Welcome Home!

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

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

Well Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Elder Nelson

 Memos birthday party - our Mamita's son 

 Two dogs of our investigators that look like Oscar

10 days left on June 10th!!!

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Elder Nelson

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

ESP2

Australia   (0-0-0)

Venue: Arena Pantanal Cuiaba, Brazil

Happy 21st Birthday in the Mission Field

Hello Family!

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Jentry

 Rain, Rain go away!

 some cool graffiti

 Elder in hospital with flea bite infection

Flight Plans

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

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SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111                   

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

  MISSIONARY TRAVEL

  CHILE OSORNO MISSION

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

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

DL 146             THURSDAY A MERINO BENIT HARTSFIELD JAC         20JUN

V ECONOMY                                  TERMINAL INTL

           NON SMOKING      DINNER                        NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         9:57 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-300

                            SEATS 39E/39D NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

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

DL 1105              FRIDAY HARTSFIELD JAC SALT LAKE CITY    

V ECONOMY                   TERMINAL S     TERMINAL 2

           NON SMOKING      FOOD FOR PURCHASE             NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         4:02 DURATION

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-300/300ER

                            SEATS 43F/43G NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S)  DL/GHPDNS

NELSON/JENTRY DALE  290030-R

     ETKT:DL/006 7432633709

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Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

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

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

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

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

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

I hope all is well.

Love, Jentry

See you in a month!!

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Elder Nelson

Last Cambios and new companion

Hello Family!

Well, it was good to be able to talk to my family, only it made me a little trunky thinking about the short time left.

I was able to catch up a lot with my family of the things that are going on with me so not a lot of new there. This past week we started our new cambios. I was all day in the bus terminal as we had to be there to welcome in all of the new missionaries, and then we went to a farewell party for all of the missionaries that are ending their missions. It was weird to see, but this was my last time in the terminal all day!

This cambio has been going great, I am now with a Chilean named Elder Thomas. He is a little bit younger in the mission which is good for me and I am excited because in the zone is the elder I trained Elder McDonald, another ex-companion Elder Dunn and also Elder Fastidio from Grants Pass! A lot of missionaries that have known me for a really long time.

We also had a zone leaders counsel which was good because we were just talking about all of the rules and changing some of them because President Rappleye wants a good change when he goes home and doesn't want people taking advantage of the new mission president.

Another busy week but I am enjoying it. It has been rainy all day long today but at least I am warm at night and that is the important thing for me-haha. I am just getting good at making a fire, that's for sure.

Well, I hope all is well with everyone!  The next time we talk will be face to face in person.

Love, Elder Nelson

See you next month!

May 5, 2014

Well family, I can't believe how another cambio has come and gone and now I am left with my very last one.

The weather has been really rainy this week but luckily today has been a great weather day, where I haven't needed a jacket but most other days I have been needing my big coat and thermals the entire day.

On Wednesday we had a talent show. We did it on Wednesday because there wasn't work or school on  Thursday and it was really nice. A lot of people ended up coming out and had a lot of participation from the member. We in the missionary work did the routine of a missionary using the midget man skit, Elder Wood was the head, me the hands and Elder Peterson the feet, it turned out really good and everyone enjoyed it. There was a couple of other fun create acts that people did as well.

This week was hard on the teaching side of things because everyone went on vacations out of town and so we had a lot of appointments fall but it ended up being a good week in the end as we had 4 investigators in church which was really good.

On Saturday we received the cambios and it looks like i am going to be ending my mission here in Rahue Bajo which i am really excited for. A Chilean named Elder Thomas is going to come in and be my companion. It is going to be crazy to think about going into my last cambio but it will be great.

I had a cool experience today, we were in a supermarket Jumbo which is almost like Wal-mart and a guy says: "Hi elder!" in English so we start talking. He is a Chilean that lives in Nebraska and is a professor at the university of Nebraska. He teaches political science. We were talking a good bit and we talked about Utah because he went there one time and wanted to go to temple square but wasn't able to. I got his number and email and told him when I get back to the states, if he comes to Utah, I will take him on a tour of temple square. He was a really nice guy.

Well, I am planning on calling at 6:30 Chilean time on Sunday which will be about 4:30 Utah time or 3:30 California time. I don't know the address that i will be using but do have a member and will see if they can get it set up before Sunday. I am excited to talk to everyone on Sunday.

I love you all!

