Soldiers do give kisses

(Sorry this letter is out of order...I just found it sitting in drafts and didn't want to miss it)

Happy November everyone!
This Week was a slow and a testimony building week.
It started out with a Zone conference on Tuesday, where the church has come out with a new book to help with missionary stress. My stress level has gone down a lot in this area since I've been done with the tax audit and taken care of other things which is nice.  I don't have that much stress on my shoulders. Since Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting I didn't have to have a talk ready "just in case" someone wasn't there, although I did have to give an emergency lesson in priesthood.
This week had been a little bit colder but it is expecting to be warming up a lot.
We also found a nice cute little family this week, of a man and his wife (I hope they are married) and they have a little daughter that turned 3 on Jade´s Birthday.  She's a super cute little girl. She was playing with some soldiers and she was making them kiss and I told her that soldiers don't kiss and she looked at me like I had just told her that Santa wasn't real and she started to cry so we had to tell her that soldiers do give kisses, and she went away happily making the soldiers kiss, haha, just a cute little family.
Halloween, it's kind of a holiday that is starting, and it has mixed feeling. Half the people think that it is a gringo holiday, a quarter don't care and a quarter actually celebrate it. Most people open the door to trick or treaters and yell at them saying that its a gringo holiday or that its of the devil and stuff like that. They just can't celebrate a good holiday. The day after is more of a holiday as they call it "Dia de los Santos" and its similar to memorial day where all go the cemetery and put flowers on the graves and give a prayer to them (Catholic holiday).
They also had an evangelical holiday and we have had the privilege of evangelicals yelling and singing outside our house.
Chile has so much faith but its focused in the wrong things.

Well, that was our week, maybe next will be a bit more exciting.

Love, Elder Nelson

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
Dear family and friends, I hope that all had a very Merry Christmas. I had some great highlights of this week. The biggest was the grand opportunity that I have two times every year to be able to talk with my family by Skype which was great. I got to see the new additions to the family with some new wiener dogs as well which was great to see everyone and crazy to think I have only one phone call home left.

Here in Chile, it is bigger to celebrate Christmas on the 24th with a lot of food that night and then Santa comes that day. It's a little different. We were invited to go to a party and I got a phone call from a member asking us if we would like to have a Santa suit, thinking that this party would be having a bunch of kids. I put on the Santa suit and took all the toys into the kids. They loved it except for a little girl who got really scared and wouldn't come near me haha. It was so great to see the face of some of the kids light up when they saw that Santa came. On Christmas day, it is a lot more relaxed and we went over to have a barbecue at our branch presidents house, where we had a bunch of lamb and pork, and they cook it on a pole, slowly rotating the stick. It was some really good food.

This week was also fun because I had a bad cough left over from my allergy experience.  I coughed for a couple days including Friday so I wasn't able to leave because I couldn't talk without coughing and ended up throwing up but I'm all good now. I was nice to be done with that problem and finally be back to working normally.  On Sunday I was able to play a special number for sacrament meeting - I Feel My Savior's Love.

Well, I guess after six short weeks in Ancud, it is already time for me to go. On Saturday, President Rappleye called me to tell me of my cambios. I am going back to Puerto Montt but as a Zone leader. My new companion will be Elder Miño from Argentina. It will be a good new responsibility. I will be learning a ton during that time.

Well, I wish everyone a wonderful and safe new year.

I love you all and am so thankful for all the love and prayers that you give me.

Love, Elder Nelson

Feliz Navidad! and Bad Allergies!

Feliz Navidad!!

This last week was a good week, we are slowly finding a lot more people to be teaching which is great. We have been working really hard and are starting to see some more people that are ready to receive this gospel.

This Friday was great because we had a big family home evening in the church with all of the members and the missionary work was in charge of everything. We put the sisters in charge of the lesson and activity and the elders (elder Dunn and I) were in charge of the refreshments. The sisters shared something on love or something like that we weren't really there, so for the refreshments, we were going to do sopapillas (like little scones), but it was so hot that we decided to change it up and we made a ice cream sundae bar. That was such a big hit, they all loved it on this super hot day as it has been around 24-30 degrees Celsius, we had strawberries and chocolate syrup and nuts and a bunch of other tings and everybody loved it, I don't think that's something that they had really had before. 

This week, I ended up doing another intercambio with the zone leaders, I did it with an elder from Lima, Peru, and I stayed in Ancud directing the sector. We had a really good day.

Well, I had a really bad problem with my allergies (worse than that time we played mini golf), my eyes swelled up really bad to where I couldn't see and were really red. on Sunday in church, everybody thought that I had a black eye because my eye was so dark and huge and swollen, i may have discovered an allergy to cats, haha good, because I am never going to have cats anyway.

 

 

Well, I am very excited for this Christmas, it is going to be a great time, being able to serve the person, of which we are celebrating his birth. What a special time of the year. I am so thankful for our Salvador, and I know that He lives. We need to strive to keep the most Christ in christmas as possible ad really celebrate this special time. I know that i am far away from home but get to be a little closer this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all.

Love, Elder Nelson

Good-bye Oscar!

Wow, what a hot week, its hard to imagine that it is almost Christmas with the heat that we have been experiencing here in southern Chile, I have finally bee using short sleeve shirts and sleeping in shorts and a t-shirt which I haven't done in a long time. I hope that it keeps it up until after Christmas.

This week, we had a zone conference in Puerto Montt, so we lost some days of working as we went Tuesday afternoon and got back to Ancud Wednesday night, but it was a good zone conference, we all got santa hats and sang Christmas songs. I got to see alot of old friends which was really nice, because its such a large mission that sometimes you never see each other again.

We had a weird experience, we were teaching a lady on Monday, and she said she wanted to go to church and an activity on saturday night, no friday we got a phone call letting us know that she died, so we went to her viewing which chilean viewings are really weird because they are in the house of the person, even if the house is really small or has a roof of 5 feet tall, which this house did. And we didn't know anyone and it was kind of like an evangelical viewing which was kind of awkward but the husband was happy that we came. Weird case though, they aren't saying why she died, she was only about 40 years old and died one day to the next, that was strange but oh well.

