Calling all pics!!

Hey friends & fam...
Calling all pics...funny, family, pets, etc. for Jentry.
If you're trying to think of something cheap to do for your favorite missionary going to Chile....please send any 4x6 photos to Jentry before August 21st!  He has a photo book that holds 4x6 photos... so let's fill it up!!

Send to:
Elder Jentry Nelson
MTC #276
CHI-OSO  0821
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT  84604-1793

Pioneer Day in the MTC

Hola!

Hows everything going?

THanks for the pictures,  i sure enjoyed them. Its good to hear that you are having a great time and that you had a fun birthday with everybody.

Time is sure starting to go fast, my district is almost the oldest district in the Zone. Thats hard to believe, im really starting to get excited, its definately coming up soon. We ended up not really having anything special happen for pioneer day, we just sang a couple pioneer songs and they talked about it, the fireside speaker made a joke about how we get the 24th off and he looked at President Brown (the MTC pres) and he shook his head no. We had another awesome devotional given by an emeritus seventy Gary J Coleman. He did an awesome job talking about the truthfulness of the book of mormon, and how what we do is to invite people to come unto christ. He was actually trying to be a catholic priest when he came across a book of mormon. He also had his whole family there including a grandson in the MTC.

My spanish is really improving, i have been told by a handful of people how much i have improved. I have also been teaching some of my best lessons that i have ever taught. Its amazing how much te Lord can help me with whatever i need. I think thats the thing that i have gained the most out of the MTC is how much the Lords hand is in every single thing that i do. I  love it! I have also been studying more about the characteristics of Christ and I feel so great to be able to say that i am going to be a a representative of Christ. He was truly an amazing person in all he did, i hope i can be half the teacher he was and i know that i can through him.

So i ran into one of the Farmer kids from Grants Pass, he looked just like him so i went up and talked to him a little and he is going to the Salt Lake Mission so keep our eyes peeled. He didnt know who i am but he says he remembers you guys. He left this past week so he might be around. Growing up in and around utah i neer realized how many missionaries go to the UTah missions, but there are alot.

So I got a letter from everybody in the Shawn Nelson family and loved it, im planning on writing them today and am way excited for it, it was a cute letter and maya and tate both drew me pictures. There are other missionaries in my district who have pictures drawn by nieces and nephews and younger sibling, so i loved to get it. It made my day.

Well its good to hear that you guys are all having a great time, I love you all.

Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Nelson

Security Guard at the Temple - Sweet!

Good Morning.

This week hasn't been too eventful since Suday, on sunday we had an awesome fireside put on by Jenny Oaks Baker, and then I went back to my room and realized I had her CD, i wish we could listen to it here in the MTC but we can't so I will wait, i realized i am halfway through the MTC. Afterwards we watched Legacy which is a good movie. I really enjoy sundays with Firesides, Temple Walk, Pictures and Sacrament meeting, Im worried though becasue each week we have to write a sacrament talk in spanish and the Branch president randomly calls people to speak. Im hoping i dont get called but im making sure that i will be ready for anything.

On Tuesday we had a devotional by Vaughn J Featherstone, he is an emeritus seventy, i dont know if you've heard of him but hes old and very inteligent. He quoted a bunch of poems but i only picked up about half of everything. I feel my spanish has been improving even more lately, I can understand most of conversations, granted it is a teacher who is trying to help me. I am just trying to understand vocab right now but its going to pay off soon, i just want to talk to actual chileans to humble me haha. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary has happened. i got my last immunizations yesterday (i payed for it with my credit card so make sure that gets taken care of), so my arm is kindof sore today. The other thing is not only is the temple closed but the gym is closed so i cannot play basketball until the 30th which is a bummer because you know how i feel about soccer... Although it is nice for my next p-day that the temple will be opened again. Last week for cleaning, i got to be the security guard and watch the front doors and scan the recommends of workers who came in, I only scanned a couple so i read the scriptures or a book that was there for about 3 hours, but it was better than what everybody else was doing in scrubbing tables and chairs. I also got a sweet  security badge that said provo temple security on it. I would've taken a picture of it but i was in the temple so i didnt. So since the temple has been closed, we've just been having alot more time on our p-day to take a nap and i really need it by the time p-day rolls arounds. Then i write letters, i got one from trevin on saturday but we cant write letters except on our p-days so i had to wait to write until today.

Well I hope everything is going well, and that mom has a great birthday. I love you guys and hope you guys have the best week and cant wait to write next week.

Love you!

Elder Jentry D Nelson

I have pics!!

Thank you for your patience...Pics are finally here. 
Here's a short letter from last week:

Well hello,

I hope everybody is doing well. This has just been a busy week, we are cleaning the temple this afternoon for 3 1/2 hours, so it should be a busy day, for a p-day we have been running around. And immediately after the temple we have a haircutting appointment and then dinner and TRC. Im startnig to really get into a solid habit and daily schedule and its really showing as time is going alot faster than the first couple weeks. I also have a friend from highschool who is on my floor for both my room and my classroom, as well as in my zone and branch, its nice to have a familiar face around, but he is only herer for 3 weeks because they sent the missionaries going to Guatemala after only 3 weeks in the MTC and they go to a MTC down there for the rest of their time. But i have also ran into my friend Baden quite a bit.

Its amazing how much my Spanish has improved in the 3 weeks i have been here. I taught my best lesson on Wednesday on the plan of salvation and i realize that there is still so much that i have to learn.