Love Elder Nelson

PS. See  you all next month (I can say that now haha)

May Day! 2014

Happy May Day everyone!
It is amazing how fast April went! I can't even believe it!

This week was a extremely fast week as we were just constantly running the entire week, and I think that this coming week will be the same.

Well, in the whole week, we had 3 intercambios, including one with the AP`s. I went with Elder Amone again (the BYU linebacker) it was cool. We had a good day but also had to cut it short because we had a meeting with the stake president. I also did an intercambio with my MTC companion Elder Wood who is living with us right now and then another intercambio with an elder from Tremonton, UT. Just busy busy busy.

Good news! we had a baptism this weekend! It was little girl named Sofia. It was nice. Her uncle was the one who baptized her and it was a good service I had the missionaries do a special musical number: A Child's Prayer, which turned out nice although my companion vowed to never sing again.

This week, we are going to have a talent show for a ward activity, so there should be some pictures of that next week. We are still trying to think of some talent that we could do as the missionary work here in the ward, but I am sure that we can have it done.

This week, we are going to be having a zone leaders counsel which are always good and we always get to see old friends that we don't see very much which is nice.

Also the weather sure is starting to get cold, its crisp fall weather here right now and it's weird knowing I am going to go into summer soon.

I hope all is well,

Love, Elder Nelson

 Sophia's baptism by her uncle

 A wedding of an investigator...yes, we had to wear white ties

Working at the Red Cross & my last interview

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a very hectic week with a lot of doing other things other than proselyting, but it is nice because we are going to be having a surprise baptism this week of a little girl who is family with some members.

We have been helping a lot with the Red Cross of Chile, because they have been having a lot of fires in the area of Valparaiso (a city in Jaren's mission). They asked for some missionaries to go over and help load up a semi of food and other materials. It was great and they were really appreciative.. One of the missionaries actually got on the cover of the local Osorno newspaper. It was really cool and a lot of people really looked at it so if you have time look up the Austral from Osorno, and it was the paper on Wednesday the 15th. The only downside is that there were a lot of young high school girls that kept coming and trying to flirt with all of the gringos haha. We just answer their questions and then walk away. On Wednesday, we went and helped again in front of the supermarket taking donations, but it was stupid because the managers of the supermarket wanted us to take off our name plaques because we were supposed to be there with Red Cross but we told them that the plaque isnt coming off so they got mad. oh well, we were still serving them.

On Thursday, we were having to go to a little town called Purranque to do some baptismal interviews for a women and her son.  The women is going to get married and baptized this week and they both passed the baptismal interview, but it ended up taking a good portion of our day. Afterwards we had choir practice as we were the bass section in the stake choir for the stake Easter concert, it turned out to be really nice and a lot of people came. There are some really talented people in our stake who did solos and duets. 

On Saturday, we had interviews with President Rappleye. It is the last interview before my going home interview. He just took the time to talk to me about finishing strong and sprinting to the finish which I am trying to do. He started my interview with the statement "Wow, you are about done huh?!", fun fun.

We also have been teaching a little girl who is family of some members and it looks like we will be having a baptism on Saturday. It should be a nice week, very busy but capped off with a baptism.

Well, I hope that everyone has a great week.

Love, Elder Nelson

 service project

 cow & calf statues in Osorno

 

Singing in the Stake Choir of Rahue

April 14, 2014

Happy Easter everyone, this was a really good week.

Well, I got drafted into the stake choir so this week we have been doing a lot of rehearsals because there is going to be a big stake choir concert on Friday. I am one of the basses and probably one of two that knows anything about singing.  Its funny because I thought  sang badly but the lady called me to be the bass part in a quartet, so that is a lot of fun, but its not easy, they actually have kicked a couple people out of the choir for not singing very good, its hard work being in the official Stake choir of Rahue.

Well, the time came for my companion to receive his carta Moroni which is a letter that asks us to give the name of the airport etc, basically the letter that says that the time in the mission is coming to an end so get ready. I worked with the secretary of the mission to get it laminated and put it in jello which is funny because he saw about everything but had no idea, we then brought the jello to a zone meeting that we had, it was one of the better ways to give a carta Moroni.