This week, we had a Christmas devotional where we watched a recording of the First Presidency Christmas devotional that happened last week, it was really good and a good amount of people came for an activity in chile haha, including some people that aren't members so we are hoping that we are going to be able to start teaching some of them.

Well, that was our week, I am getting really excited to be able to talk to my family next week and am amazing at how fast the time goes, I can't believe that i already have a year and a half in the mission, and i know that this next 6 months is going to go by so fast, i just need to take advantage of it.
Thanks for all and that all have a very Merry Christmas season.

Love,

Elder Nelson

 

Oscar

May 2001 - December 8, 2013



I also want to say good-bye to the best friend a boy could ever have. He gave me the best 12 years of my life and I love him so much.  He was the best dog in the world. I am so glad that I had him for all that time, through all the naughty and adorable things that he did, he will always have a very special place in my heart and the heart of all the people who knew and loved him! What a special dog. I know that he will be in heaven because it would be hell without him.

I love you Oscar Meyer weiner dog. Thanks for the best 12 years a boy could ask for, I will always love and miss you dearly.

Hot weather in Chile

Happy December everyone.

It was a great week, especially with the work, we were starting to find a lot more people to be teaching which is wonderful. We found some great people who I am hoping that start progressing, it was hard because we are still having the biggest problem with people that they aren't coming to church. But we are definitely starting to teach a lot more people which is a nice thing, as this sector has struggled a little bit in the past to find and help people to progress. It is going well.

Also on Tuesday, I had an intercambio where I had the opportunity to go to Castro (the capital of Chiloe and the city that has palofitas (houses on stilts), I went with a Chilean named elder Burgos which was a good time.

I have been continuing to play the piano a lot in church which is great, I played at a baptism that the sister missionaries in Ancud had, where I was also asked to pay for a special musical number in which the sisters sang. It is a good experience, only frustrating because nobody ever thinks to give me a little notice, but luckily I have been doing fine in all of my songs that I have been asked to play.

So we had a family home evening of the branch on Friday night, and I probably had the funniest time that I have had in my entire mission, we played the game two truths and a lie, where you say two truths and a lie in any order and the other people have to guess it, well a couple people didn't understand the concept at all, one who is kind of an odd guy (he is semi homeless but always talks to me and wants the branch president to make him a website to meet single members in Chiloe, but he is a weird guy and when it was his turn in the game, he told me the two truths which were the things that he always tells me and then we said and a lie and he thought for a second and  said "pass" , I was dying laughing, it was the best. 

This week was so hot, I actually didn't even leave with a jacket a couple days just wearing a short sleeve shirt. Just loving the sun right now and getting ready for a Christmas BBQ. It is great, I got really burnt the other day and it really hurt but it doesn't hurt that bad when if hear how cold it is for all of you.

I hope everyone is having a great week, getting ready for the Christmas season.

I love you all,

Love Elder Nelson

Happy Thanksgiving!

December 2, 2013

Hola todos y feliz acción de gracias de la gran Isla de Chiloé!

I sure hope that everyone ate a bunch of turkey and mashed potatoes for me because people here don't understand the concept  and thinks its just another weird made up gringo holiday like Halloween .

So we ended up not doing anything special to celebrate but it is nice because everyone is starting to put up their Christmas trees which I absolutely love, as it reminds me of home. I am thinking a lot more about Christ this time of year and thinking about all the things that we should be doing for him rather than expecting all the things that we expect.

This week was great weather wise for some days and horrible for some other days. We had a handful where I didn't have to wear my jacket and some others of a bunch of rain where I had to bust out the rain pants again. I am hoping for a nice warm Christmas here but we will see.
right now, we are focusing a lot in trying to help the members and investigators and every single person be reading the book of Mormon, which is awesome as it is really helping change the way people are and really softens them which I love.

So, we have lunch with the mamita, which I love this mamita, she is so much fun and we eat with her daughter and sun in law and her 3 year old granddaughter and 10 month old granddaughter, it is so much fun, at the beginning the 3 year old who is extremely shy to new people couldn't even be n the same room together but now we are friends but with the 10 month old baby, it makes me think a lot about Callie and how much fun she will be when I get home, although she will be just a little bit bigger and will maybe be walking/talking.

This week, was good in the missionary work, we found a handful of new people and put them with baptismal date but we are just having a really hard time getting people to come to church, that is just a big trial but we are working to get over it. Its just hard when people don't want to keep the commitments that they make. Its good though. I am hoping to get some baptisms this month for Christmas but we will see.

I hope all are enjoying this holiday season, I love you all and am so grateful for all that you do for me.

Love Elder Nelson

Greetings from the Grand Island of Chiloé

November 25, 2013
Well, this was a great week, i have gotten to my new sector safely and i absolutley love it here, it is huge, we have such a large sector which is wonderful, and it is gorgeous, on side we have a bunch of rolling hills and on the other side is the ocean and other little islands, it is one of the prettiest places, and there are so many people here, and the chilotes (People from chiloé) are the nicest people. Its fun because chiloè has so many mythys and legends (I`ll send piccs of the myths and legends), and so much tourism and such a pretty chapel, and its kindof like its own little island country. Its very big, which i didnt know either. You all need to look up the himno de chiloè which is awesome.

My companion is named Elder Dunn, he is from Goodyear, Arizona. He just barely finished his training, so that is fun to be with a young elder (18) with good energy and is excited to work here in ancud. I am really excited for this next cambio.In our branch, i heard that normally about 30-40 attend but yesterday in church we had 65 which was great for here and we are going to be having even more growth here, as there are 6 missionaries in ancud, 4 sisters and us two elders. To get here to chiloè, we have to take a bus from puerto montt about an hour and a half, and then a boat for about 30 minutes and then a bus for another 30 minutes as it is at the north of chiloé.