I was sad to hear about Ardeth Carlson,She was super nice and really cared about me, and I loved that. When i got my call or when i received the Melchizedek priesthood she congratulated me as well as she was sad that she couldn't be at my farewell.

This week my companion developed an allergy to peanuts so we got to leave the MTC and go to the BYU Urgent care, i got to rest as well and write letters, including the one to you. It was a nice rest from the busy 16 hour days.

 Jake & Jentry

 Jentry and buddies from Rexburg

 Boy #2 shaving legs in the MTC...is this a ritual?

 Group of 4 going to Osorno Chile

I got to play the piano in sacrament meeting and it went well, i played the Spanish equivalent of God speed the right, how great the wisdom and the love, and i know that my redeemer lives. I made a couple little mistakes.

Well I hope you guys have a great week, I love and miss you.

Love Elder Jentry D Nelson

4th of July in the MTC

Hello!

This week has been getting better, I feel that we are getting more used to the schedule and the rain yesterday was nice. So Wednesday night, we had a 4th of July devotional and everyone showed up early so we sang songs for half an hour like popcorn popping, snowman etc. then we had a talk given by a former circuit judge and a solo by this sister missionary who sang you raise me up which was good, some elders played the violin and that was really good and then to include everyone who isn't American, they had some bagpipes come in with a missionary from every country here holding a flag. When we were done, it was around 10, and bed time is at 10:30, so one of the MTC presidency said that outside their was an ice cream bar and that we cant go back to our residency until after the fireworks, so we didn't go to bed until almost 11:30 which  made the next day waking up at 6: 30 much harder. IT was nice though although i wish we could've been wearing shorts haha. The temple is closed for a couple of weeks so today i had a lot of free time  but we didn't get to go to the temple but next week we get the opportunity to clean the temple for 3 and a half hours, that's going to be a neat experience. Tonight we have our first time in the training resource center where we have to teach volunteers who are native Spanish speakers, this should be a good experience but I'm kind of nervous for it.  

Elder Kumferman leaves on Tue.  He goes to Germany and then on to Ukraine.

Well, my entire room is going to Osorno, Elder Wood from Sacramento is my companion and he goes to BYU-I, Elder Zach Jensen from San Diego and he is actually in the department of Engineering at the U of U, and Elder Steven Hawkins from Irvine, California. Its fun and i really enjoy the room as well as all of the other people in my zone. I cant send pictures from the MTC, but I'm planing on mailing, probably next Friday, a SD card with a lot of pictures on it and if you could just take them off, clear my card and send it back to me that would be great.

So I've finally been playing basketball, most of the people in my district like soccer, but i have found a couple of people in my district who play basketball so we've been doing splits every once in a while.

I did get the package yesterday actually and loved it. The Animal cookies turned out great and my district loved them as I let everybody have some, they are already gone haha. I also love the chex mix, yes that is the kind I like.  I am loving all the studying, but i need a little break and that could be through sports.

I feel the studying has been going good, I am about halfway through the Jesus the Christ, as well as a lot of Spanish vocab.  I haven't had a real MTC Sunday schedule yet because we have had fast Sunday, When i do though i will let you know, we do have to prepare a talk for Sundays in Spanish, that should be a fun experience.

Well I love you and hope you have a great week, and will hand write you sometime this week with a SD card attached

Love,

Elder Nelson

P-Day

It's always fun to be at my at my computer and get...Hi Mom! are you there....
Friday's are Jentry's P-day and so I stuck close to my computer to hopefully get the chance to chat back and forth with email.  Sure enough...at 10:25 here came the email I've been waiting for all week.

 

Hello everyone!

So this has been a good week. The devotional on Tuesday was awesome. In attendance were 110 mission presidents and their wives. Countless seventy, the entire presidency of the seventy and Elder Bednar, Holland, Christofferson, Perry, Nelson, Oaks, Anderson, Cook, Ballard, and Scott. With Elder Perry speaking at it. It was wonderful and was amazing how much i could feel the spirit when you have everyone singing "Called to Serve". I have never felt the spirit that strongly in my life and i love how it continues to grow, as my love for the gospel grows. And Wednesday while we were coming back from the fields, we elder Oaks and Scott waved in my general direction. It was an awesome experience, and then we got to cap off a good week by going to the temple this morning. How neat being in a session that is over 2/3 missionaries.

I feel like my Spanish is coming along nicely, we finished teaching our investigator and he is now one of our teachers, so now we have a new investigator. Its hard to do all this because we feel like we only know how to speak but speaking the gospel in Spanish is a whole new game. Its cool though how i feel that my Spanish is at its finest when i am teaching the gospel and i know that it is the Lord pleasing me, and i love to see how the lord continues to bless me with the gift of tongues or "el don de lenguas". Its also starting to get fun where i think in Spanish and pray in Spanish almost all the time whether it is my personal prayer or it is in my companionship prayer or in front of the class. I can say more things in Spanish while praying than i can while praying in English.

Thats so cute about Oscar, i miss that guy so much. Most of my companions already know how much i love oscar and miss him.

Well, I hope you have an awesome week and love hearing from you on Friday and on my p-day. Its the best part of the week because the rest is just 16 hour days where about 10 of those is in a class.

I love you so much and hope that everyone is doing well.

Thanks for everything

Love Elder Jentry Nelson