We are doing so good in the zone right now, we have been increasing alot in about every single number including baptisms which is awesome right now, we have been doing a lot of intercambios. I did one with an Elder Mendoza from Trujillo, Peru, and another one with Elder Perkins from Las Vegas. I have been in the mission about seven times as long as those two elders combined. One has a month and the other has about 3 months. I thought it was funny because Elder Mendoza ends his mission in March of 2016. I am hoping to be married by the time he comes home!

So a funny and gross story. Yesterday was the final of the Chilean national soccer championship and the local favorite Colo-Colo won, so everybody was in the street drinking and partying, we were going down a hill back to our sector on the side of a busy street. There was a guy about 20 feet in front of us who was semi drunk, and to make it known we are very used to people just peeing on the side of roads etc, that is very common, but this man went out to the side of the road about 20 feet in front of us and drops his pants and starts having diarrhea  right in front of us, and then he fell in it!!! It was probably the grossest thing that I have seen in my mission!!!

Well, it looks like in the next couple of weeks we should be having some baptisms here in our sector, which is great because we have been working really hard with a lot of people. I hope that we can start seeing our fruits.

We are just getting ready for the holy week here in a primarily dominant catholic country. I am so blessed that we believe in a living Christ, everybody should go and watch the video on the page easter.mormon.org  it is such a great video and really helps us to keep in mind the importance of this special time of the year that we are celebrating. We need to remember the words "He is not here, for He has risen" Lets remember it and share this message with everyone.

I love you all and hope that you have a great Easter.

Love Elder Nelson

Carta de Moroni delivered in Jell-o

The bass section of the Rahue Stake Choir

Happy General Conference weekend!

April 7, 2014

HAPPY LAST GENERAL CONFEREMCE WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!

I hope that everyone had a great general conferance weekend listening to the servants of the Lord this past week, I sure was loving it but we will get to more of that in a minute.

This week started out crazy. On Tuesday we were on our way to district meetings when we got a call from some sisters in the zone telling us that there was a Jew that was a bit toasted and drunk that wanted to go to the district meeting with them, but I told them no. We got to the district meeting and the sisters were trying to ditch the guy but he wouldn't leave them alone so I went and tried to talk to him and he was high as a kite and I told him that he wasn't allowed to the meeting that it was only for missionaries. He kept calling me a discriminator for people of other religions and he kept getting mad at me and just wanting to fight me. I told him that he couldn't go because he just wanted to argue with everyone. I invited him on to go on Sundays and he got mad and started going into the church. I told him to leave and he wouldn't so I called the caribineros (police) on him and while I was looking for the address of the church he left by force from a larger member that was setting up stuff for the conference. I think I was the only one who was daring enough to get him out -- but that was fun.

That day we also went on an intercambio with another sector in Osorno, I was with an elder from Peru and we saw a drunk guy passed out on the grass and he had blood running from his nose and face and was choking on blood. My companion for the day wanted to just keep walking but I didn't want to stop so we went and found a neighbor and they called an ambulance. It was amazing how many people just walked by him. It made me think of the good Samaritan. We came back a little later and the guy was gone so I think that he was taken care of and was alright in the end.

We were doing a good bit of intercambios this week and hardly the time to work in the sector together with my companion. On Friday we had a zone leaders counsel which was good as have a lot of really good things from the mission and president rappleye gave alot of good compliments to our zone as we have been teaching more in our zone which is great.

On saturday and sunday, i was again in a little office watching general conference in ENglish but it was such a good session, i especially loved the talks of Elder Holland, both President Uchtdorf talks, President Monson in the PRiesthood session and Elder Oaks, i think it is so wonderful to have these church leaders that love us. The only way to find happiness is to follow their counsel. I felt like a common theme as well was loving God more than all other things and loving our neighbor more than all other things. It is wonderful to have this kind of loving guide and inspiration.

I hope that all is well, i am more and more excited to see everyone every day, but i am trying my hardest to work hard and take advantage of the experience that i have and am actually teaching more than ever in my mission. I sure am going to miss this special time in my life.

I love you all.

Elder Nelson

 Our current Zone.  I have the most time here (me: Bottom left corner)

 Elder leaving to go home

Doing Zumba with our mamita's down syndrome son

Getting ready for my last General Conference in the missionfield

March 31, 2014

I know that it isn't April yet but it is close enough. 

This week was a welcome back to the wintertime week as it was very rainy and cold from Thursday until today which is depressing again but it is still great. I have just had to break out the rain clothes again, but I think that people feel bad for us because they tend to let us more into the house, but never want us to sit on their couch haha because we are so drenched.