Friday night we had an activity in the church, and right before the children were practicing for their primary program, and i got in and asked them if they would like a piano player and the primary president was so excited and grateful, and so were all the children, as they al want to be taught the piano. It was alot of fun, all the branch enjoyed to have music and it was nice to have a piano again and not a little keyboard as we had in muermos. 

Well, i had to say good bye to muermos which was hard, but it ended a good time in my mission. Hard, but i feel like i grew the most while i was in muermos, i feel like that changed me alot as a missionary and as  person, i recognize how the church works and how i need to be as a member and as a follower of Christ.

Well i hope all have a wonderful thanskgiving, it looks like here in chile they will be doing absolutley nothing as it doesnt exist but i hope that all have a wonderful time and eat a ton of turkey for me.

Love you all
Elder Nelson

 

Transfer to The Grand Island of Chiloe' - Ancud

Hello Family!

This week was a really good week, we stayed really busy among all of the elections that were going on. We found a handful of new people this week which was nice. Spring here this week had a lot of rain and cool tempatures.

I am leaving Los Muermos, the place that I have been since my birthday. I am going to the Grand Island of Chiloe, which is the big island a little to the south of Puerto Montt. I will be in the northernmost town there named Ancud. It looks like that is where I will be for all of the holidays that I'll be missing: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years as they are all in the next cambio. I will be with another gringo, but I didn't hear what his name is or where he is from, so I will let you know next week. I am excited but it will be crazy to be leaving Elder McDOnald after so long of being together more than 4 months. I will leave wednesday morning (Nov 20) and my trip will mostly be by ferry boat to get there and will take bout 4 hours. I am excited for that adventure.

This Sunday at church only 14 came because they were electing the president of Chile, and it's kind of like a big fair when they elect the president. Everyone was outside of the voting places selling popcorn, completos and shish-ka-bobs, so that was kind of nuts.
I had another talk in church, on the atonement and how much we need to be doing for Christ. It turned out really well but most of the people who really need it werent there.

Today for p-day, we went to Saltos de Petrohue. I went last year but they are some really cool waterfalls so there will be more pictures of this. I love Chile. I think that I am in one of the prettiest places in the world. I couldn't even imagine places like the ones that I have had the oppurtunity to go to in my mission.

Well, next week there will be more about my new sector.

Have a great Week! 

Love,

Elder Nelson

 

Tender Mercies

Hola family!

What a good week. It started out with having a good family home evening with the branch president and his family and another less active family, which was really good. We showed the Mormon message about the woman who was in a plane accident, it was really good about how to overcome trials and difficulties in our life that we have to confront. On Tuesday we had a district meeting, which the sisters in my district. It was one of the best ones we've had.  We have been having a hard time to find new people to teach, so we talked about purifying ourselves and taking out the little things that could distract us from the work, and then we looked for the miracles that we had. We saw the blessings from that as there were some less active people that we were able to teach and most of them came to church which was a huge miracle. Our attendance in church had been falling a lot and on Sunday we had the most that we had had since August.  This was an instant blessing after having only 19 the previous week. We had 32 and about 15 people who don't come regularly, and we could´ve had more as about 6 people committed to come but didn't show up. This next week, I think it may drop again as there is only an hour of church with the elections for the president of Chile which is between two women.

On Saturday, we were walking home at about 9:30 at night and a guy on a bike stopped us and told us how he wanted to learn more about the church.  He gave us his phone number and on Sunday I called him and asked him to meet us at the church.  He showed up and we taught him.  He told us that he had gotten beat up after a soccer game between the U and Colo Colo (which are the two biggest soccer teams in Chile and he said that everyone fought after that) well, he realized how much he wanted to change his life and be baptized into our church. He will have to quit drinking although he was sober when he met with us but I could still smell the alcohol. He showed the desire so we will hope that he can progress and do something to better his life.

We are having another little blessing in the Rama los Muermos. A couple of adult senior missionaries are going to be living here to help with the branches of the mission. They have a lot of experience in the church and will be a big help. We are implementing a Book of Mormon reading program encouraging the branch to read the book of Mormon in 4 months and then having several of Book of Mormon themed activities during to help keep everyone motivated. I'm praying that it goes good and helps to motivate the members and strengthen the branch.

Well, this next week is cambios so we will be seeing what will happen with me and my companion.

Have a wonderful week.

Love, Elder Nelson

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! to everyone in the states and Happy November!  I sure can't believe how fast this year has flown in Chile. It's been a great year.

This week has had beautiful sunny spring weather. A handful of people are getting ready for Halloween. It's not really that big here, only with the people who are trying to copy the states in everything.
This week,  about half of the branch of Los Muermos went to the temple which made me really miss the temple. That is one of the things that this mission has made me really appreciate--the joy of having a temple so close to us. I hope that I can always value it the same way as the people here in los Muermos who had to travel 13 hours to arrive.  I had hoped that everyone here in los Muermos would have this same desire but unfortunately there are some who don't have that same feeling.

So I will be anxious to go to the temple again.

We had a long week of walking, my companion got a pedometer from home so we have been counting how many miles we walk everyday, One day we were teaching a lot and we only walked about 9.5 miles, but Saturday we had a lot of appointments that fell through, and only taught a little and we ended up walking 19 miles that day with only a little teaching in the end. That was a really long day of walking!!

On Sunday we had a really good meeting. Not too many were there this week, only 22 but the people who gave talks did very well. I conducted Sacrament Meeting which turned out very fine. I am always doing so many things on Sunday from conducting, helping with the sacrament, playing the piano, giving a talk or teaching a lesson. It will be nice the day when I can just sit in the audience and enjoy sacrament meeting and not worry about if people will show up to give their talks.

This week we have a zone conference where we will spend the day in Puerto Montt. That is always fun, but is always a long day with a lot of buses.

