Last Week In the MTC- 4 Days Until Paraguay!!!

Hola!!! Can you beleive the time has finally come for me to head off to Paraguay!!! Woot woot! It's about time! I am SO READY! Oh and just real fast call Emily and tell her she has to send the package tomorrow and make sure that I'll get it by Saturday or else I won't get it!!! Oh and tell Bobby, Kimmy, Lauren, and Keri HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Oh and also I think you can send me DearElders in Paraguay for free..or that's what I've heard..so you should all probably definitely take advantage of that :) And I got Angela's packet!!! Omg LOVED IT! I loved the pictures!! Gracias!! And I got yalls too!! Thanks for the cookies!! Love them!! And cards and Christmas presents! Ah I just love packages :) And tell Sister Andersen thanks for her cuteness! Oh and send me everyone's phone numbers so I can call all yall...or tell me what the plan is. Are yall all going to be home or what?! If not send me Angela's, Alisa's, and Dad's. Ok and guess what?!! Our progressive investigator, Gabriel got baptized last Saturday!! haha it was sooo cool! It made me super excited. And it was cool because it was one of the teachers in our zone and he actually served in Paraguay so he was acting like a Paraguayan! Love it! Anyways oh my goodness! Can you believe I will be in Paraguay in 5 days!!! Ha I still can't! I'm so excited!!! Life is so good. I have been so blessed! It's going to be sad leaving the resort but shoot now I'm going to the celestial resort. RIght?! Well it's about to come that way anyways. I don't know a lick of Spanish but it will come! Ha it's going to be sooo cool! My life is going to be so different next week, I can't wait. I can't wait to be humbled..again lol. A mission is the best thing in the world! So we watched a fireside by Elder Bednar and he said, "Become a missonary, do not merely go on a mission." I love that. Become a missionary. And then he said, "when it's time to leave the mission-return to your home but do not leave the mission field" ha that is so going to be me!!! I had a revelation this week...I now want to come home weird! haha but I'm serious! How can you come home after serving the Lord with all your heart, soul and energy and teaching with the Spirit everyday and then come back and not feel weird listening to certain music or watching certain movies, etc. I know for me it's going to be like..wait a second..I finally just got the hang of Spanish and teaching good and now I have to go home? What in the world?! Yeah I'm definitely going to be weird. But I'm excited!! I want to continue being a missionary my whole life!! Elder Oaks' wife was here for Relief Society on Sunday and she said, "When we come to understand the basics of our religion, we begin to understand ourselves" and then she said this, "this church is not just a nice way to live, it is the reason we live." Wow I love that. This gospel is the reason we live. We live for this gospel. Dad said, "for a year and a half you have nothing to worry about other than proclaiming Christ and his restored gospel." Am I blessed or what?! It doesn't get any better than that!!!Ok and guess what?! Sheri Dew came on Sunday night!!! Talk about AN AMAZING WOMAN! I don't even know what to say. I wish I could just send you my notes. Inspirational. She helped put things into such a clearer perspective for me. She talked a little bit about the Atonement. The Atonement is something that has always been so INCREDIBLE to me. Christ died for me. For me. For me and for you and for everyone! And why? In order for us to be able to become clean and return to our Heavenly Father. What hope. The Savior's Atonement is so personal. So personal. He knows us. He knows us individually. He knows our weaknesses and our stregnths. He knows the pain and hurt we feel. He knows when we're discouraged and frustrated or when we suffer from heartbreak or sorrow. He knows what it's like to feel devestated. But he also knows our joy. He knows the joy of a family. Of a baby. Of a rainbow. He knows what makes us happy. He knows how to bless. He knows how to HELP US. He is who we can turn to when the going gets rough. Because HE KNOWS. Oh what joy the sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that my Redeemer lives. And that is the message I will share for the remainder of my days. I truly stand all amazed at the love Jesus has for me. Presiding Bishop, Brother Edgley came Tuesday night and said something that really helped me. He said, "once we receive a calling from the Lord, the Lord qualifies us for the work." Ha I love it because I am so not qualified for this great work, but I know that the Lord will qualify me so I can share the message of the restored gospel with EVERYONE! Ha I can't wait to speak the limited Spanish I know and just bear testimony to EVERYONE! I'm SO EXCITED!! I love yall so so much! Keep the love coming! Next weeks email is going to be awesome! Ha what is it going to be like?! I don't even know. The anticipation is killing me! I'll be in Paraguay!! Ah I know I will just love it! I love yall and thanks so much for your testimonies. Please pray for the people of Paraguay and for my new companion! Ha she definitely needs your prayers..I would be tough ;) Have a great Thanksgiving and eat lots of pie for me because I won't have it for 16 months! Woot woot! Love yall :) Hermanita Nelson