This week was a week of cambios, so as a zone leader that basically means a day and a half sitting in the terminal babysitting and making sure that elders leave and go to their sector. It was a really long day but it was fine. I got to spend a lot of time with one of my good buddies from the mission who went home named Elder Campbell. It is nice being in Osorno because we are allowed to go to the farewell party for all the missionaries going home but it does get kind of trunky thinking how little time I have left. I got to see a handful of my friends from the mission including an excompanion and an elder that I lived with when I first started my mission in Fruttillar when he was a really young elder as well. He lived with me so we have seen each other throughout the mission and he is home now, crazy how the time passes.

This week, we had a cool experience as a guy came and talked to us, and we kind of thought that it was just another drunk who always comes and talks to us, but it wasn't.  He was a less active member whose mom was in town from Bariloche, Argentina and wanted us to come visit them.  His mom is an active member, so we went and gave a blessing to the house and taught them a little bit, they are super good. They are not married and he makes chicha which is hard apple cider but they are really nice and we are hoping that they progress and can go to church.

Well, this week we are getting super excited for general conferance, it truly is like the super bowl on the mision, but we get it twice a year. It was kind of weird because the stake president decided not to show the first session on Saturday. I don't understand why. I think that only happens in Chile where someone decides to not show a session of general conference, but we will be finding another way to be able to watch it I hope.
This week we also have a mission leaders counsel which is always great, but i can easily see this week flying by and I think that it is not going to be as rainy this next week as it has been in the past couple of weeks.

I am hoping that it starts to be heating up there in Utah.
I hope all have a great week and enjoy listening to the prophets and apostles. I know that they are true servants of the Lord, but we have to apply the things that we learn for our benefit.  They will always tell us ways to be better people and ways to gain our salvation. Let us always show our love to the Lord, and not by our words but our actions.

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

Love, Elder Nelson

My tie collection

Staying in Rahue

March 24, 2014

Dear Friends and Family:

Another Cambio has now come to an end and to cut the suspension, me and my companion will be staying together for another cambio here in Rahue. It will be great as we get along well.

I just cant believe that I only have 2 cambios left. Wow the time passes so fast!

This week I did a couple intercambios with some elders, one was to Rahue Alto which is another part of Osorno and then another I stayed in my  sector. It was good. I went with one of my good friends Elder Jauregui who is from Mexico and is a way good elder. We had alot of fun but also taught a bunch, and now he is leaving the zone to go be a zone leader in Chiloé.

So funny story; me and my companion were trying to visit a less active lady who we haven't been able to find and a drunk old man came out and tried to punch my companion in the stomach as hard as he could, but it was a very soft drunk punch so it was funny and we just started laughing.  My poor companion while we were on an intercambio fell in mud as well while he was walking and the other day I was walking and a bird pooped all over my shirt. Luckily we were close to the mamita so we went and I changed my shirt but that is one of the first times that I have ever had a bird do that on me!. This week has been a really weird week as it has been really cold in the morning but really hot in the afternoon so I never know what to wear when I go out but it has been great.

I have been so busy as a zone leader with just a ton of meetings always, and this week was no exception, we had a meeting of stake priesthood leadership and a baptism in our ward so we didnt get to work that much on Saturday. On Sunday I got to do another special musical number, I think that I have done a special musical number in every single sacrament meeting and other baptisms etc. since I arrived here. They sure do love it. I have gotten good use of the Paul cardall book!

Well, I am exctied to be starting this second to last change which means about 12 more weeks.

I hope all is well-

Love, Elder Nelson

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 17, 2014

Happy St Patricks Day!! everyone in the northern hemisphere. 

This week was a very uneventful week unfortunately.
It is starting to get cold, I have returned to put on my thermals while I sleep because it is cold and we cannot use our firewood until May 1st so it will be a fun couple months before we can do that. That will probably be the last time that I will use firewood to keep myself warm!

Our Mission President is ending his mission this June when I am ending and he is working really hard on cleaning and leaving the mission home really clean and dejunking it so we spent a good bit of time on Thursday working in the mission home taking out stuff. It wasn't dirty but it just needed a good cleaning.  I found out that the mission home is like Hogwarts, we just keep making turns and there is another room and then there is like a secret passage way and all fun types of things. I think I felt the most like Harry Potter that I have felt in my life!

