Feliz Navidad 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos- Feliz Navidad!

I hope everybody is having a great Christmas time, I sure am. It's nice and I am very blessed and am reminded alot about how blessed I am being in Chile and having the opportunity to serve others at this time in the year. 

 

This week has been one of the rainiest and coldest since we left winder, including the first day of summer which was Dec. 21st.  It was very, very rainy and cold, I'm kind of disapointed because I thought that it was finally warming up and going to be summer, but I might not get a summer this year.

This week, I went up to the house of the President of the Branch to introduce my new compaion and he told me something awesome, Marcos who got baptized and confirmed last week, went up to him and asked how he can begin to start paying tithing. Monica is still teaching gospel principles too. It is an awesome feeling seeing people take hold of the gospel and doing the right thing. I love this family alot and am excited to be a part in their advancement and growth in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Friday, we also had a branch Christmas party with Santa, it was a good success with a good turn out. We watched the Christmas Devotional talk by President Monson and then the missionaries sang a song and then we played games. It was fun, and we got a couple of investigators to attend. I have also still been playing the piano in sacrament meeting which is great and the branch really loves it, as I have been playing christmas songs, and the branch can learn new songs. 

Well I hope that everybody is having a great holiday season. I love you all and feel so blessed to have the support and the love. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the great examples around me. I pray that everyone can strive to keep the true meaning of Christmas in their hearts at all time, and always reamember Him. Remember ``He who gives money, gives a lot; he who gives time, gives even more; but he who gives of himself, gives everything´´

Feliz Navidad to all of my loved ones, friends, family and people who read my blog even if I don't know you, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Love Elder Jentry Nelson

"Good-Bye" Elder Rupp

Hola Todos!

I sure have had a busy week. Monday was normal but on Tuesday we went to a Zone conference in Puerto Montt, and we didn’t end up getting home until 7, but it was fun, we all got Santa hats and goodies from President and Hermana Rappleye, sang Christmas songs and gotto mingle with everybody.
Wednesday, me and Elder Rupp went to Puerto Varas to go to the medical clinic there because Elder Rupp has an Uña encarnarda or a ingrown toenail, so that killed up a good portion of the day as we didn’t get home, and he set up another appointment to get that toenail removed on Friday. Thursday we had the baptism of Marcos which was a very awesome and spiritual service. I played a special musical number from the Paul Cardall book (Im the branch pianist now as I have played at every meeting for the last 2 months), Elder Rupp baptized, his wife gave a really good talk on the holy ghost, and afterwards, he was given the opportunity to bear his testimony, he got up to the podium, and said he loves his wife so much and then he started crying and couldn’t finish anything, so he went and sat down.  Very powerful.  He will be a great member, that family went through a lot in order to be baptized as in getting married and changing work, and now it just starts the wait in order to go to the temple and be sealed as a family which is already their goal.

On Friday, we went to the doctor for the surgery of Elder Rupp. That surgery took all day as we had to be at the office at 4 and we didn’t get home until 8, the removed his toenail completely and it is now pretty nasty looking, he hasn’t been able to walk for a while, so after the surgery when we got home I went straight to bed and ended up sleeping 11 hours from 8 until 7, it felt so good and refreshing. Saturday was just any old day, I did changes with the other elders parts of the days this weekend in order to get work done in our sector, which we ended up teaching a little, it was a difficult week, because we didn’t have that much time to work.

Sunday at church, I had the opportunity to confirm Marcos, which was a wonderful experience; kind of nervous though, I'm still a little shy talking in Spanish in front of big huge groups. Then in the Gospel Principles class, we go in and Monica was just barely called to teach that class. I don’t know how many missionaries have had the opportunity to be taught by someone they baptized but it was a great feeling, and she did a really good, especially after having been a member for a little more than a month.

After church we went to eat lunch at a members house, and there we received the call for transfers. I will be staying in Frutillar and my new companion is named Elder Magaña. He is Mexican-American from California who speaks both Spanish and English. It will be a lot of help. Elder Rupp is going to Puerto Montt, and Elder Brindley, the other gringo of the house is going to a place called Llanquihue. So I will soon be the only gringo (White person) in the house, with Elder Chomorro from Chile, his companion Elder Cauque qho is Bolivian, and my companion. Just one cambio from only having gringos in the house, my Spanish will improve a ton though which will be a really nice thing. I will send a pictures of my new companion next week as we change on Wednesday, so it will be different to be with someone else after being companions for 4 months with one person.

Also, it is still very cold and rainy, I might not even get a summer in Chile.

Well I hope that everything is going well. I love you all and am so thankful for everything that you do for me.

Love Elder Nelson

 Marcos Baptism Day - Elder Rupp and me

Our only baptisms in Frutillar but an awesome family with a lot of potential!

Churrasco, a huge sandwich that you have to eat with a fork and knife. Super delicious with steak, ham, fried egg, avacado, mayo, tomatoes and alot of fried onions

 Saying Good-bye to Elder Rupp

Our District before changes

Holapo

Hey Everybody.  How is it going?
Well it sure has been a wet week, Thursday the rain caught us coming back from lunch without anything, we got very wet as we didn't have anything to help, and it also started hailing very hard. That was interesting to see hail in Chile. This week we also taught alot of people, and this Friday, we are going to be having a baptism so next week we will be doing that with Elder Rupp baptizing Marcos and I will confirm him on Sunday. I am very excited for that. We will also find out the changes on Saturday so that will also be in my next email. I can't believe that I have been here for almost 4 months in Chile. The time sure goes by fast.