10 more days!

Hola!!! Can you beleive how fast time has flown by?!! I leave for Paraguay in 10 days!!!!! PARAGUAY..what in the world?! I am so blessed! This week wasn't super eventful but still an amazing week at the MTC! Have I ever told you that I love the MTC?! lol I'm so excited to go to Paraguay but I'm sad to leave behind all the amazing people I've met here! How am I ever going to be able to leave behind all of the amazing people I meet in Paraguay?!! I'm going to go back and visit for sure! I'm not exactly sure when I leave (WE GET OUR FLIGHT PLANS TODAY!!! SO STOKED) So I'll try to get back on later and email you what the deal is! But yeah Nov. 24 will be my first day in Paraguay and when Ty meets with the Bishop and Stake President; so cool!!! OMG STORY..so yesterday I hosted AGAIN :) And I got to host Heather (the girl I worked with..awesome!) but before she came I was sitting next to an hermana and out of nowhere she says omg that's my family (looking at a van that had just pulled up) apparently her brother was entering the MTC!!! ha so her family jumps out of the car and is like sprinting up to her to give her a hug and she's like no you can't come up here but they attack her with love anyways! ha it was so great! I almost cried lol. And then her cute lil brother that was entering the MTC came up to her and gave her this huge hug! Made me miss yall mucho! It was great! it would've been so fun to have Ty in the MTC at the same time, pero esta bien! Ahhh NICK!!!! Russia!!! What in the world?!! ha that is so awesome!! I'm so stoked for you!!! And Ty omg I can't wait to see where you go!! Maybe Paraguay, too! Definitely South America!!! Oh AND Sister Curtis said that changes are on the 24th(when I should get there) so Tyler might be in the mission home and I can see him my first day in Paraguay!! That would be so great! And maybe he'll be a trainer to one of the elders in my district! Love life! Oh man I'M GOING TO PARAGUAY! The mission hasn't really felt like it's started yet and I can't even imagine how exciting it will be to teach real people and help them come unto Christ! Wow, it'll be great! We taught lesson 2 in spanish for the first time and it actually went really well, words were just coming out of my mouth; it was awesome! Ha I feel like I don't even know any spanish but it's all good because I will work really hard so I can teach the people effectively! Ahh but in the meantime when I'm struggling I know the Spirit will help me and relay the message that I'm trying to say in spanish to their hearts and they will know the truth of what I'm trying to say! Fabulous! A couple good quotes: "This isn't about people joining a church, we don't care about numbers, this work is about reuniting people with their Heavenly Father." Ahh how blessed I am to be a part of this work, the salvation of souls! Wow! And I like this next quote because it puts things into perspective for me; "the real 'mists of darkness' (referring to 1 Nephi) come after the people are baptized. Don't be satisfied or led to believe that you have accomplished your purpose when you have not." I bet that is so true. Once their baptized doesn't mean they're going to stay active for the rest of their lives. It is ALL of our responsibility to help eachother stay close to God so that we can ALL return to live with Him again! One more, "when Christ is all you have, you realize He's all you need." Ahh me gusta. When you feel like there's no one else in the world who feels the way you do, it's ok because Christ knows exactly how you feel! The Atonement is so incredible to me and is very personal to me. It's so hard to comprehend what our Savior did for us. He died and suffered for us so that we can repent and become clean and return to our Lord.Love it! Oh and I'm sending home a memory card with lots and lots of great pictures! BE EXCITED! And I don't think yall got the memo because this week I received the least amount of letters during my whole stay at the MTC..so let me say it one more time :) I only have TEN DAYS LEFT!!! In other words, I better get A TON of letters and packages this week! Deal?! Perfect! Love yall so much!!! Thanks for your testimonies and examples! Love,Hermanita Nelson P.s. Mom Hna Galbraith's mom is going to add you on facebook so she can see all my pictures :) Love ya!