We have been starting to play basketball in the moning with the AP´s. It is a little discouraging that we can't get that many to go and play, but it is amazing how easy it is to get out of bed at 6:15am to go play basketball but how hard it is at 7:00 am to just do normal exercises in the house. It has been good to get back in to playing and we are trying to play 2-3 times a week for an hour.

Yesterday in church I was really disappointed in the Sacrament meeting because there was just a big lack of reverence with children going and walking on the stand without the parents doing anything, everybody leaving and entering during the whole meeting and people playing games and watching videos on their cell phones and showing up late. I was really disappointed so I went and talked to the bishop about it and he said that I could take some time in ward counsel to address the problem. I talked to everyone and they came up with the conclusion that it was the parents fault for not controlling their kids. A member, the Sunday school president  (whose kids are the worst) made comments about how the children still have their free agency and he can't tell them what they can and can't do. I raised my hand and asked him: "why cant you? You are the parent and they are the children. If you need to have them leave their cell phones at home, you can because you are the parent and they are not." I told them about my parents and how I had certain freedoms but they were with the expectations, and how things like church were never an option and now I am on the mission, and then the bishop said "in my house my children don't have agency, they do not make decisions, me and my wife make the decisions." It was such a great counsel! That guy got so burned. I am grateful for righteous parents that taught me the gospel, and had me do what I needed to do so that I can now be in the position to bless other people. I wouldn't be here without my parents.

Well I hope that everyone is having a great week!

Love, Elder Nelson

Fall's just around the corner

Dear Family,

Well, this week, we can definitely feel that the summer time is ending as it is starting to be a lot rainier and colder in the mornings, but right now when it rains, it isn't that cold which is really nice.

This week, me and my companion have been getting to know alot better our sector which is really nice, we havent gotten lost that many times haha but it is definately getting better.

This week was full of meetings, we had a zone conference this week with the doctor of the area, he told us about the importance of making sure our backs and knees stay healthy and showing us ways to help them before they cause you alot of problems, after that we talked alot about the conference from Elder Ballard as he gave us alot of promises that we can have if we change some things, but it was really good. Our president is getting really close to finishing his mission and is trying to get one last good push before he ends (right after me). 

On Friday, we had a meeting for all the zone leaders of the mission, it was good to see a lot of my friends that I have known throughout the mission, President Rappleye showed us a really cool video about two missionaries playing basketball with a bunch of black guys, it is called Mormon missionaries in the hood playing basketball, go check it out.

We are getting super close to having some baptisms here in Rahue which is great, we have a great zone which always has the best numbers.

We had a ward activity on Saturday about the Book of Mormon, and I made some really cool little figures for the game which I will try to take a picture of and send to you later, almost nobody came though, which was sad.  Well, its going great right now, just working hard here.

Thanks for all the love and support,

Elder Nelson

 My puppy fix

100 Days!

100 Days til June 20th!  As a missionary mom, I get so excited when I get to the countdown!  Here we go!

Emergency Transfer for my Companion

March 3, 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a very interesting week. To start it off, right after p-day ended on Monday we received a call from President Rappleye. He called to tell my companion, Elder Smithson, that he would be leaving to go to Chaitèn, on a special assignment. It is a very small place about 12 hours away from Puerto Montt by bus, or 8 by boat, so he was sad and I was too because I had  a lot of fun with him. He was a way cool elder and he knew he was probably going to this small town of only 100 people to end his mission. My new companion is now Elder Peterson from Sanford, Colorado. He has 1 less cambio than I do in the mission but is a really good elder. He actually took my place in both Los Muermos and Puerto Montt, so he has been following me around and finally caught up to me. The only problem is that Elder Smithson left Wednesday morning and Elder Peterson didn't get here until Saturday night, so I had to be with the companion of the Financier of the mission because the financier had to go to Chaiten as well to do some tithing audits so my companion was the secretary and I was in the office for almost the whole week just helping out where I could. It was interesting  to see a little more behind the scenes of the mission, but i had to be a Zone Leader by myself almost the entire week. It was fun though because the office elders live in a huge apartment overlooking Osorno, and the elders in the Osorno Zone have p-day on Saturday so I got two p-days, but I just only went and played basketball finally but it was a lot of fun.