Well, don't get sick on trick or treat candy.
Love, Elder Nelson

Crazy killin' week

Oct 21, 2013
Well, this was definately an interesting week. The weather was nice with only a little rain. It still continues to warm up a bit which is really nice and even some of the days are almost too hot, but it is sure nice to be warm.

Yesterday in church was good. My companion directed Sacrament Meeting for the second time and he did really well, he sure is improving with his spanish right now. We had a recent convert who gave his first talk and also blessed the sacrament after he recieved the priesthood last week and did really good with both. Its always fun to see someone that you helped in their conversion process be progressing in the gospel. I  gave a talk on the talk by Elder Hamilton of the Seventy. It has been a problem in our branch with people who leave right after sacrament meeting. This week about half of the ward is going to the temple in santiago which is a really cool thing for them.

On Thursday, when we got back to our house after lunch, we went in and there was about 60-70 flies in our house!  My companion and I went all rambo on them, and now our house looks like a WWII flies battlefield.

On Friday night, a member invited us to his house to go kill a pig, so we went over, it was a really interesting experience.

He had a huge pig, about 100 kilos (200lbs. or so). Another member who grew up in the country come out to kill the pig.  He hit is with an axe 3 times and got it down on the ground, we held it down and tied the feet and they slit the throat and drained blood until it died, then we tied it up and moved it.  It was so heavy. We singed off all of the hair and then cleaned off the burnt hair and flesh. Then we hung it up and butchered it. We took about 50 kilos (100ish lbs) of meat off the pig, and on Saturday we barbequed the meat and ate like kings.  We both ate about 6 or 7 large chunks of pork and I must say it was delicious.  The Chileans know how to do a pork barbeque.

When we were skinning the pig, the sister who was helping took a piece of the skin and started to eat it, telling us it was her favorite part. I almost puked trying to eat it.  I could eat the skin cooked but it is really hard and has little hairs in it which was gross to me. The flavor was not that bad.

So that was our crazy week of killing.  I'm sure that will be a big memory for me as a missionary and it was an interesting activity. So, if you want to have a BBQ, when I get home we can buy a pig and I can show you how to kill it. 

Love, Elder Nelson

 

Run over by a bus

Hello family!
We had an interesting Monday.  Right after we got done writing, me and my companion were walking to the bus terminal to go back to Los Muermos, and a guy started talking to us, turns out he was from the north of Chile. He is inactive but seeing us that day made him want to come back and go to church again when he gets back to the north.  So as we are talking, a crowd starts to form around the terminal, we ask someone what happened and they told us that a woman had been hit by a bus! We go see to look and sure enough, there was a women dead in the street, laying in a pool of blood!  We saw it when they declared her dead! It was so crazy.  She had tried to cross the street in a place where she shouldn't have and she didn't see a big bus which hit her. 

After that the week was fairly normal.  Just teaching and walking... We found this new little family. I love the little families, they are the most receptive and so cute.  We are really excited about teaching them.  Unfortunately it will be a little difficult to teach them because they work a lot. 

On Saturday, we had a member baptism, of the 8 yr. old son of our branch president. As the 1st counselor, I ended up directing and giving the welcome to the ward. I have never done that at a baptism so it was a good experience.  It was quite interesting because the mom came and decorated some chairs in front of the font and the window in front of the font, and then we had boutonnieres and it was more like a wedding than a baptism. I guess he had a birthday party and then all the kids came over and watched him get baptized.

Well, the weather is changing and it's really starting to heat up now.  We still have those rainy days, but I am finally sleeping now without being frozen in the night time which is a nice change after the last 6 months. 

Well, it is great to hear from everyone and hope that everyone is doing fantastic. Enjoying the fall weather.

Love, Elder Nelson

My second October conference

October 7, 2013

This week was topped with amazing sessions of General Conference for us and sadly it is my last October Conference in the Mission field.

This was a busy week for us with a lot of traveling and conference.  We traveled to Puerto Montt, where I had an intercambio (change for the day with a leader). I worked there and then I went back Wednesday and worked normal. Thursday we had interviews in Puerto Montt with President Rappleye which was good, and then on Friday I had to go to Puerto Montt to do a baptismal interview. I have now done 4 as district leader and all have passed. Then as we were on the bus to go back to Los Muermos, there was a fight between two people who sell stuff like chocolates and drinks on the bus.  The bus was packed and it doesn't matter how many people are on the bus, they will keep accepting more until people are literally sitting on your lap. It is even worse when it is hot because some people have bad BO which just makes the hour to Muermos horrible. A Policeman had to get on the bus and break up the fight.  A women also got involved in the fight and by that point the man wouldn't hit her back although he should´ve because she was a dirty fighter, so we got even more delayed and then we couldn't work because we got back too late.

We weren't able to work that much this weekend with conference. On Sunday we heard our changes and Elder McDonald & I will be staying together in Los Muermos this cambio. I am very excited, we get along great and are going to see more fruits here.

This P-day, it has been so hot and we went and played basketball and volleyball. I learned two lessons the hard way today, #1) I am very out of shape and #2) I am very white, because I got winded when I started and then I got very burnt haha, but that's what you get for absolutely no sun for 6 months!

Well, it was a good week and I love it here and am very happy with everything.  I hope that all will have a great week.

Love,  Elder Nelson

Warming up in Sourthern Chile

Sept 30, 2013

Hey family, it was a crazy up and down week, especially with the news about Oscar. I was very sad to hear it but I know that he is being taken care of very well.

 

This week was a nice hot week, as the weather is finally starting to change which is really nice, it is not so cold all the time, and I am now working without my thermals (still use them to sleep) and for most of the afternoon most days I can work without a jacket until about 7ish at night, its been nice and seems like it will be a nice hot summer, while you guys are going into winter.

This week was a good test with us, it seems like we are back into trying to find new people as we had a handful of people tell us that they would prefer if we didn't come from now on, so that is always a little struggle but we are starting to find a lot more people, now we just need to see if they are going to start progressing or not.