18 MORE DAYS!!!

HOLA!!! How is everyone?! Y'all can you believe it...I only have 18 days left here in the MTC!!!! Loco!!! Ahh estoy muy animado ir a Paraguay!!! So that means I'm only in the states for another two weeks...which means I'm expecting A LOT of letters and packages before I leave the country :) Perfect! Ok and I hosted yesterday! It was fabulous! And just guess who I hosted..yes two hermanas from St. George! McKayla Belen who is going to Korea(she's a year older than me) and Whitney Tanner who is going to Kentucky! Ha it was sooo fun and crazy! I didn't even know they were coming while I was here! It was really exciting! So hopefully I helped make them feel comfortable! Ha love St. George. Oh and I found out I can call home from the airport if we have long delays..which I'm guessing we will! So that'll be like the 23rd I think but I'll give you more details later! And it's crazy because next Monday two districts leave (my favorite district is leaving :() and we'll be the oldest district! Ha I can't believe it! I remember thinking that the older districts were so smart and knew so much, lol and I don't feel that way at all! The Spanish is coming..I'm hoping to get a Native companion! I know that would be SO HARD but it would help me learn the language so much better! But amazing how the Lord blesses us with the gift of tongues..and I got my testimony and the baptismal commitment down in Spanish so I figure that will be good enough for now :) Oh and tell Sister Curtis I'm excited for her letter and that right now I'm kinda freaking out because the reality is starting to hit in that in two and half weeks I'll be in a country where they only speak spanish so I'm studying so hard! And ahh so first tell Nick I'm still waiting for a letter..and that I saw all his information on the computer because my teacher looked him up! And tell Heather Hennrich that her class is in the same building as mine and she'll be living in the same hall as me!! lol my teacher hooked us up! That's so crazy that Nick is getting his call right now! I'm so excited to hear where he is going! Ahhh and I can't beleive Ty will find out in a month!!! Love it!!! That's so so exciting!!! Oh and mom you can probably just have them ship the shoes here! Ha and I'm so excited Sister Dickerson came to see you! She's so amazing!!! Her and her husband just blow my mind! They are so fun! And if you want to send like the makeup and stuff up with her or if you buy the shoes by then you can send that up with her! Oh and send me a pair of jean shorts!!! I found out I could have them in Paraguay and it's going to be SO HOT AND HUMID when I get there in 18 days! WOOT WOOT! They don't even know what's coming..me! Of course this week was amazing! The MTC is the best! I'm kinda sad to leave but esta bien! Some good stuff I learned this week; first tell Ty and Nick that one of the most important sections in PMG is the BOM section and they told us that all Pre missionaries should read it and become familiar with it before they come to the MTC! And oh how I love focusing on the Book of Mormon! "Be a BOM missionary" Stay in the BOM always and share scriptures with the people as soon as possible! It can change lives! President Dickerson told me something that really really has helped me! He said, "two individuals can do anything, if one of them is the Lord." Ahh so true! There is no way I can do this work by myself and learn this language by myself! Man it can be challenging and there are definitely struggles but it's ok because the Lord will help you because this is His work and he wants you to succeed. Ahh it's so cool! I have been called of God...I never realized how powerful that was before. Think about that for a second. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Wow. Blows my mind. What an amazing responsibility and opportunity! Sister Smith (Mission president's wife) said, What level of missionary will you become? Tellestial, terrestial, or celestial. Sacrifice your comforts to do the will of the Lord. If we could truly understand the Atonement we would recognize how important ONE soul is to our Father in Heaven and we would seek out EVERY wayward boy and girl and DO ALL WE COULD to help them prepare for eternal ordinances. Today in the temple I couldn't help but think..this is what I want the people of Paraguay to experience, this is what I want my whole family to be worthy of. How great are the blessings and ordinances of the temple! How amazing it is to know that we can live with our families FOREVER! What a great work we are doing to bring souls unto Christ! Sister Smith closed with, "choose to become the angel you have been foreordained to be." Is that beautiful or what?! I just wanted to cry lol. What a great statement. There is so much potential in all of us. The Lord expects great things from us. We are his children and it is us who can help bring his precious children back to his presence to live with him again. Love it! At the fireside on Sunday night we talked a lot about gratitude! "Start a new day with gratitude" "gratitude begats divine guidance" Say a prayer of only thanks today! We have been so blessed! Take some time and tell your Heavenly Father how thankful you are for what you have. We praise the Lord when we give him our thanks! And last thing! Tuesday devo. we talked about being BOLD! ha I love being bold :) Brother Rasband said, "be a bold finding missionary!" In PMG it says "nothing happens in missionary work, until you find someone to teach!" Ha then he said "go into your mission with fire in your bones!" he said "take the fire of the MTC with you and breathe new enthusiasm!" "One missionary can make a difference" ahhh 18 days people!!! And yes I feel like I am on fire! I can't wait to be in Paraguay! How blessed I am! I love yall all so much and I'm so thankful for all your amazing examples! Can't wait for all the letters and packages! Love, Hermania