Well, there wasn't that much teaching, and I am kind of still learning the new sector because it is huge but I am sure loving the work.  It is going great and I know that this gospel is very true and can be a grand blessing to everyone who lets it into their hearts. I hope that all keep doing great and working hard. Everything just goes by so fast always I can't believe it. I hope that everyone is doing fantastic. I love you all and love the support that you all give me.

Love, Elder Nelson

Elder Peterson, Sanford, Colorado

Carta Moroni day

Hola y Buenos dias!

First of all it was awesome to see the pictures of dad baptism, that made me so happy to see and hear of my parents participating in missionary work, apresurando la obra (DyC 88:73)

Just help the family as well so that all of them can stay really active, ican never stress the improtance enough of retention.

This week was good, i could haardly work in my sector until like friday as i was doing intercambios this week but just in other parts of osorno but it was still fun. On Wednesday, i went out with an elder from peru and it went well, we taught alot which was good, and then on thursday i went out with Elder Amone, the BYU linebacker who is an AP, and it was so crazy, he decided to cross the street at the end of a green light and he got hit by a car haha not too bad, he jumped on the hood but it was still pretty funny, i was almost a witness of a byu linebacker losing his scholarship because he was in a car accident in his mission haha but luckily there wasnt any problems, and to all you utah fans, no i did not push him haha.

It was fun though, i got his byu tie he used on signing day thruough a tie trade so it is pretty cool.

But i filnally got to be in my sector on friday which was great and we are teaching alot, and are getting along great as companions, it is alot of fun with him, we are working really hard right now, but it was a frustrating church though, for some reason not many people showed up to church and most of the leaders werent there including the bishop because he was in a meeting with the other bishops and stake president (during all the church meetings...) but it was fine in the end, just kinfof a joke at the beginning though, 

Today for pday, we played basketball and volleyball in the only church in the mission that has a carpeted, indoor gym so that was alot of fun as it has been incredibly hot lately here in chile.

After that, we went into the office to do verifications with the asistantes and there in the office we saw the famous moroni letter, which is a letter with a picture of the angel moroni on the envelope telling me that my time is winding up and i need to start planning how i am needing to start planning how i will be getting home so that is going to be a fun thing to be doing in the near future, yes, i have less than 

4 months but that just means that i am at the time where i can be working thte best in the mission.

I love you all and thank you all for your support.

Love Elder Nelson

Elder Ballard, Elder Rasband, Elder Gonzales in Chile

Feb 18, 2014

Wow, what a incredible week that we have had, it has probably been one of the best weeks of my mission, it was extremely great weather (today is raining though) and yesterday was the best conference that i have every gone to, it was so great and so spiritually uplifting.

On wednesday, we had cambios so i have come here to the city of Osorno in the zone of Rahue which is great, and i am with a boss of a companion named Elder Smithson from Gilbert, Arizona, he is way cool and we have known each other since the MTC because we started the mission together, he is cool, he also studied in the Air Force academy and is wanting to be a pilot, its great, we get along great.

So on sunday we had a special stake conference where Elder Walter F Gonzalez who is the area president spoke with his wife and with the temple president and matron of the santiago temple, so good. They spoke of three principle points.

1.The inportance of always having a current temple recomend, even if you cant always go

2. Reading the book of mormon as a family always

3. Paying tithing AND OFFERINGS

It was great and i was at the door because we are zone leaders to greet elder gonzalez when he came into the conference which was a great experience.

On Monday morning, we had to go the city of Puerto MOntt super early for a very tiring day, so i was playing the prelude music with some violins and it sounded really good, and the Elder Ballard, Elder Rasband and Elder Gonzales so i stopped the piano and stood then the told me to keep playing but then i had to stop again to go shake their hands which was awesome and Elder Ballard told me that my playing was very good haha, sso when i got done there wasnt a seat around except up on the stage so i decided to go and sit behind all of the general authorities haha, bu it was a great conference, Elder gonzalez was the only one who spoke spanish, the others had a translater but it was awesome to hear them in english.

My favorite quote of the day that i heard was

"I would rather offend man that i would God", that is the reason that we invite everyone to hear the gospel and we dont worry about being rejected.

Just so many other cool things that i couldnt even begin to talk about, just the entire time i felt the spirit, and i loved it.

I hope that everyone takes advantage of the fact that we hvae living day apostles and prophets and seventy, we need to listen to them and do as they say.

I love you all and am so grateful for this sacred time in my life to be a missionary.

Love Elder Nelson