and said i couldn't help unless we could get him a ride to his house. And i was k i will get you a ride in just a second. And so i stuck my thumb out not even doubting and the fist car comes by, and thats right pulls over, and i ask him if he could give this man a ride home and he said ya. So afterwards my companion tells me the real miracle. That this man is just a mormon hater and that everytime a missionary walks by he is like hey it is the f word mormons and just rags and cusses them out. And then he told me how the man who had stopped was a member of our church. And how there is like 20 hispanics in our branch in a town of thirty thousand people. What are the odds! Ya miracle! alright that is all i have time for but i will write some more experience next time.