From the Missionary Resort

Hola!!! So here I am in the Missionary Resort, LOVING IT!!! So it snowed this past Tuesday, yikes! It's starting to get cold! And pops I can't believe you have pneumonia!!! I'm praying for you! And I love getting your letters so keep them coming :) Ok there's so much to talk about and no time! First, on Monday's we go to the RC (referral center) and call people that have called for church dvd's, or bibles, or BOM's...well I had such an AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! First off, I just love black people :) ha and you can totally tell your talking to one by the sound of their voice :) Well I was calling a Mr. Roberts to make sure he received his free Bible and he actually hadn't, but then I started telling him about the BOM and the truths that it holds, and he was like super interested and he was telling me he had been interested in all kinds of religions since he was little and he had all these different religion books. Anyways, I was like yeah have you ever wondered why there are so many religions in the world?! There's like a different church on every corner, but there's only one God, so shouldn't there only be one true church of God...and ha he actually disagreed with me but then I was like can I tell you a story? He said yes of course, and so I began to tell him about Joseph Smith and how he was really interested in religion too and he wanted to be where God wanted him to be and as he was searching for answers he came across James 1:5..so I read him that and then said, and if you were JS and you were looking for the true church and you had just read that vs. what would you do? And he said pray and ask my God..and I said exactly and that's what he did. And he recorded his experience (ha and then I was freaking out because I could only remember it in Spanish!!!) but then I found it and about my 5th word in to reciting the first vision I just felt the Spirit SO STRONG bearing testimony to me once again that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God and of course I started crying and I was like oh no! He's not even going to be able to understand me! But he did and after I asked how he felt and he said he felt moved and good, and I said Mr. Roberts, that is the Spirit testifying truth to you. And he said yeah that sounds right. And he said he was really touched and he could tell how much it meant to me. And he's meeting with the missionaries in a couple weeks to learn more and I'm gonna try to call him back after and see how he's doing. Ahh it was sooo AMAZING! The Book of Mormon is just AMAZING. We had a huge discussion about it last night (and when ELDER PERRY CAME ON TUESDAY NIGHT..AMAZING, I KNOW)! but Hno. Dickerson went around the room and asked each of us, "If the Book of Mormon is true..." and we answered! If the BOM is true, then Joseph Smith had a vision and had the priestood conferred upon him, and the gospel of Christ was truly restored on the earth, and there really is a God who loves and cares about us individually, and I truly was called of God, and there is a prophet on the earth today, even Thomas S. Monson, and ON AND ON AND ON! The BOM is either true or it isn't, there is no middle ground. And I testify that it is the most correct of any book on earth, the keystone of our religion, and a man can get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book; like Joseph Smith said. Ah pray for a confirmation yourself and ask yourself, "if the BOM is true then..." The list can go on and on! A couple other things that were inspiring. Hno Stone reminded us of something that I think we forget sometimes as missionaries. He said, "who signed that paper and who wrote their acceptance letter to be a missionary? Was it your mom, your dad, your Bishop? No, it was you. You are the one who said that you wanted to be here. Nobody else made that decision for you." It's so true! So I just want to suggest that Ty and Nick (and whoever else) make a copy of the letter of acceptance to be a missionary and bring it with them on their mission, so when the going gets rough they can turn to that and remember why they decided to come on a mission. And even write down right now why they want to come on a mission. You get that question all the time. Go because you want to go, because you want to serve your Savior and bring others unto Christ. If you're just going because it's expected of you, change that right now. Find that desire to serve! Because it's the best! But oh my goodness, it is SO HARD! A couple quotes... "The future is as bright as your faith" I love that! Tenga fe!!! "The Lord doesn't care what your abilities are, he just wants your heart, and when you give him your heart, he will make weak things become strong unto you. Sister Masumori (in the Primary Pres.) came to RS and spoke to us on Sunday and told us a story about how her and her husband were actually able to see their son on his mission because her husband went to NY a lot on business. Her son served in the Bronx and she said right before they were about to meet their son for lunch they almost got like shot because these gang members were about to do a drug exchange and they thought that her and husband were like from the gvt. or something..anyways she was like yeah that made me real comfortable as a mom having my son in an area like that, but when I saw him and his comp. turn the corner I literally saw a bubble surrounding them. "The Lord protects those who do his work." Future missionaries: You will be a great missionary if you 1. Have an eye single to the glory of God 2. Love your companion 3. Love the people and 4. Are obedient. Remember, "missionary work is a privilege, not a right". "Success breeds success" Elder L Tom Perry said "the first step to becoming a great teacher, is to first become a great student". Hno Stone said "the reason we find ourselves when we lose ourselves in because there's more of us to find..the more you give yourself, the more you find out about yourself..you become recharged and enlarged! LOVE IT!!! LOVE YALL!! LOVE THE WORK!!! I'll be sending out a letter tomorrow too with more info!!! Thanks for being amazing and such good examples! Stay close to the Lord! Alena and Ty..I'm expecting letters :) Love yall! Have a great week!! Oh and we taught in Spanish this week for the first time, more details later :)

