Welcome Home!

June 20, 2014 - 10:27am
Jentry arrived healthy and very happy to be home two years to the day!  His plane arrived right on time and we barely made it to our spot, got the sign out and here he came down the escalator!!
Of course there was lots of cheering but mom got the first big missionary hug and yep, the tears flowed! I just kept hugging and hugging!
We had lots of family and friends support for his missionary report and the family picnic on Sunday.  Our small house had elastic walls with all the love that poured in.
Thank you for visiting his missionary blog for weekly updates and for all your love and support these past two years!  We will definitively miss our missionary blessings, which I know there were many and those Monday morning emails that got me out of bed!  We are so thrilled to have him home safe and sound.
With Love,
The Nelsons

TWO years exactly - I'm coming home on Friday!!!! My last letter!

Well Family,

This is it, my last letter from here in Chile as I will be on my way home this week.

I sure can't believe how fast this time has gone. It seems like just yesterday I was all nervous to go into the MTC. This week I will go to the mission home on Wednesday,  hang out there, have a devotional, have a farewell party where members can come and say good bye, then go to a hotel. On Thursday we have breakfast and go to the airport and fly to Santiago about 3:00pm in the afternoon and get there about 5:00pm.  From there I head to Atlanta and then onto SLC to arrive at 10:30am on June 20th, exactly 2 years to the day that I left for my mission. (Drop off was at 1:10pm so I am 3 hours short!)

This last week was extremely rainy, we were acutally in a region declared as catastrophe which was crazy as all of the streets were flooding and a lot of houses were getting washed away. It was sad and they said that the rain was just going to keep getting worse and worse but amazingly it stopped and we had some really nice days after that without rain..  I can easily say that this past week though, as I have been in a very rainy mission, was the most rain that I have seen in my time here in Chile, it was horrible.

In church this week, I did two musical numbers, one with elder Thomas on the flute and a member that sang "Did You Think to Pray" and then we did another one with just me and Elder Thomas which was "All Creatures of Our God and King". They were both really nice and had a lot of people crying, and then the bishop had me bare my testimony in sacrament meeting, (I only cried a little bit haha).

We were able to watch the Chile /  Australia game this week which was great! We had an activity and a handful of people came. It was great to see as Chile won! Now they have to play Spain on Wednesday but I will be in the mission home so we will see if I am allowed to watch it or not.

Well, I don't want to ruin all the conversation before i get home haha but I do want to thank everyone for the support over these past two years.

I have grown to know and love the Savior during these past two years. I know that He lives and that this is His church. He is my Redeemer, and I know that He appeared to Joseph Smith. I know that all of the priesthood keys are currently possessed by Thomas S. Monson, he is the Lords chosen prophet in this church.

I love all of you and am extremely thankful, and cant wait to see everyone on Friday!

Love, Elder Nelson

 Memos birthday party - our Mamita's son 

 Two dogs of our investigators that look like Oscar

10 days left on June 10th!!!

Dear Family,

Wow!! I can hardly believe that this is my second to last email to write home. Oh! how the time flies here in the mission!!

This week there was so much rain!! There were a couple of places close to the river that have flooded, including a good portion of a little town in the stake called Rio Negro.  It  flooded pretty bad and a lot of homes were destroyed. The church here donated a good bit of money to help with all the flooding problems.

We had a ward conference this week with a good bit of activities, the first was a family home evening of the ward where they talked of being prepared. It was good and there was a good showing of people including some investigators.

On my birthday, I was doing an intercambio in Rio Negro and when I got home the elders from the house here in Rahue Bajo had been waiting with a birthday pie and candles! It was fun! Then we worked like normal but a family that we are teaching, (which are like the cutest old people--she is a member who got baptized like 25 years ago but hasn't been to church in 23 or so years but has come the last 3 Sundays, and he who is an investigator and went to church for the first time) they made me a lemon pie and so we had that on my birthday. It turned out to be a good day, although there was a lot of rain. They are just selfless days always.

