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.

I'm in Frutillar, Chile

After a little web surfing...I found the mission blog kept by the President's wife.  Here is her picture of the new arrivals last week.  He's in the very middle and he looks very happy (and tired).  And after a little investigation of his own (following his debit card trail), his dad found that he is in Frutillar which is located on the shores of Lake Llanquihue, just a short drive around the lake from the larger city of Peurto Varas. Frutillar has managed to maintain the strong German influences of its orginal settlers through the years. When Jentry got his call, he looked up the area and found this beautiful picture of the volcano called Osorno.  He immediately put it as his screen saver on his laptop. Now being in Frutillar, he has a perfect view of that volcano.  How cool is that!

Where in the world are you???

Of all the days on their mission...these are the ones that I dislike the most.  It's the "Where in the World are you?" days...  The transfer days when you have no idea where they've landed...oh the waiting!

A wonderful day of phone calls

I just wanted to say that we all received a wonderful phone call from Jentry as he waited in the Salt Lake airport.  He was also able to call and tell us a final good-bye from LA.  He's very nervous but very excited to get going.  Good luck Jentry!

My week of "lasts"

Hey Family!

I hope you got the Email that shows my new travel plans, and know when you can expect a call. Thanks so much for both packages that i recieved since m last email. I have really enjoed hem especcially the Caramel Popcorn. Me and the rest of the Elders in the district and one of my teachers loved it. It was great and was gone by saturday night as i got it friday afternoon. Also the shoes fit great. I did have one problem with them though, i was playing basketball on wednesday and i landed on my ankle, it was a 2nd degree sprain but i was luck that nothing was broken, it swelled up really well and i couldnt walk on it until friday. I have a picture and everything is now fine, its just really bruisd but i am finally able to wear shoes. I had an elder in my disrict giv me a blessing and i am feeling great between that and icing it often and i did rehab during gym times. I also sent home a box that just has alot of letters. Im planning on wearing my coat on the Plane so i have a bunch of extra space. I sent it to Kassie and Jarens because it is free to send in Provo. I had infiel orientation which was alot of fun yesterday, i learned a lot about planning and contacting. The only bad part was it was in english so i don know how to do it in spanish haha. Well there isnt alot that has gone on this week other than my week of lasts, I hope everyone is doing well and am excited to talk to you on the phone on Monday, ive been looking forward to it for about 2 months haha. Love you and good luck on your talk tomorrow, i might have to give one, we write one everyweek in spanish and our branch president calls us out to give a talk at random. At least yours is in english.

Love you

Elder Jentry D Nelson

Ready to go!

Hello Everyone!

So the big thing this week is that i got my travel plans and now know when i can call you. This is what i looks like:

american airlines 3039  Leave SLC 10:05 AM arrive Los Angeles 11:00 AM (20th of August)

Lan Chile 601 Leave LAX 1:25 PM arrive Santiago Chile 5:40 AM

Lan chile 51 Leave Santiago 11:35 am (21st) arrive osorno 1:15 PM (21st of August)

I will call during my layover in LA, so be ready and that is pacific time im pretty sure, just be ready and have anybody else who wants a call be ready at that time.

 

Well hows everything going? Its been going good here, just towards the end of the MTC, my lessons have been getting better and better everytime and i'm really doing good on spanish. And you would also be really proud to know that my room has gotten best room on the floor for the last 2 weeks, so im finally tidy after all those years.

This is my last p-day on friday and my next one is next saturday, im not sure when i will be emailing yet, so just be ware if you're by a computer but if not, i get to talk to you on the phone.

I loved the picture of oscar sleeping and if you happen to send one last package before i leave, i would like that one in it, its so adorable. Also, just anything that would be nice for traveling, i have about 32 hours of it in airplanes and airports.

So Nick Santos entered the MTC and it was on my first time hosting but unfortunatley i never got to host him but i have been seeing him around. Its neat. I also got a picture that i will try to send home soon that has me and a handful of other rexburgers at the map pointing.

I hope that everyone is doing well, i'll make sure and keep Jared in my prayers, congrats to Erica.

Love you all,

Elder Jentry Nelson

PS Thanks to Shawn and his familyfor  their letters. Julie said thanks for the example i set for their kids. in the primary spotlight, for the question "If you could have one wish what would it be" Tate said "Serve a mission just like my Cousin Jentry" That touched my heart and made my day. Thanks so much Shawn & Family!

Travel plans comin'....

Hola.

Well first of all. Congrats to Erica on her engagement!  That's so awesome!

Thanks mom & dad so much for the package, it was perfect and i am really enjoying the treats in it.

I also loved the picture of the dogs. I hung it up on my desk, i cant believe how much i miss them, but they are such a big part of my life. I hope they are doing alright and are as sweet as ever.

So i am supposedly going to be getting my travel plans next thursday i hope so i will be able to write and let you know before i leave, if not, my p-days are next friday the 10th and after that i  have an field orientation on the 17th so my p-day is the saturday the 18th so if you can be by a computer or something, i dont really know when i will write.

I sure cant believe how fast the MTC is starting to go, it seems like just yesterday i was writing an email. Its just about time. Our teachers have really told us that there is nothing more they can teach us about spanish, its more just building vocab and fine-tuning things, just making sure that we can be as ready as possible for chile. We have just been teaching alot, right now we have 6 investigators and its we teach about everyone 1-2 times a week, its good preperation becasue everyone has a different need, so we have to work to tailor a lesson for every person specifically. Im enjoying it and right now my main focus has been to teach people, not lessons and i have felt it pay off. Last week we had Training resource center or TRC which is where members come and talk to us, and we pretty much give them a home teaching message on steroids. We had 2 families that we talked to and it is very confidence building when i can understand all of the things that the parents are saying (children are easy to understand and its way cute)

Other than that, not much has been happening, just busy with classtime and studying. The basketball gym is finally open again this week after being closed for two previous and having to play soccer and you know how i feel about soccer. Its so nice to play basketball again and i've been doing well. A handful of people have asked me if i pllayed in high school haha.

I hope everything is going well and i love you all. Im not sure what stuff to send that i wont need for chile so you should let me know what you think.

Love you all!

Elder Jentry Nelson