Pictures from the MTC

Here are some pictures we got today from Amanda at the MTC. There are more posted on her facebook page.

Loving Life

Can life get better?! I submit that it CAN NOT :) Man life is just tan bien!!! I hope you've gotten all 3 of my emails so far! Let me know! So this week I am just overwhelmed by all the blessings in my life! I feel like life is just so good! I have absolutely nothing to complain about! Of course it's muy dificil but I figure I have the Lord on my side, so all is good! So last night Hna G, Elder Keele, and Elder Sims and I were sitting on some couches just studying and this teacher came up to us and asked where we were going on our missions..Paraguay! Well turns out she went to the same mission and has only been back for 3 months!! I can't remember her name but she knew Elder Curtis!I was so excited! But she just told us so much! I guess our mission is the highest baptizing mission right now in South America!!!! How amazing is that?!! She just couldn't stop talking about how amazing EVERYTHING about Paraguay is! Ha I am sooo going to be like that!! It's going to be amazing!!! She said it gets to like 110-115 but you just get used to it and you learn to love it! Hermosa!! Oh but madre, necisito mas zapatos por favor!!! She said she went through a ton of shoes! LIke the nice expensive ones. She said the roads are just awful! And since I'm sending two pairs home I figure I need two more pairs!And I will probably need them before I leave the MTC! I'll write a letter more about that! Oh and I got the package, gracias :) So have I ever told you how much I love our district and zone?! I can't believe I'm just going to keep meeting such amazing people throughout my whole mission! THE MISSION IS THE BEST! And I can't believe it's already been a month!!! Loco!!Yeah every Wednesday the new missionaries come in and I see them being dropped off and I just get all teared up haha. But I have finally reached the point where I am just fine. I remember my first night here I just bawled my eyes out and there were these two hermanas on my floor that were comforting me and one of them said, "yeah I was the same as you when I first got here, but you'll get to a point when you feel like your district has become your family." ha and I was thinking there is no way!! The Elders don't even look at us, they're super awkward and I just don't know how I feel about the hermanas yet, and there is just no way I will ever feel like that! Well two days ago I was telling my district about mi familia and how amazing yall are, etc. and at the end I just started crying and I told them what that hermana had told me and how now I feel like that. They are just the best! We are all so tyte, I love it! And Hna. G was super sick all week long and the elders gave her a blessing a couple nights ago (Elder Sims) and it was his first one ever, and he did so great! The Spirit was so strong! I think that unified us more. THe priesthood is INCREDIBLE! oh but I was going to tell you that I get to be a host in two weeks! ha I'm so excited! I don't pick them up at their cars, but when the elders escort them to the building we take