Best of all this last week is a baptism that we had of a 17 year old girl, but it was the weird thing where I found out that she being and active member was never baptized and nobody ever knew, so we worked with salt lake to see if her records got lost or something but they found nothing, so we taught and baptized her, it turned out being a good baptism, her dad baptized her, a good showing and then there was a dinner afterwards. The baptisms always kill the day because we have to fill up the font which takes 4-5 hours, and just eats the Saturday time up, we also always have to clean the font every time because for some reason, it gets so dirty, but the baptism was good without any problems.

On Sunday, she had her confirmation, and then for the 5th Sunday, the branch presidency did a class for the 2 hours after church on family history using familysearch.com, the members really enjoyed it and I didn't realize how blessed I really am to have a good family history that is pretty good, still a little work is needed, but they all liked the website especially the pictures and stories, and how there are some lines that go back to 1300's, it makes me proud of my ancestry. Many of the Chileans, unless they can link their roots to Europe cant find anything very far because then they go to the indigenous Chileans and they don't have roots. My favorite was the first nelson to join the church had a stone quarry in Nauvoo, and the prophet came up to him and asked if he could buy some stone for the temple and I think Thomas nelson said no, but you can have all you want, it makes me super proud of all my ancestors from both sides, Erickson and Nelson, its some good people who have a good history of loving the Lord.

That was about it for the week, although I am really excited for this next week. I am doing an intercambio with the zone leaders in Puerto Montt and I have interviews with president on Thursday. To top it all out, we have the wonderful opportunity to listen to general conference where we can listen to our beloved prophet, it really is like the super bowl of missionary work, the only difference is that we get it twice a year. Take care all, watch conference and apply the things that you learn.

I gave a talk yesterday in church (because the speakers didn't show up again, so I prepared it during the opening announcements) about a bunch of ducks, that went to a party and in this party they learned how to fly, and they flew and flew and had a great time flying, when the party ended they got down and they went home walking.

We are literally listening to what God wants us to know (D&C 1:38), it really is the same if God is telling us or his servants.

I love everyone and appreciate the support that is given to me on my mission.

Love, Elder Nelson

Empanadas, Empanadas, and more Empanadas!!!

Hello! I hope that everyone had a happy 18th of September! It was a fun week here in Chile. Slow for the work though as we were not able to work on the 18th, 19th and 20t. There were a bunch of drunks and that's one reason why we arent allowed to work very much those days. We had a good time that day with our ward at the ward activity and we ate alot of food and passed time with the members. Wednesday we were at the church all day. We had a ton of empenadas, danced the Cueca and had a ping-pong tournament.  Surprisingly there are some really good ping-pong players here in Los Muermos! I went undefeated in doubles ping-pong with my recent convert. In singles I held my own, losing a little, but beating "the best one in Muermos" who is  the only one that I had never beaten. I also ate my fair share of empanadas. I think I had about 15 or so. I also had empenadas for Thursday and Friday so I am ready to take a good long break from empenadas at least for a couple of weeks. An empanada is a fatty fried bread with meat in them and they are sooooooo good. I´ll see how long I can last without them before I give in.  We took advantage of not having to plan to go to bed early which was nice. Thursday we had to do some things to do at the chapel and on the way home we stopped by a member to pick up our laundry. She invited us in to have lunch which was a barbecue and then we stayed pretty much the whole day playing games. We learned some crazy chilean card games called Briska and Scova, which are way fun.  We had a really fun day. There are also some kids about our age here so that made it a fun day as well. Friday we ate more empenadas at lunch and then played cards with the dad of the mamita.  He loves to play cards and we ended up beating the Chileans in their own game of Briska.  They were pretty arrogant about winning but we showed them. I´ll teach it to you when I get home.  You need  a special deck of cards to play but I'm sure you could play with whatever type. On Friday night we taught a lesson that we had set up. It went well.

We had the zone leaders come to Los Muermos on Saturday to do a baptismal interview for someone we have been teaching.  It's a weird situation.  We had been on MLS one day and we noticed that a 17 year old member who is active and everyone thought was a member had never been baptized. We told the branch president and he didn't really do anything about it so we  were like whatever, but now they are planning a trip to the temple and she needs to be a member. So now we have to go through the whole process of teaching her and she will be baptized on Saturday.

On Sunday, our branch president and most of the members were gone, so I was presiding and gave a talk in sacrament meeting. Then I gave the class in Sunday school to the people who came (4). (That was our attendance after sacrament meeting). More attendance from the drunks that are outside the church than in Sunday school. So we did a long class because the people who were supposed to teach the classes in relief society and priesthood didn't show up so we just ended church half hour early otherwise priesthood would´ve been us and 1 other person. 

Well, this week it will be nice to get back to working a normal day. With everything that we have, I am so grateful for the wonderful plan of happiness that our Father in Heaven has for us. I know that he loves every one of his children.  Have a wonderful week!

 

Love, Elder Nelson

 

Happy 18th of September!!! Chile's Independence Day!

Hello, this week is going to be a fun one.  It is the 18th of September which is the equivalent of the 4th of July, or in other a big holiday to dance the cueca (the national dance of Chile, look it up on youtube) and eat empenadas,which I will be enjoying to its fullest. I am way excited, but it will be hard to work this week. We aren't allowed to work normally on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and Saturday night I have to go to Puerto Montt to do a baptismal interview. This week will be a hard week to get much work done, but it will be a fun one, and the next 18th of Sept, we are going to have a big huge empenada eating day back home in the states. 

There have been a lot of parades this past week where all the little children are marching and there was a really funny moment. There is a drunk that everyone in the town knows (named Osito which in spanish means little bear), who is always directing traffic and the buses which is hilarious.  He was trying to direct the  band. I thought it was so funny because the band was playing with him. I am only getting more excited for all the drunks that are going to be out because the holidays here in Chile are used for drinking.