On Tuesday, I recieved the Christmas package from home and sure do love the stuff that I have opened. Especially the Reflections of Christ CD and the movies. I have already watched some of the movies with investigators, including the special witnesses of Christ. They are all great and I really enjoyed the candy too. I set up the tree but I forgot to take a pictre of the tree but will take one for next week. I also am not sure about the phone call situation right now but will still be emailing while I am here next Monday if you guys could go check the internet the Monday night that you are away, let me know where I need to send the email. I am very excited for all this to come.

Well, I hope that everybody in the states is enjoying this time of year, I sure am, it's a great time to be here, serving the Lord at this special time of the year, probably one of the most selfless christmas` that I have ever had.

I hope everybody keeps the real meaning of Christmas in their heart at this time of the year.

Love you all,  Elder Nelson

 We went to a cool place called saltos de Petruhue, a way cool place  

 

Happy December

 Pichanga again...First Monday of every month...by the way...I don't eat this by myself! 

A puppy that one of our investigators has.  She is so super cute.

I held her and she fell asleep in my lap while I taught a lesson.

 

Hola Family!

It is crazy to believe that it is December, time has been going really fast and we are almost going to have another change of companions in about 2 weeks. This week has been very rainy as I have had to accessorize with the whole rain gear stuff. It was exciting though because Marcos the husband of Monica found a new job so that he can go to church on Sunday and be baptized, so we have his baptism set for the 15th of December. It's really exciting. That will be a great Christmas present. They also ended up moving but only to a different part of our sector so me and Elder Rupp helped them move all of their furniture and beds and stuff this week, luckily the only day it didn't rain. There are a lot of Christmas decorations starting to go up in Frutillar which is making me a little homesick  but its all good, I'm getting really excited to talk to everybody in about 3 weeks, we´ll see if I´ve changed. Also I know that Jeni is going in this week to find out the gender and I don't want anyone to tell me what it is, I want to be surprised at Christmas and that way you can tell me in person. That's fun going back to Rexburg for the wedding, makes me think of what we were doing last year at this time.  I hope everybody is enjoying the holiday season.

Pórtense bien

Elder Nelson

Just another work day

Hola!

Happy Thanksgiving! everybody. I hope you all had a great Thankgiving. Mine wasn't too bad, we taught a little and worked like normal, they don't celebrate it at all, I missed it though, they don't really eat turkey down here but they do celebrate Christmas at  least which is in less than a month. It's pretty crazy, we are planning a branch Christmas party for investigators, less actives and people to bring their friends. I am excited for that but it will be after the next cambios because this cambio is only 5 weeks or else the elders going home would miss 3 Christmas´away from home. 

This week sure went fast as has this cambio and November. I remember Halloween with all the people trick or treating and all the evangelicos who hate halloween and now its already December, I can remember last December planning for Jeni and Cameron's wedding. Can't believe how fast time goes now. Time on the mission is incredible how fast it all goes.

So we are close to having another baptism with Marcos the husband of my first baptism Monica. He is trying to get off work so that he can attend church, but right now he might change jobs and move to Calbuco whch is an island about 4 hours south, but he is changing so that he can attend church and he wants to be baptized here, it was also cool because we were teaching and we were ending with a prayer and we asked who they would like to say it and he said Amaro,their 4 year old son, so they got down and his son said the cutest little prayer. So simple but adorable. They are teaching their son how to pray which is an awesome thing and they are preparing for the temple right now. Such a good and special family to me.

We also had the oppurtunity to bear testimony about the Book of Mormon in a lesson to a lady and her husband who are evengelicos. They were great but they didn't want to be confused about their faith so they wouldn't read the Book of Mormon, but we finally got them to read and pray and we have another appointment with them Saturday so keep them in your prayers to recieve an answer before that day.

Well, I hope its not too cold up north, as it is starting to really heat up, its been short sleeves and though it did rain and was cold at the beginning of this week. It has been changing from cold to hot lately and I don't really like it but its better than cold and rainy all the time.

Well I hope everybody is having a great holiday season, because I sure am, it's becoming one of the most selfless holidays I have ever had. The only times I am a little homesick is seeing the Christmas trees in the store and wondering if the tree is up at home already, because I know how its always up around Thanksgiving if not before and thinking if Tanner is sleepng underneath it haha. 

I also have been going through a fun little time, because this year I get to have 2 springs or another name I like to call it is 2 allergy seasons. I had a really bad time on thursday, it's better today but it's still pretty rough. I think I am also allergic to cats becasue it is worse everytime that I am in a house with cats, so guess we can't have any cats, darn it, only dogs.

K Love You all, Big abrazo

Elder Jentry Nelson

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

People down here don't celebrate Thanksgiving at all. Everything will probably the same normal Thursday like always, people down here don't really eat turkey. I might go out and get a completo or something special to celebrate. Well it's good to hear that everybody in Rexburg is doing so well and also to hear about all of the people going on missions. That is so exciting. It is a great time to be a member and the work is just starting to take off.  I love being here and hearing all of the new of the amount of people starting mission papers. 

Well this week has been really hot, I have been wearing my short sleeve shirts for the first time since the MTC and that is without a jacket or anything, we also found alot of new people to teach which is exciting. I didn't have a baptism this week but I am hoping very soon, with all the people we have been finding it will be great. We found this great family who are all intersted so I have very high hopes.

The theme from the sacrament meeting yesterday was attending the temple. I also talked about this with the family I had lunch with yesterday after church. I am living with people where the nearest temple is in Santiago which is about 12 hours away by bus.  Everybody who reads this blog, I am praying that you never take living so close to temples for granted. Its a huge sacrifice for the people to go here, for all of the people who read this from Idaho and Utah and Arizona or where ever you may be, go to the temple as often as you can. Never take being so close to a temple for granted. I have seen people who are so poor down here, get all of there expenses together to make a trip to the temple once a year, and there are many that could walk. We just cannot take a temple for granted.