In church on Sunday, me and my companion and another elder who plays the violin did a special musical number for the ward conference. We did "Our Savior's Love" and we made a whole bunch of people cry including the member of the Stake Presidency who was about to give a talk. It was really good and they asked me to play in Stake Conference but, I will be busy giving a talk a long way away haha.

Today for p-day we got permision to watch the movie "Frozen" (in Spanish). We watched it as a zone and it was a cute movie.

It is also cool, we have permission to watch the world cups in all the games that Chile plays in this week! It is going to be great! I am way excited. People here are going to be crazy for their futbol, and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a South American country during the world cup. They are crazy about it down here. It will be a fun last week.

Well, I hope that all is well and everyone is keeping warm in the states.
I cant wait to see everyone next week.

Love, Elder Nelson

Chile   (0-0-0)  Friday, June 13th  6:00p ET

ESP2

Australia   (0-0-0)

Venue: Arena Pantanal Cuiaba, Brazil

Happy 21st Birthday in the Mission Field

Hello Family!

Wow, what a rainy and wet week it has been.  We have had rain all week and today it is still raining really hard. The attendance in church went down a lot with so much rain and some of the streets have flooded. I have worn my rain gear all the time this week and have been wet but luckily I haven't gotten sick.

We had our last Zone conference with President Rappleye and because we are in Osorno, we did it in the mission home so it was more personal. I am also the only one ending the mission in my zone so I got to share my testimony with everyone and luckily I only cried a little bit. I feel sad with every moment I realize how more and more the end is coming very close.

We spent some time this week with an elder that had some really bad flea bites and one of the bites got infected and his foot swelled up. He ended up in the hospital for about 5 days. We took turns taking care of him and being his companion. That took a little time away from our proselyting schedule but it was worth it.

So, funny story, our mamita has a 19 year old son with down syndrome and another son in the mission in Peru that turned 20 yesterday, so the son that has down syndrome named Memo always bares his testimony in church and yesterday was no different. He gets up and starts singing happy birthday at the pulpit and then bore his testimony, it was so funny and I was cracking up! After that, the 2nd counselor got up and talked about how wrong abortion was and that was his testimony.  It was amazing how the spirit completely left when he started but not when Memo sang happy birthday...  it made my day.

Well, I look forward to seeing everyone in two short weeks and am excited for it. I hope everyone is having a great time, thanks for the birthday wishes. 

Love, Jentry

 Rain, Rain go away!

 some cool graffiti

 Elder in hospital with flea bite infection

Flight Plans

From: Sherri Moutsos [mailto:slmoutsos@ldschurch.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 11:07 PM
To: Chile Osorno Mission
Cc: GERIJONES52@GMAIL.COM; Janna Nelson
Subject: Return - Travel Itinerary For NELSON/JENTRY - 19Jun - 565P3R

*** This is a NON-REFUNDABLE TICKET; cancelation or change fees may apply.  We have until 5pm the next business day to cancel or make any changes at no additional charge. Please review the itinerary.

*** ELECTRONIC TICETS HAVE BEEN ISSUED AND ARE READY FOR TRAVEL, SEE ETKT INFORMATION BELOW. PLEASE CHECK IN WITH A GOVERNMENT ISSUED PHOTO ID TO RECEIVE YOUR BOARDING PASS.

*** CHECKED BAGGAGE FEES MAY APPLY PLEASE BE PREPARED TO PAY - Please request your bags to be checked to your final destination.

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT                             DATE 14MAY14

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST                    AGENT VH/S2 BOOKING REF 565P3R

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111                   

FAX      : 801-240-5115                           NELSON/JENTRY DALE  290030-R

  MISSIONARY TRAVEL

  CHILE OSORNO MISSION

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

DELTA AIR LINES       19JUN SANTIAGO       ATLANTA GA     740P    537A

DL 146             THURSDAY A MERINO BENIT HARTSFIELD JAC         20JUN

V ECONOMY                                  TERMINAL INTL

           NON SMOKING      DINNER                        NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         9:57 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-300

                            SEATS 39E/39D NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

DELTA AIR LINES       20JUN ATLANTA GA     SALT LAKE C UT 825A    1027A

DL 1105              FRIDAY HARTSFIELD JAC SALT LAKE CITY    

V ECONOMY                   TERMINAL S     TERMINAL 2

           NON SMOKING      FOOD FOR PURCHASE             NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         4:02 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-300/300ER

                            SEATS 43F/43G NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S)  DL/GHPDNS

NELSON/JENTRY DALE  290030-R

     ETKT:DL/006 7432633709

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE

OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

CHURCH TRAVEL *801-240-5111 OR 1-800-537-3537

.

