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.