Well I hope that everyone in the states is enjoying the nice cold weather becuase it is finally warm here but I guess we will see who is laughing in about 6 months haha.

Fun fact: tomorrow will make 5 months, and these past 3 months have gone by so fast I can't even believe it. It will be exciting to see in another 3 months. I am very excited to skype too.

I hope all the best for everyone,

Love Elder Nelson

My littlest friend Josefa

Elder Quinanola

My complete rain gear

Pichanga again!

Hola

How is everyone doing? So first of all for our cambios, it looks like for a third cambio I will be with Elder Rupp again, but its not 100% sure because there have also been talks of splitting our sector and we each run a part of it so we´ll see, but this next cambio is going to take us right up until Christmas.

So it has been a good week, we taught a lot and I have really been pushing to find new people which has been going good, we have a huge sector with lots of fields and farming areas which we have been exploring a little bit more.

Thats fun that Kassie had her primary program the same week that we had ours, I think hers might have been a little better because chileans don't know how to sing, very tone deaf haha and don't know how to follow a piano but it still went well. The primary president was very thankful to have a piano there and she wanted me to tell you (mom) thanks for teaching me.

So its fun thats it is starting to cool down for you guys because it sure has been heating up, I haven't been wearing a jacket and yesterday I was too hot during the day in a longsleeve shirt which  means that I am close to shortsleeve weather which is exciting. It will be weird to have a warm Christmas and thinking about how cold it is there. The only bad part about the weather heating up is that so are my allergies, thats not fun at all haha.

 We also had interviews with president this week which is fun, it was the day after the elections and Hermana Rappleye was pretty mad about the results. I'm pretty frustrated but at least now Chileans will stop asking me for my opinion on the subject. It was cool because while President Rappleye is interviewing, we just sit and talk with Hermana Rappleye and she tells crazy stories, they have been everywhere in South America.

So I was getting my visa all taken care of in Puerto Montt because that has the biggest places to take care of stuff, Elder Quinanola, another Elder in our house took me becasue he served in Puerto Montt, so we got off the bus and hopped in a colectivo (a cheap taxi which is about 400 pesos or 1 dollar). So our colectivo driver is going, about 30 seconds into the ride he cuts off a big truck driver and the truck driver gets out of his care at a red light and he has a bar and threatens to hit the colectivo driver, me and elder quinanola were just like what the heck, and all of the sudden our driver hops out of the car and goes and gets the caribineros (police) and they come over and me and elder Quinanola just told them that we were going to leave and they let us but bottom line is that I almost saw a guy get beaten with a bar which was crazy.

OK well, that was my week. I hope everything is going well in the states even though Obama is back.

Pichanga again which is the most amazing food, just with french fries, sausage, steak, tomatoes, avacados, eggs and about anything else you can think of

By the by the way, I haven't touched a single dog in chile in the 3 months I have been here, they are ridden with fleas and other diseases, they are all junk dogs, I miss my dogs so much to have nice clean dogs to sleep with, just Chilean dogs are disgusting and they are everywhere.

It is fun to see the growth of the church. There is alot of talk about what the new changes are going to be like all missionaries going to chile will now be going to the MTC in Chile, the average papers that the get a week is now around 4000, the amount of missionaries in the world will go from 55000 to almost 100000 and they are asking to see how many sister missionaries each mission can hold and are now expecting around 250 in each mission (We have about 180 right now with is about 30 or so more sectors). Its amazing to see how the Lord is taking control of the work and everything that has happened in the last year or so has been in preparation for alot more missionaries. They are trying more than anything to strengthen the church in areas rather than have a ton of little small branches in remote towns, which there are a good bi in chile of branches with about 5 people and 2 are missionaries. Now is the time and i am so excited to be apart of the missionary work in the world.

I hope everything is going well.

Te Quiero

Elder Nelson

Mom and Dad

I don't Have much time to write anything personalized to you guys but I love you and apreciate everything that you do for me.

Love Jentry

Cómo Estai

First Baptism - Monica

Ah....the penguins....soo cool!

Hola familia!

It was a great week, we were working hard and found a bunch of new people and on Tuesday I did an intercambio with the Zone leaders where I stayed here in frutillar and led the sector, we also taught alot this week and it was topped off with a baptism Saturday night and confirmation on Sunday. It was an awesome felling, I was asked to baptize Monica and elder rupp to confirm her with the Holy Ghost. Just an awesome feeling, there is nothing like it in the world other than leadings someone out of the waters of baptism. I also put her husband with a baptismal date for the 17th of November.

Other than that awesome thing not too much happened exciting, I did get bitten by a dog though, didn't end up breaking skin because I was wearing a sweater and jacket but it still hurt, This week is also going to be a fun week, we have interviews with the president on Wednesday and on Saturday we find out about cambios or changes, so my next email will have the detaills of my next sector or companion or whatever happens. I'm pretty excited for it all. Almost done with training. Also this Sunday is the primary program where I am the pianist for it. Its kind of rough, chileans don't really know music haha but I am trying.

I finally got my visa and I have started the paperwork to apply for my carnet (ID that makes me legal) I just hope that it goes good with all of that stuff.

So its kind of lame here on Halloween, they don't really do much, there is a little trick-or-treaters but not much, and all of the evangelicos (evangelists I think) take all the fun out of it with signs that are anti halloween. But on halloween, I did get invited to a wedding of a member of our ward who the day after went up to santiago to be sealed but they asked us to do the same thing in their wedding where I play and Elder Rupp sings, it turned out nicely and everybody really loves it.