them inside and show them their room and then kinda give them a tour of the MTC! That will be so fun! And I think Hna Henrich will be coming in that week so that will be so cool if I host her!!! Ok just some cool thoughts from this week... let's talk about Satan for a second..he is just so awful and so real! One of his most powerful tools is to cause us to doubt ourselves, to doubt who we are and what we can accomplish. Doubt is not a feeling from God. God loves us so much! And he has so much confidence in us! It's absolutely unbelievable! He is totally cheering us on with the angels in Heaven! They rejoice when we make good choices and when we have righteous desires (like bringing people unto Christ) God will prepare a way for us! Yes it won't always be easy, but the reward will be great! And if we bring save it be one soul unto Christ, how great will be our joy if we bring many souls unto Christ (ha fix that so it's right). But ahh I can't wait to actually help bring children back to our Heavenly Father. We lived with him before we came here and we can return to live with him again through Christ's Atonement! Ah that just gets me everytime! How merciful our Heavenly Father is for sending his son to die for us so that we can return to him. Christ suffered for everyone we will ever come in contact with in our lives. He FULLY atoned for each and everyone of our sins! Ah! We had a devo on tues. and Sister Robbins said, even when you can't fully converse with the people, LOVE THEM! haha that hit home, because I know I'll be struggling for the first couple months with the language, but I know that if I love the people they will know that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them. Brother Robbins said, "success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." ha how motivating! You just have to keep going and keep going! You can't let thoughts of doubt and failure get in the way of serving our Lord! I'm so excited to develop charity! I am ready to give my heart out to serving and loving and bringing people unto Christ. I know I was called by God to serve in the Paraguay Asuncion North mission. It's not just by chance. I am supposed to be going to this mission! How exciting! I love yall so much and am so thankful to have been raised by goodly parents and to have had such amazing church leaders and friends who have been such good examples to me! Life is good, huh?! Go and tell all those young men who are of missionary age and who aren't on missions that they need to go!!! It's so important and so key for the rest of their lives! PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE and then God will come in and provide the way. Don't let things of the world get in the way, whether it be school, work, or girlfriends! You'll regret it! The mission is SO AMAZING! Love yall soo soo much! Mom make sure Alisa and Ty got my letters and let me know if they did or didn't! I'm going to write Hary and Mary Lou and Grandpa Bill today! So let them know it's coming! Thank Sister Wariner for the letter, I love them! And I'm writing her and Chels back today (and Emily) and Angela! G2G!!! Love yall!Hermana Nelson