Last week, with the 10th & 11th of Sept, where we weren't allowed to work due to the celebration, nothing ended up happening in Los Muermos, but in Santiago there was a handful of badness with a bunch of burned buses and other crazy things.

Another fun experience was we were walking in the street yesterday and a little kid came up and gave my companion the biggest, longest, most awkward hug of his life. My companion had no idea what he was doing and it was super funny.

It is nice because it is finally starting to heat up to be able to work without a jacket which I haven't done in about 6 months but the nights are still bitter cold.  The missionary work has been slow for two weeks (last and this week) with all the holidays and celebrating and we're ready to get back to work.  We hope to have a baptism in the next couple weeks of a girl whose membership and baptism records aren't there in MLS so that should be fun to get straightened out.

Also, speaking about the Cueca (Chilean dance), I have been learning how to dance it and I am almost a pro, so everyone watch out when I get home.

 

Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa Erickson! 

Love, Elder Nelson

 We saw this dog with his tongue hanging way out!

 It's 9:55 and church starts at 10:00! 

Eventually 24 people ended up coming but even the branch president came at 9:58.

The streets are "littered" with puppy parties!

 

Happy Septiembre

Hey all, it is fun to hear how wet everybody has been getting, but really that is nothing compared to what I have been living in the past couple months. At least you don't have to worry about any rain boots or pants, and to dry off you don't have to get a fire started.  I am happy that you all know how I feel now getting soaked!

This week, was one of those wet weeks, with rain almost everyday, but it was a really good week. We found alot of people this week, some could be really good. That was our big goal we have been having is to find new people to be teaching.

Yesterday, we had another problem where the person assigned to give a talk fell through, so in the end both counselors ended up giving a talk (me and Elder Mcdonald) I have now come to church prepared with a talk every week and give about 2-3 talks every month. But, it is good for me, and has taught me alot about talk preperation. In a couple weeks, our branch president will be gone again so I will be presiding, giving another talk and teaching gospel doctrine. I sure am learning alot about all these things in the church.

So this past week, Chile played in a soccer match which qualified them for the world cup against venezuela and they beat them pretty bad.  It was fun because nobody wanted to answer the door that day and it was also raining. We were in the campo with our recent converts and we tried to catch a bus at 9pm.  It was very hard, one bus passed us by, and then we were scared that we wouldn't have a bus to get us home because it is about 15 km away from Los Muermos.

This week, I also had my first oppurtunity to do baptismal interviews. I did them for some sister missionaries in my district. I interviewed a young man who has 18 years and his sister who is 20 years, they both passed the interview luckily. I really didn't want to say "no" to a baptism interview but it was great and they were both ready for the baptism. They will be baptized this Saturday. It was a good experience for me to be able to do the interview.

These next weeks we´ll see how much we are able to work in September.  September 10th and 11th is the 40th anniversary of a military attack to overthrow the goverment and put in a military dictator named Pinochet, who was a bad man.  Everybody either loves or hates him, so there are supposedly going to be a bunch of riots and crimes these days. We aren't supposed to be out much in the streets. The next week is the 18 de Septiembre or the Independence Day of Chile, so i am getting ready for some empenadas, and am pretty exctied for all the activities. We don't work that much in the next week either because everyone is drunk. Just an idea of how much people drink in Los Muermos; there is absolutely nothing in the town, not even a super market, but there for some reason are two alcohol rehab centers and they have their entertainment there. haha.

Well I hope that all is well with everyone and you are enjoying a nice fall while I am hitting spring.

Love, Elder Nelson

Baptisms!!

Hello family!

What a good week with a really good weekend. The week started out a little slow as we were still trying to get warm after our climb to the Volcan Osorno on Monday (our P day).  It was a very cold climb, but it was really great.

We had a baptism of a little family and I had the wonderful privelage of  baptizing the wife. A brother who is a member baptized the husband. It was a really good ceremony. The Saturday before though was dificult because we had to clean the baptismal font and it was really dirty with alot of spiders and dirt. That was kind of frustrating but we finally got it clean. It takes about 5 hours to fill up, so it was a long day at the church working on it and waiting to for it to fill, but in the end, they were about to make this wonderful covenant with Lord which made it such a great time. They were also confirmed on Saturday afterwards. I am so excited and proud of them. I am so proud that we have the restored gospel in our lives. I know that these people got baptized because of the Book of Mormon and the peace that it brings into our lives. They read Moroni 8 after the passing of their little son who was a preemie.  He lived just 7 days without being baptized (as they were catholic), but they knew that God is a God of love, and that he wants us to be happy so in the end they were able to read how the children under the age of 8 don't have need to be baptized. 

I have given both of them the goal of 100% the temple now. All my talks in  church that I give (which is about 1 every other week) are about the temple because people here just don't have the desires to go. I want to challenge all of my family members to go every week, or at a minimum 2 times every month.

Well, once again I've seen how the Book of Mormon can change the lives of people. It helped this little family come to know that they can be a forever family. What joy that can bring to all people. All are waiting for this message of peace and joy that the Lord has for our families. 

This week we also had a talent show in the church and me and Elder McDonald ended up singing at it. It wasn't the best singing job, that's for sure, and I think I heard some cats crying in the street, but it was fun and a new experience.

Well, I love you all and hope that everyone has a great week.

 

Congratulations to Lexi entering the MTC and best wishes to her learning the language and living the missionary life for the next 18 months.

Love, Elder Nelson

Email rule changes and winter hike to the Volcano Osorno

Well, another crazy week from Los Muermos Chile.  Surprisingly it has been a very warm week (compared to the past weeks, although it is still freezing at night time).