Well I hope that everything is going well in the States, It is finally warming up with only rain every other day yeah.

Take Care,

Con Amor

Elder Jentry Nelson

Climbing Volcan Osorno

Hola Familia!

I hope everything is goin well. We had another rainy week here in southern Chile, one day in the next couple weeks I will actually send pics of my rain gear but I have other better ones to send right now.

Last week, when we went to work we stopped at the our investigators house (Monica) to see how everything went with picking  a wedding date. She told us that they had picked the Friday, so last Friday me and the other elders in my house (district) went to Puerto Varas to the wedding which was held in the registro civil. It was quick but awesome. Afterwards we went to breakfast with them and this is where we took the picture, we are outside of a coffee house where everybody had hot chocolate. It was awesome and then we picked a date for her baptism which is this Saturday, I'm so excited to send some baptism pictures this week. The other cool thing is that she asked me to baptize her, so I will have some wonderful pictures. I'm not sure of the order in that picture but the people are Elder Rupp, Elder Quinanola, Elder Brindley, Myself, Marcos, Monica and their son Amaro.

Im very excited for this oppurtunity, and on Sunday I was asked to give a talk but the branch president asked that I not read the talk but just follow the spirit, and study before hand. I did that and it turned out to be a nice talk on how we need to follow our faith, which should lead to acts. After I talked and Elder Rupp talked, we did a special musical number that I wrote in the words to "I know That My Redeemer Lives" from the Paul Cardall book, and Elder Rupp sang it in spanish to "Yo se que vive mi Señor". It turned out really nice and I think the branch really liked it because everybody came up and told us how good it was. I might see if one sister who recorded it on her phone when we practiced could send it to you, I'm not sure though.

So we did that, and then the reason that I am writing so late is because we went to Volcan Osorno today as a zone activity, it was awesome, we didn't get to the top but I guess Jeni wasn't the only one in snow this week, that's what picture #2 is and I have alot more pictures of it. I've almost filled a SD card and will send it home soon. We did get up pretty high though and it had a gorgeous view of Lago Llanquihue, the Andes, Volcan Calbuco and a ton of other mountain ranges. We almost took a skilift to the top but it was like an extra 10 bucks  that we didn't prepare for, so we ended up not taking the lift, but it was still an awesome once in a lifetime thing to be on that volcano. I also got a little sunburned from being that high up with out much ozone.

Well that was my week, can't wait to send baptism pics this next week.

Love Elder Jentry Nelson

 

So close...

Hola!

Well this was a good week, we are so close to having a baptism with the one investigator who needs to marry first, she is about ready and is going to a bigger town about 20 minutes away to see about a wedding date and then immediatly after, the is going to be baptized. We also had a little miracle on saturday night. After not having the best day, we were going by some ancient investigators and we went to one whom we have talked to in the past named Miguel. We came to his house and his wife named Anna came out, we talked to her and did the normal thing "we're the missionaries... and asked if miguel was there because h'es who we have talked to in the past. She said that "miguel doesn't like the missionaries...but he's not here anymore". We found out that Anna had been taking the missionary discussions about two years ago, but her husband didn't like it so we had to stop but she said he was always coming home drunk and violent, he ended up getting taken away for domestic violence because there is 2 children with whom he is violent as well. She said that ever since he's left, they no longer sleep in fear, they are happy and have a peace. She grabbed her book of mormon that she still had after 2 years and asked if we knew how to get back in touch with the missionaries from over two years back. We then were just kind of probing to see what she thought about everything and she told us that she knows that the book of mormon is true, that the church is true and she wants to be baptized and had plans to come to church before we passed by. A true miracle and she just told us so many times how happy, that domestic violence just makes me sick. I'm excited and I feel in the next month we are going to have a handful of baptisms.

The other thing this week is it is nice that I don't feel sick at all, I have been great, was just a little thing, and when I was eating lunch after the branch with some awesome members, I showed them the family picture and they said three things in particular "Los gringos siempre tenga buenas fotografias familiares" which is the white people always take good pictures, how me and mother look alot a like and they talked about our salchicha (Sausage referring to oscar). It was fun, its also fun to hear about the eleccions, people down here are always asking for our opinion, I haven't been on American soil for 2 months, and havn't seen tv for 4 so I don't know.

 

Our little branch is doing good as well, we found out that we are 2 full tithe payers away from becoming a ward which is way exciting. Yesterday I played the piano, I played prelude from that Paul Cardall and everybody loved it, super quiet while I played and really invited the spirit into the meeting when everybody was listening. I then got asked by the primary president to play the piano for their primary program in a couple weeks on the 11th of November. And she also wants me to do a special musical number for it to help kill time because everything is short with a small branch, I still miss the Huff kid haha. So right now as far as I know, I haven't gained any weight, I'll have to go weigh myself one day though, I look about the same. My favorite foods right now is empenadas and a thing called sopapilla, which is like fried bread, I get one of those with a thing called pebre which is kind of like salsa and is super good. A lot of places sell it for 300 pesos which is about 60 cents for a big one. I don't cook too much because we have a big lunch at the mamitas house and only eat a little at night, I have made stuff like nachos and grilled cheeses though.

Well I hope that everything is going well, Everybody is in my prayers especially grandma right now. (If the family does any type of special fast for her let me know and I would like to participate)

Love You,

Elder Nelson

Drunks & Food Poisoning!

My name tag on the beach at Frutillar Bajo

A mother dog with her cute puppies we pass all the time.  We don't dare touch them.



They were right when people said that there is alot of German influence in this part of Chile. In Fruttillar bajo, there are alot of buildings like this one around with pure German look. This one is a hotel, there is also alot of German flags, a German school and I guess some Nazi's around here. There is also some food, like this dessert called kuchen, that is either really good, or really gross (I've had both). Its just an interesting area of the country here, people always ask if we're German too haha.