Week 3...Loving the MTC

This morning Hermana G and I got to travel to the OUTSIDE world!!! All the way to Orem! Crazy huh?! She's having some problems with her knee so we had to go to an Orthopedic Dr. (pray for her). But when we got back we still had enough time to go to the temple and it was so great! We did initiatories (my first time from since I went through). And then afterwards I was sitting on a chair waiting for Hermana G and this Hermana came up and asked me where I was going on my mission and I said Paraguay and that's where she served too! But in the South mission! But she was all excited and taught us some Guarani phrases and is going to try and come to the MTC tomorrow for lunch and teach us more or she'll send us some phrases and what not! Cool, huh?! Speaking of Paraguay..I was in this meeting and the lady that was teaching was the former mission president's wife in the Paraguay Asuncion North MissioN! Right before the Wade's! The Andersons. So she told me to stop by her husbands office sometime and ask more questions and look at pictures and what not! Love it!!! Ok this week was just great! Minus the fact that Hermana Miller left us this morning at 3 a.m.!!! No bueno! Elder Matautia, Gates, and Russel also left this morning, so now our district is down to 8! Weird! But I'm really excited because I think we'll all become really good friends! A group of Elders..like 7ish left to Paraguay North on Monday! They are such studs! I can't wait to see them out in the field! So now it's just Hna G and I! Lol we have to much fun sometimes so we need to step it up! Oh and on Sunday we went to the zone meeting with Hna M because she's the coordinating sister and at the very end when we were leaving Hno Llewellen asked if I would be the new coordinating sister..yikes!!! Ha I definitely feel the least adequate for the position, the other hermanas are so much more spiritual and everything, but it will be good for me I think. I definitely have been humbled! So yesterday at dinner it was us hna's and we were sitting across from these two elders, so naturally we start talking to them and asking how the MTC is going and everything, and they've only been here a week. So one of the Elder's said he just HATES the MTC and just went on and complained about it..well ha I was not ok with that..so me being me drilled him. (It probably didn't help that we had just got done watching a devotional by Elder Holland from a couple years ago). So I was all in passion mode and I just gave it to him. I said, "Elder let me tell you a little something something.. one of my really good friends told me that you can either look at the MTC like it's a prison because you're just stuck inside all day and you have to be in classes and study all the time and you have to eat the same food every single week and there's no free time, etc. OR you can change your attitude and take it as an opportunity to learn and to grown and to recognize how strong the Spirit is and how inspirational your teachers are and the speakers are and to just take it all in! We have been given 18 months/2 years to become closer to our Lord and Savior and to bring his children unto his fold. How dare you complain and feel sorry for yourself. NO it's not easy, but first off you are not here for YOU. You are here to serve the Lord. It's not about YOU anymore. Elder Holland said, "SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE. It was NOT meant to be easy and it never will be! It was not cheap or easy of convenient for the Savior as he suffered on the cross" If you're going to be a missionary and sahre his word how can you think that you won't feel a tsp. of what the Savior felt? If you're going to be his disciples, YOU BETTER HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW FOR IT! He said be able to stand and bear testimony when you return from you mission and say that 'you sufferened the will of the Father from the beginning." YOU'RE DOING THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE!" Your mission should mean EVERYTHING to you! He also said, DON'T YOU GO HOME, DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE FOR YOUR SAKE!" ha he is good huh?! Anyways I'm sure I probably scared that Elder, but his companion thanked me afterwards! How hard would it be to have an unmotivated companion? How blessed I am to have such an AMAZING companion, district, and zone! How great this work is!!! And we also were taught a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon..here's what it comes down to...it is either ABSOLUTELY TRUE or it is FALSE..there is NO middle ground! Ahhh I just love the BOM and its converting power! I can't remember who but someone said "have confidence that the Holy Ghost will witness to anyone who will sincerly read and pray about it of its truthfulness". The Spirit is SO AMAZING! Without it we are nothing! If any of you who are reading this have not read the Book of Mormon, PLEASE DO! You know me and you know my family..you know that we are not some physcho people with some physcho religion. We believe in Christ and we know him to be our Savior and we have every desire to follow him. We know that the Book of Mormon is a true book, another testament of Jesus Christ. We love the Lord and we know he loves us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is once again restored to this earth and we have living prophets today who love us and who help us and guide us so that we can live with our Father in Heaven and our families once again when we leave this earth. This is my testimony. Please please ask my family for a copy of the Book of Mormon and please please pray to your Heavenly Father and ask him if it is true. My family can help answer any questions you have. I love yall all so much! This gospel is so good and so true!
Love always,
Hermana Nelson

Moroni 7:33