We had two baptismal interviews this past week, which was kind of weird but crazy powerful. We went to the house to do their interviews because they had some problems and couldn't leave. We show up and the zone leader I was with came and started talking to the couple and the woman said that she has been thinking about it and just doesn't feel ready to be baptized but that she didn't have a doubt about what we share but maybe just a bit longer. So then the zone leader went and was interviewing her husband and I was talking with her while they were doing the interview. I was able to help her clear up alot of doubts that were kind of crazy, stuff she would have never said in front of her husband, and to help her resolve them. She started crying, and then I suggested to her to still talk to the interviewer and she said yes, and when she came out and she passed the interview. She told the interviewer that she wanted me to baptize and to confirm her, so I will have that opportunity and the husband is going to have his brother baptize him.

 Elder McDonald - Volcan Osorno in background

 Our winter hike to the top of Volcan Osorno

 White out up on top of the volcano

This week, we had the oppurtunity to go hike to the top of Volcan Osorno again, but this time was a lot different as it was freezing and the windiest I have ever been in my life. The snow felt like it was cutting my face, but it was fun, just really cold and we were basically in the clouds.

Those are the big hightlights of this past week. This next week will be baptisms, which I am excited  about and asking for all your prayers so that everything goes well.

I love you all and love the support, and just so you all know, we got new rules about our emails now. I can now send and recieve emails to  and from this email from everyone. We now have more time and can send as many emails as we want to anybody outside of the mission. 

I love you all,

 

Love Elder Nelson

Cold July 4th

Feliz cuatro de Julio to everyone!
I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July and enjoyed the celebration and heat.

This weekend started out rough. On Monday, at around 4:00 in the afternoon, it was raining and windy and cold and the power went out in all of Los Muermos. We usually start working on Mondays at 6pm but it was already dark, so we ended up not going out at all that day. Around 9:00pm the power came back on but we usually end work at 9:30 so there wouldn't be much purpose to go out since we live a little out of the town and have to walk. I thought that that was how the entire week was going to be, and I was super sad thinking of the 4th of July and being here in the rain and cold but we had a little miracle as later in the week we had a lot of sunshine although still cold. There was no rain from Thursday to Sunday which was like a miracle to us. However, it looks like that streak of days without rain is coming to an end.  

This week I also had a new experience, I had to ingress the tithing with the secretary of the branch, its fun to have this role, I get to see a lot better  how the church works with everything.

Also, my annual winter cough has returned for a little, but I am taking a lot of stuff to try get rid of it now. I'm thankful that at least it hasn't been keeping me or my companion up at night, its just kind of obnoxious, and very mucusy.

Well, this cambio is rapping up, next week I will be finding out my new companion or sector or what happens, so I will let you all know. I can't believe how fast the time has gone, its great here but I am also excited to spend the next 4th of July with all of you. I´ll just pass a great 18th of September here instead.

Take Care All, Love,

Elder Nelson

The longest sentence ever

So we enjoyed Jentry's letter so much this week and noticed he had a really, really long sentence without a period.  He told us that currently the mail is on strike in Chile and we decided that maybe periods are on strike there too. I left the sentence "as is".  See if you can spot it...and don't run out of breath while reading it.

Hello!

This week has been a very rainy and a very cold August for us here in Los Muermos.

Almost everyday has been rainy other than Saturday. The rain is so cold rain. I am so ready for spring time. Only a month left of winter here so that will be nice to start warming up.

This was a busy but very good week.  We have been having a tithing audit for the branch with the mission, so some people from the mission came, but the secretary didn't have any of the papers so they left, and I have been kind of in charge of getting everything organized, or in better terms, if Elder McDOnald and I don't get it done, it won't get done, so I have been getting familiarized with MLS, and have been finding all of the papers that we need, and getting everything squared away so this week we will be able to have a tithing audit and I think that it will actually go well this time, just a lot of work here in the office in the church, but it will be worth it in the end, so that there aren't financial problems here in Los Muermos, I am turning into a good 1st counselor, secretary, missionary. It sure is keeping me busy, which is always good.  It makes time go by really fast.

This week, we had a good activity where we watched 17 Miracles, it was awesome for several reasons:1. We had 4 investigators that came and they had good fellowshipping there, 2. There was a good amount of food, 3. The Movie was in english and subtitled into Spanish, 4. I saw my companion cry (I didnt cry but it was so hot in the church that my eyes started to sweat).

It was a great movie about sacrifice, and it was a treat for us to really enjoyed it in English. The little family who is setting to get baptized come out to the movie so that was very good. We are encouraging them to have the interview this week so be praying that it all goes well, i am pretty excited and really praying for that.

 

Here is a couple of funny pictures of a couple of sheep and a tied up dog. We were walking up  to work from our house which is at a bottom of a little hill, and off to the side was a sheep and a dog fighting.  The sheep was just messing with the poor dog that was tied up.  He would back up and run and head butt the dog, sometimes really hard, and sometimes he would run up to the dog and not go all the was, just pulling up outside of the reach of the dog, it was really hilarious to watch.

Well, I will be praying for a good recovery from Grandpa Nelson, and I ask for God to bless him. Tell HELLO to everyone from me, and enjoy the hot arizona sun.

I love you all, Que el Señor les bendiga

Elder Jentry Nelson

Fire & a Funeral

Zone Conference Aug 2013
I am standing right next to the Mission President (far left) sorry you can't see me very good.

Hello!
This has been a good week, we are really helping a family to arrive at the doors of baptism, looking at the 31st of August, so pray that they can get there. This week we went to Puerto Montt twice; once for a district meeting and the other for a zone conference and with a ton of missionaries right now, nobody extra special came, but it was still a good conference.  Our mission has been focusing on helping alot of people come back to activity in the church. Over 1000 so far in our mission! Those in positions of leadership should give little asignments to less active members and they will start to come back, then just ensure their good reception, if it works in Chile, it can work in the states.