Hola Familia!
Well this week started out very uneventful, we got a reference to teach a lady and we went and met her, her name is Rosita, and she just started crying to us saying stuff like "Quiero Salir de ese" and "Quiero acercarme a Jesucristo" which is I want to leave this and want to come closer to Jesus, so we taught her the next day, found out she has a drinking problem and wants to quit drinking, and wants to do whatever it takes to join the church because she is sola (Lonely). We have a baptism date and set up another appointment 2 days later and tried to pass by to remind her not to drink before the cita and remind her about the appointment, but she wasn't there any of the times, and then we had a member to help us with the appointment and passed by and she wasn't there again. We came back the next day and her neighbor told us that she was in the hospital, not sure why but I think it has something to do with alcoholism, we'll see. But that brings me to the next point of my letter, I made a list of how to know if someone is drunk or sober, because there are alot of drunks in the street.

1-They come over to talk to us (Everybody else tries to avoid us)

2-They sing and try to take off there shirt

3-They gladly take pictures of Christ

4-They refuse to take a picture of Christ becasue "That picture won't buy bread"

5-You put your hand out to shake theirs and they can't find you hand

6-They will tell you the longest story or try to talk with you forever and when you tell them that you have to go they ask for 100 pesos (20 cents)

7-They try to grab your shoulder

8-They try to talk English always (The only english they know is cuss words and thank-you very much, and little things like that; like the rest of chile, they have all the little kids who yell "Hello, thank-you, whats your name, how are you", its kind of annoying really)

So yeah, that is my list of how to know if someone is drunk or not, that and they just smell like liquer and other stink.

On Wednesday I did an intercambio with the district leader Elder Brindley, and we were running home becasue we were teaching late and we almost got killed by two dogs who jumped out at us in the dark!

Saturday, we had a zone training put on by the zone leaders in Puerto Varas (our sector) and Puerto Montt. We went to the training and it was just basic stuff and they had a foot doctor there to look at anybodys feet who needed it. On the bus ride home, I heard some people talking English and I started talking with them, they were from Australia taking a 1 month vacation through South America. On the bus ride I started to not feel too good, but we finally got home and went over to the house of our mamita and had lunch which was cazuela which is this soup that all chileans make that is just like throwing everything into a pan with a bunch of oil (They can't live without oil), its kind of gross because we have it almost 3 times a week. After we walked home and I still wasn't feeling too great and we got back to studies, we were practicing and I didn't feel good at all, so we finished and I was just going to tough it out, we got done and left the house and did some contacts with people, all of a sudden I felt really sick, and just headed back to the house. I had the runs pretty bad and called it a day and took off my missionary clothes and went to bed. I woke up a little bit later and threw up a ton. Bottom line I spent the hole afternoon throwing up and being on the toilet, but yesterday I didn't feel good at all in the morning. Slowly towards the afternoon I started to feel a little better and eventually I worked for an hour. Today I feel fine. I think it was food poisoning. I was hungry Friday night and we stopped at a members business to have a completo, and that may have gotten me sick. So that was my week. Hope everything is going good for everybody there.

Much Love

Abrazo

Élder Jentry Nelson

Piano by the Lake

a piano sculpture by the lake

Hola! 

Well first of all, what a General Conference! Its amazing how much I can get out of Conference when I am paying attention and not sleeping haha...It was amazing when they changed the age of missionary service, one year too late haha. I´ve heard that they are already planning on bigger and better things such as more missions and more teachers and buildings at the mtc. We are going to see a great increase in sisters more than anything. I luckily got to watch all of the sessions in english with the other 3 gringos here in frutillar, we watched it on a computer in the clerks office. I loved seeing all of the missionary work things that were brought up. 'Im so blessed to be a part of the work.

How was the session in person? It was awesome here, we had some investigators come to all of the sessions including the man came to the priesthood and the women came to the womens one which they did before the sessions on saturday, the priesthood was so late though, it was from 9-11 at night, we were so tired that night. It was awesome to see the investigators there though, I think that they are close, only need to get married. I'm hoping it happens soon though.

The elders in my district also had a special fast for the investigators yesterday through today hoping that something will get worked out for their marriage and then we went down to frutillar bajo and had a dish called pichanga which is just like french fries, all types of meat (chicken, sausagee, beef), hard boiled eggs, palta (Avacado), tomatoes, and some other weird stuff on it but it was so good, it was kind of expensive becasue we could only find it in fruttillar bajo which up the price because it's where all the rich tourists go. The plate was for 4 of us and cost 12.000 pesos=$25 bucks but it was so good. It was a good way to end a fast.

Well I hope that everyone is doing great, Love and miss you all

Love Elder Jentry Nelson

1/8

Hola Familia,

In the past week we have had a drastic change in the weather, we had the 3 hottest days from Monday to Wednesday and then we had rain since then, but the good news is that this is the first week I haven't had to wear thermals and some times I don't have to wear a sweater, so it's almost the summer, but we are starting to see spring come. So I am officially done with my first cambio or change which is every 6 weeks, I stay with my companion during training for 2 cambios or 12 weeks, so in another 6 weeks I will know who will be with a new companion. With this cambio, we are losing our latin from Argentina so now we are going to have 4 gringos which I guess doesn't happen very often.