CHURCH TRAVEL IS AVAILABLE 24/7

.

SHERRI - EXT 34605

RII MISSION PRES JOHN EDWIN RAPPLEYE

PH 011 56 64/232754 OFFICE 237644 HOME    

       **NOTICE** ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT 1 HOUR PRIOR TO DOMESTIC

       FLIGHTS AND 2 HOURS PRIOR TO INT*L FLIGHTS WITH REQUIRED

          STATE OR FEDERAL PHOTO ID AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION

     IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE, OR SIGNIFICANT

                     DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

           MISSIONARY TRAVEL (800)537-3537 OR (801)240-5111

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MOST CARRIERS' E-TICKETS HAVE EXPIRATION DATES AND CONDITIONS OF USE.

CHECK THE CARRIER'S FARE RULES FOR MORE INFORMATION.

BAGGAGE POLICY - FOR TRAVEL TO/FROM, WITHIN THE US, PLEASE VISIT:

HTTPS://BAGS.AMADEUS.COM?R=565P3R&N=NELSON

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

Wow, this was a really long day and that explains the reason that I am writing so late.

This week we have been busy like always. I did a couple of intercambios this week, one with my ex companion Elder Dunn and the other with an elder that lives in the house named Elder Muiba. He is from Bolivia, they were both good. I think that is one of my favorite parts about being a zone leader are all of the intercambios that we do.

This week has been very cold. Some of the coldest days of the year so far but luckily without rain. It's a bittersweet thing because when it rains it is a little warmer. We have been lucky to have the privilege of a nice fire that keeps us warm at night time and almost everyone has a nice fire.

We had a good P-day today. We went on a trip to a city called Entre Lagos. The Mamita there is the mother of our Mamita so we went and ate lunch there with her.  It is gorgeous place with a big lake right there and lots of beautiful scenery. There was road construction so we ended up getting back a little later than expected and I am exhausted after a long day and we still have some work to do.

We are staying busy, and I am just trying to stay focused and everything,  just still a little anxious for everything.

I hope all is well.

Love, Jentry

See you in a month!!

Dear Family,

Now starts the one month left countdown- it is incredible to think my two years are almost done.

This past week has been very cold and rainy but luckily we have a nice fire in the house and that keeps us pretty warm and dry which is a big blessing, We are getting into the winter time, but it is almost nicer when it rains because then it isn't so cold. When there's rain, it is a little warmer. Everyday now I have thermals and my rain pants in my backpack because it can rain at any moment!

I did an intercambio this week with an elder who is in his 2nd week in the mission, from Orange County, California. It was once again weird to be with someone who has so little time in the mission, but it helps me to be motivated and to still be a good leader and to set a good example for him which is important as he is so young in the mission. The intercambio reminded me of my first zone leader who ended his mission when I ended my first cambio and that is how I will be.

It was a good sacrament meeting. My companion and I did a duet. He played the flute and I played the piano.  We did a hymn medley of Amazing Grace, As Now I Take the Sacrament and  How Great Thou Art.  Everyone absolutely loved it! Many people told us that it was the best sacrament meeting that they had been to because it was so different. It  has been nice to share my musical talents here in Chile.

We had a good week with less active members. We have been visiting a less active sister who went to church for the first time in about twenty-five years and loved church.  We also helped two other families to go to church for the first time in many years so that made it a good week. We are working hard and enjoying this last time.

Thanks for everything! Sorry the letters are getting shorter but that is going to make it so I have more to tell you in a month!

Love, Elder Nelson