This week, we were in the house, teaching a less active sister and we start to  hear something from the wood burning stove and then the house starts to fill up with smoke, and we went outside and there was a bunch of smoke leaving the chimney. A whole bunch of people were there but me and my companion couldn't do that much to help so we went outside, and then the fire fighters came (great response by the Los Muermos fire dept), and the house was saved!. She thanked us for saving the house because God was with us. I tried to say we didn't do too much, because the firefighters and other poeple pushed us out of the way, but she wouldn't accept that and so we are kind of like heroes to her now. The fire started because the chimney was clogged, so make sure to clean out your chimnee, or it is dangerous.

Yesterday at church, only 18 people came. It was an all time low in any ward or branch I've been in in my mission. An active family of 6 had a death in the family so they didn't come, which made it so that we didn't have priesthood or RS, so we all went to the funeral.  It was in a catholic setting with a bunch of mormons giving talks and singing and stuff. It was kind of strange but I got my first chilean funeral.

Its been going well with Elder McDonald. He is progressing alot, especially in Spanish. But he is doing really good and will just keep getting better. It reminds me when I started and couldn't really speak too well, it is a frustrating time, but its all good.

Well, I hope that everybody is still keeping warm, and enjoying the sun. I am trying to enjoy the cold.

Take Care,

Love Elder Nelson

Mean Geese

Another month spinning past...where did July go?  August is already here bringing with it alot of very cold temperatures and rain and it has been raining nonstop all week.  Despite the rain and cold, this week was a really good week and we got some awesome blessings.

Here's a picture of some geese that live close to us.  They always start going crazy and try to attack us.  They also hiss at us which I didn't realize that geese hiss.  This night we were on our way to see an investigator and they were their usual "unfriendly" and mean selves.

Also Sunday night at around 7pm, the rain and wind was really bad and the power went out again. That makes our 4th power outage in Los Muermos. It was out for about 2 hours and so we went home because it is dangerous in Los Muermos without light.  It gets dark here at around 6pm. We also had a funny thing happen, we were teaching a young familiy, who had a son of about 2 years, and we are teaching them, and preparing to invite them to be baptized, and i turn it over to my companion to invite them (the new missionaries are supposed to be inviting the people) and its right as the woman decides that her son is hungry, so this is the first time that new Elder McDonald has seen that chileans don't cover up to breastfeed, luckily I'd warned him before but it was still awkward for him, so trying not to look at her and the boy and trying to focus on me and her husband, he invited was trying to invite them to be baptized but got so flustered that he left out the part about being baptized! I don't blame him, it was super awkward, and in the end we asked them again and they said yes, so it was still cool.

We also found an amazing family. About a month ago, our mamita told us that her brother and sister in law that live about 30 minutes away in another town had a baby boy who was born premature, and this baby boy passed away at 7 days old. It was really hard for them, especially since they are catholic and he wasn't baptized. The Catholic priests told them that their baby was basically condemned. So, I suggested that they give them a Book of Mormon and to tell them to read in Moroni 8, which tallks about how infant baptism is an abomination and how children are alive in Christ.  That following Sunday they were visiting but still live in another city but far away from the missionaries, and they came to our church. Then lately, we went to teach with the mamita and papito and she told us that they had recently moved to los muermos, at least a little in the country, so we went to visit them, and bless the house, and we taught them the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were liking it and we talked to them about the book of Mormon, and they said that they had already read a little, and they talked about the peace that they felt as the read it, and how much that knowledge had helped them with the grieving process.  After that they accepted a baptismal invitation, and said that it is something that they want to do.  Yesterday they came to church and said that the Book of Mormon was a blessing to them.  So true.  Many people are looking for these things but don't know where to find them.

This week, we have a zone conference and we're anxious to see if a general authority will come. It would be pretty sick if there is.

So this past week my cough which was almost gone came back and was really bad, including one day i lost my voice for a couple hours, so I went to the doctor and he prescribed me some medicine, but it was super expensive, like the 40 bucks. I payed it with  my card but the money that I used will be reimbursed by the mission. It didn't end up being anything worse than a bad cold, but i am finally over it.

Mom & Dad it's good to hear that you guys are going to be staying busy now in your ward, when I get back I will teach you spanish mom to help you in your new calling with the young women.

Dad, yesterday we were in the church from 8-2 and then again from 4-6 with tithing and other things so I understand how it is to be busy the whole day on Sundays, but it is good for you, just make sure when I get back you give me a calling it will be as a primary teacher or to work with the scouts or young men, somehting fun haha.

I love you and am thankful for all that you do for me. Keep working hard, and being the example to everyone in the ward, I know of the power of a good example, and I know that you guys are leaders now in that ward. Be HOSTS, not guests, as our mission president always tells us. Think of the different attributes of a guest and a host.

Love you lots,

Jentry

August 1, 2013

Happy August!
It has been a very cold week but not quite so rainy. Today is a gorgeous day with a lot of sun and a lot of dogs basking in the sun, I think we all are enjoying a break from the rain) Dogs laying in the sun make me think of Tanner and Oscar laying on the porch sunning and how Oscars tummy would get really tan!

This has been a good week with alot of growth and we have been finding people to teach.  We had to go to Puerto Montt a couple of times in the past week which always cuts into our time out because it is an hour away. I'm starting to get tired of buses but at the same time its fun because you see alot of interesting people on the bus.

 

Last night we had a way cool experience. We were passing by people and we had the feeling to knock a certain door and out came an inactive woman who was super nice,that we could reactivate. We have a lot bigger focus on less active members than  on anything else right now in the mission, because there are so many of them. We are giving them little assignments like bringing the bread for the sacrament and then seeing which of them are willing to come to church and we try to ensure that there will be a good reception by the other members for them. It is working well, about 60-70% of the poeple that we give these assignments to will come to church which is a great thing. Then with time they can have a calling, recieve the priesthood and other things.

The training has been going well with Elder McDonald.  He had the oppurtunity to invite some people to be baptized and of the two, 1 said yes the other no.  He also had the oppurtunity to anoint for the first time in spanish, so it was a very good week.

Well thanks for all the love and support, I hope that everything is going well for you.

Love Elder Nelson