So our baptism that fell, we are still stopping by her house 2-3 times a weeks and last night we went over the baptismal questions and she is so ready with everything, she only needs to get married, but she's in the process of it so I hope to have a baptism soon. Really exciting. So yesterday, at church the power was out in the entire town so we had sacrament meeting in semi darkness and no microphone that worked, and president wilhelm came to the meeting, It was cool to see him again, but it was bad because the piano is electric, and me and my companion were going to do a musical number which I arranged to the Paul Cardall - I Know That My Redeemer Lives and Elder Rupp singing it in spanish, so I guess we´ll have to do that in two weeks or so after general conference. This week was kind of hard at times because I had my first experience with the testigos de Jehova (Jehovas witness). One called the Book of Mormon crap andIi told him he hasn't even read it and it only talks of Christ in the book, and I invited him to read it and then he can judge it and all he said was he doesn't need to try dangerous stuff to know that it is dangerous. Other than that, nothing too exciting happened.

 

Love you all, Elder Nelson

Me in front of volcan osorno, and in person looks even cooler.

 

18th de septiembre

Hola Familia

¿Comó están?

I  hope that everybody had a nice 18th de septiembre, I sure did. On monday, we had a zone activity which was a barbecue in El Campo in Puerto Montt, we played a little of soccer but not too much, we then went back to the house and were kind of lazy becasue we couldn't work unless we had fixed appointments and we had one but that one fell, the next day was a little better, we went down to Frutillar Bajo to the hospital to visit a member whose mother was sick, and then we walked around done there, it was really cloudy though, which isn't that much fun. It started raining so we went back up to Frutillar Alto. The next 3 days were very rainy, some of the most rainy I have seen since I have been here. We still got a handful of citas this week though but our baptism fell becasue she hasn't gotten married yet. Tha'ts kind of discouraging becasue I think everybody that we are teaching isn't married and is living with someone. We are just playing cupid right now. I finally had some empenadas, they are awesome, they have alot with beef in them, the food is awesome and some of the members are so nice.

The past couple of days have been really nice without having to wear my thermals haha, its nice with the sun and so this afternoon we went to Frutillar Bajo again where we could finally see the volcanes really good. 

 

I Love you all, 

Love Elder Nelson

Meeting President Wilhelm

It's pretty amazing to a mother that her two boys who are both called to serve missions in Chile should rub shoulders with this very wonderful man.  Jaren first had President Wilhelm for his mission president for the first half of his mission. He was able to meet up with President Wilhelm at his mission reunion last April and told him of his brother who was going to the Osorno mission. Now Elder Wilhelm presides over the Osorno Region as an Area Authority.  Jentry had the privledge to have him at a meeting and he so graciously posed for a picture for his brother.  How cool is that!

 

 

Jentry with Elder Wilhelm as his Area Authority, Osorno, Chile - September 2012

 

Jaren shortly after arriving in Vina del Mar, Chile with his Mission President & Sister Wilhelm - October 2008

Hola Family!

How is everything going for everyone?  I have to write on Saturday this week becasue just about everything is going to be closed on Monday to Wednesday so tha'ts the reason that the letter is today and not Monday.

This week has been a busy one, we hada a zone conference in Puerto Montt which is a huge city with a mcdonalds and pizza hut about an hour away from Fruttillar, and we had some great stuff from President Rappleye and his wife. President Rappleye was talking about a meeting that he had attended with president wilhelm, and quoted him a few times, and then after lunch he finished his presentation and then turned the time over to Elder Wilhelm who had been sitting on the front row. He is the Area Authority and lives in Puerto Varas which is about 30 minutes away and is actually our zone. He talked about his conversion, which I didn't know that he is a member of only 26 years, and he was Stake president of Osorno after being a member for 3 years. He talked for a while and then opened everything up to questions, he talked for a while which was awesome. Aferwards, the APs had an activity, but I went over and talked to him in spanish and told him that my brother was a missionary for him, and asked if I could have a picture with him to send home to Jaren and he was more than happy to do that. He is a great guy and I might have the oppurtunity to work a little more with him in the future.

After that, it has been rainy. Thursday was probably the nicest day so far of the mission and yesterday was my inaugral use of my rain boots. I went out with my rain pants, boots, jacket, umbrella and I stayed pretty dry, but it was cold. It sure does rain hard here. This week is going to be hard, we cannot work except for fixed appointments from monday to wednesday because of all of the drunk people in the street. That will be difficult to be cooped up for that long, but it will be nice becasue the branch is having a party today (Saturday) where I will be able to have my first chilean empenada! I have been looking forward to that since Jaren talked of them.

It should be fun to see how everybody celebrates down here, and with hard work, I will be able to understand everything for the next 18th of Septiembre.

Well we had a rough thing happen last night, we were teaching Monica who had a date for baptism, only needs to get married, but we found out that there is legal problems, because chilean law is weird, and if they get marroed, they are going to lose a house so they have to do some stuff, so they told us that we had to wait until december for a baptism. I hope I am still here for that to happen. It was kind of interesting becasue I was trying to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ talking of 2 Nephi 31 which was her reading (And she read 4 times which was awesome). We talked about faith and asked what is faith and she gave us an answer almost exactly from alma 32, same with repentence. Then we were talking about baptism and Elder Rupp explained some stuff and then it was my turn to go into talking about the baptismal questions and I was thinking of how to go into them, and I kind of repeated myself saying how we need to follow the example of our Savior and she stopped me and told me something interesting, that when I am talking, she can see my face light up when I talk about these kind of things and how she can her the words of God when I am talking, just because she sees how much I am enjoying the work and trying so hard to be able to understand them, and I am almost there. I think it is amazing the progress after 3 weeks, I can't even begin to imagine after 2 years. I am just excited to get there.

Well, I hope everything continues to go well for the family, I love you all and miss you. During the rough times, which are plenty, I just think about you guys and how much I truly love my family and how thankful I was for the last time we all had together, which helped our family unity so much. The other thing, is when we teach the first lesson, the first topic is that we have a loving Heavenly Father, the second is that the gospel blesses families. I am grateful that I can truly testify to every person that I talk to that that principle is true. I have seen it in our lives. 

I love all of you,

Love Elder Nelson

¿Cachaí?

a typical rainy day in Frutillar

My first sighting of Volcan Osorno - picture taken from the bus

Our cabana

Estufa de leña. Our little wood stove.

My MTC sprained ankle

Hola Familia,

Well another busy week with the mission work, it rained a little this week but not too much, for the most part it was sunny except today. It is very cloudy today which is too bad because we were going to go down to the lake to take pictures of the 3 volcanoes that I can see, but it's too cloudy so I will have to send them another day.

Well in the missionary work, we have had another up and down week, our investigator who has a date for baptism hasn't made any progress to get married and her date is scheduled for the 22nd of this month, she has accepted everyother commitment including the law of chastity just hasn't made any advancement to be married. We´re hoping things work out so we don't have to postpone her baptism. We also have another person with a date for baptism for the 13th of October but we don't know because he still needs to be taught alot.

So we taught the very catholic lady some more and her house still gives me the creeps, she has dolls and she loves María, the mother of Christ and has alot of that type of stuff, we are starting to get nervous though that she only likes to have someone to talk to but doesn't has much interest in the church because we go there and she talks as fast as she can and we really can't understand and she just tells us her problems and we barely teach. I think we are going to try one more time and if it is the same, we are going to drop her. We also found someone while knocking doors who is intersted and said he'd be baptised becasue the stuff we have taught is true, he just is busy with work. That's really the thing we have been working at is desafying more or challenging to be baptised. We have heard if you challenge people to be baptized more, the Lord will see that and he will put in our path people who will be ready to be challenged. Other than that not too much has happened, just working hard. My spanish has improved a ton which is a good thing, every chilean says that they can understand me and a couple times chileans say I speak better than my companion haha, I don't that much but they say I speak good casteyano.

At night I stay warm, I wear thermals, wool socks, night pants and a sweatshirt to bed with 3 thick blankets so I'm fine most nights, its really cold in the morning and coming out of the shower in the morning.

There are four that live in our cabana.  We have an elder named Elder Brindley from Minnesota and his companion elder Bracho from Argentina who live with us, its the best way to help my spanish is to talk to elder Bracho because he can't speak any English but we are teaching him a little like what time is it and how are you. And we do have hot water, although sometimes it is only luke warm.

We listen to music and I love the jenny oaks baker and paul cardall, those are the most fun to listen to during study time.

It's fun being a trainee, I'm steadily improving everyday so I can eventually maybe train.

I don't know how much we walk, just a lot and I think that I am gaining weight because I eat alot of bread haha. 

Well I hope all is going well with everyone,
Take care.

Les Amo,

Elder Jentry Nelson

PS we aren't changing our p-day btw, we are having a zone barbecue and then on tuesday we are going to just leave the house if we have citas because everybody is drunk or "Beracho" so there is no use in contacting, so expect letter monday. 
K, well once again, take care con todos

Con Amor

Becán

How is everything up north?

It has been another cold and rainy week here in Frutillar and a real roller coaster of mission work here. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to challenge someone to be baptized and she accepted, we have a date but the only problem is she has to get married to the man she is currently living with so this could be a bit of a problem, we taught the law of chastity on thursday and it was extremely uncomfotable because they had a discussion about marriage right there in front of us and she called him out on watchin `` Peliculas cochinas´´ and they argued for a little with us right there and a member there with us as well but she agreed to try to live the law of chastity which is good, and she went to church with us yesterday. I hope she is ready for the 22nd of sept for her baptism.

After that though, most of our appts. fell and it was very rainy and windy which isnt fun here haha, everytime it is raining, I think welcome to the mission that I have heard about.

On Saturday, we taught a lady and she was one of those super catholics with the creepy pictures of Jesus holding a heart everywhere and I couldn't understand her at all because she talked so fast. I'm starting to understand alot better now though.

So my day is simple, I wake up at 7, eat study have lunch at 12:30 at our mamita´s house. We then do a little more study (We study more for my training which is 12 weeks) and are out at 3-4 and return home at 9:30-10 at the latest, bed by 11 but I am normally too tired before then and am in bed as soon as we are done with planning. Yeah we have to walk everywhere, and I have been wearing the goretex shoes which have been holding up great in this wet time, I've needed it. Sometimes though to go places like Fruttilar Bajo we take a collectivo which is like a taxi and costs 400 pesos which is around 85 cents. At church we have around 80 people in our branch and it is a good but busy day. I haven't played the piano becuase the branch president won't give me the songs beforehand to practice, kind of frustrating because I want too but he keeps forgetting. After church we go eat at a members house, we went to a young married couple´s house who were actually married in the temple about a month ago which is a huge deal around here because the temple is so far away. After church we just work some more.

My spanish is coming, I can understand everything that gringos say other than words that I don't know, about 80 percent of a gringo and a latin talking and about 60 percent of two latins talking, I have definately seen alot of improvement in my spanish in two weeks and know the only way is up.

Like I have said the weather is crazy, we have had a perfectly nice day and it is pouring an hour later, or the opposite, yesterday and today have been very nice days though, I still never go anywhere without my rain jacket and rain pants. Right now we are actually living in a little place called a cabaña which is just a little house. Its one of the nicer ones of the mission with a wood stove and a space heater, it sure is cold in the morning. If you want to try to look it up on google maps, its on the street pedro montt and near the corner of pedro montt and san pedro and its where three little houses are and we are in the middle one. It's not too bad of a place.

Im eating kind of everything, alot of chicken rice, beef, pork and a ton a bread. There is bread at everymeal regardless of desayuno, almuerzo or an once. 

Someone asked if we celebrated Labor Day in any specific way and the answer is they don't have labor day here haha, that is a made up American holiday. But the 18th of Sept is coming up and we got permission to move our p-day from monday the 17th to the tuesday the 18th and are going to Puerto Varas and are going to have a zone barbecue and play american football which should be funny with some of the latins haha, we´ll see. Im really excited for it, there isnt really a point to us working because everybody is just getting drunk and its more unsafe to be there in the street. Im probably going to buy a chilean flag though for that day to celebrate. I hear its just crazy and shops all around town are starting to decorate and get ready for the Day.

Well I hope all is going well and you guys are always in my prayers, I've really started to make my prayers more meaningful in the mission and I realize how much I need blessings right now.

Take Care,

Love Elder Jentry Dale Nelson

Family Letter from the Mission President - Elder Nelson has arrived!

Dear Family of Elder Nelson,

We are pleased to inform that your son has arrived safe and sound and smiling to the Chile Osorno Mission.  It was a pleasure for us to greet your son upon his arrival and feel his desire to serve.  Enclosed is a picture that we took with him shortly after his arrival.  After a short period of orientation regarding mission procedures, customs of the country, etc., we assigned Elder Nelson to work in the city of Frutillar with Elder Rupp as his companion. 

Sister Rappleye and I love our missionaries and are truly happy to have the opportunity to work with Elder Nelson.  We appreciate your willingness to share him with us as he works as a missionary and ambassador for the Lord in Chile.  Sharing the gospel with these deserving children of our Father in Heaven will certainly bring great joy and satisfaction to him, and to you as well.  Thank you so much for helping him get to this point.

Please write him regularly–at least once a week.  Your love, interest, and support will be of great help to him.  Should there be any emergency or if you desire information regarding any urgent situation, please feel free to contact the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City rather than go to the expense of phoning the mission here in Chile.  

The missionary work is progressing rapidly here in southern Chile, and I hope that you will share in his exciting mission experience as Elder Nelson writes to you weekly and keeps you informed of his challenges and achievements and experiences.

Sincerely,

President John E. Rappleye

Chile Osorno Mission

First letter from Chile - Hola...Po!

HEY!!!
How are you and everyone else?
So I finally arrived in Chile Tuesday afternoon a little late because we had to land in Lima for a little and had an 1 hour layover there. Then we had another flight to Santiago and a long layover there, but I couldnt call because I discovered that I had to activate it internationally there. From Santiago to Osorno got delayed a little because of weather but we finally made it around 2pm local time in Osorno and sure enough when we arrived it was raining. We unloaded everything and went to the mission home for lunch of lasagna and for then had interviews and training meetings to get stuff worked out like our visas etc. After that we had a short devotional and went to a hotel a block away from the mission home and cleaned up there and stayed the night, I was so cold that night. The next day we went to the mission home to meet our trainer and go for a little more training and then go to our area. My trainer is named Elder Rupp from Pleasant View, UT and has about a year in the mission and we are in the small town of Frutillar. Its very beautiful and is on the lake which is gorgeous. The part that is on the lake is in my sector but is a little far away and has alot of tourists but I can see 2 volcanoes there, including Volcan Osorno. Its awesome.
After that we went and tracted and then taught, I feel I need work on talking to people in the street and at doors but I can talk to anyone inside their houses. I couldn't understand anyone at first but its starting to come around, we have been having some success, its kindof difficult becuase my companion and I are kind of opening up a new sector. The language is a little better every day which is a good thing. Its difficult because everything that I have heard about Chile is true, the bread is great, people say po alot and they don't pernounce s´s and I can't understand the people that don't have teeth at all. There is some sad things and there are dogs everywhere and I do mean everywhere, there are dogs that are just laying in the street and no one know if it is dead or alive. It has also been very cold here as well, I've been wearing my thermals everyday with a longsleeve shirt, sweater, coat, gloves and a hat and most days I carry my umbrella around. Luckily it hasn't been too rainy, only one day has it rained, but it rained alot! I had to wear rain pants and a coat along with an umbrella. I sure  do love it here though, the people are nice, some are mean but for the majority are nice, and its pretty and is going to be fun to see how it changes as I get into the summer months.  Today, I had to go to a town called Puerto Montt which is probably the biggest towns in the mission. I had to go there for some visa stuff but it is alot bigger than Frutillar, which is nice. It is so big that it has a Pizza Hut and a McDonalds, we went to McDonalds but when we have to return in October, I think that we are going to go to Pizza Hut. After we went and did a little grocery shopping in a town called Puerto Varas which is also the zone that we are in and is one of the coolest cities I have been to. You will have to look at the pictures and see the places like the church and the volcanoes look better than how the pictures make them look. Another thing is i am still trying to catch up on sleep from traveling so every night I just about pass out but I'm almost there, just exhausting work. We live in little cabañas which are like little huts and it sure is cold in the morning, we have an estufa de leña which is a wood stove to help us stay warm and a space heater. In the morning is the only time when it is really bad. We live with two other elders who have Frutillar alto, we have Fruttilar bajo, one of the elders is from Argentina Norte. He is awesome and really helps me with my spanish because he doesn't speak any English. That's what is the best help is having to only talk in spanish.
Well for the most part I am loving it here (other than the cold and the nasty dogs that are everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, they follow us and stuff all the time)
I hope everything is going good in los estados unidos.
Love you, (Pictures are attached and i will explain them and send more every week. )
Take Care
Love Elder Jentry Nelson
Hey, so there was something wrong with the pictures so i will send them next week, sorry.